hchris

Sadly because of the side valve configuration on these engines you wont be able to see or lubricate the valves via the plug hole; but the good news is you can remove the side plate from the engine to access the valves. Unfortunately access is restricted by the exhaust manifold, but you may find by removing the front wheel on that side, you can gain better access through removable panels on the inner guard.

You can expect a large bunch of us Aussies

:confused: Something seriously wrong with that sort of consumption figure, tell us a bit more on the sort of engine work carried out. Your compression figure doesn't necessarily correlate with oil consumption as you are obviously relying on different rings to perform different functions.

Pull the spark plugs, look for the nice shiny clean plug, that will be the cylinder which has the coolant leak, probably through the gasket or corroded head coolant port. You might even find it with a compression test.

Stooy you are a gem, many thanks Chris

Thanks Stewart - not my car but the owner chooses to keep it original hence the DX3, good point about the vac accelerator I will look for the drain; we are talking of the double blue tourer in Adelaide. Cheers Chris

Thanks Marty and Commodore

No success in the Desoto forum so let me try here. Looking for any specs / illustrations for this carb, currently fitted to 1930 Desoto CF8; I am about to strip and rebuild so any details or web information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Chris

Does anyone have any info / illustrations for this carb as fitted to the 1930 CF8 ? I am looking to strip and rebuild the carb so any information sources or details would be much appreciated. Thanks Chris

Meant to add also, I would remove the side plate just to see if there are any issues with the valve train.

That looks very much like a piece of tappet / cam follower, the part that rides on the cam lobe; its location would allow it to fall straight into the sump if it broke. I would imagine that you could expect further damage to a cam lobe and possibly a pushrod, if you already have the sump off you should be able to see the damage as you look up to the camshaft from underneath. The fact that you also have debris at the oil pump screen would indicate that the whole of the oil system is contaminated, in other words there is a very good chance that the crank bearings etc. could be damaged by the debris, at the very least I would recommend an engine strip down and lube system flush out.

One of the desirable qualities of Avgas is its resistance to fuel boiling (vapour lock). With an increase in altitude, as atmospheric pressure drops, one of the undesirable properties of gasoline is its tendency to form vapour locks; not exactly what you need for an aircraft engine. The sringent requirements of Avgas 100LL include its resistance to vapour lock, for an automotive engine this is not a bad thing particularly when you are at the traffic lights on a hot summers day. As others have noted there are pros and cons for its general use in automobiles; my personal experiences having used it in my 1925 Maxwell were all good, these included the ease of starting, increased ability to climb modest hills and generally smoother running. I should add that on the occassions it was used I didnt have to pay for it. One of the things not mentioned so far is its ability to rapidly destroy catalytic converters, so if if you have a later model vehicle so equipped do not in any event use Avgas.

Just curious, why is aviation fuel the worst you can put in your car ?

Here in Adelaide this company can refurbish your components, they may also have old stock stuff https://www.powerbrakes.com.au/

Noooo way would I be flashing my passport details !!!!!

Have a look at the 1927 / 1928 Chrysler 50 and 52 series, as well as the 1928 Plymouth Q, these have what is essentially the same engine and I suspect the same distributor (not 100% positive on this); at least it may give you some other options.

Agree with all of the above but most importantly dont expect it to come off on day 1, you will need to keep tightening the tension and banging with a hammer, leave it and come back for a day or two more, repeating until it lets go.

These days its more likely a good machine shop will find pistons to suit and bore and sleeve back to standard, less mucking about all round

When I look at the brake drum I noticed that the hole in the brake drum is actually larger than the wheel stud, so if you removed the hub/drum rivets the brake drum would be able to move rotationally on the hub as you applied braking; I dont think this would do much good to the threaded studs in the long run, hence the need for the rivets in the first place.

Dont fret - took me 4 days of applied tension, heat, big hammer etc. Each day after work I would go into the shed, whack the puller end shaft with a big a**** hammer, apply another half turn until suddenly one day it went bangggggg and came loose; absolutley ensure you leave the nut on the axle. As to chiselling off the brake drum rivets, what happens when you go to refit and secure the drum ??

Thankyou Glen you are indeed correct regarding the procedure for the 1931 77 Series with dual points. Unfortunately our original poster does not specify which Chrysler 6 he has; as well as the 77 there are the carry over 66 and 70 Series, CJ and new CM models, all with 6 cylinder engines equipped with single contact distributors, so perhaps we need to establish which model is relevant to this discussion before going any further. As to timing marks just when did they appear on the pulley and timing gear cover ? I know they are there from 1933 onwards - anybody ??

At the front of the engine, on the lower (crankshaft) pulley there are graduation marks and a TDC mark (often difficult to see if there is an accumulation of crud on the pulley) inscribed into its outer circumference, a half inch or so above it is a pointer which is located on the timing gear cover. The idea is to turn the engine over on the compression stroke until the lower pulley TDC mark and the pointer are aligned, this is the stage at which #1 piston and the distributor are positioned to fire; I would add that this is an ideal position, generally it is only a starting point to get the engine running and then depending on a whole heap of variables - engine age, fuel grade etc. road testing will determine if you need to make further adjustments. ps - noting that your car is 1931 it may be that the timing marks are on the flywheel rather than the front pulley, these marks are visible by removing a small viewing cover on the front face of the flywheel housing just above the starter motor; again it is a matter of turning the engine over until a TDC mark aligns with a pointer under the viewing cover.

Correct, no. 1 at TDC compression; remove no. 1 plug, stick your finger over the plug hole, feel the pressure buildup as you manually turn the engine over and watch the - a. timing pointer as it comes towards TDC, or - b. the distributor rotor moving towards no. 1 plug lead on the distributor cap.

If you have only drained the radiator I presume you havent taken into account the coolant still in the block; the quoted total coolant capacity would include that plus the radiator contents. FWIW my 1934 Chrysler service manual quotes the total coolant capacity as 16 qts.

I agree, it looks good enough to use as is, there are no rules that say you have to refurbish a car of this quality back to original showroom condition, a good cleanup and maintaining the existing patina is a very acceptable way to preserve the car. As others have said, do the esentials - brakes, glass etc. get the engine running and take it from there; if you are really keen to restore, make it a work in progress as your budget allows whilst still getting use out of it as you go. PS - yes you should be able to hand turn the engine over, did I see a crank handle with the trunk tools, if not they are easily found and this is a great way to prevent damage should there be an issue with a frozen engine. PPS - yes looks like overdrive is fitted, I suspect that knob just below the instrument panel by the gearstick is the operating cable, also the the bracket / linkage and return spring at the rear of the engine manifold look to be part of the control mechanism.