New to me 1948 Desoto Custom Coupe

[Art Bailey]

38 minutes ago, keithb7 said:

 

 

Looks like a pretty good selection here:

https://www.then-now-auto.com/product-category/fuel-pump-kits/desoto-fuel-pump-kits/

 

It's likely this one: https://www.then-now-auto.com/product/fpa48-fuel-pump-kit/

 

 

 

For crying out loud, I was at "then and now" yesterday, and I couldn't find any fuel pump kits, their site was still under construction. Thanks for the link, and the tech tips, I would've had to learn that stuff the hard way! I definitely need to acquaint myself with what all the parts on this thing look like--without that, it's hard for me to take the word of anonymous ebay sellers that their parts will work for my application. 

[Sniper]

Yeah, their website is very poorly implemented and done, for that matter. 

[James_Douglas]

If it were me I would:

1. Drain the fuel tank and make sure it is clean, take out the sender to look in.

2. Blow out the fuel lines and the brake lines.

3. Rebuild, or at lease put in new rubber, into the master cylinder and the wheel cylinders. DO NOT put in new cylinders without inspecting the internal parts carefully. New cylinders have had bad parts in them from reputable vendors. I would replace all the bake line hoses.

4. Drain the transmission and the rearend. Put in a few pints of kerosene and let it sit.

5. Take the radiator out and flush it. Flush the block.

6. Take the head off and the pan off.

7. Pop the pistons out and put a new set of rings in it. If they cylinder walls still have a cross hatch on it fine, if not, run a hone (lightly) to get a hatch.

8. Send the fuel pump down to Terrell Machine and have them rebuild it.

9. Start the thing up and run it with the rear end on blocks so the trans and rear end will spin. After about 15 minutes and the engine rings broke in...

10. Drain the trans and the rear end and re-fill with oil.

 

Then drop it down and take it for a ride. I would also drain and replace the fluid coupling fluid. See my write up on that.

 

If everyone checks out ok after all the above, drive it cross county if you like.

 

James.

[Art Bailey]

44 minutes ago, James_Douglas said:

If it were me I would...

 

Great advice, and fantastic paper on fluid coupling. I haven't yet done a deep dive into fluid drive, and other than the badge on the glove box that says I have it, I'm a little confused if the tip-toe shift indeed has it. Wiki says: Many automobile historians confuse Chrysler's Fluid Drive with the Corporation's so-called semi-automatic M5/M6 transmissions, which were marketed under various names as “Simplimatic” (Chrysler), “Tip-Toe Shift” (DeSoto), and “Gyro-Matic” (Dodge). Unfortunately, Chrysler itself contributed to the confusion by referring to both the standard-shift fluid drive and M6 installations indiscriminately as "Fluid Drive" in much of their marketing and sales literature. I'll get these answers when I get my manuals, I guess. 

 

I don't know if I'm going to go so far as to hone the cylinders, but I think the head is going to come off. My temperment won't let me not peek in there  I dropped some coin on Rock Auto and Bernbaum, and have lots of goodies coming, I'll keep anyone who gives a rip updated. 

 

Regarding the brakes, I think I'm pretty wary of repo parts from all the horror stories I've read. Depending on the condition of wheel cylinders and master cylinder, I may take a crack at rebuilding, though I'm not sure it's a smart move to not just put all new stuff in there. 

 

-Art

 

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by ratbailey

[keithb7]

Fluid drive is not directly referring to the transmission type. It is the fluid coupling between the engine and the transmission. There are two types: A simple fluid drive, or the more complex torque converter.  The main difference being the torque converter has internal stators that multiply torque at lower RPM. The basic fluid drive does not have stators, nor multiply torque.  The dry clutch is still present and used in both systems.

