James_Douglas

Sondra and I took off to get things we need for our open hose in the AM. We got 1/2 way across town and the OD stopped working. It stayed that way for the next 3 hours as we did a combination of city street and highway driving. I tried pulling the cable for a while and then trying it again to no avail. Don, I would assume that the thing is worn below the 1.5 pound lower limit. Remember that this part works by friction. Too much or to little and it won't work. I will look at it in the 2nd... Have a great 2008 all, James

When we last left off on the George Asche OD saga… I had run down the control systems until I could see them in my sleep. Everything checks out better than new. After months of working then not working OD, rebuilding the control systems twice, paying $500 for new (NOS) solenoids, relays, and switches, which I have not be reimbursed for by George I may add. After driving the car with the OD locked out (cable out) for a week or so, then pushing the cable back in, the OD started to work in 2nd and 3rd about 90% of the time. After a couple of days that came up to about 98% of the time. I have driven the car that way for a month, using 2nd (plus 2nd OD) and 3rd (Plus 3rd OD) and the OD has seemed to work well 98% of the time. Now and then on 3rd to 3rd OD on very high acceleration it did not want to go into 3rd OD. I was hoping that it settled down and I could live with it for a few months until spring and then take it apart. Well, last week I was in a traffic situation here in the city on a hill and I needed to take off in 1st gear. I used 1st twice in a couple of days, and then the OD decided to start no working again. I drove the car around for a few hours with the cable pulled out. I then pushed it back. The OD started working again. Now keep in mind that I have not touched the control systems in any way. It is apparent by the behavior that George missed something when he rebuilt this transmission. I will have to contact him next week and see what he wants to do to make it correct. I promised Sondra we would take the car to Palm Springs in February for her moms 83rd birthday. I will have to chance doing it with the car as is and hope the OD works or it is going to be a long and more expensive drive. I am fairly certain that the “Blocker Ring Tension” is not correct as stated in the BW manual on pages 7-26 and 7-27. George stated to me that he does not test this as the manual directs. The book clearly states that the pull on a spring scale should be 4 to 6 pounds on new parts and be 1 to 1.5 pound on thoroughly broken in parts. If outside of this range they must be replaced. Given this, I don’t want to spoil the trip by tearing down the trans over the next few weeks. I would urge anyone paying anyone to make them or rebuild a BW-OD to make sure that this particular test is in fact done or you can end up like me with over $2500 into a trans and OD that just does not work correctly. Best and happy New Year to all. James

Merry Christmas to everyone from James & Sondra in San Francisco. It is a clear, low wind, mild 60F here today. In the sun it can even be called warm. It is winter days like this that cause me to be able to put up with the BS in the Peoples Republic of San Francisco. I hope everyone enjoys the next few days and has a happy 2008. Sondra and I are having a New Years Day open house from 10 AM on. Anyone out and in SF, feel free to stop by! Best, James

If you are willing to mount a plate on, then this simple, cheep, and long lasting stainless valve works just fine... http://www.dacoglu.com/cooling.htm James

I would suggest that everyone stop making jokes on this on and start writing and calling. Hi James, here's the EPA doc: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/area/fr17se07b.pdf To quote a response I got on this topic from someone on another forum: I see it says: ''The only exceptions are priming small areas, or performing spot repairs with an air brush.'' (page 11) and ''Air brush means a hand-held airatomized spray gun intended for spot repair and graphic arts work with a paint cup capacity of no more than 1.0 fluid ounce (30 cc).'' (page 24) and ''Spot repair means the repair of the finish on motor vehicles, mobile equipment, or associated parts or components that is less than 1 square foot in area'' (page 25) Since the proposed regulations cover 'Particulate Matter' - paint dust to you & me, I agree that my earlier comment was wrong: This regulation seeks to cover all 'airbone' coatings, no matter what solvent [if any]. Scary Stuff

http://www.hemmings.com/articles/epa.html

I had to use my press... James

I have them built to my specification... James

I had the opportunity to talk with someone a long time ago that worked on brakes at Chrysler. He said that the .060 oversize was arrived at by taking the "real limit" and cutting that in half and then taking that and cutting that in half again. He stated that he felt you could do .080 or even .1 if you are not racing the car all the time and check it for cracks every six months (daily driving). I have used .080 on my early Chrysler 300's in the past, but I checked them every six months without fail. The big problem is finding brake shoes with enough material to get a grind on then at anything over .060. If they are too small then the brakes won't work that well. As to turning them, I just told the local shop that there are for off road use only and signed the receipt for the work that had that written on it. The information just given is for historical purposes only. James

