1930 DeSoto

[Cvans 1,009]

Today was a bomb. I had absolutely no ambition and part of tomorrow is spoken for. Probably just as well as the weather is going to be bad. Freezing temps and possible rain and snow on Saturday. Anything up in the garden is going to take a hit. 

[Cvans 1,009]

The wife and I took June bug for an 8 mile drive today before taking the rear fender off to finish. The steering needs some slack taken out. 

Going to have to turn the drums eventually and the seat needs to be moved forward another notch. Motor pulls like a mule but I need practice shifting a non synchronized transmission. A combination of double clutching and short shifting seems to work best. Has some things that need tending to but it's getting there. At least the differential was quiet after the rebuild. 

[ebinmaine 67,516]

1 hour ago, Cvans said:

practice

There's the key word.

 

Super glad to see that rig is up and running!!!!

[Cvans 1,009]

Today had to sort out the wiring for the lights and something was drawing down the battery when not running.  The most the alternator would charge was 20 amps. I believe I've found the problem and now it's charging up to 40 amps and I don't see any sparks when removing the negative battery cable. 

The front tires need balancing and I plan on use tire beads as these wooden spoked wheels won't fit on a balancer. There is some slack in the steering that needs addressing. The more the engine is run the better it sounds. Had it up to 40 mph but that sounds about as high as I want the engine revving. 

Took a drive to the lake this evening. Lots of waves and smiling people. I think I'm going to enjoy having June Bug in the family. 

 

[Stormin 9,981]

 

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Thats really cool👍

 

Think the max speed here isn‘t any interest, here it’s more the „Hey it‘s survived in original“ - effect.

btw fantastic Pic‘s! nice surrounding on the lake, the beach fits optical to the wooden spoke!

Nice contrast.

 

ok the pict‘s can maybe be improved..

a male guy well dressed with a hat deep in it’s face and a Machine gun in front ajar the Car is missing  😂

 

Also great you have found and solved your electric troubles.

Can be the slack in steering being a result of the unbalanced Tyres

or did you have some slope or play in steering gear ?

 

I have myself no experiences with Wooden Tyres at all and maybe it‘s a myth, 

but i have heared that wooden spoked tyres have allway‘s some play in it

depening on Humidity, Type of wood and few other things they are happen on wooden Spokes.

I talked at a historical meeting once with a Guy who has an old Hispano. He tell‘s me that.

It is also possibly to bring the wooden type of tyre roadappoved here on historical Vehicles 

but only with a speedlimit to 60Km/h.

 

That could maybe the reason in my opinion.

 

 

But at all it is a dang aged Beauty at all 👍 no doubt.

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,565]

Beautiful!

 

Nice job!

 

[ebinmaine 67,516]

What a beautiful piece of machinery.

 

Thank you for sharing your time and story with/about it.

Keep up the good work and keep the pics headed our way.

[953 nut 55,248]

7 hours ago, Cvans said:

The front tires need balancing and I plan on use tire beads as these wooden spoked wheels won't fit on a balancer

I have never heard of balancing tires on wood spoke wheels. Are the wheels trued up where the rim runs true while rotating? I'm not sure there is anyone around who knows how to true the rims up (probably have all passed away) but do remember a fellow doing it when I was a boy (loooong time ago).  

[Cvans 1,009]

5 hours ago, 953 nut said:

Are the wheels trued up where the rim runs true while rotating?

I've been unable to feel any play in the spokes or rims as of yet. Haven't checked the bearings yet and will see how true the rims are running next week. The backs seem to be running fine. I did notice that after going around a curve the vibrations did change which would indicate that both front tires or wheels need attention. At around 40 mph things are the smoothest. Might use the the chuck on a drill pressed against the tire to spin up the wheel and see how it runs. 

 

 

[Cvans 1,009]

     Right wheel is running true. The left wheel runs true but the tire has a bit of a wobble. And then the car must have sat on these tires for quite a time. Both the front tires have flat spot as if setting with low air pressure. They are 4 ply nylon and I'm hoping when it get's hot and they are run on the road they will true up. Installed 5 ozs. of balance beads in each tire and it made quite a difference for the better. So far I'm pleased with the results. 

 

[ZXT 2,401]

16 minutes ago, Cvans said:

     Right wheel is running true. The left wheel runs true but the tire has a bit of a wobble. And then the car must have sat on these tires for quite a time. Both the front tires have flat spot as if setting with low air pressure. They are 4 ply nylon and I'm hoping when it get's hot and they are run on the road they will true up. Installed 5 ozs. of balance beads in each tire and it made quite a difference for the better. So far I'm pleased with the results. 

 

If the rear tires are round you might swap them to the front.

[953 nut 55,248]

7 hours ago, Cvans said:

They are 4 ply nylon and I'm hoping when it get's hot and they are run on the road they will true up

Good old nylon thump!              now there is one I hadn't thought about for a while.

