Introductions, pictures, questions.......all within one neat package

[Tatback]

Please let me start off by saying hello from Wellington, Florida. My wife and I have been looking for a classic car to take on cruises and random trips for almost a year. I found a 1948 Chrysler Windsor on eBay and instantly fell in love. Showed the wife and her words were "Buy it!". So I bid and won on May 3, then got to find out first hand how stressful picking a car transport company can be. Fast forward to today and she arrived, all the way from Kansas. 

 

 

The driver couldn't make the turn to bring it down my parents street so we had to meet him about two miles away. Having to back down an unfamiliar car with one-kinda-working front left brake from the top of the transport was nerve wracking to say the least. But I got it down without incident even though it felt like it took me an hour. The drive home was a bumpy one since I was told its been sitting for almost twenty years and the tires probably have bad flat spots.  It has the fluid drive BUT it did grind pretty badly when putting it into reverse as well as either of the two forward gears. 

 

 

Now I have never had a classic car but I do know my way around an engine compartment and have been reading up and bookmarking everything I can. I know to get a manual and I plan on doing that tomorrow. I know to follow it and don't plan on not doing that. In the trunk is a service manual but its for a 1951. 

 

 

[Tatback]

While I was on my two mile journey home I noticed the volt meter or amps meter was reading in the negative as I drove. Once parked and the engine was shut off I tested the lights and the meter went into the positive. Since I know my car isn't magical and making its own power I checked the battery and noticed the guy I bought it from (only had it for two months because he took it as a form of payment) hooked the negative up to the engine block. I know this car is supposed to be a positive ground so I disconnected the battery for now until my wife and I can start working on it once we get back from our cruise. 

 

[Tatback]

And the last couple of questions for now I promise lol.....

 

What exactly do these switches do?

 

 

 

And how can I get these black kick type of panels up so I can cover the rust from the metal thats exposed where the plastic or rubber has broken off. 

 

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

car should be positive ground......not negative

[RobertKB]

Regarding the switches. The one on the left will turn on your panel lights or turn them off. You have a panel switch knob on your dash but the lights will only work if the switch is in the right position. Play with it to find out. The other is the adjuster for your trip-o-meter to reset it to zero. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

The rocker panel rubber foot plates as I call them are removed by carefully prying on them. The rubber is mounted on a steel backing plate that has little prongs that go into rubber holders in the actual rocker panel. They are likely fairly hard by now and some of them may come up when you remove the plate. Be very careful. These are hard to find and expensive to replace. Working on old cars is not for the faint of heart and can be expensive. 

 

Welcome to the forum by the way and good luck with your project. Also, enjoy the cruise!

[Tatback]

car should be positive ground......not negative

Thank you, could it of negatively affected anything being run that way? I already disconnected the battery since I was pretty sure it was in fact a positive ground. I plan on buying an optima 6 volt battery anyways. 

[RobertKB]

car should be positive ground......not negative

 

He knows as mentioned in the second post. Come on, Tim, read carefully.

[Tatback]

Regarding the switches. The one on the left will turn on your panel lights or turn them off. You have a panel switch knob on your dash but the lights will only work if the switch is in the right position. Play with it to find out. The other is the adjuster for your trip-o-meter to reset it to zero. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

 

The rocker panel rubber foot plates as I call them are removed by carefully prying on them. The rubber is mounted on a steel backing plate that has little prongs that go into rubber holders in the actual rocker panel. They are likely fairly hard by now and some of them may come up when you remove the plate. Be very careful. These are hard to find and expensive to replace. Working on old cars is not for the faint of heart and can be expensive. 

 

Welcome to the forum by the way and good luck with your project. Also, enjoy the cruise!

 

 

Thank you so much, I was wondering why my dash lights were not turning on. The lever has been to the left. 

 

Also thank you with the foot plates, I like that name too. Yes I would agree that it definitely not for the faint of heart, I like to live dangerously.....aside from heights, roller-coasters, large crowds, and swimming in the dark 

 

Oh and we will enjoy the cruise. Its our first vacation since becoming parents, Our daughter is a just about a year and a half. 

