desoto1939

This is just flat glass and can be cut at any good auto glass shop. Since it was not originally a fixed window you are going to have to experiment and find a rubber gasket maybe the front windshield gasket might work. Rich Hartung

rerider: Contact me Rich Hartung. I have the ammco tool to rent. Desoto1939@aol.com i will send you PM with more info.

You shoes are not adjusted correctly. Did you move the eccentric pins when doing the brake job. Do you have access to the Ammco Brake 1750 gage and shoe adjusting tool. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

In a prior posting someone had also suggested that the machine shop do a spiral cut into the bushings. The spiral cut or groove will then help to get the grease to the kingpin when you grease them. The original did not have the spiral cut or goove but why not make it better to keep them lubricated for life. Just a suggestion. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Dodgeb4U: Thanks for posting a picture of the tool and also the example of how the tool is used to crimp the ends of the spark plug wires. The two pictures are worth the 1000 words. Rich Hartung

Can someone post a picture of the tool. I think most of us have used the old pliers to crimp the ends on to the wires. I have never seen the tool so an example would be great for all of us to see. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

it would be nice if and when posters ask for information on hw to fix something that they would at least replay stating that they have tried our suggestions or provided a status ask to what is still happening. When you keep asking for help but do not post a status we wonder if you have even looked at the posting with our replies. Please provide an update as to if your issue has been resolved or any progress made on the issue. Rich Hartung

currently on ebay there is a nos stock left front brake drum for a 46-48 dodge and is being sold by bernbaum via his ebay account it is not cheap but if you need it then I would get it. 46-48 dodge brake drum will work on your car. Rich Hartung

Clayton you could put the spring clamp to hold in the cups in the piston. Se if you can get the original springs Try Frank Mitchell in Georgia I do not remember the name of the company now that it was sold and renamed. Call me when you get some time over the weekend 610-630-9188 Rich Hartung

51Custom do you know Gil Evangilista he lives up the street from the Hotrod customization shop and also Matt Stack with a Blue 38 Desoto coupe. Gillhas a 55 desoto and might have some parts for your car. Call me at my home phone 610-630-9188 and I will provide you with both their phone numbers. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

Are you located in Cooperburg PA? I live near valley Forge PA. You could have the wheel recast but that is going to be very costly. I would think the spline on the end would be the same but I am not 100% positive. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

clay: This is rich Hartung. I would say take the shoes off the one backing plate that is giving you the issue. Then look at the half moon adjuster that is at the top toe of the brake shoe. Take your wrench and put it on the nut onthe back of the backing plate. This half moon is a pressed in assembly. I would then rottae the nut in the correct direction as per your service manual. Check the movement of the cam to see what is going on with the unit. You might be going the wrong direction and this might be causing the issue. If i remember correctly the cam should turn out so that the big fat end on the half moon is at the back and the point is facing towards the shoe lining to get the shoe to move outwards. call me if you need help, Rich 610-630-9188 484-431-8157

if the pump was an AC588 and that was the pump that they used on the Desoto then it will work or do you need a dula action pump to drive the vacuum wiper motor or do you have a seperate line from the manifold going to the wiper motor? Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I looked in one of my catalogs and the Stromberg BXV-3 carb was used the early dodges the gasket set would be J-5968-g. The gasket set should have the gaskets that you might need. Check on ebay for kits for your carb. I have found that most of the rebuild kits are not including all of the necessary parts to rebuild the old carb. You should thry to get an original Stromberg kit so that you have all of the internal small parts. On my carter carb I turned the idle screw all the way in and then turned it out the 1 - 1 1/2 turn to get the good idle. also there are several rebuild kits on Ebay if you search on Stromberg carburetor BXV kits Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Get the parts car and take everything that can be resold and then scrap the rest. i do not like the looks of the car resting on the rims to support it inthe air. Get some jack stands or a hydraulic jack under the car if plan to take anything off the car while itis in the junkyard. Be SAFE and carefule and think before you do anything to put you in a bad position while working onthe car. do not use a bottle jack to support the car. Had a friend that had a 35 Desoto Airflow and was working on the manifold and the car slipped off the bottle jack and he did some real damage to his arm and removed alot of sckin. OUCH Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

You might have the distributor install but you might be out of sequence or degress by 180 degrees. The end of the dizzy has a notch that fits into the slot in the oil pump. So take the dizzy out again and spin the shaft about 180 degrees and then put it back into the engine block. See if the car then starts. I always mak my block and a point onthe dizzy body to make a reference point so that I am installing back into the same location. Also make sure that the notch is fully inserted intot he notch inthe top of the oil pump. I had a instance in which i thought I had the dizzy installed and intot he knothch but it was just resting onthe top of the oil pump and then I became 180 degees out of sequence or time. Just rotate the shaft 180 degrees and this solved the issue. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

