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I've owned my '55 Firedome for thirty years and it seems that cold starting has always been a challenge. Understand that I do not have the skill or experience to do much of my own repair so I have depended on others to adjust the carb and choke. Some have been very skilled, some others not so much. Throughout, it seems that the choke was never properly set to fast idle when cold. I'm old enough to have driven many carburetor equipped cars years ago with properly adjusted carburetors; one pump on the gas to set the choke and they would fast idle for warm-up until you gunned the throttle and reduced the idle speed. I could never get the DeSoto to work that way. Is that possible, that is, was it designed to work that way when new, or should I resort to a manual choke? I've had the carburetor rebuilt several times and have an NOS choke housing with spring installed. The heat tube from the manifold has recently been repaired and it is wrapped in the original insulating cloth. The winter in Kentucky has its mild, clear days when I take the DeSoto out for exercise. I'd like it to be easier to start after several weeks of inactivity. Your insight and suggestions are welcome.
Mark
The choke is tricky. I have a 53. It almost seems like you need to do a cold weather adjustment and a warm weather one. Why, I do not know - it should be good to go all year. You are operating it correctly.
Carbs aren't 2nd nature to me, so I've come to rely on people that specialize. In our "vendors" tab to the right is Jeff Dreibus "the carb doctor". I've used him before and found him to be competent and very helpful.
I've also found a guy in Salina, KS that has done very well for me. He goes by "The Carb Shop" . He just completed the WCFBs for the Adventurer for me.
I bet either Jeff or my guy in Salina would discuss what's going on with your carb over the phone and give you some insight.
If you wanted to fiddle around on your own, I have a Carter book on the shelf that I could scan pages from. It goes from the post war to 1957 I think.
Your carb should be able to be set up to work correctly without resorting to a manual choke, but without knowing somebody in your area, I'd have to suggest sending it out (again).
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
Tim...thanks for your suggestions. I recently spoke to Jeff Dreibus about my fuel pump as I recently sent it off to be rebuilt. He advertises in the WPC News that he rebuilds fuel pumps as well as carbs. I used to see Jeff at club events when I lived in North Carolina so I knew of him. He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful and explained his process thoroughly, however, he was twice the price of Arthur Gould and everyone on this board seemed to recommend Gould. I sent my pump to Gould and was pleased with the service and repair. Therefore, send me some info on the carb shop in Salina. If you don't want to include it in this thread, you can e-mail me at mark.kubancik@insightbb.com. I'd appreciate any info on the Carter carb adjustments if you can select the appropriate pages and scan and e-mail. Thanks for your assistance.
Mark
Mark, The Carb Shop's phone number is 785-827-3057. (central)
Good luck!
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
Mark,
I cut my teeth on carbs when I became a "professional" in 1958. Also it would be a great "How-To" article for Adventures if you could send some photos of the carb to me via the Adventures email.
My first car was a '36 Ford, 5 window coupe running a '55 Chev 265 with 3 Stromberg carbs using progressive linkage. I had to learn about carburetion by default, especially automatic chokes and fast idle cam adjustments.
Geoff
