COE 1941 Ford COE build

More experiments not working out as planned... I am in the process of enlisting some help on widening the fenders 2.5". I've mocked them up and the extra overall truck width along with lowering the front end 2" looks very nice. I drove the truck this way and there are no ill effects from lightening the torsion bar load and I think it handles better. It sure looks better lowered a bit and gets a little rake... All good so far...

Now... the door hinges... obviously they need to be extended to clear the wider fenders, but how much? I guessed 5/8" based on some crude drawings on the garage floor. I mocked the hinges up at +5/8. No luck.. The doors still hit the fenders. Of course, I could move them out more, but then they'll stick out even further from the body and it could get silly.

I'm wondering about steps in the rear side of the fenders like the 50s Chevy's have... Obviously, I'd have to reinforce underneath since the fenders are Wescott's fibergl***, but that would be pretty easy. I'm having the fenders modified anyway. The door hinges could remain stock. what's the downside here?

Door hits at +5/8" on the hinges

Truck Lowered 2" and fenders widened 2.5"

Lowered

Not lowered

 

Just a thought, hidden hinges and suicide the doors. I don't see the geometry with a front hinged door ever clearing a wider fender.

 

I read this and said "ohhhhh!!!!".... Out loud! It's a pretty brilliant idea. Then I looked at the truck.. If the doors were suicided, they'd basically occupy the space used to get into the cab when they are open. Even if they opened so far to be flush against the sleeper, it would be better, but you'd still be the width of the door further away from getting in. Make any sense?

 

How about articulating hinges? Kinda like hood hinges on a '53-56 F-100 ford hood. (Where did I get that idea?)

 

Change the shape of the door bottom! Ain't easy, but would solve the problem.
Gullwing the doors.

 

I really like the articulating idea... Not sure it's within my engineering or fabrication skills though... Which way does that work on your truck? Up then forward?

I thought about reshaping the door. First p*** I can only picture something that will be fugly. If I change just the problem area, the radius of the rest of it would just abruptly end and change direction. If I changed the entire radius it wouldn't match the fender's curve...

Damn it, Gullwing is apparently the winner!

I think I'll try to mock up the step and see how far into the fender I'd need to cut. If I can do it without too much hackery, it would solve several problems. The doors would work with the stock hinges and climbing into the truck would be 2 8" steps rather than 1 16" step. Neither my wife or I are getting any younger, I guess I have to think about things like that.

 

Some rough measurements make it appear the cuts into the fenders would be pretty large. I think they'd be unpleasant to the eye since the nice rounded, upper outer edge of the fender would be disrupted. Any one done Lambo doors on an early Ford?

 

I've seen one (Chevy) where the fender radius and door radius didn't match and it definitely looked like ****, so please don't go that route.
Another possibility to consider, would be a small reverse curve on the offending corner. Maybe a 3" radius tangent to the door edges. (I'm ***uming that the corner at the bottom of the door is the point of interference) I did this on my Dodge sedan for a different look. My door is about a 6" radius.

 

Skier , look at the pizza COE site . He made his front fenders wider . Maybe you can get a hint .

 

I posted to his blog, but it was done 4 years ago... We'll see if he sees it... I did make some progress yesterday. Turns out my mocked up hinges with only 1 hole were not supporting the door entirely. The door was dropping when unlatched and I didn't notice it at first. I've since extended the two door side hinges and drilled all 3 holes in each and the door CLEARS the fender. It's close, but so is stock. I think I'll shave the fender extension from 2.5 to 2 1/4" and see what happens. I suspect it will be perfect and I can afford to spare the 1/4".

I did look at universal Lambo Door kits. Those units are pretty big and occupy the space in front of the door and under the front fender on a modern car. Of course, there is NONE of that space on the 1941 Ford COE. I know this modification would make some vomit in their mouths a bit. I was thinking more along the lines of the commotion Buford creates times about 100. He's an attention ***** already so why not blow people's minds even more when we open vertical Lambo doors to get out? Of course, I think he'd also need a "walk on" song too...

 

It's OK to investigate all the possibilities, but... Lambo doors work because the door is longer than it is high, yours is the opposite. I just walked out and looked at my Autocar, (I may have a similar problem even though they are suicide) rounding the bottom corner won't change the look much and will give you "easy to fab" room. I'm worried that extending the hinges 2 1/2" will make your truck look like a wingnut.

 

Wingnut!! BWAAHH!!! I'm keeping your suggestion in my back pocket! The hinges are only extended 5/8", the fenders are moved out 2 1/4".

 

All is well!! Hinges extended 5/8" and fenders widened by 2 1/4". Front end lowered 1.5-2". Doors open and close pretty much the same as they did before any changes.

 

The wingnut thing is hardly even noticeable. He he!

 

Sorry haven’t been on here for a while and just saw your post. We only extended the fenders 1.5” and didn’t have any issues with the doors hitting the fenders. Glad to see that you got it worked out. The truck is looking great.

 

That is great info for me at this point Dough Boy... I soon want to make a decision as to what ch***is i will transplant my cab onto and those dimensions allow me more choices.

Going to visit your ongoing build site now... always has that "Wow!" factor.

 

Yup... WOW Dough Boy... truly a feast for the eyes and design, ingenuity and execution of all contributors are excellent. I may not need to do it, but if so your efforts to produce the cast iron look proved to me it is feasible for an item I need to restore.