 

I've never owned the basic fluid drive. My understanding is the basic fluid drive can be placed in front of a manual 3 speed tranny, or the semi-auto M5-M6.  With the manual 3 speed  you shift it manually still.  A three on the tree shifter. The fluid coupling allows you to come to a stop and leave the tranny and clutch engaged. Still in gear.  Engine won't stall with either fluid coupling type used. You only use the clutch to shift gears. You do not need it to come to a stop and take off again.  The M5-M6, you are using the clutch way less, as it has an auto shift.

 

The M5 or M6 semi-auto tranny you manually put in hi or low range. As engine RPM increases, you lift your foot off the throttle. The tranny hydraulic power creates a shift. 1 auto-shift only, either up or down. It too can be left in gear when stopped, clutch engaged. Engine will not stall.

 

Here I explain some of the differences between the two types fluid drives:

 

 

 

I suggest you get under your car. Look at the tranny. The right side. Does it appear to have a couple of cans bolted to the side of the tranny? Some wires? One can is a 6V shift solenoid, the other smaller can hosts a spinning set of contact points. Wires and cans indicate M5-M6 semi-auto tranny. If no cans or wires, you likely have a standard fluid drive that does not auto shift.

Edited December 23, 2020 by keithb7

[JBNeal]

additional information - long term product testimonials 

[Bingster]

Hi. Nice Desoto! I have a '47 Custom sedan. I was a newbie when I got it seven years ago, and proceeded to tear it down. The sheet metal, floor pans, etc. Some things I marked and some I didn't. I have a lot of bolts that need identifying. I have copied a lot of Desoto photos of the guys on here to help me find bolt types and locations, etc.

I did get all of the floor pans sandblasted, primed and painted. Some other parts as well. Mint set of hubs. NOS hood ornament, etc. I have a lot of the finishing touches. 

I know that if I had torn the engine down, or do it now, I'd probably never get over the work backlog.  Luckily my engine was in good shape when I bought it and it still cranks and turns. I agree to get the engine running as best as possible while you fix the brakes. I can't do anything until the brakes are fixed. But the seats are out so I have nowhere to sit anyway.

I don't know how long parts for these cars will be around. A friend of mine saw the car sitting in my building and said, "That's a money pit."  I find it more of a time issue than money. There's a lot than can be done on little money while you wait for the bigger stuff.

Anyway, enjoy the honeymoon period.  

[Art Bailey]

Hey Folks,

 

I've been hard at work since I last checked in here...if you enjoy stories and videos about middle aged guys goofing around with old cars, read on. 

 

Today was a mostly good day. Short version: my '48 DeSoto (not '47, as I was told) moved its own carcass out of the garage. Play-by-play provided by my very patient wife. 

 

 

This is kind of where the fun stopped. More on that soon.

 

Leading up to this awesome achievement, I rewired the starting circuit, the ammeter, ran fresh wires to the transmission relays, and disconnected everything else, so as not to set my car and garage on fire. New plugs, wires, battery cables, and battery. 

 

I rebuild the carburetor--or more accurately, two carburetors. I reset the float several times before getting it right, so it didn't flood the intake with gas, and leak out the throttle shaft onto the manifold and everywhere else. I discovered that you absolutely shouldn't put these BB carbs in an ultrasonic cleaner using Simple Green and water, because, as it's clearly stated in the Chrysler repair pamphlet that I didn't read before rebuilding, BB carbs exposed to water will oxidize rapidly, creating "oatmeal like" crud that covers everything and is impossible to stop. Oops. Good thing I had a second carb to rebuild. I learned that teflon tape is good for sealing up gas line threads. I rebuilt the fuel pump once, then discovered that I hadn't engaged the pump lever while tightening the screws as I was supposed to do, so it wasn't doing its pumping thing. I learned that you can completely destroy the fuel pump casting by overtightening the fuel line connector. Thankfully, I also had a spare, rebuildable fuel pump. I think I had the fuel pump off and on 6 times. Finally, after some weeks, I ended up with a carb and fuel pump that didn't leak fuel all over the exhaust manifold, garage floor, or dump raw gas into the intake. 

