desoto1939

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

I have similar canister that was made by AC and I use a NAPA 1010 Gold filter that drops into the canister. Since the unit is a bypass filtering unit any good quality filter that fits the canister will work for your application. Rich Hartung

FMFARRISJR: The first question is does the car have a filter installed onthe engine. It would be a canister with a dropin filter element or the oil oil can metal filter that is discarded after approx 5-7K miles. Has the engine ever been rebuilt? if there is not filter I would assume that they prior owner was using a straight weight oil maybe 30 weight. If the oil filter was used then maybe a 10W30 weight. Selection of oil as don mention is a personal choice. Some use the disel oil becasue it has more anti wear additives then the oils of today. I live over near valley Forge and own a 1939 Desoto. Call me is you want to talk. Rich Hartung Home 610-630-9188 Cell 484-431-8157 Desoto1939@aol.com

I would also agree to stay the same but not smaller. Also consider using the newer copper nickel ines they are easier to bend then the old steel lines. Rich Hartung

yes the cross design tread on the rears was to get more grip and the straight tread was for easier turning on the front wheels. I can say that the 38/39 Desoto used the same tires. Rich Hartung

they do make the wire end buttons for the light socket pigtails. Any good wiring supplier will have them like Rhode Island Wiring. Rich Hartung

I have several advertisement for my 1939 Desoto and in the pictures of the cars on 4 door sedans with people like Walt Disney, Spencer Tracy and other the advertisement and these have real cars in the advertisements they have whitewall tires and both the inner and outer sidewalls are whitewalls. Also these are the goodyear Aero tire with the ridges on the sidewalls. Also the front tread was different from the rear tread design. The rear tread design had a crisscross pattern and the front were a straight ribbed design. Yes WW were an option that has some cost so I would assume that most people went with the Blackwall tires Rich Hartung

I have a 39 Desoto and the original wire that was used in the car ranged from 16g, 14, and 12g. The pigtail internal setup for a 12 v wire should be very adequate for the 6v system. On the old Mopar wiring the different strike or mark on the wire indicated the size of the wire. so if a single strick then 16 gage and then the more stickers then it became thicker. So in the minmum 16 worked for our cars. When redoing a car that is still 6v the remomended suggestion is to increase the original wire size or gauage to go at least 1 gauge heavier than original. So 16g should go to 14 g 14g goes to 12, and 12g to 10. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

The pigtails are not 6v or 12 volt. They can be used in either configuration. What is more important is how the two button lineup withint he socket. They can line in the position of 9 and 3 oclock or they can line up as 12 and 6 oclcok. It all depends on how the bulb contacts at on the bulbs that you are using. The bulbs need to be double filament if you plan on using the turning signal and then as a running light. If only using as a turning signal then only a single contact pigtail setup is used. So go to the local NAPA store or auto parts store of your choice and get the correct pigtail orinataion. I have a 39 Desoto and then headlight socket used a bulb and not sealed beam setup. Found out that the socke itself would work for the Bulb 3230 and 3231 but the orientation of the contacts is what is different. I went to the NAPA sotre and just changed the pigtail orientation to be the correct setup for my car and it worked and pigtails do not have any 6v or 12v setup current is current. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

are there six lobes on the dizzy internal for the contact to open and close the points. Does the end of the dizzy shaft have a gear or is it a slot or is it a flat spot like a screw drive end that would fit into the top of the oil pump, keyway type. Your 40 Desoto would use a keyed or slot int eh oilpump to accept the dizzy shaft, it would be the same as my 39 Desoto. Also how long is the shaft on the Mallory it might be to long just questions. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com.

the 39 Desoto had an option to use the factory aluminum head. The HP when from 93 with the cast head to 100 with the aluminum head. Also there were different plugs to be used witht he aluminum head and also the standard copper head gasket was not used. So do some more research before putting this on your engine. I had an aluminum head for my 39 Desoto but sold it several years ago. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

