desoto1939

This selenoid is hard to find eventhough used from 41-48 on Chrylser and Desoto cars. and if you find one the cost will not be cheap. They did make repair kits but those are hard to find just keep searching on ebay and also major car swap meets. I had one with the starter motor but was given to a friend in Michigan that has a 1948 Desoto. Rich HartungAutolite Starter Controls Soleinods.pdf Desoto1939@aol.com Autolite Starter Controls.pdf

Are you sure that the breaker plate is fully tight inthe body of the distributor housing. Or the breaker plate assembly might be worn out and you are getting slop from this area. I have a friend and alsong with me we both have 39 Desoto.s He drove up to my house for a car show and noticed the engine was not running smooth. We took the dizzy cap off and found that the two halved of the breaker plate were loos with each other there was a lot of slop. We chnaged out the old one with a NOS breaker plate and that solved the issue. The breaker plate is held in position with two screws. Also the Dod/Ply distributor shaft is shorted than onthe Chryler/Desoto distrbutor shaft. Do you have the correct dizzy. Is there any possibility that you mifht have the incorrect dizzy installed. Tellme the IG number on the red tag that is mounted onthe outside of the body. According to my Motors repair manual the correct dizzy number is autolite IGS-4003B-1 which was used on 1936-38 plymouths also on the 36 Plymouth was the IGS-4003A-1 Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

On my 1939 Desoto I use the old style Autolite A9 but the original was an Autolite A7. Was recommended this 15 -20 years ago and still use the A9 today. They are getting harder to find but I have a couple of boxes. The a9 is a hotter plug than the A7. If you find the AL series this is a longer reach plug and the A9 is the regular 14mm plug The Al series plugs would have been used with the aluminum heads and the a plugs would have been used with the cast iron heads. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Oldguy48: Yes I know what you mean. I will be getting my first grandchild in June. We all know that grandpops are perfect but we do need to be careful not to influence them in the wrong direction. Over time they will learn the bad words but hopefully not from us. Glad that the article was useful to someone and hope that no-one ever has to resort to using them in an accident in the garage. An ounce of prevention is worth every penny that you spend even if you do not have to use the mechanism to help with the issue. Another option is to use Alexa and have a station in the garage with you when working on the car so it could call your wife or even 911 or the police department Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol

The gasket can be thin. It is used to fill in any spaces or gaps between the two metal parts onthe base of the carb and the top of the intake portion of the manifold. And yes you do need the slotted gasket since you do not have a govenor on the car. I just checked on one of my carter original Carb Kits and for my 1939 Desoto Kit the same gasket that you ae showing has an approx thicknes of 1/16. would assume that the same gasket would be used on all down draft Carter Ball and Ball carbs. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Also did you get a cold or hot plug range. This also might increase the amount that the bottom of the plug extends into the cylinder chamber. Rich Hartung

The correct adapter to screw into the side of the head for the temperture bulb is called a glandnut. It has the hole for the bulb at the end of the temp guage to slid into the opening of the gland hut and then the threaded nut end of the temp gage bulb is treaded onto the glad nut. What you need is the inner thread and size of the hole of the head to match up and then the opening and threads onthe temp gage blub outer nut to also match up The nut is called a glandnut usually made of brass.

Sam: I do see you points abound only using an electrical FP. But if this is the only FP that you have and your battery dies on a trip then you are dead in the water and can not go anywhere. I had a wire come loos and broke on a volt regulator but was able to limp home and then discovered the broken wire but so long as the engine was running and via the use of the mechanical pump I was able to get fuel to the engine. We all hopefuly are not speed crazy so the amount of fuel being sent to the carb is not the pbm. it is the weather the owner wants two systems to pump fuel or not. Mechanical standalone or electrical Standalone or a combination of both for added security. So it is a personal choice to how each owner wants to proceed. This is why we have the forum so people can express their thought and everyone can make up their own decision. Rich Hartung

