Rusty_OToole
-
Posts
13,988 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
7
Content Type
Forums
Gallery
Events
Posts posted by Rusty_OToole
-
-
This is often the case with cars that have been out of commission for years. Usually a few hundred miles of running with fresh oil in the crankcase plus a can of Rislone or Bardahl will fix them up. If the engine runs well, has good oil pressure I would try this first.
The one thing that bothers me is the low compression in 2 adjoining cylinders. This can indicate a blown head gasket. Is there any other sign of a blown head gasket such as bubbles in the rad when the engine is running, or water in the oil? If so you will have to take the head off to replace the gasket.
If you follow the shop manual you should be OK.
-
First of all yes Chrysler products used hardened valve seats and good valves unlike certain cheap products of other makers.
Second the heavily leaded hi test gas did not become available until 1954 or 55. Until then all regular gas was low lead or no lead by today's standards. In fact there were several good brands of gas that used no lead additives and bragged about it.
3d the cars that suffered the most when unleaded gas was introduced were the models that had the carburetors leaned out for emissions and mileage reasons.
4th the valve burning and valve seat recession does not start until a critical degree of heat is reached. If your engine is in good shape (and your coolant distribution tube) and you don't drive like a madman your engine will never get that hot.
So, it should be no problem at all. You should also bear in mind that your engine was made to run on gas of around 70 octane, maybe less. The cheapest gas you can get these days is equivalent to the hi test of 1950.
-
Anybody? I know there must be one someplace with my name on it LOL.
-
The fan blades are probably choked with dust too. Clean them out polish them and give the fan a thin coat of glossy paint. You will be amazed what a difference this makes. It doesn't seem it should make much difference but it does.
Be careful to get ALL the dirt off, if you miss a gob it will throw the fan off balance.
-
Chrysler Windsor 1952, 1953 and 1954. Also certain models of Dodge Power Wagon 4 wheel drive trucks made for military use up to 1962. They made them for marine and industrial power plants as well.
-
Your shifting problem may be related to the carb control wire. All I can suggest is to get a repair manual and figure out where the wire is supposed to go. Your car is supposed to have a Carter carburetor, model BB, number E9A1, E9C or E9C1. If the carb has been replaced at some time that might explain the missing wiring.
There should be a kick down switch at the rear of the carb. This has a straight wire connector that plugs into a brass tube. The brass tube has a slot where a little wire retainer clip goes in to hold the wire. If the clip falls off there will be nothing to stop the wire falling out. Look for a little brass tube about 1/8" dia with a slot in it, at the back of the carb, pointing toward the left.
There should also be a switch at the front top of the carb with 2 wires that push into 2 brass tubes or loops.
-
The fluid drive transmission is extremely rugged and reliable. The main thing that goes wrong is the wiring and controls to the transmission. The insulation on the wire deteriorates and crumbles after many years and occasionally the controls go wrong.
If it was mine I would make sure the engine is running correctly, the wiring is in good shape, the fluid drive and transmission are full of oil, and I would try it out. 9 times out of 10 it will work perfectly.
Recently there were a couple of threads in the Chrysler or DeSoto boards where I covered the correct opertaion and technique of driving one of these babies. They are very simple and easy to drive but do require a little different technique for smooth operation.
-
You shouldn't have to do anything to it. It is one of the simplest most trouble free units ever put in a car.
It only has one moving part and one seal. It is hermetically sealed and runs in an oil bath. There is almost no chance of it going wrong.
You should check the oil every 10,000 miles according to the owner's manual.
You do this thru a hole in the passenger side floor boards, about half way up the driveshaft tunnel. There will be a plate more or less under the dash board. Take off this plate and you will see a hole in the bellhousing with a round cover. Pry out the cover and turn the engine over with the starter till you see the fill/drain plug. Stuff a rag around the hole so you can't drop the plug into the bellhousing, and unscrew the plug. Top up the oil supply if necessary. You can use a tractor hydraulic oil called ISO 32 type. You can get it at auto supply and farm supply stores for less than $10 bucks a gallon.
If you want to really go "uptown" you can drain and refill the fluid coupling. There is a place in the bottom of the bellhousing to take out the plug and drain the oil, then you turn over the engine till the hole is in the fill position and fill it up.
