48 Desoto Project thread...

[thrashingcows]

Now I was trying to make the dual outlet manifold that was on my new motor work with this new bigger single exhaust...but it was turning into a night mare and I was loosing patience really fast. So I ditched the dual outlet manifold for a stock single exhaust manifold I had as a spare.

Things progressed much quicker then. Managed to re-use the original? head pipe...quite thin but still sound enough.

Made up a homemade adapter from pieces of scrap pipe to go from the small 1.75" to 2.75". Ran out of wire before I finished it though...good enough for now.

And exhaust is in and done. Not bad for about $50.

[thrashingcows]

I then had to re-assemble some of the front end. Hammer and dollied out a whack load of dents in the pass. side fender, from old previous damage. Looks much better now. Then it was radiator time.

I had purchased an all aluminum unit for a 49-52 Passenger car from Champion radiators in Cali...CC52PLY. Not the direct replacement unit I could have ordered, but will work better for later upgrades I have planned.

Discovered I needed to remove the cross bar from the rad support so I could slip the rad in from the front. Had to grind off the factory rivets and pound it out.

Once that was out of the way I could slip the rad down and in. Needed to trim the top mounting flange on the rad to clear the cross bar.

Then bolted the cross bar back in.

[thrashingcows]

I had a bunch of old radiator hose from ??? and managed to make a couple work. Here it is all bolted in and ready to go.

Had one issue though. The water pump and pulley set-up was too long. Was dangerously close the rad. So I pulled it and installed the original water pump and lower pulley from the 251. Gave me a bit more clearance.

Here you can see the difference. Not a lot but enough to cause me grief.

[thrashingcows]

Now came the fun part...electronic ignition, starter relay, starter solenoid, and voltage regulator...and wiring. Used the holes that already existed on the inner fender to mount everything.

Then I made a run out to the pick-a-part for some needed wiring. 84 dodge ram pick-up donated most of the wiring.....$25...Thank you very much!

Couple hours later I had a crude, dirty and ugly wiring system good enough to get the engine to fire.

[thrashingcows]

I have no gas tank in the car, so I ran a piece of rubber fuel line from the fuel line at the back of the car, up into a can of gas secured in the trunk. I had some issues with fuel leaking, and not getting to the fuel pump. But after a couple hours working on that I finally had fuel making it to the carb. Motor was cranking fine and much to my surprise it fired right up!!

I figured I would have a battle on my hands...especially since I built that hybrid distributor. But guess Ol' Fernando was eager to get back to life after 20+ years of abandonment and neglect.

Only problem I had was the wide 5/8 pulley I had on the alternator popped off almost immediately after the initial fire. So I had to remove it...grind a slot on each side of the shaft for the set screws to sit in....lock tight everything, and re-install. I then popped the floor back into the car and took it around the block...a few times.

What a great feeling to actually drive the car. Now I have to finish getting the front end back together so I can put the car into storage for the summer, and get the wagon home.

[John Reddie]

The car is shaping up really nice Brian. A nice rare two door model.

John R

[greg g]

nice work congrats on the drive. Keep plugging.

[moparbenny]

nice progress!

[thrashingcows]

Thanks guys for the kind words. But as of today the car is in storage. I got it all back together yesterday, and gave Fernando it's first "good" bath in probably 20+ years. I'd pressure washed it quickly a couple times but never with proper car wash, pail and mit.

[thrashingcows]

Well I recieved a used Vintage air system from a fellow on one of the other forums I'm on. He had it in a polara and it just wasn't doing a good job. It's a few years old, has some issues...broken plastic, missing mounting areas etc...but I plan on converting it to manual cable controls and standard motor wiring. Pretty happy about it since he basicly gave it to me.

So I'll be ditching the factory dual heaters in the Desoto and going with just this one little unit. Should work well.

[bamfordsgarage]

Interesting project, great pictures and descriptions. Thanks for all your posts.

I'd like to put in my vote for keeping the exterior just the way it is — that's some mighty nice patina.

[thrashingcows]

I don't plan on changing the exterior any time soon. Want to get it licensed for the road first before anything like that is even considered....if it's considered at all...

[bredlo53]

I don't plan on changing the exterior any time soon...

Great to hear - I'm also a recent convert to the "preservation" crowd. Even with all that worn out primer showing through, a good waxing (or clear coat in some cases I've seen) just gives it a phenomenal authenticity that no repaint can hope to achieve.

I washed and waxed the 60 year old exterior of our '53 Chrysler wagon this past weekend. Though it's not visible in these shots... it only served to add sophistication to the belt buckle scratches on the fenders, worn spots on the doors, and rusty areas covered with flat black paint from a spray can.

