48 Desoto Project thread...

[Don Coatney]

Your brake pedal is sitting at an odd angle. Is it bent?

[thrashingcows]

A pictorial of the installation of that kit would be appreciated. I'll put a new wiring harness in my '53 so will be watching. Mine would be a bit different, but still close enough to learn a lot.

 

I will try and be as complete and thorough as possible of my wiring install.

 

Steele runner has a new seal for that door in the fresh air box. They also have the larger grommet for the dual heaters. I believe I had to make the smaller dual heater grommet and the seal for the top of the fresh air box to the cowl. Somewhere on here should be a thread of me restoring my dual heaters.

 

Thank you for the information on the seals.  As for the dual heaters...I am not going to be installing them again.  Going with a compact vintage air, Heater and AC unit.

 

Your brake pedal is sitting at an odd angle. Is it bent?

 

No the pedal just came loose while I was trying to get my 6'8" frame under the dash...

[thrashingcows]

Well I had another thread asking about the Fresh Air Cowl assembly, and the seals that go within it...here's the link if your interested in the info within.

 

http://mopar.pairserver.com/p15d24ph_forum/index.php?/topic/32467-cowl-vent-assembly-seals/

 

Here is the part number for the seals I went with.  For the Cowl vent seal...top of the cowl and is the main seal. The original number was # 873278 , the Steele rubber number for this part is... 40-0271-54.  The lower, smaller fresh air door seal I could not find an original Mopar number for that one.  But the Steele Rubbber number is...70-1768-31.

 

Will update fit and finish when they all come in.

Edited March 7, 2013 by thrashingcows

[thrashingcows]

So been slowly plugging away on the Desoto....have the entire dash out, as well as the firewall insulation etc. Been working on getting the main fresh air assembly redone...clean, paint and new seals. Anyway last night I decided I better get off my duff and get the old bias ply tires off the rims so I can get them down for blasting. Then prime, paint and get my new coker wide whites installed.

So yesterday evening after diner I decided to dig out my manual tire machine and get at it. The first 3 tires went fairly easily....first one was the 16" spare for the crewcab that blew up while in the back of the box. The next two were 16" bias ply from the 48 Dodge parts car...other two are on the desoto right now holding up the front end. Then it was on to the stock 15" rims and tires that were on the desoto....well things did not go so easily after this. These tires have probably been on the rims for nearly 30+ years. I fought and fought and thank goodness for my friend, and neighbor, coming out to see what I was up two. He's as hard headed and stubborn as I am, and a car guy to boot, so we worked together for the next two hours at these 5 rims and tires. We had to use addition bars and blocks of wood, and even had to use the truck to drive over the bead of the last one to break it free!

So now a couple pics...The tire machine I paid about $40 for many years ago from Princess Auto. I have removed at least two dozen tires from rims with this little machine...paid for itself many times over!



And the pile of tires and rims....



And today I used a few of the old tubes from the old bias ply tires to make up some truck sausages...full of sand for weight in the back of the truck come winter season.

[thrashingcows]

I finally got around to getting the old rims blasted, then primed and painted. 



And last Sunday was the big day....finally got my 7.60x15 wide whites mounted!  After the rims were blasted and painted I noticed that 3 of the rims had oval holes where the valve stem is to go.  I asked the tire shop if they could work around this as the tires I had were "tubeless".  They said no...so I had to get new tubes installed as well.

Fresh back from the tire shop.....



And after a little simple green and a stiff nylon brissel brush....



Now I need to get my dash back together, so I can get the steering column hooked back up and get the car outside.  Can't wait to see, and drive it around the block with the new tires.

[Young Ed]

Thats too bad they didn't know better. All you needed was a different type of valve stem. Tires look great BTW.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Young Ed

[thrashingcows]

Well this tire shop has been around a long time...family owned for over 60 years.   I trust their judgement and knowledge.  They did say they had some oval ones for commercial trucks, but didn't think they would work.  Also suggested a bolt in type valve stem, and when it crushed it "might" take up the oval....I didn't like that idea since it could have allowed the valve stem to shift and then loose all your air.  If there is a special valve stem for this type of application I would have been all over it.....just never came across any reference to them in all the searching I've done.

Edited May 15, 2013 by thrashingcows

[greg g]

When the tires were mounted did they look for any mylar bar code lables inside the tire???  Did they use some talc powder between the tube and tire?  If not they did you no favors.

[falconvan]

I used these oval stems on my 49 rims. They worked fine; just put a dab of loctite on them before I tightened them down.

 

http://www.ezaccessory.com/TR501_Oval_Truck_Valve_Stem_Length_p/v1561sp.htm?1=1&CartID=0

[thrashingcows]

When the tires were mounted did they look for any mylar bar code lables inside the tire???  Did they use some talc powder between the tube and tire?  If not they did you no favors.

 

I doubt it.  I was not aware of needing talc when installing tubes.

 

I used these oval stems on my 49 rims. They worked fine; just put a dab of loctite on them before I tightened them down.