James: Please read the link below that explains the history between Chrysler and the Ball&Ball cater carburetor. I was using this as input to my question. Also please note that on the Chrysler, Desoto Ply during the early years and including my 1939 Desoto they used the Ball and Ball Carb but in 1939 on the Dodge they used the Stromberg but does anyone have any documentation as to why they would use the Stromberg on the dodge which was at the third car in their series in the price range and with the Chrysler and Desoto being in the higher range. I do not have any literature as to why this occurred. I have a carb book that shows the correct carb to use, Chrysler 1942-1962 including 6 and 8 cylinders used Cater, Desoto 1942 - 61 used Carter except 1961 All with a 2 bore Stromberg. Dodge 6 cyl 42-53 Strom fluid drive and standard drive and 49-53 carter. 55-58 Strom 60-62 Holley Ply 42-62 Carter Here is a link to a great article on Ball & Ball Carbs and the history that Chrysler had with the Ball & Ball brothers and then they were merged with Carter. www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/carter.html Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Some poster stated that the paint under hood would not fade if the hood is closed on the car, but in this picture in the upper right corner near where one of the metal with rubber wire gaskets the current owner has an arrow pointing to a hole. If you look close the was something covering the hole and you will notice that there are two shade of blue. One where the paint was not covered and the section where the paint was covered. So what is the correct color to use and if you just did an over spray what will the firewall really look like with the new color. So when you lift the hood and compare it to the color of the cowel that you will see when the hood is open then the brighter color blue and freshly painted firewall will standout. Rich hartung

when the gentleman informed the buyer in the US that the item was located in Canada then the buyer need to know that they do not have the IF IT FITS IT SHIPs option. This is a US Postal option. So when the buyer would not accept the shipping fees and another gentleman then offered the asking price and the seller did not have to box up the item and the seller took the route of least resistance. So if the original buyer really wanted them item then he should have agreed to the entire cost of the item and the shipping. So let think of in this manner you are looking a a specific car ina dealership you ask the price but have not sigend any contract and or even put any money down to hold the car. Another customer comes into the dealership likes the car takes it for a drive and puts down money to hold the car. You come back the next day and want the car, but it has a down payment the car is no longer on the market. So you waited too long to deal. So basically if you need a specific part and you find it on ebay or a local seller or where ever and you want it then you have to be willing to pay the full price or get a downpayment on the part to hold it for you or have a firm verbal or written letter stating that it is yours. Go to a swap meet you find the item, try to get a lower price and the seller states what he wants for the item. You put the part back on the table another guy comes in a picksup the items tries to get a lower price like you did. Seller hold to his asking price. The buyer then decides to pay the asking price, but you saw it first but you decided to pass and not pay the asking price, you can not get made at the seller or the guy that just purchased the item. If you wanted it then you needed to put the money on the table as the first buyer. Here isa first experience that I saw at Hershey several years ago. I guy found a specific trim piece for his car. The asking price was around $40 the buyer tried to get the seller down to $30. He also was saying that this is the part that he really needed. The seller said that it is a hard part to find. The seller held to his asking prices. The buyer then started to get wordy and said it is only worth $30. The seller said NO and raised the price to $45. the negoatiation contined and everytime the buyer opened his mouth the item went up another $5 dollars. This went on for about 5 rounds. The buyer never kept his mouth shut. The seller took the item from the buyer and then said I do not care if I do not sell this item. He then took the item and broke it in half and said the to buyer I guess you or no one will get the item now. Hard lesson in life. But the seller has the final say on the price. I am sorry that the buyer in the US lost the item but from what i read from the seller the buyer did not put any money down on the item and did not confirm the sell of the item. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Since paint fades over the years and assuming that you have a single stage paint onthe firewall and also maybe factory color, when you only spray the affected areas the fresh new color paint that willbe brighter than the original and the firewall will have a spotty appearance. It would be better to paint the entire firewall completely. Since there is the engine in the car and with the hood up it might not be so noticeable with a fresh paint but you will have to be happy with it after you paint it. Maybe just a flat black onthe firewall might be another option and paint all of the engine bay the same flat black. Most people wil not even notice the flat black color, only the current owners of these cars would know that the black is not original. Also do you plan on showing and having the car judges at an AACA event is another question that you have to ask yourself. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

who ctreated the loomed wireing harness for you. I am assuming that one of the major wireing companies made it up so they should have provided you with a diagram of where each wire attaches on the car. Also do you have a service manual onyour car. There should be a factory diagram in the repair manual as to where each wire goes. Rich Hartung

Here is a link to a great article on Ball & Ball Carbs and the history that Chrysler had with the Ball & Ball brothers and then they were merged with Carter. www.allpar.com/cars/adopted/carter.html Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com