[thrashingcows]

Well today I swapped around my cars...Wagon going into storage...Fernando coming home to be worked on this winter.

Was all excited that this year I could actually start, and then drive the car up on the trailer. Put a battery in it, hooked up the gas can, primmed the carb...AND...nothing. Car would run on the gas dumped down the carb, but it seemed like the fuel pump is not priming. Carb is also leaking badly across the mainshaft.

So I removed the line from the gas can, blew down the fuel line and primed the fuel pump, and filter. Tried it again and still nothing. Drained my battery repeatedly trying to start the car.

The car ran fine this spring when I moved it into storage. Same fuel pump, fuel was treated with stabilizer. This fuel pump is of unknown age and condition...but like I said it was working fine earlier this year when I first fired the car.

Guess I'll pull it and see what's going on. I dug through the archives and have seen a few posts on fuel pumps coming loose from the diaphragm, or pin on the arm coming loose.

Edited November 14, 2012 by thrashingcows

[wayfarer]

Wonderful compilation of pics and posts. Are you able to share what the future holds for the car?

[thrashingcows]

All right...finally got 2% smarter then that darn glass fuel bowl on the fuel pump. I first pulled the fuel pump off, and apart. What an absolulety brilliant design in simplicity. The check valves within the pump can not be affect by fuel types since they are pieces of fiber board? type material, with light springs on top. The only thing in the system that could fail is the diaphram. I also rotated the top assenbly of the pump so it would give me more room to put my in-line fuel filter before the pump. I also then had to bend up another new fuel line from the pump, to carb.

So first off to try and beat the leak I tried cutting my own gaskets, from some regular gasket material I had. Cut a couple and tried them together...still leaked. Then I did some searching over on the P15-D24 site and found some gasket numbers....troied my local shop and they could only get me one filter kit, which the fitler didn't work in my gklass bowl...BUT it did come with two different size rubber gaskets.

I first tried the larger of the two, since it seemed to fit best within the fuel pump housing, and against the glass bowl. Installed it and it leaked worse then ever. So then I was looking at the smaller of the two...but it just didn't seem like it would sit right by itself. SO I decided to sandwich it between the two gaskets I cut myself. Installed the glass bowl, primed the system and fired it up....NO MORE LEAKS!!!

[thrashingcows]

I'm still running the car off a fuel gan in the trunk...but I did just recieve my new gas tank. It's the steel replacement from Tank Inc for the 46-48 Dodge and Plymouth, but should work well in my Desoto... and it's a very nice unit!! Wasn't sure if it would have the fuel outlet in the left front lower corner of the tank, so I didn't order a new fuel sending unit. It does BTW...and now I have to get a new universal tank sending unit.

Very complete kit though...came with everything, less sending unit. Even has universal tank straps. Got it through E-bay.

Couple pics....

[thrashingcows]

And finally a video of the car running...with sound this time. Sorry about the darkness...have the back drums apart trying to fix some problems, so can't back the car outside.

http://s697.beta.photobucket.com/user/thrashingcows/media/Desoto/VID-20121209-00002_zpsf5a892b9.mp4.html

[T120]

Sounds lively,Brian.Nice to see your progress with your Desoto...We're not too far away,hope we will have the opportunity meet each other on the road.

[thrashingcows]

Sounds lively,Brian.Nice to see your progress with your Desoto...We're not too far away,hope we will have the opportunity meet each other on the road.

Thak you for the kind words.

Would love to meet you on the road with the Desoto...but think it's still a couple years away before I get the car to that point.

[moparbenny]

And finally a video of the car running...with sound this time. Sorry about the darkness...have the back drums apart trying to fix some problems, so can't back the car outside.

http://s697.beta.photobucket.com/user/thrashingcows/media/Desoto/VID-20121209-00002_zpsf5a892b9.mp4.html

nice!

[1940plymouth]

Sounds good, thanks for sharing.

When you get a chance, could you please take a photo of your dash and steering wheel and post it for me.

Thanks,

Bob

[falconvan]

Sounds great!

[thrashingcows]

Sounds good' date=' thanks for sharing.

When you get a chance, could you please take a photo of your dash and steering wheel and post it for me.

Thanks,

Bob[/quote']

Is this good enough???

[thrashingcows]

Alright...I got my new universal fuel sender unit...it is listed as a 5 hole sending unit, with a 0 ohm =Empty, and 90 ohms = full, and good for a 6" to 24" deep tank. For a stock mopar gauge it is the opposite, 90 ohms = empty, and 10 ohms = full. But I will address what I did to remedy this, and how I made it work for my new tank.

So here is the sending unit as I received it.