DonaldSmith

I have an extra choke cable from when I fixed the automatic choke on my DeSoto. Ithe cable is in the garage somewhere. Lemme know if you need it.

But I also have a diagram for an 804, and the vibrator connections are the same. No nibbles yet on my posting on the nostalgiaair.org forum.

Looked for legible diagram for my Mopar 602. Some antique site wanted to sell me diagrams at a buck a page, but they tipped their hand. Teh Mopar 602 is a Colonial 671A. I googled that manufacturer and number and found nostalgiaair dot org, and downloaded a 3-page pdf. Diagrams call for a R43697 vibrator, and shows 4 pins connected, ground, power, and two alternating grounds to ends of transformer primary coil. (Power to middle of coil. Only half of coil energized at a time, but direction of current alternates as vibrator ... vibrates.) I have a 43697M. Took the works out of the can. Points look good. But only three pins wired. Looks original. Power makes it move in one direction but not back. Can't figure it out. Wrong vibrator? Need a break. What hair I have left on my head is beginning to smolder.

Yep. Positive post connected to chassis.

Sam's Club had a group 1 battery for $21 something, $32 something with core charge and tax. It's been on the shelf a while, but it should still be good. The battery in the car is really old, so it can't hurt to get a new one. I really wanted an extra battery so that I could bench test my Mopar 602 radio from my 47 DeSoto Custom Suburban. I got a little knowledge off the internet on how to troubleshoot my radio. plus an Imperial site technical booklet, so now I am dangerous. I had trouble getting consistent multi-meter readings, so I went to Radio Shack and got some new slip-on alliigator clip ends for the test leads. They really make a difference. I put a 10 amp circuit breaker in series between the positive post and the radio chassis. Then I see that the booklet says 14 amp fuse. If I trip the breaker a lot, I 'll get a 15 amp breaker. I use a jumper with alligator clip to a hose clamp on the negative post. I disconnect it when not testing something. 6 volt power: I have power to the pilot light and to some pints on the chassis, but should also have 6 volts to the tubes to warm up the filaments. Maybe the tubes are so old and silvered inside that I can't see them glow. I can put the multi-meter to the sockets to see if I have 6 volts to them. Vibrator: It does not buzz, even though there is power to it. I took the can off, and the points look good. The springy points thing moves one way but not the other. I'm trying to understand the circuit. I'll play with it a bit. I'll apply some intermittent persistence. It's worked on other things. Meantime, if anyone have any tips, chime in.

No, this is not about the economy. I had my 47DeSoto idling while I washed it this evening, and I put the dollar bill to the tailpipe to see it flutter. Sure enough, every so often, is sucked the bill into the pipe. I forget. what does it mean when it does this?

The legs on each side are held down by four bolts through the floor. Remove the bottom cushion (Lift the front edge) to get better access to the bolts. Statistically, the first three bolts will come out easily, but the fourth bolt will defy all reasonable efforts to remove it. So, get unreasonable with it. I don't know if the back cushion is removable, like the cushions on a coupe. If it is, it will make the seat less bulky to remove. Otherwise, you will just have to horse it out once the floor bolts are out.

The second picture shows the valve in the closed position, which is normal for a warm engine. Otherwise the hot exhasust gases will overheat the base of the carburetor.

I used to have a dream periodically where we kids are in my dad's DeSoto Suburban and the road gradually approaches a lake. The lake, of course, is infinitely deep, judging by the reflection of the sky on the surface. But my dad proceeds slowly to drive into the lake, to the chagrin of my mother. My siblings have had the same dream. It must have been a real event, with water over the road. My dad must have accurately judged the depth of the water, because we all got through. The evening news these days will show the stranded vehicles of folks who misjudged the depth of the water over the road, or drove too fast and shorted the ignition.

spelling glitch

The standard wiring to the trunk has one wire for the center brake light and separate wires for each of the bright filaments in the tail lights. Green for left, and brown for right. Red for stop. The standard setup was center light only for stop, and the tail lights for turn, With the optional turn signal switch.l You can't use the tail light bright filaments for both stop and turn signal with the factory turn signal switch. You would need something to interrupt the brake circuit for the filament that is signaling a turn. The newer turn signal switches have enough wires to control the center light and corner lights separately. I build a relay assembly that did the trick, except that the relays were not rated strong enough for the amperage and it fried. So I squeezed three halogen bulbs in each tail light. One low wattange for the running lignt, and two high wattage, one for stop and one for turn. It works. As mentioned above, some guys mount separate turn signal lights.

Dash photo - those plastic knobs still look clear. Must have been kept out of the sun. Carpet over the hump has original-looking edging. Kick panels - were originals gray? Engine photo - Where's the temp sensor at the rear corner of the head? And what's that sensor near the left edge of the head between plugs 2 and 3? Interior shots - original upholstery with pronounced leather grain? Base color looks a little faded. Jump seat - At the far end is an original strap with snap, for holding the seat back in down position for flipping the seat full forward. Spot light - The mirror is bend wown, out of the way, and the antenna has a pronounced offset, so as not to diminish the light eminating from the spotlight. Verrry interesting.

