53 DeSoto Project: Initial post [John]

January 25, 2013

Picked up the car from the seller in Orange county. Made it home with only two glitches, not counting an unusual, rainy day. Some difficulty with persuading the seller's bank to accept a credit union cashier's check, and AAA will not provide free towing for a car the member just purchased. But the car arrived and is now in our garage.

First thing to do is to start it. Won't crank, so we hooked up a 6V battery charger while we went shopping for a replacement gas cap. After a couple hours on the charger, there's a slight click with key turned to the start position, some dash lights, but no other action. Verified that the engine was not frozen or seized by turning the fan. Tried a 12V boost from another car, and saw no difference in cranking, but noted that the cables got hot. Hmmm. Checking.... This car has positive ground! Tried again, battery to battery this time, and got some cranking but no fire. Splash a little gas in the carb and it fires. Try again, and it backfires and ignites the spilled gas around the carb. Got the fire out and soon learned that 1) it cranks much better with a 12V boost, and 2) it will fire and try to run on direct gas to the carb but stops after a few seconds. Sounds like stale gas or fuel pump problem. Smells like old gas, and the pump checked out fine. Drained the gas tank of a couple gallons of nasty, brown gasoline, and quit for the day. Tomorrow we'll get some fresh gas and try again. We think it's going to run.

To my ear, it cranks like there is low compression on one cylinder. We'll sort that out later.

January 24, 2013

Flying back from DC today, I flipped through some of the 150 photos the seller has kindly provided, compared them with my observations a week ago, and made a list of things to do to the car. For an old car in such apparently good shape, there are a lot of them. It became clear that Phil and I will need to identify a goal or objective: concours-quality restoration? fast hot rod? clean and neat original with some improvements? It weighs 3995 pounds and has a 276 ci, one-bbl hemi with 8:1 compression; 160 HP when new. So some of these options involve major engine work. Here's the list, for the curious.

Possible Improvements

side mirrors
air cleaner
wiper arms and blades. Motor and linkage?
tune up
gas cap
front carpet or floor mat
side moldings
detail dash
detail interior
dash pad
repair windshield frame rust
repair door rust
fix hood hinges and hood fit
(maybe) repaint
tailgate logo
fix tailgate rust; chrome or refinish hinges
replace window rubber
replace gas filler rubber
replace weatherstripping
detail or repair spare tire well as needed
fix horn if needed
replace rear license bracket
front plate bracket
research correct color CA plates and get personalized plates to match
clean paint off rear window frame
get all lights to work
rear bumper brackets
fix heater (might need core)
repair radio or new radio
deal with driver side armrest
clean up engine bay wiring
fix cowl bent; replace gasket
replace visor

Options

swap tires, maybe wheels,
improve stance
new shocks
new upholstery, or new seats
seat belts
repair and chrome rear bumper
refinish or replace steering column
12V conversion
hop-up existing engine

manifold and carb
cam
distributor and ignition

swap engine

later, larger hemi with torqueflight
modern 5.7 or 6.1 hemi with trans
3.5 Ford Ecoboost with trans
Diesel and trans from a Sprinter
other MOPAR (318, 340, 383)

January 20, 2013

Drove to Orange County to view the car. Barbara and I liked it enough to negotiate a price with the seller and we gave him a down payment. Phil wants in for half, so it will be a collaboration.

Here are some seller photos and a few I took of items that need attention.