Reworking the mounts won’t solve the issue, the neck is in the way and has no more room to move forward. I didn’t know there was a difference between 4cyl and 8cyl shells. The popular repop shells must be the V8 shell. Apparently the thing to do is to use an aluminum radiator with the filler on the back. If you want to keep the filler on the top, you can install a dummy filler neck. All of this seemed a bit too much and strays from keeping things looking period correct so I opted for going with a 31 shell that I found at Bert’s. After seeing it on the car, I think it looks better than anticipated.
Not nearly enough people run '30-'31 radiator shells. I was getting ready to say that but I was too slow and you figured it out without my help. That is always best.
I also thought that maybe you might want to consider using a '30 or '31 radiator shell, but also didn't want to get you second guessing your apparent first choice of the '32. If you still aren't sure and might still want to go with the '32 shell, what I was suggesting above is using a 1932 Model B (4 cylinder) RADIATOR. Pretty sure the '32 shells were the same for both 4 and 8 cylinder radiators. Keep up the nice work!!
Got the shift tower rebuilt. Welded and ground the “ball” to 0.5”…..about as ballish as I can get. Welded and ground the original shift forks as well. Had to make a special tool to compress the spring, hope to never do that again. Now for the kick in the ass….went to install the shift tower and realized a grease fitting was in the way. Yup, I apparently installed the trans ujoint cover upside down! Logic told me the grease fitting should go up and be serviceable from the floor boards but noooooooo, logic sold me down river. It’s gonna be a PITA to pull all that apart to rotate the cover 180°. For now I just removed the grease fitting to install the shift tower. At least the transmission seems to go through the gears nice and crisp. Live n learn!
Yea, those front U joint grease fittings go under the car. To make sure you get enough grease in it remove the speedometer cable and when it starts coming out there is enough. Not getting it full enough will shorten the life of the U joint very quickly.
not a 32 expert, but I also thought the shells are the same. I have a 32 B radiator in my stash, by memory, I thought the filler neck is offset towards the back, unlike an A that is basically in the center of the tank. I will look at it tomorrow. car is lookin bad ass...keep goin !
My B radiator has a slight V in the top tank, extends out past the core about 3/4" with the filler neck out in that V not centered like an A.
That would explain it, my filler neck needed to come forward about 3/4” of an inch for the shell to settle over the radiator. Guess that settles that. Thanks for reporting back and good too see yah around. No pictures of today’s work but a lot was accomplished. All fluids are in and half the wiring has been started. The motor turns over on the starter and I fried the distributor. Dummy over here let the distributor’s yellow ground wire touch a junction box terminal…poof! I think the only damage was a melted wire but I’m too damn tired to pull it all apart tonight. Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Well boys, she runs. Got some bugs to sort out but she purrs like a kitten. Took about 2 minutes to get the timing sorted and I was off to celebrate. Not a cop in sight so everything went alright. So many waves and thumbs up, forgot all about that.
We men will never know the intense experience of giving birth, but when an engine fires up for the first time and when a fresh car is driven for the first time... gotta be close!
I dunno... passing kidney hurts like giving birth, ask me how I know (the stone part, not the birth part). Oh, you mean the "joyful" part...OK, I'll give you that! When I finally got my rebuilt Model A engine running (when I was about 14), it was about 1:00 in the morning. I was THRILLED, but what made it even better was that my folks got out of bed to witness and share it with me. My folks were cool (and sleepy!).
stole a buddy's idea, he trims the plastic "square grid" light defusers from 4' florescent lights... $13 at lowes... it will set the radiator back about 1/2 inch... adds some protection and doesn't show much... grey one is a buddy's son's... black one with a '31 top + '30 bottom is mine... used silicone to anchor it inside the shell...
First time I heard about that trick was Lil John and his 32 with a westlake Mopar small block. The pics here show a billet grille, though? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/john-buttera-32-coupe.366877/
Picked up a 1 piece hood. Now that I’m looking at it, seems a bit too modern for the car. Obviously it’s just sitting there and hasn’t been fitted but something seems off. Thoughts?
Yeah... that piano hinge line is visually missing... but you could get used to it. It's slick, it doesn't look bad at all but does it match the car's theme? Hmmm...
check out the hoodside molding on a '46-'47 truck... i downsized one to run down the center on my '30 one pce hood... made the hood top from the same '46-'47 comm. hood... cut both top halves about 3/4" too long then bent 3/4" 90* on each side for a piano hinge later ?..
Just in case your head doesn’t ever come in, PM Tod on the fordbarn to see if he has any heads available right now. I’ve bought a cast iron winfield and Thomas head from him directly in the past when everything else was out of stock. if you’re happy with your 30-31 radiator shell, then no worries. But if you’re looking to run the 32 with a hood, you need a B model radiator. Another option is running a 32-34 truck grill. I’ve had good luck fitting them on stock radiators. the mechanical brakes thing seems to be a never ending debate. I’ve run the 32/34 mechanical brakes and really liked them. But I bought them with the intent of using the axles/perches/spindles, so it made good sense cost wise. If you have to rebuild everything it’s not cost effective and you may as well go juice. just to save you some time when you change to a downdraft carb, it’s going to need a fuel pump. Trust everyone who says so. Cool build.
I am in the camp that likes the 31 rad surround (I have a brass mesh from a fireplace screen for mine if I ever get that far), full original hood and no fenders. Hinged hood, wire wheels and splash pans are among my favourite features at the moment for a build like yours. Hang the 32 surround on the wall, it is a thing of beauty.
Thanks Walls, that’s some great info and even better intel on a head, I’ll hit him up. gonna run hood less until I can find a hinged hood. You guys are right about the period part. Everything on the car looks original, the hood is out of place. welp, I’m barely legal. Got the temporary tags while I jump through all the legal hoops to get official plates. Issue: the crank bearing cap studs that extend out of the top of the block are leaking oil like mad. Warmed up the car and shot a ton of brake clean to get the paint off around the studs/nuts and then blasted the area with isopropyl alcohol and air to remove paint and oil residue. I’m now currently saturating the area with a butt-load of engine paint in hopes of sealing the leak in from the outside. Not sure if it’ll work but it’s a hell of a lot easier than pulling the pan. Tried to get a socket on there to remove the nuts first but soon realized there would be no good way to torque the castle nuts back on. Let’s hope it works.
Let there be light! Always liked the larger 29 lights, so what the heck. Tim over at Bert’s gave me the idea for the light mount. It’s a 28-29 bar with the end mounts cut off and bolted to the frame. The crossbar then gets welded back to the ends. I put a gentle arc in the crossbar just to spice things up and somewhat match some of the curves of the body.
The Jalopy Journal
