DonaldSmith

Looking up Jiffy Jet Windshield Washer, I was informed that the imperial club downloads may contain dangerous stuff. Anyone know what's going on? I've downloaded really helpful technical booklets in the past.

My 47 DeSoto is running happily on its 6 volt positive setup. Leave well enough alone? But- my son got me a Garmin, which works on 12 volts, not to mention other modern accessories. (I can't think of any, so I won't mention them.) Am I really going to drive the DeSoto far enough that I would need the Garmin? Never mind. We don't have to be practical to play mind games. I have a spare 6 volt battery to play with. What if? What if? If I converted the car to 6 volt negative ground, I could add the other 6 volt battery in series, to get 12 volts negative ground, for the Garmin, etc. The 12 volt circuit would share the same negative ground. The starter, lights, etc. would remain 6 volts. I would have to trickle charge the second battery occasionally, depending on usage. What to change? Reverse the gas gauge wires and the ammeter wires. Starters, wiper motors and fans don't care about the polarity. Something about how the motor is wound determines its direction. The radio? I checked the circuitry on my Colonial 602, and I didn't see any diodes in the 6-volt circuit. The high voltage circuit is negative ground anyway. (I found that out when I blew out some large capacitors, thinking that they should be positive ground.) I remember reading that Chrysler provided police cars in negative ground because that's what the Motorola radios took. Those radios must have been polarity sensitive. The charging circut? Hmm... Does the generator's output polarity depend on the polarity of the field circuit? (the thin green wire at the generator) Does the regulator care what the polarity it is? Does the coil care? Has anyone changed the polarity while maintining 6 volts? What does it take?

The didn't have the permanent magnet technology that we have today. The big, heavy thing at the back of the speaker is an electromagnet, powered by the car's 6 volt battery. Modern speakers have permanent magnets so they don't need that third wire. I took a speaker out of an old stereo set the kids left here. It works without the 6 volt power.

On a four-door hardtop like the "57 Chev shown, the reason that the back edge of the rear door extends back behind the edge of the roof is to make room for the door glass to do its little dance when opening. The rear glass had to extend forward to meet the front door glass, so in opening, it backs up while it lowers. Once the front of the glass clears the front of the rear door shell, the glass can lower all the way. Then the front of the glass drops faster than the rear, and the glass tucks itself into the door shell. It took GM some special geometry of the roof and the glass linkage to do the trick. 1956 was the big year for 4-door hardtops. Ford managed to do it too. In 1956, Chrysler used the basic four-door roof shape, so they had to do some tricks to make the rear door glass work. Basically the glass was in two overlapping pieces. The '57 Caddys and Buicks had a little wing at the back of the door that the glass retreated int when it opened. I took a keen interest in those things back then. Daddy had a cream over blue Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday 4-door hardtop. Beautiful car.

Or maybe it was the nostagiaair site.

Was it last August? I replaced the capacitors in my radio and rejuvenated the vibrator. The trick is to run house current (120 volt AC) through the vibrator, in series with a 40 watt light bulb. I guess that reduces the voltage and maybe acts as a buffer. The AC gets the points moving, and the high voltage burns off the crap. I used an old drill motor cord with switch, so I could intermittently jazz the vibrator with the AC. (Be sure to tape uo the connections - their house voltage.) It took a couple of shots, and the vibrator worked for a while during bench testing. It quit, but another session worked for good, and the radio has been working since. I think it was the antique radio site that helped me with technical issues.

My dual heater setup has the cowl vent to let air in to the plenum and from there into the heaters or to the cabin. A "weather door", operated by the smaller of the two levers under the dash, lets fresh fresh air from the plenum directly into the cabin... "Danger, Will Robinson!" Rain will get in through the weather door if it is opened when the cowl vent is open. And the radio is right in the way. I put a plastic shield over the back of my radio when I reinstalled it. (The plastic also protects the circuit breaker I mounted no the back of the radio.) Also vulnerable below the weather door is the carpet. I made the mistake of washing the car with both the cowl vent and weather door open - once. Had to pull up the carpet to get it dry. The plenum has a drain hole at the bottom and a hose under the hood. I made sure the hjole and hose were clear. The elbow was corroded shut, so I replaced it with a copper elbow.