 

Still, it wouldn't start

 

After lots of hair pulling and forehead smacking, it turned out to be a spark plug wire not fully pushed into the distributor cap. This leads us to the short victory lap up the driveway. 

 

Couple questions:

I noticed a lot of water coming out of the tailpipe, and as you can see, a good amount of grey smoke. Is this normal for these engines? It was at least 34 degrees F, don't know if that has anything to do with it. 

 

It idles pretty nicely. But, as you can see here, it stalls when you open the throttle.

 

 

I remembered later that I have the accelerator pump linkage in the middle hole, rather than the outside hole for winter, don't know if that might have something to do with it. I still haven't dealt with timing. I've also got generic NAPA wires on it, that have a resistor symbol on them, don't know if that would effect much or not.

 

And then the fun stuff. Radiator became incontinent, so I had to quickly drain the whole system before it all ended up on my driveway...really should've anticipated that. One of the lines from the oil filter is leaking a lot, at the brass connection to the engine block. Finally, I couldn't keep the damn thing running without stalling, so when the front tires hit the half-inch bump of the cement garage pad, it would quit. Snow and rain is coming tomorrow, it's getting dark, and I have half my car sticking out of the garage. I discovered that I'm strong enough to push a '48 DeSoto into my garage by myself. I guess that was fun...? Seriously though, I'm learning a ton, and I can't thank you all enough for the advice you've all given me. That's all for now...

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by ratbailey

[MarcDeSoto]

Welcome to the S-11 DeSoto club!  I've owned a business coupe since 1980!  Right now I'm doing a body off restoration.  I'm just about ready to jack the body off of the frame.  

The outdoor picture was taken in San Diego in 1988!  As you see, not much done from then til now.  I hope to change that soon.   

[Frank Elder]

Look at that handsome fella.......he looks happy!

[MarcDeSoto]

I was taking the body off today.  I thought I got all of the body bolts out, but the rear tires were coming up as I tried to jack the body up.  Turns out the rear frame cross member has two more bolts in it besides the ones in the corner.  The heads are rounded and were covered up with undercoating.  I saw the two nuts when I crawled under the car.  They were also 9/16" nuts and now I can jack the body up.  

[Young Ed]

Interesting about the carb. Everyone I've ever done was soaked in carb cleaner and then rinsed well in a bucket of hot water. Then sprayed dry with compressed air. So was it the length of time or the simple green that wrecked yours?

[Art Bailey]

20 hours ago, MarcDeSoto said:

Welcome to the S-11 DeSoto club!  I've owned a business coupe since 1980!  Right now I'm doing a body off restoration.  I'm just about ready to jack the body off of the frame.  

The outdoor picture was taken in San Diego in 1988!  As you see, not much done from then til now.  I hope to change that soon.   

Nice, Mark! Looks to be the same color as mine, though my color doesn't match the code on the plate. 

 

[Art Bailey]

2 hours ago, Young Ed said:

Interesting about the carb. Everyone I've ever done was soaked in carb cleaner and then rinsed well in a bucket of hot water. Then sprayed dry with compressed air. So was it the length of time or the simple green that wrecked yours?

Yeah, me too...I did literally thousands of carbs in my dad's small engine shop, just by dunking them in a can of LEADED gasoline (the lead levels in my blood must be off the charts...never used gloves, and we also washed our hands with it), and blasting with compressed air. Could've been the length of time, I'm not sure. I got pretty excited about zapping the crud off with my cool machine, I let the parts sit in there for a couple hours, at least. Learned my lesson.

Edited February 23, 2021 by ratbailey

[Frank Elder]

I always use Berrymans carb cleaner, it is like religion for me and has yet to steer me wrong......doesn’t get completely clean? Scrub harder nothing comes for free.

[Dartgame]

Congrats on getting her running !!!

 

Answering your question about the exhaust. With an engine that's been sitting along time, and old exhaust pipes and muffler etc; I'd not be a bit surprised at a lot of moisture being expelled from the engine and so on, it should dissipate as it gets heated up and dries out. Gray smoke ? White smoke is usually an antifreeze leak, blue is usually oil burning, black is an overly rich idle mixture or flooding from a float level that's too high.

