desoto1939

Also check the entire breaker plate assembly. If it is original to the car it might be worn and have some slop in the two pieces. A friend has a 39 desoto and when coming up to my house the car would back fire and also run rought. We tookto my od time mechanic and the firt thing he did was remove the dist cap and rotor and tested the breaker palte and he showed us the slop in the unit. Came back to my house pulled the dizzy and replaced the breaker plate with a NOS unit and that solved his pbm. This is just a thought. He kept the old plate for the small wires and parts and then got a second NOS breaker plate. Looked in my Autolite catalog the breaker plate is an IGS-3004J but if a Canadian car and engine then an IGS-3004A.. Rich Hartung

The stock rain gutter clamps work well but they must be secure and if you have a split front window then you will also need the bracket that holds the center portion of the visor securely bolted down on the center strip. So it is a three point hold down setup. Rich Hartung

I was always told to leave the ends still up in the air to go up inside the block. If you cut the ends flat at the oil pan they will get leaks. First ever saw you document to lay the side gasket over the top of the end pieces. Rich hartung

Bingster do not use cork. The felt is to be soaked in oil. The oil in the felt helps to keep the oil around the the contact point of the eccentric and brake shoe. Cork will not work. Alsoput some white litheum grease on the eccentic pin to help with the shoe movement. Rich Hartung

What you are showing is the metal retainer and a felt oil ring. When you put the shoe on the backing plate the hole inthe bottom of shoe goes through the eccentric pin. You then need to put some motor oil on the felt washer the felt washer sits inside the metal ring. Slide the entire assembly over the pin and flusg against the metalpart of the brake. Sometimes these get listed on ebay. Look in your parts book for a part number and start doing searches on the metal rings. You can make the felt washer. In the attached picture look at number 14 and 18 for the part this was taken from my 39 Desoto parts book Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Blue Crown back inthe 1930-52 had the Exciter plug that had two contacts at the firing end. This chart was taken from my Blue Crown sparkplug catalog from 1930-50 Rich Hartung Desoto1939

yes the arrows initially would be setup to point directly at each other. This then identified that the eccentric pins are both in the same orientation of rotation. rotating the pins moves the heel of the shoe either down and out or up an inwards from the drum surface. Sowhen you are done the arrows might not be in the same pointing direction as each other. This is called the major adjustment process. The minor adjustment is just using the upper half moon to move the toe of the shoe outward or inward. Rich Hartung

Most used the AC 588 fuel pump with the glass bowel or sediment bowel. I had the AC588 on my 39 Desoto and it still had the factory AC588 tag attached to the FP> All of my FP catalogs refer to the 588 pump. Rich hartung

here is some info on Oillite bearing and bushings: Rich hartung

Oilite bromze beraring were an invention from Chrylser MoPar division. When they are original produced they are impregnated with oil under pressure. This is one of the reasons why you do not ream any of these bearing such as the pilot bushing bearing in the flywheel. The little grease cap will permit you to drop in a couple of drops of motor oil and this willthen lubricate the oillite bearing. Do NOT drill any holes inthe bearing. Rich Hartung

I install two of the heater shut off vales, one at the back of the block and the other one at the top of the waterpump where the metal elbow would be installed. reason: I now can completely control the flow of water thru the heater. I can shut off the entire flow of water and if if did have a leak in the heater core the was from the engine will not flow to the heater core. Also when you have to remove the heater as such in your situation the only water I have to worry about is what is the two rubber hoses leading to the heater. I can then darin them individually and then the only water would be what is contained in the heater core. Make life easier to maintain the flow of water. Always put some form of antisieze on the thread of the shut off valves. Rich Hartung

the issue is that the gorilla forgot to put the glue on the label because he saw a mouse and he got scared. Rich

you can spray some PB Blaster on the upper cam halfmoon adjuster to loosen it up. It could be rusty or filled will dirt and crud. When you move the eccentric pin and get ready to lock it in position use the open end wrench to hold it in place and then use you torque wrench to tighten up the nut in the back to around 75 ft lbs. Rich

As per Los-Control you will have to inspect each cylinder and then see if they need to be honed. If a light honing is needed then rebuilding should not be any issue. Coat the inside of the cylinder with brake fluid when assembling the new parts. Not a hard job but just takes some time and then have to readjust the shoes to the drum. Rich hartung

