Very recently I purchased this A 41 ford Tudor. I will tell you all the same thing I told the gentleman I bought the car from when he asked what my goal was I wanted to do with it, drive the shit out of it. The car has what looks to me like a 24 stud, and a 3 on the tree. It had one of those Amazon chinesium carburetors on it when I bought it. I immediately yarded that for one of the couple of holley 94s I have laying around. I still need to build the rest of the fuel system from the tank to the pump. Now that it's finally starting to be spring time here in Massachusetts I'm hoping to have that done this week. I have many things I want/ need to get done to it to make it roadworthy, I can't say it shocks me considering its 84 years old now. I'll be showing all that here Figured I'd start a build thread here, it'll give me more ambition to get the thing done. More to come very soon!
Thanks! Thank you, yeah checking the antifreeze is one of the 1st things I did lol. I'm trying to get this running properly now, have redone the fuel system. Someone had run rubber the entire length of the car. I was having this odd issue where it'd intermittently not pull fuel from the tank, I put a see through fuel filter on it and you could watch it pulsate just barely enough fuel to make the thing run, sometimes it would run out of fuel. I have replaced the soft line that was no longer soft with hard line. Now it seems to not pull fuel at all, my guess is maybe the pickup in the tank is no good, or maybe it doesn't like the lack of a gas cap on it.. maybe it's the Chinese fuel pump I am not quite sure. For whatever reason too the starter in it was basically falling out of it. I'm impressed that the thing would even crank over, or it didn't chip the teeth off the flywheel lol. Tightened the bolts on the starter problem solved.
Decided to pull the tank and stop being lazy, may have found part of the issue. Ordered a new tank and sender, should have it this weekend.
Just to clarify, Fuel systems need to have atmospheric pressure and a vent to be able to pull fuel. Think of it like a hamster water bottle. It would develop a vacuum above the fuel and not run out. Lacking a cap won't cause fuel flow issues. Late model stuff will throw a code but still run fine.
Got the new tank and sender installed this weekend, the bean runner is alive, took it for a test cruise up and down my road to check it, I noticed the front tires rub wicked bad, my guess is on the tube shocks someone has installed in the front. My car is on 15s, not sure the width of the wheel, with a 235 wide tire on them. I have what i assume is the original spare from the car which is a 16 with a 16-6.00 on it, is that what this should use for a stock wheel size? Also my next task will be to figure out why I have barely any brake lights when I step on the pedal.
235's are awfully wide for that car. I think 195's or possibly 205's would be much better for clearance.
Check for a clean ground at the taillights and check resistance in the wiring, most likely the wires are green under the insulation and would need to be replaced
All of this, plus check the interior of the tail light. It's called a reflector and it's probably pretty corroded and dirty.
I definitely agree, I'm definitely changing tire size in at least the front Thank you! Thanks, that's something I forgot to mention, I put a 49 plymouth bumper on the front of it, the chrome was a lot better than the bumpers that were on the car when I got it, not too sure how I feel about them yet though. I definitely will be doing this, probably going to replace the entire harness if I can, my guess so far is that it's the actual switch that is the issue as I do have running lights that are bright enough. The tail lights do work it just barely illuminates the bulb enough to actually see that they are doing anything, gonna have to go at it with the multimeter.
Howdy neighbor, 6.00-16 is stock for a '41 Ford. You probably know this: The '41-'48 Mercury is basically the same car as the Ford. At some point in this period, Mercs started coming with 15-inch wheels and 6.70-15 tires. Coker suggests a 205/75R15 as a replacement for the 6.70-15, if you want to stick with radials.
Check taillight bulbs. They may have inadvertently switched to 12V on a 6 volt system. Nice find on that '41, by the way !
That’s a nice buy, congrats. Hope you have found the problem with your brake lights. Does the tail lights work properly? As others have said, ground, proper bulb, is the wiring correct to the socket?
I did not know that I'll definitely look for those, thanks! Thank you both! After doing some electrical diag I think the issue is just the harness being old. Got a new harness for it and will be putting it in this week. Hopefully I have it on the road for the Fitchburg airport swap meet this upcoming month.
Cool car-sounds like the guy before you may have also ran the shit out of it. Glad you are getting things mastered and making it your own.
I like your plan. Driving them is the best way to enjoy them, whether to the grocery store, auto parts store or to work. Even with all their quirks and inconveniences they are more enjoyable than anything new.
Bean machine is on the road. Finially took it for its 1st real drive today. I think the car definitely needs a clutch, still need to install the taillight harness in it and redo some brake lines in it. Gonna change all the soft lines in it just for my piece of mind, probably will redo the oil filter lines on it too, simply because I don't like how whoever did it last had done it. I have a question for the more experienced than me, would it be easier to pull the trans off the back of the engine with it in the car or should I pull the motor out the front of the car? Car makes me very happy overall.
Congratulations! Nice way to enjoy any cool car! Drive it & change what needs & the things you want. Keeping it on the road while you sort it out.
The Jalopy Journal
