1929 Desoto Project

[52b3b Joe]

I thought I'd share my newest project. I was graciously gifted a 1929 Desoto Cupe de Lujo (rumble seat soft top deluxe coupe) from my friend with the simple goal of saving the car. He acquired the car 3-4 years ago from his uncle who drove the car in high school in late 60s and kept it ever since. I'm guessing the car was last driven in the early 70s. From what I can tell, it's 100% complete and was parked while driving. Over the years his uncle tried to preserve the car by putting oil down the cylinders and rolling the engine over and various other things. The engine is loose and it honestly looks like it would run if I clean the points and run it off a gas can. He did work on it some since it was parked in hopes of driving it again. He put new wheel cylinders, brake lines, and it appears he rebuilt the master cylinder. He collected some parts, like wheel bearings, a very nice (looks NOS) Desoto grill emblem, and a few other odds and ends. 

 

I picked it up last night after work, and didn't have much time to look it over very good. I did spend 15 minutes or so digging around through the boxes of parts and through the rumble seat area and found the original top (perfect for a pattern), the missing rear bow for the top (I was worried about that!), and even the original door panels that he saved when he replaced them in high school. He saved everything he ever took off the car down to each screw. 

 

The worst part of the car is going to be repairing the wood body frame as needed and making a new top for it. The cowl is weak and it flexes when you open the doors to the point the doors hit the opening at the rear. It takes a firm push to get the doors to close. Other than that, I think its going to be fairly straight forward. I'll just need to pick away at it as I get time. It was originally a teal-ish blue but someone painted it brown at some point. The brown is lacquer and is peeling off in sheets. 

 

Here are some pictures. My kids seemed to enjoy it. It's a pretty exciting event for them lol. I have other projects, but I have a big hang up currently with one, and the other one is in a running/driving state, so I haven't been eager to start it other than acquire some parts. With that said, I think this one will be what I tackle. Hopefully I can get after it in a reasonable amount of time as money and kids allow! 

[Doug&Deb]

What a great find! That’s a solid looking car and it’s going to be awesome when you’re done. We recently had a forum member with a 29. Search for his threads. They may be useful. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Plymouthy Adams]

you have the true diamond in the rough.....excellent this came to you.....do it justice...we watching you...!

[Veemoney]

That is beautiful piece of automotive history and the story behind with the uncle driving it to high school and saving all the original parts is to cool. Looking forward to seeing more pictures as you move forward with the project. 

[sidevalvepete]

This is the start of a great thread...love stories like this. Thanks for letting us all come along for the ride...

[Hickory]

Nice find, this is hickory and have a wealth of knowledge on the 29 desoto, i have a 4 door k series early 29 and have made wood repairs and vinyl roof repairs on mine. Rebuilt the engine also. Ask questions if needed.

[Hickory]

And Going down the babbit hole is a thread with tons of info

[52b3b Joe]

Thanks for all the replies! I will probably have some questions as I go. I did get it lightly power washed and I went through the parts that came with it. I'm confident that all the brown paint would peel right off with my gas powered power washer and some more time. A lot of the brown peeled off Saturday when I hit it lightly with my small electric machine. The only thing I seem to be missing is the rear bow for the top. I put a battery in it to check some basics out. The lights all work, the starter rolls over nicely. It would probably try and fire, but the spring for the points is grounding out on the distributor housing. I didn't get anywhere beyond looking at that for a few minutes over the weekend. I did receive another gift for the car. My buddy who gave me the car left me the original shop manual for the car. It was on my desk at work when I got here this morning. There's an old registration and insurance card in there for the car. I was also sent a picture of the car from the late 60s (I'm guessing). I can't believe how nice this car is. 

[RobertKB]

You have an absolute treasure there and are obviously the right person to own the car at this point in its life. PLEASE keep us updated on any and all progress! Looks like you have young kids so you probably have decades with the ‘29!

