DonaldSmith

You wasted 2 days and three nights on this? That's par for the course. We don't do this stuff every day, so sometimes the learning process gets pretty steep. Speaking for the rest of the guys, we're happy for you. Glad to help.

It sounds like you need a separate starter button, or a later style ignition switch. My 47 Mopar has a separate starter button, and a key-switch with OFF vertical, ACC counterclockwise, and IGN or "coil" clockwise. The IGN position also powers the ACCessories. According to the wiring diagram, I can run the starter in the ACC position, but without ignition. Why, I don't know. The later models have the key switch with the momentary "start" position. I presume that by "two position switch" you mean ACC and IGN in addition toa center OFF. One terminal gets the hot power, one connects power to accessories, and one connects power to the coil. It sounds like the older type of switch, like on my car. I don't know how jumping these terminals would power the starter solenoid. Maybe it's time to trace the wiring. A wiring diagram should help. Or better yet, disconnect the suspect wires at the solenoid and coil and run new jumpers. Run the first jumper from an always hot source, like the ammeter, or if under the hood to the hot post of the battery. Run the second jumper to the coil. Run the third jumper to the starter solenoid post that makes the starter crank. (Of course, disconnect the existing wires at the coil and solenoid post, to eliminate any shorts or improperly crossed connections. Bypassing the ignition switch, connect the hot jumper and the coil jumper, and your coil should be live, when the ground is completed at the points. Connect the hot jumper to the solenoid jumper, and the starter should crank. Connect all three, and the engine should crank and fire up. If that works, run new wires to the ignition switch and to a separate starter button, or to the later style ignition switch.

Some idiot ran a screw into my heater core when I was trying to mount something. I removed some fins at the leak and soldered the hole closed. The core hasn't leaked since. Of course, these postwar Mopars do not have a pressurized cooling system. The radiator shop is used to pressurized systems and may not want to try a repair that might fail. Besides, why pass up a quick $215?

Here are some pics: (The eccentric screw was in the way. I cuoldn't figure out how to remove it, so I Dremeled it back.

The Ute's steering wheel is on the right side. If that's not right for you, there's only one possibility that's left. I couldn't resist.

Cool it, you guys!

Here is a diagram of my 6-volt batteries in series, sort of like house wiring, with 110 volts from either hot wire to the neutral wire. Across the two hot wires you get 220, 221, whatever it takes. The main battery powers the 6-volt stuff, including the starter. The 6-volt, positive ground alternator recharges the main battery. The accessory battery is negative ground. I get 12 volts from its positive post and the main battery's negative post. I have to manually recharge the accessory battery from time to time. See how this compares with your setup.

I vaguely remember struggling to get the door locks out. I think I removed the glass channel, with the glass up, to remove the lock. For installation, I have a cryptic comment on a photo of my door lock: "Install the top of channel before lock".

In the Mopars through First Series 49, the pitman shaft pints down and back, so "bottom" is "bottom. Then afterwards, the steering gear is on its side. My DeSoto Shop Manual includes the Series S-11 (through 48), S-13 and S-14. the illustrations are for the later sideways arrangement. The "top" of the steering gear is shown as accessible from the left side. I don't know if any fender parts have to be reomved for access.

The wire from the starter solenoid to the generator is the ground for the solenoid winding. When the engine is not running, the generator windings serve as the ground. When the engine is running, they are not. This is Mother Mopar's way of keeping you from grinding the starter when the engine is running. My 47 DeSoto has four posts on the starter solenoid. The upper posts are for the solenoid winding. The left one gets power from the starter button. (Car left, not looking-at-it left.) The right post goes to the generator. When you have an alternator, ground this post, to complete the circuit and power the starter. The left bottom post is for the battery cable. The right bottom post goes to the starter windings. (The Sisson choke is powered by this post; the choke partially opens when the starter is cranking.)

What is the starter switch? Is this a floor-mounted switch? Maybe a pre-war thing? My post-war DeSoto has a starter button on the dash, and the solenoid at the starter. The starter solenoid has four posts: a heavy post for the end of the battery cable: a heavy post connected to the starter windings (these two posts get connected when the solenoid is actuated); a post that gets the start signal from the starter button to actuate the solenoid; and another post to ground the solenoid windings. On my post-war car, the Sisson choke wire connects to the heavy post that goes to the starter windings, so that when the starter is running the choke partially closes the choke plate (the rest of the closing depends on engine temperature). When the starter stops running, the Sisson choke reverses its action.

