MarcDeSoto

No I'm not. I took the Sisson off, but you can't see anything because of metal in the way. I'm thinking maybe thread lock glue to hold it? https://www.homedepot.com/p/Permatex-0-20-fl-oz-High-Strength-Threadlocker-Red-Gel-27005/205905907

I checked the length of the screw with the Parts List and it was correct. I tried putting extra washers on it to shorten it more, but the screw still spins.

What do you do when the screw that fastens the Sisson choke wire to the choke won't tighten down? I tried to put in more washers, but that didn't help. Should l just solder the wire to the choke, or is there a way to make the screw tighten up?

What you have is a Canadian Kingsway export Dodge made from mostly Plymouth parts. I believe Kingsways were also exported to Oz. Exports sent to South America were called DeSoto Diplomats with a body also based on the Plymouth.

The motor mount "rubber" you buy today is not really rubber and does not duplicate NOS in function. When I asked AB if you could push your finger into the rear motor mounts and make a 1/4" deflection, he said no. If they are made in India like the ones I bought for $2 from Rock Auto, they are as hard as hard plastic, which is what I think they are made from. Luckily for me, I found some real rubber ones I bought in the 80s that are supple and soft rubber. Even as far back as the late 40s, MoPar warned against buying cheap, hard, after market motor mounts.

I checked again for spark and now I have spark at the plugs! I can't say why it didn't have spark the last two days. As soon as I closed the choke all the way, BANG, it started!!! Black smoke was flying out of the engine everywhere! It was literally pouring out of the valve tappets area! Even though I have the exhaust system all connected, the garage instantly filled with smoke. So, I think I won't start it again until I put the valve covers back on. But I guess it's normal for a rebuilt engine to smoke and snarl when it's first started since I rebuilt it 40 years ago! I'll try to burn off the excess oil and gas and get it tamed tomorrow.

I have more caps and rotors. No I didn't know you could order for a particular dist. part number. Mine are just for 48 DeSoto and that's all I know.

I found a cleat like the one that failed from NAPA and I'm getting plenty of spark out of the coil, but still no spark at the plugs where I need it. I had spark there on Friday and I don't know what happened.

I just wrote to the seller MoparPro to see if he could send me another metal cleat. I see from your picture and his picture that all of the straight cleats should be the same and one of mine wasn't.

No, I am using brand new cables from MoparPro. This shows the cleats that went on all of the spark plug cables except the coil cleat. The coil cleat is smaller and does not encircle the cable and comes off easily.

I pulled my coil cable out today and the metal cleat came off again and is stuck in the coil. It looks crumpled now and I can't get it out. Question: Why does the coil cable have this little chinzy small cleat that doesn't stay on, while all the other spark plug cables have a big cleat that encircles the cable and can't come off?

Hopefully, the guy you bought your car from gave you the hardware for this. I don't think you can buy things like the sleeve assy's from a hardware store. The page above is from the D24 Parts LIst.

Good idea! I'll do that tomorrow! Thanks.

It wasn't in the cap terminal, but it was in the coil stuck way down deep. I had to take the coil off and dig it out of there with a very skinny screw driver. I re-installed the cable and thought that would be the end of my problem. but still no spark. By this time, my battery was really winding down with a very slow cranking speed. I put my NoCo Genius 10 on it and it did what it always does. Charge for 5 minutes and shut off. So I put my very old Schauer battery charger on it, and it started charging it at 12 amps. So I'll check again for spark tomorrow after the battery is charged.

Joe, where can I get one of these color coded wiring diagrams for my 48 DeSoto. 48 Chrysler 6 would be about the same. Thanks.

One thing you didn't mention is when the starter is on, does the engine start if you turn on the ignition with the key?

I think I found the culprit. I examined my coil to dist. cable. The coil end had a brass cleat pressed on it. The cleat on the other end is missing. I assume that the brass cleat is important. I also assume that the local parts stores don't sell them. Time to sweep my garage floor!

I tried to start the engine today. I put gas in the float chamber and cranked. No start. I checked for spark at no. 1 cyl. No spark. I pulled the coil cable out of the dist. and checked for spark. Coil is putting out plenty of spark, but no spark going to spark plugs. I'll have to do some dist. troubleshooting. Points bad or condenser? It sparked last night. I checked to see if the cables were on tight. The coil cable that goes into the dist. cap feels a bit loose. It doesn't snap in like the others. Any ideas?

So it turns over but it doesn't start right? Sounds like you have a bad starter button switch. In other words, it's always connected. I've never heard of that kind of problem. Something is not turning off the battery power to the solenoid, probably the starter button. Also, to avoid battery problems, I always disconnect my ground cable (positive) from the battery when the car is not in use as a safety precaution. Also the starter motor has nothing to do with the keys in your pocket. The keys are for the ignition. The starter has a separate button switch. Sounds like it's not opening when your finger is off of it.

Thanks guys. I did it just like the manual says. I didn't need to fool around with the timing hole in no. 6. Here's what I did. 1. I took out the oil pump and slid the dist. up about an inch. 2. I held my thumb over no. 1 spark plug hole and cranked until my thumb blew off. Then I moved the DC mark on the pulley to line up with the pointer. 3. I followed the shop manual's directions for indexing the oil pump. Face the slot toward you and turn the gear until the slot is horizontal to the two mounting holes. Then turn the gear one tooth to the left. 4. Install oil pump by sliding it under the frame rail and into the hole. Secure with two bolts using 9/16 open end wrench. 5. Take rotor and turn to 7:00 and slide it into the oil pump slot. Install minor adjustment screw finger tight. 6. Attach test light between positive side of coil and distributor points screw. 7. If light is on, (it was), turn dist. counter clockwise just until light goes off. Then tighten dist. minor adjustment screw. 8. Then I put a visible spark attachment on no. 1 cylinder to see if it would spark when the DC mark appeared on every other revolution of the crank. It did. So tomorrow, I think I'm good to go.

I'm goint to do what Donald said and index the oil pump. Now I know that it requires two revolutions of the crankshaft for a cylinder to go through four strokes, so just because the timing pointer is on DC, it doesn't mean that the cylinder no. 1 is about to fire. It could be on the intake stroke. That's how lots of guys get 180 degs out. Thanks for all of your help!

If my engine fired on no. 1 cyl. at 25 degs. before TDC, it would seem that moving the oil pump over one tooth would be too far at 60 degs. I'm going to try to fire it up tomorrow.

Wow, Sniper really knows his engine geometry! I'm tired of fooling around. I think I'm going to put the major adjustment that I made back where it was and pull out the oil pump and the dist. and make sure I do a dead on balls (that's an industry term) accurate static timing. Dumb question does the no. 1 spark plug fire once on every revolution of the timing mark? So that if your rotor is pointing to 7:00 at no. 1 spark plug cable when the timing mark is on DC, you are at least in the ball park? I tried to do a static timing of the dist. using a test light today, but my dist. was too out of adjustment for that to work. I also noticed that when I had the test light clipped onto the positive side of the coil with the jumper wires, I no longer had spark, but did have the light on.

Yes, I think I can get Keith a flight on Southwest Airlines! when is it correct to do a major adjustment on the dist.?