More Progress
We hired a spring and suspension specialist to install new coils in front. Turned out to be way harder than he thought it would be, so I'm glad we didn't take that on by ourselves. Car sits a little taller now in front, and when he finished, there was still a noticeable list to the driver's side. Turns out the front tires were different sizes, a P235 and a P255, with the smaller one on the left. Repro wide whitewalls have clean sidewalls out -- no visible sizes unless you crawl under the car and look at the backs. (Hadn't done that.) We ordered a pair of new tires and while installing them, found that there were actually two P235s and two P255s on the car. Now they are all the same, P255s, and one of the P235s is the spare. There is still a list though, and it seems to be related to less than an inch of misalignment of the front bumper. Later.
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| Cinco de Mayo, 2014 |
Since the car was running so nicely, we drove it to the Del Mar Good Guys Hotrod Spring National meet, six of us. On the way home, we heard hissing, and steam came out the hood scoop. Pulling into a service station I saw rust-colored water spraying from the radiator tank. Refilled it, left the cap loose, and drove slowly home. A small radiator shop near us rodded out the radiator and resoldered the tank, found it was a copper-brass unit -- not imported aluminum. Unfortunately, it could not hold pressure now that the crud was gone. New custom-built radiator core, new heater core, all new hoses and thermostat, replaced seeping freeze plugs. Overhauled starter, repaired rusted-through battery tray, fabricated a battery hold-down clamp, and detailed the engine compartment.
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| New radiator core, still copper-brass, with fresh paint |
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| New hold-down clamp for the small but high-capacity 6-volt battery. |
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| Fresh red paint on valve covers, intake manifold, and visible portions of the block. Shiny black paint on the rusty old air cleaner, complete with reproduction, factory, instruction decal. |
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| New heater custom-built heater core, hoses, and fan duct (dryer pipe fits). Can't see new thermostat, battery tray, rebuilt starter, or new freeze plugs
Driving home from the shop, I noticed performance was a little sluggish, as if the timing was too far retarded. I found the vacuum line from carb to distributor advance was connected but not sealing. Some teflon tape blocked the leaks and it ran much better.
Re-setting ignition timing
We found months ago that the timing marks on the vibration damper were almost totally obscured by rust. At that time we set the timing where we thought we saw a scratch, and the engine ran so much better, we decided that was it. While I was fixing the failed vacuum advance, I decided to see if timing could be improved. The theory (this is from the Internet, now, so you know it's good) is you should advance the timing until the engine exhibits pre-ignition detonation under heavy load, then back it off just a little. I advanced the distributor several times and could not get a ping out of it, even going up our hill. However, eventually the engine started resisting cranking -- as if it were cranking against igniting cylinders I recalled reading that's another symptom of too much advance, so I backed it off until it would crank nicely again. Idle was now way too high, so I adjusted that down to 550 or so (still a little high probably), and went for another test drive. Much more power, smoother running -- this is a nice engine! Although it does puff a little smoke on restart after resting. That's likely to be caused by leaky valve stem seals, which I think we can live with.
Now what?
When I picked up the car, Tony said another of his customers wants to buy it. He insisted Tony pass me his contact info. He says this guy thinks the DeSoto wagon would make an extremely cool low-rider. Hmmm. Phil and I would need another project. After visiting the low-rider hall at the Good Guys meet, I have a new respect for the art some of these cars exhibit.
Whatever we do with it, I think the tailgate needs to be repaired. It's so rusty along the bottom edge the skin and tailgate frame can't hold the hinges. Tomorrow it goes to Armando. We'll see how that comes out, and whether he wants to repair some other rust issues.
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| A low-rider. This one seems to have a 53 DeSoto grill. A lot of 53s that still exist don't have teeth, and this is why. |
