Bingster

I like the "painting the wheels and keeping them for later use" idea. That would give the paint a long, long time to dry. Seems like mounting them too soon would scrape paint. I'll check into this. We have several scrap yards around here.

My tires are rotting under Carlo as well. I was thinking that raising the car up on full tires will make my reach under the hood harder on my back.

I checked a local shop but they said due to liability issues they don't sell used tires. However, they said I could search the used tires and take what I could. That might be a chore chomping through used tires.

I don't know a lot about tires and size for these older cars. What would you recommend that wouldn't hit?

I need four tires to move my DeSoto around while restoring. There are Black Friday deals that I'd like to take advantage of. I see where somebody used 225/75/15 tires and when I look up this number there are a lot but those in the lower price range say they are trailer tires. I don't really care right now. Just thought I'd check in before I pull the trigger.

The engine has been maintained with MMO and I hope that turning it over recently spread the oil around some.

Sounds good to me. Engine has recently been turned over but didn't start. Now I've lost my decent temps and have to wait till spring to start it unless I get a good day or two. Had to remove starter to get it rebuilt and lost time on a number of items.

Winter is upon us here in Iowa, and it can get down to -40. I just replaced a leaky freeze plug in my '47 DeSoto flat head, but I haven't put coolant or water in the engine for a good ten years. Must have been a little residue or condensation I suppose. So. . . leave the cooling system empty or fill it up with coolant?

Do you know how much less shipping?

Rich Hartung is the man to contact for info on this starter. It's a 4-poster that I have on my '47 DeSoto and I can tell you this solenoid is near impossible to find. But not totally. There was one on ebay awhile back for about $400.00. I located a NOS one about a month ago purely by accident after much research on the net. Rich has some posts that I just read, but it's not my place to be post his postings. If he sees your thread give he can probably give you the info you need.

I'll tell you what. It's with some reluctance and a good degree of thought before I post a new question on here anymore. There used to be a guy on this board when I first came on over ten years ago who took shots as well. Same deal. It kinda makes the hobby not as much fun to post a question and dodge the arrows. However, I can certainly see this is a valid point for some of you folks. My wife has dementia, and I'm her only caregiver. I get very impatient with her asking the same question three minutes after she asked it the first time and then a few times more. To the point of screaming. I'm not asking for any sympathy, just reality. If any of you guys came to me with questions on how to write a book, a song, journalistic photography, furniture making, etc. etc. I know from my own experience that with something as difficult for a newbie as restoring a classic car there are hundreds smaller questions that fall between the cracks from the major ones, and those are the ones that make or break whatever craft you are attempting to learn. I guess I would say that rather than chastise a person for his question just ignore it. It takes just as much time to diss somebody as to answer their question or point then in the right direction. My apologies to all of you nice guys and dolls because this little diatribe is not intended for 99% of you. Cheers!

Removing everything that would need to be removed to access the ring gear is far beyond my pay grade. This might sound dippy, but is it possible to manually turn the ring gear around a revolution and spray WD or something on the teeth?

I finally removed my starter and noticed that the ring gear teeth inside the housing had what looked like a combination grease mixed with some dirt. Not a lot but it was noticeable. It didn't look too concerning but I would imagine that nonetheless it might wear down the teeth. Is this any item to address??

Would love to see your '48, ratbailey.

Were you able to get the starter out (if you did) without removing the oil filter and oil lines? On my DeSoto, the maintenance manual says that my starter can be lifted out without doing any of that. My oil filter is attached to a head bolt, so there's no taking that off, and I tried but then thought better of it. I went underneath the car (by digging out a pit in the dirt. It felt like The Great Escape) I can get to the lower bolt of the starter and it looks like there is room to take the starter out from underneath. But any way you cut it, you cannot take the top bolt of the starter off first, and then try to remove the lower. You'd need some new bridgework. My starter happens to have that four-poster solenoid which takes up more room when lifting out. My best guess is to first remove the lower bolt from underneath the car, and then go topside and remove the top bolt. Now, I have made a sort of cradle with a 2 X 4 to hold the starter in place from underneath, preventing it from falling through to the dirt. It occurs to me that the end of the starter where it connects to the flywheel may stop the starter from falling downward anyway. Any ideas from anybody would be much appreciated.

You may have said this somewhere in your posts, but did the Plymouth Doctor rockers come with the holes in it?

When I did my '47 DeSoto I unscrewed every piece of sheet metal that could be removed, sand blasted, primed and finished up with Rustoleum Black, I think. I was new to the game and might have used Eastwood. I still have a few cans of theirs I never used. But I would definitely go with Rustoleum. I like to use gloss black for easier cleaning properties. I'm certain you can get better than Rustoleum, but I feel it's the bottom-line good choice. I will tell you that I've used their Rusty Metal Primer and I have had rims and stuff sitting outside for years and they're still the same as the day I shot them. I've found it to be awfully durable stuff. I'd never use it on the exterior finish coat of the car as a primer, but for something like the floorboards that get covered up anyway with carpet, I think that when brushed on and worked in well with a heavier coat it'd be a fine choice. You might even double coat it, waiting a few days in-between.

I'd very much like to see your progress. Keep us posted.

Well, I discovered in messing about that I had the generator wiring inverted. I went by what I thought was the diagram location of the A & F posts on the gen. I had the ground terminal from the upper left post on the solenoid going to Field on the gen and the wires leading to the voltage regulator wrong as well. So I put them where they ought to be, I thought, and tried doing what kencombs suggested. Got a big spark when I connected a wire from the upper right left post of the solenoid to the hot negative on the battery. That's when I looked closely at the wiring diagram and saw that it was just possible that the wire from the upper left ground post of the solenoid should actually be put onto the G screw on the gen. This may seem obvious to you folks, but the wires that were coming off the gen on the diagram were obviously misinterpreted. So I had the ground wire on the solenoid going to field on the gen and nothing really grounded I guess cause nothing was attached to G on the gen. I haven't tried another go at it yet.

I'm going to try your procedure to rule out anything that could be done with the starter still in the car.

I just accidentally ran across a solenoid relay the exact type that I need to replace the possibly bad one. I just figured that in case the relay is bad, I would be very glad to have such a rare part. I don't know if I could repair the solenoid with starter in the car. I wish I could.

I've heard of it. Does a special person have to test it or can I do it?

I have a thin curved line about 1" on the side of my block that could be a crack I guess but I can't tell. It seems to be in an accessible location to be fairly easily welded. Any tests to see if it is a crack?

I really don't know. There is a guy on YouTube who has a seven-part series and in-depth look at this very same solenoid. I've watched it several times and deduce what I mentioned. He says that if you bridge the lower two large posts the starter will spin but not crank the engine, which he says means the starter is okay but possibly the solenoid is not. I may have to bite the bullet and remove the starter and bench test it.