DonaldSmith

The one ear has been reconstructed with JB weld. I think I drilled into the cast iron and looped a steel rod into the cast iron and where the B weld would be. We'll see how well it holds up. If not, there is a two-piece repair flange that I could install above the existing flange. I've got a pinion oil seal to install, and then I'll tackle the exhaust leak. Fun under the car, especially these days when it's so hot and muggy. Stay tuned.

"Pipe Plug": There is an actual pipe plug at the No. 6 cylinder, over the piston, for measuring the stroke and finding Top Dead Center. . (The spark plug is over the valves, so it won't help finding the piston stroke.) No. 1 and No. 6 cylinders are at top dead center at the same time, but two cycles apart. There's a fine art to having a probe through the pipe plug hole, and finding top dead center. There's little vertical movement when the piston is approaching TDC.

I'm about ready to try a donut for my manifold-to-pipe connection. Flat gaskets don't seem to work. I can hear and feel the gas escaping. Maybe the pipe is misaligned. (The photo shows a bit of JB magic where a part of the cast-iron flange is long gone. There still seems enough to engage the bolt.) Wish me luck. .

Thanks! A gear lube pump!

Well, I replaced the pinion seal on my 47 DeSoto Suburban, not too difficult, after ordering the right seal. Now to refill the rear axle with gear oil (available SAE 80W-90). It comes in a nice bottle with a pointy cap. Snip the end off, and squirt the oil in, I guess. No room to tip the bottle up. My lowering blocks keep the axle up a few inches higher than stock. The gas tank is in the way. Also, the sway bar is claiming its own territory. Get some tubing, heat the end, and force it over the pointy bottle cap. Lodge the bottle above the sway bar, and let gravity do its work. (Photo keeps coming over upside down). Gravity not enough for oil this viscous. Hold the bottle vertically above the axle. (The tubing decides to slip off.) Gravity now no hindrance the flow of oil all over the place. Rig a funnel with flexible tubing above the axle and manually pour from the bottle into the funnel. Going great, until the funnel overflows and I drop the bottle. (Seldom-used cuss words.) Time out. Commiserate with the guys. Maybe even take suggestions. I do have a HF manual pump. Does it pump uphill? What works?

Here's my mod from years ago. Simpler air filter to work with. I dug out all the metal mesh. A Fram CA6370 worked for me. A cut-down coffee can, and some soft washers seal the top of the filter.

Is that an alligator grille, with a large slot to fit over the hood ornament? Unusual.

Smaller wheels on the front? We were visiting my mother's family, when my Uncle Arthur explained to my dad that if you had a wagon with large wheels on the back and small wheels on the front, the wagon would slope forward, and would roll forever. Perpetual motion My dad, the professional engineer, tried unsuccessfully and heatedly to explain why that was impossible. I think Uncle Arthur was just getting my dad's goat. Uncle Arthur operated a machine shop where all the machines ran off overhead leather belts powered by an old car engine. Uncle Arthur was no dummy.

Lessee, a wildass guess- It's on the exhaust manifold, so we don't want it to release exhaust into the engine compartment. So maybe it lets air into the exhaust system? There may be a valve under that dome. maybe the finned shaft is to disburse the exhaust manifold heat, to avoid overheating the valve mechanism. To quote my 2-1/2-year-old neighbor boy, "Why?" Why introduce air into the exhaust stream? Even out the pulses? Edit: Boost your gas mileage? Extend you r oil change interval?

The vehicles look European. Maybe it's an Eastern Block country.

Correction: Not 3-3/8", it's 3-3/16". Measure twice; cut once. (How do I edit my previous post?)

Her are photos of the crankshaft nut, hub, pulley and damper from a 47 DeSoto: x x x

Thanks Veemony for the info on the seals coming with an outer sealant coating. Actual verified measurements for my car are are 1-3/4" shaft and 3-3/8" opening. Moral of the story, verify the dimensions before buying the part. OK, I'm editing this. 3-3/16 instead of 3-3/8.

On my DeSoto Suburban, I noticed that the pinion seal was leaking again. Back in 2013, I replaced the oil seal and installed a Speedi-Sleeve on the flange shaft, to correct a leaking condition. I got the seal from the local auto parts store, as listed for the vehicle. Only problem, the outer diameter was too small. As I remember, I reduced the effective inside diameter of the housing by lining it with thin strips of stainless steel. In addition, I used sealant around the outside of the seal housing. But the sealant and lubricant did not get along, and the seal failed. I got a second seal, and used the first seal as a temporary oil-stop, to allow the second seal to be secured with JB Weld. This has lasted seven or eight years. (I didn't notice exactly when it began to leak again.) Last week I removed the flange. The Speedi-Sleeve is still in good condition, a little shinier where the seal rubbed it, but no grooves. The seal seemed to leak between the JB Weld and the housing. This time, I took a rough dimension of the housing diameter, and ordered a seal from Grainger, an industrial supply firm. For the 1-3/4" shafts, they had a range of outer diameters. I bought some cheap HF calipers, and measured the opening. Right on for the seal I had ordered. Now I just wait for the seal to be shipped to the local store. I think I will pump out the lubricant, to get the seal area clean. I might even set the seal housing with a little sealant around the perimeter. Any thoughts?

