52b3b Joe

I’m looking for some thoughts on a project car I’m looking at. The car kind of came to me (I was definitely not looking for another project) and the only reason I’m contemplating this is because of what it is. It a 47 Desoto convertible that’s 30 minutes from my house. The car needs everything....rockers, fenders, tons of metal work to the body and doors, and everything else imaginable. The car is complete and has a clean title. The engine appears to be locked up, but I didn’t put much effort into try to spin it. It’s nothing I can’t handle, but I want to get a mental check on myself to see if I’m crazy! What do you think it is worth as it sits and do you think it’s worth it just because of how low production it is.

I got pretty lucky with mine. It's a 52 B3JM that I paid $2,000 for a year ago, and it was 20 minutes from my house. Not a single part is missing. It has it's some rust, but it's definitely restorable. Can't wait to start this project! I'm also a green tractor owner! I have a 1953 50.

I just noticed this! I admit I don't regularly check this section. I try not to clutter up the forum with already answered info, it makes it harder to search things! I haven't had much going on with projects lately, but when I get to the cabover project, I know I'll be here a lot again. I'll have to learn the bigger trucks! This forum and the members are great! I've met a number of people on here at different times, and I consider all of them my friends. In a round-about way Reg Evans is to blame for me and my truck. If he had never sold it, I would have never bought it and joined here! When I bought my truck, I was looking for either a Studebaker truck or a mid 60's mopar, and somehow got a mix of the two. My wife's great uncle ended up with Reg's truck, and kept pestering me into buying it (along with my father-in-law). I caved in and the rest is history. I'm not sure I would have bought my cabover without everyone on here either. The turning point on that one was going to look at it with Merle when he was passing through the area. I definitely have no buyers remorse, and I can't wait to start that project! Thanks for the kind words, it means a lot!

I actually had the same thought about the noise, but I don't see any indications on the ring gear of contact, and the return spring on my starter is pretty darn stiff! Have you had this problem on one? I might check it out again though for ease of mind.

I took the weekend off from the garage. As the truck sits, the pan is back on, and the manifolds are off to the machine shop to get trued up. I plan on pulling the valve covers tonight to see if I notice any signs of a sticky valve based on what Brian said to look for. It'll actually be easy to see what I'm doing with the manifolds off! I'll let you know what I find!

I'll definitly start to use MMO. My dad has used it religously in his 41 Desoto, but I always thought it was a waste of money. Maybe not! I am thinking that my engine might have a little tighter tolerences than spec on the valves, and that is the main factor, but I'm just guessing. I checked the u-joints when I had the driveshaft out earlier this year, and all seemed well. I also replaced the u-joints when I restored the truck too.

That's actually makes the most sense. The noise isn't 100% metalic, and sometimes sounds like the mix between a miss and an exhaust leak, which is pretty much exactly what I'd have with a valve problem. What I don't get is the fact that I drive the truck quite a bit for a valve to do that, but who knows? Maybe I should pull the head too and take a look at them.

I have one, but I can't get it to do it on command, and it doesn't make the noise for a long enough duration to go this route I think. If it still makes the noise after I get it back together, I'll give it a shot though.