Here is an Autolite Champion chart. from around 1939. I willhave to look in my Champion Catalog but I think the J8 got superseded to the J8C. When i find my Champion Catalog I will post. Rich Hartung

Here is the information regarding the NOS whell cylinders as taken from my EIS brake catalog. Rich Hartung

the headliner is a very sensitive material and it has a short nap. If you are not sure about cleaning then do not do it. Once you have tried to clean it and the nap gets matted or comes out of the backing then it will lokk een worse and a whole new headliner will need to be installed and you will have lost the originality to the car. Rich Hartung

As an after thought on this topic. Most car owners do not think of purchasing spare parts when at swap meets. They are ususally looking for something or some specific part for their car. We all come with lists hoping to find the parts and go home happy. But as we all know we all have limited amt of funds to spend. But over the past 35 years of owning my 39 Desoto i am always looking for items for my car, Go to Hershey, Carlise, Allentown and other swap meets. I go with th emind set that if i see something that fits my car and its spare part and the price is fair I will purchase it or them, becsue as we all know once it is sold to someone else the part is no longer available for your purchase, 2nd, the parts are not being reproduced so there isa limited amt of spares to be found, 3rd if you plan to own your car for 5-10 more years you better get the extra parts especially if there are NOS or rebuilt here in the USA, european asian repros are just junk. You have to think out of the box and for future times down the road. Think ahead not for the current time, We see that point, condensers, caps, rotors and all of the good electrical Autolite components are not showing up at major and or local events. The guys do not want to carry these items they want the high perfrmance items but the meat and potatoes is still some of the older items. People want to switch over to electronic ignition but I have had the standard points setup in my 1939 ever since the car was built. Yes I only use autolite parts becasue I know they are still quality components. So alwasy be prepared to purchase items not alwasy on you parts list if you see them on a vendors table. Yes you might not have to install the item but someday someone might need the part and go can get your money back for the item. Do not think Ebay will always have the part you need or desire. The best line of defense is your offensive line to having those extra parts for the future. Rich Hartung

I feel that you have a dead battery. Did you pull the caps off the top of the battery to make sure that there is distilled water and or battery acid in each cell. Since you have a 51 mopar you would have a 6 volt battery. Did you check to see if the battery cable were clean and the battery posts were clean/ We had a similar situation at a car show last summer and gentleman drove his 53 Desoto to our show with no problems but when we got ready to leave the car would not start. We checked everything then looked at the connections at the battery. We pulled the cable ends off the posts and we found acid corrosion on the inside of the cable end and on the post. Cleaned up the post and the cable ends. We had to prime the carb a couple of time and finally the car started. Also suggest that you put the felt washers on each post red and green and then spray the post with the battery protection spray. Also go to the local autostore and get a battery hydrometer to test the electrolite in each cell. I have a battery maintainer always connected to my 6 v battery in my 39 Desoto. If the cars are not running on a regular basis then the battery will lose some of its charging. The battery is the life of your car so check them often. Rich Hartung

The Autolite IGS4207-1 distributor that you have a picture of is the correct dizzy for your car. I have attached a page from my autolite catalog that shows the dizzy number and then the appropriate Autolite internal parts that you will need. You might also want to consider getting a NOS breaker plate assembly that has all of the internal parts alreay assembled and then you put the new breaker plate into the dizzy. Keep the old breaker plate it might be able to add the points and condensor and have a spare. Rich Hartung

I would call and ask for Chris, the new owner of AB's and explain the situation to him directly. There might have been a break down in communication. Always best to communicate with the owner than a worker in the organization. I know Chris tries to make everything correct when a mistake has been sent in the part so call him. Rich Hartung

And the funny part of all this is that there are sellers on Ebay charging doublel to triple the cost of the same plug in the same packaging plus shipping and tax. I just saw one of these being listed for $16 on Ebay. Rich Hartung

Sorry about the typo the plug is a 295. Here isa picture of the front of the package. Rich

Hickory: i sent you a PM this morning Rich Hartung

Here is a picture of the shutoff valve that threads into the head near the number 6 sparkplug. They are on ebay and also Andy B sells them on his website. search Heater shut off valve. Rich