James_Douglas

One pays their money and takes one chances when we get an engine... I have been bit more than once. I purchased what was supposed to be a 265...when I took it apart the crank had been swapped and it was a 251. I recently picked up a 265 from a combine. I took the head off and the dame thing looks like it has a year one it. It has pistons that at STD and the valves look like they have very little carbon on them. Almost no ridge on the top of the cylinder walls... I will pull it apart in March, one I am cleared to bend again, and see what waits for me inside the engine. Preliminary findings look good on this engine however. If I find someone to partner with me on the '54 Windsor in PA, then who knows what shape that 265 is in. One pays their money and takes one chances when we get an engine... James PS. You can use a 251 block and just swap the crank and rods I am told...But I do not know first hand...

Hi All, In my quest to find a powerflite for my 1947 Desoto... A 1954 Chrysler six has turned up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. If there is someone close by that would be willing to pull what I need, I would buy the car and the person doing the work for me can have the engine. I have one here in California. I will need all the brackets, linkage and the like with the trans. The car could then be scrapped or parted out as one wished. If anyone is interested, let me know. I have contacted the owner and am waiting to see if they car is still available. Thanks, James

Yes, it was fleet week last week. I sat here in my study and watched them go whizzing past for 4 days. Look forward to it every year. As far as I know, nobody has flow under the Golden Gate since the 1930's. About 20 years ago, I was on the bridge when the Lincoln was in for Fleet Week. They launched a fighter in the bay for the first time since before WWII. It was quite a site to watch. James

I have a fairly standard list I go through if I have an engine that has not been started in a long time. 1. drain and flush the gas tank and gas lines. 2. drain any water out of engine and radiator. 3. pull oil pan. clean out good. 4. while pan is out, check observable cylinder walls for surface rust. If any, use fine scotch bright pad with ATF to remove so rings do not get hurt on first movement. 5. soak piston tops with ATF and Acetone. Let it drip into a drain pan while oil pan is off. *** if the engine has sat a very long time, I pull the head to check for surface rust on top of cylinder walls and clean with Scotch bright and ATF. 6. Turn engine over by hand and wipe all AFT off and wipe cylinders down with 10w oil. Put head back on if taken off. 7. fill engine and radiator with water and add a bottle of ceramic seal. 8. put oil pan back on and fill with new 10W oil. 9. turn over without coil and generate oil pressure. 10. Add new fuel with some MMO. 11. Start engine. 12. bring to operating temperature, shut down and drain 10w and add new 30W oil.

People are always replacing those bushings when they are in fact fine... http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Lit/Master/020/Page19.htm James.

The first six months of production of the 1946 Chrysler Town & Country was supposed to have a 2BBL on the inline 8. There was a problem with getting the carbs so they used an adapter and put on the 1BBL. My friend has one that has the factory adapter on it with the 1BBL. James.

Hey Tod, Laughing my ass off at the link...Which hurts with only 5 weeks since back surgery.... Hope you two are doing fine. Sitting here with nothing to do at my desk with the Blue Angles making low passes over my place. Best, James

Google is definitely not anyone's "Friend". I never use it, I use Duck Duck Go instead. But, more to the point, I have search for a photo of that seal on the internet and I have not found one. James

Steve, I have a 47 Desoto and a 49 Desoto. The 49 Desoto dash is the biggest pain in the ass of any of my cars ever. You can see the cars in my signature line... Check the line first it may be just that someone pulled on it at some point in time and it cracked directly behind the gauge. You may be able to fix it by running a new line. I used a modern plastic oil line and not the copper. As I remember, it has been about 7 years, the best thing one can do to get at the clusters to work on them is to take the speedometer out. Assuming the 49 chrysler is similar to the 49 Desoto.

I would like to see a photo of one. James

Well, I happen to know Jon. We have swapped technical stories for years. Although, I have not talked with him in quite some time. I like Jon use the 1947 Desoto Suburban as my daily driver here in San Francisco and around the bay area. This car is run hard to keep up with modern traffic. I stand by my previous post. There is documentation out there that states that you should not sit at idle or close to it with a fluid coupling. A torque converters has the oil moving in and out of the thing and has not comparative value. Also, if moving along at more than 5 MPH that also has no comparative value. Interestingly, I also saw a tech note as to test a fluid coupling and clutch to see if the clutch was slipping or fluid coupling not stalling. The tech note said to run the car up against a loading dock or such (with rubber in my case), then go to full throttle and note the engine max RPM. If the RPM went over xxx (I don't remember the number), then something is slipping or not properly stalling. That tech note also warned to only do this for less than 1 minute or else damage to the coupling could result. One final thing. As far as I know, and I could be wrong, all the fluid couplings used a carbon seal and nothing else. If someone has some data to the contrary, I would like to know. One of the issues with the carbon seal is that when you take the transmission out and allow the little flywheel to move it can crack that carbon seal. Hence the recommendation to use 3 or 4 little wood wedges between the little flywheel and the fluid coupling case with bailing wire to hold them in place before your take out a trans or while you have a fluid coupling out of the car. James.

I have to disagree with the other posters. I have seen, I would have to dig to find it, a MOPAR service note that says one should not keep the car in gear "on the coupling" more than 5 minutes. I had a friend with a 1946 Town & Country CV sitting next to me in my 1947 Desoto and we were waiting for 15 minutes to get positioned in a car show. His engine overheated and the fluid coupling staring hot, you could see some smoke of oil flashing off the house and coming out the side screens! The fluid coupling has cooling fins on it. If it does not move, no air, no cooling. If stuck in traffic at the Golden Gate or Bay Bridge heading back home to San Francisco, I always clutch it, if not, you can see the engine start to warm up and it is 65F here in SF. That is one reason why in the 2020 - 2021 rebuild of the Desoto, I will go with a different transmission. I don't want to worry with getting stuck in traffic traveling around the USA in this car.

