The local Hemi guru said they seem to like 9:5 to 10:1 on compression if you ever rebuild yours. I bought a '56 330 FIREFLYTE (4 bbl) from him. Just waiting.
Few more progress pics. Radiator support ready for primer. Mocking up the new 8.75 rear. Those lowering blocks worked fine until I got the right size tires. Then they had to be pulled out. Couldn't clear the fenderwell.
It seems to lose its Desoto look, taking on the look of a '53-'54 Chevy, maybe ? I don't dislike it, just saying. Maybe an early '50s Cad ? Whatever, it will be cool.
Some more old/update pics to get this thread up to the cars current build state. These are five years back or so. Speedo cleaned and ready to go back in. My little son at the time helping me clean up on the new rear. He's going to be 18 this year, wow does time fly. Gauge cluster primed and wet sanded ready for the color coat of Kandy Tangerine a House of Kolors blend.
I am to @drdave its been a long time coming. Too long actually but I have the support of my kids and my wife, they all love the car, not to mention all my friends. Anytime I've mentioned selling it they smack me around.
A few more updated pics from years gone by. Ground off the rivets from the drums to have the bare hub. I'll use this for the disc brake upgrade. I would have rebuild the original drums if they weren't such an odd design with two wheel cyl per wheel. One pushing each way. Made for not so great or consistent braking. Here is the after with the discs installed with brackets etc. Brackets came from Roger at AAJ Brakes very good guy to deal with. Many phone calls but it came together perfectly. He supplied me with a parts list for the local store. The discs are 3/4 Chevy 12" which should stop this thing well. The M/C is manul and mounted under the car. That was much more of a project. I wanted to retain the original pedals through the floor but run an updated master cyl. That required a new housing etc. to make it all work. The original setup pivots the pedals on a bushing on the master cyl. With the new corvette MC, that wasnt there so that was incorporated into the new housing that supported the MC and mounted to the car. I don't have a good pic of that but I should take one. Roger build that all out, his first for this type of DeSoto and it worked perfect. What was a surprise was the bearings were roller so I was able to use the original hubs without any type of conversion. Welding on the brackets to the updated rear. Stripping off the old undercoat on the trunk to get ready for paint. This photo was from a few years back as they all are. If you look in the upper right hand corner you can see a 671 Super Charger. That is now powering the FlatCad LSR motor. A small but interesting note. I miss this barn. 3200sf to work on cars. I built my own paint booth etc. Time to build a new shop I think.
From a little over 6 years ago now, wow does time fly. Mr Matt Miller and Mr Cole Unger came by to help me install the front spring. 3" lowered springs from Jamco Suspension. Coles wife along with mine and myself adding some weight to the front end to compress the springs. Good times with good friends. Its takes friends to build cars no doubt about that.
Try chaining the jack to the frame. A loop of chain around the frame and around the front axle of the jack works too. Just my 2€ worth Frank
Sirs, A great car, interesting thread and impressive build process... will follow. However, if you don't mind, I need to say, please do not spoil the looks with the dull looking "carson top" rear window! Open your eyes and compare the above photos; How boring and cheap the downmost profile looks compared to the three piece wrap around design. In my humble opinion the original roofline looks just fine as it is. However, if you insist on lower look the top looks fabulous chopped with the wraparound window:
@tinsled I'm tracking right with you. I've been going back and forth on the chop for years actually. My wife says don't chop it, it looks great as is, and I am leaning that way myself. Plus it will get it on the road quicker. After 14 or so years, I'm ready for this project to be on the road and driving.
If you want/need one of those 4x2 log set-ups. LMK. I do have one. Intakes, carbs and linkage. It looks very period correct. I bought it for my 53 Hemi DeSoto. A 2 barrel on each corner of the motor with the "H" linkage is a great look.. Sold the car before I used it.
Not gotten much done lately, been focused on the new magazine release, the Canned Monster and the Monster Hauler. That will all change soon though, some very exciting news coming up.
Any chance you could go into more detail about what made up the front brake conversion? Are these parts (rotors bearings etc) i can grab at napa and weld up some brackets? I assume my 54 chrysler is the same. Would love to have disk up front. Thank you kindly!
@welderup! Absolutely. Shoot me a PM and I can give you my phone # for greater details. But, the nickel tour version goes like this. Parts list and brackets came from http://www.aajbrakes.com/ Hubs are the original I just cut off the rivets that held on the drums, so I could retain the original roller bearings etc. Brackets for the calipers came from Roget at AAJ. Great guy and full of info. Rotors, calipers and rubber break lines are all 3/4 ton chevy truck and purchased at your local auto parts store. That part of the build was the easy part. The hard part was the brake booster as I wanted to retain the original pedals that go through the floor. The pedals mount off the original master cylinder. So a new bracket assembly was required to keep the pedals in the original location and keep the MC under the floor. If you are going with a different design it would be much easier, faster and cheaper to do it.
Now we're talking ! I wish I could get someone to photoshop my 52 buick similar to that Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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