DonaldSmith

Where have I heard of a DeVal engine in a D-24 Business coupe? Suddenly it's all coming back to me. A Motown guy came to visit me in 2016. His business coupe had a DeVal engine! Teaser Photo:

Is that strap holding the fender up or the hood down? Or both?

Hey, guys, someday I'll be a PO. But I think I've kept track of my work, and there will be plenty of digital photos of the work. I wrote a small book about my power steering project. But I'm sure there will still be something to mystify the next owner.

Trying to figure out a permanent strap, I might take half-inch EMT (electrical metallic tubing) and flatten the ends and bend them over. I might want some way to adjust the effective length. Something threaded, that would pull the fender in. . Time for some enginuity? ingenuity: (the quality of being clever, original, and inventive).

There's supposed to be a strap to pull the bottom of the front fender, at the rear of the wheel opening, closer to the frame. Here are a before and after, with a view of a turnbuckle to pull the fender edge inward. The turnbuckle is temporary, until I fabricate a less elaborate strap.

Uncle Sam wanted a continual supply of engines for their aircraft tugs, so when Ma Mopar discontinued the block, DeVal made the engines under license from Chrysler. Some of the casting plugs are different, but the important stuff meets spec.

Speaking of girls at the controls: Grand daughter Paxton's solo flight. Flying lessons Spring and Summer, Purdue in the Fall, for aviation technology. Same ear-to-ear smile that my kids and grand kids had, before driving age, after taking a spin through the local cemetery, under adult supervision, of course. Paxton was on her own, but in radio communication with the instructor.

The car has a crooked smile. The bumper is bent, and the left fender is higher than the right.

Before unbolting the hood from the hinge assemblies, mark the hood at the edges of each assembly, to make reassembly and adjustment easier. "Good luck; we're all counting on you."

In a recent "Hinge Saga" post, I said: "I took the hinge strap to the blacksmith at the Smithshop in Highland Park, MI. She heated the joints and bent the strap back to profile. ..." No one picked up on the blacksmith being a She. I told the boss that somehow I expected that there would be a woman blacksmith there. I feel that "Girls can do stuff." after seeing my daughters grow up. Good at sports, and not afraid to be handy around the house. One daughter shingled the garage as a teenage project. Now I have granddaughters to brag about. One granddaughter will attend Purdue to study aviation, and is getting her flying license now. Oh, I could go on. Of course all my children and grandchildren are brilliant, each his (or her) own way.

I painted the hinge which the blacksmith re-profiled, and reinstalled the hinge. The door now clears the fender at the hinge edge. The latch edge of the door was riding low, so I put my floor jack and a block of wood under the door bottom, near the front edge, with the door nearly closed. I jacked up the door edge until I could see that the whole side of the car was rising. I lowered the jack, swung open the door, and gave it a push. The door swung closed and latched. Click. I did it again. Click. I would call that success. I took a look at the Dodge DeSoto Chrysler hinge that I had bought on line and had used temporarily. The profile of the strap was off only about 5 degrees. There was a shim at one of the bolt holes, I suppose to counteract this angle. The end of the strap was stamped SOSS PAT.PENDING MADE IN USA. I did not see such a stamping on my hinge.. I know of the Soss Company, from their concealed architectural hinges. I can see Ma Mopar going to Briggs, to make the bodies which Chrysler styled. Conceal the top hinge of the back door; expose the bottom hinge if you have to; but put a little cover over it. And then Briggs working with Soss to design and manufacture the hinges.

Beautiful. Terraplane - soaring along the ground, slicing through the air.

I took the hinge strap to the blacksmith at the Smithshop in Highland Park, MI. She heated the joints and bent the strap back to profile. I know you guys could have profiled your hinge strap with a BFH or torch, but I don't have such equipment, so I had to pay to have it done.

Here's a heater valve for the fancy two-unit heater: It seized up, so I replaced it with a modern unit. Maybe could have found a better configuration. Creative plumbing. Ugly, but it works.

I checked between the B posts and C posts at the upper and lower hinges, with templates. That was my first investigation. Both sides are the same. No twisting at the right side. Then I noted that the degrees of swing were different. If I shimmed the hinge strap at the door, the back edge of the door would stand out too proud, and would be back too far.

Here's the hydraulic jack in my DeSoto Suburban. (Note the Bakelite panel.) I made a block of wood for the jack to push up against. (I have a series of wood blocks hidden under the cargo floor, for placing under the jack, and I printed out some photos on jacking pointts.)

Hinge pin diameter, per my cheapo plastic dial caliper, is 0.34". That's a little fatter than 5/16", or 0.3125". Now, maybe Plymouths were different from the upper lines. Briggs would have made a zillion Plymouth bodies to the Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler bodies, so it's beau coup cheap hinges vs a good number of substantial hinges, at maybe a few pennies difference per hinge. Also, the upper hinges are made to proper dimensions for the fender curvatures, and the Plymouth bodies were subtly different from those of the upper lines.. (I bought a Dodge hinge on line, which is holding my door on for now. It's an exact fit, except that the strap seems to be bent back also. Maybe someone drove forward with the back door open.)

The "Fluid Drive" coupling was available on the 3-speed transmission, as in Dodges, and on the semi-automatics on DeSotos and Chryslers.

You have attempted put a Hudson in our Mopar forum. This requires that you submit photos of the vehicle in question, so that we would know what a T-plane is. It is only right.

Last Fall, I drove my 47 DeSoto Suburban out of the garage, with the right rear door open. Suicide door. Bad. The Bakelite panel was damaged, but we will leave its repair for another story. The door over-opened, creasing the fender behind the door, and throwing the door out of alignment. The door hinge was bent, as evident from comparing the swing to the left rear door, shown below, left then right. I removed the left door panel and made a made a casting of the good hinge, using Durham's Water putty and fiberglass tape. Then I removed the right door hinge. (The fourth screw was within the hinge.) The casting of the left door hinge shows where the strap of the right hinge is bent out of shape. I think I'll take the strap to a local blacksmith for some gentle adjustment.

Cab? Is it a truck? Or do you mean body? You lost me.

For replacement battery cables, i settled on Tractor Supply Co. cables for 6 volts, which look more like No. 1 than 0 or 00. Readily available. So far, so good.

Several years ago, i was privileged to get a close, hands-on look at the 1947 DeSoto Suburban in the Gilmore Car Museum. I took note of the door sill replacements, which were cut to size, but had the wider ribs at the inner and outer edges and at the windlace. Does anyone make something like that? Or I could settle for the 18-inch running board called out in Post No. 1 above. It's way down my to-do list, but I can have my mind games.

Canadian Plymouth? 25-inch block.

I'm guessing 1949 or later Mopar. The heater hose tubes would indicate that the heater mounts on the engine side of the cowl. The top opening might mat with the cowl vent that opens outside the windshield. The side opening for the air duct would be consistent with the cardboard duct that ran along the right fender. That's my wag (wild a$$ guess).