DonaldSmith

A few years ago, I separated the faceplate from my radio when I was playing with a new dashboard. before installing the new dashboard in the car. I cut a few wires from the faceplate casting to the radio chassis. The faceplate looked sweet in the disembodied dash. Later I regretted separating the faceplate when I went to repair the radio, but I was able to re-connect the wires. The coax wire to the volume control was tricky. I had the radio almost woriking, but something was shorted out. The short was where I had splliced the coax cable. I removed the short, and the radio blared to life.

The sidewall grinding and painting look like things I could do on the cheap. I looked up tirepaint dot net, and had to search for white sidwall paint. That led me to a Ranger Tir paint site. $9.00 worth is supposed to be good for three coats. Is that for one tire? Has anybody gone the grinding or painting route?

Gee, dezeldoc, your shoe matches the heat riser spring and work table finish. It must be a venerable pair of sneakers that have gained their patina through honest labors.

The weather has been nice the last few days, and Summer is coming, with a few car shows on the agenda. Time to go over the combination To-Do List and Wish List, and cross a few things off. I had just installed my extra battery for a 12 volt power source, for GPS and cell phone, when I saw someone list a PCV system as a most important upgrade. I figured I could do a PCV system in short order. For the PCV system, I pretty much followed a January, 2005 post by Dwayne that I had saved. The fitting at the block is a 1-inch pipe cap and short length of pipe, held in place with the original bolt. A street ell tapped into the cap leads to 3/8-inch tubing to the PCV valve, which screws into 1/8-inch pipe fittings connecting to the manifold, with a tee for attching a vacuum gauge. I also closed off the oil filler cap, tapped the oil filler tube, and ran 3/8-inch tubing to the clean side of the air cleaner. After several trips to the hardware store, and trips back and forth to the shop to fashion pieces, it is done. Now I'm polluting at half the rate. Then this morning I received a call from the Previous Owner of my 47 DeSoto Suburban. He was in town, and had the spare wheel he had offered to give me. He dropped off the wheel, inspected the car and all I had done, and then we had a good visit with coffee and car photos. He is so impressed with all that I have done with the car that he would like first right of refusal if I go to sell it. But then I would be the Previous Owner. Now I have a wheel to paint, and the tire issue to mull over (WWW, cheapies, or no new tires at all). The Previous Owner's opinion is that since the tires have been kept out of the sun they should be all right. Hmmm. Mull, mull, mull,....

Sorry, no photos. I fixed my manifolds four years ago, before I entered the digital age.

I used the spring from an outdoor thermometer as the maniifold heat riser spring. It works just fine. Of course, I had to buy another outdoor thermometer.

I have a spare 6V battery, which I bought a few years ago for bench-testing my radio. Since I have the extra battery anyway, I figured out how to use it to provide 12V negative ground for cell phones, GPS, etc. I mounted the extra battery on the right inner fender, like the main battery is on the left. I made sure it cleared the radiator hose elbow and some tubing. I added a metal shield to the bottom of the battery tray and up the one side, since the exhaust manifold is so close. I connected the negative post of the extra battery to ground, and the positive post to the center of the new power outlet. Power from the main battery goes to the shell of the outlet. (The new power outlet is is encased in rubber, so the shell is isolated, and there won't be any short circuits.) The combination provides 12V negative ground at the outlet. (Grounding the (-) of one battery and the (+) of the other is the same as connecting them together in series.) I also put a 10 amp circuit breaker on each lead of the outlet. While I was at it, I fitted both batteries with disconnect-style cable clamps. I really didn't have to to this to get the outlet, but it makes the batteries quickly interchangeable. I also fitted each battery with a connection for the trickle charger. I'll likely be charging up the extra battery every now and then.

Seems too early in the year. I would do away with daylight savings time altogether.

Yep, the link is to the C-705 gauge for the post-war through 49 1st series. The plan is of the piece before it gets bent. Cut out the metal (or foam core board) per the plan, and then bend it. (Instead of bending the foam core board, I glued layers together to get the offset. I then cut the board per the paper template, with the paper following the offset.) The C-853 gauge for the 49 2nd series and following years is different. For the 49 2nd series the re-doodled the clutch linkage and steering, to lower the body for a more modern look.

