February - March 2014 [John]

It runs!

After we got the transmission to shift, we took the car back to the carb expert. He quickly noticed that the pipe from the exhaust manifold warmer to the choke was loose and leaky. After he removed the defective pipe, capped the choke fitting and tweaked the idle mixture, he set the idle to a nice low speed, probably near the recommended 475-500 rpm. The car now drives and shifts fine. No longer stalls at stops, upshifts when you lift your foot off the gas and downshifts somewhere below 8 mph. Only thing missing was a kick-down switch from the '56 carburetor. By 1956, Desoto was using the Powerflite transmission, a real automatic, and it didn't need the electrical kick-down switch the M6 Tiptoe Shift transmission required. We hid a horn button under the dashboard and connected it to the transmission governor. Now a touch of the button shifts from 4th to 3rd or from 2nd to 1st. I think we are done with the transmission and controls.

An increasingly noisy exhaust was traced to leaking (blown, actually) gaskets on either side of the exhaust heat riser valve. Small-block Chevy gaskets fit. I noted the vane inside the valve is welded into the open position, making it function-free, but the valve serves as a useful spacer, since the exhaust down pipe has been fitted with the valve in place. Much quieter now, just a low rumble from the stainless, two-into-one muffler that was already on the car when we got it.

It's prettier!

Bought and received the missing side moldings we had located some time ago. They are now installed, giving the car a much more completed look. There is a little pitting on the chrome, and we had to drill out the stripped quarter-inch lugs to 5/16 and tap them, but the result is great. 

New rear fender moldings match the car well

We painted the unused plug wire covers we found some time ago, and installed new decal lettering on them. Makes the valve covers look like they need to be stripped and refinished. Someday maybe.

No more unsightly plug wires!

Next: 

• We ordered and received new coil springs for the front suspension. We'll have a shop replace the old ones and then evaluate whether any additional work is needed on the rear. 
• We were advised to replace the original steel fuel line that runs the length of the car. It's probably obstructed, judging from the condition the gas tank was in.
• The rusty tailgate hinge mounts have deteriorated to the point we have to address them soon. A recommended body shop agreed to fix the tailgate, but can't get to it for a few weeks. Once in the body shop, we'll need to decide what other body issues to address -- there are other areas with rust. The driver's side visor is detached, and on inspection it's clear that the roof reinforcing panel it should attach to is rusted and gone. Fixing this will likely destroy the original headliner front section. To be decided. There are also rust bubbles around parts of the windshield and on some of the doors. We also found some approximate fender straightening that prevents the trim from fitting correctly.

Tailgate hinges attach to the skin, which is very weak. There is worse rust inside from
sloppy repairs done year ago. Hinges were chrome plated when new.