[Cvans 1,009]

3 hours ago, 953 nut said:

Good old nylon thump!              now there is one I hadn't thought about for a while.

You know Richard, right now I wish I wasn't thinking about it.  Nylon tires must be the reason that people started jacking up their vehicles when they parked them for the winter. 

[ebinmaine 67,516]

52 minutes ago, Cvans said:

You know Richard, right now I wish I wasn't thinking about it.  Nylon tires must be the reason that people started jacking up their vehicles when they parked them for the winter. 

That and bias plies. Not so much for radials..

[Cvans 1,009]

Took June Bug on here first 50 mile journey yesterday. Had to go to Watertown for a checkup and some running around. 35 to 40 mph is a nice speed and we have a back road to town that is paved with very little traffic. Nothing passed me going up and only two coming back. Lakes, trees, and farm country makes for a picturesque drive. The car does good in town and keeps up with traffic just fine. June Bug is a bit of a distraction though and gets lots of honks and grins. In the parking lots you better have time for visiting or leave her at home. So far the general consensuses is to leave the interior original and just replace the missing door panels so that's what I'm going to do. New plugs and coil will be installed today. I'll be changing from 30w non-detergent to 20-50w detergent on Monday and change it again after a few miles as I'm sure the detergent is going to get dirty in a hurry. 

So far I'm enjoying the journey. 

Edited May 30, 2020 by Cvans

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Sound pretty nice journey, 

but you know the rules, nothing happens without Picts. 😎

 

 

[Cvans 1,009]

Well those are the photos after getting home and I'd feel a little funny taking photos of my own car in front of Menards. 

[ebinmaine 67,516]

2 hours ago, Cvans said:

Well those are the photos after getting home and I'd feel a little funny taking photos of my own car in front of Menards. 

I guess we can let it slide....

 

 

Forgive my memory if it's been mentioned...

Does that engine have an oil filter?

 

 

[Cvans 1,009]

No oil filter. Yet anyway.

[Cvans 1,009]

  It's been a year since the last installment on this project and probably time for an update. Arthritis is taking over my spine making available work days in short supply. 

  I was able to cure a lot of the "wandering chicken" problems in the steering by replacing suspension and steering parts. It was way past time for new king pins and bushings which actually wasn't a bad job. Next was the leaf spring bushings. Quite a few had lost the rubber and the others were in very poor condition. I was finally able to find some that matched the length and I.D. but not the O.D. I ended up spending the good part of a day making steel sleeves to press onto the outside of the new bushings to increase the total outside diameter. Thankfully they all worked and driving the car now is totally different experience. No more chasing the car from ditch to ditch. 

It's not feasible to turn the brake drums as they are stamped steel (visualize a pot) and too thin. As it turns out Someone tightened the bolts that hold the drum to the spokes too much and crushed the wood. This has distorted the drum   Fortunately someone offered me two wheels and a drum and those are now in my possession. When time allows one of those wheels will be refinished and when installed hopefully will cure the issue. 

No the new door panels have not been installed. Enough of that subject. 

   And now for the noisy engine. It hasn't gotten any better and bugs the heck out of me when driving. Sounds like loose rods and pistons. I was able to come up with another engine with a great looking block. The guy who sold it to me said his dad had remarked that it was junk so he sold it to me for $300.00. I figured the head and manifold were worth more than that so what the heck. Cost of shipping it wasn't but what do you do. After getting it here it appears that it has just been rebuilt and never run. The rods still have assembly grease on the bearings and it doesn't appear to have ever been started. Now I'm thinking what the heck is going on? Turns out the threads in the end of the crankshaft are stripped out. I'm guessing that someone might have used a large impact when reinstalling the crankshaft pulley. Without any way to rethread the crank they gave up. I'm going to drill out the treads, take a 3/4" or 7/8" fine threaded nut and turn it down and insert it into the hole and weld it in place. It only has to hold the pulley on. 

  My 14 year old grandson has agreed to help me this winter to remove , work on, and install the the other engine. I shamelessly bribed him with my 1997 pickup. He's a great young man and thankfully is looking forward to helping. Anyway we are going to take the two engines and hopefully make a good one out of them. Will be a good chance to spend more time with him and he will get some valuable experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Cvans

[953 nut 55,248]

                 Good to hear from you again.                    Back.

[Cvans 1,009]

I think about you often when looking at that fender. Thanks again!

 

 

[Pullstart 62,897]

On 11/12/2022 at 5:00 PM, Cvans said:

My 14 year old grandson has agreed to help me this winter to remove , work on, and install the the other engine. I shamelessly bribed him with my 1997 pickup. He's a great young man and thankfully is looking forward to helping. Anyway we are going to take the two engines and hopefully make a good one out of them. Will be a good chance to spend more time with him and he will get some valuable experience.

Good news, that you can pass the torch to another generation!