MarcDeSoto

It looks like your heater hoses are reversed. The hot water supply is coming from the water pump, and the return hoses are going to the hot water outlet at the back of the head. Unless the hot water hoses go to the lower hole and the return water comes from the higher hole? But maybe I'm missing something?

I've never seen info on the radio or the heater in a service shop manual. The radio and heater had their own manuals and the radio one is much easier to find than the heater one. The most common factory heaters on Mopars of that era are called Comfort Master. I have that 3" hole on the left side of my cowl too on my 48 DeSoto. I don't think you need it unless you buy another heater that uses it. They did make a shop video on how to troubleshoot a car radio, which would be similar on your P-15. https://mymopar.com/mtsc-1951-volume-4-7-automobile-radio-service/ Also you can get the schematic free at Nostalgia Air . com.

Yes you guys are right. I was wrong thinking the two holes on top of each other were for the heater. But the one on top must be the hot water hose and the one on the far left must be the heater return hose. So I'm thinking the heater valve at the back of the block must be the hot water supply, and the heater return hose must go to the water pump.

If you look at my 48 DeSoto cowl you can see three holes on the left. I think I know that the holes on top of each other are for the hot water and return water for the heater. But does anyone know what the hole on the left is for?

I went to a good hardware store today, but they had nothing my size. The size is ID 9/16 OD 13/16, thickness about 1/8. NAPA does not have it. they suggest making sealers out of a sheet of cork. The DeSoto Shop Manual in the lubrication pages says the U-joints should be taken apart, cleaned, and relubed every two years or 20K miles. My U-joints feel fine with no play and free movement. But i guess I need to press the bearings out of the yokes and clean and lubricate them.

There is a good article on refurbishing old car heaters in the 1976 Petersen's Auto Restoration Tips and Techniques. https://www.ebay.com/itm/185071253530?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=185071253530&targetid=1262749492022&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9031520&poi=&campaignid=15428034462&mkgroupid=133947154481&rlsatarget=pla-1262749492022&abcId=9300763&merchantid=6296724&gclid=CjwKCAjwoMSWBhAdEiwAVJ2ndgX20IxE4xCjW467R1ZB-XXgl4jBLhEKJCywcOcs_Z6N9FemngxtVRoCT6sQAvD_BwE You're not going find info on rebuilding your radio in a shop manual. Plymouth didn't make radios. It's a Philco. Go to the Philco website for schematics and advice. https://www.ebay.com/itm/334266396064?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=334266396064&targetid=1262749490782&device=c&mktype=&googleloc=9031520&poi=&campaignid=15428034462&mkgroupid=133947154481&rlsatarget=pla-1262749490782&abcId=9300763&merchantid=6342884&gclid=CjwKCAjwoMSWBhAdEiwAVJ2ndoviRVZgKHetREmhH-N-0LH2vGI6TYnsx4KEIEIvkNXK0hCTSgaczxoC7bkQAvD_BwE

I really hate it that you paid a pro body man 1K and you had to do the work over again. Did you complain to him? You should even if there's no chance of recovering your money to let him know you weren't satisfied. I don't know if you have an air compressor, but you can paint the car yourself the right way with a cheap spray gun from HF. Even if you buy a cheap AC from HF and a $30 spray gun, it will be a lot cheaper than taking it to a pro. I'm painting my 48 DeSoto right now, and it labor intensive (sanding), but learning to spray doesn't take much time. Watch a few good YT videos like the guy on Paint Society. Acrylic enamel costs about $240 to $340 a gallon. Pic shows a junk fender I sprayed. I had a little orange peel, so I learned how to reduce it. More air and some reducer in the paint. Then I painted the first thing on my 48 DeSoto, the cowl. Just one thin coat. Looks ok.

I have NOS U-joints in the box, but my old ones still seem good with no play in them. I wondering what to do? I could regrease the needle bearings in the blocks, but that wouldn't lubricate the bushing assemblies. To do that, you need to knock the u-joints out of their yokes. Also, even on the new old stock blocks and bushings the cork dust seals are shot. Should I take to a drive shaft, u-joint shop and have them do this job?

