Success! Got the motor fired up today and it sounds great other than the carb being pretty iffy. I might try one of those EBay YF knockoff carbs; this one needs rebuilt and the choke needs replaced. But it sounded smooth and had 40psi oil pressure so I’m happy. When I got this the previous guy said the whole car was rewired. Technically it was; it had a new universal street rod harness but it was really a mess with a bunch of wire nuts and THHN house wiring added to it. I decided to redo it; solder and heat shrink the connections and just tidy it up.
Finished up the wiring today; much neater looking. Starting on building a mount for the seat tomorrow.
The seat came from a late model Dodge extended van. The shape and length were right on but it had to be lowered 4” and needed sliders so you can adjust it. So I got some universal sliders from Amazon and built a mount with some angle iron and rectangle tubing . I think it came out really good.
Got my carb switched out today and it really runs great. Swap was super easy; very little modifications.
I just sold my 48 D-24 about a month ago. After looking at your post it makes me want to jump back in and do another old Mopar. Keep up the work.
Cool; I've been doing these old 40s and 50s Mopars one after another for about 15 years. I've had about 10 of them. Don't know why I like them so much but I do.
Got a ton of stuff done the last few days. Finished some wiring bits, got the exhaust put on, got the parking brake working, got the carpet glued down and the seat in, and started cleaning up the front clip pieces to start putting the front end back together. Hopefully I’ll be wrapping it up in May.
I like em too. But in stock form or tired there real slugs. I have not built my 265 yet, but getting real tired of my dog of a 228. Might go 360 yet....
Yeah, they certainly don’t get you anywhere fast. But for me it’s sentimental of why I really love this era of cars. My dad was a young father and war vet in the early 50s. Driving them around stock kind of makes me feel close to him; having the same kind of driving experience he did.
Everything old is new again, with style, creativity, comfort and reliability as a reward! Most impressive!
You're further ahead on your DeSoto than I am on mine, but I do have a driveshaft made, hopefully next week I can fire up the mighty Hemi. Nice project!
I really should have this done in a week or so barring any unforeseen issues. I dropped the parts for the driveshaft off at the driveshaft shop and it will be done Wednesday. The rear leaf springs had some broken leafs so I swapped in a pair I had left over from a 47 Plymouth this morning. About all that’s left after that is bleed the brakes, put on the hood, and install the heater box and a radio. I like the ones that go quick and don’t rape your bank account.
Well, first test drive had an issue; ended up pulling the trans back out and ordering an input shaft bearing. It was howling pretty good. While I’m waiting on a couple of transmission parts I decided to make some sill plates since I didn’t have any. Just used some 1/8” steel plate and some leftover rubber mat. Just cut the plate, drilled a few holes and glued the mat on with some headliner adhesive.
Got the trans back in last night and took it for a test drive today. After some adjustment on the clutch and back brakes it really goes down the road nice. The last thing I had to do was get the wipers going and I did that today. She’s ready for a bath, safety inspection, and lots of cruise time!
I had to go by the boneyard to pick up a part for my brother’s car today and I noticed that the van I got the seat from that I used for the front was still there. I went ahead and got another one to use for the back. I’ll have to build a mount for it but it’s the perfect width and it’ll be nice to have matching seats.
Hi ,I did a conversion on a 5-0 desoto custom from gyromatic the fluid drive to. A 3 speed I used a Plymouth 3 speed box with a r10 borg Warner od .i lucked into a long output shaft trans so could slip out the fluid coupling and put it on the side One thing I found out was the clutch for the fluid drive is a 9” .its designed to be used when still to get into reverse and neutral .theres no park on these guys have to use the shaft brake . The problem is when reinstalling it’s a bit feeble for moving the 2 ton car around ,slipped There’s a 10 and a 11 inch clutch .the 11 is for trucks the 10” is for 3 speed manual cars Locally bolt pattern on 10” clutch will fit on you’re 9” makes quite a difference ! Another issue is the old mechanic trick for the linkage Take the rods off and reverse the top and bottom one ,then shorten one of them a bit and presto it’ll shift with a h pattern at the colomb just fine I put on dual headers ,the desoto block is longer than the Plymouth by a couple of inches Theyre for trucks And hence for fancy desoto vs pedestrian Plymouth so headers or different for two makes This also makes quite a difference I see you eliminated fuel pump this you will need to do with duals as down pipewill go within a inch of where pump “Was” I need a block off plate , can’t find you look like you made yours
The Jalopy Journal
