Hot Rods BChrismer's Survivor '40 Ford Convertible

Never seen anyone paint the cylinders or the pistons before.

 

That's funny, Mike!

Meeker showed up at the house with his trailer sometime around 10:30ish. We got the convertible loaded on the trailer and he took of while I shuffled cars around in the garage and then made a quick run to Braum's for a Jr double cheeseburger. It was 11:30ish by the time I got to Meeker's shop.

We unloaded the car, dragged it inside the shop to position it for the 2 post lift. Then I proceeded to tear stuff apart. I got all the stuff disconnected from the dead flatty when Meeker told me we needed to wrap up by 2:30.

Before we can pull the motor, I need to pull the floorboards and transmission tunnel. I find it much easier to do with the floor out. I also need to pull the battery box out and take the horn off of the inner fender panel, as both of those will interfere with the exhaust manifolds on the 283.

Meeker and I talked. He said he's going to be at the shop for a while after church tomorrow, but tomorrow happens to be my birthday, and my daughters and their guys are coming over at some point, and I don't know when that will be.

Mike also said he was planning on being at the shop on Monday. We should have the flatty out on Monday, the bellhousing, flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate on the 283. I'm using my Powerglide adapter with the Offenhauser adapter to Early Ford transmission.

Depending on how quickly I can get that stuff set up, my stretch goal is to set it in the car and have the transmission bolted back up and the front engine mount bolted down to the biscuits. While under the car, I did notice I need to reroute the front brake line as it is currently fed through the same hole the driver side exhaust pipe needs to route through, and RIGHT IN THE WAY!

I'm hoping on Tuesday, I can reroute the brake line, and move it so it is away from the exhaust path, and wire it up enough to make it run and move under it's own power. Then we can take it for exhaust.

 

Well, crap...I forgot to give updates, which I have no idea why I even TRY to guess on the timeline for my projects, but...after 8 days...the 283 is in and running.


Rolled out of the back of the garage waiting for it's ride to Meeker's shop

While most of the old wiring is decent, there are several wires that are beyond repair, so I decided to start fresh. Out it came!

And so did the burnt up flathead!

Getting ready to put the Powerglide ring, flywheel, pressure plate and clutch.

Motor is sitting in the frame, but there is a problem!!!

The extremely cool looking adapter that I have sets the front of the engine about 2" too high, leaving NO room at the back of the engine for my passenger side valve cover or to even drop in the distributor. I pulled the mount off and swapped it for an old Hurst mount that Jim Pike had, and that solved the problem.

I failed to get any additional pics from Tuesday afternoon until the "first run" video.

Here's a video of the "first run"
https://youtube.com/shorts/kDewnpmgWjI?si=O5xoVyRYh93d8e5X

 

Very cool Bret!

 

Sweet! That’ll be a blast!

 

Called the exhaust shop this morning to see when he has time to do the exhaust. He says he's booked solid this week and most of next week. The convertible won't be making the St Louis Hot Rod Hundred, but that does still allow time to get it finished up before the Midwest Forty Ford Gathering.

I'm gonna head up to Meeker's, tomorrow, to put the hood back on it and get it moved out of his shop to give him his floor space back.

 

Didn't have time to do anything else except put the hood back on, snap a few pics, and move the car out of Mike's shop today. It was cool to actually motor around under its own power.

Before taking it to the exhaust shop, I will need to adjust the clutch linkage just a bit. I need a little more engagement before it hits the floor.

 

How about a brand & part number for the upper & lower radiator hoses ?

 

Upper: Gates 23234
Lower: Gates 21505

Alternator bracket is an Alan Grove and I am using a Gates 7508 belt.

Also, when we removed the old fuel line and replaced it with 3/8" line, I used an ATC 3/8" x 1/4" compression fitting a few inches outside of the tank. I got it at the Ace Hardware store (mfg part number: 6JC120110701050) That seems to work like a champ.

The radiator, I believe is a "Champion" 3 row that I bought on E-bay back in 2020, for $140. It was intended to go into the '40 stake truck, but I never got around to doing anything with it until now. ;-)

 

Thank you.

 

Man, I was hoping you could make it to St. Louis. But, you are sure getting close.

 

Oh...and "YES", the carburetor is mounted backwards, so the linkage is on the passenger side. When we did the initial swap in the '40 stake truck with my '58 283, I didn't want to change from the stock throttle linkage. After a little measuring, I realized if I used the lower hole on the throttle linkage, I could turn the carb around backwards and it would give me full throttle travel with the stock linkage. The truck still had enough power to bust the teeth of the 2nd gear, so I would assume that it didn't impact it's performance too much.

 

Yeah, but then I get stupid ideas in my head of rewiring what I have already rewired using only ORANGE wire so at least it sorta goes with the Chevy Orange 283. I was able to find some 10ga and 14ga "marine" wire for a fairly reasonable amount, and I would only need enough to do any of the "exposed" wiring coming through the stock firewall grommet and inside the engine compartment.

I called @cvstl the other night and asked him what he thought of that idea and he didn't try to talk me out of it. LOL

 

Well, at least if the wires were all orange, they would be easy to troubleshoot…

 

Man you’ve done so many sbc to 40 ford swaps I think you’d have it done before I’d find the parts numbers lol.

I ever luck into a 40 I’ll drop it and a Chevy off at your place and you can call me when it’s ready lmao

 

I run a WCFB 4bbl backwards on my 286 flathead in my '40. Been that way for years and works great.

Dave

 

Glad I am not the only one who is weird like that. ;-)

 

Such a smart move, I’ve been cutting and welding the Z bars to move the throttle to the correct side. Turning the carb around seems like a no brainer.

Do you just run an electric choke?

 

My coupe and truck both have Edelbrock 1406 electric choke carbs. This Rochester 4gc came with the '57 283 that is in the car and still has a heat riser choke that isn't hooked up. I do have an electric choke set up on my '58 4gc, but it has a 5/16" fitting on it, and the '57 had a 3/8", which is what we ran from the tank to the carb. I'll likely swap carbs whenever I take the time to grab a 3/8" fitting that will work in the '58 carb and wire up the electric choke.

 

Awesome

 

Good call on the backwards carb thing. I did the same to keep the throttle on the correct side additionally it put the fuel inlet right where the the old flathead one was. I also converted the choke to manual as mine was the divorced choke with the coil in the manifold.

 

not sure you can show any less than three rochester 2 bbl's --this IS the hamb

 

Congrats Brett! I knew you would get it all sorted out!

 

Looking good! Hope to see it on the road soon and thanks for posting the hose numbers - I'm updating mine and and tired of doing the O'reilly's hose point and guess.

 

Chris,
Are you bringing the coupe down to Bartlesville for the Gathering?

 

I'd love to but it will be close... waiting on carb parts, rear gears to change, and fab a new pressure linkage for the B&M Hydro. Yesterday installed the upper radiator hose and it was a fit perfect! I have 3 from earlier years and not as close - great find! Excited to see the convert.

 

I called the exhaust guy today, explaining that I wasn't trying to push him, but because I am relying on Meeker and his trailer, I need to be able to coordinate with Meeker and him. He said he could get me in on Thursday the 25th. I told him I could do that, but it put me in a bind for trying to have it back for '40 Ford day.

He was pretty cool about it and told me in that case, let's do it on Thursday, the 17th, and asked if it took him through Friday, would that be OK, and I told him that would be FANTASTIC!

Looks like I'll be running up to Meeker's on Wednesday evening, adjusting the clutch, and dropping it off that evening so John, the muffler man, can have as much time as he needs.

Getting close to having this thing back on the road!!!

 

Fantastic!

 

That's great!