Phil 32DL6

We all know how accurate those old sales brochures are...NOT! But in light of this discussion on whether the silver dash really had gold gauge faces originally or not, I thought this was especially ironic.

Just a fitting at the rear. The front two oil holes are open. (See attached diagram from manual.) BTW, '31s have only one oil hole.

There are 3 places to lubricate this pump. The two holes in the main casting each take a drop or two of plain motor oil from time to time. I do it every couple of months, or so. I actually also add a drop of oil where the shaft disappears into the casting in several places. That's more oiling than they ask for, but I figure it can't hurt. Then there's that fitting towards the back of the casting. That takes grease...water pump grease is best and still obtainable from several sources. Me? I've still got 3/4 of a can of water pump grease I bought at a Western Auto back in the 70s! Don't squirt in too much grease or it may end up in the cooling system.

Well, you certainly suffered no loss of face in showing off your bravery, John. If I may pry, what was your weapon of choice? A screw driver?

For what it's worth here's the back of a head for the late '31 to '34 ram. I don't know if they changed the design for the '36, but this one has pegs...not V-shaped connectors.

Yep...here's the inside of a '32 bucket. Drilling two new holes may be the easiest job you'll have to do with this restoration!

Jim...New window channeling is the long term fix. In the meantime, you might do what I did to protect the glass from cracking: cut up some small pieces of foam rubber and jam them down on both sides of the glass. Leave enough sticking up that you can grab them if need be. Unsightly, but protected the glass until I replaced all of the channeling. If you can get replacement rubber bumpers they will also help, but I haven't found any made for my car yet and I don't have any rattling without them.

Be glad to take a peek at your snaky horn wire. Hey...maybe you've got a budding repro business there!

Dick Taylor will be rewiring his early '32DL. Maybe he'll find something similar.

Oh, but that's the beauty of the Internet...it took NO time at all!Both Dick and I are classic film buffs (he MUCH more so than I), so all I had to do was dial up YouTube, type in "we don't need no stinking badges" and there were 3 or 4 posted clips to choose from.

In case some of you missed the reference:

This is from your DL manual, page 65: "The front end of the front spring on the steering drag link side is connected to the frame by means of a shock eliminator. This device eliminates the transmitting of road shocks through the springs to the steering gear. The front spring hanger and shock eliminator bolts must be adjusted so as not to cause binding on the sides of the springs or shock eliminator. They should be drawn tight and backed off one-half turn, then locked by the nuts on the ends of the bolts." There's a lot more about the other spring shackle bolts and how to adjust them.

That's correct...but I'm going to have to look up the official description. It's an attempt to eliminate vibration through the steering system, and was a touted feature.

Oh, I don't know...seems to me that having TWO spares could be highly-practical at times. Take that recent video that shows DBs bouncin' about those rutty roads, for example. Plus, maybe the trunk rack was deemed a plus. And, we don't know for sure whether your DB came with the vacuum-assisted clutch, or not. Those seem to have proved troublesome and many may have been removed with no clue. Yours DOES have the port on the intake manifold where the vacuum-assisted clutch got its suck. I've wondered it ALL '32s had that ported manifold, or not? The '32 is very easy to shift manually...even easier with the standard Free-Wheeling. The vacuum-assisted clutch, I believe, was just pandering to the crowd. Ad fodder.

It probably has a "Gyromatic" in it. That's a setup that has a clutch pedal, but also has a fluid coupling. I learned to drive on a 1951 DeSoto station wagon with a similar "Tip-Toe Hydraulic Shift". This is from Wikipedia: "Fluid Drive could also be mated to the semi-automatic transmission, which was not automatic in any way and should not be confused with Fluid Drive. With the semi-automatic transmissions, the driver shifted manually, selecting reverse or a low range and a high range. Each 'range' had two speeds. To shift between them, the driver accelerated then released pressure on the accelerator. In high range, this shift point was about 23 mph (37 kmh). The transmission shifted into high speed range, the driver then depressed the accelerator pedal, and continued accelerating. The solenoids on the transmission connected to the carburetor and ignition system and momentarily interrupted engine operation to allow trouble-free shifting. The driver could down-shift for passing by fully depressing the accelerator. The clutch was needed to change between low and high range. The fluid drive system allowed the driver to stop at a light or in traffic and remain in gear without depressing the clutch. The driver could, if not concerned with fast acceleration, drive the car all day long in high range, stopping and starting, without ever having to touch the clutch pedal or gearshift lever unless faster acceleration or reversing was required. For this reason, DeSotos and Dodges were favored by city cab companies from the mid Forties to early Fifties. The semi-automatic came under a variety of names - Vacamatic, Prestomatic, Fluidmatic (Chrysler), Simplimatic, Tip-Toe Hydraulic Shift (DeSoto) and Gyromatic (Dodge)."