Gosh, Don, You can share my insights with the world. I get my 2-sided tables where I get most of the odd parts for my car, at the local Ace Hardware. If there's not an Ace near you, you could look on line. I think they will work equally well on 6 or 12 volts.

I've got the post-war Mopar, which has the over-center spring at about 60 degrees, almost vertical. Someone once posted a template of the C-705 gauge shown in my S-11, S-13, S-15 shop manual. I made a cardboard version, and used it successfully to adjust my clutch over-center spring. Sweet. For the 2nd Series 49s and on, the over-center spring is about 25 degrees, nearlly horizontal, and the manual calls for a C-853 gauge. Maybe someone can post a template of that gauge.

But I found a solution. Get a table that you can get to both sides. Put the upside down image on the table. Go to the other side of the table and it will appear right-side-up. I 'splain this to everyone at my archie-tekkie office, and they must think I'm brilliant. They probably talk about my brilliance when I'm out of earshot.

Ooh! Ooh! I remember now! I took the motor mounts out when the transmission was out. Otherwise, I could not have jacked up the bellhousing enough so that the tube through the upper mount would clear the crossmember. I took out the motor mounts to cobble them. For some reason the back of the transmission always seemed too high, making removal and installation extremely difficult. With the rear mounts being 2/3 the way back on the motor-trans assembly, a quarter-inch difference at the mounts would be three-eights at the back of the transmmission. On the other hand, a quarter inch difference at the front mount would mean only one-eighth inch difference at the back of the transmission. I cut out a quarter inch from each upper part of the rear mounts and added the piece to the lower mount. I took the tube-washer gizmo out of the rubber piece so I could hacksaw through the rubber.

I'm trying to remember how I removed mine and where the photos are. Is your floor panel out? You will need the clearance to get the bolt out. Then the upper mount has to come up the thickness of the lower mount so that the tube will clear. If I find my photos, I'll have more information.

I've been following another thread about rear axle swaps. The converstion seems to zero on on a 5 on 4-1/2 bolt pattern. My 47 DeSoto Suburban has 5 on 5-1/2. The bolt holes are centered on a 5-1/2" circle. Center-to-center of adjacent bolts is about 3-1/4". Center-to-center two bolts away is about 5-3/16". Is this a larger pattern than the typical Mopar of the postwar era, (since the Suburban gets all the long wheelbase equipment) or did the pattern get smaller later?

Is that a Nash truck? The rear tires are lower than the fronts. If the truck is pointing downhill, maybe it'll keep rolling on its own; you would have to point it uphill to make it come to rest. Sounds like something my Uncle Arthur would say. Uncle Arthur was my mother's brother, and they grew up in a house beside a lonely country road halfway between Welland and Fort Erie, and Buffalo beyond. They finally got electricity in the 30's, but the drinking water was collected from the roofs and stored in a cistern, and the facilities were in a little wooden shed at the edge of the yard. (To avoid late-night trips, one had chamber pots in each badroom.) Uncle Arthur was a simple fellow; he single all his life; he lived at the homestead even after grandma died. There was a machine shop attached to the house. The machines ran off large leather belts powered by an old auto engine towards the far end of the shop. Uncle Arthur could make anything, but he was still simple country folk. He drove a pre-war car most of his life, but in later years he bought a new Chevy II. The car was so fancy! He told us, "Two-speed wipers, three-speed fan, I don't know what a fellah needs all that for." Anyway, back to perpetual motion. The family were poor, German Catholics, far down the pecking order in WASP society, and she was always self-conscious over their humble, under-educated background. My father was a self-made electrical engineer who overcame his own poor background to become a professional man, driving cars like Buicks, DeSotos, and Cadillacs. My father was better educated than Uncle Arthur, but was still unable to explain convincingly to the man the laws of physics. Uncle Arthur said that if you got a flywheel heavy enough, and moving fast enough, it would spin forever; and if you made a wagon with the back wheels larger than the front, it would be pointing downhill, and would keep on rolling. My poor father just could not convince him that perpetual motion was impossible. It occurred to me years later that Uncle Arthur was just getting the engineer's goat. I think Uncle Arthur had the last laugh.

