Projects 348 powered 40 Ford sedan

Thanks Kan, the 'enthusiasm' comes and goes, hence the 10 year build..

 

Not soon Walt, filling the firewall, painting chassis rails, just to mention a few things before the motor goes back in, and its not wired, so no juice to to turn it over or spark. Also think I should take the heads off, have a look, make sure its all o.k.possibly replace the rings and hone the bores. Although it moving, its really tight, so better safe than sorry. If you have any suggestions on the best way forward, i'd appreciate the input.

 

So all the holes filled( apart from a few just under the cowl, need to find out what they’re for...) . The pressing at the top of the firewall has always bugged me, why the ‘wobbly’ bit on the drivers side? So I’ve changed it to match the passenger side. I didn’t want to cut the hole pressing out, thinking that welding just the new ridge in wouldkeep the heat close to the ridge, hopefully reducing warpage. But, this left a lot of the wobbly pressing. Luckily I managed to hammer it all flat, so smaller hole and less heat.
Any tips on how to remove the surface rust? It’s fairly pitted. I’m thinking about using some of the Eastwood rust remover, any one had any dealings with it?
https://www.frost.co.uk/evaporust-g...MItcz3s6Dt5gIVDLTtCh3bUwkIEAQYASABEgLc__D_BwE

 

Neil, back in the day when we were a lot younger we would fire engines on the floor to see if they would run. Many had sat around for a long time but we wanted to hear them run before spending a lot of time and effort. Have you tried to spin it over using the starter with the plugs out? No gas no ignition just to see if it cranks over better. I would pull the valve covers so you could see the valve train. I have in the past built an engine rack to support the engine so I could run in fresh engines with a temporary radiator and exhaust. Might consider that as an option.

 

I like your firewall modifications . It's my experience that sandblasting cleans the surface the best. You still will have the pits though. Sanding to smooth metal works well when you are working the heavy gauge metal such as the firewall. Then body work it with fillers.

 

So, I want to run gauges on the firewall, vacuum, oil pressure and tach ( fuel pressure will be on the back carb), but I’m wondering about placement. One of these has a larger tach, and two have a smaller tach. 2nd pic places the smaller tach in the middle of the firewall. Reason for larger tach is that it’s cheaper than a smaller one that I would then have to have a new face made for to match the other two...opinions please.

 

Neil, are you running a heater? If so, might get tight. Think I would vote for the DS install with the larger tach in the center..

 

Ah, good point. The tach in the center would have to be the smaller size, 2 5/8? to fit in the stock round stamping, but that is the one i'm leaning towards. Thanks for taking the time to respond

 

I like the way your going. Tell us a bit more about your 348, there were so many variations over it’s short (1958-1961) manufacturing life. Block, heads, intake, compression ratio, cam, etc. I have one in the ‘31 A in my avatar. Basically a 280 hp version with some upgrades (stock 9.5:1 ratio, bigger intake valves, cam, etc.).

 

I had the same issue on my coupe. Custom Auto Radiator in N.J built a baffle in the top tank to redirect the coolant to the other side of the core. Problem solved.

 

That would have worked as well, but I think I've ended up with it in a better location, it would have been really close to the side of the hood where it was. You're 40 looks great, bet its good to have it driving!

 

Mines a late 58, so going by the numbers, the slightly better heads for cooling, and no rope rear main seal, apart from that stock, but as its now out, i may sneak a mild cam in....

 

Mine is similar. I put in the 0902 cam from Show Cars, which is a mild solid lifter one. Lots of opinions on cams for those engines, but many say only .458 lift with the low compression pistons and our heads unless you want to do some work. I went pretty conservative, but that solid lifter sound is great.

I went with a 5-gauge cluster and will put the tach on the steering column.

Also, if you’re going to pre-lube the engine before firing it (I gather it hasn’t been run in a while) you’ll need a w-motor specific tool or a modified old distributor. The shaft for SBC and BBC are quite a bit different than the w-motor shaft and won’t do the job. I got mine at, wait for it.... Show Cars.

Enjoy.

 

you've done some nice work and that 348 ought to pull you along just fine. I have one myself; it is in case the flathead in my pickup doesn't work out...… so far it's garage art.