 

http://www.ezaccessory.com/TR501_Oval_Truck_Valve_Stem_Length_p/v1561sp.htm?1=1&CartID=0

 

And thank you for that link.  Might have to get those and get those tubes out.....Guess I should have come here first with my question on the oval valve stem openings...Doooh...

[thrashingcows]

Well I'm long over due for an update...about 2 months over due.

Desoto is in storage for the summer while the wagon gets it turn in the sun.  Anyway here's what I got done before it went into storage.

I had torn the dash and wiring out hoping I'd have tome to redo everything AND re-wire the car...well teh re-wire never happened.  That is on the winter to do list now.

Once I go the dash and under dash fresh air box out I dismantled the fresh air box.









Turned out to be in really good shape...which surprised me since the cowl vent had rusted open many years ago.
 

[thrashingcows]

Had to order a new seal for the interior door....last photo in the last post.  Thankfully Steel rubber had one.  And then a new cowl vent seal.  Other then that it was just clean and reapint, and free up the hinges on box doors.

I then cleaned up the groove the seal sits in on the cowl.  Little sanding cleaned it up pretty nice.  Only one or two very small pin holes.



Then mask and prime....





Then wait a day or two to dry and cure then mask and spray with flat black.



I didn't want a tape line so while the paint was still tacky I used some acetone on a paper towel and carefully wiped the edges close to the groove.



Came out great!


 

[thrashingcows]

Once I got all that cleaned up it was time to clean up the cowl vent.  Took a lot of PB Blaster and heat to get those screws loose to just remove it from the car.  Then it was heat and more PB Blaster to free up the hinges.  Once everything was moving properly I just sanded the under side and sprayed with some flat black.





I had marked everything so when I re-installed it the hinges and vent would go back together the way it came apart....well that was no good.  After a lot of trial and error I discovered I had to loosen all the screws and get the vent sitting tight in the cowl.  Then tighten everything back up...worked great. 

Had to do this before I installed the main fresh air box.





All done and working fine.

[thrashingcows]

Then it was time to get the re-done fresh air box in.  Went fairly smooth...and glad I am that I took dozens of pics of this assembly before it came out.  Getting all the braces and linkages back where they were supposed to go would have been a nightmare without those pics.








 

[thrashingcows]

Ahhh I see by the pics I forgot to talk about the firewall insulation.  The original insulation was made mainly from carboard!  With a thin layer of jute and the tar paper top covering.  I did not want to re-use it the way it was so I went with some stuff called mighty mat.  This stuff is only about 1/4" think so I doubled it up.

Original and new stuff compared...



Used the original cardboard as templates...





Then re-used the top tar paper covering so it "looks" mostly original once installed.

[thrashingcows]

Then it was time to clean up the original wiper motor and mechanism.  No Idea if this unit works or not, I don't have any 6V to test it.  So I'm hoping for the best.

Old grease was pretty hard.



Once I had it apart it went into the parts washer for a good cleaning.



Then re-assembled with lithium grease.



All done and ready to be re-installed. I will run a voltage drop to this unit once I re-wire the car to 12V.




 

[thrashingcows]

Then it was time to re-do the dash. I stripped ot down to just the shell...then used paint stripper to re-move what little original paint was left.





Then gave it a coat of primer.



I guess I didn't snap a pic of the white paint I put on the back side of the dash. This was a tip from a guy on the HAMB. And I was in a hurry to get things done so I didn't grab any assembly pics either.

Edited August 4, 2013 by thrashingcows

[falconvan]

Looking good! What color is your dash going to be?

[thrashingcows]

I had bought a good used lower dash control assembly.  This has machined turned detail and holds most of the cars switches and ignition.

The original....



And the replacement. You can see that there is a lot of corrosion and dirt in the machined turned detail.





I tried many different things to try and clean it up.  I tried all kind sof cleaners and brushes...even a pressure wash...just wouldn't come clean to my satisfaction.  I was wandering around the garage trying to think of what else I could try when I spotted a new package of small wire brushes I had just purchased.  In the pack was a brass brissel wire brush...I thought this might clean the little grooves without damaging anything.  Well I was right!



All clean and looking better then it has in 60 years!



 

[thrashingcows]

Then it was time to re-assemble the dash...again in a rush and didn't grab assembly pics.  But here it is all back together and in the car. 





I went with Satin Black since I will be re-doing the upholstery in Ox Blood red leather and I think the Satin black trim, carpet and headliner will contrast nicely with the red leather interior.

[thrashingcows]

And now Fernando outside with it's new Coker 7.60x15 Bias Ply wide whites.....








 

[thrashingcows]

And now a video of me driving up and down the street...with the new tires.  What a difference having 4 new tires makes!!

[Frank Elder]

AWESOME! Some guy from the hamb.......lol!

[GlennCraven]

Nice work. The dash revival was particularly impressive. It looks great!

[knuckleharley]

Nice work. That's a really pretty dash board,isn't it?