Dan Hiebert

Ditto above, with addition to ensure good grounds for electrical.

Good to see ya out and about, we've got another month of keeping it indoors (still 3-4 feet of snow on the ground, and the roads are horrible with potholes and frost heaves), so the inspiration is welcome!

I would strongly recommend removing the dash from the car and disassembling it. Yes, it is a quasi-PIA to do, but you'll be much happier with the effort (vs. trying to paint it in the car) and most of all the results. You can also take the opportunity to address any behind-the-dash and firewall issues you care to once it's out, to include perhaps painting the back of the dash if needed - which you can't do if it's still in the car without making a complete mess. I painted the dash and inside window moldings on our D24 almost 20 years ago using plain old Rustoleum "Leather Brown". The original wood graining was far too gone to restore, and I wanted something I could easily touch-up, or redo relatively quickly. It looks good, and the dash is holding up extremely well, although the window moldings are taking a bit of a beating since the grandkids started riding in the car a few years ago. Alas, no photos I can get to in short order, they're on a messed up MSD that I don't feel like paying $500 to restore just yet.

I'd get the missus cast iron or steel skillets, but she'd probably use them against me. As in upside my noggin... (She says they only work best on gas stoves, which we've never had.)

I hope we (U.S. drivers) don't find ourselves heading the direction where everyone is better off with a dash-cam. There's a reason there are so many "Russians are Crazy" driving videos on YouTube - they have so much fraud and insurance scams over there that you're taking a chance not having a dash-cam. (Although the videos sure make for good time killing, and thanking my stars I don't drive over there...)

Silicone spray lube won't affect the rubber, is just as slick, if not slicker, than petroleum products, and cleans off easily once you're done, if you so choose. It won't restore old rubber, but it will help protect new rubber.

For whatever reason, 6v lead-acid batteries don't last overly long in the first place. If you get 5 or 6 years out of them, you're doing about average. I migrated to a NAPA commercial battery, forget the number/group off hand, and have a bit better luck with it, has the best cold cranking amps as well. I had been buying Auto Zone (none even remotely close to where we live now) Duralast with good results, albeit with less CCA. All that said - The Optima looks like the way to go, only hold back on my part is the cost, which is probably moot in the long run since they seem to last just about forever. For what we've spent on lead acid batteries, I could have bought a couple Optimas.

Rebuild kit is available from a few sources, I got one from Andy Bernbaum that included the sector shaft seal and bearing, and worm gear bearings and races. NOS gear and worm may be hard to find. I had to replace the sector shaft, and both the gear and worm were galled, but what is now AMS Obsolete had NOS parts. This was 6 years ago, and I got the last (at the time) worm gear and shaft, and one of two sector shafts available. I needed both the shafts, but the gears are probably a bit easier to find. A phone call is best way to find out if they have what you need, they have scads of NOS and excellent used parts. AB may have them, they didn't when I needed them but referred me to AMS (Mitchell at the time), AB would be worth a phone call, too. As with AMS, they have parts that aren't in their catalog. Info for both is in the Links Directory.

I just bought a mess of 6v bulbs from YnZ for our D24 and Terraplane, they seem to have just about any you could need for older cars. Dash bulbs in our D24 are #55, 2 candlepower. ClassicAutoBulbs has a good selection as well.

As noted a few times above, the proof is in the preparation. If the primer hasn't come off already, it probably won't anytime soon. I'd suggest you take this opportunity to practice with the most important part of a good paint job, and that's preparation - everything before the color coats. With those flaws, that Dakota looks like a perfect canvas to practice a few things on, as you mentioned. You can work from that factory color coat, from the factory primer, and even take a panel or two down to bare metal and start from there. Don't do the whole truck at one time, but practice techniques on different parts of it, maybe even make a harlequin truck out of it. The drudgery of painting cars is in the preparation, once you're ready to spray color it goes quick. I've grown a tad fond of urethane primer, it's good for any type of paint, sands easily, and doesn't require a seal coat. I've only ever used acrylic enamel for single stage color coats, always with good results. I'm not opposed to two stage, just never used it (yet).

Ditto. When we first got our D24, it had two different headlight doors on it. At first glance, it was OK, but once I looked at it a while I could tell something was off. Got a pair to replace them a few years ago and it made a big difference to me. "Common folk" would probably not notice, unless it is someone with an eye for details.

Doesn't show it in the diagram, there is a small tab on the top inside of the ring at the back. That hooks into a slot at the top of the inner headlight bucket. The ring just rotates down onto the lens and is secured by that screw (#1 in the diagram) at the bottom. If that screw is stripped and came out, or just worked its way out somewhere along the line, then it usually doesn't take much to bounce the trim ring off, especially on bumpy winter roads. Around here, the "extreme" cold, and the difference between warm garages and that cold (-10 this beautiful, sunny, morning) will work things (especially older things, except maybe me - just makes me creakier) loose if they don't have lock washers or such on them. Hope you find that trim ring ("headlight door") in one piece, always nice to have the original parts on the car, but at least those aren't all that rare if you have to source a replacement.

