They are not clearanced for disc brakes, I know what you mean about that though. These are 16x5 front 16x5.5 rears.
Lets talk old Ford wheels, 15" wheels to be specific. 16" Ford wheels are another breed and some of this information will crossover, but I will focus on the 15" Ford steel rim found on 46-48 Ford passenger cars and pickups. The passenger car has a 5" wide rim, this makes a great front wheel. The pickup has a 5.5" wide rim and makes a great rear wheel. **"Fun Fact"** When trying to identify the wheels quickly, the truck wheels have a raised rib around the lug nut seat and is the same on 16" Ford wheels. When it comes to reversing wheels I prefer using the Ford hoop because I think it looks best. There is nice taper on the back side of the rim leading to the drop center. On the 5.5" wide rim this feature is even more pronounced and that is where the extra half inch is added to the rim width. This feature is not in the Ford 16" wheel. There are many no called "chrome reverse" out there, but not many like this. Once your eye gets trained to see the real stuff you will see the difference right away. For example, the Bill Woodard Roadster restored by the Seiver's has real chrome reverse wheels. If I plan on chroming the wheel I fit the wheel center to the hoop and label it for position prior to chroming and assemble them after chroming. The chrome plating looks the best doing it this way. In the photos attached I do not have the reversed wheels on the front, but I plan on doing so. I have to run the Mercury hubcap in order to clear the front 39 Lincoln hubs. This set will probably get painted with trim rings and hubcaps. I will run 8.20-15 rear and 5.50-15 fronts. I am not sure about the white walls, but this rim package will be for road trips only because of easy maintenance.
Hmm, learn something new every day. I didn’t know that Ford made 15” wheels in 46-48. I always thought those style steel wheels in 15” were originally on 49-56 pickups. Maybe later as well.
LOL You could be right, I may have misspoke. I obtained my wheels off a 48 Ford pickup and somebody could have swapped them out. So I wouldn't hold this information as gospel because all these parts interchange. I am mainly pointing out that there are truck wheels and passenger car wheels. Thanks
I am still working on the springs for Lil Runaway. I would hate to see the time ticket on this if I were a paying customer. Both front and rear are custom length and arch. My last step is hammering out the ends of the leaves to draw the metal out thin and then polish them all aka Hollywood spring. My favorite hammer got dinged up, total bummer, but I can fix it later. I shared a few pics of how I keep the hammer warm and the anvil warm. I keep those hammer heads hot and place them on the anvil while I heat the spring in the forge. I also place the hammer face on the stove to keep it warm in between sessions.
Now i understand why you say that you need to polish them all the time haha Good work on the leaf springs.
Here are some photos that document the body work. I disassembled the complete turtle deck. Polished the T rails and shaped to fit the quarters. Had to cut and put a piece of metal to the right quarter so it matched the left side. The turtle deck has been apart and put back together many times in order to get it to fit like I want. The same goes for the body fitment to the modified Deuce frame. The turtle deck is easily removable with basic hardware and fits pretty good. I cut the rockers out because they got welded into the body and I prefer it took look like a steel body so I fit new rockers in that resemble factory installation. I had to weld on the edges of of the deck lid and panel above deck lid to get decent gaps.
Just for the hell of it - I was bothered when read about your deck then realized “ hope you did not steal that steel deck”. Crazy English language & old age screws with the mind or mine……..
Bro, your Dad knew exactly where that car was and was probably hot on it's trail for well over a decade. He was just waiting on your blessing to go and get it. Congrats on getting it back. It looks like you're doing a great job with the refresh and turning it into what you wanted it to be back then.
Thank you! As far as my Dad knowing where the car was, "He assured me, he didn't know." I have no reason not to believe him and I am pretty good at reading B.S. too. When we went to pick the car up and our initial walk up to the car we were both skeptical it was the car. As I inspected the car and saw things I fabricated and identified the yellow paint inside on the sub rails I nodded my head and said, "This is the car." I try not to get caught up in worldly items, but this one had me. I was speechless, and thought to myself "This car is OK." I was always hard on myself as a young man learning how to build HOT RODS thinking this one was never good enough and if I had a 32 Ford everything would be better. That is part of my motivation to make it better now. It is sure taking longer than expected, but we are enjoying the project. Thanks again.
That's awesome man. I think there are some cars that come along where they're just stepping stones on to bigger and better things. Nobody pops out of the womb with the know-how to compete for the AMBR or Ridler, there have to be cars along the way where you cut your teeth on them to learn and hone your skills. A lot of that experimentation ends up in some pretty marginal work, which is inevitable, but leads you to a better place. I've had plenty of test mules over the years. Still do! Good on you for getting this one back and doing it up right.
Front spring and shackles are done and ready for paint. I decided to make my own shackle and make it greasable. The right side gets a dead perch.
Man what a cool and very interesting build - a lot of fresh ideas here that’s for sure. My hat’s off to you!
That is an awesome build, your skills are great and it shows! I can't wait to see the finished product. Best of luck with it.
Don’t think I’ve seen anyone make a “double main” leaf set up like that. I assume it’s to get some stiffness back in a leaf pack that is thin to get the car low? it’s only on one side it appears, is it related to the dead perch?
I copied a spring out of an early opened wheeled dirt car that had a real "Hollywood Spring" in it. After building this spring, I can say that it actually has more action than a regular style spring. There are many unknowns on this build and that is why I will not send anything out for chrome until I drive this car a little. Like I have said before, "This car is not the status quo." I have spent about 40 hours, to make the front and rear spring on Lil Runaway, that includes re-arching the springs, hammering out the ends, polishing and curling the spring eyes. This was all because I narrowed the track on this car and I was committed to using old Ford parts. Thanks for looking!
Lots of thought and skill in this Lil car. Dad must thrilled about his truck and where this build is going. Tell us a little about your forge, that looks interesting, too. Keep enjoying and sharing, Carp.
As I stumble through the body work I wanted to share some details. I always like using original parts. Here you see the restored hinges and door latches. When I decided to put a top on the car, I removed the original Model T post that protruded out of the side of the body and installed my own take how the top should fasten. Little Runaway will get painted with acrylic laquer. The paint was purchased from a friend Don Coleman 30 years ago. @ct1932ford
I wanted a top on this roadster. So I copied a Bob Lee top, used some cheap masking tape to mock it up.
The Jalopy Journal
