desoto1939

As noted before about the plastic fuel filters in the older cars there always the possibility that the plastic could crack, and this has happened and the cars has caught on fire. This is why one of the members has recommeded the all metal fuel filter instead of the plastic fuel filters. I know we can buy the plastic ones at swap meets for around a couple of bucks and it has the ability to view the buildup of sediment, but maybe we should switch to the AC metal body with the glass sediment bowel as a precautionary to prevent a melted fuel filter. Just my 2 cents. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

I just checked my 1939 Desoto parts book and quess what. As you may know or not know there were no 39 Desoto convertibles but in thye book they list Leather and an option. Code 810 Blue leather code 811 red Leather Code 812 Tan Leather I know the Desoto was an upper class car then the Plymouth but if they offered leather in 39 without a convertible then they could possibly have done this in 50 for a non-convertible Plymouth. Does anyone have a 50 Plymouth parts book and look in section 23. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

fstfish66: Never heard of posies but that would be another great trip for some of us local guys that live in the greater Philly area. I will have to checkout their website if they have one. If you hear of anything let me know. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I looked in my 1936-42 Desoto Master Parts book last night. On my 39 Desoto they do not show a rubber gasket for my years. They do show a flat metal washer that sits just before the lockdown braket. This is the same for 37-38-39 Desoto. The next seris up on the dizzy has the locking plate bolted to the bottom of the dizzy housing. on the early version the locking plate does not bolt directly to the bottom of the dissy body. I could copy the expoded view if anyone needs to see a copy as a reference for future repairs. The 39 Desoto dizzy is an IGS4102 or IGS4102C unit Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I have the Signal Stat 900 on my 39 Desoto and it is a metal body and it has been on the car for over 17 years. I like the 7 wire unit so that you can hook up the various lights individually with each seperate designated wire. I also hooked up a 6v third brake light that fits in the rear windows via two suction cups. It doesn ot obstruct my vision when looking out the rear back window. It has the turn signal setup and brake light and also the 4way bliker setup. Since most new car all have the thrid brake light setup. I felt that this was a no brainer to add to my car and it puts the brake light in a higher position that people are now acustom to seeing when driving. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

On one of your other psots you had stated that the brakes di not work. I assume that you have gotten this item fixed since you stated that you might take it for a drive. How did you adjust the the brake shoes so that they have the correct distance from the drum for the Toe and Heel on each shoe? Were you able to find and use an AMMCO 1740 Brake gage tool? Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Perry: You state that you have no working brakes. Cna you state what is happening. So when you push the brake pedal does it go all the way to the floor board or do you at least get some sort of soft pedal. If you pump the brake pedal do you get a build up of pressure. There could be a couple of things that need attention. You could be low on brake fluid. I am assuming that your have the old dot 3 brake fluid and not the silicone Dot 5. Do not mix the two they are not compatible.. The MC could need to be rebuilt since the car has sat so long Check the resevior onthe MC to see if there is fluid in it. The brake shoe might just be out of alignment. The brake cylinders might be leaking and either rebuilt or replaced or have them resleved if they are badly pitted. If the shoes are worn down then need to replace the shoes or reline the shoes if you have riveted brake lining this is easy to do. After finfin out what is wrong then you will need to adjust the shoes to fit the brake drum. Also might need to replace allthree rubber brake hoses. Since you have the lockheed brake system that has the toe and heel adjustment you will need the AMMCO 1750 Brake gage to get the shoes properly adjusted. I have the brake gage and you can contact me when you get to that point inthe project. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com Cell 484-431-8157 home 610-630-9188 Valley Forge PA just outside of Philadelphia, PA

The big question is what size is the wire in diameter. Idf the diameter of the wire is too small then the metal clip might not fit into the hole inthe dizzy cap with a snug fit. If you have a micrometer or digital gage you might beable to measure the thicknees of your current wires and then measure the inside of the holes where the wires go in the cap.. You also might now have had the wires pushed all the way down into the top of the cap to make the electrical contact. Might also change the rubber cap on each wire that goes into the top of the cap. These might have gotten soft and are not a firm fit. Might chnage them. Just some thoughts on the topic that might help. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

Every year for the past several years Pollacks has the open house around Thanksgiving weekend. It provides him with the opportunity to get more business and also showcase his shop. If there is any interest next year i could lead a group out to his open house. As I get more information I can post it on the Forum for all of the local members if they want to meet at a specific location such as the King of Prussia Mall and then it is just about a 30 minute ride up 422 to Pottstown. If there is any interest please let me know. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Ok the big question is this: So how much faster with the car run with the three carb setup with the stock motor. ANd if it going to go so fast I would assume you have switched over to Disck brakes onthe front to help stop the car with all of the extra speed. ALso did you redo the fronend suspension. I am not picking on you please note that. I just see alot of time and effort going into the three carbs and to make an 85-90 HP engine try to be a hotrod. Not sure of the investment and time and costs. What type of fuel economy will you get. So why not just put a v8 mopar engine inthe car or are you just trying to look nostolgic witht he appropriate speed equipment and to be period correct? I am just asking and not picking on you plese take that into consideration when you reply. remember the car isalmost 74 years old. Did you beef up the frame or anything else to make it a hotrod? Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

try this guy he has been around for along and makes the custom pipes for your car and has the bending machine and the spec's for our old cars. He is at Hershey and also Carlise. www.kepichexhaust.com He can also make the pipe with the flange that comes off the exhaust manifold for you with the correct bend. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

well at least as someone stated they did not go to the crusher. They probably bought these for pennies on the Franc or might even they were given to the this person because back when these cars were no longer worth fixing and not in style they were not really worth keeping. So be thankful that this person tried to keep them. He or she was just the caretaker of these fine cars. I currently state that I am not the owner of my 39 Desoto but just the current caretaker and that hopefully there will be another caretaker to this car after I have gone. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

