Well, the time has come for the build on the 52'. So far, the progress has been slow but steady. a lot about this car has been a bit of an unknown for me and a lot of folks on the HAMB have been of great ***istance, which I must give thanks. First a bit of the history of the car. History I purchased the car on June 1, 2020. The reason for the purchase was I broke my 47' Ford back in March of 2020. I was working from home, doing everything online, and was frustrated beyond belief. So, it was suggested I take the ole' Ford out a ride. I was treating every stop sign and traffic light like it was tree at the drag strip. Well, apparently I did one too many hole shots and the car expressed is unhappiness with me by tearing a motor out of the frame rail. The damage was quite extensive as it peeled by the original frame like it was piece of cheese. Needless to say, my heart dropped and went home to ****yze the full extent of the damage. After taking stock of the work that needed done, I knew it was going to take a bit of time to fix. I started the repairs and one thing led to another, mainly a problem getting materials to fix the car. So my loving wife suggested I go find something to putt around in while I worked on the 47' In May I found the 52' Ford. It was pretty much stock, with a 215ci six, and three in the tree. Well, I got the 47' back on the road over the course of the summer and the early fall of 2020. For 2021 and 2022 the 52' was driven a bit but nearly as much as the 47'. As summer of this year was coming to a close, the wife and I started talking about the next project. I told her I was really getting the bug to build something again. We briefly discussed the 52' but ideas were floated for another vehicle. Maybe a Model A, maybe a late T, maybe something different all together. After a few days of going back and forth and doing some research, the light bulb went off and we decided on doing the 52'. So, the parts hunting started. Plan The plan for the car was a nice simple driver. SBC, turbo 350, S-10 rear axle with 3:08 gears, steering column I had laying around, quick wiring job, then on the road. Well, plans change. A g***er build came up as the next build theme, that quickly got changed. Again the goal the with the car is to drive the hell out of it. I really wanted to build a g***er but this car is very clean without an ounce of rust or rot on it I could not bring myself to cut it up that much. So, a plan did get decided. Thanks to my Uncle who looked at the empty engine bay and saw the small 350 sitting beside it, a change was made. The exact comment from him was wow that 350 is going to look lost in that engine bay. So another option was made to fill that chasm of an engine bay. Keep in mind, I am planning on a driver. I want one of my daughters to be able to jump in the car and drive it anywhere with relative ease. Lord knows the 47' Ford is a handful. Oh yeah, I also want the car on the road come May of 2023. Lofty goals. Ideally I want to drive it to the NSRA Nats East in June. Build First thing was to remove the engine and trans. Overall this was relatively simple. I was a bit surprised at the weight of the 215 ci. Due to my Uncle's statement I went on a hunt for another engine. I found a 454 big block with about 80k on it. It is a 1988 engine out of a dually suburban. For the transmission, I had a 400 th laying around and got the two of them cleaned up. Next was to mate the two together and begin the transplant. Installing the two was not much of an issue. The block fit well, and the trans was able to slide right in. In fact, I was able to reuse the original transmission cross member. All I needed to do was drill some holes and make a mount to attach to the cross member to the 400 th. The first two images are of the engine and transmission "mocked" into place. Since then, I have welded in some lower mounts using 3/8 square stock as risers to get the correct height and then welded the lower engine mounts to the risers. More welding work needs done at this point time as I need to remove the engine and trans to complete the fabrication. But I have more to mock up yet at this point. Next was to install the front suspension. I am running the stock arms with kingpins but used the Aerostar springs with the KYB shocks. Perfect fit, like the parts were made for the car. Great resource found here on the HAMB. The springs give the car a real nice sit. At my height of 5'7'' I can clearly see over the roof of the 52'. (I know, I am short.) Once the suspension was done, next came the steering column. I purchased a column shift column from Speedway. The column is 30 inches and a great fit. I also installed a lower mount for the column and a 2 inch column drop. I re-drilled the holes for the original column drop and used the same location. Only problem I had was I dropped the damn spring for tension on the shift arm inside the column. Took me an hour of fiddling around to get it out. Then out of frustration I turned the column upside down and the damn thing fell out. Now for the fun part. I wanted to make the car have rack and pinion steering. This turned out to be quite the adventure. I purchased a rack and pinion for a 1987 Dodge Omni. Seemed to be the right length and the Omni was a rear steer vehicle. Found one, tried to install it and damn oil pan was in the way. Not slightly in the way mind you, roughly about 3 inches in the way. The sump ran right over where the rack needed to go. I thought about the problem repeatedly and the idea of crossing a mountain came to mind. If you can't go over it, go through it. So, i cut a section out of the middle of the oil pan. Fortunately, the oil pick up tube is out of the way and the oil pump is out of the way as well. Where the rack needed to go, is in between the two. I plan on using a piece of 2 inch exhaust pipe, cut it in half and weld it in place. A good friend is a professional welder and can weld everything up for me. Caution, the pictures look gruesome. I am in the process of making the mounts. All and all this is the progress so far. Once I have the rack fully mounted, i will beinstalling the headers which has been another adventure that I am still working on. So far I have tried long tube headers no good, tried over the frame rail headers, no good, now I found a set of mid-length of headers for a 67-81 Camaro. Will see if those fit. Worst case scenario, I will use the g***er style headers and shorten them up so I can turn the wheels. The headers stuck out too far previously and I could not get the wheels on. More will be coming as i get more done. Thanks for looking and reading through.
You lost me, and I know others, right away with your engine choice, sorry. Your car, your choice, but don't expect a lot of support on a FORD forum.
On the '59, the fly in the ointment for a BBC is the need for a front-sump pan. Luckily the Nova pans are available for the SBC swaps.
True even for some later Ford engines. My 4.6 needed the front sump oil pan fortunately used on Continentals.
This is a Facebook Ford Group members car from France, a while back I think I posted pictures of his swap with a 440 Mopar which is actually a better fit than the BBC. He runs it on some road course events.
Sometimes us Ford guys like a little engine swap revenge Like this I saw today. https://www.dragzine.com/features/c...nin-for-9s-bondo-bird-is-a-purists-nightmare/
I don't care what driveline you chose if you are keeping an old Ford on the road. To me the whole purpose of hot rodding is to modify as it pleases you.
Sedantudor: In my 3500+ posts, you'd be hard pressed to find other negative comments from me, not sure why I went off on you, must have been a bad day. I should have just kept my mouth shut. That is a good looking car, btw. Carry on please. Rich
The Jalopy Journal
