Tim Larson

This past Sunday I stopped at a couple of cemeteries on the way home from church and visited relatives. It was a nice setting and opportunity to photograph my '49. The odometer rolled past 50,000 a couple of weeks ago and I've driven over 1600 miles since the end of May - a little over 100 miles every Sunday. While the car does seem to consume oil with every trip I am diligent about checking and filling as needed. It drives very well and has not let me down yet so I will continue treating it with care and respect. I get a fair amount of waves and thumbs ups, but not as many as one would think (Either drivers are too old, too young, or too annoyed that I'm out not always driving well past the posted speed limit) - I did have someone shout at me from a walking trail so I just smiled, waved, and kept on driving. Fun to see what everyone is up to! Thanks, Keith for fostering community here!

Can't wait to hear all about it! Hoping for another video with exciting news.

You have to get it! I love the styling on these cars. We need more Keith produced Mopar videos! I really hope you can get this car!

He will definitely drive it now that it is running. There was some fresh gas put in last night too.

That is a good point. I'll probably wait and see if my neighbor has any problems going forward.

I do think that the carb. and flooded intake may have been the issue all along. The car will benefit from the new ignition parts and it runs very well now. One issue it has had ever since purchased is that sometimes when stopping and the semi-automatic transmission shifting back to low (1st gear) the car will die, but easily restarts. Is it possible something is not adjusted properly or would this be a separate electrical connection issue? I will encourage a carb. rebuild/adjustment in the near future. Thanks everyone - this was a good learning experience. My neighbor is thrilled.

The car is running! I charged the battery for a little while and kept cranking off and on and it finally went. I almost wonder if the carburetor wouldn’t benefit from a rebuild

The carb is definitely getting fuel. It sprays every time you pump the accelerator. There was still a large amount of fuel pooled in the intake and I tried to syphon it out, but it’s too far down in there.the car has tried to fire many times today, but just won’t take off. I verified that there is spark at the points side of the coil when turning over. The battery cables are 00 and connections are clean. I am charging the battery now.

Impressive work! You've done a lot in a relatively short amount of time. Could I ask where you found this car? I had seen one that looked like this listed in Des Moines on Facebook Marketplace last year.

That's a really good point that I didn't think of. The plugs are all out right now. I will try this again to see. Thanks

We tried this last night, but the test light did not seem to blink of flash at all. I know the points were opening and closing. I will try this again today. Rolling over by hand would just involve wrenching the engine over, correct? Turning the fan does not cause the engine to turn over.

Also, I wondering about the strength of the spark. With 6 volt will spark not be a bright or hot as 12 volt? The spark I could see at the plugs almost looked more yellow/orange to me, but I could be wrong. I suspect the fuel sitting in the intake could be a lot of the issue. Like I said, we sprayed a bit of starting fluid into the carb. while cranking and it did briefly fire, but only once or twice. My grandpa was helping and didn't want to get carried away with starting fluid. He's 86 and has been working on/around tractors/cars since he was in his 20s/30s, at least, so I trust his judgement.

Looks like a great car! I got into these old mopars last summer and between my '49 Plymouth and my neighbor's two cars I have learned a lot! This forum will be incredibly invaluable. I'm 31 so it's nice to hear someone else in the younger age bracket is interested in this era of mopars! Share as many questions and pictures as you want! We are all learning together.

The tank should have been full when parked last fall and then a fuel stabilizer was added. This starting issue began late last year and the fuel should not have been old enough at that time. I will pump the fuel out of the intake where it is pooled if it has not evaporated by this evening. Hopefully I will have some sort of update by tonight.

We checked and there is spark at at least two of the plugs. It looks like it should be hot enough spark to ignite the fuel. The old plugs I took out definitely smelled of fuel, but not fresh fuel.

Well, I got all the parts today and tried to tackle this project. Points, condenser, rotor, cap, coil and plugs all replaced - still nothing. I also replaced the wire from the coil to the points. There does seem to be spark at the points and the plugs. I think the car might be so flooded with fuel that is causing at issue. There is still quite a pool below the carb. We removed all plugs and cranked the engine, but did not see any fuel come out the plug holes - my grandpa does this on his tractors when they are flooded to get the fuel out of the cylinders. I left all the plugs out and have the throttle and choke open. Tomorrow I will go see if any fuel evaporated. The car did fire just briefly when starting fluid was sprayed while cranking, but not after the first time. I checked and there is current at the + and - side of the coil when the key is on and also at the points when they are closed. Could the semi-automatic transmission cause any issues with starting? It looks like some the wires in that setup connect to the coil and carb. but I don't fully understand how that system works. I did reconnect all wires at the coil exactly as they were.

I have not had a chance to check spark at the coil lead or the plugs yet. They appear to be wet with fuel. Looking down the carb today with the throttle open I could see plenty of fuel sitting pooled. I'm planning to do some more testing after work these next couple of days. Thanks for the input.

This advice will likely come in handy when I continue to try to get my neighbor's '51 Desoto back on the road. The ignition is being stubborn... Thanks for sharing your experience!

Assuming the intake manifold has a lot of fuel pooled in it. Would it be reasonable to remove all of the spark plugs to allow fuel pooled in the cylinders to evaporate?

The plugs were all wet/damp when I checked them a couple of days ago. It had run fine right before I changed the oil and filter last October and then it didn't seem to want to fire at all. It is probably flooded right now. I'll have to check this out. Thanks

I will check this. Would this evaporate or does it stay pooled in the intake for a longer span of time?

I did put everything back together - there is plenty of fuel spraying into the carb. I could try ether before replacing other parts. Hopefully will have an update this next week sometime.

The car does have proper 00 gauge cables. I will check connections. The battery must be fine because I used it to start a '49 Plymouth that was otherwise not starting with the battery that was in that car.

This car belongs to a neighbor that is not mechanical at all so I am doing my best to help him keep it up to par.

I ordered a tune up kit and coil from Bernbaum, but gave them the top middle number on the distributor when I placed my order. I will replaced each item separately and test - starting with the condenser - if that works then the other pieces can be saved as spares. There's no major hurry to get that car running, but I would still like to figure it out.