Andy, maybe you can photo-shop the picture, remove a few sags and wrinkles. Let me know how it works.

Shazam! The other day, my car was pulling to the left as I braked, the harder I stopped, the worse it pulled. This set off demons in my head, contemplating a dreaded brake job, hub puller and all that. But I remember this happened before, after I hadn't driven the car for a while. So I drove the car through the neighborhood today, doing gentle stops and panic stops, and even riding the brakes. It stops real straight, now. That just leaves a host of other gremlins on my to-do list.

Let's see, 6 volt positive ground battery and circuit, and a separate 12 volt positive ground battery and circuit. I had something like that for a while, for a 12 volt pusher fan, but I had no automatic way of charging the 12 volt battery, so I now have a 6 volt fan and a step-up for 12 volt electronics. Each circuit has one side grounded, and the other side insulated (wires insulated, connections separated by air from anything else). Everything is OK, won't blow up. But if you connect a volt meter from the "live" side of one circuit to the "live" side of the other circuit, the meter will read 18 volts.

On a hard stop, my 47 DeSoto Suburban pulls hard to the left. Not so with a gentle stop. A few years ago, this happened briefly, but went away as I continued to drive the car. Solutions: 1) Drive the car more. (Getting to be a pain.) 2) Inspect the brakes. (A pain for sure.) OK, how do I get the drums off to inspect the linings, cylinders, etc? Obvious? The Manual doesn't say. Years ago I inspected the front brakes. I remember now. Take wheel and tire off, remove cotter pin and big nut, slide off the hub and drum. No big deal. For the rear drums, the Manual mentions "Axle Shaft Nuts - 142(min)" ft. lbs. but doesn't show the hub that the drum and wheel connect to, nor mention removing the hub. We're supposed to know how to do it. Suddenly it's coming back to me! The Forum has revealed this for years. To remove the back wheel hub and drum, I'll need the legendary giant, heavy-duty hub puller (or loosen the nut and drive around until something goes Bang!) Which reminds me of when I was a kid and my dad was confronting something that needed fixing. I asked him, "You gonna fix it yourself, or have a man do it?" Good question for me these days.

About 15 years ago, my 47 DeSoto was in a parade. Walking pace. Fluid Drive semi-automatic. Hot. The car stalled. Dead. No cranking. (Pushed off to a side street.) A few hours later, the car started right up. I theorized that the electrical connections may have heated up and opened the starter grounding circuit to the generator. Fast forward: Star washers on all important electrical bolt-and-nut connections. Went with an alternator, so I permanently grounded the wire from the solenoid. Installed a pusher fan, with automatic thermostat, just in case. All these improvements, and no parade duty since. That's the way it goes. Wondering about overheating the fluid coupling. Instructions say not to idle in gear with the foot on the brake for more than five minutes, such as waiting for a train; shift into neutral, or depress the clutch. Would low-speed parade duty overheat the fluid coupling? Would the low range, first and second gear be better or worse than drive range third and fourth? What happens to an overheated fluid coupling? Just wondering. Flash back to the Lansing, Michigan Centennial Parade, with a line of dignitaries in new 1959 Oldsmobile convertibles, many of them (the cars) succumbing to overheating, from traveling so slow. Hoods up. Geysers. Egg on someone's face.

5:00 o'clock? The No. 1 plug wire usually goes to the 7:00 position. If someone gets the dizzy 180 degrees off, No. 1 will be at 1:00. If yo really meant 5:00, Check Top Dead Center for the compression stroke, and see where the rotor points.

Ah, those were the days. I crashed the POC event. After the show, they let my DeSoto get chummy with the other cars.

Harbor Freight transmission jack at an M5 transmission, several years ago. The strap held the transmission from rolling off. I think the angle of the white top plate was adjustable. The transmission handled better with the solenoid and governor removed (and their openings taped shut).

Somewhere I heard the poem about Celsius, and I recited it for some Canadian cousins, who are about the same advanced age as I: "30 is hot and 20 is nice; 10 is cool and zero is ice." They looked at me like I was from outer space.

All this talk about balls can get the little boys giggling. There must be a double meaning in there somewhere. Also, when talking about my trailer hitch, and I tell the guys that I have two balls, and one is bigger than the other, they look at me funny. And I ask the electrician if he has wire nuts? What's with this language? Andy Dodge, move over. My turn to sit in the corner. And I just came from church.

Oh, we're drifting away from the subject of the thread, but here goes: My Daughter got me a Zero Gravity card for Father's Day. It reminded her of me and my sense of humor. Man and boy at the checkout counter: Clerk: Sir, would you like the milk in a a bag?" Dad: "No, just leave it in the carton." Son: "Every. Single. Time."