There should be a second cover plate farther back, just in front of the seat. It is for inspecting and servicing the relays and wiring on the transmission, and refilling the transmission oil. The transmission takes #10 motor oil.
While we are looking under the carpet there is a 3d cover plate on the driver's side, this one is for access to the master cylinder brake fluid reservoir.
About the only thing that can go wrong with the fluid coupling is for the seal to wear out or fail and if this happens you can put a new seal in quite easily, after you remove the fluid drive unit from the car.
-
Addendum to above. The Gyromatic was the same as Fluid Drive and had separate oil supplies to engine, trans and fluid coupling. The one with the combined oil supply was called Gyrotorque Drive.
This info comes from the factory recommendations, and contemporary service manuals.
-
If your Gyromatic is the same as fluid drive it has separate oil supplies for fluid coupling, transmission and engine.
For the fluid coupling you can use a tractor hydraulic fluid I believe is called "ISO 32". This can be bought quite reasonably at auto supply stores. Originally Chrysler made their own Fluid Drive fluid, this has not been made in years.
The transmission is supposed to use #10 motor oil.
For the engine use 10W30. Detergent oils were available from 1947 on, and your car has probably used it at least from the 60s if not its whole life. Originally they recommended 10W in the winter and 30 in summer so use 10W30 and be covered.
Incidentally in 1951 Chrysler recommended an oil change and grease job every 1000 miles. Modern oils will stand up longer than that, but you should change more frequently than in a new car anyway. The oil filters and air filters they used back then allowed more dirt into the engine and you have to change the oil to get rid of that dirt.
You have to be careful because some Chrysler products used the same oil supply for the engine transmission and torque converter or fluid drive. Yours may be one of these. You can tell them because they have a huge oil pan, it holds 10 or 12 quarts compared to 4 for the normal oil pan.
These models had an oil passage drilled thru the back of the engine into the bellhousing and thence to the transmission.
-
Don't know what you mean by shifting poor and unfixable. The stock setup is pretty trouble free and reliable if you keep the wiring in good condition and don't monkey with it.
A Dodge or Plymouth standard transmission, bellhousing and clutch will fit so far as I know. An old time mechanic told me he once did this swap over in a day using junkyard parts. The owner then tried to drive it out of the garage as if it still had the fluid drive and smashed into the wall LOL.
Have also heard of hot rodders adapting a T5 5 speed transmission to the flathead engine.
-
Let us know how you get the 6V +gnd stuff to work on 12V -gnd. I would like to know myself if this is possible.
-
Have been having an argument with a new Lincoln owner about this. He recently bought what he calls a "1947 Lincoln Zephyr". It was my understanding that Lincoln dropped the Zephyr name about the time they ceased producing the senior Lincolns and postwar they were all "Lincolns". In other words they stopped using the Zephyr name some time in the early or mid 40s even though the car they produced was a Zephyr in all but name until 1948.
Can anyone give me a definite answer or date on this?Is there any way to prove it?
-
If you put the contaminated kerosene in a 5 gallon pail with a tight fitting lid, in a month or so the sludge will settle to the bottom and you can pour off the clear kerosene or syphon it off. Then use it for parts washing.
When the kerosene or varsol is too oily for cleaning you can let it settle once more and put the clear liquid into your furnace oil tank. Do not do this with black contaminated solvent you have to let it settle first.
-
My apologies, I am not familiar with the older model choke. By the way it looks like we were all typing at the same time. Quite a coincidence for a forum that does not get that much traffic.
-
Have been perusing the net all afternoon looking for a choke thermostat for a 1950 DeSoto S14, 6 cyl. It has the model that bolts onto the exhaust manifold with a rod up to the choke butterfly.
Have also tried the local parts store.
I bet they have them but don't list them. So does anyone have one, or know where to find one? New or used is OK this is a driver not a restoration masterpiece.
-
Many cars had resistors for the slower speeds, they are common to burn out. Don't know where you could find replacements but any resistors of the proper size would work. The high speed is not affected because it is direct wired, no resistor.
If the heat control valve is seized up or shot, and you can't find a new one, Chrysler used a simple valve in the 70s and 80s that went in the heater hose, you could put one in and connect to the stock control lever. They should be available at any parts store.
