Projects Bought a 51 Ford on Purpose

Wow, I can’t believe how much the later 60s Broncos look just like those shoebox clusters!

 

Yep, that’s what I wanna do when I retire! Only a few more years!!!

 

Man, I love that lavender T!

 

Hey Jeff, I really enjoyed this thread!
Even though it’s still ongoing… Since you’re having a great time with this car!
I’ve been trying to read up on some of your threads. To tell you the truth, I haven’t been on the HAMB for a while since the 33 has been running good! (Knock on wood!)
It’s hard to get the time to read all these millions of Threads. On this board.
Oh your little adventures remind me of when I was a kid being with My Pops, Breaking down on the side of the road, hitchhiking, other car guys stopping to help etc…
One time…
We actually pulled 3 speed transmission Up out of the floorboard on the 33, on the side of the road! He actually went home and got another one, installed it right there on the side of the road , so we could get it home because he was so damn stubborn to get somebody to tow it!!!
I love all those times, but I guess that’s why I’m kind of particular about some of that
“Traditional” old Ford stuff!
I hate those one barrel two barrel, carburetors, spitting fuel everywhere, ****py diaphragm pumps!!! So then I try to put an electric pump in, some more modern electric stuff, but then the stupid Chinese stuff is just as ****py sometimes!
Oh well, what can you do?
Don’t get me wrong. I still like the fact that I can fix things on the side of the road. It’s just now that I’m older, I’m not so excited about it or happy sometimes!!! Lol!

 

Lol! Both my boys know my saying of "Breakdowns make for good stories". This life is too short to stress over stuff breaking. I have yet to die when something left me stranded on the side of the road.

 

Woohoo!!! I’ve had this thing since August and finally got my sons car off the lift so I can work on some things underneath easier.

 

Needs some exhaust work. I knew it did but have been putting that off. It hasn’t fallen off yet.



New starter that I hadn’t noticed before.



Still can’t believe how solid this thing is underneath.

 

Is that a Porter Muffler? How do they sound? I have some for my '51 but like the short 10" gl*** packs. Gives it a nice low rumble out the back at idle.

 

I was thinking I had noticed it was a Smithy back when I was under the car previously. Now you have me questioning if I am remembering right. I didn't pay attention last night, but also left it on the lift. I would say it sounds ok other than just being pretty quiet only going through one muffler. As I was looking at all the the exhaust needs between the mess of welds where it mounts to the manifold and then what I showed in the pic, I am debating just getting some headers and running dual exhaust on it. I'll report back.

 

Did someone mention headers?!?

 

And, they are only $33.31 per month! Actually, those are the ones I was thinking about. I may have to wait a little bit until I figure out how much it is going to cost me to get my new pickup on the road before spending much more on this. I still have money to spend on the 56 as well to finish up the 312 and get it in.

 

I’m feeling ya, I have 3 projects going on now and might be buying a few more in the near future. But those are the headers I was thinking about getting for mine if I don’t fab a set for it because of the dual master cylinder I have tucked under the floor.

 

Back when I was running all over the country building water towers, I had to ride to work one week with my boss who lived only 50 miles away from me. The company bought him a new truck of his choosing every year and this particular year he had an OT 429 powered Ford. Somewhere on the way from Southern Illinois to Northern Wisconsin, we stopped for gas and got a tankful that had a lot of water in it. We made it to the jobsite, but only by adding Drygas and changing fuel filters every 25 miles or so. I was 130 feet in the air with a clear view of my boss trying to do the "take the fuel line off and empty the tank with the pump" trick. One minute, everything was good and the next, there were flames rolling from under the hood. Closest fire extinguisher was a couple hundred feet away. By the time he got it and got back to the truck, anything rubber and all the wiring was fried. I've been leery of doing that ever since.

 

.....WOW!!!!

 

Those are Smithy mufflers.

