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 '56 Firedome CoupeJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647      Location: So. Cal | Another stray followed me home yesterday. It was local and too cheap to pass up. He advertised it as a Fireflite, and still thinks that it is, though it was obvious when I got there, that it's actually a Firedome. I think it's the Seville option, though I don't know what that means. The car has lived it's whole life in the North part of Los Angeles, and was built in Los Angeles too. The body is really clean except a little rust in the right side rocker and a couple of small dents in the hood & trunk lid. I believe it was originally Pearl Gray with Crimson Red roof & sweep, but I haven't decoded the body tag yet. The interior is that gunmetal gray with a white dash. I'm thinking of painting it Pompano Peach (that's the Plymouth name, but it's called Emberglow by DeSoto) from 1955 with a charcoal roof & sweep. Lavendar poly with charcoal accents might be nice too, and keep it with '56 colors, but I really like the peach. I'm also going to try to make it look more like a Fireflite if I can find the parts. It's missing the bumpers and I have '56 New Yorker bumper parts so I might convert the back end to use the much better looking Chrysler tail lights & bumper. But I haven't decided for sure yet. The '56 Desoto rear looks nice too. I have the missing glass, but the windshield is broken, so I need to get a replacement for it. The drivetrain is missing, so I'll probably drop in a 392 temporarily, but I am thinking that a 354 marine engine would sit nice in there and look more like a DeSoto engine with it's wet intake. But I don't like the weight of the cast iron timing cover & intake, so I may do something else. If anyone has '56 Chrysler engine mounts, DeSoto trim or '56 Fireflite/NY headlight bezels for sale, please hit me up with a price. (56Firedome LFs.jpg) (56 Firedome Home.jpg) (56 Firedome Body Tag.jpg) (56 Firedome Body Tag2.jpg) Attachments ----------------  56Firedome LFs.jpg (122KB - 19 downloads) 56 Firedome Home.jpg (239KB - 21 downloads) 56 Firedome Body Tag.jpg (203KB - 17 downloads) 56 Firedome Body Tag2.jpg (128KB - 20 downloads) | ||
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| 22mafeja |
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Elite Veteran Posts: 648 Location: Finland | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Nathan: Not sure if congrats or an intervention is in order.  (You got a problem - not that there is anything wrong with that). Love me anything 56 Mopar.  I can't help you too much with the LA cowl data tag but I did find the paint code info: 416 = Crimson (sic) Red upper and Iridescent Gray Metallic Lower Edited by 56D500boy 2024-03-26 5:49 PM (56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_4.jpg) (56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_1.jpg) (56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_2.jpg) (56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_3.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_4.jpg (209KB - 19 downloads) 56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_1.jpg (253KB - 19 downloads) 56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_2.jpg (222KB - 20 downloads) 56DesotoPaintCodesDupont_3.jpg (259KB - 19 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Nathan: I have Canadian Colour and Trim Book for 56 Dodges and Desotos that I bought off eBay. I can't quite match your ideas perfectly but these are close(ish): REFERENCE: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=68046&... (Nathans56Desoto_ColourOption_OE.jpg) (Nathans56Desoto_ColourOption_1.jpg) (Nathans56Desoto_ColourOption_2.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Nathans56Desoto_ColourOption_OE.jpg (75KB - 18 downloads) Nathans56Desoto_ColourOption_1.jpg (67KB - 20 downloads) Nathans56Desoto_ColourOption_2.jpg (63KB - 21 downloads) | ||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 1889  | . SG – 4 – Accessory Group No. 4 – see attachment below M3 – 1 – ? M5 – 2 – ? M6 – 2 – Sweep Moulding and Colour Insert M8 – 4 – ? M9 – 8 – Delivery Route (Data Plate.jpg) (Accessory Groups.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Data Plate.jpg (128KB - 17 downloads) Accessory Groups.jpg (64KB - 20 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | Thanks Dave & Ralf. Yeah, that pink/gray is a great looking combo. Much better than the red/gray that it came with and peach/gray is even better. The reason why this color topic is important for me is because the body on this car needs very little. So I plan to paint it before doing much else to it. Unfortunately, I found quite a bit of bondo on that small dent in the hood, and it ends up being a rather large dent. To fix it, I need to separate the spot welds to get to the complete underside, or I may try to just replace the hood. The dent in the trunk lid is smaller than I thought and should be easy with decent access to the backside. I also found about 1/2" of rust at the bottom of the left rear quarter that's filled with bondo, but everything else is very solid, including the entire floor & trunk pan. After fixing those minor areas, this thing is getting painted in my garage & on my driveway. Doin' it right!  