How do you know what guge of wire is being used just from the posting. The poster will need to determine the gage of the wire. 6v wiring has been recommended to go with at least a 14 gage wire situation. Acutually the movement of the electricity on the standed wires is carried beeter on thicker gage wire. So you can not say that the 12v wire is thicker or smaller gage then the original pigtails. The only way that you can tell the original wire gage without phycically measuring it is that Mopar used a stricker system on their wires and the combination of the amount of stricker determined the gage of the wire I have a Mopar Catalog that shows the type of wire and gage that MoPar used for the various electrical connection and also the sockets and other terminals. This is on a CD. Rich Hartung

a 12v pigtail wire and a 6v pigtail socket is the same. The socket does not determine if it is a 6 or 12 volt. The setup of the pigtail button also do not care if 6 or 12 v. What you are concerned with is the gage of the wire. If the gage on you car is 16g and the new socket and pigtail also have 16g wire then there is no issue. The gage of wire is the same when they were made back in the 30,40,50,60 and upto the current time. So there willnot be any heat issue that you have to worry about. You can yuse a modern wire connector or solder the wire or even twist and tape them together. case in point. If you get a new wire harness and lets say its from Rhode Island wiring. If you pulled back some of the cloth covering you would see that they are using plastic coated wire, modern wire and then just slip the appropriate color coded wire over the platic sleeve. all they are doing is using new wire in the appropriate gage for your car. The car needs certain gage wire for specific locations but gage is gage is gage no matter when the wire was produced . Rich Hartung

Matt: This is rich Hartung with a 39 Desoto and I have the reflectors like in the 39 Plymouth. Call me and I will walk you through the process. I live near valley forge PA, where do you live? Cell 484-431-8157 Home 610-630-9188 desoto1939@aol.com

If you are trying to match colors that might be hard but the other question that needs to be answere is if you are planning to have the truck judged to be like it ws the true color when delivered or to just have a very nice close to original paint job and just show locally? Most AACA judges will never know the difference if a truck was not painted a Candian color or an American color. AACA only judges the color of the car or truck to be a color that might have been used during the time period. So a metal flake flouesent color on a 40-50's truck would definately stick out and then be flagged. even if the color code is on the firewall plate the AACA judges do not know the codes. They are a person of many talents but nt a master. They have training but not specifics. So a guy that knows corvettes might be judging your truck, So how much do you really think he might know about your truck. Just some thought onthe subject. Rich Hartung

You can make your own gasket for the lid. measure the distance from the outside edge of the lip on the top. Mease the recess area to see how wide the gasket need to be to fit in the groove. Get a piece of gasket material at ant good auto parts store then use a compass and draw the appropriate circle size. then cut the outer ring and the the inner ring and you have a gasket. as prior post stated that you had the incorrect filter element. remember these canisters were made over 50+ years ago so getting the correct element and also gasket might take some trial and error to get the perfect fit. The current filters are being produced to fit modern cars and not our antiques per say. Then you can go to the auto store a find a gasket to fit the lid or make a few as spares. Simple and easy project. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Desoto1939@aol

not to be smart about an answer but did you replace the bulbs with a 12 volt bulb by accident. I would think the dash would be grounded to the body becasue it should be bolted to the body. Might gust run a ground from the dash to a clean metal frame member to see if that makes the bulbs brighter. Rich Hartung

The hard part is that over the years original paint fades and or also gets darker with age and if the painted area has been exposed to a lot of sunlight and the elements. So i would just use a red pin striping paint and a red that you like and use that. remember the people that knew these cars are getting older and will not really know what the original shade of any color that use used. Sometimes we just have to use what is available during this current time period. Rich hartung

I did the red on my 39 Desoto and used pin striping paint. It runs on better and easy to blend with the brush strokes. My car did have factory red on the various emblems and also on the hubcaps on the name of DeSoto and a red trim ring on the last ring on the dishbowl hubcap. Rich hartung desoto1939@aol.com .

on the generator you willneed to install a radio suppression condenser. These can be found at your local NAPA store. This breaks the static that is being created by the generator. Also you can get another type od suppressor that goes inot the top of the dizzy cap from the large coil wire. It just inserts intot he top of the cap where the wire comes from the dissy and then it is screwed intot he the same wire. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com