Projects Bought a 51 Ford on Purpose

Thanks Matt! When I first got to the wreck, it seemed my daughter was as upset about messing up all the work we had done together to fix her car in the first place. Good opportunity for her to learn that all that was really important was that she and my grandson were not hurt. The car can be replaced.

 

Oh, and a video proving that the radio even works.

 

Think I’d just keep driving til the road ran out

 

Just read about your daughter and grandson, glad their alright. I've seen a few of them Oklahoma sunrise's myself. In the hot rod and old Pete.

 

Glad she's ok!! Terrible about the car, but it's only a car. There are worse daily drivers you could be stuck with.

 

Tim, I like those sentiments. I surely do.

Ben

 

My buddy was over last month, and we were discussing fuel leak on the 8BA carb in his Es***. Suggested he check the power valve, based on my reading on another thread here on HAMB. Yep, the power valve wasn't tightened all the way, or it settled over time, but it stopped leaking by, once tightened.

 

Every time I crashed a car (yeah I said every time, don't judge me, lol) my dad would say son they build new cars every day.

After he calmed down and stopped chasing me around the house of course....

 

Not as pretty of a day today but still more fun than driving a boring car. Also, I’m 90% sure my power valve (or spark valve that I may have put in) is emptying my fuel bowl. It used to take probably 12 hours or so to have to squirt gas in the vent tube. Now, it’s more like 8 hours to leak down. Hopefully my power valve will be in the mailbox when I get home.



And, I hit 2200 miles today since I started driving it. Oh, and I didn’t mention where my off-site meetings were happening. Trying to generate more interest from the younger folks by parking on campus at Oklahoma State University the past two days.

 

Took off work this week, but did hit 2500 miles so far…. My younger brother, also a HAMBer, is here from Michigan so spending some time with him this week while not working around the house.

 

Was searching for fuel evaporation solutions when I came across this thread. What a delight! Especially the shoeboxes. Glad all are all right.

 

I’m still waiting on my correct power valve from Vintage Speed. Hoping it shows up soon since just being at my folks for about 9 hours yesterday was enough that I had to squirt gas in the vent tube again last night to fill the bowl to start it.

 

I’d go ahead and put an electric fuel pump on just for backup if anything. I had an issue the other day when I drove mine and I had to hit the electric pump and I got home no problem at all. Still have to figure out what caused the problem…

 

Yep, I still need to do that too. I even have the pump since Dan from Minnesota gave me one back in September.

 

I spent a little time with Charlie and Gwen Price. Vintage Speed, at Daytona Friday. Wish I would have seen this post before, maybe I could have grabbed the power valve for you.

Lee

 

Gotta look out for those Mitten People. They ain't quite right you know...

 

Lol...you know he isn't originally from up there right? He just ended up going to high school up there when my dad was transferred with GM my senior year. Then, he met a girl from up there and you know how that goes... He spent most of his time growing up in Texas and Oklahoma.

 

I'd think twice about this. If you have to "fill the bowl" after such a short time, where do you think all of that gas went? Sure, some of it evaporated, but most of it leaked out with the potential of getting in the crankcase and contaminating the oil. Not a long term solution fo sure.

I'm almost as certain that there are places with better customer service than what you're experiencing.

 

It sure seems like it is taking a while to get the power valve... And, I know where the gas is going and it isn't a good deal. My youngest son is out of town the next two weeks, so the 51 is sitting in our ****py weather we have right now since I can drive what he was borrowing. Hoping that power valve shows up in the next few days.

 

I figured out my problem, bought bad gas at Sam’s and the sediment bowl had water and some trash in it. Now I have 14 or so gallons of lawnmower fuel whenever I drain the rascal

 

Whenever I had (or thought I might have) bad gas, I'd dump 3 or 4 gallons in my '99 F150 and fill it up at the pump. That truck never misses a beat.

 

That reminds me…I should siphon the gas out of my 99 F150 since the transmission went out recently.

 

The cold made it here. Even had a little snow and sleet yesterday. But today, it is supposed to be back up over 50 degrees.

 

We didn’t get it bad at all over here, just a rain and little bit of sleet mixed in but if you cross the bridge into Arkansas it’s a different story. But Lord knows it’s cold as the ****ens

 

29 here.

Ben

 

“It was a pretty emotional night for the owner but she later texted me and thanked me for treating her so nice. Pretty sure she is glad I ended up with it”

I can relate to that. I recently gave this project car to a friend for he, his son and his grandsons to finish up. I came to the realization that despite owning it since 1979, starting the resto mod work in 2009 and it sitting in the garage since 2016 it was never going to get finished. That realization came during a five day hospitalization the end of October. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t shed a tear when it left.

 

Very understandable. I had originally posted a picture of the widow standing in front of the car when I picked it up. But, I decided to delete it because you could tell she was shedding a few tears and that the whole deal was hard for her. I have continued to check in on her fairly regularly to see how she is doing. I read your post on giving your car away and applaud you for doing it. I know you weren't looking for a pat on the back, but I see it as motivation to the rest of us to consider the same to help someone out when we aren't able to do what we want on these old cars.

 

So, in case anyone references this thread for brake light issues on old Fords with pressure switches, I figured I could add the Harley Davidson brake light switch part number. I finally picked one up this past Saturday since I was near a Harley dealer but still need to put it on. From my understanding, these are a lower pressure switch that work well on the old Ford's. This trick came from @bchrismer and I am partly putting the information here in case I ever need to buy another one. I may have now asked Bret multiple times including right before I bought one Saturday... Anyway, the Harley part number is 72023-51E. Maybe I will put it on in the next few days to see if I get consistent brake lights which can be important...

Also, just had a message from Vintage Speed on my phone and seems they were having some computer issues and just now saw my order come through today. So, they should be heading my way today.

 

I haven't had much success siphoning gas out of newer vehicles, seems they started putting "rollover" valves in the inlets of the tanks.

 

Jeff...
just catching up on your thread...glad the daughter and grandson survived the crash OK
I have some 94 power valves and would send you one I suspect that is the source of your gasoline loss...
Price can take his sweet time sending stuff out....if you can find his item on ebay he ships that stuff lots faster...
Everything about this car is good
edit: see that Price responded...but my offer still stands...