desoto1939

Rich: This switch is for around 1937/38 and not the 40s. The 37/ desoto had a drawer pull type button so when the light was pulled on these was a whole in the drawer pull that told the driver the light where on. In the panel light the same affect. In 39 They changed the switch to be the clip on knob style just like on my 39 Desoto. rich hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Just looking at your picture and where the red arrow is pointing I would say that the rustu washer or part that is on the left side by the arrow point would slide into the groove. Not sure how you can move the lower arm backwards enough to get the lower arm reconnected also would put some lubriplate of the sliding washer to keep it greased. Just my 2 cents worth of input. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

here is the brake cylinder info from my EIS Brake catalog for the B4B: Front right EQ6354 Front Left EW6353 Right rear Upper EW 10581 Lower EW10583 Left rear Upper EW10580 lower EW10582 Looked at the HAgen link and the numbers that he lists the wheel cylinders are the specific number for each cylinder that is used across the industry so he matches up with my numbers from my EIS brake catalog. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

I looked in my various Brake catalogs and I can not find any reference to the dodge truck B4B there are other letters but not the B4B. Are you sure it is a B4B Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Plymouthy: I also have gone through some of the AACA judging classes. But as an AACA judge all you are permitted to do to look under the car to judge the undercarriage is to get down on one knee, pardon the current pun, and examine the underside of the car. So if an after market reproduction gas tank is installed in the car and there is not apparent factory painted number that is visible the judge is not going to know it is repro or not original. They are looking to see that it resembles the original factory look. So with that they say that a car can be over restored such as having a high glass paint on the frame, They even do not judge for a correct factory color based on the color code that is stamped on the factory identification metal plate. So long as the color is a resemblance of a color that might have been offered then they will not question the owner. They do not ask for color chips if a 1939 Desoto is painted purple with metal flake then it is wrong because they would know that that was not an option. So I looked at the link that Marc had supplied and from looking at the picture it looks as if this isa factory copy and looks darn good. Ask Marc to call around to see if he can even find a true NOS gas tank and get a price might be more than the $500 if he can find one. So in the long run I guess we all should never purchase anything from Steele rubber because he has made reproduction rubber parts and we should all be using NOS rubber that is 40-80 years old. Sometimes we just have to over look somethings and determine what is important and a repro tank that looks and fits well will keep the car ont he road. And then let the judges determine if they want to take off points. Marc is the person that is the one spending the cash and only he can determine what he wants to spend. I think we all have provided our input to his questions and now its time from him to make the decision. Rich Hartung

yes you might find an after market tank. I found ones that were plastic tanks but were not correct and would require a lot of modifications just to fit the 39 Desoto. Again when an original NOS tank 1937-39 that has been sitting in a warehouse for over 75 years and you have not seen the tank or the inside of the tank leaves a lot of questions when the seller is asking $900 plus for the tank plus shipping. So when Mike W has now gone and I assume had an original 37-39 Mopar Tank and has a reproduction tank made and it is selling for around $350 and free shipping and this will prolong the life and use of the car possibly for another 10-15 years I think that is a good option. Yes with any reproduction item there isa chance of having to modify something to get it to fit perfectly. So also when you are supporting a family and your home and kids and your regular cars and then have an antique car or truck this is the item that sometimes you might spend less money on since the car is not a daily driver to support your families needs. All I say is that its up to the current owner to know how deep they want to spend for a part. Let look to see how many reproduction parts are on some of the AACA cars that are Senior and Grand National cars. They only made so many original parts and then a machinist had to make something to fix an issue. So some of the cars do not have a total NOS car but items that have been remade and most people do not even know the difference. Rich Hartung

MarcDesoto: After looking at the package of items I would go ahead an purchase the entire new gas tank. So lets say that they repair the tank, you have to drain the entire tank. then let it dray out completely so there is no gas fumes that could ignite when they might have to fix the old unit and then wait for them to complete the job and then reinstall old used items fill the tank with gas again and restart the car. with an older tank and other items. $500 with included shipping is a good price considering the size of the gas tank and how it is going to be boxed and shipped to you. Bite the bullet now and not later when there could be another issue. If Mike had the gas tanks for my car with all of the items I would have purchased the setup and I could have put it directly into my car. Also suggest that you have some form of cloth material for the metal straps so that if the tank does move it does not wear into the bottom or the top of the tank. Might even consider some plastic fender welting material or antisqueek material. rich Hartung

can we ship it back to them and say it was defect in their manufacturing. Rich Hartung

