‘53 DeSoto Powermaster Engine

That's a beautiful '53 Sportsman! I am, however, partial to yellow.

Is your transmission a semi-automatic or manual? You might try Northwest Transmission in Ohio or the Transmission Clinic in Greenville, South Carolina. The latter was started by an NDC member and his son now operates it.

As far as a motor/trans, you might find someone who is "upgrading" their car to a V8 and is pulling the 6 cylinder. Sometimes these come up for sale very cheap in running condition. You can also use the club roster (you'll get one when you receive your welcome letter) and see if there are any members listing a parts car (condition #6) of your vintage that might be an engine or parts donor.

Sharp car!  Keeping with the original drive line is great to show how these cars were meant to be. Keep us posted on what you are able to find.

Glenn Colburn,  1959 Firesweep

Update… found and bought a 265 out of a ‘54 DeSoto 4-Door… only odd thing is the Transmission appears to be a true Automatic… (the ‘54 did not have a clutch like my ‘53 does) … I thought the transmission was the same between the ‘53 and the ‘54 … can it be retrofitted?  

Also the Tranny out of the ‘54 is missing the torque converter, which is what my mechanic says looks like it caused the failure of my original engine … as the oil pump system with the shared oil reservoir is what faulted causing the oil to literally pump out onto the ground 🙁

can anyone advise if the two transmissions are close enough to be usefull?

thank you 

@douglaslefebvre 1954 was the first year for the Powerflite automatic. I'd assume that the engines themselves are probably interchangeable between '53 to '54 and that will resolve most of your issue, but I would imagine (I don't know for sure) the torque converters are different. You may also find that you need to reuse linkage and maybe even the carburetor off of your old engine to work with the '53 transmission set-up. If the '54 is anything like my '56, which also is a Powerflite automatic, the torque converter has transmission fluid and is in no way connected with the oil system on the engine. My guess is that you'll still need to find a torque converter specific to the 1953 type transmission. I suggested a couple businesses in my previous response that may be of help. You might also check with Andy Bernbaum as I believe they do some Fluid Drive refurbishing and might have something related to the torque converter as well.

@douglaslefebvre As David mentioned, 1954 was the first year for the Powerflite automatic transmission.  The M6 Semi-automatic transmission "Tip-Toe Shift" that was used in 1949-1953 DeSotos is quite a bit different in every aspect compared to the Powerflite transmission.  I doubt any of the transmission parts would interchange.  I cannot speak to what complications or modifications you might have to do if you wanted to use the Powerflite transmission instead.  However, the 265c.i. engine should swap-in/bolt right to your existing M6 Tip-Toe shift transmission.

Based on your description of how your engine lost all of it's oil, it sounds like your 1953 DeSoto has a "Fluid-Torque Drive" and not the earlier style of Fluid Drive couplings.  The difference between the two, the standard Fluid Drive couplings had no torque multiplication and the fluid in the Fluid Drive coupling was separate from the engine oil and transmission oil.  The Fluid-Torque Drive was a true torque converter, so it had torque multiplication, allowing for a much more responsive throttle input, especially from a stop.  For cars equipped with six-cylinder flatheads (like your '53 DeSoto Powermaster), with the Fluid-Torque Drive, the oil was shared between the engine and torque converter, but the transmission oil was separate.  An engine oil change on those cars took about 12 Quarts of oil!  However, on cars equipped with the Hemi V-8 (FireDome), all three components (engine, torque converter, and transmission) had separate oil fill plugs, identical to the standard Fluid Drive configuration.

I hope this information is helpful!  Definitely keep in mind that there are two types of Fluid Drive couplings that attach to the M6 semi-automatic transmission.  In these cars, the bell housing and Fluid Drive/Fluid-Torque Drive can be separated/unbolted from the transmission.  So if you are still in need of parts, you do not need to find a complete transmission with the bell housing.  If you can find just a bell housing and Fluid-Torque Drive, then that might be all you need.  There is a good possibility the transmission itself is still fine, since it holds it's own oil.

Not sure if this is any help, but it's free: https://www.facebook.com/share/f2YPY4Qk3mqD7eDK/?mibextid=kL3p88

@douglaslefebvre Hi!  Since you are lucky enough to have found a '54 with a fully automatic tranny, you should consider keeping the '54 engine AND tranny together. The Powerflyte 2 speed fully automatic is a great, reliable transmission.   the M6 currently in your '53 Powermaster is also a very reliable tranny, but harder to find someone to service it these days. IIf you decide not to use the Powerflyte tranny, please offer it for sale on this forum. They are hard to come by. The engines themsleves should be identical.