Ken: to me that was secondary option but most people do not have the cell phone right next to them incase of an emergency and if you are trapped under the car and just out of reach from the cell phone then you still have an issue. It is hard to plan for every possible situation and sometimes it is cost prohibited but just wanted to point out the potential safety hazard of working alone in a garage. Not sure if cell phone that have the Siri Option if you called out to Siri it is would then call 911. The other option would be to have the google option to have a hands free monitor that might call 911 but you would still need the router to be able to reach your garage. Rich Hartung

Chris another important point that i did not even think about. Thanks for the input All input is great to have from the members. If these ideas prevent an accident inthe garage then we all have prevent and stopped a potential injury. Rich Hartung

Below is an article that I wrote for my Local car club. Just think of how many times that you have been working on your car or truck, modern or antique and you are alone in your garage? We all have done this numerous time, Think of when you change the oil and your modern car is up on car ramps and you are under the engine taking off the bottom cover and then draining the oil and oil filter. same when working on your antique or older car. Do you use a bottle jack to hold up the car with only a very small point of contact to hold the 3000 lb car up in the air and did not use a hydraulic floor jack to also support the car or did not put a jack stands under the rea axle when pulling a rear drum and using a drum puller. Then do a brake shoe replace. Just think about the potential for an accident to happen. So read the article below and ask you kids for a set of baby monitors. They do not have to be a two unit but need to used so that your wife or someone in your home can hear you if you ever need help. Makes a great Birthday or even Xmas present. It is one of those safety tools that i hope none ever needs to rely upon, but better to be prepared. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

If you are going to only run an electric fuel pump then I would consider the shut value in case of an accident becasue if the electric circuit is still active and the ignition was not urned off then the pump will still push gas up the line. I still use the mechanical pump on my 39 desoto but have the electric pump installed as backup and mainly for priming the carb after the car has sat for a period of time. You can have both on the car and use the mechanical as the primary and the electric as a backup incase the mechanical fails. I do not like to depend 100% on the electrical pump for everyday usage. By having both at least you have one pump that is working and the other as backup. Just my input. Rich Hartung

correct there are specific right and left door rotor kits based on which door you are trying to fix so Left front right rear or Right front left rear based onthe location of the door hinge also. Also it does not need to be real MoPar part these unit were made for MoPar so keep searching and them come up on ebay. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Sorry about the issue of some non respectful person stealing the items from your car. I saw the pictures of your car. first question is, Is the car registered as an Antique car and if so who do you have the car insured with? Most of the companies that deal with antiques car/truck insurance state that the car/truck must be kept in a locked garage and can not be stored under a car port of similar item to protect the car/truck. So since the car was not stored in the hut that is in front the car I do not think you could even claim the lose onthe antique car insurance plan. You might want to check your policy. I know my antique car insurance required the car to be in a locked garage except when it is on a tour then there is no option to put it in a garage. Everyone should check their individual policy to make sure their antique is officially covered. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

Since you have a Plymouth the correct PP would be a Borg Warner PP and clutch plate so why did oyu have an Auburn system they are not the same. It seems very odd that the vendor would have supplied you with an Auburn system when if they are a MoPar vender that the correct unit is a Borg and Beck unit Someone really messed up with this order. We all can make mistakes. So if you are or anyone is going to be ordering a new PP and Clutch disk write to me and I will lok up the correct numbers for you. I have a Borg warner Clutch book that goes from mid 1930 - 1960. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

The tool makes the holes when you srew the end with the zerk fitting into the metal covering then the grease fills the opening when removed. Rich Hartung

Here is the spring cover lube tool the knurled bolt screws down on the top of the spring to hold the tool inplace. On the bottom end is a zerk fitting that has a sharp point that when turned clockwise cuts into the metal spring cover. Then you attach your lube gun to the zerk fitting and shot chaisis grease into the bottom of the spring to lube the leaves. My 39 desoto has the original spring cover only on the left rear spring assembly but not onthe right rear. Another friend of mine who also has a 39 Desoto has the same setup. I am assuming that either they only put the covers onthe left rear becasue of the filler pipe for the gas tank and to protect the springs if gas did overflow and then would wash away the grease. If this is the reason then I can see why there is not covers onthe right rear springs. Does anyone else have the same setup? You can find these on ebay for sale. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

