Hot Rods Bringing my 39 back to life

With the firewall cleaned up I decided to give it a coat of paint. The day I got the 39 I new it would have a white firewall. Still trying to do things on a budget, Instead of going to the DuPont or PPG paint stores, I went to tractor supply. I had bought some black tractor and implement paint there years ago. I put it on the front half of the frame and it really turned out goo. Actually the gallon has done 3 frames and I still have half the can left. I put it on with a brush but it smooth's out like it was sprayed and turns rock hard. Looking tin the Paint section there I found White tractor and implement paint by Majic. It really sprayed great, and with the quart of white the reducer and hardener it all came in at 45 bucks. Sprayed out nice and really leveled out. The motor is just about ready for paint and the trans is all cleaned up ready for reassembly. Ill paint the feet of the Firewall black when I finish up painting the inside of the x member and the inner fender panels.

 

Looks great, Jason.

 

I'm a fan of white firewalls! Nice.

 

Thanks @Dan Hay I really dug how the one on your Tudor turned out!

 

Its been awhile since I put any kind if update in here. kids and job always seem to take priority over the cars so progress has slowed up a bit. but now that Christmas is passed I have been able to get some more time on the 39.

I had a few issues with the 39 firewall, I don't totally understand what happened, but what I think happened is the primer underneath the white paint either didn't harden all the way or the solvent in the white softened the primer up and it did this weird bleed through thing and then it had all these sags in it. just looked like shit. I am by no means a painter, but that was not gonna cut it. So I let the paint harden from August till Thanksgiving. I figured that would be time enough for it to harden and be able to sand it smooth and not have the issues i had before. I had my younger son give me a hand and we blocked it all back down to spray it white again. Its not perfect, but i think it look pretty good and is a ton better than it was.

 

Looks good, Jason. I like white firewalls!

 

Once the paint stuff got handled it was time to get on to the motor. i had got a motor from a buddy of mine that was a much better core than any 283's that i had, so I started tearing it down. The block was way better that the 283 that was in the 39 so I'm using it along with the forged crank and rods from the original 283 that was in the 39 when I got it. After it was stripped down I took it to Jimmy's Engine Service in Lanexa Va to have them check out the block and go ahead and get it bored to clean up the cylinders. I talked to Fellow Hamber John Mullen who works at Jimmy's yesterday and they got the block all cleaned up and bored out .040 over. Gotta take the rods and crank there this weekend so they can finish up the rotating assembly set up for me. Here are some pics of the motor and the pretty sad state of the bearings...... Pay no attention to the cast crank in the bed of the truck, that one was just on its way to the crank shelf at Dads shop.

 

While I was on the subject of motor stuff, I figured I would get my gauges all cleaned, tested and ready to be installed for once the motor is together and in the car. I love the fact that the Temp gauge and the gauge panel are the ones that were in the car when i got it and were installed when the 283 was originally put in it, just a little cleaner now... the oil and volt meter were from my gauge stash, the original gauges were toast.

 

Also fell into a great score of parts for the 39 a few weeks ago. A friend of mine had sold his 39 coupe to some one that was taking all the "old timey hot rod stuff" out, because he was building a street rod. So i was able to scoop up his non wanted parts.....

Scored a fresh built tri power with 94 carbs and all the linkage, a set of Vette valve covers and a rebuilt 39 Banjo with new 40 hubs and 40 drums, all new brakes, and a 3.54 gear in it! The rear is getting directly swapped into the 39 this weekend and the tri-power will top the 283 once its all back together. Should sound real good with the 097 cam through 55 exhaust manifolds and the Brockman Mellowtones on the shelf for the new exhaust!

 

Got a 36 frontaxle an wishbone awhile back nd I'm now soaking perch bolts and starting to work them out. Once I get the axle out I have another 36 axle that is gonna get dropped and I'll swap the whole thing into the 39. Should sit just right with a dropped axle and the New Posies rear spring.

 

That's good progress out in the cold.

