desoto1939

As stated by speedster that tiny plug was taken out and the factory miller timing light was put on and there was a rod that went down to the piston and when the piston came back up it would corollate to having the lining on the harmonic balancer at TDC and also for timing the engine. To set the timing on these cars it is suggested to use number 6 sparkplug wire and not number one, but either can be used. Everyone that has a service manual should read through their specific car model manual. You will be surprised at what you will learn about your car. Chrysler was very innovative about their engines. Rich Hartung

I looked in my miller tools and I do not have this c-3105 driver sorry. rich

PCTX21: I posted the pictures of the install tool but you still have not stated what specific Miller tool number that you would need for your car. By identifying the correct tool number maybe someone can supply you with one and or even tell if one is currently on Ebay under the miller tools auction. Miller made many seal drivers so the number on the driver is very important, just trying to help. I might have the appropriate seal driver. Rich Hartung

Check your service manual for your car. It might show a picture of the appropriate Factory Miller tool that was used to drive inthe seal. Sometimes you can find the tools on ebay. The tool will have a number and it might start with C-xxxx. The below picture was taken from my Miller tool catalog the tool might be the c-3105 seal install driver. verify with your service manual. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I have attended many times over the past 35 years. If you are looking for prewar items they are fewer venders bring out the old items. Ed speigel was there from Pittasburgh. The show and parts is mostly around the muscle cars so be prepared to not find items for the early cars. Even Hershey in the fall is changing and the early parts are getting harder to find and purchase. This is not to say that you will not find any items but you will have to ask questions and look real hard and you have to know your specific parts. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Easy way to add water to your radiator and or battery Easy way to pour water into your radiator or battery. On a lot of the early cars have what is called the butterfly style hood. This style hood has the hinge down the middle of the hood and the hood open up like butterfly wings. Also, the other style is called the alligator style because the hood open up like an alligators mouth and the hinges are mounted at the back end of the hood. Have you discovered that there is not enough space to use a gallon jug of distilled water to add water to your radiator or even your battery without spilling water all over the engine and battery. Even some batteries are under the front seat like on my 1939 Desoto so there is very little room to get to the removable caps. Most of us drink coffee or tea and like to add a flavored creamer. The lids on these bottles most of the time have a pour spout flip top lid. Refer to the pictures below of these bottles. The nice feature is that you now have a smaller sized bottle and you can control the amount of water being poured out of the bottle. So, the next time you empty one of these bottles clean it out so there is no left over creamer. Then take the plastic label off the bottler and label the bottle as DISTILLED WATER. Store the bottle with your other cars supplies in your garage. Only use Distiller water in your Radiator and Battery. Some batteries have sealed caps and others have removeable caps. Most caps can be removed to check on the level of fluid in each cell Refer to the attached pictures: Notice how easy to pour water into the radiator versus trying to pour from a gallon bottle container. Refer to picture 3 & 4. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

my 12 v sear timing light provides me with amble light to see the timing marks. But i have the butterfly style hood and I keep the passenger side of the hood closed. I also do the timing test in my garage and also turn off all other lights and do my testing when the sunlight is not so strong. Have curtains on my garage window to also limit the sun light. Rich hartung

Don: On my 1939 Desoto that has the big 6 block my timing mark by the factory specs is 2 degrees before tdc. You are stating that you are now set at 4 degress advanced. So I am assuming that you are set at 4 degrees after TDC. Is this correct. I would assume maybe 2-4 degrees before TDC would be your proper setup for checking timing. The timing mark will be rotating away the driver side of the engine and this is where you would take the reading from the pointer. Which side are you taking the reading, driver side or passenger side when the engine is running. Rich Hartung

did you put the release value in backwards? Something is wrong inside the MC make sure you assembled it correctly. Rich Hartung

Don Here is the selinoid switch that you need. The autolite number SS-4705 and you are correct the Dodge/Plymouth is a different unit. These selinoid s are hard to find considering they were used from 1942-48. Rich Hartung

check the pin in the fp to see is the pin has come out of the body of the fp. rich hartung

I was on the phone today with Don Axelrod up in Lynn Ma. Don has retired and no longer is coming to Hershey. He is trying to sell out his 1939 and prior headlights and parts. So if you are in need of a part then connect with him at hdlthqtrs@aol.com phone number 781-598-0523. Don was regular at Hershey for many years and is very knowledgeable about the early headlights. This is just a FYI and i do not get any fees for recommending him as a contact. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Are you planning to come to Hershey in October? I will be at the same location OAD 7&8 again. Remember that the show runs from Tues to Friday and Friday is the carshow. Rich Hartung

Doug: the below screen print was taken from my Airtex catalog. A fuel pump 588 with the glass bowel will fit your 52 Dodge Cornet 6 cylinder car. Hope you find stuff for your car at Chryslers at Carlise this year. Rich Hartung

Can we asumme that when the engine was rebuilt they dipped the engine and cooked the engine block and also took out the old original welsh plugs? If they did not cook the engine block then there still could be old crud in the block and scale. This can also cause the engine temp to increase. So when you replace each welsh plug do you ever try to see if there is any crud in the holes with a coat hanger? Do not use the welsh plugs that look like a cup you need the flat plugs like the other poster put a picture on his reply. I would also recheck the timing. Get the factory timing back to see if that also solves the heating issue. My 39 Desoto with the big 6 block is set at 2 degrees before TDC. Check your service manual. Just some suggestions. Rich Hartung