Regarding electrically operated power steering, I looked into that. The unit has to be weather-protected, which means in the cabin, under the dash. The unit has to be in line with the steering shaft, although U-joints can change the shaft alignment and location,somewhat. Besides requiring alteration of the steering column, which would have to be done anyway, I saw no way to keep the gearshift shaft. Then there was the price, which as my mother would say, was quite dear.

I just put a Pertronix igniter and coil in my 47 DeSoto. Of course, take the distributor out. Supposedly, you can mark the minor adjustment to get the dizzy back in the right place. The condenser, points, and related wire come out. The ground wire from the breaker plate to the body can stay. The igniter sits where the capacitor sat. The eccentric screw was in the way. I couldn't figure how to get that screw out, so I Dremeled part of the head off. Two wires have to come out of the dizzy. I cut a small chunk out of the grommet, and removed the big screw where the wire to the coil attached. The black wire goes back to the power source (ignition switch, etc.) and the black-white wire goes to the (-) post of the coil. Then a wire goes from the (+) post to ground. This is different from the conventional ignition, where the points interrupt the grounded side of the primary circuit. My semi-automatic transmission requires a wire from the PRI post of the transmission relay to the dizzy, to interrupt the ignition momentarily, for upshifting. For the Pertronix, per their technical advice, I had to place a 7-ohm resistor in series, and run the wire to the (-) post, not the (+) post. I tried to get the dizzy back in its original position, but it was a bit off time, so the car ran poorly, but it wouldn't quit. It would almost die, but fire up again. The Pertronix must have been working overtime. Apparently the dizzy was too far advanced. I retarded it some, and the engine runs fine, aside from maybe a sticking valve. (It's always something.) The vacuum runs about 15 now, instead of 19, but that may be because I also replaced the PCV valve, which had become mostly plugged. And the needle has a small bounce, probably from the sticking valve. So, I think I'm happy with the Pertronix. I have hedged my bet, and boxed up the conventional points and coil, with instructions of what goes where. I hear that this is a wise precaution.

I put power steering in my 47 DeSoto Suburban. Quite a project. Here's a very brief summary: Steering column: Cut and support the jacket near the firewall, keeping the shifting linkage. Provide a brush and sleeve contact for the horn wire. Cut the steering shaft and have a splined end welded in. Add U-joints and shaft. (This would have to be done for converting to rack-and-pinion, also.) Steering gear: I went with early 70's GM box, to match the splines of the existing pitman arm. Some guys have gone to rack and pinion, maybe OK for a car lighter than mine. Steering pump: I relocated the alternator, added a bracket for the new power steering pump, and figured how to add a pulley to the crank. I moved the fan and radiator forward to clear the new pulley and belt. A lot of work, but it works; sweet. I reported my saga to the National DeSoto Club, and they published a summary in their March-April 2015 "DeSoto Adventures" magazine. I also have a six-chapter report available for the stout-hearted. PM me if you are still interested. Another solution to the hard steering problem is to get narrow tires, like in the day, and a suicide knob. Let the car creep forward or backward while cranking on the steering wheel. Ungh!

From the distant past: seat track 2005, 12/10 DonaldSmith Thanks to steve m, OXU762X29@aol.com for sending seat track, some door cylinders and door strike. Mailing token of appreciation. Used ball bearings from his track. Description: Track formed from two heavy gauge pieces, "CL" shape, with top of C touching the L. Pieces rotated 180 degrees to each other, forming two outer races for small ball bearings and middle race for large ones. Each end has two small bearings and one large one. Travel of small balls limited by indentations in track. Travel of large balls restricted by heads of bolts to the seat, and heads of rivets that attach track to base that bolts to floor. Disassembly: Remove lever from the handle on side of seat to latch under track. Drill out rivet that connects lever to latch. Slide track toward each extreme position, and push out upper bolts at ends. Drill out 4 rivets that attach base to track, making room for large ball to move. (If large balls do not come out, drive large balls to center of track, to provide slack for popping out small balls. 3/8 drive extension works well. Small balls visible in their race. Use large screwdriver or similar to pry tracks apart and pop the balls out. With small balls out, the pieces will separate, releasing the large balls.) Assembly: Sort of reverse of disassembly. Connect track to base with No. 10 machine screws at two middle holes. Leave end holes open. Grease the race surfaces of track. Grease four small balls to hold them in place. Slip two pieces of track together. Tape them, so they won't separate. Drive large ball in each end. Slide track toward each extreme, and install seat bolt and the end bolt to the base. Draw seat bolt home with nut and washer, so square end fits in square hole.