Edited May 16, 2015 by Tatback

[Plymouthy Adams]

probably not...just connect it correctly and watch the am meter should read correct current flow ..hopefully at worst..you may need to flash the regulator

[Dodgeb4ya]

The little dash switch to the left is for the lower round dash panel courtesy lights.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Dodgeb4ya

[P15-D24]

Great looking car.  Looks like you have 12 volt battery cables however. Plan on replacing those. 

Check the links page for sources on the sill pads, Henery Acuff if I remember correctly for factory replacements. 

Check out the Resources section of the site for lots of good info and suppliers. 

 

And welcome to the site. 

[40plyrod]

Nice looking car. Congrats and welcome.

[BobT-47P15]

Hi   Nice car.  You should be able to buy 0  or 00 gauge battery cables at a battery specialty store.

At least, that's where I got mine........they cut to needed length and crimped on the ends.

 

*****You would need to make sure your sill mats are the same size as a 46--48 Plymouth********

 

There is a fellow I met at the Hershey swap meet last fall who re-produces those door sill step

plates.   The rubber part looks identical to riginal.......but........they do not have the metal piece

under them.  You have to glue them into lace.  He sells them on eBay.

Edited May 16, 2015 by BobT-47P15

[casper50]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Door-Sill-Mats-Chrysler-DeSoto-Dodge-2drs-42-46-47-48-/231561259938?hash=item35ea206ba2&vxp=mtr

 

they look really nice.  As does your car.

[White Spyder]

Welcome!! glad to see anothe Windsor in the group.  Yours looks very close to mine but your chrome on the grill and rear lights is in much better shape.  Dodgeb4ya has it right about the underdash switches.  I do not have to have the courtsy switch and the pannel light switch on at the same time for the instrument lights to work.  If you do then you need to check the wiring.  I think Steele Rubber may also have the what you are looking for at the door sills.

 

As for the grinding when you put the car into gear; I would check the fluid cuppling oil level.  Heck, best if you chang it and the rest of your fluids.  no telling how long since thay have been and you would then be fresh all around.  I do get a very slight grind when I put my car into reverse but not into any of the forward gears. 

 

PM me if you would like to chat live.

 

Henri

[DonaldSmith]

Your car has the clutch as well as the fluid coupling.  So the clutch will need proper adjustment, along with everything else on your to-do list, which will keep growing. A clutch linkage adjustment might help the reverse grinding.  Sometimes I shift to "power" to spin the gearshafts if it doesn't want to go into reverse.

 

With the tip-toe transmission, or whatever it was called for the Chryslers, you can usually drive all over with the selector in "drive" (Down like 3rd gear) rather than "power" (up like second gear).  (And there is no place like down for 1st gear.)  (Reverse is pull toward you and up.) 

 

The fluid coupling allows for starting off  in third and upshifing to fourth.  It will feel like a normal car through the upshift, but then if will feel like it should shift again at road speed, but that's the sound of these engines. 

 

You will come to love this forum.  Just remember, sometimes the guys are joking, or got up on the wrong side of the bed.  And the printed word does not always convey the real feelings.  So ignore the occasional grumpiness and enjoy the sense of humor interspersed with invaluable knowledge and experience. 

Edited May 18, 2015 by DonaldSmith

[Tatback]

probably not...just connect it correctly and watch the am meter should read correct current flow ..hopefully at worst..you may need to flash the regulator

Great thank you, I'll enjoy watching the meter sway the right way once it comes time to install the new battery. 

 

The little dash switch to the left is for the lower round dash panel courtesy lights.

 

Thank you for that, the picture was great. 

Great looking car.  Looks like you have 12 volt battery cables however. Plan on replacing those. 

Check the links page for sources on the sill pads, Henery Acuff if I remember correctly for factory replacements. 

Check out the Resources section of the site for lots of good info and suppliers. 

 

And welcome to the site. 

Thank you, she's been neglected for the past couple decades but she's going to get the full spa treatment now. (kinda, not a fancy spa...more like a small budget homemade spa)

 

I also noticed the smaller diameter of the battery cables. Maybe not smaller, but I did notice that their the same diameter as my wife's 12 volt car. 

 

Nice looking car. Congrats and welcome.

 

Thank you, and its been very nice here so far. 

Hi   Nice car.  You should be able to buy 0  or 00 gauge battery cables at a battery specialty store.