I don't want to install the newly rebuilt 392 into my parade green New Yorker because the car is far from being drive-able. But I don't want to let it sit indefinitely in my garage either, so hopefully this car is a good place to put it in the mean time. And I have 2 newly rebuilt push button 727's that I can use for the trans. They just need new cables for them - all three expensive cables.  The interior is also in surprisingly decent condition, considering. It should be usable as-is after a lot of cleaning, though the door panels & stainless trim are MIA. I didn't realize that the dash was padded. It's in decent shape too. The dash was originally white. The blue one was swapped in for better gauges, but I still have the original one in the trunk. Odd that the underside of the dash was painted red. I'm missing whatever panels go at the bottom of the dash.Edited by Powerflite 2024-03-26 3:14 PM (56 Firedome Dash.jpg) (56 Firedome Seats.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 Firedome Dash.jpg (123KB - 23 downloads) 56 Firedome Seats.jpg (85KB - 17 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . S23 from the tag is obviously Firedome. Here is some brochure images, including one with your car's original 416 paint scheme and another with reference to "Seville" which looks like a lower trim level, e.g. less C pillar stainless. (??) Edited by 56D500boy 2024-03-26 9:21 PM (56DesotoBrochurePage_1.jpg) (56DesotoBrochurePage_2.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56DesotoBrochurePage_1.jpg (82KB - 20 downloads) 56DesotoBrochurePage_2.jpg (106KB - 19 downloads) | ||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 1889 | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | No Igor, it has both drip rail moldings still on the car. The picture of the left side is just hard to see it. The car also came with 2 extra drip rail moldings, though they would need some work before you could use them. The car does have the wide upper windsheild molding. I placed it on the car so you can see it. Unfortunately, I am missing the A-pillar moldings for it though, so I have to round those up, hopefully from BigM. That's weird, about the upholstery. It currently has all-vinyl in it, in a style that looks original. So maybe it's the original upholstery in there? But it's in great shape for being that old, if it is. I have all the DESOTO letters for front and back, all except for one "O"; but I have an extra "T". I found my 3 speed Loadflite shifter that I will use in the car. I'll probably just use the Dodge bezel in it until I can fabricate one in the DeSoto style. If it doesn't work great, I may just keep the Dodge version in there. (56 Firedome Frontend Parts.jpg) (Loadflite Push Button Shifter.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 Firedome Frontend Parts.jpg (210KB - 19 downloads) Loadflite Push Button Shifter.jpg (113KB - 19 downloads) | ||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 1889 | |||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 1889 | . Unfortunately I have not factory pictures of upholstery code 565; Digging in my docs, I found a fragment of 1956 upholstery codes book; The Trim Code 565 definitely GRAY… (1.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 1.jpg (68KB - 23 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: Lower Mainland BC | frwl - 2024-03-27 11:41 AM Factory Crimson over Iridescent Gray paint with BLUE upholstery, as on the pictures? Hmmm… I don’t think so. White / Gray upholstery would be most correct… Igor: I am guessing that when Nathan cleans up his Desoto seats, they will show up as grey and white. Remember that they might be 68 years old. Everything can fade over 68 years. | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | I was very happy to find the '55-'56 Chrysler engine mounts in my stash of hemi parts. I didn't think I would ever use these, but kept them around in case I wanted them for some custom mount application. I'm glad I kept them. Does anyone know what the difference is between '55 and '56 mounts? I have no idea which one I have here. There is also a difference between left and right in the part numbers, but I don't really see a difference between these two mounts. One mount had the studs cut off so I welded blobs to them and extracted them to replace. The trunk latch had one lobe of the star wheel broken off and wasn't screwed down tight, making it useless to try to latch it. But I lubed it up and was able to rotate the broken lobe upward. The screws were jammed or rusted stuck, but was missing the upper screw. So I installed anther screw to tighten it enough that it now works OK and latches. I'll work on it more when it's on my driveway with access to a torch to remove those screws without stripping or breaking them. (56 Firedome Engine Mounts.