DonaldSmith

I'm hoping you'll get a SPARK of inspiration.

Thanks for the photos. The first two photos show the back roller. The third photo shows the front roller free from the channel, like mine. The fourth photo shows good and bad springs for the front roller. Which is which? I found my front roller spring, and it is broken in two. Also the axle of the roller is worn almost in half, from the spring. Is there anything to hold the front roller in place? Or do you put in the roller when you install the glass in the door? I removed and replaced all four windows when I weatherstripped the doors, but I don't remember loose rollers. Aside from the spring, I may have an issue where the back of the glass is supposed to ride in the weatherstripped channel. I remember for other doors putting weatherstrip only in the top part of the guide channel below the beltline, but I have weatherstrip in the full length of this channel. Hmmm. So, I'm looking for another spring, and roller.

I sent my cracked front door glass to a glass shop several months ago, and they re-installed the glass channel and divider to the glass. This is a post-war DeSoto, where the vent window is attached to the garnish molding, and the divider between the vent and the window glass goes up and down with the glass. The glass channel at the bottom of the glass has two rollers, each with a pair of flanged wheels on an axle. The flanges ride between the sides of the guide channels. Strong springs at the rollers keep the glass in proper front-back location. The front roller wanted to come out. I held it against the spring with some thin wire. I installed the glass, but had problems getting the garnish molding and vent window on. I left it alone during the recent cold weather. Today, with the temps in the 40's, I had at it again. After numberous attempts, I could not adjust the glass to clear the back of the vent window. I noticed that the rear roller was pushing the glass forward, but the front roller was not pushing back. I took out the glass and noticed the spring for the front roller is gone. Does anyone have any parts that would help? Got an extra front door glass channel with the rollers and springs? Know anyone who might have one?

A few decades ago, my dad built a cabin in the upper part of the lower peninsula of Michigan. (Pretend your right hand is Michigan, with the palm facing you. His cottage is around the second knuckle of the ring finger.) Although the frost can get 3-1/2 ft deep or more, he built on well-drained sandy soil, and did not need deep footings. If there is no water in the soil, there is no frost heave. Around here in southeast Michigan, the frost can get down to 3-1/2 ft, and we are pretty sure the soil gets saturated. We have to go below the frost line even with fence posts, or the posts heave out of the ground. You can tell who took shortcuts putting in their fence.

Aero, jump a hot wire to the pot. (Maybe disconnect the present wire from pot, so it won't do something screwy, like trying to crank the engine. The starter solenoid has a contact, to power the choke pot while the starter is cranking.) When you jump a hot wire to the pot, the arm and link to the choke plate should move, and move the choke plate maybe half way. If the circuit from the starter solenoid is not working, the choke is not getting the last half of its movement. I just wanted to say, good luck, we're all counting on you.

Do you have a choke "pot" that sits on the manifold? When the manifold is cold, the bimetallic spring closes the choke only half way. When you crank the starter, a solenoid is supposed to close the choke all the way. After you finish cranking, the solenoid releases. As the manifold warms up, the choke opens all the way.

For my DeSoto, at a local flooring place I found a car and boat carpet that was a close match to the original hogshair carpet, with tight loops and promiment rows. (Fair-Way Tile and Carpet, Clawson, Michigan, 248.588.4429, a small outfit with excellent reputation.)

Before i couldnt spell arkitek. Now I are one. (Old joke) I have to know how to spell and compose a sentence. I am an architect and specifications writer. I spent 41 years at one firm that gradually shrank from 65 persons to a handful. After writing specs full-time for a dozen years, I spent some of the time for the last 25 years managing projects. A year ago I went to a firm as full-time spec writer, but the hit fit the shan, with the economy, and I was laid off near the end of last year. But I still work there part-time, as needed. I was going to go into work today to wrap up a small spec, but the information from the owner wasn't there yet, and besides the roads are in lousy shape. I'll go in to work tomorrow. I suppose I could retire, but not ready to.

Yep, got in touch with Don C, and then met the guys at the POC meet in Auburn Hills and Troy, Michigan, north of Detroit. I parked my beast outside the POC limits during the official proceedings, along with a Studebaker Hawk and a few other jems. After the show, I hung out with the boys, and we lined up our cars for photos. I live in Berkley, about 4 miles north of Detroit, near Woodward Avenue, which has a million or so visiters every August for the Woodward DreamCruise.

Recently my 03 Venture did the same things my daughter's Silhouette used to do- lack of heat; temp gauge spiking and going down again. Every so often, her van would cut back the speed because the engine was getting too hot. Her brother-in-law garage guy tried replacing thermostats, etc.,to no avail. Finally they traded in their van on a Honda. I have more than 90,000 miles on my Venture , but I'm going to keep it running. I bit the bullet and took my mini-vanto the local garage guys, who have a decent reputation. The (plastic) intake gaskets were shot. New ones, with labor, cost over $700. But the new gaskets are metal, and should last. How many GM minivans hit the dust because of penny-wise intake gaskets? Hmmm? So if you are losing coolant, look into gasket leaks as the cause.

