Rusty_OToole

Wonder if they could make a gear from bronze? Pierce Arrow and others used a bronze driven gear and a steel drive gear to assure silence. Rolls Royce quieted theirs with rawhide.

Muffler cement might do the trick. It will seal and hold if you let it dry good before you fire up the motor.

It does sound like a failing head gasket. Here is a simple test. Take out the spark plugs and examine them. If any plug is perfectly clean it indicates a coolant leak into that cylinder. What does your heat gauge say ? It is possible to pressure test your cooling system with a pump that goes in place of the rad cap. Any garage should be able to do this. Your car does not have a coolant overflow container. So, you need to leave room for expansion at the top of the rad and not fill it completely full. As long as the top of the rad core is covered when cold you are OK. These are the first things that come to mind. I would check the spark plugs before I did anything else.

The 2 year change interval for antifreeze dates back to the sixties. Today's antifreeze lasts much longer. I first noticed in the nineties, working on 10 and 15 year old cars, that the water pumps and coolant passages looked pristine inside even though the cars were worn, had high miles, and obviously had not had their antifreeze changed. How long the antifreeze will last I don't know, but in everyday service it seems to last 10 or 20 years or longer. By the way they don't use the same ethylene glycol formula anymore. I forget what they changed to but it won't poison small animals.

Re the similarity between the VW beetle and the Briggs prototype. Ferdinand Porsche visited Detroit in 1935 and again in 1937 to study the latest auto design and mass production developments. In 1937 he visited Ford and Packard and was shown around. After that trip the VW was completely redesigned to the shape we are familiar with today, and which resembles the Briggs prototype so strongly. They even copied the "wide 5" bolt pattern used on 37 Ford wheels. The Briggs prototype also inspired the Lincoln Zephyr. If you look close at the front of the first Zephyr you can see how they modified the sloping front for a conventional front engine hood and grille.

There is a size difference.The DeSoto is like a 7/8 scale model of the Chrysler. Transmissions are the same. 51 to 53 Chrysler 331 hemi engines are alike and interchangeable. Or you could repower it with a newer engine. But we have been over all this before.

Chrysler and DeSoto engines are completely different. The transmission is the same. At that time they had a choice of Fluid Drive (standard) or Fluid Torque Drive (optional). Either will fit. I would be strongly tempted to install a later engine and trans such as a 360 or 400 V8 and Torqueflite, especially if the alternative was to butcher an otherwise restorable DeSoto. Chrysler used basically the same 331 Hemi and Fluid Drive trans from 1951 to 1953 but good luck finding one. Parts cars turn up from time to time, and both the engine and trans are extremely rugged and long lived so if you do find one there is a good chance they are usable as is or at least rebuildable.

Vehicles after about 1968 have a sealed master cylinder. The kind with the bellows like rubber thing under the cap. They will keep their fluid fresh longer. Other than that I don't know any difference in the brakes. Cars without oil filters require more frequent oil changes than those with filters.

"What do you think this is, an auto camp?" Cary Grant and Constance Benett tangle with a fresh cop in Topper (1937). YouTube - Topper (1937) YOU CAN'T SLEEP HERE

Here is some good info to start with How The Fluid Drive Transmission Works http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/L...012A/index.htm How To Diagnose The Fluid Drive Transmission http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/L...012B/index.htm Troubleshooting The Hydraulically Operated Transmission http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/L.../024/index.htm

There is an organization called Tin Can Tourists that dates back to 1919. It was revived a few years ago and has a lot of members who are into old time trailers, campers and the history of camping. They may be able to help you. Tin Can Tourists

Just to clarify c49er's statements- there are 2 versions of the same transmission used on 53 Chryslers. One is called Fluid Torque Drive and the other is plain Fluid Drive. The difference is, the first has a torque converter and the other is a fluid coupling. The gearshift quadrant on the steering column should be plainly labeled as to which it is. His directions are for filling the Fluid Drive version. The Fluid Torque Drive must be treated a little differently. I would only add one thing, before removing the fill plug from the fluid coupling, stuff a rag around the hole so you can't accidentally drop the plug inside the housing. By pouring oil in the way he did, the owner did no harm. The oil simply ran over the outside of the fluid coupling and dripped out the bottom of the housing. It will not hurt anything. The first thing you should do, is do a search and read all the old threads on Fluid Drive. There is a mound of info in there. DO NOT take out the transmission. Don't do anything at all untill you read the threads. The transmission is extremely reliable and rugged and almost never needs repairs. 9 times out of 10 any problem can be fixed by adding oil, or attending to the control mechanism.