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 Firedome Engine Mounts.jpg (164KB - 17 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Nathan: I don't know the difference between the motor mounts (aka "Insulators") but you could use the two or three PNs below (1611011 and 1630685 and maybe 1630684) to search the internet. If the 55/56 Desoto/Chrysler motor mounts are like the 56 Dodge/Plymouth V8 mounts, the PN will be stamped on the mount in at least one or two places. That might help you confirm what you have (or not) Edited by 56D500boy 2024-03-30 11:31 AM (55-56V8MotorMountPNs_1637610DodgePlymouth.jpg) (56DodgePlymouthMotorMounts1637610.jpg) (1637610MotorMount_2ndPNStampingLocation.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 55-56V8MotorMountPNs_1637610DodgePlymouth.jpg (193KB - 17 downloads) 56DodgePlymouthMotorMounts1637610.jpg (137KB - 19 downloads) 1637610MotorMount_2ndPNStampingLocation.jpg (172KB - 18 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | |||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 1889 | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | Here they are. I found that if you cut a bit from the front edge and bend it slightly at the rear, they could be used on '57-'59 2dr cars, which makes them potentially more useful to me. (56 DCI Coupe Drip Rail Moldings.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 DCI Coupe Drip Rail Moldings.jpg (154KB - 14 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | I'm in the process of building Firedome wire covers for my 392 Chrysler engine. First, I sourced a set of plain Chrysler truck valve covers and I am cleaning them up. I haven't yet decided if I am going to paint them dual quad gold or single 4bbl silver. Next, I have to extend the Firedome wire covers 1" total length to make them fit well on the longer Chrysler valve covers. At first I was going to just insert a 1/2" section at each end so I only had to cut up one Chrysler cover, but I quickly found out that the extension part at the rear of the Firedome covers isn't long enough to allow the wires to exit properly with the Chrysler valve cover underneath it. I assume that DeSoto put the mounts closer to the edge of the cover to make it work out. I don't want to move the cover mounts so that means that I have to weld the entire Chrysler end to the DeSoto wire cover and I have to destroy one Chrysler cover for each DeSoto cover I want to make. There are other possible solutions, but I figure this one is probably the easiest. Most people don't realize that there is a left and right version of the DeSoto wire cover due to the direction of writing on it. I checked through my stash, and I have 5 rights and 2 lefts (all Firedome, no Fireflite). So I am cutting up 2 rights since it doesn't matter in this case, as long as I weld it with the proper orientation. I guess two wrongs don't make a right, but two rights can make a proper pair with welding skills. (Chrysler Firedome Cover Differences.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Chrysler Firedome Cover Differences.jpg (138KB - 13 downloads) | ||
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| frwl |
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Expert Posts: 1889 | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | Yes, these are extra moldings from a different car, in addition to what is already on this car. This car also came with extra rear window trim from another car. This is my welding jig for the right side wire cover. I decided that I don't have to waste the rest of the chrysler cover. I'm going to convert the remainders into a Dodge hemi wire cover, which are harder to find. So I should be able to use all the pieces that I cut apart. (Chrysler Firedome Cover Jig.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Chrysler Firedome Cover Jig.jpg (91KB - 16 downloads) | ||
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| 57burb |
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Expert Posts: 3967 Location: DFW, TX | |||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | Thanks, I was wondering why some have Sportsman and some Seville. The wire cover came out pretty well. All the effort goes in the cleanup process. I had to get out a small grind stone on a dremel to get some of the inner ledge done. I've decided that an all silver engine with red letters is too boring. At least the Chrysler painted the wire covers black to break up the monotony. So I am going to paint these wire covers black with red letters, and the valve covers gold, just like the Adventurer engine. That means I'm on the lookout for a batwing air cleaner without the ribs, like the Adventurer used. I believe the DeSoto used the same carb spacing as the Packard and Chevy, but the Chrysler uses the Cadillac carb spacing. So a Cadillac air cleaner should work perfectly with its rib-less top. I was thinking I got really lucky with these truck valve covers as they didn't