Projects 1930 Ford Coupe, another vintage hotrod salvage project.

Project UPDATE! December 2021...

Car has been running good. Real good honestly... I decided to control the radiator purging when driving by doing a thermostat in the upper radiator hose... WORKED PERFECTLY.. stays 160 all the time now, no more coolant purging out of the overflow...

So I got tired of not having an Emergency brake... Figured I would need one for the Hotrod Showdown in Wimberly... So what started as just doing E brake repairs, went into full shoe replacement, clean and rebuild of the brakes, to tear the rear end down and rebuild and install the new gear I had bought for it. 3.27 gear... Thankfully I have enough motor to pull it...

So here it is all torn down... and pulling axle out of the car...Learned a cool trick going back in though... TIP of the day, get one of the 15 dollar furniture dollys from harbor freight, the wood ones, put the axle assembly on it with the banjo in the hole, puts it 1" off the ground, rolls easy and makes torque tube installation a snap......



All stripped down... The spring perches on the axle bells were in bad shape... So I had another set of bells here so I decided to go ahead and use them...



Thankfully I had bought a wire wheel and small bench grinder, that thing earned its 40 bucks I paid for it and then some... The Rock Island vice worked perfect to do the gear swap, thankfully it had enough throat on the vice to chuck up axle tubes and banjo section etc...


So here is the gear pattern I was able to get, not bad at all... I havent rebuild a rear end in 20 years....1 Shim on one side and no shim on the other....


So here she is all back together, new brake shoes, springs, cleaned up, new cast drums etc...This was the point I was adjusting brakes and adding 600W lube...



Success was to be had, I learned a few things.... How to safety wire....How much spring tension is on the Buggy spring....

But here she is, first outing with axle rebuilt... The car is tons smoother now for some reason... Cruising 60 like nothing... Shifting 2 to 3 at 38 to 40 mph now... I have all 3 gears and love it now... 3rd gear is now a bit of a load but gaining top speed is always good... Few minor things to dial in to push speeds up higher... No noise, no weird issues... I am very happy...



Hope everyone had a great Christmas... Happy New year in a few days...

 

I've tidied up perches using a bit of copper water pipe and the mig. Decent A rears are pretty thin on the ground down here.

 

Some updates, decided to put a full exhaust on it. I have never built an exhaust on the floor. But Didnt turn out too bad. First weld by the collector was learning curve, the rest butter... 39 dollar Jones Exhaust chambered muffler, not bad tone at all...


Then decided to give the garnish molding a little cleaning and see how they would clean up.. Here is before and after. Still a little paint left... Good enough for now.



Stay tuned... She has a top now and just got to go pick her up...

 

So we braved the cold and wet for The Hotrod Showdown. First time driving this car on proper HILLS. All good on my report, steep grades from a stop I was having to upshift starting from 1st to second and still pulling through fine. Brakes are great all in all. Finally spun the tires a bit having fun. Went grocery shopping in the car and ran around decently around town there. Here is one pic on river road in wimberly. Its a pretty cool spot for a show for sure.

When I got home, I decided it was time to check the valves etc. The exhaust were .06 when they were supposed to be .014, so went ahead and adjusted them out correctly. Seems smoother for sure so we will see how she drives this weekend.

Looking for dual carbs now, I think I need some more fuel. Or just more punishment.



The view out the window at the showdown was pretty dang cool also.

 

Cleaned her up after adjusting the valves and some other random work etc...



I really think that 17's or 18s on the rear will be the hot ticket this year...

 

Looks awesome!

 

So, trying to address my high speed cutting out etc... So 1/4" gravity isnt enough for this hot of motor. SO now were at 3/8" line and I am pleased to say... No more starvation on the freeway. Pushed it to 70... Still have a few things to work out but did 100 miles over the last week in her.

Here is the fuel line upgrade...


Then some from the random travels etc.

 

Congratulations Bob: I've followed this from the beginning and it's been fun watching you - it
Iv left everything sitting since a
Stage 4 surgery, and now doing the radiation therapy thing so that I can work in the garage at night with the lights off - I glow in the dark
Have fun, at least more than me, and I plan on finishing the sub floor in the coupe sometime in late may.
It's a long-time since Hetshey and the old speed equipment days. Regards, Steve

 

Thanks Steve, you need to change your name to "Radioactive Man..." Get well soon man and have fun playing in the dark.... The subfloor is deff a time consuming task for sure.

