Projects 32 Ford 3 window build finish details

Hi Guys,
After starting on the transmission tunnel I am re-thinking the shifter. My all-time favorite car to shift is my 64 GTO. That's because I put a brand new Hurst shifter in it back in 1977. I still love the way that car shifts. I have decided to put a Hurst shifter in the 32. So I ordered a Hurst installation kit and have begun the project to switch it out. The shifter handle will likely be custom made. The Hurst has those two bolts to attach the handle which will make it easier. I will probably make a shifter handle from round stock and not use the rectangular Hurst one. I don’t think they had rectangular handles with the word HURST on them back in the late fifties. This will require the body to be off the car so I will get to this later.

So I moved unto the throttle linkage. I started tracing cardboard for the carb bracket.



Then cut and drilled.



Then I did the same for the throttle cable bracket.


Some cutting, drilling, bending and grinding. Finally a carb and throttle bracket that work smoothly and fit with my new Lokar throttle linkage.


Next I take it all apart and flatten it out on my Dake Press so I can trace and make a final sketch.


Then some designing to make it look less industrial and more Hot Rodish. This mock up was only .06 thick so I could modify it easily. The real one will be .12 thick. My wife will draw it up in CAD and my son will cut out on the laser . If all works and looks good I will paint it silver to blend in.



Anything you guys have learned from throttle cables and bracket?? I did find some info on the HAMB and internet and applied as much in the design as I could.

Greg

 

Why paint it silver ? Make it from stainless and shine it up.
Will look much nicer.

 

Blue One, post: 11739524, member: 105140"]Why paint it silver ? Make it from stainless and shine it up.
Will look much nicer.

Good point! However, the laser shop where my son works does about 99.9 % steel. If I can do SS I certainly will!!

 

Looks good, but that blueprint is killer.
That's half the job.

 

The center of your brake and clutch should be about 7" off the floor. I built three Ford 3 windows all with 3 pedals. Two with under floor pedals and my current one one with hanging pedals. Your left side kick panel will have to be as tight to the left as possible, so you operate the clutch pedal.You wont have any trouble getting in and out of a 3 window with suicide doors. Make sure you remove the package tray, you can move the seat all the way back.

 

Thanks guys.
The package tray is gone. I am waiting for a new seat frame from Glide before I finalize gas pedal, steering wheel, etc.
Now I am unto the clutch and brake pedal. Great timing on comments above.
Sorry for the close photos you have to look at them a minute to get your bearings.
The pedals are 7 inches off the floor


and about 6 1/2 from floor by firewall.


Clutch pedal is about 4 1/2 from the side. So should be OK.

I have an issue with my brake pedal that will need attention. It hits the clutch fork before it travels all the way to the floor.( see where pencil is pointing) Gotta fix that. I need to redo fork anyways, you can push clutch in with one finger. I think fork is too long.
Greg

 

go to work with a belt sander on the anvil...

people kill for those now days.....

 

That anvil is beyond belt sanding, it needs to go on a blanchard grinder......for about an hour... lol

 

Found a neat little spring loaded throttle pedal in a boneyard from a "ugh!" Toyota pickup for ten bucks. Needs a little tweaking but is very compact and two bolt install. Good,firm pedal feel and double safe with carb return spring. Sorry, I don't remember the year.

 

You want about 6:1 pedal ratio for manual brakes. Your clutch fork looks a little long, are you sure you are getting disengagement ? My 1st was mechanical clutch linkage, then wet to hyd. on the next two. Mechanical is foolproof. You could move the cross shaft bel crank behind the pedal assembley and tighten

 

Something happened on the post above.
Make sure your brake M/C. bottoms out completely with out fluid, or your dual brake system won't work.

 

Watch the pedal ratio on the gas pedal.
It's real easy to get that ratio backwards.
If you have 1-3/8 movement at carb from idle to wot make sure the spoon moves at least 2x that much. 4" works better.

A Touchy gas pedal in a over powered and under weight car is not good, and to that cramped Foot room & you can get in trouble real quick

 

32 Vicky with a Hemi - Thanks for info on gas pedal. That has been my concern, a touchy pedal. I will shoot for 4 inch travel.

I have been working on the 32 trying to eliminate the brake pedal hitting the clutch fork. You have all heard of the AMBR award. Well if there is an award for the ugliest clutch fork, I think I will win it. After many hours of thought on a solution I decided the best is to modify the clutch fork as shown below by adding a dip in the fork and shorten it also. The dip will look like the cardboard mock up.(except it won't touch the exhaust pipe) I will get a 3/8” thick piece of steel cut out and weld into place. I considered a bell crank but there is not room because the steering linkage takes up all the space. I could maybe use a hydraulic clutch but I think simple is better so I will try the modified fork first. I tried to think of anything that could go wrong with this design and interfere with brake pedal. I think if it fails it will fall down and out of the way of the brake pedal. It is ugly but I will try this solution first.



