Projects ONE PIECE AT A TIME ('47 FORD COUPE)

Making a check list. Feel free to comment
✅ Main harness
_painless duraspark II harness 30812
✅painless Ford 3G alternator wiring harness 30831
_and headlight, dimmer and ignition switch

 

O joy... a harness. Looks daunting all furled up like that. I made a harness "board" for mine. Identify the main (horizontal) bundle and the fuse box locations, this is essential and set in stone.

My board is plywood, about 18" x 48" and I used finishing nails, a marker and rubber bands to route everything. I started with the steering wheel as the "datum" and worked it all left and right.

I broke out what goes forward of the dash, what goes in the dash and what goes to the rear of the car. Ace Hardware has some real ugly colored zip ties, but the package deal is good and nobody will see that under the dash and so forth.

 

I really like my @REBEL43 harness!

 

Getting everything sorted and making labels
Trying to figure this one out
Pink HEI ballast
Purple F7 natural safety
Dark PurpleA6 accessory power
Red wire

 

Did a little putzing around the junkyard this weekend. The dial holes are almost the exact size of the gauges. Just got to fill in some of the other holes and paint her.

 

Got some idiot lights on eBay, trimmed the front down a few inches. Now I just need to fill the shifter hole.

 

Fill? That puppy will hold a 40 of Olde English... just sayin'...

 

I mean it ain't running so I can't get into trouble.

 

I have 8" Ford steel wheels. Can I get a 6" or 7" on a wheel like that?

 

Thinking of the best way to do this without getting myself into too much trouble.
I'm thinking either t******* the flanges on the cross member and t******* the gas tank in the front
-or-
cut everything out and raise the floor a few inches

 

Raise the floor and tank? That might be the way to go, less cutting and fitting.

 

I'm not committed either way, the floor in the trunk needs to be replaced either way, maybe going the EMS way would be an easier option .......

 

I like EMS stuff. Its thick metal and has a coating on it that keeps it from rusting. It fits 95% and you need to cut and weld it to the other 5%, which is better than many aftermarket panels.

 

Hard to feel any motivation when you can't feel your toes

 

Doing some templates to see what I can do myself. Should I put a half-inch flange on the sides, or would I be ok to **** weld everything to the wheel wells?

 

I did a down turned flange on mine, punched the flange for holes and welded it in from underneath. This required removing all the old floor where it attached to the wheel wells to get a smooth area to weld to. My floor was totally shot edge to edge, front to back. If you have a decent perimeter left of the old floor just keep that, make the floor fit edge to edge, drill/punch hole in it and plug weld to what is left of the old and seam seal top and bottom.

 

Finally got the lead out of my ***. Sometimes it gets overwhelming with all the small things you need to do to get this car running you just stop doing them.
I got her out of hibernation got the fuel filter in place, got some fuel line and adapters and feeling kind of more geek about working on my car than I have in a while

 

The wife thought she'd be funny and ambush me while it was working

 

I have a similar picture of me somewhere that my wife took, covered in dirt in the trunk of my field car 40 Ford I built. It's tough to stay motivated, but I try to do one thing every evening, even if it's a small thing and only takes 10 minutes, it adds up over time.

I figure for every one hour you can cruise and look cool there are about 5 hours of dirty thankless work.

EDIT: Can't believe I found the pic so quickly! I also attached a pic of the "finished" product.

 

Don't worry I got her back, I made her come with me to the fowlerville swap meet

 

Getting everything together to start on the brakes. Just thinking out loud, what would be the best route to go for the rear line to avoid the exhaust.
I will be moving the prop valve to the other side and put an adjustable valve to the rear.

 

Getting the front brakes on and couldn't get the caliper bolts on. Took the caliper off and put the bolt in and the threads don't even go all the way through the caliper. I have two 80s GM bolts and they are totally different.

 

The 2 shiny ones look after market.

 

They are, that's what came with the kit. The one on the left is from an 80s G-body GM that I pulled.
It's just weird that the bolts they have for the kit are so drastically different.

 

My guess is the smaller bolts fit the GM metric caliper, the large one fits the old style SAE one.

 

The brakes are coming along a little to well....I'm frightened.

 

Ok what am I doing wrong? I've been practicing on some brake line and every time I flare it, it ends up looking like deck nail....twisted and a square flare.
Not sure if it's the tool or operator error

 

If you followed the directions and can't get a good double flare after a few practice flares; I would consider the tool may not be up to the job.

 

First I run the adapter and the whole thing goes ****eyed

This is the first flare. Mind youat this point that I've wrenched on the flaring tool so much that it split one of the set screws


Thirdly I have to use a hammer to get the flaring tool apart to get the line out and this is what I end up with

 

You should have quit when the thing started going sideways. Go out and buy a decent flaring set, get a stick of line and cut it into small pieces and practice until you can get it right. If you wanted to splurge you could buy one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/hydraulic-flaring-tool/s?k=hydraulic+flaring+tool