 

When I got mine running I was worried the fire department was going to show up, there was such an immense cloud of smoke for an extended period of time (20 minutes). But afterwards she ran and continues to run clean as a whistle.

 

Did you replace the points and condensor ? I had a new condensor fail in short order, poor quality new parts....Your plug wires are fine.

[Art Bailey]

17 hours ago, Dartgame said:

Congrats on getting her running !!!

 

Answering your question about the exhaust. With an engine that's been sitting along time, and old exhaust pipes and muffler etc; I'd not be a bit surprised at a lot of moisture being expelled from the engine and so on, it should dissipate as it gets heated up and dries out. Gray smoke ? White smoke is usually an antifreeze leak, blue is usually oil burning, black is an overly rich idle mixture or flooding from a float level that's too high.

 

When I got mine running I was worried the fire department was going to show up, there was such an immense cloud of smoke for an extended period of time (20 minutes). But afterwards she ran and continues to run clean as a whistle.

 

Did you replace the points and condensor ? I had a new condensor fail in short order, poor quality new parts....Your plug wires are fine.

Thanks! Yeah, it may be too soon to ask questions about smoke color, I don't think I even got it up to full running temp without it stalling. Does it look white? When you say antifreeze leak, you don't mean "cracked block", I hope ?? It looked like normal, grey exhaust to me. I'd go with moisture being expelled. When I pulled the pan, there was no glycol or water in it, and until the rad blew, it was staying full. The liquid out of the tailpipe was clear looking water, but more than I'm used to seeing, and the fluid in the rad was glycol green. My new oil still looks fresh on the dipstick.

 

I didn't replace the points or condenser, they looked good (famous last words). I have a set, I'll throw them in. One of the reasons I didn't put the parts in is the reason you mention, I've read bad things about new parts, and it kind of ran when I got it--I didn't want to introduce new problems. I may have gapped the plugs at .030, which is too much. Old lawn mower mechanic habit. I'm leaning toward vacuum advance and timing, which I haven't checked. Pulling the distributor and making sure everything moves free probably wouldn't hurt. I'm not going to start it again until I deal with the oil leak at the oil filter, check the oil pressure relief valve, and fix the cooling system. I'm going to take the opportunity to replace the water distribution tube with the rad out, and see how many new combinations of cuss words I can come up with.

 

-Art

Edited February 25, 2021 by ratbailey

[Dartgame]

Good idea to take the distributor apart. You may find the vacuum advance has failed or something else is stuck like the advance weights etc.

 

Regarding the coolant question - you don't have to have a cracked block for a leak, could be a head gasket or a head bolt. But I doubt it's the reason for steam (gray/white "smoke") & water dripping from exhaust. 34F is cold enough to show normal steam from the exhaust, and the water is probably normal as well before the pipes etc get hot enough and dried out. It sounded like it was running pretty evenly so I doubt there's much wrong with it other than ignition or something simple like that causing it to stall out. I don't recall what the spark plug gap is supposed to be. It's been a while since I gapped mine. Specs should be someplace on this website.

[Art Bailey]

34 minutes ago, Dartgame said:

I don't recall what the spark plug gap is supposed to be. It's been a while since I gapped mine. Specs should be someplace on this website.

I've got two DeSoto shop manuals and a Motor's. The '48 edition says .025, the '50 says .030, and Motor's says .025.  It's easy enough to regap and see if it helps, I guess.

[Art Bailey]

Hey All,

 

Thought I'd post an update for any of you who were thinking, "gee, it's been a long time since I heard from Art."  Hi, Mom.

 

Today and yesterday, I stood on my head under the dashboard and squeezed the two Model 54 heaters back into the DeSoto. Over the last few months, I had taken them out, brought them and the rad to be tested at a questionable shop, made new gaskets, and gave the heater boxes a light cleaning and some paint where there wasn't any. Good enough. 