Looks awfully familiar. Woodgrain panel made by Bakelite on wood forms. Mine looked pretty dingy and dull. Restored them with clear rattle can spray.

The little round head screws come out easily enough and immmediately fall to the floor, or fall in your ear as you are lying there. Getting them back in is a bitty (can't say bitch). It is one heck of a job. Maybe a magnetic screwdriver would help. But I got longer screws and threaded a few nuts on them all the way. Then I had enough to grip so I could start the screws threading in. Oh, on the DeSoto the headligh bridhts indicator has a housing tha threads off to get the instrument cluster off. Wait! Are you talking the instrument cluster or the whole "instrument panel" - "dashboard"?

Guys, what's the mystery? Isn't the P24 the American Dodge with the bigger body shared with DeSoto and Chrysler, and the P25 the Canadian Dodge that shares the Plymouth body? Special grille to fit the profile of the plymouth; plypouth-type dash, etc.

Yep, went home, had a soda, took a nap, went over to Thelma Lou's and watched some television. Rather, I went out to the garage. My flasher can is clamped to the heater housing. Maybe this grounds the flasher. A hot lead from the ignition switch connects to the end of the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker connects to one of the spades on the can. The other spade has wires running to the turn signal switch, I suppose. So the innards of flasher heat up, breaking the circuit, then cool down, closing the circuit again. Pleep, pleep, etc. This pulsing current is dispatched by the turn signal to the appropriate lamps. If there's troo much current, the circuit breaker comes into play.

On my 47 Suburban, I got a flasher with attached circuit breaker that looks 'zackly like the one pictured on James Douglas' web site. I'd have to go out to the freezing cold garage to see how I wired it. But for sake of this forum, no sacrifice is too great. I'm just working up my resolve. Yep, any minut now, I'm going out to the garage. Sort of reminds me of an episode where Andy Taylor and Barney Fife are sitting on the porch, and Barney keeps saying that he's going to go home, get a soda, take a nap, and go over to what's her name, his sort of girl friend. Yep, I'm going out to the garage.

... the faster you go. Green, yellow, then red. It gets brighter, too. I'll let the speedometer experts chime in.

I also have the July-August 1974 issue of Special-Interest Autos. (James Douglas posted pages from this some time ago.) The article goes into the history of the Suburban's development, to meet the needs of the station wagon crowd, using the long wheelbase model which Chrysler already had. Typically, long wheelbase sedans and limousines had a full back seat like a conventional sedan, and jump seats in the middle. The suburban has a smaller third seat, moved back from the normal location, that folds vertically, and with the middle seat forward, horizontally, extending the cargo floor. Oh, the trunk area is open to the cabin, and is lined with the synthetic wood panels. which the SIA article says were manufactured by Bakelite. The Suburbans from mid-49 on had a wider body, and the third seat was full size, with a back that folded forward. With the back up, the trunk was closed. The Suburban provided a cargo floor and plenty of space inside, but leoading was restricted by the typical trunk lid opening. No 4 x 8 sheets of plywood like the monster station wagons to follow years later. But you could always use the roof rack.

It's a public service announcement, don't take drugs. It was clever. But effective? Like Ralphie and the boys listening to the teacher lecture them on honesty and fessing up, adults always talk that way, so who's really listening? Maybe get some crack and take someone else's web.

There's slop built into the lock, so that the key can return to the vertical position after locking or unlocking the door. The cam is the thing on the back of the cylinder that transfers motion to the shaft. It's called a lazy cam because the cylinder plug has to rotate some before the shaft moves. Take the lock out and play with rotating the shaft different ways before re-installnig the lock, so the plug can move the shaft equally in both directions.

I went to the mannheimgold site and looked up m:confused: my 47 DeSoto Custom Suburban. Good is worth $10,000, Excellent $18,000, and Show $24,000. I think mine is between Good and Excellent. A buyer may think otherwise. Is there a set of definitions or a guide to determine the condition?

I rebuilt my bottom rear door hinge a few years ago. The cover is separate, but is tack-welded to the hinge leaf, so they both "slide" in and out together. Trying to remember how I got the hinge leaf out of the door slot . . . big fun hammer? (Is that what BFH stands for?) It came out hard the first time. I got the hinge together wrong, but the leaf came out easier the next time. I have some pictures, but I haven't mastered posting them. You can e-mail me and I'll send them, and try to anwer your questions. That will give me time to look up my records.

Just going from the manual and my distant recollections from previous posts, the drain hole in the converter is accessed from the removable floor panel on the right side of the hump. Line up the plug with the hole, and remove the plug. Be careful not to drop the plug. Rotate the converter so the hole is on the bottom, and the fluid should drain out. To refilll, rotate again so the hole is at the removable panel. Fill the converter so the fluid gets to the level of the hole. Reinstall plug. Maybe someone who has been through it can chime in with some valuable experiences.