westaus29

Not sure, from pic in manual it looks like it goes next to input bearing c clip

I had to do the exhaust guides on my 29U Plymouth which is essentially same as the later sixes. The engine rebuilder sleeved the guides in brass but when it started to run rough and lose compression I took the head off and found the cast iron exhaust guides had split at the top, causing the valves to no longer seat. I pulled the guides using a high tensile bolt for traction, and an assortment of washers and pipe offcuts, similar to how you change a spring bush. Three came out easily but the one next to the firewall was a struggle as it was hard to get access. I used second hand guides as I live in Western Australia but new ones are readily available in USA. I didn't take an action photo unfortunately.

I have had a 29 Plymouth with babbit bearings since 1998. I initially refreshed the engine with cleanout, hone and re-ring, valve grind. Checked the bearing clearances with plastigauge and re-installed them using shims where needed, max clearance was 2 thou which I figured was ok. Ran fine, good oil pressure and did about 10,000m ok until oil pump shaft broke in 2012 and send bits thru side of block, bent one rod. Found another block, re-used old crank and mains and three of rods. Picked another rod to replace the bent one, matched weight as well as I could, new pistons and rings from Egge, checked and adjusted bearing clearances, that is back in and still running ok tho oil pressure is a bit low, probably due to camshaft bearings (does not have any). So the advice is babbit bearings are very forgiving and are best left alone unless you have real issues in which case you have to find an expert rebuilder (I do have a mate, a retired plumber who re-babitted his own 1927 Chrysler 4 and hand scraped them to fit but not for the faint hearted). But if you plan to push the Desoto hard and unleash that 6 cyl you may need to rethink. I recently sent a couple of axle shafts to a mate who managed to snap his Desoto axle, luckily the same part on Plymouth and I had 8 spares, not likely I will ever need them.

Hi Keith, just wondering if you have played with advancing timing a little to compensate for today's higher octane fuel? Retarded timing generates more waste heat. My 38 7 passenger never had a temperature issue despite having put a smaller standard 38 radiator in it. And we have a long haul up into the Darling Range from Pinjarra to Dwellingup that tested its ability to hold speed in top gear. But it managed ok. Of course our hills are not like yours, only 300m climb!

this works http://www.dpmotorparts.com/index.cfm

They are not removable. I am on my 3rd Mopar and the process I follow is to clean up backing plate, pressure clean behind cam, paint, then apply a small amount of penetrating oil to the cam on both sides of the backing plate and a spot of lube under the brake clip, then work the cam back and forth until it frees up a bit. it should still be hard to turn as you don't want it to shift in use.

With welding completed inside the boot, the body went back on the rotisserie to finish welding underneath, grinding off and preparing for undercoat. After etch priming, exposed joints were sealed. Then the floor was painted black, followed by a coat of underbody sealant to the underside

Hi James, you have set me thinking about diffs again. I have a 55 Plymouth which needs a ratio change and investigation so far reveals that some earlier Plymouths shared some of the same parts. I need to go back and confirm what I did to change the 38, and if any of the parts are common.

Thanks Andy, mine was all there but badly rusted, dented and distorted by previous patching attempts in my earlier efforts in 1980's. It is a great help having the rotisserie courtesy of a mate who built it for his 55 Buick restoration, and the mig courtesy of another mate who I have pooled resources with. The side panels were made using an Eastman bead roller which I modified extensively based on a youtube post.

Once I had the body back on the chassis, I had two 2mm floor supports fabricated at the local trailer shop, one to replace the original floor to chassis brace and the other to provide extra support under the floor near the spare tyre, as the floor panel was 0.9mm which is a bit light. I trial fitted the boot lid and the floor Then braced the rear body, welded the beaver panel and its inside skin in place, then welded the floor in Next I fabricated and added the floor side braces and the right side tool dividing panel

Before taking the body off the rotisserie repairs were needed to the boot floor sides, which needed access from below so I cut the floor out. The previous right side repairs did not meet the new floor so were rebuilt. The rusted section of the seat brace was also replaced The rusted edge next to the rear seat was rebuilt The left side was repaired Undercoated then lifted the body onto the chassis

Impact gun is the cleanest solution if you can beg/borrow one. It does not rely on the crank being wedged and works AMAZINGLY well. Otherwise, wedge the flywheel ring gear teeth with some soft steel and get a solid breaker bar, not one with a uni joint in it, apply force and start tapping. I use an old cheapie torque wrench that I have welded up solid, and slide a pipe over the handle for extra leverage.

This one is a RHD 7 passenger assembled in Australia and it may have had OD added later as I recall the restorer (who is no longer with us) had one on the shelf that I admired. I think it is manually activated, will have to check.