The grit of sandblasting media is for both cutting and surface texture after you finish. Virtually any hard media grit will leave a wonderful surface for paint to stick to. The thicker the material you want to remove, the bigger the sandblast media you want, then judge the bare surface for if it is what you're looking for. I have always used a medium grit, and get great results. Fine would be more for glass etching and the more delicate parts, and can even be used to get some polishing started. I've never used coarse, so would have to defer to someone else on that. What the media is made from can determine the finish, and what to blast, too - but, I think TSC doesn't have a vast array of options, anyway. The nozzle size is for the grit of the media you're using, coarser grit, bigger nozzle. Most grits/materials will have recommended PSI to work with for best cutting, and longer lasting media. Exercise caution when blasting not to spend too long in one area, just like welding, blasting will heat metal and warp it if working in one spot too long.

Oh my! That is awesome! The paint is incredible, really helps accent those nice art deco lines.

Ditto Don C's note. I got the ones for my 230 at NAPA, not significantly less expensive than an antique auto specialty store, but less expensive none-the-less. I imagine any "regular" auto parts store would have them, but I tend to go to NAPA first for the old car parts, since that's where I've been winding up anyway. The other places generally have to order what I need, NAPA tends to have it in stock.

I'll be interested in how you handle that roof dent, especially if that limb left a crease or more severe damage that we can't see. I've fixed a few "oil can" dents on our D24, including the roof, but nowhere near as severe as that. I've not delved into a couple projects in the past because the roofs were dented like yours.

I was wondering where you would go with that thread title... A folk group from Switzerland, Oeschs die Dritten, did a nice rendition of "From a Jack to a King" a few years ago - YouTube bait - if you like German folk music and/or yodel music, it'll draw you in.

I saw the announcement of the discovery on the news yesterday, and was equally enthralled by the photos, especially the tractor. The ship must have gone all the way to the bottom on a fairly even keel. Amazing how clear the water is down there, the photos could have been taken on the surface if we didn't know better. Thanks for posting the link!

Our '48 D24 has a stock powertrain, tuned up nicely, but still not in the best condition possible. We get an average of 16 mpg, all stop-and-go rural (for lack of a better term) driving. The best we've ever gotten was 18 mpg when we had more open roads to drive on in other locations.

Maine DOT has at least a couple older versions of those in northern Maine. I'm told the USAF gave some to the State to help keep the roads clear for access to the various Air Force bases that used to be here. (One of them, Loring, about 60 miles north of here was supposedly the largest SAC base in the US.) Then the State got some more from surplus when the bases closed. MDOT uses them to help clear drifts, and they're pretty awesome to watch in action. When I was doing some research before moving here, I explored a little in Google Earth, saw this in Houlton, and casually wondered what I was getting into...

Welcome! You will indeed either find the info you're looking for here, or someone who can point you in the right direction. Searching first is usually a good idea to avoid folks simply telling you to search. The links all have good information, as well. It's easy to kill an afternoon and/or evening simply thumbing through these pages. I'll be the first to chime in with "get a shop manual" for your car to make things that much easier, it's not that hard to get repros, and they aren't expensive. I see a lot of projects listed, looks like you know your way around cars/trucks/machinery/etc., so I'll refrain from sticking my foot in my mouth just yet, and just urge you to post some photos.

Run electric heaters out there and let your mom see the electric bill. Compare that to a decent pellet stove, and you'uns may have a chance...

Sounds like an ad-lib at the expense of the film crew that they may not have expected, you can hear the crew laughing in the background. Funny.

The DeSoto trim will fit, but it won't match what is already on the car. An Average Joe may not notice it, but any car guy, especially vintage Mopar ones, will, and it'll start to annoy the heck out you after a while.

The fluid drive does not eliminate the need to use the clutch, it's not a "fluid clutch", it's a fluid coupling between the engine and transmission. What it does is lessen, sometimes eliminate, the need to shift gears at all. I always clutch the car into reverse or first, from there you can ease the clutch out with your foot on the brake and the car won't die if everything is working right. I'm usually about 50/50 whether I do that or not, no reason, that's just how it seems to work out, probably because I have other standard tranny cars and am just used to using the clutch more often than not. It'll bog down a little, but then all you need to do is press the accelerator to move the car. You still have to clutch up or down through the gears, but once you're in you're desired "cruising" gear, you don't need to shift anymore, just like an automatic tranny (sorta). Around crowded towns/neighborhoods/etc. where I won't be going above 25 or 30, I usually leave it in second, which provides a bit better acceleration. In rural areas, like where we live now, I'll leave it in third. No clutch, just brake to a stop, take off as needed. I've said it before - acceleration from a stop in third is more "majestic" than anything else - but you don't need to clutch. These cars have a retarded throttle return that keeps it from decelerating too fast when you stop or slow down in gear, and since there is no mechanical connection between the engine and rear wheels, it won't die. If you take your foot off the brake (and/or clutch) slowly without applying gas, the car will still move out, but you can still kill it if you pop the clutch too quick. Fluid drive is great for holding hills, driving in snow, mud, loose surfaces, etc.