Don, Nice view. You should see what it looks like looking back from the flying bridge on one of these ships! I spent a few years working in that business (Heavy Shipping). Just remember that those foreign flag ships with all those cheep goods from Asia and their foreign crews can be had cheep. What is paid to to a US Flag Merchant Marine Captain and Chief Engineer is about the same as for a foreign flag complete crew. Of course you do get what you pay for. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we found out this week what you get for your money. James

The point is that systems can hurt you. In medicine, by example, there are checks, safeguards, as well as court to "help fix the system". With eBay there is very little the 2% of people hurt by THEIR system that anyone can do to help fix it so the next person that fall into that 2% category does not get hurt. James

Systems can kill people, systems can steel from them. Let me use a metaphor. Sondra (my wife) has 25+ years in Critical Care Nursing. Due to profit pressures of the health car industry and other job opportunities for young woman that pay more and are easier a perfect systemic storm in health care is with us in the critical care world. The Nursing staff which is the last line of defense against systemic errors are so bad that I carry a list from her of only those nurses in our HMO who can touch me or her. She is stuck, due to her much better original training, knowledge, and years in critical care, mentoring new Nurses. She thinks 1 in 10 should actually be allowed into an ICU. However all 10 get in. People are being killed every day by mistakes in hospitals. It is in fact happening to your wife, your children, and you. It has been widely reported in every newspaper and TV news show at some time in the last 5 years. When you or yours is in the hospital...have your researched and hired in advance an ICU nurse that you know is competent to make sure the system does not kill you? No, you do not and if something happens and your nurse does not catch it someone dies. THE SYSTEM KILLS YOU. If you can show the medical system failed you, there is some recourse. ************* In the case of ebay, yes, there is a lot information warning people about scams. However they have structured a system in which scams can flourish, however, they have also structured a system in which they can just sit back and say "I told you so". I think this is wrong. I have been to a number of real auctions and during the viewing period people to talk about the items. If something is way out of whack with an item and someone is obviously a novice and paying particular interest, it is not uncommon for someone who knows what they are looking at to tell them to be careful. On eBay, there is no such public feedback mechanism. Until ebay allows comments to be attached by anyone to an item, or allows comments about an item to be sent to bidders around the seller, then I am of the opinion that they a facilitating fraud. They know what people's behavior is and they are not actively doing anything to address that issue with their system. THEIR SYSTEM IS DEFRAUDING PEOPLE. The problem is that given their economic power and the small relative sums involved, who can find a lawyer to sue them to improve their system. Hospitals are sued and Sondra can tell you the systems get changed ever year in an attempt to stop the carnage. But how is anyone going to get eBay to improve their system to reduce fraud? To those of you who think my friend is a fool, all I can say is do you have your critical car nursing consultant all lined up to protect your family against mistakes? If not, they I think you are just a foolish as he is and should show more sympathy. James

Don, There is no new auction as eBay pulled it. Pat, that is a little harsh as some folks look at eBay a lot and then jump in for the first time when they see their "wish item". They are rash and they pay the price. All that said, I do think that eBay IS ENABLING fraud by not allowing its registered users to post comments on any item being sold. The community would do a lot of policing of this sort of thing on its own. However, eBay is so worried about legitimate sellers having someone say something that might stop people from bidding that they are willing to allow the status quo. We all see on car forums people warning about something not being correct on an item, but if eBay registered users comments were tagged onto any item then a lot of folks would not get hurt. James

I just talked to a car friend of mine. He has a retired friend who has wanted a classic car for a while. He has gone to some car shows with us over time. This person, a nice person I may add, found a car on eBay that was sold and then was re-listed as it fell through. He ended up purchasing the car and paying for it via a wire transfer. Well, you can guess the rest. The car showed up on eBay 2 days ago again and the whole thing was a fraud. He is out over $10K and no car. I urge everyone who buys anything on eBay that is over your limit of what you can loose and not worry about it to either pay COD or get on an airplane and pay with cash while standing in front of the item. Be Careful Out There… James

Take a hard look at the documents in this directory. http://www.dacoglu.com/DesotoCD/ LARGE documents only use if you have a cable or DSL connection not a dial up. Particularly this one: http://www.dacoglu.com/DesotoCD/11A_ThreeSpeed%20With%20Overdrive/bwservice.pdf Best, James

Whatever you do, take them apart and inspect the cups carefully. I had a new one fail 24 months ago after 3 months running. James

The 11th Month, on the 11Day, at 10:59AM Private Henry Gunther, Baltimore’s Own 313th Regiment, US Army, the last US solder to die in World War One hours after the armistice was signed. To all US military veterans, I extend a happy Veterans Day (Armistice Day) and thanks for your service. James Douglas San Francisco.