I've been having a strange engine sound randomly at higher cruising speeds 60-65 mph (keep in mind I have a 3.54 rear end), and I've been trying to locate the issue. The noise it a loud tick that will last for a few seconds, then go away. Loud enough to make my wife nervous (you can EASILY hear it over the wind noise, glasspack exhaust, and radio). It is with engine speed but doesn't hit every revolution if that makes sense? It is not a regular occurance, and is extreamly random. I can drive the truck for hours without having the noise, then one day it happens 3 times in 5 miles. I only notice it at higher RPMs. I thought I figured it out earlier this summer with a broken pressure plate finger pivot. I had the pressure plate rebuilt, and put a new disc and pilot bushing in, but I still have the noise (but a better feeling clutch with no chatter!). Nothing is hitting or making contact in the clutch area that I can see. My next thought was to remove the engine oil pan to fix and oil leak and look for any foregin objects in the pan. I though maybe something was loose in the pan. The pan was very clean and the lower end of the engine looks fine. The pan has had a rough past, with a lot of dents/dings. There is a spot near the #5 rod where it looks like something has rubbed the pan and put a shinny small grove in it, but no sign on the rod or rod stud/nut of hitting. I suppose it's possible with a softer material for the pan. This might be the noise, but I don't know how it could only happen at higher RMP, and you'd think after 4,200 miles on the engine, it wouldn't be a recent issue. There was also NO metal glitter in the pan. I ran a magnet through every square inch, and picked up nothing. I guess I'll just cleanence the pan where the mark is, and reinstall it. The only other thing that is questionable is the fuel pump arm spring pressure on the cam. When it is not on the high part of the lobe, there is not much pressure keeping the arm on the cam. I am wondering if it is "floating" the arm on the cam lobe causing the noise. How much tension is normally on the cam when the pump is off the high point on the lobe? I can eaily pull it back with one finger about an 1/8". Beyond that, I have a leaky exhaust manifold (I hope it's not cracked) that I'm pulling off tonight, and plan to pull the valve covers to see if anything in there might be making the noise. Has anyone else had a similar problem? I'm guessing not, but you never know! Once I get these small issues corrected, we'll keep on truckin!

I'm not a body guy or a painter, but I've painted enough cars to know a little bit on the subject. Both single stage and BC/CC will work fine. Personally, I've made my decisions on a few things. For me it first comes down to if it has metallic in it, what kind of "look" I'm after, and how much I want to spend. If it is a metallic paint, my opinion is to use BC/CC. It's more forgiving with the metallic paints, and you can wet sand and buff with good results. If it's a solid color, I look at how much I want to spend on paint, and how I want the vehicle to look (a period correct look, or a better than new look). Depending on the line (quality) of paint, single stage is normally cheaper. Single stage also give a more period correct look and finish. If you are after a flawless, better than new, perfect paint job, then you probably want to go with BC/CC. In the end, as other said, its all about the result you're after. I personnally prefer single stage on 40s-50s cars/trucks. Here is my truck in single stage, and here is a 48 Desoto I painted in single stage. The Desoto has very cheap urathane single stage and it looks great. I think there is maybe $750 in the entire paint job (primer, material, paint and filler).

I know! It's a real problem!!! Maybe now that the 48 is near the finish line, maybe I can start some small cabover projects. I can't believe its been 10 months since I've even put eyes on the truck! Heck, I hope it's still in the barn where I left it!

Well, the car hit the road yesterday. It drives very nice! The radial tires make a pretty big difference on these cars! In all, we probably put 30-35 miles on it. We still have some minor projects left on it and some fine tuning to do, but in all it was a success. My dad bought modern radials for the car to save some money. It doesn't look terrible with the beauty rings and center caps to break it up a little, but its a lot of black! The 41 is still a much better looking car in my opinion though!

It's been a while since I gave an update. The car is pretty much done. Just need to blast and paint the wheels, then have the new tires mounted. I took me a little while to find some clips that will work for the rocker trim, but now that I located some, we'll be able to get those on. I also had another hang up with the wheels. Once we got the tires dismounted, we realized we had 3 different rims. Different widths and styles. It took a while, but we actually found a parts car 48 Desoto 20 minutes from my house that we were allowed to take the rims off. Tonight I'll blast the rims and hopefully get some paint on them. Other than those items, the car will need new rear springs. One side is pretty weak and the car has a lean. Nothing is broke, so it'll wait a month or two. As far as the interior, it is all original except for the carpet. I was missing the front carpet/mat, so I had to buy a new kit. Overall the interior is tired, but it'll do for now. It still needs some more cleaning before I call it ok. I'm really hoping to have the new tires on tomorrow, and to take it for it's first real drive this weekend.

Next time I work on the car I'll try and get some pictures for you! Should be good timing, I'm hoping we put the grill in soon.