In other news I got my new Glide seat frame and foam. I did get the original seat with the car but when I sat in the car my head was too high. (no no not that kind of high I mean my head almost hits the sheet metal roof) I will keep the old seat and frame for future use.

I must say I was really impressed with the quality of the glide product. I did not have to ream or egg shape any holes during assembly. They marked the hole you are supposed to use with a white marker and the seat adjusters work really nice!





The people at Glide said the seat will be lower and it seems it will be. I am happy about that. After I get the seat installed I can finish the steering column and get it in the best location for me. For sure I will have to change the handle to change seat angle. It will not cut it for a late fifties hot rod.
I will cut it off and find something else. Maybe a handle that matches the cowl vent opening handle would be cool.


The bottom folds up for storage. I cant put much under the seat but some thin things will fit.


and with foam


I just have to get a 1/4 X 2 inch steel brace welded in and it is ready to go.


Thanks for lookin!! Greg

 

I agree with the comments about the clutch fork being too long. In case you have not tried this?:

-push the clutch pedal down, then put trans in high gear, wheels off the ground, then put a bar through the front u-joint to see if it disengages, and "where" it does that.

if the driveshaft barely starts to move when pedal is all the way down solid, it would get somewhat better when the disc wears, but still not the right/ideal setup IMO

seat looks nice the way it goes back under the window...for long leg drivers.

-- If you can keep the lower steering column exit point as it is, that's awesome. I could not do that with my big Olds engine, and sometimes I "feel" the column if I need to hit the brake "quickly" for whatever reason. I don't have enough drive time yet, to get the feel of things yet.

my seat came from 31 Cadillac V-12, but the lower cushion too-tall springs I switched from those tall coils, to the more modern ribbon S-spring bands. I also had to cut down the lower cushion support wooden "sides" that hurt the back of my upper thigh getting in/out. My stock 31 Cad seat adjuster T knob is in the center down low barely seen in this pic

 

F& J - I believe the clutch disengages. But one could push the pedal easily with 2 fingers so it needed to be changed. I think I may have cut the steering hole in the firewall too soon and it might be too high. I think I might be at the limit of the borgeson universals. Time will tell. I like your wood sides on the seat. I plan to do that for mine. I got the original wood sides I can use for a pattern.

 

Mine is "ok", but the first time I had to scramble to hit the brake, I felt the side of my work shoe hit the column first...kind of a spooky feel that caught me off guard.

I had to cut those stock sides down almost 2" after the upholstery was done. The Cad had sides that ramped way up towards the front, so I basically made them level. They sure hurt before I did that.

.

 

The actual problem here is the pedal design. Although simple, Your current clutch pedal is what's used for a hydraulic clutch.



A set up like this one below incorporates the bell crank right into the pedals, drives the clutch fork from the inside of the assembly. Vs trying to cross the brake pedal arm's path-The brake pedal's axle is the clutch bell crank so the paths do cross but within the rotation about the axle. Now in and of itself, this pedal set up is more complicated than your current one but it makes 100 other things quite simple and more importantly correct.

 

Good info 31 Vicky with a hemi, Thanks

Do you guys have a style or brand of hydraulic clutch that you recommend??

I got a pile of receipts when I bought the car. I will look for the pedal receipt to see what brand or model it is. If I find out the brand, maybe they offer a ready made hydraulic system that is not too complicated.

 

31 Vicky has the correct approach. To get these cars to drive well you have to modify things. Three pedal cars take more effort, that is why so many automatics, (sissy sticks). If you have to change things, do it now in the construction phase. I prefer the clutch slave outside the bell housing. If you have a problem you don't have to pull the transmission. I modified a GM bellhousing, putting the clutch fork on the passenger side with outside slave. Freed up room for the brake pedal.

 

Hi Guys & Gals
AGO – Thanks for input on the clutch I am still thinking about a Hydraulic clutch. After reading your post I looked at my bellhousing to see if I could do a RH fork and noticed it looks like GM planned on a RH clutch fork. The bellhousing has a punch out for a RH fork.