Those hood ornaments are heavier that you would imagine. Seriously ,the wheels do tilt inward when the car is raised, like when you jack the car up, so the tilting should not be not a problem.

Is this the old problem of a non-vented gas cap? Easy enough to check.

I found a photo of the left side of an M6. It's small, but it shows wiring going across the cross member to a switch by the shift levers.

My shop manual shows a black & yellow wire from the lamp and a red wire to a power source. Look for a switch at the transmission with wires those colors. It may be on the left side. The shop manual shows the solenoid, governor and the interrupter switch on the right side, but shows no view of the left side. I have the earlier semi-automatic, so I can't check it on my car. I think my era car had a manual backup switch for an accessory backup light. The driver would have to remember to turn it off. I was able to add a switch to my transmission linkage. The light comes on whenever I pull the lever toward me, which I do only when I shift into reverse. If I had a manual transmission, I would have to add a switch to the other linkage, so that the light would not come on when the lever is in first gear. Here's my setup:

Try the transmission.

How many of us have just swatted our screen?

I did run across this: The Amazing English Language Perhaps you want to write the right way, or you have read what you can read below. If you ever feel stupid, then just read on. If you've learned to speak fluent English, you must be a genius! This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave. Peruse at your leisure, English lovers. Reasons why the English language is so hard to learn: 1) The bandage was wound around the wound. 2) The farm was used to produce produce. 3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse. 4) We must polish the Polish furniture. 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out. 6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert. 7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present. 8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum. 9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. 10) I did not object to the object. 11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid. 12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row. 13) They were too close to the door to close it. 14) The buck does funny things when the does are present. 15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line. 16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow. 17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail. 18) After a number of injections my jaw got number. 19) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear. 20) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests. 21) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend? There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. Quicksand works slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it? Is it an odd, or an end? If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out, and in which, an alarm goes off by going on. English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible. P.S. - Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick"?

Advertising cockroaches - The ambiguity of our language. Are they advertising cockroaches? I think pflaming means that there are there cockroaches in the advertisings. The headline game- take a headline one word at a time and try to make sense of it. Maybe by the fifth or sixth word we can figure out which word was the subject, which was an adverb, or adjective, or the verb. An example escapes me. I once had a collection of confusing headlines. If I can find some, I'll post them.

I've been called the "Cookie Monster", but there may be more than one such fiend entitled to such a moniker. On the one side of our house, the fence is only four feet high, so we have become good friends with our neighbors on that side. When their older daughter was two, she wandered through a gap in the fence and became quite at home in our yard. Tomorrow is a party for her fifth birthday, and we are invited. Her younger sister, two-and-a-half, has followed in her footsteps and is hard on her heels. Since the original wandering into our yard, the girls have frequently requested to come inside our house, and to go into the basement family room, with its stash of vintage kiddie toys in the toy room under the steps. After playing a bit, they meekly ask, "May we please have a cookie?" My wife then thaws a plate of chocolate chip cookies which we all share, except for her. At times there is fear that a Cookie Monster has cleaned out the supply, but my wife always has a bag in reserve. The house on the other side of us has a high privacy fence, so we didn't get to know them very well.

Don C: I suppose you think that, because you have made some helpful comments, you should share in the compensation receivable from the idiot who installed my carb wires wrong. Hmm... In view of the technical and humorous contributions you have made to the forum, from which I have benefited, I have decided to send you a token of appreciation, or four tokens. Check your mail in the next few days, not the e-mail, the snail-mail. You can't send cookies by e-mail. (My wife bakes cookies despite being celiac; she is not supposed to eat them herself. I have to be the official tester, but I step up to the plate.)