Projects Club Coupe+Business Coupe= 3 window :>)

George, Your three window is coming along. A friend of mine in California City, Ca is doin a version using a '41 Ford Business Coupe. I have checked in with him so don't know how he is progressing. Would be neat to see some build pictures.

Dave

 

Dave,
Coming along , yes...a few surprises STILL. I was running a 5/16 tap through all of the cage nuts used for body mounts in anticipation of the exciting last time ***embly. I am laying on the floor with my drill that I have the tap in and am steadily moving up the right side a hole at a time.
Everything is good until I slide myself under the body which is safely on 6 jackstands. While moving under the center of the car I look up and see that after 2 years, I have never managed to notice that the floor board supports cut off for the ****** tunnel still have ragged ends from the cut out with a torch. Keep in mind everything is looking ****oned up...super nice attention to detail and I am getting smug about being done with the nasty work. Well , I obviously can't leave that nonsense undone......used the cut off wheel and trimmed it up nicely. Slit the ends to enable a tapered flow up to the floor and proceeded to weld it up.
WHAT WAS I THINKING? I didnt even check the welder settings and blew a hole right through the floor. No issue, I'll just be careful while fixing this little hole...NOW AN INCH IN DIAMETER. I had to walk away. It's a simple fix but I was in a hurry and was just making things worse. ARGH!
Denver Dave is coming over to help me get the car to the exhaust shop Saturday morning. ( I am waiting on the "y pipes" for the exhaust cut outs to arrive)
Sometimes it seems like 3 steps forward, before 2 steps back.
Regards,
George

 

Denver Dave, Fatkoop and Petes Junk came over last Friday night and we loaded the coupe into Daves trailer for the Saturday morning trip over to Hanksville HotRods for an exhaust system. Hank opened up to let us drop off before he had a day with his family.
As promised, Hank's guys got started on the exhaust system Tuesday afternoon and I went by to see him with Pete and Nick (fatkoop) yesterday before lunch.

Hank gave us a shop tour which eventually led to the underside of my car. We discussed tubing size, muffler size and type as well as where the exhaust cut out y pipes would go. I have been concerned with how to seal the exhaust at the OEM 392 exhaust manifold and wanted to see how this would be handled. Hank shared with me the approach which was sound. He also shared with me the flange that would be used and I was a little concerned. There was nothing wrong with the flange EXCEPT, well....It was standard steel and the exhaust system is stainless. And then it has over sized slots to fit multiple center to center stud distances.
Now there is nothing wrong with this: BUT, I am concerned that there is simply too much play and think there should be clearance holes for the studs and not slots. Hank was very nice and said he would be happy to have them cut for me at the local water jet shop. He guessed it would take about a week as he didnt know what the shop schedule was at the water jet outfit. That would delay the project and screw up Hanks shop schedule and my desire to get the body back off for being painted.
Hank volunteered he had some 3/8ths stainless stock and he cut two blanks out with his plasma cutter. Nick chucked them up in his 4 jaw chuck and cut the holes for me. I stopped by after work and took them home to band saw the outline shape before using my Burr King sander with 40 grit NEW belts (twice) to get the perimeter done. The attached picture is the result and these were delivered back to Hanksville before work this morning. Thank you Hank, Thank You Nick and thank you Shannon. The wife didn't complain that I was in the shop late. smile.

It may not seem like much, but it was a big deal to make these stainless flanges overnight and keep the project on tract.

BTW, They fit very nicely. I have to thank Hank for being a great guy to deal with. There was nothing wrong with his approach. But he not only listened to the customers concern, he helped me in achieving my desired outcome and was genuinely committed to making me happy.
AWESOME!
George

 

Hi, everyone. This is a really neat car.

The front portion of the exhaust is finished, and we have begun mandrel-bending the tailpipes. After that we will fabricate the 304 stainless steel hangers and custom-bend, notch and TIG-weld the H-pipe crossover.

