Alfa

Thank you very much. That lens looks like it might fit although the glass pattern is different. I think mine is unique to UK or at least, foreign markets. I am looking into getting replicas made but if I have no luck I will come back to you. I need the right hand lens as you sit in the car, but both mine look the same. thanks again for responding. Adam..

Hello, I have had a disaster!! I have broken a headlamp glass on my car. Does anyone know where I can find a replacement headlamp glass for my 1934 Desoto Airflow SE? I am based in the UK, so would need it shipped to me. All suggestions gratefully received! Adam..

That is a fabulous car. I hope you have it running as soon as possible, and please give us updates on your exploits with it. My advice would be to get it running and driving as soon as possible and have some fun with. Focus on the mechanical bits and the cosmetics can come later.

Misalignment of the drive shaft universal joints was a good suggestion, but it sounds like you have checked that now. Problems can arise if the sliding joint was pulled right out and then replaced a few splines out from where it should be. That aside, I would be suspicious of wheel/tyre balance and if the tyres are old, of some out-of-roundness. A simple check would be to jack up each wheel in turn and spin the wheel looking for any lumps and bulges or irregularity of any sort. Balancing is probably best done with a balancing machine at a tyre fitting shop, but you could do a pretty reasonable static balance by using a front hub and spinning each wheel in turn (provided the brakes don`t bind at all) and observing if the wheel stops in the same place each time, or in any position. Add weights until it will stop anywhere. Let us know what you find. Adam..

I remember having my engine and gearbox out once. I had a larger crane than yours and we ended up tilting the engine almost vertically to get it past the axle. The gearbox is not too bad to put back in so long as you have everything lined up correctly. You definitely need to remove the hood !! 🙂

I wondered how you got it out on that crane. With difficulty it seems. 😀

Sorry to hear of your engine trouble. I hope you are well on the way to getting it sorted out. If oversize pistons are not available, could you not have that one cylinder bore sleeved back to standard? Also, to answer your earlier question; that is not an overdrive gearbox. The overdrive is a planetary unit in a finned housing on the back of the three speed box, with the handbrake mounted on the rear of that. The overdrive is operated by centrifugal action, there is no electrical supply. However, my 35 Airflow SE has a lockout facility to prevent the freewheeling from working on long descents. That takes the form of a large knob on the dashboard that is connected by a heavy steel cable to the transmission housing. I wonder if that cut-off cable you have seen is in fact the lock-out cable? You appear to have the automatic choke on your carb. Mine has been reduced to a manual cable somewhere in the dim and distant past. The car was acquired by my father in 1969 and has therefore been in our family for more than half its life, but the choke was changed well before that. Did you have difficulty removing the alloy cylinder head? Mine has never been off and I hope it does not need to anytime soon, but I was concerned that it might be difficult to remove. Adam..

I owned a 1960 Buick Electra for about 15 years. It worked really well with the Dynaflow trans. It kept up with modern traffic and could regularly overtake the moderns. The acceleration was very strong with the 401 engine and in 'low' it would leave two black lines on the road. What more do you want? It is not a car for drag racing, or burnouts, if you want to do that go and buy a Nissan drift car. It is a very smooth and characterful road car. Lots of fun. Honestly! Adam..

What a fab car!!!

why not drop the sump (oil pan?) and have a look before removing the engine? how confident are you in the secondhand pistons and rod bearings? I would drop the pan and check the big-end bearings first. Also, if it has an oil pump, can you check for output and oil pressure? Is the relief valve correctly set?

I agree with Joe`s (and the US army`s) view on cotter pins, except that we call them split pins. A cotter pin, in the UK, is a round pin with a flat on one side and a nut on the end, as used to secure kingpins (or are those steering swivel pins???)

you might also try your local hydraulic hose supplier. The sort that make up hoses for diggers and excavators and the like.

Thank You!

Thanks everyone!! The De Soto valve is similar to the Buick one, I think. It is a flap rather like a choke flap in a carburettor, that pivots in the valve body, controlled by a bi-metallic spring. When cold, the spring ensures that the valve is held such that the exhaust stream from the manifold is directed upwards to hit the underside of the cast iron inlet manifold. The gas then does a U turn to head down the exhaust pipe. When warm, and the bi-metallic spring reacts very quickly if you get a blow lamp near it (!), the valve is rotated so that the hot exhaust is deflected downwards to the exhaust pipe directly and shielded away from the base of the inlet manifold. I very much appreciate all the advice here. I think I will try it without the valve, but in the knowledge that I can remove the manifold and drill and install if need be. Adam..