I also have a Sear 12v unit and I get plenty of light from the gun.. remember red clip goes to the ground or the head bolt and the black goes to the power source. You can clip the spark plug wire connector to either 1 or 6 spark plug wire. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Since you have the 49 the GAtes Company has replaced the old style bronze bushing wp with the sealed bearing style that was used onthe Mopar Straight 8 water pumps. I have spoken to a gates rep and they have confirmed that the new flat 6 water pump was chnaged to the sealed bearing and shaft. Do not even think of rebuilding the old pump since a kit if you can find one will cost about 50-70 dollars. You can buy a new pump already to install for around the same price. check out this webpage: www.partsgeek.com the gates water pump for your car is $39.23 plus shipping I just did the search on 49 Plymouth Just replace the whole unit with a new one. ANd at that price buy a spare. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

I can also remember when if you had a lot of rust out on a car it would also fail. To beat this guys would pop rivet sheet metal to the affected area. ALso broken taillight lens were a no no. now I seen cars with broken lens and red tape glued to the lens. The other big issue is with over sized tire extending out beyounf the wheel well opening onthe fenders. Some tried to put the rubber glue on wheel well cover to get the tire to be inside the opening. Some inspecter are catching this bout others are not. Also we did headlight inspection to see that the lights were aimed correctly. See an awful lot of cars with the headlight out of focus. ANd now that we have yearly and in some states 2 - 3 year span this is a major concern. In PA our antique cars do not have to be inspected. The inspection is up to the owners responsibiity. This could be good or realbad and depends on how good of an owner you have and if they maintainthe car or not. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

chopt50wgn: I wrote to the 3 dog gargae and then replied back that they do not have any current dates set for any open house date for 2015, but willget back to me when they have the dates set on their calendar. I live near Audubon PA just off of the Oaks exit of 422 and Pa route 363 near Egypt road. Keep in contact with me since we are soo close to each other. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

A hand held tach/Dwell tester is what you need to get the readings from the engine. After you get the engine running smoothly then hook up your handheld tach/dwell. Remember that most unit are negative ground and our cars are positive ground. So you might just have to switch the leads to be setup as to how the car is grounded. So If the car is positive ground then the Positive clip goes to the ground onth engine like a heald bolt. The Negative then would go to the power side. The instruction sheet would show you on a typical neg ground set just switch to what you need. Some times you can pick up these units at yard sales or go to an auto shop like NAPA. It does not have to be a real expensive unit. Get one that has the tach/Dwell and alo points check. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

I would think just in the opposite connections. So If you have positive ground thenthe positive clip goes to the ground and the negative goes to the poser source. So when you have a battery charge the positive clip which is the red clip then would go to the ground and the black clip then goes to the power or to the connection that is feeding the battery when charging the battery. Have a negative ground sears timing light. I just switch the clips to be in there respect domain based on the grounding of the car. So red to ground. this red has the positive mark on the clip and this goes to the grounding metal part like the headbolt and the negative which has the minus sign then goes to the power to feed the battery. It works. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Bob: Hope you have a great Xmas Holiday season. It is noce to see some of these old restoration shops and how they go about doing ground up rebbuilds. It is also great that you get to talk to the works on a dayoff situation when they have some free time to spend with the visitors instead of having to work on the cars. I know they do not have cheap fees but when you want work done at their caliper then you pay the price. Rich Hartung

Pollacks also does upholstery. call and ask for John Shiban 610-323-7108. This guy has alot of experience with the old cars and has been doing upholstery for a long time. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

the D5 is the series for the car. My 1939 Desoto is an S-6 Chrysler used a C Dodge used a D Plymouth used a P Desoto used the S There was a junior 1937 Dodge that used the D6 series Rich Hartung Desoto1939@ao9l.com

Thomba48: Did you get anyone to look at the car for you. If not let me know and I could make some time to go look at the car. One thing that the current owner should make arrangements for is to have the car driveable and to be able to put it up on a lift so anyone can look under the car for any rot and other items. This is the only way to really know what is happening on the underside of the car. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I recently came across a rear gravel guard for a 1939 Desoto. This will fit the Dodge, Chrysler and I also think the 39 Plymouth. This guard goes between the rear bumper and the body. This is in two section that bolt together in the middle. One of the sections was still in the original factory mopar brown paper and the other half was without the paper cover. The 39 guard can only be used on 39 Cars. I wll post a poicture later. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

Elvis: This is what i ment. When you take off the driver side hood sheet metal and with the hood opened then you can lay across the fender. You will see the Master cylinder unit and the line that comes out of the front that goes to the Brake light switch. If you take off the top lid of the master Cylinder and switch the lid so that the filler nut is at the front of the MC. This would be the end inwhich the line goes to the brake light switch. Then you can unscrew the cap and then you can put your finger into the hole to see how much fluid is in the reservioir. If it is low then take a funnel with a log tube and then you can fill the MC. You might over fill the unit but this is much easier to do that taking the floor mat out of the car and then taking the small plate that has access to the mC out of the floor board. I have had mine this way for 27 years.. Also received you email about the rear gravel guard. I perfectly understand. Sent you a reply. rich hartung

The use of velco permit you to get the panel tight all along the edge of the panel and the door frame. This is just another option that can be used instead of clips that al space several inches apart from each other. Rich Hartung