At least, that's where I got mine........they cut to needed length and crimped on the ends.

 

*****You would need to make sure your sill mats are the same size as a 46--48 Plymouth********

 

There is a fellow I met at the Hershey swap meet last fall who re-produces those door sill step

plates.   The rubber part looks identical to riginal.......but........they do not have the metal piece

under them.  You have to glue them into lace.  He sells them on eBay.

I'm going to check into those, thank you. Their going to be somewhere towards the end of the list though after going through the car. Hopefully I'll make it to them. The ones I saw from the link below provided by casper50 about gave me a heart attack with the price......and Im not even 30 (Ok just under, but still, I can say it)

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Door-Sill-Mats-Chrysler-DeSoto-Dodge-2drs-42-46-47-48-/231561259938?hash=item35ea206ba2&vxp=mtr

 

they look really nice.  As does your car.

 

Thank you for the link, I know I'm capable to search on my own BUT I love it when others are enablers to my laziness 

Welcome!! glad to see anothe Windsor in the group.  Yours looks very close to mine but your chrome on the grill and rear lights is in much better shape.  Dodgeb4ya has it right about the underdash switches.  I do not have to have the courtsy switch and the pannel light switch on at the same time for the instrument lights to work.  If you do then you need to check the wiring.  I think Steele Rubber may also have the what you are looking for at the door sills.

 

As for the grinding when you put the car into gear; I would check the fluid cuppling oil level.  Heck, best if you chang it and the rest of your fluids.  no telling how long since thay have been and you would then be fresh all around.  I do get a very slight grind when I put my car into reverse but not into any of the forward gears. 

 

PM me if you would like to chat live.

 

Henri

Oh yes, ALL the fluids will be changed before I even move it out of the drive way again. If it was up to me I wouldn't of taken that initial drive before going over everything just to lower the risk of damaging something. But the transport driver didn't feel comfortable making the turn down my street. Still gave me a base line to compare to for when I do finally get to take that drive. 

 

Your car has the clutch as well as the fluid coupling.  So the clutch will need proper adjustment, along with everything else on your to-do list, which will keep growing. Aclutch linkage adjustment might help the reverse grinding.  Sometimes I shift to "power" to spin the gearshafts if it doesn't want to go into reverse.

 

With the tip-toe transmission, or whatever it was called for the Chryslers, you can usually drive all over with the selector in "drive" (Down like 3rd gear) rather than "power" (up like second gear).  (And there is no place like down for 1st gear.)  (Reverse is pull toward you and up.) 

 

The fluid coupling allows for starting off  in third and upshifing to fourth.  It will feel like a normal car through the upshift, but then if will feel like it should shift again at road speed, but that's the sound of these engines. 

 

You will come to love this forum.  Just remember, sometimes the guys are joking, or got up on the wrong side of the bed.  And the printed word does not always convey the real feelings.  So ignore the occasional grumpiness and enjoy the sense of humor interspersed with invaluable knowledge and experience. 

Thank you, and you are correct. That is going on my list of thing to-do before it can be driven again. I actually came to two stop signs on the way home and did allow it to stop in gear. It wanted to stall but didn't and left without to much griping. 

 

Also I already love this forum, I have been stalking and lurking every day since I won the auction and bookmarking any questions I had. 

[Tatback]

While under the hood I noticed quite a few things either snapped, disconnected, or plugged. I know the transmission is supposed to be hooked up to the carburetor but without the manual I'm not exactly what goes where. 

 

 

[46Ply]

Congrats on your "new" car!  Looking good, show us some pictures of the interior, seats and dash.

[DonaldSmith]

You'll need the obligatory wiring diagram, but here are a few hints: 

 

Downshift switch:  In your second photo, the little pushbutton on the carb is depressed at full throttle.  The other end of the downshift switch is seen in your third photo, where the yellow wire is with the blue connector; wrong.  This should have a yellow wire back to the "TH" contact on the transmission relay.

 

Anti-stall solenoid:  The little bump-up on the top of the carburetor at the other end of that yellow wire.  This should have a red wire back to the "SOL" terminal on the transmission relay.  This red wire also branches off as a yellow wire to the solenoid at the transmission.

 

 

As Leslie Nielson said a few times to the desperate crew in the cockpit:  "Good luck; we're all counting on you."    