I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. (Hit the enter key a few times) When I start reading someone's post which is all solid words, I get to the end of the lliine and get lost trying to find the beginning of the next line. My eyes start watering and I give up. (Hit the enter key a few times) It's so much easier to read if the paragraphs are only a few lines long, with some space between them. (Hit the enter key a few times) Isn't that easier to read than if everything is run together? (Hit the enter key a few times) I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. When I start reading someone's post which is all solid words, I get to the end of the lliine and get lost trying to find the beginning of the next line. My eyes start watering and I give up. It's so much easier to read if the paragraphs are only a few lines long, with some space between them. I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. When I start reading someone's post which is all solid words, I get to the end of the lliine and get lost trying to find the beginning of the next line. My eyes start watering and I give up. It's so much easier to read if the paragraphs are only a few lines long, with some space between them. I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. I'm getting old, and the eyes aren't as good as they used to be. When I start reading someone's post which is all solid words, I get to the end of the lliine and get lost trying to find the beginning of the next line. My eyes start watering and I give up. It's so much easier to read if the paragraphs are only a few lines long, with some space between them. Give up?

Right.

I have a few pictures; I can PM them to you.

Several years ago I used hardware gasket, pieced together, for my cowl vent. I have the drain tube in the air box, so if the cowl vent leaks a little, I don't know it. Recently I made sure the drain hose is not plugged. I replaced a rusted and partially clogged steel elbow with a copper one. A few weeks ago I recounted my adventures checking my windshield seals with the cowl vent and air door open. Bad. Tip to the not-so-swift: close the cowl vent when it's raining or when you are washing the car. I made a plastic shield for the back of my radio, so that in the event water does get in, it won't damage the radio, or short out the circuit breaker that I mounted to the radio bracket.

JD, (When you read "JD", imagine that it's Uncle Jessie of the ?Dukes of Hazzard speaking.) JD, you had the luxury of fixing your car beside the road without having the wife doing a slow burn while you were planning and executing your masterful repairs. Circumstances dictated that your wife flew while you drove. Or did you plan it that way? My wife won't go any distance with me in the DeSoto. Strike one was running out of gas on the way home from a DeSoto meet. An hour, plus, with only imrpovised rest room facilities. Strike 2 was blowing the engine on the way to another meet. She got to ride in the cab of the flatbed, while I got the skyline view in the DeSoto. Since then, I've been fouling them off. - Granddaaughter's inertia made the middle seat lurch on its tracks, making a real scarey sound (Scared grandma, not granddaughter; concerned me, till I found out what the noise was). - Gas gauge reads zero until it warms up (I think I explained it adequately). - Klunk-o-matic made some indecisive but loud sounds as it attempted an upshift. (Hasn't done it since; may check the transmission oil level some day.)

What a roadside repair! Sounds like a real adventure. I'm glad you made it back, and didn't have to ride a flatbed home. Been there, done that. Glad we could meet.

I copied an article some time ago about Dodge fluid drives making noise when the clutch pedal is depressed. They talk about the "runner hub rear bearing", and removing the transmission to grease it. Put the grease on the end of a 10-inch stick and stick it. (I'm paraphrasing, to add an element of coarseness to the discourse.) Don't get grease on the clutch lining.

From Saturday, August 18, Woodward Avenue: 50 dodge in one of those expensive rented roadside spaces; postpwar plymouth, chopped top; 48 Desoto, in a see of shiny roofs (Northbound Woodward) (OK, how do you guys post a big photo, write some more, post another photo, etc? The paper clip only lets me post thubnails.)