 

Updates, I have to say, putting this car in 3rd and pulling hills around Austin Tx was fun for sure... Pulled some nasty grades for sure without peril.

All over town the little banger went flawlessly. Most miles I have racked up so far in a weekend on her. I know the clutch is not happy anymore after cruising Congress that was more like a park and move ever 2 minutes than a cruise. Ahhh the smell of clutch..... But she made it... I did very little freeway flying due to traffic sucking on freeways also around there but hey its Austin, It sucks. Few pics from the weekend...


So for the bad......
I used to love roundup... Now the homelessness everywhere, crackheads on the corner, and theft everywhere (hotel and the show) is downright despicable.

Had a blast with my buddies and club and my son, so the memories made outweigh the negative for me this trip, but my buddies who got things stolen or broken into, not so much.

 

May updates,

So I had been chasing some low oil pressure, so I dropped the pan, all looks good, pulled apart the pump and noticed the cover over the gears had pitting in it and was not smooth at all... So Flipped the cover, cleaned up everything now it pegs the 10 lb gauge at cold start. Hot cruise about 2 to 4 psi so Its where it should be now... Going to modify things a bit soon probably. But at least I have enough oil pressure to be confident in it. Will have to drop pan again, the gasket was worn out that was on there, reused it and its leaking but I got a new one ready to go now. All in all pan was clean, dipper trays clean, so cant complain at all, bottom end looks solid..



Here is a pic rolling through roundup with her. Figured it was cool. Not many times I get caught rolling or in the same pic as my ride.

 

Updates,

Here we are, 1 year after buying her, still enjoying for sure.
So had to drop the pan again to fix the leaks, decided to pull dipper trays and clean the pan out completely. New gasket and were back in business.

Drove to Deuce days last month, was still a good time and some people there get what Im doing, some think I am nuts.



Hooked the oil filter back up for a bit, now back down to the low pressures so it seems the oil filter kit kills pressures for sure. Its coming off as soon as Retson gets the new Alumn ones shipped out.

So 2 weeks ago got that Covid junk finally... Was productive in my time isolating, decided to paint the dash rail up... Had some leftover late model Dark Ming Blue. So figured why not. Here is the outcome...




So there has been alot of development around my area with new neighborhoods going in etc, so decided to go run some logging roads in the A.... Silt Sand and all, she did it like a trooper.





So the body needs to come off soon to do a block kit anyways... Figured I may use this time to do either a rear spring swap and clean up a few other things I have been wanting to do, may try to do the swap to v8 trans while I am at it. Drop axle for the front is on the horizon I think also...

Oh hell, almost forgot, I had been fighting my LED headlight bulbs flickering at idle. Never could figure it out, got the volt meter out, tested every ground and voltage everywhere. Come to find out the fuse link kit they sell to go on the starter lug, the ID of the ring terminal is too large making it have barely any contact. I added a washer between the lug and the ring terminal, and problem solved. The LED bulbs will flicker at 5.2 volts. My voltage drop was there only on the fuse side, the supply terminal from battery was still showing 6.2v, so if you ever have issues on 6v with flickering LED bulbs, this is the key.

 

Looking good. Stupid question but your adding oil when you add the filter correct?

 

Thanks man

Its maybe 1/4 quart at best with this short filter...

 

Ok. Sometimes I make the obvious mistakes so figured it was worth a mention haha

 

Been a while since I have updated... Not much has changed, but I got tired of leaking steering box so this project is in full swing...
Insides of the 2 tooth box are great. Bearings look and feel great, someone had tightened this up too much at some point before I got it, the worm gear was super tight so checked everything with it out and its all good, The bushing for the sector shaft was super tight also, but had a spot that was loose so I am getting the upgraded needle bearing one from Berts. So with that, resealed this thing should steer even better.

 

NICE SAVE!...like the pic with the new corvettes in the background, great pics all.

 

So today is a cold rainy day, figured it was time to reverse the front spring eyes... Yeah I could have bought a brand new one, but that's no fun and not what this car is about.

So here we are with the ride height before the flip...



Springs off and pulled off tension...



Notice my grandfathers C clamps, love having these things all the way up to 12"
Here she is stripped down of only the spring, all the bushings were in good shape so reuse till I get the new axle and perches in... I dont know why but I love when I pull my wheels off and see these big brakes, things that make me happy...


So here is my spring jig, a Norther Tool, heavy wall pipe bender that I have modified a bit...


Here is the completed spring, I added a little arch in it to ensure the ends were the proper width for the eyes...