If this is the typical R10 unit, when it works it should be very smooth. It sounds like a problem with the pawl engagement. The pawl gets pushed into one of six slots in a large gear. If there is any problem with the pawl raceway or the baulking ring then the thing will not shift correctly. I am thinking my problem is with the baulking ring. This ring, which stops the pawl from engaging for non-OD use, works by friction. If it does not fall within the BW spec it will not work correct and you will have engagement problems. James

I play anything I want through my AM Modulator to my stock tube radio on 6 volt positive ground. I use XM for old radio shows and for the 1940's stuff. I use an Ipod for things in my clay and vinyl collection. I use a CD player (battery) for the CD stuff. It all plays through my magic box. James

I passed on the item as the auction ended yesterday...Thanks, James

I am thinking of buying something in NJ, a big trunk that goes with a set of suitcases we have. I need someone to pick it up and put it on Grayhound... Anyone close to Leonardo, NJ ? The seller won't ship. James

Hi All, I have posted up in a directory format my Post War MOPAR (Desoto) Documentation. Many of these files are LARGE so don't even think of trying to access them unless you have a broadband connection. They are listed in a directory fashion with the file sizes next to them so think before you click. I would appreciate it if you would download them and not look at them live so as to not kill my bandwidth and file server. As long as the usage does not kill the bandwidth or server I will leave the link active. There are a LOT of files and good information in this archive. Sometimes I have made a PDF out of a bunch of JPG's so only pull down one or the other. Have fun. James http://WWW.Dacoglu.COM/DesotoCD/

I have to go look. George told me to use an Amsol synthetic like 15w-40w. No one had it local, so I used some other synthetic in that range. I am emailing you a copy of the BW service book in PDF. Take a look at page 7-18 (Page 5 of the PDF) in the section called overdrive. I think that the blocker ring is not rotating out of the way to allow the pawl to do its thing every time. Something about running it with the OD locked out "frees-up" the mechanism to allow the blocker ring to rotate. Since it is a friction operation the amount of wear, the tolerances, and the lubrication all play into the operation. Read it over Don and tell me what you think. PS...Are you not due out soon ? James

Norm, You would be a block ahead for about 6 months here in San Francisco until that is your clutch was gone... They do have their use if you are in a lot of stop and go traffic. James

When last I posted, I had talked with George and planned on running some more tests. I did not have time to run them all this week due to other things to do. I did run a couple of them and all indications are that the electrical control systems are functioning well. The overdrive continued to be dead and would not shift. After I was done trying to figure it out for the week, I pulled the cable out and drive the car all week like a regular 3-speed. I took it out 2 or 3 times and drove it around town in regular city traffic shifting manually through the gears, Let me digress for a moment. Usually, I drive the car in 2nd gear on the fluid coupling and use the OD in 2nd gear. This covers 90% of the city driving experience. With the fast 2nd gear and the OD, I have what amounts to a 2-speed automatic for city driving. I rarely need 3rd gear in town. This morning on a lark, I pushed the cable in and took off down the street for run across town. The OD kicked in to my surprise and continued to work just fine for a 2 hour run on errands across San Francisco and back. About 4 hours later, we took the car out to go get a burger about 3 miles away. The OD worked to the restaurant about 20 minutes away. After eating, exactly 50 minutes later (parking meter) we took off and the OD failed. I went a few blocks and at a stop sign I pulled the cable and drove it as a 3-speed for some distance. I then pushed it back in and the OD still did not work. I immediately clutched it a couple of time and ran through 2nd and 3rd gear and then back to 2nd. The cable still pushed in. Then it started working again. Given that the test I ran on Monday forces the solenoid push the pawl in, I do not think that if it was electrical related that I would be having this kind of behavior. It seems to me that the problem is internal and that driving it around a while as a 3-speed caused the balking ring or something related to it and/or the pawl to free up. Does anyone have a plausible hypothesis as to how these symptoms can be correlated to any of the electrical systems on the OD? James