MarcDeSoto

I do read all the time. I have the Chilton Motor Age books, and the Motor manual. I watch many videos on Youtube. I read and watch the filmstrips MTSC. But yes there are some holes in my knowledge for sure. Like I didn't know what the oil pockets were for. I will do more basic Motor manual reading as I've forgotten a lot since the 80s. Wait til you hear about the latest problem. The starter motor yesterday wouldn't stop. I kept clicking the remote starter and it wouldn't stop. I pulled the alligator clip off of the neg. battery terminal and it wouldn't stop. Finally as a last resort, I pulled the pos. batt. cable off and then it stopped. Maybe I have a short or starter is not releasing at the solenoid? I'm going to pull the starter and read the manual on how to troubleshoot the starter.

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Rich, you're a godsend! Thank you for this obscure information! I knew something was wrong. I wonder why my original didn't have this fitting? Or maybe I lost it years ago? It just looks like 3/16 brake line. Here is what my Parts List says: Tube: Oil gauge hose to oil gauge - 861526 attaching standard parts: Nut, inverted flared tube 3/16", 3/8" -24thd... Nut, w/sleeve ... 3/16" tube diameter, 3/8"- 27 thd. I guess this nut doesn't come on the back of NOS oil gauges? Maybe I can order it?

Engine is still hard starting, I think it's because spark plugs are getting wet with oil. I also saw oil seeping out of the valve covers. Looked inside and saw a couple of the oil gallerys in front of the tappets were full with oil. Any ideas of what is causing this excessive oil?

I've replaced the rubber hose, the metal line and the oil gauge with new, but I'm still getting a bad leak. It is coming from the back of the line nut near the oil gauge. I've tried to tighten it but it still is leaking. Any ideas?

Were those parts used, or were they in MoPar boxes NOS?

Yes, everthing's easier the second time when you know what you're doing. I'm going to try to glue that broken piece together as these parts are not being made anymore, and I doubt if they are available in NOS Mopar kits.

I know many guys don't know what I'm talking about, so I took some pics. The first pic shows the broken 48 piston on the left and the 49 or 50 piston on the right. I put the one on the right into my carb. I think it will work. Marc. o

I think I found out what I did wrong. When I put the bakelite piston and the metal part that fits on the bottom of the piston in the cylinder, I did not align the contact with the button. I was about 90 degs off. So when I tried to screw the button shaft in, I put pressure on the fragile bakelite piston and broke a piece off on the tapered part. Luckily, I have two spare carbs with kickdown switches. One the them is missing the air horn, so I didn't know what year it was. I removed the throttle body so I could remove the kick down mechanism. I took out the button shaft and removed the bakelite piston. This bakelite piston contact assy. had a different design without the metal keeper at the bottom. I looked in my 1949 Dodge Parts manual and saw the one piece bakelite contact. I think it would work in my 48 DeSoto carb. So I'm going to try it. The trick to putting these kick down switches together is simply facing the contact toward the button shaft. I should have known that!

The button does press easily but not when I put the bakelite part that goes in vertically. Then the button gets jammed. In fact I broke the tapered part of the bakelite switch when I screwed the the horizontal pieces in. I will have to look for some directions on how to put it together.

That was an amazing difference between the new spring and the original spring. I'm going to look at that closely. Luckily I have two other EV2 Ball & Ball carbs that I can take original parts from. I'm having trouble right now putting the kick down switch together. When I do, the push button won't go in, so something's wrong.

Is there any trick to assembling the kick down switch on a Ball & Ball carburetor? The kick down switch has a button that the throttle presses in when the driver pushes the pedal to the floor. After assembling the parts on the carb. the button won't push in. I tried several ways to assemble it with the same results.

I took Wagoneer's advice and pulled the carb. I took it completely apart and cleaned the parts with Chemtool 12 carb cleaner and soaked the jets in acetone. Then I blew everything off with compressed air. I made sure the accelerator pump holes were blown out so I could feel air coming out strongly on both sides of the divider in the venturi. Right now, I'm reassembling everything. If you get lost assembling your Carter B&B carb, Mike's Carburetors has a good two part video showing you how!

There are upholstery outlets that will sell you the headliner pre-sewn for you, if yours doesn't work out. Hats off to you! That's one area I'd be afraid to try.

I know what you mean. I'm going to watch the MTSC filmstrip again on carburetors to understand the workings, and then put it together. Does anyone know if the acc. pump is supposed to squirt out of both sides of the wall in the carburetor? I took my carb all apart today and will assemble it back together tomorrow. If the engine is still hard starting after that I will work on the distributor. New points and condenser. I checked the throttle body, and didn't see any looseness in the throttle shaft.

I looked down the throat of the carb. as I pulled on the accel. pump. The squirt comes out mainly on one side and just dribbles on the other side. That could be a problem if it's supposed to come out of both sides with a strong stream?

I'd like to get the name of your upholstery guy! He did a great job and love the creative approach to the bucket seat!

For some reason, the engine remains hard starting. I think I'm going to follow LeRoy's troubleshooting tips one at a time to see if I can correct this. All I did to my carburetor lately was put in a new carb kit. I didn't take it all apart and soak it in carb cleaner and blow every orafice out. I just put in a new dashpot, accelerator pump, metering valve, etc. The engine only seems to start when I squirt in gas from a sqeeze bottle. Not when I pump the throttle a few times. It is squirting gas though. So after I rebuild the carb again, if that doesn't solve it, I will put in new points and condenser, and go from there.

I found this Evaporust for cooling systems. I think I will try it. https://www.ebay.com/itm/175379763345?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D777008%26algo%3DPERSONAL.TOPIC%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20220705100511%26meid%3Ded4cc7d52a424a3badd69dbe1ff1dc69%26pid%3D101524%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26itm%3D175379763345%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2380057%26algv%3DRecentlyViewedItemsV2&_trksid=p2380057.c101524.m146925&_trkparms=pageci%3Ab49e576d-9951-11ed-b6c3-9eb2c7d6940d|parentrq%3Ad2ef3bec1850aa71572fb209fffe5b86|iid%3A1

I am just reading this again closely and it is really good advice. I'm going to follow it as I troubleshoot my hard starting problem! Thanks, LeRoy! Marc.

I always try to follow Los Controls advice. I seriously thought about taking it out for a drive around town. Who needs the body anyway? I could stand on the frame rails and work the pedals one foot at a time. I wonder what a cop would do if I drove by him. Howdy officer, just breaking in my 48 DeSoto. I'll put the body on later. I'm thinking of putting some anti rust coolant flush in the radiator and then flushing the system after running it awhile. What's a good product?

A Model A friend of mine said to use Permatex Copper gasket maker on the exhaust pipe gasket. It is made for exhaust and other high heat applications.

I just did the brake lines in my 48 Desoto which should be the same as your 41 Plymouth. All the brake lines in mine were 3/16" tubing with U.S. Standard threads. There are no metric threads on brake lines in these old cars.

You try to use a tap and die set to fix the threads if they are not too far gone. I don't think anyone sells that part, so you might have to look for a junk yard.

The exhaust manifold gasket was put in a few months ago. Maybe somebody sold me a bad gasket? I did not use putty or goop. I did tighten it more and for awhile there was no burning until the engine got hot. Nothing is coming out of the draft tube, it's all from the manifold to exhaust pipe gasket. Spark plugs turn black pretty quickly from burning oil. I did put a lot of Marvel M.Oil in there while I was getting the engine ready to start. And the rings haven't seated yet. I'm using 10 W non-detergent so the rings will seat easier.