desoto1939

if it the coil the 6 volt replacements run around 25-30 and is any easy fix. You would not have the coil that mounts through the firewall but mounts on the bracket that holds the wires to each sparkplug. Rich Hartung

I know in the east coast area and in the winter late fall months if the heat riser is not working correctly and when the temp is cold the base of the carb will ice up and the car will stall out. They quick fix is to pull out the manual choke a little when coming to a stop light or stop sign to keep the carb from icing up and thne when you get going again then push the choke button in but you will need to keep repeating the process at every stop or the car will stall out on you. The real fix if this is the issue then remove the intake and exhaust manifold slit is apart and then rebuild the heat riser assembly. This will correct the issue if this the pbm. Rich Hartung

do you have the sisson choke setup correctly on the top of the manifold. The 49 Plymouth willbe located in front of the carb on the intake manifold. If you have this setup check your service manual on how to set this up properly. Also note that the 1949 Plymouth uses the more expensive sisson choke not the regular sisson choke. I have setup procedures for this choke. Also there needs to be a heat gasket under the main body of the choke. Post pictures of the choke on the manifold. Laso could be a heat riser issue. Is this unit working and does the spring open and close the heat riser. I had a friend that was stationed at the Oakland Alameda naval station back in 1976. I rode a bicycle across the USA from Williamsburg,VA to Alameda and it tokk me 60 days to complete the trip. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

In your picture of the water pump you do not have the bypass connector outlet on the housing for the thermostat. you might have the internal bypass setup. look to see if there is a small bump on the head near where the main return hose is located. The use of the remote control wire pull shutoff valve is what you might need. do you also have the dual heater setup for your car? Rich Hartung

in the threaded opening is where I screw in another shutoff valve like i posted in a prior update. So this way i can completely control the flow of water going to the heater via the valve at the back of the block by number 6 sparkplug and then also control the flow of water going to the water pump from the heater. This also permits me to disconnect the entire heater hoses and not have to drain the entire bock and radiator of AF. I then disconnect the two hoses at the inlet and outlet pipes at the heater mounted through the firewall and then can take the entire heater unit out of the car and have not had to drain and refill the entire AF in the block and Radiator. If you really think about what I have posted this makes alot of sense Make it easy for you to maintain your car and heater especially if you are not having your car judged at an AACA or club show. You might lose 1-5 points but it really does not matter. Always think out of the box. Rich Hartung

since the NOS breaker plate is a good thing to start with also clean out the old grease and repack. After sitting for 70 + years the grease is hard and crusty. The upper and lower halfs have to rotate smoothly. With th eold breaker plate assembly get the replacement points, condensor and small wires and rebuild it as a spare and carry this with you in your car. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

since you list that the car has had one repaint how long ago was that or was it recently? How long have you been having the dim lights/ Did this just start now or has this been since you owned the car. I had my 39 DeSoto repainted and because of the repaint I could not get my right taillight to work properly. Yes it was a ground issue because of the repaint. I ran a new ground to the taillight bucket and this solved my issue. So test each area with a clip on alligator clip and then a 10gage wire with another alligator clip and then attach this to a good clean metal source. If the light gets brighter then you have a grounding issue. Have you made any changes to the car. Clean the ground battery cable at the battery post and also at the engine. Make sure the battery cables are tight at the post and also might coat the battery post and the end with some Dialetric grease to cut down or corrosion. How old is the battery have you tested the battery fluid? Have you added water to the battery, do not use tap water only used distilled water. Is there any crud in each light socket check this area a clean with emory paper to get a clean contacts. On your brake lights do you have them inserted correctly some people put them in backwards so that they brake light which is brighter become the running light but then the brake light contact is now dimmer. Check all of your wireing Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

always keep the older brake parts, as we all know now the replacement pins and small parts are not the same. Yes the real big stuff might get tossed but the smaller items are good to have in your parts area when having to compare against the newer junk. So many members have had issues with the newer pins. From what I do not understand is that a parts supplier like the ones we all know have to have someone fabricate these reproduction parts and I would assume that they would have had some original parts that the new supplied used to copy the newer parts, so why did they permit the wrong parts to be made. I have also heard that some of the front motor mounts for our flat heads when they are being reproduced they are using metric threaded studs and they are not send the correct nuts with the mount. If you are having something made for your compnay the supplier needs to send the correct parts and you should then return the parts if they are not correct to the supplier. Also heard that on some repro fuel tanks the repro supplier is also installing the metric threaded flared nut into the base of the tank and then when you try to insert your std america fuel line it cross threads. Again this should not be happening. It should be the job of the person requesting the part to be made to insure that the parts are compatible and be ready to be installed with out any issues like metric versus std american threaded connector. Rich Hartung

