James_Douglas

For those of you with a Ammco Model 1750 Brake Gage, do you find that the procedure to set the 1750 to the drum diameter and then set the 1750 to 50% of the oversize to give you good results ? OR, are any of you using the 1750 by setting the drum diameter and then backing off 0.12 for the heel and 0.06 for the toe ? Thanks, James PS, I went to Moose Motors today and he had the best drum cutter-grinder I have ever seen. The thing was very big. The motor was so powerful that the thing ran very slow and yet could make a very nice drum cut. I have not seen anyone with a drum cutter like that and know how to use it since I was a kid. He checked the calibration on my old Ammco brake gauge and he ground the shoes to the exact fit while I waited. I have a grinder, but I did not even have to drag it out. He also has the much older very good lining material.

Take that gas drain plug out at your own risk. On my old tank after it had been boiled out at the radiator shop, I reinstalled the tank. I put in 1/2 gal of gas and then went to pull the plug to make sure that any thing loose was cleaned out. The solder joint that holds the threaded end in the tank busted loose. So beware. Best, James

Don, I really really really thought about going. I checked with 2 of my buddies to see if they could get the time and go. Both could not arrange it. The best right seater I have is Sondra, but as an ICU Nurse, she has to put her vacation time in a year in advance. The other issue is cost. I hate to spend about $1500 in gas and lodging to just drive 3 long days out and 3 long days back talking to myself. If I had someone to go along and could take 3 weeks to do some side trips it would have been worth it. Best, James

Pete, After my little problem yesterday with the OD SOL points frying, if you have time take some contact spray cleaners and clean the points on the OD SOL. You just have to take the wires of and pull the 2 little screws to get the cover off the end of the thing. Have a good trip. Best, James

Hi Guys, The trans itself seem to be OK. George said that sometimes that point will stick. Apparently there are 2 coils in the solenoid. One big one that pushed the pawl into place and a second one that holds it into place. Once the pawl is engaged, the first larger coil is supposed to disengage and be held in place by the second smaller coil. George said that if the big coil stays engaged because the pints stick it can burn the point up. I press him as to if there is any combination of wiring that would allow the thing to work, yet lead to the point no opening and thus causing the problem. He said he did not think so, and not to worry about the wiring if it was working for a couple of weeks. He said Monday that he was shipping me out another one. I am wondering if this is a week area on these and I should get a couple of them. So that I can take a spare when on long road trips. Best, James

Bobby, Thank you very much. If you get a chance, would you send post or email me a photo of the 56 starter. More specifically a shot of the solenoid. I want to see if it will clear (if it is a starter mounted SOL.) Thanks, James

On the first long drive I have taken with the car in which Sondra has come along, the Desoto 3-speed with Overdrive that I purchased from George Asche failed. The OD specifically failed. When I got home I did the Chrysler tests as outlined in the service book. It all pointed to the OD solenoid. I took the wires off and took the nuts off to get to the points in the solenoid housing. When I took the case off, I got bits of metal raining down on my chest. It also smelled of molten or burned metal. As you can see from the photo, the thinner and longer point arm melted right away. I talked to George and asked if it could be related to my having wired the system wrong. He said that he doubted it. It has worked for several weeks without any issue other than the 1st-reverse shifting engagement problems that crops up from time to time. George and I think it may require a little bit shorter rail shifter rod. Anyway, George said he will send me out another one on Monday. So I guess no driving this week. Best, James

Tim and Don, Last winter I almost got rear ended. The idiot stopped less than 6" from my rear. It was late, here in the city, I had the wipers going, and the fans were on full bore to clear the glass so I could see. When I got out and looked the rear lights were visible, but with the very bright headlights out there shinning up against them I can well see how people not paying attention could miss it. It is just not worth the thousands of dollars it would take to fix a rear-ender it to chance it anymore. I want this thing to light up like a x-mas tree. I also like to listen to the radio when running across the city at night and in the rain. I also would like to charge my laptop and cell when on the road. ************ Many of the 46 to 56 MOPARS had the type of solenoid that is activated by ones foot and not a push button switch. I don't know all of the cars in my head, hence I asked. What I am trying to hunt down is a starter and solenoid that is 12 volt, not a 6 volt running on a 12 volt car. Vintage Power Wagon has some, but they are for 172 tooth. ************* THE BATTERY IS IN PERFECT CONDITION. I HAVE 2 AND THEY ARE BOTH FINE. ************* Like I said in an earlier post, the AMP gauge problem was not doubt a problem BEFORE I did the work. Something, no doubt had a bad connection and was causing the system to draw from the battery at a slow but steady rate. As of the last week...it seems fine. Don is correct in that I have been chasing, as far as the AMP gauge readings go. I was chasing a ghost. The final issue is the total system capacity. Yes, I can run at night with just the lights and heater on and it will not kill the ignition. But, I would like for the charging system to be optimal. Optimal is having a gen/Alt that can meet the total vehicle load requirement. Then I do not, not does Sondra, have to wonder if the engine is going to get killed at a stop sign on a rainy night. For those who have not gone back into the archives. The wiring on this car is very sound as I replaced all the wires forward of the firewall last fall. All good clean splices well soldered. Most of you, I would bet all of you, have other cars to drive. I have the Desoto and nothing else. So when I do need to use it, I need to hold it to a slightly higher standard of usability in the densely populated city I live in. Some may tell me to buy a new car, but I don’t have the heart for that. Best, James

