Projects Barn Find '39 Deluxe 4-door Sedan Build

Aawesome info, thanks! I already had a guy local to me suggest Vintage Speed when he found out I had a dual carb intake. I will definitely take your advice on that

 

I highly suggest you do a search for opinions and threads about Vintage Speed before you purchase. Lots has been said here on the HAMB about them.

 

Thanks

 

I sure hope I have more things go this easy! Making the Bob Drake 99A-9275 sender fit the Tanks Inc tank was one of the easiest things I’ve ever done on a car. The gasket with the sender had both the 5 and 6 bolt sender patterns so all I needed was the orientation to line up where the float was heading the right way. I honestly didn’t expect it to be this good. Unbelievably easy once I was able to use the gasket as a template. Great way to start the day, on to something else!

 

More low hanging fruit today. Almost thinking I should go run out and buy some lottery tickets. I couldn't have planned this horn relay any better. My original intention was to take the 12V relay out of it's way too nice-looking lid and put it into the 6V one with the attached wiring harness bracket. I could tell the newer 12V was a little smaller and assumed some structural adhesive was going to be involved before the day was out. I decided to grind the bracket off of the lid and see what I had. To my surprise it slid in nice and snug so I put the 12V relay back inside it's lid. I popped it into the vise and pressed it into the 6V lid. I had to trim the 2 inner fold over tabs a little bit because they were going to touch the wire when they were folded back down.

 

Looking good! Love it when a plan comes together!

 

Thanks, yesterday was going good and today is back to reality. These brakes are absolutely kicking my butt. Putting a 9" under there woulda been easier for me than changing these pads, just ridiculous. I got the correct wheel cylinders on and flipped the shoes I had on backwards, thanks to Two Couped Up for straightening me out there, and now the drum won't go on. I clamped a straightedge on the front of my workbench and laid the shoes on top of each other. No surprise, more brake parts that aren't like the originals I'm removing. These pics are from the right side. The rear shoe needs an 1/8" ground off and the front needs 3/16". I need to take the left side apart for the 3rd time and when I do I'm sure this will be the same result.

 

Beware of the lower pivot. Some shoes I bought a few years ago from Carpenter had too thick of metal and when the lower pivot nut was tightened, the shoe was locked tight. The shoe is obviously supposed to be able to rotate on that pivot when the nut is tight. I took a grinding disk and thinned the steel in the area of the pivot a little.

 

I've still been pecking away on these brakes and think I finally have something. I wish I would've started on the fronts. They've gone pretty smooth once I knew what modifications needed done. I ended up grinding between 1/8" to 3/16" off of each shoe. I'm going to try and finish up the rears tomorrow.

 

I just heard back from the machine shop and my hopes of a low buck, toss it back together build is out the window, but I am very fortunate to have pieces that passed the magnaflux test and can be machined. The block needed a bunch of cleaning of the water passages and really was the only reason it went to the machine shop. As I had thought, there had not been any machining done to the engine before and can be cleaned up with a .030" bore and a .010" on the rods and mains. Unfortunately, I've been extremely busy doing other things outside of the garage but hope to be back out there real soon. All of the wiring and fuel line stuff is sitting there waiting on me and the brakes are about ready to be bled. I also have a plan for a headlight upgrade.

 

I'd go the olds 455

 

Almost 2 years to the day since the last post. Unbelievable how fast time flies. I'm definitely hoping to be getting things done on the sedan in the coming months. I'll start by posting some pics from last summer to get caught up.

 

I had a couple spots of the original green on the trans that I wanted to match as close as possible. I found a color in our fleet chip book that was decent. I should've picked a darker one to start but I had black paint in the cabinet that made this work out well.

 

Mint, glad to see you are still at it- and not giving up on the flathead.

 

I just inherited a 39 standard from my Aunt and Uncle from northwestern PA. Been off the road since 72. Been tinkering with it for the past month and drove a few miles down the road this past weekend. They’ve owned the car since the mid sixties. Cool to see another one from the same part of the country! Keep up the good work!

 

That’s great! A red ‘39 standard coupe is one of the other cars my dad had purchased. Definitely a down the road project

 

Finally got to hear it run!
https://youtube.com/shorts/NGuxwIhJMCs

I need to swap some cars around this weekend and get it ready to drop in, hopefully in the next couple weeks

 

Video not working

Dave

 

Let's try this again. It appears I had that video on private. I definitely have much to learn with the tech stuff

https://youtube.com/shorts/NGuxwIhJMCs

 

Sounds great!

 

Thanks, can’t wait to hear it in the car! All wiring is done except for headlights and front turn signals and a hi beam indicator bulb. I had found this yankee turn signal add on among some of the stuff my dad accumulated over the years. It is so cool and best part is it works. I’ve proved all the gauges work except for the oil pressure and since I know the motor had plenty that will be easy to tell.

 

Except for the trans being green and a board instead of a coat hanger holding it up I’m exactly back to square one with what this thing looks like when from when I started on it over 2 years ago. Near as I can guess there hasn’t been an engine in this car since sometime in ‘61. Today is the day to end that! I have a goal for a local car cruise on Sept 27th that I’d really like to attend. I’m terrible at making goals when it comes to car projects. Hopefully this time is different.

 

Yesterday was very successful. My brother and son both planned camping trips over the holiday weekend so I had to go solo on it. I sure got my exercise in going from the gantry to underneath the car too many times to count but it went smoother than I anticipated. Really getting excited the cruise on the 27th is possible

 

That is the wrong generator for a '39 Deluxe. Should have the later like '40-'48. I had a '39 Deluxe coupe in high school along with my '40 Standard Tudor I still have. Love these cars!

Edit: Went back and read the whole thread again! See you already took care of the generator with a 12 volt conversion. Carry on the great job!

Dave

 

Thanks Dave! Unfortunately, the original engine and everything bolted to it have been MIA since long before I was born. I was very fortunate that this engine was in as good of shape as it was. When I saw the carb, distributor and coil missing I guessed this was bad enough to be replaced and those were put back on the car this came engine came from. A buddy of mine is doing the alignment and bending the exhaust on the 20th so I’m going to be cutting it real close

 

I hope you're cruising by the 27th. Great progress! I love these sedans.