Yes, I'm thinking of buying the gun that Brian showed in the video. A Devilbiss GTI Pro LIte. But what is the best way to buy one. I don't want to buy on Ebay that comes from China where they say "will arrive somewhere between Aug. 10th and September 30! https://www.ebay.com/itm/374144100768?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&campid=5337674829&toolid=10049&customid=895405191-16-151220020.1657774023 Boy they sure try to trick you into buying a fake Devilbiss gun with a name that the lazy buyer might miss! https://www.ebay.com/itm/224361006632?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20201210111314%26meid%3Df11ec02078f34bc0927de0e2ff99237e%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D374144100768%26itm%3D224361006632%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseWebMskuAspectsV202110NoVariantSeedWithRevOpt90NoRelevanceKnnRecallV1&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A224361006632f11ec02078f34bc0927de0e2ff99237e|enc%3AAQAHAAABMAoNKsJM3HOHkM0OuV9XKcsoXSMLk3wBBxTIYdgqgcSsJbD%2BWQW2%2Fi9%2FH9y8TZ%2F9TU3Es3oTKRolT9u5mF91RnSGjcRDdDpXI3GNi9QMheFP623sd2luaveQWWobQW5%2FETdaHfTClMvz1MrUDuLlniJs01OMKxjv2cBvKT45%2Fh%2FHp0bChRXq8fqLB7mk2cr0KFUr0xrF0ZyoiWoSy3H5Jl2PvISn4kUKUz0oDzV2VKRqQ9%2FEmUoOqSrV7IyYAHsDXdaaebOhwngDB4A6DuonRkAuymP6%2BqQ%2BiiKl0LRjGWqEOZtPu%2BCudxC5DU4p8BT5N1B34C1U7K67LkREdZbpuaWVEG1bysPJjRGgvOmW7WefeV1q3GvTXHgyrHzsSWpaBY3%2BcqWYIZ7otP1N%2Fp6lJXo%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675

Painted some junk fenders and cardboard today. Had some paint left in the cup, so I shot a thin coat on the cowl. It came out OK. It was painted with a standard gun with acrylic enamel with hardener and a little slow reducer since it was about 90.

Ken I think you're right. I saw on youtube that lack of enough air pressure is one major cause of orange peel. I set my pressure just before the gun at about 15 psi. Now wonder I had orange peel! Luckily, I am just spraying cardboard panels and junk fenders right now until I get it right. The other way to avoid peel is to add some reducer.

Excellent, I never knew you could do it this way! I sprayed some cardboard and some junk fenders today with my acrylic enamel. I did not put the hardener in it. The tech sheet said about 10 lbs. at the cap for HVLP. I got a lot of orange peel so I increased the pressure a bit and still got orange peel. I'm going to try again tomorrow with the hardener and maybe some reducer and more air pressure to see if the spray improves.

My garage has 1 inch PVC piping going up to the ceiling then slanting upward across the garage and coming down in the middle and at the end with water drains on both down spouts. Never had a problem with the pipes bursting or with water, but I keep the air press at 100 lbs.

Here is the guy who recommended 1/2" hose when using HVLP guns. Although he used 3/8" airline! He starts talking about air hoses at 6:00.

The manufacturer of the HVLP gun, which is HF, recommends 1/2" hose, but the gun is made for a 3/8 coupler! So I asked the manager why is this so? He said I would have to reduce the coupler from the 1/2" hose to 3/8" which would defeat the purpose. He also said the 1/2" hose was mainly for tire shops or nail guns. So I think I'm going to ignore the 1/2" hose recommendation.

Who put my picture of me with my SD San Diego cap on here? That's how I dress to paint a car. I saw a guy on Youtube say that the best hose for spraying with an HVLP gun is 1/2". You can spray with 3/8" hose as he was in the video, but the best is with a larger diameter hose, as HVLP uses a greater volume of air. So I'm thinking of buying a half inch hose, but then I have to change all the couplings at the reel, the gun, the hose, the regulator, etc. Do you think I should do that, or just use the 3/8" hose?