A friend has a 38 Chrysler royal. Been started regularly but not driven lately due to bad weather. Took her yesterday for a spin and noticed she didn't drop into overdrive when cruising on the highway. This is a problem and how to fix. Any ideas appreciated

Welcome to the forum! One of my Plymouths is a 29 which is very similar to yours except it has a four cylinder engine and 20 inch wheels. Your wheels look in good shape! My wooden wheels were pretty tired but came up A1 with some care. I stripped off remaining paint then applied many coats of a 50:50 mix of linseed oil and mineral turpentine which absorbed in to restore the timber. Allowed it to dry a few weeks then applied marine varnish. Most of these cars had painted spokes but to show the wood is a very popular feature that gets wows from viewers. If you have loose spokes you can carefully disassemble and insert thin sheet metal washers between end of spokes and rim. I coated them with epoxy for an extra strong result and they are still good over 20 years later. You should get lots of specialist advice from the Desoto club.

Ask if they will send USPS First Class International instead

That little box looks like the horn relay. Not sure if the power lead is broken or else the lead to the horn. For your tatty wiring in general, I would wrap with electrical tape for now to make things safe until you are in a position to spend time or money on it. That's what I did with my 38. There was a pile of spaghetti under my dash, some old and some new. It looked like every time there was a problem, they just ran a new wire and left the old one dangling. When you get your manual and a multi-meter you can start sorting it out. Before going too far check if the engine turns over by hand. Take the plugs out first to make it easier. The starter button on your dash feeds to a heavy duty relay which supplies the starter motor with a large current for starting. On my 38 the relay is mounted on the starter, on my 55 it is on the inside of the mudguard. Your manual will show you which, unless someone has made modifications which is always possible on a 73 year old car. As said above, if you get a whirring sound when you press that button, the relay is working and the starter is turning over. The starter has a gear which should move outwards and engage with the flywheel and turn the engine over. With my 38 the relay on top of the starter pulls the gear outwards to the flywheel. With my 55, the gear moves outwards when the starter starts to spin because it slides on a spiral. So either it is not moving or teeth are missing on the flywheel ring gear. To check, take the starter off after first disconnecting the battery terminals and the starter wiring. You can test the starter on the bench with jumper leads. Be careful as it may jump! You should see the gear move outwards.

I discovered that the right lower side had also been damaged by collision and rust had spread under the lead fill. The right corner had also been pushed in about 25 mm (1 inch). So I cut, braced and repaired that side. Then I welded in the beaver panel extensions and refitted the beaver panel temporarily with metal screws.

I had reshaped the boot lid outer skin to match an original I had access to. When I matched it to the beaver panel it was a poor fit and I had to cut and reshape it to fit. Next I cut out the rusted beaver panel and its inner skin. In order to fit the new beaver panel I had to fabricate left and right transition pieces because the rear corner patches that came with it from the USA were too short. I installed them all temporarily with metal screws. The left lower side of the boot opening had suffered from collision damage and rust and was not very stable so I decided to replace with new metal. When I went to test the fit of the boot lid the rotisserie frame got in the road so I was not in a position to weld in the beaver panel.

Hard to believe you are experiencing such hazardous conditions, sounds way worse than what we get in southwest WA tho we have had bad bushfires the last couple of years. Hope things come good for you soon.

Los_Control you give a good summary of how to use muriatic acid. It is also good for cleaning bore stains off paths and brickwork, but is better diluted with an equal quantity of water. Concentrated 85% phosphoric acid is nasty stuff. I have researched it and dilute it to 20% strength and add a small amount of dish washing detergent. It gives a stable grey coating to bare metal and I believe it was used by Chrysler to prepare panels for painting, as have seen the same finish when stripping paint from my panels. It can also be purchased from hardware or auto stores in diluted form labelled as a rust remover, with a price markup of about 1000%, which is why I make my own.

You have made great progress in a very short time! Congrats on getting the engine going. I did a similar job on the 38 Plymouth, resurrected an engine that had been sitting in the forest for who knows how long. Ended up getting the one bad pot resleeved.

When I finally got back to working on the back of the Plymouth, the first thing was to brace the boot opening to match the width of the boot lid. Next was to replace the rusted metal in the boot lid. The lid has an inner and outer skin and they had been tack brazed together with a very rough repair at the bottom. I separated them with one of those new thin disks and cleaned off all the braze metal as you can’t weld over it. Only about an inch of the inner bottom had to be replaced, but the outer skin was a mess of rust and dents over the lower half, and the bottom edge was about 1 cm short in the middle due to earlier repairs. I tried to shrink it back into shape but it was too bad and I decided to cut off about a foot and renew it. In hindsight I should have cut it about 2 foot up where the straight section ended. In that way the curved top would have held the shape in place. As it was, I had to try and get a flat join in the middle and that is not one of my skills. Did the best I could but spray putty had to come to the rescue. For the moment I left it tacked until I had a better handle on the boot opening, as a test fit against the beaver panel was not too good.

Sorry Pete, only just saw your post. Very similar problems!

My understanding is that oil pump has to be lined up properly first then the distributor falls into correct position. I know my manual was of no help but found the procedure somewhere