I know these substitutions are not strictly kosher but they will get you going and they will do no harm, if you find the right parts at Hershey you can take them off again.
-
Chrysler was possibly the most "optioned" car in the world at that time. It had power steering power brakes power windows air conditioning tinted glass padded dash tinted glass etc etc. It had features you could not get on any other car including Cadillac and Rolls Royce.
Many of the features you mention are add on accessories, probably dealer installed Chrysler approved but maybe from some other source.
-
There is no wire on the choke????
There is no wire from the carb to the starter solenoid?????
If you mean the "sol" connection on the box on the breather strut, that goes to the solenoid on the transmission.
Not sure what wiring diagram you mean. I have some that omit the box on the strut for some reason.
The box contains a circuit breaker for the power supply which comes off the coil's - terminal.
It also contains a resistor that connects to the + side of the coil.
-
Probably chrome or nickel.
-
If you mean the continental kit they were a popular option at the time. They were available from the Chrysler dealer as a dealer installed accessory or you could buy them from an aftermarket supplier. The aftermarket ones are cheaper and far commoner.
Close examination may turn up a brand name or CPDP logo. Or you could ask the 90 year old titled owner.
-
Be careful here! You may be making a mistake.
The choke thermostat is like a metal cup with a lever sticking out. It is bolted to the exhaust manifold with 2 bolts. The lever has a rod that goes up to the choke at the top of the carb. It has a bimetallic coil spring that closes the choke when cold and opens it when the engine is hot.
There is no electricity or electrical wire involved.
It would help if you told us the make of car but I am assuming DeSoto. If so it has fluid drive. The fluid drive model has 2 electrical devices on the carburetor. One is a switch that is on when the throttle is closed, the other is on when the throttle is wide open The first causes the transmission to shift and it is located at the front of the carb at the top. This one has 2 wires. The other is the kickdown for rapid passing gear. It is at the back of the carb. This one has one wire.
It seems one of these wires has become detached. It should simply plug in again. The double wire to the top front, the single wire to the rear of the carb about halfway up. This rear connection has a wire clip to hold the wire in place, if the clip is missing the wire can fall out easy. The fitting the wire goes into is like a small brass tube with a slot in it for the wire retainer clip.
These wires should go to a box fastened to the air filter support, from there they go to the coil, and from there back around the engine to the transmission.
Hope this helps clear things up. If you look around on the net you should be able to find a picture of a Dodge DeSoto or Chrysler six with fluid drive. They are all practically the same from 1946 to 1954 as far as the carb wiring goes.
-
There were lots of options available for a 53 Chrysler. Some were factory installed, some were dealer installed and some were aftermarket.
As you can't be bothered to tell us what options you have I can't tell you which they are. I'm certainly not going to type out a list of all the options available in the world for you.
Tell us what you have and I can tell you if they are factory.
-
Here is the best explaination I have ever seen about the workings of the old tube car radios:
http://members.cox.net/dcosby1/
Scroll down and click on the "Auto radio information" page.
Usually the vibrator is stuck. These can be fixed or replaced, now they have solid state vibrators that don't "stick" or "hum".
The other thing that goes is the capacitors. These cost from 35 cents to a dollar apiece and there are 10 or 20 of them in each radio.
Tubes are long lived and seldom give trouble.
There are old time radio hobbyist and repair people all over the country. I know of at least 3 within 50 miles of me and I live in a small town of 15000. I'm sure there is someone in your area who can help you out if you ask around or do a web search.
I could give you the names of my guys. They will help you out but they are in Canada, you should be able to find someone local.
By the way avoid anyone who tells you to gut the radio and turn it into a transistor. He is a hack who doesn't know what the hell he is talking about and if you listen to him he will sell you a cheap $35 radio for $800 bucks.
If you have a good tube radio you will be amazed at the distant stations it will draw in and the mellow tone, unlike the harsh tinny modern radios.
You can also get an FM receiver that will play thru your tube radio.
I am looking for another 50 chrysler
in Chrysler Products - General
Posted
I have a 1951 DeSoto Club Coupe (sorry not for sale). Have been thinking of doing something similar with the engine. Can you tell me more about this truck dual carb/exhaust? Have seen a pic of this setup but thought it was for some larger block truck engine? Will it fit the DeSoto/Chrysler block? What year or models of truck used this setup?