Projects Sold the truck, bought a car ('53 Desoto)

Your car came out really nice! followed the build from day one, congrats! you got a good hand for what to do with it!

 

Lookin GREAT!

 

Looking great!!! I know that if you want to change gears, you have to be in neutral. so you have to be in neutral and pull the second lever. so you can get in to reverse. since you cant get out out reverse.... i bet you have that second rod not fully releasing back to its place. mess with that rod first. make sure it has full travel...

 

Yup, mackster nailed it. The linkage wasn't fully disengaging. I took the linkage off the car because the adjuster nut was stripped. Before I could get the nut off my father took the linkage, clamped it in the vise, and took some of the bend out of it, then said "here, go put it back on." I can't believe it worked as well as it did.

So now I'm back on the roads... I'll tell ya what though, I'm still not a big fan of this M6 transmission. It just seems like its robbing all the power from the engine.

 

Thanks man. Honestly, I knew what this car was going to look like before I even got it out of the junkyard. I swear, its like I've seen it somewhere before.

 

Finally made time for a cruise night at the beach, so we all loaded into the front seat and drove out. (Man, I can't wait till the back seat gets done at the upholstery) AND I won the 50/50, so I actually made a $9.00 profit after gas and food. Not too shabby.

dscn0155 by Fazekas Industries, on Flickr

dscn0156 by Fazekas Industries, on Flickr

dscn0159 by Fazekas Industries, on Flickr

dscn0160 by Fazekas Industries, on Flickr

I love how the paint goes from an obnoxious blue to almost black in certain lighting.

 

seems that the cruise was the icing on the cake of it all! your car is looking nice from every angle, hope you and your family have tons of fun with it! agree with what you said about the colour.

Carsten

 

yeah, if you're gonna ditch the grille, it would look much better in my '49 Merc. maybe you'd like a Merc grill in your DeSoto? we could swap lower pans too & make it easier on each of us. just a thought...

 

^^^^ this dumbass fng! Laughing my ass off! Trying to come up on a desoto grill! Lol!!!

 

Hey, you guys read the article on the Desoto grill to shoebox swap in the current Rod & Custom? Pretty good read, actually I was pretty impressed with the whole magazine (minus all the adverts, but I understand. It pays the bills)

When I pulled into the cruise yesterday there was an older guy leaving in his '53 Chrysler moredoor. "NICE ROADMASTER!" he yells as we pass. haha

 

Well...........after putting about 500miles on in the past three days my engine is dieing on me. I drove it out to the Gene Winfield class Wed/Thurs, then to the Syracuse Nats today. The whole day it just wasn't havin it.

I've decided that I am not going to fix the motor. The reason is that I really hate the M6 transmission. Also I need new U-joints, which I was going to fix at $95 a piece through Kanter. But seeing that the motor is now giving me fits, I hate the tranny, and I don't wanna spend $200 on 2 u-joints, I intend to do a V8 swap backed by a slush box, and a late model rear end (probably out of a cherokee)

I'm thinking Nailhead, Rocket, or Caddy mill.

 

Luckily your DeSoto was made to fit a V8 (starting with the 1951 model which shared the Chrysler chassis).

So a Chrysler or DeSoto hemi will fit, so will the polysphere motors which are more common. But the best choice might be a later model 318 or 360 with matching trans. The 318 is commonly found in old Fifth Avenue sedans. The 360 was last used in cars around 1978 or 79 but was used in trucks until replaced by the hemi. Starting in 1992 they had roller lifters, this was the Magnum engine.

The fluid drive was sluggish off the line, Chrysler compared it to an airplane, taking off slowly and gaining power as it gained speed. At highway speeds the fluid drive was 97% efficient, off the line there was a lot of slippage.

 

By the way don't junk the motor. A 53 DeSoto has the best version of the flathead, 265 cu in and with full flow oil filtration. Someone can use it, I could use it myself if you were closer.

 

Only the Chrysler used the 265.

His car has the 251.

 

hey hey , nice job, sows ear into a silk purse....

 

Rusty, I get what your saying with the "airplane" analogy. On an open highway WITH NO HILLS this thing has all the power you could ever ask for. City driving is "ok" at best as long as you don't hit much traffic. Hills? Forget it.

 

You are correct, forgot only the Canadian 53 54 DeSoto got the big Chrysler engine. But his is the same including the oil filter, just a 1/4 shorter stroke crankshaft.

 

See dat? He took an old car most people would ignore, breathed new life into it with some custom touches-bam cool cruiser. Good work!

 

Looks sweeet ! Good job!

 

about 8 years ago I found a '61 Cadillac with a 390 (and I am assuming auto trans) not too far from my parents house. The man said that he would go out and turn the engine over once a year to keep it free. He said the summer before I looked at it was stuck. He was only asking $500 for the whole car, he had just paid $500 for the pair of fenders that were on the car and he wanted to get his money back.

I'm going to try and make a drive up there tomorrow and see if he still has the car sitting along side the barn.

Do you think its worth chasing after an engine thats known to be stuck for give or take 10 years?

 

I have revived and put back in commission many cars that were off the road for long periods. One was a 47 Dodge that sat in a damp dirt floor garage for 30 years. The Caddy should be a worth taking a chance on. For $500 you can afford to take a chance. Fill the cylinders with oil and let it soak for a week or 2. Auto trans fluid cut with varsol makes a good penetrating oil.

 

Different oil filter.

Look at the picture in his first post.

 

4 0 9

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the W motor, but if I were going to V8 a '53 DeSoto, I'd be looking for something four cubic inches larger...

 

car is looking real good. I like the direction your going.

 

You are right. That does not look like the right engine. Would like to have the serial # to confirm. If it is the correct engine for a 53 DeSoto the number will start with S18

 

Doesn't it look funny with that optional Mercury grille in it though?

I wish now I'd bought the motor and trans out of that '64 Chrysler that was at the one junkyard last year. Damn thing had nice paint and looked clean enough to eat off from, and factory air at that. Probably a 361 or 383, but I'd bet it was a fresh rebuild.

 

O'Toole, it is a S18 engine. If you really want to get technical its the Canadien version.

RNY, I'm going to get my 409 tomorrow. The last time I was at Vince's Upull they had a boat of an old mopar with a slant six that looked pretty complete.

The 409 is 3.5" longer than the baby hemis, I hope it will shoehorn in there. Its an inch narrower, and an inch taller also. (this is all going from #s on the internet, I have no hard evidence)

 

What a day! Soo happy right now Like I just gave birth or something, heres my new baby

They appear to be aluminum pistons to me, they are not magnetic...


Mallory dual points dizzy



Full gasket set

And the Icing on the cake? Hows about a pair of NOS Offy covers?


I still haven't gone through all the boxes yet, but the only parts that appear to be missing are the carbs and lifters.

 

Now go find a Chevy for that....