Bingster

Oh, that makes great sense now. Embarrassed to say that I don't know right now where the dipstick tube is. I had to have it cause I changed my oil a couple years ago. But I'll go out and look. Thanks.

I did a post and it disappeared for some reason. Maybe I forgot to submit it. I have a Flathead 6. Yes, I have the pipe plug above #6. Some good advice above. Thanks. Very ingenious the TDC whistle. Love to see a photo of it.

Our house is up for sale and this start-up is the last thing I'll do for awhile. Yeah, I guess it would take a lot of crap inside to rust out a freeze plug. And while it intrigues me to tear down an engine and rebuild it, when added to the entire project it's a lot. I'm 70 - a healthy and fit 70 - but I also have other things to do professionally. My thought was that even if I sell the car it's better to say that it runs. But it does give me a great calming effect working on the old car, and it's a nice change from "life".

Just as I am about to do a first start on my '47 DeSoto, I noticed a small leak coming the freeze plug near the oil filler pipe. It's not green liquid. I have no anti-freeze in the radiator. I don't know why there's water in there. Car's been sitting for ten years. Attempting to start the car a couple of weeks ago must have brought out the weak spots. Engine turned okay but didn't fire. Found out the new battery I bought was bad. Coil was bad. Points weren't set right. Now it should fire. But I wouldn't think a leaking freeze plug would hurt anything? Must be a lot of crap in them, though.

On my block the hole is to the left of your vertical tube to the oil pressure gauge, nestled up to the rear of the larger casting that is directly under the oil pressure tube connection.

Okay, put the finger in #1 and pushed the fan around. I don't know exactly how many revolutions it takes to get to TDC but it seems like more than one. Anyway, did feel the push on the finger and that was satisfying, in a mechanical way. But the first time I got to TDC on the flywheel I passed it by about three inches. I kept going round and round, and finally I got to TDC again but was about an inch past the pointer. I'm puzzled, though. When the finger first feels the push on it, it seems like there are three or four cylinder "pushes" past that. I don't know if I should check the pulley right after the first or if I have the entire number of pushes to hit DC. The pulley days DC and not TDC. I assume it's the same thing. So obviously I'm very close to being right on DC but why the discrepancy? Is it okay to be an inch off? Probably not. And my right arm is getting bruised by a nasty little sharp corner of radiator every time I move the fan. I know. Don't say it! Anyway, I'm very pleased that I figured out how to get TDC, but I need to fine tune it a bit more.

1947 DeSoto Flathead 6.

It wasn't my intention to destroy board with political rhetoric. Sorry folks!

I have one large connection from battery to large lower left post on solenoid, and then there are three smaller posts on the solenoid. It was kind of difficult for me to decipher the starter solenoid icon on the wiring diagram. It could be interpreted a couple of ways depending on which direction they had the starter pointed. But I finally figured it out, I think, and it should be good. Now, positive on coil to distributor. Negative on battery to negative on coil. I do have one of those hand-held remote starter buttons with a large alligator clip with a plastic shield on one wire and a regular alligator on the other wire. I think I saw my friend connect the larger clip to the large negative post on the starter solenoid and the small alligator to the adjacent small post to it's right. If that is correct, then as I interpret you folks if something goes wrong I just pull the small alligator from the starter solenoid. I know he also used the screwdriver trick. Wherever I have rewired I've used new wires. I should be about ready to try to start Carlo again. New Battery (the first one I bought was bad. They ordered two more. One looked like it was used and they both were very dirty. I didn't feel good about taking one. I went across the street to Arnold and they had a brand spanking new one. So new battery, new coil, distributor gaps are set . . . the only thing that could mess me up is not being able to get Piston #1 to TDC. I got the pulley to TDC but the fan is pretty tight for one guy while feeling for the pressure in the spark hole. It's one of those things I suppose where it doesn't click until you've tried it once. I do have a small leak in one of my Welch plugs near the oil fill tube. It's not green liquid. I don't know where water would have come from. I also have a small oil leak at the bottom connection of the oil filter return. Our attempt at starting the engine two weeks ago must have brought out some of the weak spots.

Since I have been able to locate the wires to start the car, I'm doing that first. I was told that I didn't need to hook up more than that to start it. I'm losing my weather here and the car is under cover but cold. I'm also selling the house and this start-up will be the last thing I can work on for awhile.

My wires are so dirty that even if I clean one off with a little water on a clothe I cannot tell what they are.

Thanks for the info. It's getting colder here in Iowa and I am determined to start this thing before it closes in.

Great. Thanks. I have the transmission relay in the right place and I thought that the holes next to it was for the voltage regulator.

I'm making certain that my wiring is correct to start my DeSoto. There are a lot of connections that don't seem to prevent the car from starting. But here's what I can deduce from the wiring diagram: Battery Generator Starter Solenoid Voltage Regulator Transmission Relay Coil Distributor I'm not certain if my ignition switch works so how do I stop the engine if it starts? I'm going to have to start the engine with a remote starter button. I'm not completely certain where I hook up the leads for that.

Does anybody have a photo of where the transmission relay and voltage regulator are mounted under the hood of a '47/'48 DeSoto?

O'Reilly's has tested the battery and said it was good.

The moderator may take this down as being too political, and no parties or persons are mentioned, but it is a real scary scenario that I knew would be coming and now it's slowly beginning. Anybody who owns a classic car would benefit from this video shot by a classic car guy who lays out the facts. I cannot get rid of this video.

That sounds like a good idea. I think my genny is shot.

By the way, what is this alternator adaptation all about. Price to convert?

My battery is labeled March 23. On the cusp. I'll try to get a new one.

I'll try that.

I cannot resize a photo small enough.

I have spent a lot of time trying to resize photos that this program will accept. Any easy was to do this.

In the course of checking my wiring to see of I have all that I need to start the car, I am finding a number of wires going to nowhere. They have the round terminals so I know they connect somewhere. I turned on the ignition key with the battery connected (the questionable one) and nothing lit up inside the car, which probably doesn't mean a whole helluva lot. The color coded wiring is almost impossible to decipher, and the factory electrical tape winding is difficult to remove. Seems to me that unwinding it would make it easier to "pull and wiggle" to find out where the wires are connect. At any rate, I can follow the wiring diagram to hopefully hook up what I need to start the car.

I'm taking it back to O'Rielly's. They said they'd check it out. Since the market for 6v auto batteries are rare, it could have been sitting on a shelf for a long time. The trickle charger is a Genius 1. They seem to have a good reputation, but . . .