desoto1939

This why when paying for services I pay by Credit card. Then you have some options against the service provider. If the car is not getting fixed and or even being looked at by the shop thne bring it home for safe keeping in your garage not theirs. Even if they have the car and will not give it up they do not have any right to keep the car. You paid for the work. They should look over the car in one hour tops to determine the issue. Then provide you with an estimate or fix the issue. Get a written statement from them. Next record in a document all that has happened. This wil be a small claims court issue. It will cost you money to file with the court the issue but if you win the case the shop will have to pay for the court costs and the money that you are seeking as damages. Do not say anythng to the shop owner if you are going to do this prior to getting the car back at your home. Ask them to fix the issue and if they say no then take possession of the car out of their shop and property go home and then file the paperwork with the court. I had to do this with a person that was going to re stucco my chimney. i had put money down on the job and they never showed up to do the job. called and called and they never replied. I won the case and he lost and had to payout more money than if he had done the job. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

OK thanks for the update I thought this was his engine on his car. Rich Hartung

The flange were the exhaust pipe goes into the exhaust manifold seems to have a gap or space might not be on correctly also what is the little nit with a tube extending on a 45 degree angle under the exhaust manifold used for and what should be and should not be connected to this thing In your top picture the heat risot weight is inthe upright position and inthe bottom picture the weight is in the total down position why the difference Did they mess with the spring onthe heat riser??????? Did they take the two halves apart onthe manifold and did they use the correct gasket between each top and bottom? Did they plane the surhace of the intake and exhust manifolds to insure they are not warped? Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

might look for a sealed beam conversion kit that was made for 1938 Mopar and or 38 Dodge car. The inner flange from the kit might work, just a thought. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

with the tool being shown there is a bend inthe flat part of the tool and then the 6 mil feeler gage is under the rolled peice. So how do you mic the drum with this tool it would seem that the top edgeof the flat black would be onthe inside of the drum and where you are setting the minimum space is not totaly way off the mark. Do not understand how it works compared to the ammco 1750 brake tool. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

on my 39 Desoto the two bottom eccentric pins have the flats to accept and open end wrench. I think it is a 1/2 open wrench. Also they had stamped in the arrows on each pin so you knew that when the arrows are pointing at each other then you are at the same contact point on each eccentric pin. The flats permit you to roate the pin so you can make the shoe lining contact the ammco 1750 brake adjusting tool pin and or the contact point onthe miller MT19 Brake gage. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Check the rubber oil line that feeds the oil pressure guage. The rubber will crack with age and it might be on the back or on the under side of the rubber hose. Do you have rubber hoses running to your oil filter and yes retighten the cap to the oil filter also check the bolt that holds the lid down on the oil filter canister Rich Hartung

when you installed the fuel pump did you use the correct gasket to help cover the opening inthe lower block where it bolts to the block? Rich Hartung

Greg: He stated it is already converted to 2volt but is positive ground. not sure it things will work if it should have been 12 v negative ground. Rich Hartung

Sam: Yes the new mechanics have more electrical issues but when any new car goes into a shop or dealership they have to hook it up to the computer port under the dash and run a computer scan. The computer does the work of diagnosing the issue and then tells the mechanic what part or parts need to be replaced. If electrical they do not rebuild the part it is just a plug and play situation. Yes cars have gotten more complicated and specialized but inthe od days you could go to any good repair shop and get your car fixed. Today if you have your own small repair center you might specialize on a certain brand of car but the technical testing units for some of these cars is so costly for the independent guy to own. We have made the car into a complex computer and the basic knowledge to run one has disappeared so this is why we are seeing less and less guys takingon an older car restoration. I do see your point of view. Rich Hartung

Info on the Miller MT19 Brake gage tool and the Trubrake Brake lining grinder. Hope you enjoy the reading and I also have both of these tools and also the Ammco 1750 brake gage tool. The Miller MT19 takes longer to setup but also has the toe and heel of the tools set and the proper setting of 6 and 12 thousandths spacing. So basically use setup each individual shoe so that the shoe is set to the drum setting with the MT19. Do not adjust for toe or heel. Then use the trubrake tool with the appropriate sleeve and then use this tool to remove the high sport on the lining because the shoe was set for the drum measurement. You continued the removing of the lining until it was a uniform passing against the brake shoe material. You would do this on both shoes and not they would be arced to the specific drum while on each axle. Then you adjust with the MT19 for the toe and heal setting on both shoes. Then put the drum back on and do the other side and do the same for the other two wheels. And just think about the time it took the dealership to do this job and what it really cost back inthe 30's-50's. It was a very cheap job when considering the amount of work that the mechanic had to perform on your car. And back then the mechanics would reline your riveted brake lining and that also took time. Not like today when they just call a parts house and wait for the parts to come to the shop and then put the new shoes onthe car. Back in these good old days they were true mechanics and today they are just computer technicians and the computer tells them what has to be done. The old mechanics used their knowledge to fix cars and di dnot have any computers. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

I looked in my Moog Catalog and with th enumber you provided the moog kit is a moog part number 1050 and it is in the moog kit k94 and k752 I found the kit k94 on ebay so look up moog k94 Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

accoding to my autolite catalog the IAO-4002-1 or the IAO-4201-1 can be used and they both used the vacum chamber VC-3147. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

Sniper: So here is how I understand what you are saying. If the correct gap is 20 and if we assume you can get a perfect 20 gap then the dwell meter on my 39 Desoto would read 38 onthe dwell meter. But if I gap the points at 18 this would mean that the points are closing sooner and then the dwell metter should read higher than the 38 possibley 40+. So if you undergap the point then the dwell will be higher and if you over gap the dwell will be lower. This is how I understand the dwell number with a dwell meter. Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