[52b3b Joe]

Thought I'd give a quick update. I have new ignition parts on the way, I have a carb kit also in the mail. The original carb was replaced at some point with a Tillotson JR5A which was (from what I can tell) an aftermarket replacement for the car. I decided that I didn't want to rush into trying to run it without making some checks first. The wife had the kids out shopping last night, so I headed to the garage. I did a compression check last night, and the readings were higher than I expected. The lowest cylinder was at 62 psi, and my best was 75 psi dry. When I put a little oil in the cylinders, the range was 92-110 psi. Being that the car has sat so long, I didn't have high expectations. I put marvel mystery oil down each hole and am going to let it soak the rings for a while. I think the compression might even out with a little exercise, I'm going to stay optimistic about it. It could be valve adjustment, but that's for another day. I also decided to pull the pan last night when I was done with the compression checks. I dumped the oil into a pan, let it settle, then carefully ran a magnet through it. There was no metal debris or glitter, it looked good. Then I dropped the pan for inspection. The engine is surprisingly clean. I am happy I pulled the pan, there was a decent amount of water/oil goo in the bottom. I'm guessing it is from years of condensation from sitting. I need to clean the pan well and I'll reinstall. I need to put a new oil filter in. I didn't pull the cartridge out yet, but the housing looks to be about the same size as the filter on all the other flathead Mopars we have. Maybe I'll get lucky. After I get that figured out, I think the next step will be installing the ignition parts, going through the carb, then I'll attempt to run it. My goal is to have it running before New Years if I don't find any major issues. From there I need to go through the vacuum tank, and get that rusty gas tank cleaned and put a liner kit in it. I also was able to get all the control cables working freely. The spark control is now working with the lever, the choke is working perfect, the manifold heat valve is now free in the manifold and works with the cable. The only stubborn one right now is the hand throttle which is moving stiff now. With a little more time, penetrating oil, and patience, it'll free up. I ended the night on a positive note by getting horn working. 

[RobertKB]

You’ve done a lot. Sounds like it should run no problem. Getting some heat in the engine will be really good for it. Enjoyed the update, please keep them coming. 

[Hickory]

The oil filter is not a cartridge type. You have to replace the complete unit. They are about $45 and will be shorter than the original. This is if it is still mounted on the firewall.

[Hickory]

[Hickory]

If you zoom in alot and look at the filter here you will see the second bracket i had to remove because the filter was 2" shorter than the old style.

[Hickory]

[52b3b Joe]

4 hours ago, Hickory said:

If you zoom in alot and look at the filter here you will see the second bracket i had to remove because the filter was 2" shorter than the old style.

 

I'm not sure if my filter is correct for the car. If you look at the picture of my engine, it looks different. I'll have to check it out this weekend.

 

On a side note, what is the tank next to the filter? I found the same tank in the back of my car, I didn't look it up in the Instruction Manual for the car yet, but I'm assuming it's a brake fluid reservoir? 

[Hickory]

You are correct. Remote brake fluid reservoir. The oil filter i bought from andy b, but you can also find them on ebay around the same price maybe a couple dollars more.

[Hickory]

The filter you buy is ugly tan and red, i paint mine, in your engine pic it looks like the oil filter is on the firewall in the same location. A little different than mine, it just may be an old one. Same design pressure in the top and drain to the block on bottom.

[Hickory]

Are you a member of National Desoto Club yet. They have a forum website also, but there is alot more activity on the Facebook group.

[52b3b Joe]

Thanks for the info! As far as being a member of the NDC, I am not but I plan to join soon now that I have one. My dad is a member. He's been a member pretty much from the beginning of the club. He was a member of the Buckeye Desoto Club before the national was started. I forget his NDC number, but its very low. Most of my childhood was around Desoto's. Many of our family vacations were attending NDC conventions. 