Thanks! We definitly are! I know my dad is very happy with it. It has exceeded his expections on all of it so far. I'm just soaking up being able to do a project like this on someone else's dime lol. So far we haven't sank much money in the car so he's also happy about that! He still needs to get tires and door glass cut, but other than that not much!

Thought it was time for another update. Things are still progressing. Most the trim is on the car now, which turned into more of a project than I thought. The front bumper is a pretty decent used bumper, but the rear is NOS, and it was coated in some sort of protetant (cosmoline like). That stuff was TOUGH. I spent probably 5-6 hours with paint striper and a paint stir stick to get all of it off. It did do it's job though, the bumper is in great shape. We also have the wiring harness going in. The engine compartment conections are nearly done, but nothing under the dash yet. Last night I took the wiper motor apart and cleaned it up with freash grease. It seems to be working pretty nice now. The than that, I took some of the electrical switched apart, bead blasted them, lubercated them, and painted them. The exhaust is done now too. I'm hoping it will last a couple years. All the small stuff takes a bit of time!

I definitely understand that. This project sat for a few years torn apart before we actually dove into it. It takes a lot of time and dedication to see any project to completion!

Thanks! It is on the home stretch, but there is still a lot to do! We need to paint some more small parts, order tires, get new door glass cut, install the wiring harness, and install the interior. But for the most part, that should take too long.

Getting there slowly. Sure takes a lot of time to polish and reinstall the trim! Some of the chrome definitely needs re-plated, but that can be done in the future. Tonight I am planning to band-aid the exhaust in hopes of getting it on the road for now (and so it can be driven to a shop sometime this summer).

If that big red truck wasn't behind you, you'd be looking at a green 41 Desoto!

We take ours pretty much anywhere for a tour or show. We never trailer. We do park them in the winter while the salt is on the road, but when the weather is good distance isn't much of factor for a show. At that point it comes down to if we have the time. I think the farthest distance we've done in one day is around 700 miles a few years ago to Minneapolis from Ohio in our 41 Desoto. All of our cars have stock drive-trains. They were made to drive and go down the road right? The picture below is from last summer on a tour. It covered around 1,000 miles in a week.

I finally finished the cut and buff on the paint, this weekend. My arms are pretty sore! It looks good for a DIY job in a dirty garage. I also put the rear fenders on for the last time! I still need to push the fender welt in though and tighten the bolts.

Today was spent wet sanding and buffing (just when I thought we were done with sanding on this car...). We took the car down to 2000 grit and I hit it with a course compound to start bring back the shine. The next step will be a fine polish, then hand glaze. The water in the paint made a lot of craters that are down the the primer in spots. We sanded out what we could, but some we are going to have to live with. I touched up all of them with a brush before I quit today, and am hoping I can wet sand them lightly again to make them go away. I'm pretty happy with how it is coming out. It's just going to be a driver, not a show car. It's a little hard to believe the drivers side is as straight as it is with all the damage it had!

Thanks! Yeah its single stage. It's Automotive Art Motocryl. I paid $120/gallon for it, so it was pretty cheap. I put a light tack coat on each panel first and did two medium-heavy coats. The front clip and hood alignment is a matter of trial and error. It took a lot of time to get it as nice as it is. The biggest thing is to get the door gaps as best as possible before lining up the front clip. You may have to adjust the doors a little after the clip is on, but the closer they are before you fit the clip, the better off you are! The hood on this car doesn't fit as good as we'd like, but it will work. I don't think the gaps were great on these to begin with out of the factory. Lol, the interior is none existent right now. Its all original but in Ok shape. It will be good enough for a driver quality for the time being. We are planning to put it back in as is for now. It'll be a project for a later time. I'm not even sure I have any pictures of it before we took it out!

It's black again! It went pretty good. No runs or sags, and minimal to no orange peel, BUT (there's always a but lol) I had some moisture problems with the air compressor. I ended up with quite a few spots on the final coat that I'm not too happy about. I'm hoping I'll be able to wet sand and buff them out, but we'll see. I am definitely happy with the body work though!