So here is the after Ride height, no spring cycling etc, just bolt on and bam...



And a little pic of the car with its new attitude nose down. Amazing what 1" does to looks...



Hope everyone has a good thanksgiving and all that jazz... Going to try to get the car out this week so I can get some better photos...

 

Few updates... Got my Thomas valve cover on finally. Painted the header while I was at it.


And an updated shot showing off the rake...

 

Really like this photo, reminds me of this find the horses photo.

 

Well, its been a while, finally got her out yesterday for a good ole lunch cruise. Walking off on regular traffic with ease. Was a good lunch cruise and car ran great.

Got home and did some things yesterday, had a buddy send me a number and a picture... Turns out a local guy was wanting to get rid of this 8ba and some 35 ford stuff. I took it all... The 8ba had water in it but the cylinders are .080 but are not too bad, so then that got me thinking..... If the block is salvageable, sleeve it, cam it, nice heads, 2x2 intake and maybe swap the banger out. Still love the bangers, but going up to 150 hp from 95 would be a good bump I think. I've had 110 hp and it was ok in the v8 flatty.... This banger is not near as smooth but pulls real good. Both avenues are cool none the less. Just had me thinking.... I could spend the money I would spend building the v8 and do a OHV conversion to the banger and go through it in depth.



My prior flathead car.

 

So I got the motor opened up, got it broke free, had to remove a valve and seat that was frozen and broken... Found this crack in a cylinder... I guess a good shop can cut the bore and sleeve it without much issue hopefully or is it too far gone? Even having water in it somewhat, the wax/gunk saved all the parts from rusting up on the bottom end. The crank and rods look stellar still.




Here is the hole in question....

 

Well, after a long time of winging it on the timing. I finally made a timing pointer... Checked the timing with the light... 4-5 degrees base, ( I nailed that part)...and 15 degrees all in (I had no control of that)... WAY OFF... So I need to recurve this YL11A2 badly now... I am guessing the springs are too tight probably. Looking forward to performance boost from another 10 degrees roughly.

 

Hey Stubbs, I just read through this thread. Such a great read. Congrats on your Model A, it looks awesome. Keep the updates coming.
I got my first "classic" last year, a '28 Tudor. I like a lot of the things you've done to yours. Are the headlights on your coupe the original Model A ones? Also, do you have any other photos of your old Tudor?
Thanks and goodluck.

 

Really
Digging this thread/ hot rod

 

Thanks man... Just here having a blast with not alot of horsepower but a ton of torque...

We all start somewhere... 28 tudor is a great place to start.

Yes the headlights are actually Orig Model A Two lite, I had to replace the lens and internals but its all factory stuff. I put LED bulbs in them and focused the beams, works like a charm. The sedan had the repop ones with halogen lights and the output was worse than these by a long shot.

Here is a build thread on the sedan to give you some more motivation.

Projects - 1931 Ford Tudor vintage hotrod rebuild | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)

 

So a machine shop update on the 8ba.

3 holes required sleeves, a few were worn too far to cut .125 bore so I am having the whole thing sleeved and will set her to the side till I get more parts acquired for her.

Onto Banger fun...
So I was noticing some crankshaft thrust issues. Found out the rear thrust washer was worn to hell and back. I screwed up and bought a A set of washers forgetting about the B crank being larger diameter. But this shows how bad torn up the washer was. The thrust washer didnt have a oil groove or bevel cut into the surface so I am pretty sure it was scraping the oil off and running almost dry.


So I had 2 cylinders down on compression. 20 lbs lower... So 2 valves not sealing good... Full lap of all the valves to clean and make everything better.








Here she is all cleaned up on the top end and ready for a new head gasket.

 

Last weekend went to Chickasha Pre War swap meet. Not alot of A parts but I bought what I could find that was worth getting.

Here is the haul of parts. Most are already sold...



So I decided I wanted to go ahead and pull the motor, I will update on why on the next update when things are getting more spicy. You may notice what's behind the motor on the stand... Or more like why are there 2 shift towers in the air not just 1.



But I do dig the 2 x 2 intakes... So Here is mock up. Still don't know if I want to run the Burns or The Zepher... Tough call.



Will hopefully have some new updates soon when some things start coming together if parts arrive in time.

 

Very Kool . Thank You for taking us along Your journey

 

What's up with the peening around all of the holes on the head gasket surface? Don't think I ever saw that done before. Nice swap meet haul for sure.