I'm really hot to get this thing back on the road, so I'm really considering it an extensive repair job, rather than a restoration. Others might cringe at putting something that looks like this back, but I kind of dig it, and if I had stripped the original paint, the double pinstripes around the electric motor cover that someone hand painted on there would be gone forever. Also, the flash makes it look a little worse than it really does. 

 

If you have to remove these heaters from your project, here's what I discovered. You have to remove the glove box. The left heater box is much trickier than the right box. For the left, remove the two screws that clamp the steering column, and you'll gain an inch or so to maneuver by pulling down the steering column. Same applies for reinstalling, but also, leave off the motor cover, motor and squirrel cage--less weight, and easier to maneuver. The firewall brace should be put in last, and then tightened only when the box has been fastened to the ductwork. There's room to adjust it upwards a tiny bit, which if you don't do, the left outlet on the heater core might be touching the firewall, and you won't have room to get the hose on, and you'll wonder if you put it together wrong, take it out a second time, completely disassemble and reassemble it, and use up all your swear words. 

 

Every hose and clamp under the hood has been replaced, and it may not run, but it's starting to look like a car. Smells like fresh rubber, too.

Other goodies and work done since I got it 5 months ago:

-New plugs, wires, coil, battery cables, points, rotor, condenser.

-Ran all the temporary green wiring you see in the above pic.

-Bent up new NiCopp lines to and from the oil filter, which was squirting oil all over the ground, the last time I started it. New flexible line to the oil pressure gauge.

-NOS vacuum advance, from a well known supplier everyone loves to hate, which I discovered doesn't quite hold a vacuum, after the 30 days return policy expired.

-New water pump

-New stainless water distribution tube. That took a lot of massaging with a big funky hammer to get it to fit. The old one slid right out with virtually no effort, and it was interesting to compare the quality of fitment (is that a word?) of the two. The old one was made with more care to fit the contours of the space inside the engine.

-New heater valve (thanks for the rec, Sniper)

-Rebuilt the carb, fuel pump, got a new fuel filter, stuffed up all the leaks with teflon tape.

-Dropped the oil pan, cleaned it out. Wasn't bad at all, backing up the original owner's story that engine work had been done. Reinstalled, new oil and filter, no leaks.

-Removed the distributor for cleaning, which was utterly frozen in place with ancient rust and crud. Seriously doubt it had ever come out since at least the Kennedy administration. This tells me that the fish story about the engine being rebuilt was just that, since there's no way the block was machined with the distributor still in there. So, most likely, they just put in new rings and didn't bore it out, which is actually just fine with me. It's kind of fun to do this forensic stuff...

-A bunch of junkyard goodies from Ebay that were either missing from the car or not up to snuff, including the air cleaner bracket, clutch bell housing and shield, trans support brackets.

-Last, I got it plated and registered. Most people would say I'm nuts to have bought a car with no title, but I read this article on the Hagerty site about a loophole allowing one to register a title-less car in Vermont. Incredibly, it's true. After it's registered, SUPPOSEDLY it's possible to just bring your Vt. registration to your local DMV and get a title for it, as if you moved from out-of-state. I have yet to tackle that part of it. If NJ tells me to stuff it, I might have to road trip to Vermont once a year for an inspection. There's worse places to road trip to, I guess.

 

Next up, generator and starter rebuild, plunk in the new gas tank and run fresh lines, and I should be able to do some serious back-and-forth driving, up and down my driveway. Onward!

Edited October 11, 2021 by ratbailey

[keithb7]

Good summary. Lots of work done there.  You have the desire and energy, it’ll go. You’ll make it so. 
 

You are seen as fortunate by many here,  to live within the USA and be able to readily get parts at reasonable prices.
 

These old cars are tons of fun to work on. You’ll reap the rewards. I’ve been tinkering on my old Mopars tons and I quite enjoy it. I am rewarded every time I spin the starter over and head out for a drive.  