So true. I have just be fortunate to live close to the Hershey Fall AACA swap meet and have been going for over 30+ years. I also have an extensive collection of Miller Factory Tools and also a large collection of Automotive Manufacturer Catalogs such as Autolite, Moog, Thompson Products, echlin, Blue Streak Wagner Brakes Delco Shocks, Wiper motors and other important documents, Sisson Choke etc. This is another part of the hobby that most people do not even think about. But it helps to identify the correct parts for our cars when you are at a swap meet. Just adds more knowledge about the car. Rich Hartung

Yes check the type of bulbs in the front and rear sockets. Also check the flasher unit. I am assuming that you have a 6 volt system. Did someone put in a 12 volt flasher unit. Pull it out of the holder and check if 6 or 12 volt. rich hartung

Loren: The ammco brake gage yes has gone up in price over the years. Along with the rear drum pullers for these older mopar cars/trucks. But the Ammco brake gage 1750 is also a micrometer to insure that you are getting the brakes shoes adjusted properly. I also have the Miller Mt19 gage that has the 7 sleeves and it does a fantastic job of getting the shoe aligned properly. Both are very expensive to find but if you want the perfect brake job the other homemade units are ok but not as perfect as the Mopar tool and the Ammco tool that the MoPar dealerships used. In my later Miller Tool catalogs they show the Ammco Brake gae being used instead og the Miller MT Brake gage. Also there is a second tool call the trubrake tool. This tool was also made by miller and used the sleeves. Basically with the MT 19 kit you setup all your individual shoe to the drum with on each shoe. The the trubrake tool was put onthe sleeve and used to grind down the high spot on each shoe. I also have this tool. These were used prior to the Ammco Safe Arc cam driven brake shoe lining cutter. So setting up the shoes to be properly set is a very intance process and takes time to get them correct so that is why these tools are needed and so very expensive. I have a large collect of early Miller Tools and when you need to do some maintenace it makes the job go easier. If you want more info on this tool write to me at Desoto1939@aol.com rich Hartung .

The FC 5550 is made to receive the male bull-it end of the wire and the two metal spring clips hold the male end tight in the hole. This is what I have on my 39 Desoto and it has the two male ends. So look for these at you next swap meet. Rich

According to My Wagner Brake Catalog the proper Wagner Brake light switch for Chrylsers from 1937-52 Is the Wagner part number FC5550 and this has the two male ends. This also goes for Desoto 37-52, Dodge 37-52, plymouth 37-52 The correct switch is th eone on the left bottom row Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Sniper: The gentleman found the overdrive unit for his car but currently has the trans on his car without the overdrive unit. When you put the orverdrive unit on the back of the regular trnas the tail shaft is now longer. Which means that the driveshaft is now to long to be just installed with the overdrive unit. So instead of cutting down the old original 39 Plymouth drive shaft with the two pin and trunion u joints and having to weld the driveshaft with the possiboiity of not having it fully balanced It is cheaper to have a completely new driveshaft made with the slip joint drive shaft and use the modern style u joints. Ihave seen new drive shafts like this for around $400+ two NOS pin and trunion u joints would run about the same so why not go full modern when he converts over to using the overdrive. Mor reliability and you can grease the ujoints with the zerk fitting and do not have to take the old style apart. Rich HArtung

When shortenting the drive shaft get an entire new one made that has the slip joints and the newer cross style u joints. The new style will have the zerk fitting to grease them. If you plan to shorten the original drive shaft then you are going to spend $250 each for the old trunion housing and small parts and then you would have to tap the housing to provide for a zerk fitting. I have several of the original trunion housing and repair kits if you need them and I will give you a good price on them. Do you have the 39 Plymouth service manaul it shoudl have info onthe overdrive I have the info on my 39 Desoto and they used the same overdrive. Write to me at desoto1939@aol.com Rich Hartung

I use a brass drift with a brass hammer to put the key back into the rear drum. Squirt the key with some PB Blaster might have rust build up. Most of the times it just falls out of the slot when the drum comes off the axle. Time has taken ahold of the key take your time to remove it from the drum. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Mopar Sahsquash: On the above pictures of the drum you will note the little pin that is cast into the drum. This is very important to have. On the cars that use lug bolts the pin is used to mount or hand the rim off of this pin so you then can thread the lug bolts into the drum. On the dodges and plymouth's that use the lug nut stud combination the drum did not have the mounting pin because the rim could be hung on the drum via the lug studs. So if you do every purchase a five lug drum puller look to see if the puller has the 6th hole for the pin. This is the type of puller that I am explaining. I like this style because you get an totally even pull on the drum versus a three legged staggered pull on the drum when trying to remove it from the axle. Both styles will work to remove the drum. The pictures were taken from a power point presentation I did about the factory miller tools at the National Desoto convention several years ago. My five holed puller is not a miller tool but is of the same design and it has never failed to remove a stuck drum. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Yes restoring an old antique car can be expensive. So you suggested of installing disk brakes. I would advise that you look at the cost to also do this conversion before jumping into it. Consider the cost of a different rearend and possible shock relation connections Cost of a possible drive shaft change Cost of the diskbrake conversion parts Cost for a New Master cylinder to support the diskbrakes and the plumbing to convert Might want to look on ebay to see if you can find some Used drums or possibly just have your current drums cut Brake shoes with the lining also are not hard to find even on ebay So take some time to make contacts with the various antique car providers, get their catalogs and pricing and then wayout the options Rich HArtung desoto1939@aol.com

hoping that the listing will help everyone have a safe and successful winter hibernation for their old car or truck. rich hartung