I am fitting a new exhaust manifold to my 1935 Desoto Airflow SE 6. I have a bare casting and am busy drilling and tapping holes and the like. The manifold heat riser valve is secured into the old manifold by welding to the spindle in 3 places. It will be tricky to swap over and may necessitate a new valve. The problem is I need to get the car running very quickly, having agreed to drive some friends to their wedding in September. My question is, how important is the heat riser valve for driving in moderate conditions? Could I get away with leaving it out? even if only temporarily? I have heard of problems when the valve is stuck in one position and heating the base of the inlet manifold, but if there were no valve present, I think this should be less of a problem. Does anyone have any experience of this they can share? Thank you Adam..

I am fitting a new exhaust manifold to my 1935 Desoto Airflow SE 6. I have a bare casting and am busy drilling and tapping holes and the like. The manifold heat riser valve is secured into the old manifold by welding to the spindle in 3 places. It will be tricky to swap over and may necessitate a new valve. The problem is I need to get the car running very quickly, having agreed to drive some friends to their wedding in September. My question is, how important is the heat riser valve for driving in moderate conditions? Could I get away with leaving it out? even if only temporarily? I have heard of problems when the valve is stuck in one position and heating the base of the inlet manifold, but if there were no valve present, I think this should be less of a problem. Does anyone have any experience of this they can share? Thank you Adam..

You certainly can charge whilst the battery is connected (ignition off) and you can definitely connect the positive charger lead to the other end of the main lead where it connects to the starter. The earth lead can connect to any good ground (eg a cylinder head bolt).

I agree with Stude17. Unless you can hear rumbling noises from the crankshaft main bearings, or knocking from a big-end bearing, I would not rush to strip the bottom-end. Try a 15W40 oil, or even a 20W50. It doesn`t cost much to try and those oils will maintain greater viscosity at 100 degrees centigrade than the SAE 30HD will. I would expect oil pressure to reduce with temperature, but is your 5lb reading taken at speed or at idle? If at Idle, I would not be too worried.

edinmass is right. Any truck tyre fitters should be able to do it for you. Take a piece of old carpet or something to avoid scratching the rims. They might not think of that.

Interesting. Thanks very much. I have a 1966 Sunbeam Tiger which has the Ford 289 V8 with a two barrel carb. It is a standard engine. I find that it runs happily on the 'regular' 95 ron octane fuel, but I am thinking that I will try it on some of the premium stuff when it comes out of winter hibernation. (It is currently receiving a new radiator, hoses and water pump, which were well overdue). I don`t expect that a change in fuel alone will make any appreciable difference, but I envisage that I may be able to run a little more ignition advance on the premium fuel without any pinking, but I will see what happens. Adam..

If Alf is in the UK, the premium pump petrol is 97 ron. The regular stuff is 95 ron. There is approx. 5-7% ethanol content depending on source. I always buy the regular petrol. Including when I had a 1960 Buick Electra with the 401 engine and a 4 barrel carb. I suppose the premium petrol might let you run a bit more ignition advance. I tend to put in some lead replacement additive when on a long journey where everything might get hot, but valve seat recession does not seem to be a problem in local driving, especially given the tiny annual mileages involved. I would be very interested in your thoughts Rusty. Adam..

I am fairly certain that this will be a light duty van. It is an 1989 GMC 2500, for which I think the gvw is 6,000lbs. So from what you have said, I assume it would have a catalyst fitted.

A quick follow-up question; This has the gasoline engine; would it need to have a 3 way catalytic converter? They were not mandatory in Europe until 1993

Thank you all for the efforts that you have gone to to help with this. I really do appreciate it. I will follow up on some of the references that you suggested and see where I get to. Thanks again Adam..

Hello Please forgive me raising a work related question, but I work for Transport for London in the UK. I need to assess the emissions performance of a 1989 GMC Vandura with a petrol engine (I believe it is the 305 cu in V8). The vehicle has been converted into a mobile kitchen and food stall and is about to fall foul of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in London. So my question is this; is there a handy (hopefully on-line) resource that will tell me the NOx (oxides of nitrogen) emissions that that vehicle would have had to comply with when it was new? I am hoping to compare the emissions limits and the drive cycle they were derived from against the European standards to see if the vehicle is compliant with the European Standard. It needs to be less that 0.11 grammes/km over the New European Drive Cycle. But what was the standard in US Federal regs in 1989? Thank you for any references or help you can give. Adam..