The "chemical" was CO2, carbon dioxide. It could suffocate a fire and inflate a tire.

borrom? Is that like "Deck the harrs with barrs of harry?" I meant bottom. Sometimes wer type too fadsat, I mean we type too fast. I usually proof everything carefully, and the post is letter-perfedt,except for my last revision and the title.

Yes, you gut the old air filter. Remove the mesh in the bottom and the grating or grille holding it. My oil-bath air filter had a persistent leak, so I converted it to accept a dry air cleaner. I thought I had invented something, but it seems a lot of the guys have done the same. I used tin snips to cut out the grating or grille. The new air filter fits the borrom of the housing, but at the top I cut down a coffee can with about a quarter inch rim, to fit over the air filter cartridge.

Is the sender (and gauge) two-wire (plus any ground wire)? The DeSoto two-wire gauge compares the resistance each side of the sliding contact at the sender, and makes the gauge needle conform. It sounds like your wires are reversed.

Some time ago there was a thread about tire aging and its dangerous effects; really frightening. Some tire places have been selling aging tires as new, and I've seen small tire shops where the tires are displayed outside in the sun all day. Heat and sun exposure can't be good for tires. (High speed produces heat and stress, for sure.) Some tire companies place an arbitrary six-year limit on tire life. I've heard that some vintage tire companies do something so their tires last longer. Coker says ten years max for their tires. What about tires where the car has always been stored in a garage, out of the sun, and the milage is low? I've been told not to worry about my 12 year old wide whites. They do not exhibit any cracking. Any experiences out there with old tires the cars have been stored out of the sun?

Got a bill from Money Magazine for "Previous Balance" of almost 40 bucks, for "12 issue automatic renewal subscription, while the subscription end date on the magazine label jumped from feb 09 to feb10. I called their 800 number and jumped through the hoops, only to find out that the real persons don't work there on a Saturday. I got on-line, but was given the choice only to let my subscription run out, or cancel it immediately, with no way to leave a message. So I marked up the bill "Cancel -we did not renew". We'll mail it back and see what happens.

Be sure to chock the opposite wheel, particularly when jacking up a back wheel. (Parking brake on the transmission housing, you know.)

My wide whites are 12 years old, so it's new tire time before I go any distance at any good speed. Two ideas are floating around: cheapie tires vs new wide whites, and do-it-yourself vs tire store. I think I’ve mostly talked myself out of doing it myself. I can get a Harbor Freight $50 manual tire changer, but I would still have to pay someone for tire disposal and wheel balancing. Sam’s charges $11 per tire for old tire removal and disposal and new tire mounting and balancing. Other places build these into the out-the-door price. Sam's wants $57 for a P205 75R 15 blackwall, plus the $11 for mounting, disposal, balancing, etc. With tax, that's about $288 for four, or $360 for five. That's really cheeeeep compared to new wide whites. On line, new wide whites are $150 to $250 each, plus shipping, and I would still have to have them mounted and balanced locally, and the old tires disposed of. Think a thousand bucks. (The wife is thinking Sam’s.) I also have to decide whether to get four new ones and keep the WWW spare, or get five new tires. Before I decide, I want to take a good look at the spare wheel, which has a rough finish (rusted? Welded?), and if I remember the PO telling me, the spare has a tube in it while the four tires on the road are truly tubeless. I'd like to remove the spare tire to inspect the wheel. I picked up a 24-inch tire iron from Harbor Freight, but that's only good after the bead is pushed off the rim. I cobbled up a press out of 2x4s, but the connections don't seem up to the strain. I remember in the distant past something about putting the wheel under the car and using a jack to use the weight of the car to push the bead off the rim. Anything to it? Any tricks for getting a tire off a rim?

The plastic tube conducts the light through a hole in the side of the glove box. The clock light and the glovedbox light would be on whenever the dash lights are on.