 

Decided to mount the gauges on the passenger side, as my thinking is the fuel pressure gauge and carb linkage will be on that side, so doesn’t make sense to put them on the other side. Think I’m going for the two smaller and 1 larger layout. As far as heater, the original ‘Alvin’ would have to be in the middle to distribute air, but it’s huge, so I’ll be looking at smaller options. The decision to mount on the passenger side meant that I needed a bit more room, so this time a pressing had to go, which actually matches the drivers side. It’s cold and damp here at the moment, everything starts rusting in 24 hours, hope to get all the firewall cleaned up, de rusted and epoxied this weekend, when the temp will reach a giddy 11 degrees...

 

It’s now Feb, I got the remaining rust of the firewall and finally in epoxy, can’t believe what I thought would be a weekend’s work has taken almost a month of spare time !

 

Quick little update, all the Gauges arrived for the firewall, and after weeks of pontificating about where to put them, and a further two hours today deciding on there exact layout, they’re in. I decided to put them on the top of the firewall, as they are most visible there, and this side is just above the oil pressure outlet in the block, so nice and short for the mechanical gauge pipe run.
I’ve also dropped the engine and bellhousing back in so I can plumb and check the clutch operation, as it’s all a little bit ‘made up’, I’d rather know it works now than doesn’t work when the cars together.
With all this ‘social distancing’ going on, I’m trying to gather as many parts as poss so that I have something to do when the big lockdown comes. Weird times eh..

 

Love it

 

Times two ^^^^^

 

Small update, made myself a ‘Fuel block’. I was going to put the pressure gauge in the back carb banjo, but it stuck out a long way, and wanting to run hardline up the firewall, I decided to have a fuel block. Space is really tight where I want to put it, none of the aftermarket ones would fit, so only option was to make it. Solid hex brass bar, made a couple of solid brass ‘extensions’ for the gauge and flexi hose fitting to allow adequate thread for them to seal. Silver solder it all, drill, tap, clean and fit. Pretty pleased with how it turned out.

 

Looks slick!

 

Very nice!

 

Looks great.

 

Ya Looks great!!!

 

Well done Neil. Looks great.

 

Few updates, I’ve now decided to pull the body and have the chassis blasted, which will also allow me to ain’t the underside of the floor properly, but I’d like to get the small amount of rust repair done before hand, so I’ve started replacing the tool tray, but got distracted, and modified the rear bumper irons to tuck the rear bumper in.. much better.

 

The tool trays not so easy. You can only buy them for coupes, and despite the advice on the labels, ‘slight modification’ is some what of an understatement. As you can see, it’s completely the wrong shape, and about 5 inches too short.
I started by making the rear body mount holes, so that it always went back in the same place during the many trial fits. I then made a cardboard template of the bit that’s missing, transferred that to some simple Hammer forms, and made the missing bits. A bit of bending, trimming etc, and I had the new sides tacked on. Next is the centre, the radius on the sides needed to be tighter, and despite repeated hitting with a large object, they wouldn’t stretch enough, so I cut them to allow enough movement. Once I had the rough shape, I added a bit into the bottom of the tray, but decided that the warpage there would be crazy, so cut all the bottom out next to the curve, and tacked in one piece. Then made up a new edge to drop down to the tail pan, and tiged it all up. A bit of cleaning up to do, but pretty pleased with the outcome . Next is repairing the rear inner arches, making new pieces around the bumper irons, and replacing the rear balance/tail panel. Pictures are kind of in order, something a never get right on here. Also added a pic at the bottom so you can see how it starts.

 

I'd say well done. I used one of those on my coupe and it still needed rework.

 

Working on the tool tray braces today. They’d rusted out on the body mounts, so the bottom needed replacing. After messing around with a wood hammer form to check my theory, I made a larger one out of metal, and formed the bottom part of the braces, and tig’d them on. Pretty pleased with how they turned out. Pics didn’t post in the order I intended, or the right way up! But I think you can see what went on

 

Nice job. I'm always impressed by what can be done with a bench vice and ingenuity. I've never quite made a hammer form, but I think I'll have an opportunity on my truck.