 

Picked my car up from Hanksville this morning. Thank you again to Denver Dave for the help and use of his trailer. I pulled the body off to get ready for starting her up tomorrow. It will be easier to access the distributor. It has to come out to use a shaft to spin up the oil pump for pre-lubrication.
I cut four bolts off to turn them into studs for mounting the electric fan. After I cut them off, I sanded them on the belt sander before a good wire brushing. After cooling them in a bucket of water, I used red permatex and put the four new studs on my shroud bosses. You can also see the new lower radiator hose is actually a stainless pipe fabricated by Hanksville when they had the car for the exhaust system this.
I bought the longest 9.5 mm wide belt NAPA sells and just managed to get it on to enable me to have a water pump running for tomorrows start up.
I went ahead and wired up the fan harness to include a relay as well as 185 degree fan thermostat in my manifold water jacket. I am looking forward to hearing the engine run and hoping there are no issues.

 

George somewhere on this computer I have pictures of your car at Dutch's I was there at the "metal meet" when you were working on the mustang front end. It was my first "metal meet" and was just amazed at your car and the workmanship. I hadn't seen it the last time I went and Marty told me it was finished. Its good to see it now and close the story. My name is Pat, you probably saw me there I was the only guy there with one arm.

The car looks great I'll follow this post more now.Pat

 

Looking good! Looking forward to the progress reports.

 

Well, today was the big day to start the engine. Nick,Pete and Dave all came over to participate in the long awaited next step. Nick used my lathe to make us a pre oil shaft to spin the oil pump through the distributor hole. Pete was reading the how to instructions from the Hunt HEI mag look alike disty. Dave was chearing us on. I was finishing up temp wiring. All was looking good. Nick use my big drill to spin up the oil pressure and I turned the crank 1/4 turn at a time to try to get a little oil everywhere. The pressure guage was showing 80 PSI. Awesome , we were looking good. FULL STOP ....HERE's the rub. NO OIL ON THE TOP END AT ALL???

First guess was head gaskets maybe upside down or reversed blocking the oil galley line to the rockers. NOPE. all clear....and very very DRY! no oil.

On the off chance it might shake something loose, Nick ran the drill while I cranked the motor over with the starter with the heads off. WOW... oil coming out of both lines that feed the top end where it is supposed too.
Please help me understand if this is normal? NO oil through the top end is possible unless the motor is turning??? Cam bearing number 3 has to be installed correctly for any oil... what we noticed is that every revolution of the cam would give one surge or pump like a heart beat and push oil out the feed.

Thanks for any sage wisdom on this issue???? I will be ordering a new gasket set in the morning. If this is correct I will be able to re ***emble and just lube well before starting her up without worrying.

Regards,
George

 

Hello Pat,
Nice to hear from you. Yes I remember you and trust you are doing well.
Im not finished yet and am trying very hard to make progress.

Regards,
George



QUOTE=1934coupe;6164456]George somewhere on this computer I have pictures of your car at Dutch's I was there at the "metal meet" when you were working on the mustang front end. It was my first "metal meet" and was just amazed at your car and the workmanship. I hadn't seen it the last time I went and Marty told me it was finished. Its good to see it now and close the story. My name is Pat, you probably saw me there I was the only guy there with one arm.

The car looks great I'll follow this post more now.Pat[/QUOTE]

 

George I had a similiar problem on my MG with a SBC I always use a distributor with the gear ground off and a nut welded to the breaker plate, turn it with a speed wrench and get 30# oil pressure at gauge and oil coming out push rods. My brother brigs over a shaft that he puts in a drill and turns the oil pump well this time oil at gauge but none in the top of motor after looking at everything we pulled the motor and put a borrowed one in to make the race. We had the same problem then we noticed oil pouring in the distributor hole from a oil galley . We then discovered that the distributor needs to be in the hole to close that galley so the oil is redirected to the galley on the opposite side of the motor and up to the cam and lifter galley. Could you have a similar problem. Hope you find out.

Pat

 

Pat,
I did a search here on the HAMB and you have to turn the motor while using the drill to turn the pump. I do not know why, but happy as I feared the worst. I took the time to clean all the gaskets off this afternoon and will put it back together and try again this week after receipt of a new gasket set. I noticed others had to also clean their rocker shafts. My are rebuilt and clean as a whistle so I am good to go. Boy, I sure should have looked this up BEFORE I started. I would have saved a motor tear down as well as the money for a gasket set.
A lesson learned in the school of experience! It's no big deal as the sheet metal is off the unfinished car. Nick helped and with the two of us, we were done in a snap.
George

 

