The engine fired up almost instantly, got a freezeplug with a hole and it leaks water, it would be so easy to repair if the engine was still out! haha. shit happens
Thanks for asking, and for following my thread, it really motivates me to keep on going. Lately I've been busy with university and working at the same time so I couldn't cruise yet, despite I've started the engine a few times just to listen to it, it still overheats a bit, not as much as before anyways. This weekend I'm planning to take it for a test drive, I hope everything comes along smoothly, I'll let you know !
Got some time to work, repaired the driveshaft, hopefully no more shaking haha... Also I got an alternator, it's a delco remy, maybe someone knows were it comes from but I guess it will do the job.
I need help ! I was hoping to test the car in the streets but I'm having an issue with the clutch that I couldn't fix. The thing is that the gears grind and it's like having no clutch, tried turning the stud that goes to the fork, pedal got real heavy and still the same problem, if I put it in gear the car moves even though the clutch pedal is pressed. I took out the under cover that let's you see the clutch plate but I don't really understand how the "legs" (that's how we call it here haha) adjustment works. This are some photos of today
Finally took off the gearbox and the clutch plate, new disc was grinding the plate, I'm going to change the linings on the old one.
Love that model mopar. Keep up the good work The overdrive is a huge plus and those little motors can be good looking
The car is doing really good, Temp is much better even though it raises when idling, which is the perfect temp for these engines? (haven't got over 200°F yet but it was close sometimes) oil pressure is 40 cold and 10 hot which I read it's fine. Still have little brake response, I think I'm going to take the brake pump out, another thing I realized about brakes is that the pedal has some trouble coming back and I'm planning to help that with a spring to the pedal, I don't know if it should already have it or not. I'm sure that if I adjust brakes with the ply33.com instructions it's going to improve.
Hey! everybody, car has brakes now, after several tries adjusting front brakes they are working now, gotta finish rear brakes, just wondering if they have the power to block the wheels or not (cause they don't haha). Thanks.
Been watching this, awesome work and nice car! It’s coming along great! I’m very impressed with your ability to get this done with such little resources out there. I do have the original shop manual and parts /interchange manuals from Chrysler from 1946-1954. If you need any pictures of certain things let me know and I’ll shoot them to you! Cheers from SACRAMENTO California!! Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Fellas, I'm sure you can help me. I'm searching for a donor car, at first I though of getting a convertible desoto (because of stronger chassis and possibly a hemi) but as it is nearly impossible where I live, now I found a desoto 54 diplomat 4 door with a 250 flathead running and driving, they cut the roof out of it but anyways that grille is marvelous. What do you think about an engine swap and turning my plymo into a desoto export? is it feasible or should I look up for a dodge 230?
If you're just needing a new drivetrain, and you would prefer a hemi, I wouldn't bother with that car. Let someone else have a shot at bringing it back from the brink.
ahhaa the grille is great I know, just wanted to know how better could be the 250 and if it would bolt right on the car, anyways the 218 is lots of fun.
Being an 'export' Desoto, based on the same Plymouth body, the grille should be a 'bolt in' change. As for the 250 engine, I am pretty certain that is based on the 25" long engine, whereas your 218 is the 23" long model. Many years ago I swapped a '54 Chrysler 265 engine (25" block) into my '51 Dodge in place of the 230 (23" engine). It required a small notch in the cross member for pan clearance and moving the radiator forward a couple of inches. All the backside parts bolt on so you retain the Plymouth running gear from the bell housing and on back. Even more years ago, I put a '55 Dodge 270 in a '53 Plymouth Convertible. That is a fairly straightforward swap so long as you use '55 thru '56 Plymouth, Dodge or Desoto V8 bell housing. The original 6 cyl trans is direct bolt up. If your have the '55 Dodge/Plymouth upside down 'V' front motor mount, that too can be used in the stock frame by drilling new bolt holes in the front cross member. For '56. Mopar went to side mounts near the front of the block. They can be used if you fabricate frame mounts to accommodate them. The main area of conflict is how close the left head of the hemi is to the steering column and the starter to the steering box. I narrowed the frame rail by half it's width, with reinforcements, and moved the steering box to the left about 2". Tie rods need to be shortened on the left side and lengthened on the right side to keep the steering geometry correct. Further, there is absolutely no room to retain the stock column shift linkage and we designed and made a floor shift conversion. Curiously, a few years later I attempted to replace the 270 Hemi with a '56 315 Poly head and the clearance around the steering column was even worse. Swapping in the bigger 6 cylinder engine is far easier and if you could be so lucky as to find a 265, it would be very competitive with the 270 V8 in anything but all out racing. The 250 is still a significant improvement for the minimum of work involved, if you want more power. Ray
I bought the desoto, that grille is the hole plus haha wanted it so bad I had to buy the entire car. It has a 230 I guess, maybe someone can help, I expected a 25" block but it isn't (it is a 23") the engine number starts with SP25, so possibly I got a chill cruiser for summer plus many many parts my car needs. Scored it for a final prize of 250us dollars and a car radio .
I googled “information on export 1953 DeSoto” and got a link to Allpar, a site devoted to Chrysler products, old and new. The info provided may be of interest to you. The SP designation is specific to export DeSoto models that were based on Plymouth body/chassis. Since Chrysler Corp designated make specific models with letter codes....D for Dodge, P for Plymouth, DeSoto beginning with a D was problematic.....so they used the S from DeSoto for that brand name, and C for Chrysler. When export models were produced, based on Plymouth, the letter designation of the marketing name (DeSoto in this case) was combined with the Plymouth letter designation to create a model designation for the export.....example S from DeSoto was added to P from Plymouth....creating the SP model......as in the case of your newly acquired ‘convertible sedan’ ......well, maybe not ‘convertible’ but certainly an ‘open’ body style I am curious though, about the ‘25’ of the SP25 Engine number. I need to do a bit more research before commenting on that. I do know the numeric portion is not directly related to engine displacement, but to the specifics of the body/chassis series. For example, a lower line 1949 Plymouth built on 111” wheelbase is a P17......the upper line models, built on the 118.5” wheelbase are P18 models. Theoretically, a 1949 Plymouth based export Desoto would be an SP18. However, I do not recall accurately from memory what series/year used ‘25’. Ray
Ray, Actually this desoto is a 54, and 54 plymos are the p25's, mine is a 53 so the engine says p24, I guess that's why it is a SP25, anyways the displacement was uncertain to me till this morning, I guessed it should be a 230 as plymos that year had that one. Doing research I found out in p15d24 forum that plymo in 1954 switched from 218 to 230 and the only way to tell is a diamond before the numbers which this desoto has. So it is S (diamond) P25 (star) and the rest of the numbers.
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