Fred, Which is the make and type of the starter and Solenoid ? Part numbers would be good. Best, James

Hey all, Anyone running a large block, 12 volt, and a push button starter ? Thanks, James

So far it does...But at night it is har to see the lights with the heat on....

Ok Don, What voltage is your car running....

Tod, I do appreciate the point you are making. I do think that battery is beside the point. What I am really after is the ability to sit at idle on a rainy night at a traffic light with the wipers, headlights, radio, brake lights on, the twin heaters on high and being able to see the dash and know that a car behind me will see the brake/tail lights and not slam into me. Based on the calculations and the recommended procedure by Delco for generator/alternator sizing I have concluded that the original generator and the alternator I am using are both below the recommended threshold. That is why I have concluded that I need to make the change. When everyone was driving slower and the candle power was less driving the car as designed was not a problem. But, I use mine a lot and a night a lot and in the rain a lot. Coupled with that I do it in some of the most intense driving areas in the world as you well know as you drive in it too. I am also looking at Sondra and I making a three week trip to the south west in September. Being able to use our laptop for navigation and to be able to charge our cell phones would be an added plus. I just talked to a guy who can re-wind the power transformer on the radio for 12 volt. That plus a 4 post 12v vibrator and a set of tubes and I am back in business radio wise with having to gut the thing and go solid state. I think the optima thing is just related to some mechanical regulators as my flying magazine article showed. The other issues I think are wiring things like oxidized terminals and the like. All that said, I REALLY do appreciate your point and I have pondered it over the last few days. But in the end , I think the switch to 12 volt will have more good points than bad. If I was not going to use the car as extensively as I plan to then I would not make the change. Best, James

After following the Delco recommendations, and finding out that my car has a total vehicle electrical load requirement of approximately 75 AMPS…I have decided to convert to 12 Volts. Delco recommends that the alternator output should be 50% greater than the load requirement. I checked with several vendors and apparently the MAX amperage you can get in the 10SI series alternator in 6 volt positive ground is 53 AMPS. So, no matter what I do, if I am driving on a rainy night and have everything going, I will not have enough alternator output to keep from draining the battery. On a long x-country trip, this will be an issue. So, I need to start doing some planning. Radio needs to be re-built for 12 volts; the wipes and fans need step-down transformers or resisters, the coil needs changing as well as the starter. The starter will be a problem as the Desoto uses a special solenoid and I do not know if it can handle the extra voltage. Oh fun fun fun…James

Ok Guys, This is what I think is going on. Prior to any work on the car last month the AMP gauge would show a fairly good positive flow, when driving down the street, when I had any of the big current items on like the headlights, the radio, or the duel fans. It would also show a good negative flow when the engine was off. I had not studied the wiring diagram I have in detail to see that many items a common off of the Alternator side of the AMP gauge as has been pointed out. Over the last month I took out the M5 transmission and its associated electronics and replaced them with the 3-speed and its associated electronics. I also removed the entire dash cluster. I took apart the cluster and cleaned and tightened down all connections. I also added a #8 wire to the wiring harness that runs directly from the case of the alternator (ground) to the dash to make sure that the dash items have a good ground path back to the alternator. What I am surmising is that prior to this past months work that something was amiss. I think that something that was causing current to be pulled from the battery, and hence across the AMP gauge, and not from the alternator. Once I cleaned and tightened everything, the alternator was able to provide all necessary current and so there is no draw on the battery when running. As per instructions on the Delco site, I disconnected the ground battery cable and I hooked up my NOS AMP meter in series. I then turned on each device one at a time and wrote down the current draw. I noted the NOS gauge sitting on the fender, the gauge in the dash, and the reading from the Fluke tester with the DC clamp. BTW, here are the results: Headlight (Hi) Inside-19, Fender-15, Fluke-15 Radio (With XM & Transmitter) 11, 9, 10 Duel Heaters 19, 11, 12.8 Spot Light 5, 4, 8 (I suspect this may be wired to the BAT side) Wipers 11, 9, 9.5 Radiator Fan 9, NA, 16 (This uses a relay) One interesting thing is that Delco says to add everything up and add that Alternator load should be 50% greater than vehicle load requirement. Given that math I should have about a 115 to 120 Amp alternator. When I ordered my alternator, I looked at the Amp gauge and figured that since it showed a 35 AMP max charge that that was the max load on the car. I am obviously wrong. I ordered a 40 AMP alternator (6 volt Positive Ground) based on that bad logic. So at an idle with everything idling it is little wonder that I can kill the engine as the alternator can not keep up. So, I will order a 125 AMP 10SI and put that in. Live and Learn. Best, James