Well, they did charge an extra $10 for the optional vacuum-assisted clutch.What was that...about a week's pay back then?

I've been wondering whether you'll find a matching seat and door lacing. Do they have that in brown, too?

Your decision to add signal lights may depend on where you live. I live in a congested area where signaling turns is really needed for safety. I tried using hand signals for several years, but most people these days don't recognize what you're doing. (Several people thought I was flipping them the bird when signalling right!) I also find the flashers handy for short highway stretches when I'm going 50mph while others are going 65+.Here's my solution. I chose these lights (which are actually sold for Harleys) because they go well with a DL6's headlights and cowl lamps. Then I swapped out the 32W 12V bulbs with 15W 6V bulbs. I already had two of the bumper brackets, and was able to find two more. Just the right size and styling. The switch on the column is the higher-quality choice from Restoration Supply. I like it because of its "period" look. It's very solid. The 12V indicator bulb needed a 6V swap. It took several days to do the wiring properly, including good grounding for each light's circuit, and finding good channels to hide the 16 gauge wires. I'm very pleased with the results...and I sleep a lot better knowing I'm a safer driver!

Got the window out today! There definitely IS an order to this process. I'll go through what I did although there will be nuances for each year, I suspect. 1. Roll the window up and down as needed to... 2. Remove the window channels. What that takes is dependent on how the channels are affixed. One of the channels on mine had been replaced at some point and was of the more modern/universal type with a flexible backing of what look like large metal staples. It was loosely inserted in a metal sleeve at the bottom and screwed into the door frame at the top. The other was original with a felt covered, shaped rubber channel (no metal backing) and attached with metal fasteners top and bottom. You won't find those ANYWHERE, which is why I hesitate to remove anything from my all-original DB. I'll bag up and save everything for future reference. (See photos 2-5 for details.) 3. Remove the inner window guide roller assembly (or at least remove one screw, then loosen the other to swing the bracket out of the way, see photo 6). Somebody had replaced one of the screws with an allen bolt. This roller guide may be missing on some years. 4. Roll window up. Remove window handle. 5. Unbolt the window regulator assembly. 6. Pull the window pane up and in while... 7. Push the regulator shaft towards the front, while... 8. Push the window pane towards the back, until... 9. The two posts on the upper regulator bar align with the two slots in the metal channel holding the bottom of the window glass. (See photos 8-9) 10. Wiggle free. 11. Lift the glass up, inwards and out. NOTE: You do NOT need to loosen or remove any part of the door lock assembly. Next up is to clean and lube everything. I'm debating whether to use a thicker lube like water pump grease, or a lighter white grease. Opinions? I'm not replacing the glass for three of the doors...just the broken passenger side door. I'm using universal type channels from Steele Rubber. Hopefully, reassembly will go more smoothly! Once I finish one, I'll tackle the other three.

Thanks, John!Hopefully, not TOO many things I did when I was 16 will start coming back to me!

I spent a couple of hours of "fun" today without results. It looks like there's a slot for the roller guides to slip through, but I can't get things to align right. Wish I knew the "trick."It looks like one COULD unhitch the clips on the window channeling and replace them without removing the glass, but it also seems like removing the window channels might give some more wiggle room to tilt the glass more vertical?

I guess that means carefully chipping away the old dried rubber that seals the glass in its channel? What do you use to reseal the glass?

I'm replacing the window channeling on my '32 DL Sedan. While I have the door panels off, I thought it would be a good opportunity to clean and lubricate all of the window and door latch hardware. Both the window regulator and latch mechanisms unbolt easily, but they don't easily slip out. Is there a correct order of removal, or a trick to getting them out...without removing the whole glass assembly? Or is the "grease on a stick" method the best way...to lube everything in place? Dick Taylor, who's about to go through the same procedure with his '32 needs to know, too.

Stop it...you're hurting my eyes! :cool: (Not to mention my artistic sensitivity.)

Make sure to check that the gas cap is venting properly.