Plymouthy: Thanks for explaining the purpose of the hole. All I know is that you have to have the slotted spacer if you do not use a governor on the car. I am not an experienced mechanic. Rich Hartung

are you talking about a plastic spacer that would mount on the top of the intake manifold and the base of the carb that is bolted down. If you do not have a governor on the car then the current spacer would have four slots and one of the slots would line up with a tiny hole in the top of the intake manifold. The slot is there so that air can pass through the hole and into the carb. When you mentioned slight decrease in performance when engine is hot please explain in more detail. It is hard to diagnose an issue with out a lot of information. Maybe you have a fast idle or the carb is out of adjustment, or the timing is to advanced. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

These are good conversation starters at a car show or farm show. Put them out in front of your car and put a BIG ? mark on them and then see what people might tell you. At least this might educate some kid that never saw these and never lived on a farm. These are tools that most people never saw and or ever used. I like to educate people and kids. Rich Hartung

On the dizzy cap pull each sparkplug wire one at a time. Check that the end contact is clean and also tight on the end. Check the hole for the wire and make sure there is no corrosion in the contact area for the wire. Check all the wire ends at the dizzy and then check the ends to make sure they are clean and tight at the sparkplug end. If you are running a petronix unit then you need resistor sparkplugs capped at 35. If non petronix then regular A7 or A9 Autolite plugs would be gapped at 25. The correct gap for the dizzy would be 20 but any gapp between 18-20 will work just fine but means the dwell is bigger if the gap is smaller. Check for end play in the dizzy shaft also check the breaker plate assembly to see if you have a lot of play between the top and bottom half. Sometimes the grease that is in the small ball bearings between the two halfs harder up and these might need to be cleaned out and lubriplate grease them again. Or get a totally new breaker plate assembly. Check the springs for the weights in the dizzy I might have a few of the NOS breaker plates for your car. They should be the same as the one used in my 39 Desoto. Rich Hartung I am member of the NDC so you can find my contact info in the Membership Directory.

Figured everyone would know that there would be a point before each number based on the pictures of the condenser testing unit. Rich Hartung

That was the number in my 39 Desoto parts book just for the quarter window glass. Rich

I know there are some 1938 Plymouth owners on the forum. I need your help. I have a friend in Poland that has a 1939 Desoto 4 dr sedan. He is looking for the garnish molding and the window frame along with the glass for both the right an left. The problem is that on Chrysler and Desoto they Chrome plated the frames in 1939 and on the Dodge/Ply they were painted black. I think I have found both of the two qtr window units with used glass, frames and garnish molding. From my 1939 Desoto parts book the glass number for the qtr windows is 790226. These numbers are found in the Body section under group 23 in the various parts manual for the cars. They might be found in the 23-J section or some where around that section. If anyone has the appropriate parts book for 1938 Plymouth, Dodge, Desoto and or Chrysler could you look up the glass numbers for me and send me the information? Trying to help a fellow DeSoto owner over in Europe and want to verify if the parts will fit his car and also so he does not get stuck with incorrect fitting parts. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Here is a picture of my Hills Condenser tester: Found this on Ebay around $25 if I remember correctly. Second set of pictures shows a 50 year old Autolite Condenser being tested and a reading of .4 MF versus a newer condenser reading a .2MF the third picture is a generic picture of most used condensers and is used to show the differences. Basically they are all the same, the main difference if how they are attached to the dizzy, the length of the wire the type of clip or ring at the end and which direction the wire comes out of the main body of the condenser. This information was taken from my power point presentation on Condensers and the use of the Condenser tester. After buying NOS Autolite condensers for my 39 Desoto I always test them to get the mf reading and then prior to installing in the dizzy i retest them. Just a nice tool to have when you need it. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I have a condenser testing machine. When i test some of my older Autolite condensers to the unit I get readings higher that what you have stated above and get readings into the 3-4 range. So are my OLD stock condensers bad or are they ok. Rich Hartung

Clayton: Great history to have for your car and to pass on with the car. After getting my build history from Chrylser Corp I was able to meet with the great Grandson of the original Desoto dealership from where my 1939 Desoto was sold. The great grandson told me all about the history of the dealership and how they also did custom body enhancements. He also went onto explain that they did partner with the Derham Custom body company that was located in Bryn Mawr PA which is on the Main Line here in PA, the real good old money section near Villanova, PA. When either facility needed extra workers they would share their employees to each other shop. The grandson now runs the Wolfington School Bus company and supplies busses to all of the major school districts. I showed him the information on the car that I had and I drove the car to their location. He was impressed that I knew so much about the car. We talked for approx 2 hours. Always great to know the history of the car. Hope to see you again in October at Hershey. Please stop by the site at OAD7&8. Here isa link about the history of Derham Body Works: Enjoy the history. Derham Body Co., Derham Carriage Co, Enos Derham, Joseph J. Derham, Rosemont Carriage Works, Derham Top, Coachbult.com (coachbuilt.com) Rich Hartung