I can see some of us may need to drive six hours or more for a pizza just to look at the finished project!

 

Any progress Rick? Out of the blue I had an idea for your truck from way out in left field this morning, might be the perfect year round NH truck.....
Eli

 

Some progress... Fenders widened 2.5". extended door hinges 5/8". I farmed out the FG work to a guy that gave me a very fair deal and did a far better than expected job! It all works, although the driver's door is VERY close and may need some tweaking. I have no idea what those tweaks might be yet. The door alignment is quite good as is and front-to-back in the opening is already cheated to the rear... I'll have to noodle on this a bit.

I'm working on the bar stock supports for the fenders. The guy that did the FG work suggested this.

That back of the cab is cut out and matches the sleeper. The whole mess is bolted back together and seems to work as I planned. Gl*** panels for engine viewing also all set... I'll have to get some pics ...

Car show July 4th.

What's your evil plan, Eli?

 

I froze my *** off in Feb 1975 in New Boston, New Hampshire at my moms house while on Navy leave. Two months prior I was able to do donuts on a local lake in my '70 SS Chevelle so I know you New Hampshire folks get some serious cold weather. This little adaptation should let you go wherever you want.

 

that's great!!!! Just needs skis on the front...

 

Really, I haven't posted anything since June?? Oh the shame!!

I haven't been entirely slacking, but I do need to post some new pics of the lowered front end, the widened fenders and the sleeper all bolted in place and open to the cab. Oh OK, I have been slacking..

My wife says a rear window in the sleeper is next on the list. Who's to argue? I've found that a sliding rear window is available for a 1956 F100 that looks about right. I'm not sure if it's completely flat or not.... Eli?? But the dimensions are about right at 50x11.

I would need to figure out how to "flange" the sleeper raw edge of the cutout so the new slider can be flush with the back, outer wall of the sleeper.. Are there tools for that??

Here's a pic...

 

BTW: I started a new job back in May at 1A Auto.com. We are an internet parts business. Need parts for your daily driver or carpet for the cl***ic muscle car? Look us up. Yeah, what could be better? A Business ****yst gig in the auto parts industry!

 

Regular back gl*** for a '56 F100 is flat. That said, if you could find back gl*** from a '56 big window it would look cool if it fits. A company called Mid Fifty F-100 Parts has a conversion kit too. With your metal skills it should be easy.

 

WOW! That '56 big back window would be cool... I think I might have needed to size the sleeper for it beforehand and it looks like the '56 cab narrows as it approaches the roof where the sleeper remains constant. I suspect the stock gl*** would not fit.

I'm tossing around "flanging" ideas in my head. I'd love a handheld bead roller type thing to make the flange to accept the sliding rear window, but the closest I've seen is a panel flange tool and that's way too shallow. I know I can "make" a separate flange off the truck and rivet it to the sleeper cutout but not sure how good that would look.

 

I just realized I had been absent here during a summer adventure with Buford. He was pressed into his first towing duty with a newly configured radiator shroud, a trailer I had never towed before with a boat on it I had never seen. What could go wrong?!?!?

Well..... First up was hitting the highway with the empty trailer and watching the temp gauge climb.... FAST!!! Ok.. We'll take secondary roads... Temp stayed OK, not great, obviously my attempt to not have the electric fans run on the highway by scooping air from under the truck was not working. We were picking up the boat in Podunk, NH and I decided I needed to do something before adding a couple thousand lbs to the trailer.. Only store around was a "Family Dollar", plastic kitchen trashcan, duct tape and pocket knife to the rescue. This improved the airflow. Extra points to my buddy that suggested we "Take the hood off" in typical Roadkill fashion.

Next up, load the boat onto the trailer and watch the *** end of the COE drop like a rock... Hmmmm... The trailer doesn't match the boat and the tongue weight is huge. Drag the boat back on the trailer bunks.. ok... move truck, what's the dragging noise? Oh, the rear tires are hitting the flatbed crossmembers... hmmmm... Shed some more tongue weight.

OK, We're on the road now!!!! Gee, temp gauge is still climbing.. But if I baby it then it seems to do ok... Secondary roads the whole way... But the larger hills on those roads still made the temp climb to the point of pulling over a few times. It was a SLOW ride home, but we made it...

Next day, I added some more shroud and reconfigured it a bit and the truck runs nice and cool now.

Anyone need a nice white kitchen trashcan with the bottom cut out?

 

Wish I'd realized where you were. I'd have given a holler. The wife and I just whirled thru NE the past couple weeks for our 20th.
Landed in Boston, couple days there staying in Dorchester, rented a car and started running. First up to Portland, Maine. Home based after that in Lee, M***. Hit upstate NY, RI, VT, NH, ... seven states in all - I honestly lost track of all we did. I was just focused on having my brain turned off for a while. Hemmings was pretty cool. Super swell fella visited with us there and let my wife sit in the convertible 40s Buick.
Everyone along the way apologized for the bum foliage, but for a couple Okies, it was far nicer than anything we were accustomed to!
JML

 

Sorry that didn't happen.. Would have been cool to meet face to face.

 

I looked around at rollup rear windows like the Toyota pickup and Sequoia have, but they are too wide. The Ford Sport trac had one too, but it was only partial, looks modern and isn't really the right shape of dimension.