Frustration over missing parts on 48 DeSoto!

[MarcDeSoto]

I'm getting my 48 DeSoto engine ready to start, and then can't find the throttle linkage parts.  I'm talking about the black swivel parts that go on the stud on the head, as pictured in Bob Riding's pic of his Spitfire engine.  These kinds of parts you can't buy, so it's frustrating.  I've been turning my garage upside down for three days looking!  Marc.

[MarcDeSoto]

Never mind.  I just found them!  I'm Guilty with an explanation.  I had painted my throttle linkage silver to go with the engine.  But after seeing Bob's pic, I'm thinking it's supposed to be black.  The whole linkage assembly was hanging over the silver bell housing, so I couldn't see it.  Very relieved to find these essential parts that would have been very hard to find.  Marc.

[MarcDeSoto]

I originally put the throttle linkage there on the bell housing thinking I'm going to put it right back after painting the head.  But I didn't, and then forgot where I put it.  Now I'm thinking I should keep a notebook.  In the notebook, I would write down every part and every nut and bolt that I remove, and besides putting it in a marked can or bag, saying exactly where in the garage I put it.  that will save a lot of time!  

[DonaldSmith]

I would forget where I put the notebook.

[LeRoy]

10 hours ago, MarcDeSoto said:

I'm getting my 48 DeSoto engine ready to start, and then can't find the throttle linkage parts.  I'm talking about the black swivel parts that go on the stud on the head, as pictured in Bob Riding's pic of his Spitfire engine.  These kinds of parts you can't buy, so it's frustrating.  I've been turning my garage upside down for three days looking!  Marc.

I can sympathize! My dad and I rebuilt an old dodge over the past 3 or 4 years (still a long way top go) and we lost a lot of parts, some of them multiple times.

 

I live about 3 hours away from the project site so I'd travel over for the mid part of the week and return home on the weekends to try to salvage my marriage. When we disassembled anything we put all the fasteners in marked Ziplocs and took pictures etc. I also put the parts in a specific location any time we disassembled, cleaned or painted a part. Any wear item that would be replaced during reassembly went into an old parts box, just in case. Often times (no every time) while I was gone my dad would clean the shop, straighten things up, clean a few parts, wire wheel a handful of fasteners, etc. About half way through the disassembly process dad decided to pitch that box of old parts, ugh.

 

When we started prep for reassembly we could find nothing. All the fasteners had been mixed up during the wire brush / thread chasing step. Most of the medium sized parts had been squirreled away in the most random of places. I found stuff wrapped in plastic in the crawl space, wired to the rafters in the garage, in the undercarriage of a motorhome, in the trunk of any junk car sitting around - it was maddening. We spent days tracking down parts or assembling then disassembling then reassembling things because we finally tripped over a part we couldn't find. In a few cases I even bought a replacement because we couldn't find the original (AB may have been in cahoots with my dad). We now have a box of random fasteners in a box on the shelf and a bunch of modern mismatched fasteners on the car, ugh.

 

So next time........ I'm going to make a dedicated spot for parts as soon as they come off. Be very regimented in opening only 1 Ziploc at a time. ensuring nothing gets moved or misplaced. I bet I spend just as much time looking for lost parts. 

 

I certainly enjoyed this time with the old man, some day he won't be here to grumble at for losing a part. 

Edited November 22, 2022 by LeRoy

[MarcDeSoto]

Yes, keeping the old parts is important!  I bought a rebuilt master cylinder from Rock Auto and sent my old one in to get the $15 core charge.  My mistake was including the push rod and end bolt that come out of the front of the MC.  Does a new MC come with these parts.  NO!  So I had to hunt around until I found a guy with a parts car.  It was a 1950 DeSoto but still had the same parts.  One thing I try to do that is even better than organizing nuts and bolts in bags, is to screw whatever you can back on to the part so you can't lose it.  For example all of my fender bolts are screwed into the body even though the fenders are off.  For my DeSoto I have lots of nuts and bolts in cans.  So I got a nut and bolt guide and put all the 1/4" bolts in one can, all the 3/8" bolts in another and so on. It makes it much easier to find a bolt or nut when you need it.  

[Marcel Backs]

What I did was divided parts/ sub assemblies into 3 classifications: body. interior and drivetrain. I bagged  numbered and identified (part name) the parts (fasteners included) as per the 3 classifications eg engine parts would have E-xxx number. body B-xxx and interior I-xxx. Each classification of parts gets it's own storage area. 3 lists were prepared identifying parts for each classification in ascending numbers indicating status of the part ( needs restoration or ready to install), MOPAR part number and if anything is missing when dealing with a sub assembly. Once a part is installed, it is struck off the list. Not only does this avoid lost parts put in a safe place never to be found but it is also a good way to gauge your progress and easily keep track of tasks at hand. At my age I have a good memory but it's short. This staves off any potential brain farts. When dealing with a multitude of parts stored away for an extended time a location/ status system is needed. M

Edited November 27, 2022 by Marcel Backs

[Sniper]

I go down to Home Depot and buy storage totes and then all the parts going to Ziploc bags that are labeled and I use three different size bags sandwich quart and gallon. Then the parts going to the appropriately labeled tote and they sit on the Shelf till I'm ready for them

[Dan Hiebert]

Before a project I get a few boxes of different size ziplock bags.  I go for "cheap", but they still need to be on the sturdy side.  As I disassemble components, I bag everything I took off for that component in the number of bags necessary to hold it (most often one bag suffices), whether I intend to reuse the part or not.  I won't get rid of a part until I'm sure I won't need it.  (Being just as cheap as the bags), I'll label them using a marker on masking tape so I can reuse the bag until it won't hold anything.  I put all parts for whatever project in one place.  If I rearrange the shop for whatever reason, I keep the parts groups together, even if there's more room for part X "over there".  I'm good for a few years remembering where I put something, but I don't leave it to chance that I'll finish a project within that time span, so I try to keep everything in that one place.  I've got a few tote boxes just for keeping such parts in, too.  If I'm not going to get into a particular tote for a while, I'll put a list in the tote of what's in it.  I may not be able to tell you down to the square inch where a part is, but I can tell you which shelf in which part of the shop it's on.   Not quite as thorough as some, but it's worked for me so far.