I got everything back together this weekend and friends ( Nick , Pete and Dave) came over to help me to start my 354. Nick and I had fun setting the spark plug gaps as well as installing the Taylor wires( very nice product) to the Hunt HEI Mag look alike.
Put power to the electric pump and got the float bowls filled and validated we had good pressure on the the small in line pump we installed just for run in. Everything looks good and we are set to go. Turn her over and nothing...
No start up. hmmmm? Must be no spark, as we know we have fuel and the TDC,intial disty placement is spot on.
Sniff, sniff ...What's that smell? Can't find anything burning....Better turn the ignition off and look around. Hmmm nothing. Turn the ignition on and still no fire. Pull a plug wire and crank over to look for any spark...there's that smell again and I can't see any signs of smoke. Check all the wiring..everything looks good. Pull the Hunt cap... cough , cough there's a bar b que in here. I did have the ballast resistor properly installed. Checked the input to the resistor (to ground) 12.31 volts. Checked the other side ..Hmmmm????12.31 volts??? why isn't it lower??.

On a mission to start the engine so Nick runs home to pick up his 331 Hemi originaI disty and wires. We pulled the Taylor wire set and Hunt Magneto HEI out. Installed the 50+ year old 331 distributor, with the rotor out of the Hunt ( surprised it fit) and a coil off of a 348 in the shop. These old Chrysler porcelin plug boots sure are cool. Next....turn the switch and vroom..she starts right up. Ran the engine for 20min at 2000 rpm to run the cam in. Exhaust pipes smoked while burning oil from the stainless. No smoke out the back...No valve train noise...she sounds wonderful. At the end of 20 min. Pete set the idle and she purr's. Such a great feeling.

Even the Top end oiled properly... such a learning lesson!

Sent a note to Bob at Hot Heads to get resolution and next steps on the Hunt issue. I have really enjoyed dealing with him and look forward to figuring out what happened? It is almost like a dead short inside the unit. I did not want to open as It might void the warranty.

Has anyone else every had this issue?

The best part of the day is having fun in the shop with friends. The fact that I got to hear the Hemi rumble to life for the first time is an added bonus.
Regards,
George

 

Congratulations. And nice thread.

 

I very much enjoyed the fun and it was great to use a 50 year old distributor with a broken cap to bust your Hemi off. You have to be a happy camper. And Shannon makes incredible cookies, too.

 

Wow George, what a great thread, can't believe I've missed this one. You speak with much enthusiasm regarding your project which makes it great reading. Love the Hemi. Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward to more progress reports! Eric/farmer12

 

Well a little progress while in wait mode over the paint and body start.

The paint and body folks are due to come over this week to "look" at my project and come back to me with a time table and a quote.

While waiting for them, I contacted a local pin striping friend "Rody Kuschereit" about painting the Ford script on my hub caps. He had time and picked them up for a coat of Ford Blue. We were not in a hurry and he added extra retarder to enable the paint to flow well and not show any brush strokes. The results were gorgeous simplicity. See photo.

When running the engine in two Sundays ago, the fresh water in my newly rebuilt block turned into the color of root beer. Both unhappy as well as alarmed I decided to pressure back flush the system via the thermastat location. I fabricated an adapter (see pics) to bolt in place of the thermostat housing that I added the hose pipe to while opening up the lower drains on each side of the block. I am not sure I did much good as the water that came out was pretty clean. It may have simply been the large volume of water simply diluted the contamination and I could not get a visual result. I can report the block water is now crystal clear.
While I was at it, I turned the radiator upside down and washed it out as well. I was surprised to see the large piece of brown kraft paper come out. see pics

I cleaned up the mess and headed over to the powder coater to drop off my valve covers for a new wrinkle paint treatment.

Some time in the middle of all of this , I stopped and rebuilt a used but decent distributor that went off to Jim Linter this morning for a ground wire staking and re curving. I blasted the housing and painted it to match the engine. I know, I know "decorating" may not be HAMB friendly. smile.


So here I am, a little more work done with not much to show for the effort. BUT HAPPY as I love tinkering around in the shop.

 

After the issue with my Mag Look Alike Disty, I have been in a wait mode to see what Joe Hunt had to say. They re wired to a later standard they are using and returned to me at no cost. Great folks! Thank you Roger!!
They did not have to do this after four years and I am most appreciative of the customer service at***ude. WOW.
I put the freshly wrinkle finished powder coated valve covers back on. They look nice.

