'56 Fireflite Radiator Hose

David,

I've got some information for you at home. I'll update this post later today or tomorrow. The lower hose is still available from NAPA, I think. There is a post on here from several months back that provided a couple current manufacturer p/n's for a mid-seventies Dodge upper hose that can be trimmed slightly and looks original for the DeSoto. I entered those p/n's in Amazon and both were available. I ordered one and it looks like it will be a good fit. Again, I'll send you the links when I get the chance; they are at home and I am at work (wasting time).

Mark

David,

For the upper hose, here are a couple molded hoses for the later model full-size Dodges that will work on the '55-'56 DeSoto and look much better than the flex hoses. Both are available on Amazon. I ordered the Goodyear hose and it looks like it will fit perfect.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/ ... dition=new

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-22698-Upper ... B000C2WDZQ

I had record for the lower hose of Gates 20046. That hose, too, is available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... es%2020046

Good luck. Let us know how these work out.

Mark

Thanks Mark! I'll let you know how it turns out.

A/C equipped? Makes a big difference as you have to have a hose that jogs under the belts

None of our cars/engines have A/C. My car specifically doesn't really have any options beyond what was standard, which is unusual considering it's a FF Sportsman.

The hoses arrived the other day. We ordered one of each of the two different upper hoses and we'll see which fits better. We should have them on the car within the month.

David,

Thanks for the regular updates. If you don't mind and are so inclined, please take some photos of the hoses installed, noting which is which. If you make any modifications necessary for the hoses to fit properly please note that if possible, and I will write a short Tech article for the magazine. Appreciate your help and feedback.

Mark

I should be able to do that for you. Besides the work on my dad's car, I have been working towards getting the engine running for my car, which hasn't run in almost 50 years. I had it rebuilt, but there was still painting, assembly, and a few things to get/have rebuilt. It has taken longer than I anticipated, particularly with determining correct colors of pulleys and such (you may remember me referencing your car at the meet last year). I should have it ready to run within the next few months and probably will do an article on my work/findings when I am finished.

I have a factory picture of DeSoto engines in the dyno room. They are assembled/painted with pulleys, manifolds, fuel pumps, tranny coolers, etc.

Just gotta find it....

Thank you Tim! This is gold to me. I've been trying to find something like this or a very nice original (which is darn near impossible) to reference. Also, on the bright side, I had determined all the correct colors so I won't have to repaint anything. I can include this in an article after my engine is running (hopefully). Thanks again!

David,

Have you test fitted the hoses? Which one fits best??

Mark

We have not test fitted the hoses yet. We just got the radiators for the two cars back from re-coring last week. Hopefully it won't be too long. I will keep you posted.

David,

Any progress on the hose installation?

Mark

I apologize for the delay. The hoses were installed right before the De Soto meet and then I had a bad cold when we got back, so it's taken a little longer than I intended to get the information out. Here's what I have though:

We had gotten 4 upper/lower radiator hoses (2 of each). One of the lowers, Gates 20046, was marked as fitting a 1956 De Soto, but we think it may be for a Firedome that would not have a trans cooler. We had one really old formed lower hose on a spare Fireflite engine that we used to find a similar match at a local NAPA. That number was NAPA 9331. For the uppers, we ordered a Gates 22698 and a Goodyear 60879 (marked as a lower, but would work as an upper).

We were initially going to be installing these ourselves, but mine are not on yet and my dad had his done when he had a wiring harness installed in his car and cooling system work done. This is also where it gets confusing. The guy installed the Goodyear 60879 on the bottom and the NAPA 9331 on the top. We had bought those to be used in the opposite places as they were installed. They look okay and work fine, but I will probably install the NAPA on the bottom and Goodyear on the top when I attach my radiator to my engine, as we had intended.

The by-pass hose was simple: Gates 20563

We got the hoses from RockAuto (the Goodyear and the Gates) and NAPA.

Hose clamps (original style) came from YearOne and Grainger.