Too bad it was just getting interesting. I don't see the problem with building a speedster or racer out of a rough condition parts car, or bodyless chassis as long as the owner does not try to deceive a buyer about its provenance.

If it is that good it would be foolish to restore it. Better to preserve it and keep up the maintenance.

Fibreglass works if the metal is not rotted away too far. There must be enough left to support the windshield and trim. If the rusty metal was treated with POR15 inside and out it should make a permanent repair. But if you want a real 100 point restoration, hammer out some new metal and weld it in.

GM windshields (and back windows) all rust out the same way. Your chance of finding one that is not rusted out is small. I've fixed lots of them. The cheap way is with fibreglass, but to do a good job you have to cut out the bad metal, make a patch panel and weld it in. This is routine for a good bodyman. There may even be an aftermarket patch panel for this, they could sure sell a lot of them.

You are asking me to remember details of what happened 30 years ago or more. I believe the speedo was on the bike, as we had some discussion of the bike's speed potential at the time. What it had for a license plate I do not recall except that it was not the one that is on there now. If it had a plate it was the original Ontario plate that was on it when it was put away at the start of WW1. I haven't spoken to Dave in years but I believe he still lives in the Peterborough area, possibly in Lakefield. A web search should turn up his address and phone number. If you talk to him tell him Grant says hi, and still has the Triumph he used to ride up to Peterborough in the old days.

I believe Chrysler Corp still has their old records and will supply same for a fee. If you can supply the serial number of your car they can look up the records.

Sambarn you are in context and not far wrong. The Little Red Express had wood trim on the box but not racks. It was the closely related Warlock truck that came with racks. So, I was wrong there was one truck that came stock with wooden racks. The Warlock http://blog.cardomain.com/2009/02/09/cardomain-obscure-muscle-car-parking-lot-the-dodge-warlock-and-lil-red-express/

They are called racks and date back to the horse drawn wagons. No doubt the ancient Romans put racks on their donkey carts. So far as I know they were all made by the owner or the local carpenter. I don't think they were a factory option. Could range from very fancy, carved varnished and lettered or pinstriped, to crude temporary jobs nailed together from old lumber.

If it was me I would try using modern dry cells. They should last a lot longer than the old ones of 100 years ago. The ignition was designed to use the minimum of electricity, the points stay closed only a short time. The original dry cells would last for many hours and today's should last longer. How much do you intend to drive it? Dry cells should be plenty good enough for demonstrating, testing and driving in the occasional parade. Years ago an old time mechanic told me of driving his Indian motorcycle home, after the generator failed and the battery went dead, by buying a 6 volt dry cell at a hardware store and wiring it to his points. He called it a telephone battery but it was the square kind you use in a big flashlight. If you really want to be sneaky use a power tool battery. An 18 volt power tool battery and a 12 volt coil should give you a good long lasting igniition and you can charge up the battery instead of replacing it.

That used to belong to my friend David Choate from Peterborough. I saw him ride around on it, at old bike events, years ago. At that time it still had the original tires that were installed at the Harley plant all those years ago. They were worn, cut up and dried out but they still held air. The original owner was a young man who went overseas in WW1 and never came back. His parents kept the bike in their basement right where he left it for more than 50 years. I don't know how Dave came to learn about it but he did, and went and bought it. 30 years ago a Harley dealer offered Dave a brand new ElectraGlide and sidecar for it. He just laughed. "If I want one of those, all it takes is money" he said.

1934 . It was available on Plymouth Chrysler and Dodge first. DeSoto and Chrysler Airflow models had special tuned leaf spring suspension with solid axles while the cheaper Chrysler Airstream models had IFS. DeSoto was only available as an Airstream model in 1934 so that made it the only Chrysler make not to offer IFS in 1934. They got an ifs Airstream model in 1935. On the other hand, some Plymouth and Dodge models used solid axles until 1938. From 1939 on, all car models had IFS while pickup trucks kept the solid axle until 1971.

The engine needs to idle down for the trans to shift. Those engines idle very slow and a lot of people set them too fast. If it won't shift into reverse it is probable the clutch is dragging. This is not easy to fix, the clutch may have to come out. Or, it may just be stuck.

Not only was there a Mustang car and a Mustang motorcycle there was a Mustang truck made by White or at least a Mustang motor. All before Ford jumped on the bandwagon.