My camera took the photo at 2272 x 1704. The last time I reduced it by 16 percent, to fit within 620 x 280, actually 373 x 280. this time I reduced it by 50 percent. Let's see, boys and girls, what happens: Hmm... didn't show up on the preview. Let's post it and see...

Here goes, with the photos from my camera: 1. Don's DeSoto and and John's Plymouth. 2, John's engine. 3. John's dashboard. 4. Don and John standing at John's car. (Why stand in front of the car and block the view?) (I gotta figure how to get the photos larger. They're at max size per the paperclip thing.)

jd52cranbrook (John Davies) took me up on my invitation to swing by when doing the DreamCruise. He and his wife stopped by this evening, and we admired each other's cars. I've got the huge DeSoto Suburban and he has the cool 52 plymouth sedan. We had a good visit. I'm glad they could swing by. John's been doing the DreamCruise since 2000. I'll see how many photos I can manage to post. OH, I forgot how. It's late. I'll try again tomorrow.

It doesn't really matter. What matters is where the rotor is pointing in relation to the plug wires. Usually plug wire No. 1 is at 7:00, and the rotor of of course points to 7:00 when the No. 1 piston is at or near top dead center (TDC) at the end of its compression stroke and beginning of its power stroke. (Read squeeze, bam.) The rotor goes around once for every two engine revolutions. The trick is verifying that the piston is TDC after the compression stroke. With a thumb over the plug hole, you will feel the compression as the piston rises. If you're 180 degrees off, no compression. Pistons 1 and 6, and other pairs, are at TDC at the same time, but only one is at the end of its compression stroke. My rotor is 180 degrees off, but so are the wires, with No. 1 where 6 should be, and so forth. It works. I'll leave it for now. If your rotor is 180 degrees off, you can pull the distributor up an inch or so, rotate the shaft 180 degrees, and lower the distributor to seat the end of the shaft in the slot.

Southwest of Woodward and 12 Mile. Anybody want to drop by? Send me personal message.

Must be air conditoning and refrigeration lingo, like in a building.

Somewhere I heard that an adventure is something that turns out unexpectedly because it was not adequately planned. Had to tune up my car before next weekend. My 47 DeSoto was running like crap. (technical term for $hitty.) At least the tailpipe was not sucking in the glove I held over the end, but the glove was flapping. Some time ago it would suck in a bill, but the hanging valves must have loosend up. I tightened the manifold nuts, to rule out manifold leaks. The nuts in the middle were loose. I removed the carb to remove the upper heat shield, to get at some of the nuts. The carb was loose, too. I crawled under the car and tightened the legendary thirteenth manifold nut. The vacuum gauge reading was good, but still some stumbling. (Tip to the not-so-swift: When you remove your vacuum gauge, plug up the pipe the hose was on, or the engine will really run like crap, if it runs at all.) Took the distributor out, to adjust the points. There was some minor roughness at the points, but no real burning or deposits. I filed the points and set them. An eccentric screw helps move the points for adjusting, after the lockdown screw is loosened. I set the points and then overtightened the lockdown screw and stripped something. (Somewhere in there is another tip to the not-so-swift.) Took the distributor to the bench and removed the plate that the points are mounted on. Luckily it was the the screw that was stripped, not the plate. Found a matching screw and cut it to length. Put everything back together and set the points. Distributor is 180 degrees off, with No. 1 at 1:00. Considered setting it right, but the plug wires not the right length. Will defer until the next set of plug wires. Went to a local car parts chain for plugs, anyone's but Champion. They had some AC Delco that were black, looked wierd. Went to another chain and got Autolite 258 plugs. (Lawn motor type.) Put them in, worked fine, but they are so short I had to cut about 5/16" off the silicone boots on the plug wires. Also 3/4" hex rather than 13/16, but what do you want on a Saturday evening when the good parts places are closed? You know, the places that have listings for 47 DeSotos. Besides, they were only a buck and a half each. So the car is running well enough that I can drive around in high range, leave the Fluid Drive clutch out at stops, start up with out stalling, and experience the mystical Tip-Toe upshift. I even cruised Woodward Avenue here in beautiful Berkley, Michigan, just across from Royal Oak. We are a week away from the annual Woodward DreamCruise, but the classic cars cruising Woodward each evening are getting as thick as flies on $... Each evening, people are out watching the cars. I'll have some family here this weekend. We can watch the Friday night parade and the all-day saturday DreamCruise. I'll even venture out with my 1947 DeSoto Custom Suburban 8-passenger sedan.