Al, Just let me know if you find a core and I will take it to him...Best, James

I am in San Francisco....James

I would consider the 3-speed. If you really want to do something interesting, you can do what I did on the Desoto which is to use a fluid coupling and the 3-speed like the Dodges did in some cases. I used George's fast 2nd gear and I take off and drive around San Francisco all day up to about 45 MPH just using 2nd and 2nd OD. George grumbled a bit when I told him that in that in not using 3rd gear around town that I was turning all the internal gears and thus would have a little more resistance (parasitic drag) which would affect the mileage some small amount. I love the thing. That said, I am still having some problems getting the revers-1st rail shift linkage to work perfectly every time. But if you go with WilCap (http://www.wilcap.com/) adapter, you will have a number of issues to deal with. In the end, the factory 3-speed with OD is a nice way to go as it remains somewhat faithful to the original. Ask me a couple of months of driving it and I will be able to tell you more. Best, James

Hey, I like a slap in the head so EVERYONE please slap me when (not if) I have my head up my #$%$^. In the AM I am going to take my NOS amp meter and add a couple of wires to it. I am going to connect it in series to the battery positive cable. I will not try to start the car this way... I will then turn on every electrical device. I will then note what the NOS gauge shows, whet the in-dash gauge shows, and what the Fluke clamp on meter shows. I will also do it one device at a time an make a note of it. James

Tod, I am not so sure. In my 1-wire set up the only thing keeping the stator energized is the power flowing through the battery. When you take a cable off the 1-wire alt. the stator magnetic field will collapse and the voltage will go to zero. This is what I think vs. what I know for sure. I will make a couple of calls to find out. Now, if you wire it up as a "3-wire" alternator, then the wire that normally makes it excite as soon as the ignition is turned on will, I think, feed the voltage to the stator from the alternator output even when the battery is out of the circuit. Again this is an "I think" not a I Know" kind of thing. James

Don & Tod, The power wire to the headlight switch on my car is connected to the AMP gauge. I am not sure, but I think it is on the opposite side of the wire coming from the alternator. Question: Since the alternators are self energizing...If you pull the battery cable, will the field collapse in the alternator and the thing stop putting out power and cause the engine to die ? James

Tim, This NOT correct. I have the one wire connect directly to the original black wire that used to attach to the BAT terminal on the original voltage regulator. The other end of that wire goes directly to the AMP meter. Tod & Don, While running I attached my Fluke tester with the DC clamp on the single wire coming off of the alternator. With everything (no wipers, brake or turn on) on I showed about 27 AMP's. I then switched the clamp to check both sides of the mail battery cables and it showed about the same. The dash AMP gauge was showing a very slight a positive charge. I shut the thing down for 5 minutes and left all accessories on. I then shut them off and started the car. The dash gauge showed a 20 AMP positive charge as did the alternator and the 2 battery cables. I am starting to wonder if something is cross-wired and acting to "push back" some current flow but doing so without overheating or shorting.... James

Tod, I agree. The question is HOW ? I don't understand how the current can be flowing to all the accessories and not show up on the gauge. I know I am missing something, probable that 1/2 of my brain I killed in College. James

Pete, Go here... http://boosterdeweyexchange.com/

Tim, The really odd thing is having everything on and not having the AMP gauge show hardly any positive flow. By every thing I mean: 1. Headlights, tail, brake, turn 2. Spot Light 3. Duel heaters (2 motors) 4. Wipers 5. Map light 6. Interior Lights (3) 7. AM transmitter & XM receiver 8. Electric Radiator fan. 9. Engine coil. With all this stuff on, I should see a pretty good positive swing of the needle on the AMP gauge. All I get is a a slight, say 1/6 to 1/8" defection to the right of the needle. The very odd thing is that when I first start up the car with only the coil running, I get a deflection of about 15 to 20 AMP like it is charged the battery back up. This lasts like 10 minutes like it should then slowly drops to zero. This is driving me nuts. I have a high end fluke tester with their best DC clamp that is good to DC 400 AMPs. When I check the current at the output of the alternator is reads something like 30 APMs with everything on. I can not get it around the wire in the dash as it is too tight. The bottom line is that the Fluke readings do not match with the AMP meter. I have a NOS AMP meter on the way. I will stick it in when it arrives and see what, if any, difference it makes. James