I pulled my radio file. The site that had so much useful information is www.nostalgiaair.org. They have an Antique Radio Technical Forum, and they also had four pages of schematics for my Mopar 602, which was made by Colonial Radio. Look inside the case of your radio for some labels to identify the manufacturer and model. (My wife was looking over my shoulder when I wrote this. She thinks it is so cool that we can help each other with this forum. I got a lot of help along the way, so I should chip in when I can be of help.)

You might want a circuit breaker or fuse in line, just to keep things from melting down. I clamped the wires to the battery posts with hose clamps. Don't forget to connect the aerial and speaker. I went through the whole process. I woke up the vibrator with intermittent jolts of 120 volt AC current, using an old cord and switch from a power drill. I replaced the capacitors. I blew out some big capacitors by connecting them with the wrong polarity. The radio forum guys that had been helping me gave me the dummy award. Although the case is positive ground for the 6 volt circuits, it's negative ground for the high voltage side. Bummer. Blew out five bucks worth of capacitors. It still would not work. I reported the voltages at the pins of the tubes to the radio forum, and the word came back that there was a short somewhere. I found a short between the the volume wire and its coax sheath. I fixed that, and two guys on the radio started yelling. Success! Jump for joy!

I searched Checker Car images and found two photos of models of Checkers of that vintage. I haven't mastered how to post a photo.

Checker?

Named after a well-endowed celebrity from the early 50's or so.

I used my floor jack, with a short handle I had fabricated, to remove the transmission. It worked OK, until I discovered that I had strapped the emergency cable to the tranny. When I released the strap, the tranny rolled off the jack. When I reinstalled the tranny, I strapped it down really well to the jack, but the tranny hit the exhaust pipe and rolled off the jack. Harbor FreigHt, help! They have an adaptor to fit a floor jack, but their adaptor would be too high. This called for a trip to Ace hardware. I removed the swiveling thing from the top of the jack, and measured the diameter of the shaft that fits into the jack. I got a cast iron coupling for 1/2" pipe, a close nipple, (now, guys...) and a floor flange. After trial and error I ground down the coupliing to fit the hole in the jack, and screwed the floor flange to the underside of a chunk of particleboard, which served as a stable platform for the tranny. It worked well, considering the usual grief in aligning and slipping in a tranny. The jack raised and lowered the tranny with precision, although at one point I had the tranny too high and the bolts turned hard. The transmission is in place now, leaving only the various things to re-connect. I took a lot of "before" photos, so that should help.

My 47 DeSoto with tiptoe trans has a 3.91 differential, numerically high, but maybe what you would consider "low". Hot off the line but reqlly cranking at road speeds. In my dreams I would have a numerically lower diffy.

I had the springies installed on the sleeve, but it looked like I would need three hands to get the fork and sleeve installed in the bellhousing. The fork has to go over a ball seat, and at the sleeve, the ends of the springs have to be pulled open to get the ends of the fork in. Pliers almost worked, but I needed to pull back both springs at the same time. Retiring from under the car, I worked a dowel through the large loop of one spring, over the end of the sleeve, pulled the other spring open with pliers. and forced the other end of the dowel under that spring, too. With the fork and sleeve installed, and the ends of the springs in the right location, I broke and removed the dowel, and the springs seated on the ends of the fork. Now, I'm sure there's some special tool to do this, but I got by with an expendable piece of dowel. Oh, Don Coatney, your springies "are in the mail".

I installed two of the new springies to the sleeve in about half a minute. I hammered the straight ends down into the grooves provided for them. Don, I have two springies left, which I can mail you, once I make sure I don't break any in reinstalling the sleeve and fork. But installation should be simple enough. Send me a PM with your address. Gee, I hadn't thought of buying the whole box and getting in the springie business. It could be the start of a career, or a hobby. If I don't make any money, it's a hobby. This morning I re-visited Quality Clutches, Dearborn Heights, Michigan, 313.277.1780. The guy saw the sleeve and asked "Didn't the springs work?" I explained that I had forgotten to have him look at the release bearing, which seemed to have a lot of play. He examined it and determined it was not bad at all. It's a self-centering bearing, so there's some play in it. More good news!