[52b3b Joe]

A lot was done over the weekend and after work this week. The oil pan is back on, the new points are in, I was able to get the ignition system on the car fully working, my dad went through the carb, and I flushed the radiator and engine block out. I pulled the thermostat off, and tested in on the stove in a pot of water. It works as it should. I have all of the cable controls working perfectly now. I set the timing per the manual. The timing was WAY off. There is no way it would have run. Last night my dad came over, and we set up a gravity fuel system from a gas can, and the car started right up with no hesitation. It runs great! No noises, good oil pressure, and no coolant leaks. Even seems to run cool. I ran it for about 40 minutes. There is tons of oil in the exhaust system. The exhaust pipe to manifold connection has a large leak, and when it fired up, it sprayed oil everywhere. The smoke from the oil burning off is getting better, but it's going to take some time. The clutch feels great, and will get a little better once I use it a little. All gears are present and work. I did move the car back and forward a little and it drove itself back in the garage when I was done. A huge victory for the car. I feel a lot better about continuing down the path on I'm on. I tried attaching a video, not sure if it will work. 

 

On a side note, I pulled the oil filter, and it is similar to my others but a little different in size. I'll need to get a cross on the filter that's in it and get a new one. The filter in it seemed new and I saw no reason to use it for the first run. I also polished some of the chrome. Some of it will clean up great, while others will need plated. 

[sidevalvepete]

Video works fine for. Great to see. Must be a thrill having your Dad there involved too. Looking forward to more posts. A great vehicle...

[52b3b Joe]

I spent a little time on the car the past two weeks. I pulled the fuel tank out to start cleaning it. I power washed the inside out as best I could. It has baffles so it was only effective in the one sections I could get at. I kept filling it and rinsing it getting as much rust and chunks out of it as possible. I then filled it up with vinegar to try and eat the rust out of it. The plan was to fill it to the top, but a hole reveled itself about 3/4 of the way up at a spot weld for a baffle. It should easily be repairable. I don't see how I'm going to get the center clean without cutting a hole in the top of the tank, but we will see. I also pulled the fuel vacuum tank off and took it apart. It had some sort of sealant or soft epoxy on the top around fittings. A little heat softened it up, and it was easily peeled off. As I thought, the pot metal casting was cracked. I figured I wasn't out anything but some time and a couple dollars, so I made a steel ring in my lathe and used some two part epoxy rated for gas and for drilling/tapping. I put the broken pieces back together after applying the epoxy, and pushed the ring over it. I let it set up, and re drilled/tapped the holes. It's kind of a hack repair, but it seems to work. The outer tank and inner tank appeared to be brush painted with what appeared to be brown rustoleum primmer. you can see the inner tank in the background of the 4th picture before I cleaned it. I had to bead blast everything to remove it all. I got everything working as it should with the float and needle/seats, and I reassembled it with the old top gasket (there is no doubt in my mind it is leaking), and put it on the car to see if there was any hope. I poured some fuel in the top to prime the carb, and the car ran about 30 minutes. I drove it up and down the road a little using the handbrake to stop. I believe the vacuum tank was working at some capacity to run as long as it did. I thought it was totally fine until I went to park it in the garage and it ran out of gas. I'm hoping a new gasket will fix it, but we'll see. 

[Sniper]

No guarantees, but an oil filter cross reference for you

 

https://www.oilfilter-crossreference.com/convert/MOPAR/L-61

 

You can lookup up the Wix number and they will usually give you dimensions too,  So you can decide if it's the same or not

 

https://wixfilters.com/Lookup/FilterLookup.aspx

[52b3b Joe]

1 hour ago, Sniper said:

No guarantees, but an oil filter cross reference for you

 

https://www.oilfilter-crossreference.com/convert/MOPAR/L-61

 

You can lookup up the Wix number and they will usually give you dimensions too,  So you can decide if it's the same or not

 

https://wixfilters.com/Lookup/FilterLookup.aspx

 

I used napa's website and it came up with a Napa 1100. It seems right on the dimensions, so I ordered one last week. I still haven't gone to pick it up yet and see.