seem to need any body work on them. Most of the truck covers I get are heavily abused. But as I was cleaning them up, I noticed one had 2 areas that had been rubbed by something pretty hard and wore away most of the metal, leaving it really thin in those two spots. So I had to weld them up and rework it back to the proper thickness there. Edit: I just found out that the '55-'56 Chrysler batwing air cleaner was indeed on a 9" carb spacing, along with the Cadillac & Packard, but that the '57-'58 Chrysler dual quad is on 7.5" centers, just like on the Chevy & DeSoto. I don't have a '55-'56 Chrysler dual quad intake, so it looks like I'm going to purchase a Chevy batwing instead. The originals were likely the most rare of all, but they have been reproduced for a while, so that makes it a lot easier. Edited by Powerflite 2024-04-05 4:54 PM (Chrysler Firedome Cover Primed.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Chrysler Firedome Cover Primed.jpg (152KB - 13 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9893 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Nathan: Great job on the "392" extended Desoto wire covers. When you shorten the actual Chrysler 392 covers for the baby (Dodge) hemis, remember that the 56 315 and the 57 325 wire covers had cut-outs for the lifter adjustment bumps. And there were left and right covers as a result. REFERENCE: http://www.forwardlook.net/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=79122&... Edited by 56D500boy 2024-04-05 4:25 PM | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | Thanks for the diagram Dave. Are those cutouts round or are they "roof-top" shaped? Unfortunately, I only have one valve cover with the bumps in it, and it was quite mangled; but I was able to weld and straighten it out quite well. All the rest of my covers are flat, so I would need another one to go with it. (Mangled Dodge Hemi Valve Cover.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Mangled Dodge Hemi Valve Cover.jpg (221KB - 8 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | This is the color scheme & look I am considering for this car. (1956_DeSoto_Firedome_2_door_Hardtop2.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 1956_DeSoto_Firedome_2_door_Hardtop2.jpg (170KB - 8 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | I attempted to make a Dodge wire cover, but ultimately failed because quality control for the early "Red Ram" valve covers is quite poor. This wire cover that I tacked in place, won't work well on any other valve cover. I tried my untouched wire covers on four different valve covers (all Red Ram embossed) and they were all a little different. One valve cover had the lug mount bent over quite a bit, so I straightened it, only to find that it's necessary to bend it in order to get the wire cover on because of where they welded the lug to the valve cover! Also, putting the wire covers on the left side of the car gives you good room for your wires to exit, but putting them on the right side gives you very little room. Very unimpressive to say the least!  So I give up on these and will just leave them tacked in place, so I don't lose the parts, until I actually need to use one; and make it custom fit that particular valve cover. I'll make both of these hacked up covers fit well on the passenger side of the car by either moving the hole or adding material after it, so I won't crimp my spark plug wires. I'm also going to have to remove a couple of the lugs on the covers and weld them in different positions to make them work. I hope the later valve covers are better designed & made than these are. (Dodge Wire Cover Tacked.jpg) Attachments ---------------- Dodge Wire Cover Tacked.jpg (178KB - 8 downloads) | ||
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| Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9647 Location: So. Cal | My new batwing air cleaner came in the mail today and actually fits on the engine well. It's beginning to look more like 1956. This was made as a reproduction for a rare '57 Chevy air cleaner, but is an exact replica of the '56 DeSoto air cleaner because they share the same carb spacing, and neither of them have ribs in the top of it. The '56 Chrysler air cleaner used a larger carb spacing with ribs on the top of it, but it turns out that the '57 dual quad has the smaller carb spacing like the DeSoto. I purchased one that can swivel the right side element on an offset to avoid hitting the heater, as it looks like that's what DeSoto used. They were supposed to have included a "V" emblem with it, but didn't include it. Fortunately, they didn't drill holes in the top for it. I would rather not run oil as an air filter, but I don't know what can be done with these without cutting them apart. Does anyone know of a paper filter alternative for them? (56 Firedome 392 Batwing Air Cleaner.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 56 Firedome 392 Batwing Air Cleaner.jpg (222KB - 7 downloads) | ||
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