1931 Desoto 8cyl roadster

I am trying to post pictures but can't figure it out, can anyone help

Welcome.

Look forward to seeing your pictures. When posting, do not use the "add the file" button. Click the browse button, find your file and click the preview button and then click the submit button after the preview comes up.

Mac

Trying to post pictures hopes this works.

Martin,

A wonderful project and also a challenge. Have you ever resurrected a classic car that has been sitting for many years? If not, then it is not as simple as it appears. There is a correct way and quick way.

First off, if the car has been sitting then there are several steps that should be done before you do anything other than look at the car.

1. The entire fuel system must be taken out. The gas tank needs to be cleaned by a radiator and/or stripping shop. The lines must be flushed out. The fuel pump must be sent out (TERRILL MACHINE, INC) so it can get rebuilt with alcohol resistant pump diaphragms. The carburetor must also be rebuilt with a kit that has been manufactured in the last 10 years, also because of the alcohol. Talk with the guy that runs "www.thecarburetorshop.com". He is a good egg.

2. Take the head off. If there is any surface rust in the cylinders and you turn the engine over you can wipe out or crack a piston ring. This will allow you to see the ridge and get a sense of how much taper or wear the engine has. You can also examine the valves.

3. Many of these MOPAR flatheads use a "reservoir system" for oiling the lifters. There are one reservoir for two lifters as a rule. These reservoirs get filled up with oil ash and plug the little holes that feed the lifters. You need to take the side covers off and clean them all out or you risk killing the lifters and the cam. Some of the big 8's had a pressure feed system for the lifters, but it was rare.

4. Take off and clean out the pan. Same problem as above. The old oil ash can be so deep as to chock off the oil pickup. I had a friend with a very nice looking low mileage 1946 Town & Country Convertible that has almost no oil pressure at idle due to this issue.

5. Drain and flush the transmission & rear end and put new oil in it. The rear bearing are grease backed. They need to be taken out and cleaned as the oild grease will have dried and not flow. Some of the rear brearings and races are getting VERY HARD to find and expensive when you do. Re-pack them before moving under its own power.

6. The brake system need flushing and all components need rebuilding prior to any serious driving.

7. Check the wiring for rat bites and bare wires.

The one thing you should not do is pour gas in and try to start it up or even turn it over with the battery. A proper resurrection will save you possible very expensive things like trying to find a new camshaft. I have brought back a lot of cars from the dead. Every time I took a short cut it cost down the read more than if I had taken the time to do it correct.

Best, James

Thanks James for a good starting point. I will make the phone calls for the pump and carb. This weekend I will remove the entire fuel system for a start to the project. The car ran well until they parked it 25 years ago so I did have the idea that it would be fun to get it running just to say I did but your comments talked reality back into the project. I don't want to have to come up with parts on a car this old because of my lack of knowledge on restorations.

Thank you James

Happy New Year and welcome. It may be helpful to get a hold of a service manual and a master parts book for your car. PLease post pictures when you get a chance to show your progress. Don't hesitate to ask questions. We look forward to seeing the car on the road.

OK after four hours of inventory of the car it seem to only be missing a couple of very small items.

Today's question is since I need to go over every part and piece of this car starting with drive train would I be better off taking the body off now knowing at some point It will probably come off? Is it hard or a mistake to do so, it looks very doable, how have you guys done yours in the past, I have three bays in my shop so room I think is not an issue.

Any advice is appreciated before I go deep

In your first post you said you wanted to get it running then tear it down to get it ready for next summer. If you are going to do some major work on it and want it ready for next summer you'd better skip to the major work right now. One thing I've learned about working on old cars is it takes 4 times as long and 10 times the money originally planned. Now if you have plenty of time and money anything is possible! Well almost anything. You can get to most everything with the body on but it is far easier and faster with it off. The thing you have to watch out for it the snowball affect. One thing leads to another and next thing you know you are down to the last nut and bolt. Try to figure out how far you want to go with it and stick to it. Will it be a nice driver or are you planning on going to Pebble Beach? Whatever happens you have a great looking car! We will all be looking forward to seeing it's progress. Keep sending pictures and updates.

Good points Tim, I am caught in the in between on this project. This is my first real old car that I am working on and so far most of this reminds me of an old tractor, very simple drive train and most all of the parts are flat head screws and lots of rivets on things that I don't know why they riveted them? I am taking the earlier advice of tearing down the fuel system and sending the carb to the specialist that was suggested. I will also get into the motor in a week or so to check all the mentioned items to ensure its in good working order. I have also sanded a few areas down to bare metal and found no bondo or lead. I do see lots of small hammer repairs from the past and very little rust, most of the real rust is in the spare tire wells.
My plan going forward I think is to check all the drive train, give it all new fluids, get the suggested parts rebuilt, sand it down and repaint. The one advantage I have is my kid co owns a plating shop so all the chrome parts are free and they have an industrial media blaster for cleaning parts and I have a large industrial powder coat machine they gave me. I want it to be able to run this spring and take it back to Montana summer of 14 for a parade. The original owners 31-37 grandson wants to drive it one time and my father in law 37-current wants to drive it in the parade.

I think these are realistic goals, I don't or cant spend big bucks on this but out of respect for the family and the car I do want to do a nice job that people can enjoy. It is a really nice looking car, and this could be addicting.

Here are some pics from today. New radiator tag from 57 still in motor well.

Finally have the car pretty well stripped down.

For my first attempt at a real restoration I am getting there, so far other than a small broken lens I think it is going ok. The paint removal is taking forever, the primer is impossible and gums up every product I have tried but battling through.

Getting some primer on it

Nice progress, Martin!

Thank you for the updates and photos, and please keep them coming.