Steve I am from the philadelphia area. Not sure if they are any long lost relatives. Glad you were able to get the NOS breaker plate. If the top of the cam on the dizzy drive shaft has a felt wick then drop some light motor oil on the wick and then also wipe the dizzy cam with some dialetric grease to help lubricate the breaker plastic that opens and close the points. I do have a an autolite electrical catalog that lists all of the various parts that were used on your car/truck/ Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

so you used the ammco brake tool to measure the diameter across the opening of the drum. But remember that when you go to setup the tool you bring back to half og the 10.60 so the little dial gage would be set at 30 over not 60 over. Keep this same setting for the oversized drum. You might beable to find over sized brake lining for the oversized drum and then regular lining for the other drum. Do not cut the .60 drum but you will be fine. Did you used the 1750m gage to get the reading or the true Ammco gage to gives you a more accurate measurement? Take the drum to any good brake shop and have them mic the drums to get the exact inner diameter. Then ask them if they know of any brake shoe reliner that they can recommned for the oversized drum.. Here is the best tool to use to measure the drum. Also make sure that the brake shop has placed the tool in the setting bar to set the dial at the 11 inch and zero mark prior to measuring the drum if not then you get an improper reading found this picture on ebay. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

you are welcome. Rich Hartung

I just relined a set of brakes shoe for my 1939 Desoto and used the old style riveted asbestos lining and used the Starr Brake lining tool to hold the lining against the metal backing or shoe. Refer to the pictures of the tool and the lining that I attached. The starr tool clamps the brake lining tightly down onto the metal shoes. I then used the rampco rivet tool to peen the rivet to the metal shoe. I like this style because I can control the amt of force to peen over the back of the brass rivet instead how hitting the rivet with a hammer and the peening tool. Takes me about 30-50 minutes to complete a set of four shoes. Also note that on the early Mopar and also my 1939 Desoto which have the Lockheed brakes the short lining always goes onto the rear brake shoe and the long lining goes on the front shoe. This is becasue we have lookheed brakes and they have step bores to compensate for the short shoe on the rear. Even sometimes the lining are stamped front and rear to remind you of the location. Also on the older metal shoes that have the rivet holes the short lining brake shoe only has the holes drilled from the bottom of the shoe and only 6 holes instead of the 8 holes for the long brake lining. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

They could have done that to compensate for the cutting of the drum. The correct way would have been to either add shims under the riveted lining to increase the thickness or to get and install oversized lining and then cut the lining to match the inside diameter of the drums. If you get new drums then I would also get new lining to match up with the drum. Also might have to replace the longer push pins with a shorter push pin. Just my thoughts on the issue. the front lining numbers are 192A and the rears are 1161A. These numbers were standard across all of the various manufacturers of brake linings and I did verify that you have 11 inch drums. Also if you have the drums cut make sure you take all of the lug nuts or bolts with you becasue your hubs would have been two piece hubs and the mechanic should install and tighen down the bolts to insure that the hub and drum are completely tight to precent any wobble when cutting the drums. I learned this from my old time mechanic that does my work. rich hartung

do you have the starter floor button on the floor board or do you have a dedicated starter button on the dash? If you have the floor stomp style check to see if the return spring on the starter motor yoke is not broken. So when you push the floor starter button the selinoid that is on the top of the starter motor then gets it power from the battery cable and the yoke then while pressing the starter floor button pushes the starter into the ring gear. On the yoke near the top of the starter motor there is a spring that when you let go of the starter button permits the starter gear to retract from the ring gear. Let us know what type of starter setup that you have on your car. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

if it is a trico wiper motor Fricken in New York is the master on Trico wiper motors. They rebuild the motors and have the parts. I think they do not sell the parts individually but do the repairs in their shop. Rich hartung desoto1939@aol.com

I have a DORMAN PRODUCTS Catalog 1965-1966. Dorman was a major supplier of after market car parts and they were also found in most or your NAPA Stores. I did a search in the car brake section of my catalog: Under the section for Dodge dart i found the following information: All 1946 -56 Front Brake spring Dorman Number 313B factory number 854059 All 1946 -56 Rear Brake spring Dorman Number 312B factory number 854049 Spring information 312B Rear Diam 9/16 over all length 6 inches, length of coil 2 3/4 wire size 3/32 color red used on chrysler applications 313B Front diam15/32 over all length 7 inches, length of coil 3 1/2, wire size 3/32, color red used on chrysler products Hope this is helpful. Some one that has a your car might beable to give you more info. Rich Hartung Desoto1939

clean out and light wheel bearing grease or lubriplate litheum grease. Rich Hartung