I have a 39 Desoto and the 1937-39 Mopar Tanks only fit my car. These are very hard to find several years ago even NOS. I had contacted a major parts supplier in Georgia and I knew they had a NOS tank. They quoted me a price of $900 just for the tank.. I had my tank repaired and it has been working fine keeping my fingers crossed. I know that there are reproduction tanks for the 37-39 mopars and they run about 350 with free shipping. So if I get one of these tanks I am already a plus 550 ahead of the game and even if it does not last another 60 years like the oirginal I will still be a head of the game because I will be in the grave and then next guy will have to worry about a tank replacement. A pair of gas tank straps NOS will also run me around $100 and I already have them but mine that are on the car are not rusted. So for the estimate of $500 for a complete unit I think is a very good price. I spent a couple hundred dollars when getting mine fixed because I could not afford almost $1000 for a tank. Rich Hartung

Yes the state police came to the main gate on Wednesday and they walked into the grounds and also heard that they put up a drone to take pictures. I stayed the entire day and there was never any announcement that we had to leave. They were trying to limit the number of total people to 250. But you already probably had more that that with venders and their helpers just on the fairgrounds. Hoping that the fal event will have more venders because of Hershey not happening but who knows. Rich Hartung

did you recently rebuild the Carb and if you did then did you put the two small ball bearings back in the correct order they look the same but are difference. also did you soak the accelerator pump leather in any oil to soften up the leather seal to make a better seal. Do you have the instruction sheet on how to rebuild the carb and then reset it up after a rebuild these are very helpful to get the unit set correctly.. What carb in on the car. I might have some information. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Well Carlise rescheduled their Spring event to this week June 17-21 but without the car auction. I got to the parking lots around 7:30 and basically I was the 30th car in the lot and that made me nervous. Ususally you have to pull into the shoulder lane of the PA turnpike because of the amount of cars getting off the turnpike. Today there was no waiting and I drove right into town without any traffic. I was told about a 50% amount of venders in attendance. But really there were between each venders at time over 10-20 open spaces. Not a lot of old parts. Mostly was new tools, Chinese tools, signs new reproductions lots of paper manuals. At one point there was talk that the state might even shut down the event because of having over 250 people at the event. The PA state Police came into the fair grounds and did a walk around. I left the fairgrounds around 5 PM. Some of the venders think the poor attendance was because of the rescheduling but some also fear the C19 issue. There is also talk of trying to have the fall carlise extended into a second week since the Hershey event that is held right after fall Carlise. The venders would like this to happen so they can take advantage of getting more people to Carlise instead of Hershey. even with the limited amount of venders they were still charging the full entrance amount of $12 per person at the gates. I found some small items for my 39 Desoto but basically it was a bust but the weather was great sunny and temp was in the mid 60's. Felt good to be outside and walking. The rest of the week is calling for some rain so who knows what is going to happen If they have a fall carlise lets all hope they have more venders. Did not see any of the major Mopar venders there this year. Rich HArtung Desoto1939@aol.com

Dodgeb4ya: Thanks for posting the picture. Yesterday I went into my 1936-42 Desoto Master parts book and went o the section on brakes. and it had the following information from 1936-42 under the heading Brake Shoe Facing; Front - long Rear- Short. My specific 1939 Desoto parts book did not indicate this information so the Master multi year catalog was very helpful. This is why I try to stress that owners of an antique car, truck or whaty ever always get at least the service manuals and any other manuals that they can on their vehicles. There isa wealth of knowledge in these manuals. rich hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Dodge4ya: Thanks for the input I know you have been around these types of cars for a long time and I value the input. Even in the factory service manual you can see differences in the positioning. So I will go with short lining ifacinf the rear of the drum and the long lining facing towards the front of the drum. Thanks, Rich HArtung

Hkestes41: I totally agree with what you are saying. Lets make a car such as this 1937 Desoto Convertible rumble seat coupe with the original factory suspension and brakes and lets add speed equipment to the car to go 65+ mph. This car does not have any protection incase the car rolls over because of driver error or a mechanical breakdown that could happen. The potential buyer was asking questions about the car like would the dodge head and intake manifold fit on the Desoto, so it is obvious that he does not know about the desoto car but wants to make modifications to it prior to even purchasing the car. Rich Hartung