Found a clutch place near Detroit that has those little springs for the release bearing sleeve, that hold the ends of thefork against the sleeve. (Tried to attach a photo) Quality Clutches, Inc, 22345 W. Warren St., Dearborn Heights, Michigan, 313.277.1780. They listened to what I wanted, and said to briing in the sleeve and they would see what they had. I did; they did. I showed the guy the sleeve with the broken springs, and he went to a box full of springs on the counter behind him. He had always wondered what they were for. I told him I wouldn't charge for the lesson, and he said he wouldn't charge for the dust. He figured they shoudn't cost much. I offered him a dollar for two. He threw in two extra, in case I broke one. Fir enough. It made my day. Fort Wayne clutch had the whole bearing assembly for $69, and they were going to look around to see if they had an old sleeve with the springs on it. Maybe I'll call them and tell them where they can get the springs. Now I'll go looking for a bearing, since the one on the sleeve has some play in it.

Yep, the horn wire runs down the hollow shaft and through the steering gear, on my 47 DeSoto.

Oh, you guys probably thought I was saying something else, like fudge. I removed the bell housing, clutch fork assembly and release bearing. The release bearing pullback spring is broken. It may have been one piece but it now is two, neither part with enough left to hold the ends of the fork against the sleeve. I'll call some clutch places tomorrow. Also, the bearing seems wobbly. It's a BCA 1872-1. Tomorrow I attack the motor mounts.

Today I pulled the tip-toe tranny (that's short for transmission, for you newbies on the forum) from my 47 DeSoto. Why? I'll get to that later. Too "thrifty" to buy a transmission jack for a one-time job, I took a hard look at my 2-ton floor jack. It's strong, pumps up quick, and can be lowered slowly and precisely. Only problem: the handle is too long to work under the car. I got a 10-inch length of 1-inch pipe, and ground down the end till it fit the jack. I fitted a small bolt across the end of the pipe to work the hydraulic valve, just like the long handle does. The jack worked OK, with a few problems. First, there was a sawcut joint in the floor just where the small wheels of the jack fell. Had to get the BFH and pry bar to help it along. Second, when I strapped the tranny to the jack, I snagged the parking brake cable. The tranny would only go so far back before I had to release the strap. I didn't quite get the strap tight again, so the tranny rolled off the jack. But those things are rugged (the jeck and thr tranny). I'll really strap the tranny down when I go to reinstall it. Why take the tranny out? As I look back on the engine rebuild of a few years ago, I am haunted by a few things: Did I put that mythical gasket between the tranny and bell housing? (Turns out, no! There's oil all over the underside of the tranny.) What about the broken end of that strange springy thingy on the clutch release lever/throw out bearing pullback thing? Is that why the car goes "wump, wump, wump" when the car rolls backward with the clutch engaged? (I'll still have to pull out and replace that strange spring.) And why is it such a b*tch to remove the tranny? It fights the floor hump all the way back. Are the rear motor mounts too thick? (A quarter inch too thick would make the rear of the transmission 3/8" too high.) I have to remove the bell housing to have at the motor mounts. But I want things right. Someday I'll be the PO (previous owner, sometimes synonymous with SOB); I don't want the new owner to have some of the problems that I have run into. I want to leave this DeSoto better than when I got it.

I saw with great interest the recent thread, "gm tilt with stock steering box". I printed out the article on RB's Save-A-Column kit. Their bearing kit works in a shortened stock column, for adding u-joints, etc. In the article, they philosophically decided that they did not need a functional horn button on the wheel, since they could not have it that way with the Save-A-Column setup. Huh? Maybe the problem is in the alteration of the end of the hollow steering shaft. They turned down a solid bar to fit inside the shaft, and put flat spots on the bar to fit the universal joint setup. No hole through the bar for the horn wire to run down. How is the horn circuit arranged in a modern car? Are the u-joints hollow for a horn wire to run all the way through? While I await the knowlegeable response of the forum members, I'll sneek out and have a look at my Venture and Taurus, if I can even see the bottom of the steering shaft.

Frank, you're spoiling my mind games! All the other old car guys have bear claw latchsets. But I have three-point seat belts in the front and lap belts in the rear, so I won't fall out if the car gets hit and the door pops open. I may upgrade to retracting belts up front and move the three-points to the middle seat. Now the anchorage is at the top of the B post, where there's a lot of metal, but the belts hang over the coach lights and fancy hand grips. I may fashion new anchor points for the front and middle seat belts. I disturbed the headliner anyway to re-wire the cabin, so maybe I'll put in the anchors and then a new headliner. A different mind game. Yes, some of my doors do not latch each time they are closed. they seem to bounce back every other time. I'll try lubricating the latchsets and I'll check for hinge wear. To secure the beltline weatherstripping, I used stainless steel No. 4 x 1/4" pan head sheet metal screws, into the garnish molding and into the stainless steel trim on the outside. At the outside trim I located the screws to coincide with gaps in the door edge, which may be there for the weatherstripping clips for cars where there is no trim. I installed weatherstripping about four years ago, using Restoration Specialties' best. For the channel weatherstripping below the beltline, I used the same size as above the beltline. The flanged wheels ride between the sides of the steel channel and the back of the legs of the weatherstripping channel. It works.