I have read that you have to use a suction type oil remover to remove th eoil inthe differential and then replace with new oil. Rich hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Hope everyone had a Merry Xmas morning and hope you received the presents that you wanted. I was surprised by my youngest daughter that is a graphic designer with a present that she made for me. She found an old saw and then hand painted a pictures of my 1939 DeSoto on the road to a home. These are the best type of presents to get because of the special time that someone has spent to made a special gift. Over the years when she was young she helped my work on the car so this makes the give even more special. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I prefer using the original MoPar head copper gasket with the asbestos inner core and or the MCCord head gasket same style. I would assume that maybe either McCord or Fitzgerald or Victor provided the gaskets to Chrysler. Some of the major gasket suppliers were McCord, Victor, National, Fitzgerald inthe early years. I have some of the catalogs for these companies so can look up gasket number if needed. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Hope you have another floor jack under the car to support the car. I see that you have a bottle jack under the axle. Since you are pulling on the hub that bottle jack is not very stable to support the pulling of the drum. I had a friend that used a bottle jack and hit it by accident with his foot and the car fell and did some major damage to him. So always double support an area that you are working especially when a car weight in at several thousand pounds. One guy always has a two way baby monitor setup so that if there ever was an issue at least his wife or kids would beable to hear him calling for Help. So go to a good used baby resale shop and pick up one unit that works it just might save your life when working by your self on your cars either antique or new. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I purchased my replacement headliner for my 1939 Desoto from Restoration Specialties that is located in Windbur P 814-467-9842 They have alot of patterns adn it was a perfect fit for my car. It is a two person job. There are metal rods or ribs and the headliner has pockets for each rib to slid into. On each rib mark the location or number them and also sand and repaint them with a primer and a rust proof paint. website www.restorationspecialties.com You will need several flat blade putty knifes get plastic ones just look along each door you will see the teeth but you will have to remove the old lining first. If you have to rip then do it a good upholstery guy can do this job. I did mine with the guy that painter my car it took us several hours to do but we worked as a team. center the liner in the roof after putting all the ribs ina dn then attach them to the proper mounting locations. We started at the back window and worked our way along each side so we did maybe a foot at a time on the right then went to the same area on the left side If you have window lace you will also need to tack that in place prior to installing the headliner. Maybe a good vo-tech school might want to offer to do the job so the students can learn and you might get it done for free. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Back near the number six sparkplug on the top of the head there should be a plug with a square head on it and the head might have been marked Heater. This is where the shutoff valve get screwed into the head. Some of the later cars had a cable controled valve that was opened via a pull cable from inside the car on the dash. These shutoff valves are sometime listed on ebay and are not cheap. There are other that is a manual valve that also screws into the smae hold that has a turn handle to open and close the water going to the heater core. On top of the water pump you might have andother inlet to permit the water to go back to the waterpump and the into the radiator. There was a galvanized tube that had a bend inwhich you would connect the return rubber hose. I used another manual shuoff value here also. By having two shut off values this would permit me to shut off the entire flow of water incase there ever was brake inthe rubber hoses and if an when you ever had to work on the heater core you would not have to drain a major amount of fluid from the block just shut off both value and the only water would be inthe heater box and in the two hoses and minimaul amout of lost water. Hope this helps. Rich Hartung

Marc: On my 39 desoto the headlight wires are included inthe main section of the wiring harness. On my 39 the wires travel down to the dimmer switch on the lower left side of the floor board and then are still wrapped inthe main harness and then split out to the headlight junction box onthe top of my left front inner fender panel. Where the wire loom joint together it will split out as several branches one branch to the headlight junction box wires coming back from the gen to the volt regulator and then in the main trunk to the instrument panel all wrapped together in a mesh loom. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Or look for Old Stock Cylinders made by Wagner or EIS brakes. I have catalogs from both these compnaies that are on CD if interested good reference catalogs for doing other brake parts. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com