Technical Starting 1930 Ford Coupe Project in 2022 (Questions from a Nubee)

Mine came out of a truck and is not shortened.

 

Definitely dont want a spool for street driving either!!

 

i ran a truck 9", they are wide, cleared my '33 coupe rear quarters...
just a note, a 4 wheel drive will have almost 2" more offset to the right side than 2 wheel drive trucks... my favorite is an early '60s stepside,
narrow, 5 on 5.5", mostly 3.00 to 3.78 ratios,...

 

Me personally I don’t think anything looks as good as 7.50’s in the rear on early lincoln 16x5’s and 5.50’s in the front on early ford 16x4’s

as for your axles I’d definitely encourage you to set it up with 5.5 bolt pattern

buying one from either boiling bro’s or rebuilding yours with new axles, bearings, hogsheads and having it narrowed may cost around the same? Worth looking into

As for gear I think that really depends on what your purpose for the car is and what kind of engine you have?
I have a 3.25 in my 32 with a 1956 265.

im not doing hole shots by any means but I’m also cruising comfortable at 80mph at 3k down the interstate.

if I were wanting something to raise hell in around town a 4.11 may be a better fit.
Also just my opinion but the radial bias look tires are tolerable but expensive.

regular style radials look horrendous on early fords.

also I put a lot of miles on my car. So long as your suspension and steering is set up correctly with quality parts you should be just fine with bias plys.

oh and a set of billstein shocks are worth EVERY CENT!!!!

 

I just ordered a 56" early style rear end with 5x5.5" bolt pattern on the axles. After doing the math and time to modify what I have, it was more cost and time effective to buy a new rear end. I can build my 3rd member into a limited slip unit on my bench.

I don't plan to go drag racing but will get on it every so often. I think a 3:00 or 3:25 will work at highway speeds with my Muncie.
Good info from everyone.

 

good choice in buying new as the housings we want have been sitting on the ground for 20 to 30 years...
bought a cougar, so rusted you could twist the backing plates off it, the pig was rusted solid...
paid $200 for it, $450 for speedway brakes, housing had a slight bend .... errrrr !
would have been better off buying a new one, custom width...

 

Question? I got all my parts together for the front and rear suspension. Hairpins for the front and transverse (buggy) spring on the rear. Does it matter if I install the front suspension first or should I mount the rear first? Any suggestions on mounting both will help. I have looked on several sites to make sure I am doing it right but not much out there that is specific. Thanks

 

Hey ! I don’t think it matters which end you start at. I think I just put the chassis on jack stands and went for it. Do you have any wheels and tires at this point? Once I got the hairpins attached to the front axle, I made a wood ‘jig’ to lift the front axle up an assembled the rest. The jig was just a couple of 2x4’s mounted on a piece of wood creating a slot the width of the axle. Wheels and tires makes it easier
Good luck ask questions

 

Assembly, the jig..then I attached the 2x5’s to made the slot for the axle

 

As long as you have the frame well supported you can do either. Be careful with the springs once you load them up. Don't want a spring flying and smacking you in the head! Lots of good vids on youtube. Checkout @IronTrap on youtube, he has lots of good videos that you can learn from and Matt's a great guy. Good luck with the build

 

I watch Iron Trap Garage but probably have missed a few episodes over the last two years. Matt has good info and has responded to some of my emails. Thanks

 

I set up the chassis with just the main leaf. That will be similar to the finished, fully loaded car sitting on the springs. All suspension arms/bones etc. need to be set as if the car's full weight is on the suspension.

Also, when you set it up and locate suspension points, make sure the frame is at the desired finished rake.

 

If you Ain’t Cav. You Ain’t Squat. I be following your build. Frank 545 M.P.Co.

 

1 Model "A" want to be chopped 5 inches, bring it down the other 1 1/2 inches.

2 8:20 15 in back and 5:60's in front, no body ran 16's in the 50's.

3 high 2's or low 3's in the rearend.

4 redrill the axles or hubs to match or ck Wheelsmith I think they make 2 pattern rims, you only need one for a spare

 

After a few months of not working on the 30, I am finally motivated to get back on it. At least until we go on the road again. Anyway, I have mocked up the engine, transmission, front end and rear end. The subrails are trash therefore I am getting those replaced by a guy that is in the business and owes me. I am going to fit the doors before I finish welding the body where the chop is.

Speaking of doors. I had to fabricate the bottom frame on the drivers side. I had to make it out of a 30-31 pickup bottom frame from Howells. There are no coupe replacements. Cut and splice. I think it came out ok. The patch panel was another pain in itself. I tried as I could to keep the warping down to a minimum but I still had some. I will continue to massaging it and then slap some filler on it. I am not making a show car, just one that is presentable and I can drive regularly. Don't make fun of my welding.

Question for you all that have replaced the wood in the body. I am going to be installing the wood soon. Do you all finish the wood with a sealer of some kind? I am tempted to put a light stain with polyurethane. Even though we get hot in Texas, we still get some high humidity at times. What are your thoughts?

 

Lookin is good so far ! I would stay away from Howell’s sheet metal. None of the replacement panels fit really well regardless of where you got them. Brookville is too expensive, I used Brattons in Maryland but Snyder’s is ok. I like the tires you have.
As far as wood, again the pieces will need modifications. I stained and polyurethaned the wood on my coupe, adds a nice vintage look IMHO !

 

Don't know how I missed this thread before.

 

...OOPS! Guess I didn't miss it, just lost track of it.

 

Hey Dino. I would normally not buy from Howells because the website is slow and my firewall will reject it because they don't check their malware. They were the only ones with the bottom frame patch even though I had to take a section out of the middle to make it work. I will not be buying anymore patch panels since the previous owner threw in all the ones he had ordered. Yes, they all need some fitting.

It took me about a year to get the tires. Everyone was out of stock. I think I am going to stain and seal all the wood even though I will have to trim some off. I can seal the cut ends as needed.

 

My 30 Coupe has original wood. 94 years old wood. No rot, doesn’t show with interior.
I would not waste my time sealing the wood. It will outlast you and me just as it is.

 

...Any left exposed, as without a headliner, does look better stained and polyurethaned. If it's covered like you mentioned, no big deal.

 

Fit the wood before you put a finish on it.

 

What do you all do about roll up windows? Some guys do not install them. Both my regulators work but the fixed round guide that the window channel rides on are rusted out.

 

Do you have a pic of that ? Not sure exactly what you’re referring to

 

Here is what I am talking about. This one, the none rolling guide has rusted through in some places. The passenger side door regulator works real well.

 

It’s the window regulator. Repos are available
Snyder’s ….https://www.snydersantiqueauto.com/product.htm?pid=983719&cat=41680

 

I don’t know why you wouldn’t want windows?