[Tatback]

Congrats on your "new" car!  Looking good, show us some pictures of the interior, seats and dash.

Thank you, I'll try and get to my parents house to take some pictures before we leave for our cruise. HOA doesn't allow me to work on the car where I live 

[Tatback]

You'll need the obligatory wiring diagram, but here are a few hints: 

 

Downshift switch:  In your second photo, the little pushbutton on the carb is depressed at full throttle.  The other end of the downshift switch is seen in your third photo, where the yellow wire is with the blue connector; wrong.  This should have a yellow wire back to the "TH" contact on the transmission relay.

 

Anti-stall solenoid:  The little bump-up on the top of the carburetor at the other end of that yellow wire.  This should have a red wire back to the "SOL" terminal on the transmission relay.  This red wire also branches off as a yellow wire to the solenoid at the transmission.

 

air cleaner clamp.JPG

 

As Leslie Nielson said a few times to the desperate crew in the cockpit:  "Good luck; we're all counting on you."    

That picture is going to be saved for future reference. Thank you for the little cheat sheet. I'll try and see what I can do once I have the computer AND carb in front of me at the same time. So much room under the hood I could set up a desktop and not worry about damaging my laptop lol....

 

When putting it into high gear it drove but didn't switch when lifting off the throttle. Never stalled though but did come very close when stopping with it still in gear. 

 

 

Absolutely love that movie  

 

             "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"

             "Joey, have you ever been in a turkish prison?"

[46Ply]

Reminds me of a time about 60 years ago.  I mowed yards as a kid, and was given the job of cleaning and polishing a 47-48 Windsor Gunmetal grey with the Scotch plaid interior for the owner.  The lacquer they used in those days faded pretty fast, but shines like a new dollar after polishing, and is super smooth. That car was probably about 5 years old at the time.  I still remember what a nice car it was at the time.

[Tatback]

Reminds me of a time about 60 years ago.  I mowed yards as a kid, and was given the job of cleaning and polishing a 47-48 Windsor Gunmetal grey with the Scotch plaid interior for the owner.  The lacquer they used in those days faded pretty fast, but shines like a new dollar after polishing, and is super smooth. That car was probably about 5 years old at the time.  I still remember what a nice car it was at the time.

 

See, this is exactly what draws me to old cars. The stories and the life the cars take on through the stories. Thank you for sharing. 

 

My car was found and bought on eBay without seeing it in person. 

When I called the guy to find out more about it before buying it here's the story he gave me.

 

 

 

The car was bought originally by a Chrysler employee in Kansas who kept it till he passed in the 80's. It sat in storage for a couple more decades until it was sold at an estate sale to a woman who recently purchased a sandwich shop which has been in business since 1948 and she thought the car would be a nice advertisement tool for the store. She took it to the Shop to have it sanded/repainted, interior restored, and drive train restored but once the work was started she did not want to pay the work. She dropped off the title as payment. The shop then left it in the black enamel primer, painted the wheels red to attract attention, and listed it online where I saw it. 

 

 

    His description:

 

"Original one owner car that has been in storage for the last 20 yrs. This old chrysler has had a pampered life, the original owner was a mechanic for the old  local chrysler dealership until it closed. The motor was rebuilt back in the 80's and since has had less than 300 miles put on it, it runs great. The carb was just rebuilt, complete new exhaust, new fuel pump, new belt, radiator was removed and cleaned, fuel tank was removed I had it cleaned and lined. None of the wiring has been tampered with even the dome and interior lights still work. The body is very straight with some minor dings from the yrs, we sanded the car down and sprayed it with a epoxy primer. There was one repaint over the yrs, the doors shut like new.  Interior is very complete, seats are in good shape but material is brittle with age so there are indian blankets over them for now. Radio was removed but does come with the car, i'm not sure if it works. The car runs and stops, but has not been driven on the street. The brakes were bled but should be gone over before driving on the street.

 

This is great old car that was someones pride and joy over the yrs, she deserves to be on the road again. Restore it back to it's original glory, or leave it like it is and have cool rat rod.

There are some extra parts in the trunk along with a factory service manual."

[White Spyder]

Here are a few photos of how mine is connected.  There is also a line from the top of rhe automatic choke to the starter solinoid.