Great Plymouth! Looks very presentable! Thanks Sam for the advice. I've always been told that an air supplied set up would cost thousands of $$$! I guess it has to be an oiless compressor so you don't breathe in oil fumes!

The hood is very affordable, but I can't see spending $3300 for the air compressor for one car. At my age, I don't think I want to restore another car!

Sam, nice airplane by the way! Is that an air supplied suit?

As I told you, I picked a color a couple of days ago at Auto Color Library and ordered it. I picked a color that was very close to the original grayish blue on my DeSoto. But it was from a 42 Nash color chart, and called Strato blue. After looking at color chips from a 42 Dodge folder, I began to second guess myself, so I called ACL to see if I could cancel my color choice. No, it's just been mixed. I saw that the Strato Blue has a touch of green in it. So, I did something I should have done before finalizing my choice. I went to Home Depot with my color chips and had them make $6 color samples. They made my choice of Strato Blue and a 42 Dodge, DeSoto color called Bombardier Blue. It's called Iris Blue in the DeSoto chart and Sky Blue in the Plymouth chart. Sergio liked that color, but I thought it might be a little too bright. It's a pretty color, but not sure if I want pretty on my car. I used the latex paint to make big cardboard samples to hold up to the car. It's better than just looking at color chips. If I decide I don't like the Strato Blue, I might use it to practice with on junk fenders and boxes and then order another color. Still not sure. The cowl and the hood are about ready for paint, so I might try it out on those pieces to make a judgement. Strato blue is on the left and Bombardier Blue is on the right. Marc.

I just replaced my exhaust system from parts I bought from Andy Bernbaum around 1990. But I don't think he sells them anymore. For some reason, the exhaust pipe wouldn't fit on my manifold, so we used my old exhaust pipe instead. Then I installed the new muffler and tail pipe. I wrote about this in a past post about three months ago. The muffler and tail pipe jiggled too much because the hanger was shot and the rear tail pipe support was shot. I bought a new generic middle support and a new tail pipe support, which is a weird thing that goes up in the rear cross frame. That tightened everything up just fine.

I went ahead and bought the Auto Color Library acrylic enamel with the wet look hardener. I figure I can at least try it out. I'll report back after I get it about two weeks from now.

Someone said that he thought there was no difference in gloss between acrylic enamel and acrylic urethane. Maybe he is right, but I went to my local paint store and looked at samples. They had a strip of metal showing the same color in polyurethane, acrylic urethane, and acrylic enamel. The first was WAY too glossy unless you have a hot rod. The second was also too glossy. And the acrylic enamel looked right for an old car if you are going for an original look. What bothers me about Auto Color Library is they only sell a wet look hardener. They say they are all about restoring old cars, so why would they only have a wet look hardener? I wonder if I can just buy the paint and buy a normal harder elsewhere? The other choice to spray it with no hardener.

I looked at Summit and it looks good except I don't think they match old car paint chips like Auto Color Library. Maybe I should just go to my local paint store and have them eye match my paint. They don't sell acrylic enamel, but they do sell urethane and another type of paint with less gloss I think. I used the other kind of paint for my primer surfacer. It used an acetone and another solvent blend that was California approved.

Los Control, thanks for the generous post and dating my teaching to 50 years ago! I truth, my Auto Shop and Auto Body shop teaching was in the 80s and was only for a year. It helps to have experience as a Marine D. I. if you are going to be a high school shop teacher! A teacher at the high school I was at drove his 64 Mustang in to have his wheel bearings greased. I asked him, are you sure you want to leave it here? He did. I assigned four guys to it. Next thing I noticed one boy was on top of each of the four fenders jumping up and down to see if they could get the car to bounce! I spent most of my time as a Language Arts teacher. In the 80s, urethane paint was known as Imron, and was mainly used on semi trucks and hot rods. I admit that I'm not up to snuff about today's paint systems. If it's really true that acrylic urethane and acrylic enamel have the same gloss, I might prefer the acrylic urethane. I've read that it is easier to apply. Maybe I should start out with a quart and test it out before diving in whole hog?