Projects 1930 Ford Coupe, another vintage hotrod salvage project.

Are we totally sure we are looking at the deck of the block and not a head gasket on it? This one is on eBay for $48.00.

 

It was left over from removing the gasket... We surfaced the deck and it came off with mild sanding etc.. So It was left over material from the gasket or adhesive etc...

 

So the last few days I worked pretty steady on it... Finally got some parts I was needing, Still waiting on floors...

But that didn't stop me from taking it around the block... We missed the oil drainback tube off the rear main, was missing from the motor when we took it apart, so the leak is pretty bad when running around... Going to do that when I get the parts in for that. Clutch chatter is bad, I think the clutch has some oil on it, due to the way it barely has any friction, its grab or no grab almost... If it doesn't clear out, I will drop the trans to get that sorted out... But surprisingly the gearbox works perfectly, no noise etc. Banger almost sounds like it has a cam in it the way it idles...

Still to do, brakes need some attention... figure out a vibration in driveline at speed.

So trying to find a stock seat is expensive, and my big ass needs a bit more room also. So we opted for mini van seat... its a tight fit but its in there.



Here is the first picture of the running driving car...
Ran out of gas on the second lap around, only put 1/4 gallon it it to start it, thought I had enough... I was wrong, but a little sitting and the carb filled up enough to get me down the street into the garage...




So onto some aesthetics and function....
Fabricated on the headlight bar to mount the headlights down...



Test fit...the original light housings... Hated the sealed beam adapters in these lights...



Here she is, headlight internals replaced, new lenses, and headlight bar welded and modified...



She is a runner... Driver... Japlopy.... Another vintage motor salvaged that would have most likely been scrapped...


I will post some videos of her soon. I have a set of 32 brakes in the attic I am thinking about just going ahead and swapping to on the front of this thing if the fronts are completely trashed.. They don't feel bad, but who knows what's inside...

 

This thing looks stock except those panels, interesting to see where this goes

 

All the more important stuff aside, it's good to see those wide radials off!!! A guy can only take so much, right?

 

It bothered me from the first time I saw it, But I knew they were not staying on there... Yeah we can only take so much...

 

@stubbsrodandcustom I look forward to your vision aka Coupe as the Sedan you built was a beauty...simplicity is a beautiful thing and it's always nice to revisit the earlier days in Hotrod...on the way to your desired period of inspired choice...

 

Thanks man.. I agree simplicity is a beautiful thing, alot of people have lost touch with that these days. The sedan was nice, drove pretty well all in all also. Drivability is always priority #1 in my life it seems... Thanks for the compliment... Just a guy in his 2 car garage trying to make things happen.

 

Highs and Lows....Assumption has bit me once again, after assuming the mains would be good after seeing how good the rods were... Few key notes to take away... I didn't know about the Oil drainback tube needed for the rear main... So my rear main was leaking, bad... So decided to order the parts to fix that... while I was there the threads for the tube were messed up, decided to pull the main cap out... And here is the jewel we are left with, all the little pieces are actually somewhat loose in the area, the thrust surface is cracked...

So I'm left with a motor I need to re Babbitt. Found a shop in College station that will do block and rods for 1k. Not terrible...

 

Is that caused by heat melting the babbit or is it dissolved by acid like corrosion from aged oils? I don't really know much about these things let alone know how babbit is added to the cap and is it Journal? I believe its poured and machined or maybe line bored off the top of my Balding head...

It's actually interesting how many Mechanical Professions are tapped into building a Hotrod...

 

Hopefully they can get you fixed up. Care to share the shop info? I’ve got some projects that will eventually need some Babbitt attention

 

This kind of destruction is caused by the acids in oil I think. That is my best guess on how it got like this...

Yeah its poured in a jig, then line honed to get it straight. When done they add shim packs to get correct spacing etc for crank clearances.. As the babbitt wears down, you can remove a shim or 2 to re tighten up bearing clearances again. Ive seen guys do it on the side of the road when they were knocking going up a hill.

 

Got this shop name from a buddy... They do alot of T stuff and tour their cars alot...

https://www.mrmodelt.com/restoration-services/engines/

I talked to some guys who love babbitt, and I have talked to insert guys who say babbitt is a lost cause and they cant do it right anymore... This shop seems like they know what they are doing though...

I have a line on a inserted Model B motor.... With hop up goodies inside... got to wait a month before he pulls it out...

I am really thinking the Model B motor would be a nice Hop UP for this old gal... another 20-30 HP gain probably in current configuration...

 

There’s no such thing as a Model A five window.
It’s a Model A coupe. Period.

 

I even know where that shop is in College Station

 

Well its been a while... Alot of things going on between now and last time I have posted anything... So health has been screwy some, so trying to get that straight, I think were on the right path again.

So I now have a older rebuild B motor, Inserted, full pressure oil, balanced crank, 3/4 cam, Thomas head, lightened flywheel, v8 clutch. Has maybe 5k miles on it. So here it is picking it up...