Then I went about hooking everything back up. I set the crank at 20 degrees advance as the directions call for. I dropped the Hunt Mag Look alike in and slightly snugged the retaining nut to allow easy adjustment. I next reviewed all the wiring...double checked all was clear of the exhaust system to avoid burning anything and simply stared at everything for a while. Denver Dave dropped by to visit and we decided to turn the key and see what happened? Worry , worry, worry after three weeks of pain and suffering. grin. Here goes.....VROOM on the first crank.
Not to be like a kid or anything but, YIPPIE.
I should be embarr***ed but I started it several times over the course of the afternoon while calling friends and holding my cell phone up so they could here me rev her up. Am I really 55 years old and acting like this? YEP! big wide grin. A big thank you to Nick and Pete that offerred to come over with a timing light to get her set right and lock down the disty. Afterwards we all climbed into Bob's (From Peublo)car and did a nice shop tour at Gary Hansons of Parker Automotive.THANK YOU GARY. Dont tell Mrs. King, but we dropped by Dairy Queen on the way home. Oops on the diet!

I got on line and ordered some wire looms tonight and have only to finish my power steering hoses and mount the alternator to be 100% on this stage of the forever project. The body goes for paint at the end of the month. Waiting in line. Guess time to turn my attention to the dash.

 

First of all... thanks to Rex Rogers for coming down from Loveland and helping me go through the trunk and door gaps for what I will call 95% or good enough for my driver. With this complete, I hired a painter (Billy) to put color on my coupe and he has been dropping by the shop about half time. He has been working on the prep for paint. Most of the work has been block sanding and m***aging of a spot here and there. The body shell and the rest of the sheet metal is ready for polyester primer now. I have purchased 2 gallons of Sherwin Williams product and had it tinted to match my body color to help with rock chip eye sores when I start putting some miles on the car.
The attached pictures are of the application of first a sound deadening coat and secondly a thermal barrier coat on the body shell itself. The product comes in 2 gallon pales and is thick as glue. A $85 gun is required and I purchased 4 pales to get the job done. So for those who may be interested, it is about a $750 project when you add in plastic and tape. Water clean up was nice and the finished texture is close to bed liner. While this was all done in my shop, the priming will be done in a rental paint booth this week.
Regards,
George

 

Neat project. Looks like you're making progress! It should sure look nice in paint.

 

Nick came over this afternoon and we loaded the coupe up for a short drive to the paint booth.
THANKS NICK!

 

How long do we have to wait to see it all shiny ?

 

The chop looks great! Cant wait to see some paint.

 

The painter says a week so....my guess is 2 weeks with any luck! smile
I have learned to be patient when it comes to outside help. Gauge restoration is 8-10 weeks. The upholstery shop wants 90 days NOTICE to schedule it in.
Geeze.... I will be driving around sitting on a bucket for a while.

 

Ya dont need upholstery to cruise and have fun !! Save the interior for next winter!

 

It may not be paint, but it is progress. This is Sherwin Williams Polyester Primer tinted final paint color. It has a quite hot accelerator in it and will be dry enough to sand in the next couple of hours.

 

It's great to see some primer on the car. What colour are you planning on?

 

Pretty cool that you moved the roof forward instead of just sheeting over the quarter windows.

Pete-

 

Charcoal Gray... The primer is tinted to match... although "flat". The car will be base coat, clear coat and hopefully very shiny with a great finish.
IE: trust you will not be able to see any of the extensive metal m***age as I want it to look factory. Here's some more picture's from this afternoon. The last picture when the primer is wet will give you an idea of the color.

 

Thank you Pete,
The original Club Coupe roof was first chopped 2.5 inches at the "A' pillar. Next the roof was cut away from behind the "A" pillars back about a foot all the way to the deck lid.( then tossed in the trash) The donor roof was from a Business Coupe as it has much better lines. I cut the rear window surround and set it aside before cutting the quarter sail panels into the body. Afterwards, Dutch Comstock from Herkimer,NY. and I laid the leftover roof piece on top of the frankenstein and let it find it's most natural resting place. This was forward and I wish I could tell you Dutch and I were so smart to know this would work. Frankly, It was a great accident! smile
Regards,
George

 

Cool build. I'm sure it'll look great in paint. Love the mopars.