Edited June 1, 2021 by keithb7

[Art Bailey]

29 minutes ago, keithb7 said:

Good summary. Lots of work done there.  You have the desire and energy, it’ll go. You’ll make it so. 
 

You are seen as fortunate by many here,  to live within the USA and be able to readily get parts at reasonable prices.
 

These old cars are tons of fun to work on. You’ll reap the rewards. I’ve been tinkering on my old Mopars tons and I quite enjoy it. I am rewarded every time I spin the starter over and head out for a drive.  

Thanks for the encouraging words, buddy! I'm sorry to hear that it's not as easy for some to get parts for these beauties, it's something I'll be sure not to take for granted. I feel incredibly lucky to have found this fat fendered beauty and I've enjoyed every minute of wrenching on it (well, nearly so). Mopars are really the best

[Art Bailey]

More progress!

 

Last winter, I set the modest goal of being able to drive the 20 ft. out of the garage, and not have to push it back in. The summer was kind of a bust for wrenching...it was a tornado of family obligations, my house slowly falling to pieces, and brutal weather. So, here we are in October...

 

No one was around to grab an action shot of it pulling out of the garage, but take my word for it, I got it back in, no problem. No fire, no smoke, no Exxon Valdez all over the driveway...

 I got the idle down to 450 rpms more or less, it seems pretty happy there. The second rebuilt carb really made a difference, and also the rebuilt distributor. Finding the hack repairs on this thing is kind of hilarious, sometimes. The dizzy was frozen to the engine block, you couldn't turn it, so someone broke off a hunk of where the distributor cap locks in, so they could rotate the cap and advance the timing. What a scream. Don't even get me started on the collision damage some genius bodyman "repaired." It still has little hiccups when it idles, I think that will clear up when I learn about and deal with timing and dwell.

 

I'm still learning the ways of this ancient beast. When I was revving it, I heard a distinct "clunk" every time the rpms came back down, and I really got sick to my stomach, until I realized it was the famous clunk of the Clunk-O-Matic transmission--- in this case, the sound of the mechanical governor flapping around. I also learned never to leave the oilbath air cleaner sitting on the carb loose, because there's a law in physics that says you *will* knock it over, spill oil everywhere, and swear a lot.

 

In my last post back in May, I mentioned rebuilding the starter and generator. I really got hung up on those tasks, but I'm very pleased with how they turned out, and glad I did them. There were some pretty hinky repairs on the starter, and the coils were absolutely soaked with oil from the profusely leaking oil filter. 

 

Coils before:

After:

Starts like a champ now. Replaced all bearings, retaped coils, painted inside of both with red Glyptol to help insulate it, cleaned, lubed, painted. This article was a huge help, and gave me the courage to tear into the starter, too: https://www.1942mb.com/article/96/G503-WWII-Jeep-6-volt-Autolite-Generator-Rebuild-Restore. The starter is a really robust looking thing---I used to get nervous that when it burns out, it'd all be over, since those square solenoids are incredibly scarce, but I think the only way it'd burn out would be through sheer abuse and neglect. You could probably pull a dumptruck with this thing. The coils in the pic above aren't wound with wire, they're some kind of thick, tinned flat stock, wrapped in the shape you see. As for the generator, no charging is happening while idling in the drive, but the ammeter shows some rising amp action when I rev the engine, but not off the charts, so it would seem the regulator is doing its regulating thing.

 

What else...? Cured the oil spewing oil filter today, by running a bead of JB Weld around the seam at the bottom of the can. I can't believe that wasn't welded at the factory. It's weeping out of the brass junction at the engine, just the tiniest bit, oozing out around the nipple that threads into it. I wasn't able to come up with a new fitting there, unfortunately, so I'm going to have to live with it. I've driven worse, for sure. I got tired of looking at the huge triangular dent that someone mule-kicked into the right rear fender (you can see this in the winter video made in my driveway), so I pretended I knew how to do bodywork, and dollied it mostly out without making it worse. I pulled out the wire looms under the hood, made tape flags on all connections noting where they go, and now I'm getting ready to wire this sucker. Brakes are next, gonna have the original cylinders resleeved. Once I have brakes, I can start menacing the neighborhood.