Pure gas is referred to as ethanol free gas. Yes ethanol free gas does have other additives to help keep the fuel injectors clean so theatrically there is no such things as 100% gas. Even in the winter blend there are additives to help with cold starting here in the east coast and where there is a lot of snow. This is why sometimes you will see the price of gas drop down around the spring time when they are starting to shift over to summer blends. They are trying to get rid of the winter blended gas in the storage tanks. Or sometimes you can get racing fuel at some gas stations here on the east coast not sure if they are 100 gas or not but also higher octane. Rich Hartung desoto1939@aol.com

Moak: You are correct they fabricate the unit to fit into your existing old generator housing so yes there is machining and other work to be done. But $1000 is a lot of money for this item and with a lot of people being laidoff from work because of the c19 issue that is a very hard cost to explain to your wife and even for me to try to explain the benefit. Yes it probably is a great product but $1000 goes along way for food and other monthly expenses ight now and now I am retired. Rich Hartung

This is how my front shoes are currently setup on the 39 with the longer lining shoes on the rear and the short on the front and the short lining starts at the bottom of the shoe and goes up approximately 8 inches so there is space of approx. 2-3 inches of the brake she showing without lining. Greg thanks for the input just trying to get this correct for a rebuild on the front brakes. rich hartung

Just did an inquiry with this company for one of their units for my 39 Desoto. You need to send them your old generator and they do their thing to make it an alternator. Hold on to your socks, the cost,, $895 plus shipping of 65 from them to you and plus shipping out to them and if you want an autolite tag on the unit it is another $28 and it has a 3 year guarantee. So the total cost is over $1000. Now you see why people are switching over to the one wire alternator unit. Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

Ok here is a question for the more experienced members; I have a 39 Desoto So in some of the repair manuals and even in the 39Service Manual you see the use of a short brake shoe lining and a full lining Some show the short lining at the bottom of the lining other show the lining at the top and going downward. Some show the short lining facing the front of the drum other show the lining facing to the rear of the drum. Some show the long lining facing forward and the short backwards. I have taken shoes off my car and have riveted lining and most are with the short shoe lining starting at the bottom of the shoe and go up about 8 inches versus the full lining at 11 inches long. What is the correct way these linings should be on the shoe and the correct position on the backing plates? front drum short lining starting at the bottom rear and long front or long rear and short front or short front with lining at the top and full lining on the rear What are your thoughts Rich Hartung Desoto1939@aol.com

yes they have been manufactured to keep the looks of originality for the older cars with generators but they have made an alternator to fit inside the case. These are good and if you want to try to keep the originality look for your car. They are expensive. If you have one in your car or truck it will lose points at an AACA sanction event even thought it looks correct. They will spot it very quickly. I like the looks of these and have often thought about getting one but the cost is the big item. Putting out 175 dollars for the modern Alternator is not that bad but when over $300 that is had to tell the wife. Rich Hartung

Plymouthy: I saw pictures of the 37 Desoto and it was already restored and it was ready to go down the road. I see you point and yeas when he goes to buy the speed parts then he will see the cost involved and then changes that will have to be made. So why not just get an already retro hotrod completely ready to go off the shelf. Rich

I am looking for some answers to a question that I am trying to figure out. There was a posting on a facebook page regarding a person looking at a 1937 Desoto coupe that has overdrive. The person was asking if any of the speed equipment from a dodge would fit on his engine. I informed hi that the Desoto has a 25 inch block versus the 23 inch block. The person wants to go over 65 mph in a car that still has the old drum brakes and suspension and single brake line from the master cylinder. My question is why do some guys want to take a vintage car like this 37 Desoto coupe and want to go 60-70 mph in a car that is 83 Years old and has 83 year old technology and risk their lives and their passenger lives with this type of speed? I sent a reply back and knowing the old Desoto line since I have a 39 Desoto I told him then why not get a car from the 60's -70's that can handle these speeds and has radial tires and AC and all of the more modern items. I know everyone has their own thing about old cars but why the need for speed and putting on all of the speed equipment for a car that should only go around 50-60 and also just enjoy the car and the beauty of the car and take sometime to move at a slower pace in life. You can still travel with the car but take a slower route and enjoy life it is to short. This is just my 25 cents on the soapbox. So looking for some comments from the members. I will not counter your point of view just want some input to see where everyone is thinking there is no right or wrong answers. Rich Hartung

sorry about the listing not being the correct size was just trying to help. I guess you will have to keep looking. Rich Hartung

Yes that is one but if you copied the title premium engraved serial number plate and did a search on that you would also get another seller with the same plate for sale. Rich Hartung