Approximately a year ago when I got my '53 Desoto Firedome, I got a few comments to "clean up the engine." I am proud to say I did just that. It all started with moving back in early February. As soon as I pulled the Desoto in and parked it, the electric fuel pump died. So I replaced that with a rebuilt manual fuel pump. As soon as I got that in the carburetor started spraying fuel. This began a 5 month long task of rebuilding pretty much anything connected to the engine block. So here it is, the fruits of just about every bit of free time and money I could spare. After I connected everything it started first turn of the key. I byp***ed the heater and carb coolant lines as I don't need them here and just added more busyness to the engine. I still need to do some detail work on the oil breather tube, air fliter housing, and some lettering on the valve covers, some tuning, not to mention cleaning the engine bay up a bit more And I can't forget the roof visor and fender skirts. All that's left is... everything else. But hey, it runs! I can finally cut the weeds growing where it was parked! I sure learned a lot about this car. If you want to see all the stuff I did, check out the gallery. It's all do***ented like the proud papa I am. http://vorhese.com/gallery/album265
Looks great, but it makes that engine bay look bad, now you're gonna hear "clean up that bay." Cool dog.
so much better! see, and now when you mess around in there you dont have to get all greasy..... not that any of us mind gettin' greasy
Black valve covers are not traditional .. blast and repaint correct color Kidding , looks nice ..attaboy
Nice car. The engine looks great. It looks like you ran out of paint for the air cleaner. Clean the dirt from the rest of the compartment and you'll have a primo car...........just my opinion..........
Man, I grew up in one of those semi-auto trans machines. Best part was the grille... kept them clean for my pop. Pix of the at the link below in various colors. I think we had it 11+ years... it was maroon / white, black / white, and all white at various times. As my dad was in the Navy too, we had it tagged in California, Hawaii and Illinois over the years. Gary A few more shots here http://public.fotki.com/kitbashr/past-rides/
Actually it's two! hah, but I am not a two door elitist. My paint booth All this compacted matter is where coolant should be freely flowing
I need some help tuning this thing. It's acting the same way it did before I started rebuilding everything. It starts and idles just fine. There's a little bit of ch-ch-ch-ch but it seems to disappear as soon as it gets warm. But once I start going forward I don't seem to have much acceleration, it chugs a lot and then dies. I ***ume flooding because I have to stomp the pedal down to start it back up. If I go around the block I barely make it back, lots of smoke from the tail pipe. Both idle screws are about 3/4 turn out. I've tried 1/2-1.5 without much difference. Ideas? I've been reading it could be a stuck choke, but when I had the air filter off it seemed like the vacuum opened the choke the way it should have.
I see it has a Merc grill, LOL!!!! Always wondered where those came from.... Great job. It looks much better...
From one DeSoto owner to another, you've done us proud!! I love the way it looks. Would you mind telling me what size are your tires and how wide are the whites? Thanks, ******Knuckles
That is one primo car, you've done a great job. I learned to drive on one of those, brings back great memories. HemiDeuce.
When I rebuilt the carb I quadruple checked the floats. The float needle is new. I don't think that's it. I don't think it's the choke. I di***embled everything and put it back together. The only thing I haven't touched is the points/doing the timing yet. That's got to be a strong contender. Seeing as it acted this way before hand (it started doing this right after I installed a rebuilt fuel pump vs the electric one) it might be the points. Maybe the fuel pump is too powerful?? Does anyone have the correct way of setting the float to make sure?
did you not quadruple check the float? if you get fuel at idle and a good charge of fuel is dispensed while actuating the throttle, your float is working .... that doesn't mean it was set correctly. check your shop manual for instructions on checking float level. if you bought a rebuild kit it should tell you what the spec is. check timing & ignition (ALL replaceable ignition components should be checked) before ***uming the carb is messed up or you will be wasting time... why would the fuel pump be suspect? is it aftermarket? process of elimination.
Well the manual says I need a special tool to correctly set the float. It didn't give me any measurements. I did it by blowing on the inlet and raising the float by hand until it was level. Maybe that's wrong. The fuel pump is suspect because it didn't do this until I replaced the electric with the rebuilt pump. It's not aftermarket, it's a rebuilt one from Kanter.
Well I fixed the Desoto. What sounded like a stuck choke issue kinda was, I had the automatic choke set too much advanced. It wasn't allowing the choke to open fully. When I initially ***embled it I adjusted it so that it barely closed, but apparently that wasn't right. Then I noticed there were factory hash marks on the choke spring unit and set it to that. OOPS! Runs great! For good measure I readjusted the floats so that it closed sooner as well. Thanks for the help!
Your engine cleanup looks great, you really nice job and an improvement. Not that rust is bad though. My old feeble mind seems to recollect that the original Desota engine color was gold and the firepower in the valve covers was done in black, I'm just curious and some of the Desota people correct me if I'm wrong.
Love the ride. Nice job. Keep it the way it is. Please don't do what my sick mind sees in the deviant potential by molesting and violating the virtue of one of those DeSoto coupes.
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