 

Thanks, as usual, for all the help I've been given here!

 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2021 by ratbailey

[Booger]

What a journey! Stay after it!

[Art Bailey]

3 years since I last checked in. What's my excuse? Life, crumbling house, kids, learning a new trade at the age of 53. I haven't been doing much wrenching in that time, but I managed to get a few things done. Got my wheels sandblasted, and sprayed my first non-rattle can paint job with an LVLP spray gun and my anemic Craftsman compressor: 

 

 

Not bad, if you squint. Fortunately, they'll be completely covered by hubcaps and beauty rings. 

 

Other than that, I've been working on stuff that'll help me to not have to farm out work on my project: refurbed a giant, old drill press that I have no idea how I got by without, refurbing a South Bend lathe and a Sun distributor machine, trying to learn to weld and do body work, etc. 

 

Reading my old posts, I have to laugh at my optimism at thinking I'd get this thing on the road quickly. Fool! The more I poke at this thing, the more I find that needs to be fixed. The shiny stainless trim and crappy splash job paint hid a lot of sorrow. Here's what I found lurking under all that shiny trim... 

 

 

 

 

I think the mice who used to live in the rockers had something to do with some of this. Really, though, not bad for a 75 year old car from this part of the country, and I'm glad that my attempts at body work will be hidden under stainless trim, for the most part. Gonna have to make some body mounts, and of course, while I'm in there, replace the rubber, and then, of course, while I'm down there, just replace all the body rubber, because, why not...: 

 

 

 

...and this bit of hilarity, my left front fender is practically sculpted out of bondo. Fooled me, but apparently that's not hard. 

 

 

I'm pretty sure I can do better than this. 

 

Then there's the engine. I started off by thinking I was gonna just send the harmonic balancer off to be remade, and slam it back together. Time goes by, I'm reading too much, and learn that there's this thing called a timing chain that stretches out over time. I learn how to check it, and go out to my wreck and find out that I can turn the engine over by hand a good amount before the distributor moves. Dang. Might as well do that while I've got the rad and balancer out. Last night, thanks to posts on this site, I figured out how to pull the crank hub:

 

 

Not sure if it's evident in the pic, but some caveman used the old "hammer the snot out of it until it's back on" method, mushrooming the hub near the key, and trapping the pulley on, causing me to think that the pulley wasn't meant to come off. 

 

Here's a tip for anyone who might be wondering what torque specs to use for tightening bolts. If you can't find the specific torque specs for, say, the harmonic balancer bolts, don't just use random torque specs that you find somewhere on the internet. Find the torque specs for the bolts you're using, taking into account thread size and bolt strength. Then, you won't have to look for a new part, or learn to heli-coil the old bolt holes. Not saying I did this, or that I'm an idiot, but...

 

Other issues include; rear axle with spun bearings. Repaired, sort of, with shims and loctite, not sure I trust it. Fortunately, have a line on another rear end. Brake shoes with those damn holes drilled in them (see other posts). Sick of rebuilding B+B carbs, 4 hours of driving on the Long Island Distressway and 50 bucks netted me one good Stromberg BXVES and a box of 4 or 5 other old one barrel carbs that I can flip. Stopped fooling myself that the interior was useable as is and didn't smell like mouse pee, going to need to learn to stitch up an interior. Wiring, of course. Thinking back to 3 years ago, when I tried to put it in gear for a cruise down the driveway, the gears would grind---probably looking at a new clutch. Steering box is dry and doesn't hold fluid, that should be an adventure. Bad body fitment is driving me crazy, fortunately one of those Mopar service bulletins deals with exactly that, specifically for my era car. Etc. Gonna keep after it, 4 years later I still feel lucky to have it, and really dig wrenching on it. 

Edited October 20 by ratbailey