On my 1949 Desoto CV, I used the ECI front disc conversion. On the rear, I designed and made one myself. I am using a stock c.1951 single master cylinder with that pedal (the ratios were different between power and none power cars) and a trunk mounted midland-Ross remote power brake booster (Chrysler 1960-1964 RAM Induction cars or 1955-1957 T-Birds). The brakes are TOO strong. Like driving a 1960 Chrysler. If I were to do it again, and I will on my 1947 Desoto Suburban, I will use a dual master cylinder with the disc fronts and rear, but I will use the wilwood two piston calipers that one can use in place of the basic GM units. Less pedal effort with the two piston units. I will however make sure I have clearance for a booster like the one you show if it is not enough for the Suburban at 5500 pounds. James.

I second that comment and add that on is supposed to only use a lather with a carbide tip that is new to cut the "bearing side" of an oilite bearing. The out side if it is pressed into a housing makes no difference what you use... In high school a friend made his own clutch pilot out of oilite for a odd ball car, about six months later he had issues. He used a reamer to get the ID hole. I remember him cursing and the machine shop teacher shaking his head and telling us we NEED to understand what materials we are using and not assume that all machine methods are equal for all materials. I remember him busting our chops about drill bit angles depending on what material you were using.

Loren, Any chance they have a late 1953 or 1954 Chrysler or Desoto with a flathead six and a powerflite? I have been looking for ALL of the hardware plus the trans and torque converter from one go with my 265 engine project for the 1947 Desoto. James.

Interesting...the Sedan looks long or it could be the photo... I purchased my 1947 Desoto Suburban fro a man in SandPoint and drove it back to San Francisco in 2002 or 2003....

No kidding Sam! I just talked with a guy who flew a Stearman with a 220 around the USA. 10K miles and 135 hours at 14GPH!

Just so people know... One thing I did on the big desoto engine was to pay my machine shop a couple of hundred dollars...they worked the rod big ends to that ARP 351 Cleveland rod bolts can be used. They are the "correct" size, the only issue is the lower cap has to be milled flat to get rid of the recess for those little split washers and there was some little work on the other end. The only failure I have personally seen on a flathead was a core I purchased years ago and it was a failed rod bolt. James

My experience is that the heads are all over the place. I would stick the head on with the old gasket, but first stick a 1/8 inch disc of clay over each valve. Turn the engine over hand by hand and then take the head off. Use the back side of a caliper to measure the depth of the clay were the valve hit it. You then know how much you can cut the head. As one person said, make sure you have room over the valve when open for air to move over the valve and also for heat expansion and stretch at high rpm. I would also CC the heads and get them to within 1cc each BEFORE you mill it. It will run smoother if you do. Also, polishing the chambers delays the inevitable carbon collecting on it. It does not stop it, it just slows it down and also makes cleaning it the next time a lot easier. James.

Tell them it is for a 1947 Desoto Suburban. Attached is a photos of the seat material in my '47.

One thing I recommend to everyone is to deck the block. If you run a straight edge along the head bolt-stud line you can see sometimes that the area is raised. I had a gasket go in my '47 a few years back when I was running it hard between San Francisco and my place in the edge of the Sacramento Valley. Highway speed of 70 MPH in 110F heat on a car of 5500 pounds. When I pulled the head and put a straight edge on the block one area around one stud was raised up a hair. I knocked it flat with a file, did the same on the head and put it back together. The head on that block was NOS when I got it. I used Don's specs to shave to 8 to 1 and CC the cambers to within 1cc each. Next spring, once my back is better, I will start on the 265 for the big Desoto. I need to find a new machinist which in Northern California is going to take some time as all the old ones I used for years and all dead or in Nursing Homes!

Remove them all and toss them. Order a complete set from ARP. You will end of with different clamping forces on the head. They need to be the same material or the bolt stretch will not be equal. James

I have had this issue on all three or four of my flatheads when using the ARP studs. I found that I needed to wrap the threads in the block with white or even yellow pipe tape to get the ones in the jacket to not leak. Paste did not work. All of these threads were cased with "cleaning taps". Now I do that on any flathead I build. This will NOT work on bolts as it will affect the torque. On studs it will not affect the torque. I have done one stud at a time without any issue on head sealing. James

I can attest to doing what Don did. I had a rebuilt engine that I ended up assembling as the 84 year old machinist was running way behind schedule. The block was decked and the head was milled. It started up and ran like **** no matter what we did. I tore the head off and the valve on number one was snapped clean from the stem and one on number 5 was bent. I replaced all the valves and pulled the cam in place, which meant the radiator and grill has to come out of a restored car. When I measured the head it was cut a LOT. I grabbed another head I have, had it lightly cleaned up and then I placed it on with a thin disc of clay about 1/8 inch thick on each valve. I stuck the head on with a couple of bolts and hand cranked it over easy feeling for any resistance. I then pulled the head (I oiled the head so any clay would not stick, and looked over the clay to see how much space was left. Since only a couple of valves hit with the old head, I wanted to check them all. Don's method will work, but you should do each and every valve and each spot on the head. Don't forget to use a head gasket the same thickness as the one you will use that is OLD and compresses already. In my case the first head was obviously cut way too much. But I did not take my own advise to double check everything and it bit me.

I am told I came home from the hospital in my moms 1949 Desoto Convertible. It went away when I was 10. It came back when I was 55 in the same shape with 45 years of storage. Now it is sitting in my garage restored. First photo is of my dad, no doubt taken by my mom sometime between 1949 and 1955. The Third photo is of me on my birthday with my first "ride" and the '49 in the background. The Second photo is recent.