Home, couldnt wait to install and needed room anyways... So figured why not just toss her in real quick...



Here is the A motor tucked away for another day... Probably will get it repoured, and keep it around for a speedster project at some time.



So end of the day, were back working on this, here and there, Going to put a new input shaft bearing in the trans and have some fun for a while. I do have a 3.24 gear to go in the banjo, excited that I now have a motor to really pull that... This should happen around the first of the year. Goal in the short term is to get it running, take it to Houston Autorama, dial some stuff in etc... Have some fun next year.. Probably aiming for Hill Climb...

Stay tuned for more updates, I have some cool speed goodies to be installed now.

 

Nice looking B engine. That looks like my Thomas head. It takes 14mm spark plugs right? Any clue on what plugs to try out for these?

 

Yeah, 14mm, this one has NGK R series plugs... BKR5E is the part number... Seem to run real good for sure.

Here it is after I got done getting it all in there.

 

So update time...

Got the motor running, all good there, TONS of pull for sure, now taking off in 2nd gear... Runs out of fuel about 50 mph, so thinking I may have found the limitations of the gravity feed, we shall see, made a jet change and see if things improve or not, will advise later on that.

Brakes as you can see in the video above, the brakes are torn down. Well I had been sitting on drums and backing plates for 1932 brakes, after pulling a wheel on the orig A brakes, I saw a drum destroyed and pads gone on RF so decided to go ahead and start getting this done for the swap. Found a set of brake shoes on EBAY, and ultimately drilled the shoes for the model A springs to work. All in all I have 300 bucks in the front brakes complete, Worthy upgrade for sure.. The front brakes feel more solid and you can deff tell the difference on the larger drums having more surface area.

I wired up the headlights and tail light finally, new stock brake light switch on the frame also. No photos of that stuff, its boring.

Made a extension pipe out of a discarded exhaust tube I had laying around off the prior 31 with flatty.

Disregard the cut off running board mounts, those will be drilled out when I pull the body to re block it. And yes I will be putting the anti rattle springs on soon.

Here is the floors done for now. Gave the shifter arm a bend while I had the trans out, best time to do it for sure. Some SW gauges to complete the function... Amp meter works, speedo works, but speedo makes alot of noise so it set for rebuild soon. Fuel gauge rebuilt.



Here she is sitting outside... Other than needing the rear gear installed badly, and some more tire for the gear ratio to be more suited for this motor, its on the road...



Now to take the 16's I have and see if they are even usable, then watch the $ fly with ordering tires... haha. Id love to do 17s or 18s on here, but the 16s I have, and trying to curb the money spending for a bit and enjoy...

she will go to her first show Saturday. Wont break any speed records, but should get there.

Oh did some cool treatment to the Sediment Bowl....

 

Awesome thanks! NGK makes good plugs that seem to hold up well on air cooled (lots of heat) engines too.

 

I think the 16" wheels will look great, seems like that's what most of the guys used in-period anyway if they did swap out their original wheels, since they had the easiest tires to find.

I like this build because it's not fixing anything that didn't need to be fixed, and the valiant attempt to save the old engine. I hate to see changes for the sake of changes, or throwing stuff away without even trying to use it, so this build really appeals to me.

 

Shot a few photos last weekend...

 

Saturday I got my 7.50-16 tires... Mounted them up on the garage floor with my pry bars... Then sunday I picked up some 500-17 wheels and tires locally... Here is sunday morning before the fronts were on when we did a little drive of mine and my buddies car to the local park and then swapped cars and drove back... His is our late friends Coupe body, he put it on 32 rails with a 331 hemi.. Good driving car for sure.


Road driving pic...




New Rubbers...

 

love it.....

 

All the wheels and tires are on... Out and about...
Rears 7.50-16 and fronts 5.00-17

 

Had a great day running around in the coupe. Went to a memorial this morning for Danny’s Mom who recently passed on.

Got to take my coupe by the old burnt sawmill for some pics on the way home. I love that old Atlas steamer just savor it till the day they scrap it.

Finally beat the hood out enough to mount it on the car. Now to fab up some hold downs.

 

Looking good. Where's that at? Might need to swing my truck by there sometime for some pictures.

 

Cool ol rod!!! The more stories I read on here & the more of these old cars built like yours makes me want to do one. I think you are doing a real good thing. Too many like mine street rodded with later model drive trains.

 

Its over here off Aldine Westfield just south of where it ends at Riley Fuzzle by the Tire shop. Its the old Bayer sawmill site...

 

Thanks Robbie,
There is fun to be had with these cars for sure. I have wanted this for a while now. The flathead v8 was fun but this was ultimately what I wanted to begin with. There are tons of late model drivetrains in things, and they all have their place in the grand scheme of things, but holding onto the roots of the hotrod movement is something that needs to be done for sure, in a day of "LS" swaps, stand out with antiquated technology.... You wouldn't believe how many people loose their shit on showing up somewhere with Mechanical brakes... Its comical...