MarcDeSoto

I think I'm going to look for some of that silicone caulk to set the window instead of the window tape. Anyone know of a vendor for it? Thanks!

I think I'm going to just take it, like Groucho says, to my DeSoto/Plymouth dealer, and tell 'em Groucho sent me! Will the 22 year old guy at the glass shop know what I'm talking about? I'm just going to study the Part List that has a blow up of the parts inside the door. Looks like it consists of putting the window in the door and connecting it to the arm and pivot assy. And putting the rollers in between the vertical channels. Then connecting the regulator arm to the arm and pivot assy. Piece of cake, only you are working blind in tight quarters! Luckily, Mark of ihazwings on youtube made a detailed and wonderful video covering this subject on his 41 Plymouth. Who does that? Luckily he did. His videos were so well made, that I was sad when he stopped making them.

Rich, thanks for those catalog pages. Only you would have material like that! Should you grease the rollers before installing? So would you recommend handing the job over to a auto window technician?

Interesting discussion. I'm working on a 48 DeSoto and it ran fine before I tore it down 40 years ago. I've drained the FD and put new Mobil Light Circulatiing oil in it. No leaks so far. I do have the FD tool kit and I have a junk 48 FD unit out of a 48 Dodge. It is rusted through, so it can't be fixed, but I might try to tear it down to see what rebuilding one would be like. But I'm not going to buy an expensive seal to do it. Just try to tear it down and put it together again.

I bought a pair of window channels a few years ago and I'm wondering if they are correct. According to parts to my S-11 Parts List, I need 1152286 for the right channel and 1151821 for the left channel. The only channels that are the same are the club coupe and the business coupe. The part numbers on my NOS channels are 2236451 and the other one has no part number. Maybe this number is just a manufactering number and not a Mopar number. I checked my 1942 DeSoto Parts list and it's not that. I also checked my 1949 Dodge Parts LIst and it's not that. Could it be a 1941 part no.? I don't know. Does anyone know? Also how hard is it to install a new window pane in the front door and should I seek an auto window shop if it's a job for a pro?

Changing dashes from one year to another years seems like a lot of work for nothing. If you are not planning to keep the car, I would keep it original. If I were in the market for a 51, and I saw a car with the wrong dash, I would reject the car. But I'm someone who like things to be historically accurate. I know many of you don't care about that. And the fact that you think a 50 dash is real wood tells me you know next to nothing about these cars!

Great looking 51 Plymouth! I think it's the first 51 Plymouth convertible I've seen. I once owne a 51 Plymouth Suburban wagon. It was in poor shape and the owner inherited it when he bought some land in the country of East San Diego County. He said if I could haul it off it was free. So I did and parted it out. That was 40 years ago! I just saw a 51 Plymouth in a 1957 movie called The Girl Most Likely starring Jane Powell. Her boyfriend drives it.

When my DeSoto hasn't started since 1980, you bet I'm going to video it and put it on Youtube.

I've been cranking the starter since summer and it's cranking good and I have oil pressure!

Also since the fuel pump is dry, I will prime the carburetor by funneling gas into the air tube to fill the float chamber. I will not pour gas down the throat of the carburetor. Don't want to get a burned face like Jay! Maybe that will create enough suction to draw gas from the tank to the fuel pump. Oh and thanks for DodgeB4ya, I will change the cold tappet clearance from .014 to .010 for intake and .012 for exhaust.

I'm sure you can't find this spring at Home Depot or a hardware store. It is very specialized.

So you are saying just the secondary high tension cable to the center of the distributor cap and that's it? Or maybe you mean there is no need to send a second primary wire from the + side of the coil to ground. I think what you are saying is to send two wires to the distributor, the high tension cable, and the primary wire from the + side of the coil to the side of the distributor to ground the points.

Alignment of the bell housing to the block is very important. If you cut the dowel pins, be sure you have new ones.

yes the radiator is installed. I do have the oil pressure gauge and temperature gauge installed. Yes the postive battery terminal is connected to ground on the side of the block. So to ground the points, should I connect one wire from the coil + side to ground and another wire from + side of coil to the side of the distributor? Then prime the carburetor, time the engine, and crank?

So I have not replaced the wiring harness on this car yet. The body is still off. Before I put the body back on, I want to see how the engine runs and how the transmission shifts gears. I have already wired the spark plug cables to the distributor and plugs. I not concerned with the generator or regulator right now. Can I just put an alligator clip wire from the negative battery terminal to the negative side of the coil, and the positive side of the coil to ground? My wiring diagram also shows a wire going from the positive side of the coil to the side of the distributor. Is that for grounding purposes?

yeah, time just slips away and everything changes!

I'm not saying this is your problem, but back in the 80s, I worked on the famous Star of India ship's carpenter's 47 Chrysler business coupe. It was running poorly. I did a compression check and found it had a burnt valve, I rebuilt the carburetor and replaced the fuel pump. It still ran poorly. He took it to a pro mechanic and they found out the fuel line had a little rust hole on the top where you couldn't see it that caused the fuel pump to suck air. They replaced the fuel line and solved the problem.

That's great! Did you buy some parts from him? And what did he want for the cat? Can you tell me about what age he was? If he was in his 40s say, he might still be around, but probably without those parts.

You took the counter lady down to mill road? Wow, she was helpful!

Today I was going through some boxes looking for my color coded, numbered, blown up wiring diagram for my 48 DeSoto. I finally found them, but I also found an 10 page MoPar Parts list from Keep 'em Rollin' MoPar NOS Parts just for my S-11 DeSoto. Ten pages of NOS parts, line by line, with part numbers and prices. Hey, I wonder if he's still in business? There were some really great prices there. There were small parts like manifold studs, tappet adjusting screws, and U-joint caps for $2 each. And there were bigger parts like a complete NOS Ball&Ball EV2 carburetor for $70; 3.54 ring and pinion gear $55; Trans. countershaft gear $30; rebuilt generator $45; FD seal housing gasket $3; oil pump $35; Trans oil pump $45; trans kick down solenoid $22; trans governor $22; gas tank $80; pistons $15 each; piston ring kits $20 each; clock $42, and on and on! Most of these NOS parts were the small things and were priced at $2 to $5. So I wondered if this guy was still around! Then I saw the last sentence "Prices effective through September, 1987"! I guess I was dreaming to think he would still be around with these parts. Oh if I could just drift back through the mists of time to the 80s! It was a great time to restore an old car!

That looks like a nice Chrysler! Well, $100 profit must have made a lot of sense back then, 43 years ago! Hope the new owner found the missing hubcap. After looking at the Chryslers above, I see that the 40 Chrysler tail lens taper out on the sides, but the 41, and 46-48 lens have straight sides. So it looks like these tail light lens would fit a 41 as well as a 46-48.

After just searching for pics of 40s Chryslers, it looks like the 40 and 41 Chryslers have the same or similar tail light lens to the 46-48 cars. The oddball is the 42 Chrysler which has horizontal tail light lens, like a 46-48 Dodge. Pics below are in order from 40, 41, 42, 46-48.

Here is what they look like.

I just bought them. Not for sale.

NOS tail light lens.