This tale takes the long way around, sort of like working on an old car. When I removed the windshield molding, to remove the headliner, to re-wire the cabin, I noticed a brown stain had migrated from the windshield and down the instrument panel. The stain was water soluble. Rust? But dark. Before replacing the molding, I water-tested the windshield and found a leak at the divider bar. I removed the inner and outer bar, applied clear glazing sealant to the gasket adn outer bar stop the leak, and reinstalled the bars. I water-tested the windshield again, and then noticed that the carpet was soaked. Tip to the not-so-swift: Close the cowl vent, or at least the fresh air intake under the dashboard, before water testing the windshield. After removing the carpet, drying it and re-installing it, I concentrated on the radio. Radio to-do-list: 1) Make a water shield for the back of the radio and for the circuit breaker I added, for protection from the air intake and cowl vent which are just above the rear of the radio. Old rust in the radio casing was testament that this wasn't the first time water came in the vent. 2) Take the front of the radio off and re-set the dial pointer. 3) Play with a stereo speaker abandoned by one of the kids, to replace the Mopar speaker which had one too many punctures through the cone. Sounded funny when the volume was turned up. While I had the radio out to re-set the pointer, I fashioned a water shield from a sheet of gasket paper, and secured it with one of the screws of the radio case. Then I layered clear shipping tape over the gasket paper. That takes care of 1) and 2). Of course there were two attempts to reset the pointer to get it close enough, and several trial fits of the radio, so that the circuit breaker which I added at the bracket would not interfere with the mounting bolt. I hooked up the new speaker temporarily. It worked. I removed the old speaker from the car. (Should have removed it one of the times the radio was out today.) To the bench! I removed the old cone, drilled out the rivets and removed the large, heavy electromagnet. I snuggled the new 4" speaker within the metal shell of the old one, and bolted it in place. I salvaged and reconnected the plug. The modified speaker assembly, being less bulky, went in more easily than the old one came out. It works, sounds good, and didn't costy anything. My kind of project.

Need some dial cord? I have 17 ft left from the 25 ft roll I bought for my recent radio restoration. I offered to donate the cord to nostalgia air, but have not heard back. If they don't want it, it's yours for the asking. I shocked my vibrator to life by running 120 v through a 40 watt bulb in series. I had saved the cord from an old electric drill, complete with trigger. I could blast the vibrator for a few seconds at a time, and with the trigger off I wouldn't have any live connections. The AC current gets the points moving, and the high voltage burns off the crud. It took a few treatments, but the vibrator is still working. I saved the drill cord, in the event the vibrator poops out again. Did you get those schematics from Nostalgia air? Those for my model were from a radio bible by John F Rider, and included diagrams on how to string the dial cord. I got my vibrator running, replaced the paper and electrolytic capacitors, and after a few false starts got the radio running, without any new tubes. But I had bought some tubes anyway. If you need any, I have two 7A7s and one 7Q7. I was always going to try to fix my radio some day, if only l had an adequate power supply for bench testing. I had once used a lantern battery to work on an auto clock, but that battery didn't last long. So my radio repair odyssey started with a bargain battery from Sam's club. That gave me power for bench testing. I wired in a 15 amp breaker. Worked fine. Good luck.