 

weather has been decent the last week or so. The standing plan is to have the Banjo swapped out and all the brake lines plumbed and maybe even fluid in them... Doing the rear brake lines is so easy when the whole banjo is out, since they run down the wishbones anyway.

 

I hope you have success getting the perch bolts out....

 

Yup. i'm doing the same thing. Trying to complete the full roller but i need to paint my motor first. I have to find a tri power setup like yours man. Nice score!

 

If you are running a small block chevy I have a nice complete tripower on the shelf with rochesters that I am going to be listing soon. was gonna put it on my 51 chevy, but I decided to put dual quads on it instead. let me know if your interested.

 

I have an idea for building a tool that will pull them out. I'm going to try to make it this weekend. if it works, then I would be able to heat the axle wear the perch bolt is then use an impact to drive the puller screw and pull them out. I figure, if the bolts are hot and I put tension on them, that maybe the will streatch and thin up some making them easier to pull, rather than heating them up and driving them out making them into a giant rivet...

 

I ran out of time over the week end to get the banjo swopped in but I did get it cleaned up and put back together. Once it warms up a little bit I can get a coat of paint on it and swap it into the car. Changed out the original driveshaft seal, and cleaned out the torque tube. A toilet brush tapped to long dowel sure makes cleaning out the inside of the torque tube easier.
If you have never replaced the front seal in one of these, make sure that you remove the race for the drive shaft bearing and pull the seal out the front. I use a slide hammer with a flat edged hook on it to pull the seal out. If it is the original seal it will be a pain in the ass but it will come out. when installing the new one, it has to be driven into place almost 4 inches, I use an old KD tool bearing race driver for 12 bolt chevy rear carrier bearings, its the exact right size and length.
Hopefully I can get some paint on it this week, and then get the new brake line made up for it, to be able to install it in the car this weekend. Once I get it installed, I can change the wheel studs out, since the hubs were re-drilled in small chevy pattern, and I need the original 5 1/2 inch bolt pattern for my 16 inch Ford wheels.

 

Pictures of the progress.

 

I also found this nice looking redneck lock nut job on the pinion when I was cleaning it up, lets hope this holds....

 

all assembled ready for some paint.

 

any updates / progres?

 

I have a bunch of pictures and a whole lot of progress done, I have just really slacked on updating this. I will get it all updated this weekend. nearly ready for complete reassembly, just need to get a few things painted and start screwing it back together.

 

I have a few min on my lunch break at work today and I have a few pics I can up. The floor was way softer than I expected it to be and well the rockers were pretty hosed up too. So I decided to just replace all of them and put new body mounts every where in the process, and hell while I'm in here I might as well clean the frame up and paint it all right.....and so the snow ball begins......

 

Once that was all done.......I could start getting the new rockers and floors put in. The supports that I put at the bottom of the B pillar are actually 35 36 ford open car a pillar supports, but they looked like they would fit the bill well so I put those in.

 

Nice work nice build.

 

Also I had the task of taking care of the giant butchered hole in the dash that some one made for a radio at some point. I tried to find any type of radio block off plate that I could just weld in there, then my dad made the coment, you should just put some gauges there and fill the hole that way.....that got me thinking and this is what I came up with. I really like how it turned out and have very little finish work to do before paint.

 

ill get some more pictures and updates goin this weekend.

 

And the 283 is all ready to be assembled with all new guts and a forged crank. just waiting till I get all the really dirty work done in the garage before I clean it and assemble it, its all soaked down with GIBBS in the bag on the stand.... Also had my buddy Doug Walker rebuild the trans for me, he did a killer job, its too nice to sit in the garage till I get its in, so it in my living room.

 

And I was lucky enough to get Jack Fuller to drop a 36 front axle I had for me. Ill swap all the front end out for an un-split 36 front wishbone, 36 front axle dropped by jack and a new posies front spring. Jack did a killer job and the profile looks awesome .

 

Also picked up a few other goodies for the 39 as well. I struggled with what to do with the steering wheel, since a 39 standard wheel is pretty dam ugly looking, till I found this wheel being sold by another HAMBer and picked it up. Major improvement, just need to paint it with the rest of the parts for paint.