Here is a real simp0le solution. Look for the proper Breaker plate NOS and then you get the entire breaker plate with the points, condenser and the wires complete and ready to install in the dizzy. Suggest that you purchase two, one to put in the car and a spare. Then when you chnage out the points the next time just replace with the second unit and then get the proper points, condensor and rebuild the unit that you just took out of the car. Alwasy be prepared for the next tune-up. According to my autolite catalog breaker plate IGS 3004J or A. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

the 1939 dodge front bumper come to a point and then also dips down at the point of the radiator nose piece very similar to my 1939 Desoto. the 40 dodge bumper is more straight across and does not have the dip in the center. Check on pictures in ebay on original factory literature this will show you the difference. Here is a advertisement look at the front bumper with the dip Ebay is very useful with questions like this issue. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

since my 39 desoto is a non pressure system I do not have a catch bottle to collect any Af that might get pushed out the radiator via the expansion hole/tube. I run in the summer when the outside temp can be between 85-90 degrees. I run the car and the avg temp on the temp gage runs around 180 becasue I have a 180 degree thermostat. I run and R3 rad cap. The biggest issue is that people over fill there rads up to the top of the filler neck. Then run the car on a trip and then the water heats up and then the excess water is pushed out the overflow tube. These older cars that used the R3 non pressurized rad from around 1938-1948 would purge the excess water and then run about 1 inch down from the bottom of the filler neck. So when spring come yes add water then run the car for a good test drive, let the water expand come home park the garage let it cool down then slowly open the rad cap and see where the water level is. If 1 inch down then you are good to go. Then on the next run again do not add any water to the rad take the run park the car and then test the level it should be again at the 1 inch below the bottom of the filler neck. If this is what you have then you are good to go. Also over the winter months put in the rad a pint of water pump lube and antirust chemicals to keep the anti rusting agents up while the engine is not running during the winter months. Rich hartung

I purchased my perfect fitting headliner for my 1939 from Restoration supply in Windber PA. It was a perfect fit and I also purchased my windlace from them. They are a great company to work with and have fair pricing. I helped my painter install the headliner back in 1996 when he finished painting the car. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

SPH: so you are working on an old car and you need to find the weather stripping for the car. But you do not havee any parts book for your car so you can search for part number when you need a specific part or item. So basically you are going into the situation blindfolded and really have no idea if the part is correct. So would you try to work on a washing machine in your home and have no knowkledge of what the parts are on the machine or even a manual on the machine. As I have stated in prior postings people that purchase antique cars need to have several basic manuals to help them restore their cars/trucks. Manuals needed: Service Manual about your car/truck Parts Manual Motors manual that cover several years so lets same from 1949-55 ANd possibly the Rate book for your car These are cheap and the nice thing is that they list the major part numbers for each year of car that is covered in the book. Also if it is a mopar car They have done your a big favor If you are looking in the 1950 Plymouth section and lets say looking at the water pump it will list the MoPar pump number but the you will see listed on the same line the following letters (C,D,S) these stand for Chrysler, Dodge and Desoto and this tells you that these cars also used the same part. You can get these manuals for $ and sometimes even less at swap meets, Great cross reference manual for your car. You need to be informed about your car and gain as much information about your car that you can acquire. Yes the forum members will try to help but we all might not have your specific model of car or not know you answer to the question. So by doing some leg work you help narrow down the issue and also help the other members with answers. Also even a small picture of the item is helpful because someone might have found another product that works for your car. I am not trying to put you down but at least purchase the Service and Parts manual for your car. Rich Hartung

take a picture of the roof rail and if any rubber molding is still on the car. Do you have a parts book for your car? Also is there any part number for this weather striping to confirm that there even was this installed on the car? The more info provide helps with your issue. Rich Hartung

I know alot of the early mopar cars prewar like my 1939 deSoto had a storage area when you opened the trunk. It was a comparment that was contored along the bottom of the truck. In this area most of time would have been stored the tool kit, jack lug wrench and tire wheel chuck. In my 39 Desoto i created a bag with the slots to hold the stanrdard tools for the car and also a cloth bag for the jack base, the jack and the single arm lug wrench. Not sure if your car has this storage area. Also check your parts book for your car it might lead you onto some information about the tools and even a tool bag. I know some people stored the lug wrench along side the spare tire against the fender in the wheel slot. Will have to determine what works for you and your car. When going to car shows and you see another Mopar of the same year as yours ask the owner how they store their tools and ask them to open their trunk. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

here is a screen print from my Briggs and Stratton Locks. I went to the year 1952 and copied the section on Dodge, not sure if you need the plymouth but they have the same locks. Hope this might help when looking for the correct ign cylinder. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com