I am at one of those stages on the project where you are busy researching and buying parts, reading HAMB threads to look for a solution to a problem, trying to find parts you need etc. This is fun but it seems the hardware progress has slowed down. I am still waiting for several laser cut parts (my son has to wait for the laser to be open at night for "government" projects) but I do have some progress to show. I got my new IDIDIT steering column. It is really nice and I am so far very happy with it! It is 1 3/4 diameter. I like how the wires exit the column below where the column drop will be so I can hide the wires. It has a head (bell shape at the top) to mate up with my steering wheel. That is the only fat part. ( I know hamber's hate fat columns and I do too.)


I talked to the people at ididit before I bought and they said I needed this horn kit. I will let you know how it works.


Now with the column I can get back to the steering linkage. I don't know......I am getting a baaad feeling I put the hole for the column too high in the firewall. I think I am at the limit of the borgeson universals. I will know when I install the brackets to mount the column to the firewall. Worse case I cut a new hole and weld up the old one.


On other fronts... I started to work on the alternator mounting when I noticed the water pump pulley doesn't fit. The pulley hits the water pump up by where the moon temp gage sits and at the bottom it hits the harmonic balancer.


Clearly I have the wrong pulley. If I space the water pump pulley out to match up with the lower pulley it is out to far to pilot on the 5/8's water pump shaft. So I went on a mission to find the right pulley. This is not easy! They don't give dimensions in the ads for pulleys. Does anyone know a good place to buy pulleys??? My pulley is 2 7/8 when I measure it like this;


Well not real exciting build stuff, but it is all the details that make these cars fun!!!
Greg

 

Im using a pete and jakes hydro pedal set up in my sedan.

 

I think it would be wise to drop your column in the firewall. That steering shaft looks too convoluted. SBC are easy to fit.You could machine a pulley spacer with an extended pilot. Or space out lower pulley.

 

ago - I think I may have to lower column. My first priority was steering wheel comfort and I pushed it to the limit to get steering wheel where I wanted it. This compromised the column exit on the firewall. No matter what I do it will be convoluted since the Fenton exhaust manifolds take up some valuable space for steering linkage compared to headers or cast manifolds.
After being a Pontiac guy for 40 years I always thought Chevy's were going to be easy when it came to stuff like pulleys...lol What ever I do I want little to no customization so if I am 1,000 miles from home and the water pump dies , I can just go to any auto parts store and buy an off the shelf replacement. I am going to look into a chevy long water pump next but fan clearance to radiator will be tight. Thanks for input, keep it coming. Greg

 

What is your plan for the old original seat? I have a friend looking for one. PM me if ya want to part with it. Thanks

 

Chief - regarding moving the clutch fork to the other side...Cut out the hole exact so that a factory arm boot fits, fabricate slave cylinder bracket to bolt to the block. There is another pivot ball blank spot under the trans on the pass. side. You need to drill and tap it like the driver's side. I don't recall the tap size but it should be available thru MSC or Grainger or ? I did 3 or 4 of them over the years, last in a '40 coupe a few years ago.

The fork you have is just plain too long and the clutch lever would better serve a small clutch master. Speedway has Chevy forks in a few styles.

 

+1 on moving the clutch fork to the other side. Also a shorter throw clutch fork. Slave cal. have limited travel.

 

On sbc the pulleys should be pretty cut and dry. Short water pump order a short water pump pulley. Is your harmonic balancer on all the way?

Most auto parts stores sell the spacer kit to align the water pump pulley. I believe it is Mr. Gasket brand. The kit comes with three spacers of different thicknesses.

If you can't find one retail let me know. I think I have a set of them laying around that I can give you. I don't know why I have one based on my statement above.

 

Its always a struggle to balance all of the factors between room, appearance, function, reliability, etc.

On your bellhousing, seems you might be able to do right side clutch fork. Chevy did have factory one that is right side and hydraulic: the 61-63 trucks with V8 had this. Getting hard to find, and sorry I don't have a picture handy. But its a cast iron bellhousing with a external hydraulic slave cyl. You know those square firewall mounted master cyls you see used a lot? Those are what goes with the same trucks, and have two outlets - 1 for brakes and 1 for clutch. You would not be using that, but the external slave cyl and bellhousing is a potential use for you.

I suspect your water pump pulley is for long water pump application. I don't know dimensions, but a short water pump application pulley is likely what you need.

 

We were like you and removed this ugly in your face Honda plastic. We put a hidden pull rod under the front edge of the seat base. We also made some covers like the original seat after biffing the ugly plastic Spring covers .
Come on Glide this ugly lever is the first thing you see when you open a 3W door , please put some effort into hiding it. Though the seat design is superb for comfort and storage.

 

X2. P&J worked well in my roadster.