 

One of the first things I did when I got my '51 in 1987 was to have a set of Fenton cast iron headers and a set of steel-packs installed. Now I know that Fenton's are not supposed to fit "shoebox" Fords, but a friend of mine at the time owned the Midas franchise in Minneapolis and had a full shop at his main store. That included a Huth pipe-bender and anything else you would need exhaust wise, and he told me : "Bring it in, we'll get 'er done".

I got it back the next day, and boy, it sounded great! They told me that fitting the Fentons wasn't difficult at all, mainly involving a special pipe flattened to clear the clutch linkage on the left side. I drove the car for he next 35 years, enjoying that sound with every mile that p***ed. In 2016, the engine was getting a little tired, so I pulled it to replace it with a '51 Merc I had been saving for just such a situation. While I had it apart, I checked the exhaust system carefully, fully expecting to have to replace something. To my surprise, everything was in great shape, with the exception of the chrome exhaust tips, that became serviceable after a good clean up. I bolted everything back together and that grear sound was still there. When I had it out last summer, it still had that great sound, no leaks or rattles. The only problem is that the chrome tips are getting a little grungy again. They're welded on (which is why I didn't just replace them last time) and I'll probably replace them if they don't clean up well.

One of the things that always impressed me were the number of non-car people that commented on the sound; everybody liked it and nobody complained it was too loud. My favorite was our local rockstar/bartender, who didn't know a Yugo from a Ferrari who commented on it a couple of times; I figured he had a pretty good ear.

 

Well, I learned last night that it is fairly easy to not get the gasket on the filter housing correctly when changing the oil filter. After changing the oil, I noticed an oil trail heading all the way out of the shop and across the yard from where I drove the car. Thankfully I didn’t take off immediately to town but needed to stop by the house to get my Harley key to lock the ignition on it before leaving. Anyway, most of you can already guess my mistake in that part of the gasket fell off the edge and caused it to dump oil all over the head and exhaust… Just chocking it up to another lesson learned to mainly not do things in a hurry.

 

That’s one of my worst fears about changing the filter out on a flathead. That and trying to get the filter out without pulling the oil out with it
I wish it had some tabs that you could use to hold it on the lid like valve covers do.

 

The old sbc's were bad at that too and they were "upside down". Like most gm thinking, distributers in the back, distributer driven off of the cam causing "distributer walk", Siamese exhaust ports. Ford put one distributer in the back then quickly learned from their mistake. Sbc's with the upside down oil filter was more of a dramatic leak than any flathead Ford ever dreamed of being. Been there and done them both. Glad you caught it when you did.

 

Hello,

Wow, you have all of the fun of owning an old car for cruising around. When my wife and I were first married, we both liked 1950 Fords. Not the woody version, but the sedans and coupe models. We settled on a black coupe that was for sale and went to see the shiny black coupe. It was nicely done, had the old style fuzzy seating and had nice chrome rims on blackwalls.

As nice as that Ford Coupe was, the owner was not the most appealing person and my wife did not like the aroma that came from the car, when we opened the door to look inside. Our neighbor back in So Cal had a lot of cats and the aroma inside of their house was not the most pleasant. It was almost the same aroma. We could not place the smell, but for my wife, that was a “NO Sale” for her.

So, we walked away, despite the low cost. We ended up buying a project 327 powered 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery that needed a lot of work to get it safe and use for our daily driver. Actually, for her daily driver, once we got it professionally fixed and running right.

Jnaki

Your photo is a great one. But, I did a little adjusting and the 51 Ford now stands out a little clearer and demands some foreground respect… YRMV


Slight changes to bring out the Ford Sedan without making the whole photo different.

 

That’s a great story @jnaki ! Thanks for sharing that and the edits on the photo!

Oh, also, I never followed up on the Harley brake light switch. It works like a champ! I was just reminded of that as I backed the car out of the shop just now.

 

Hello Guthriesmith,
I've joined late but I really like your 51 and how you're coming along with it by driving it. I'm a bit jealous because there are for sure quite some years before I can actually drive my shoebox.

Just want to add my experience with dried out carbs making starting hard after some days. The modern gas is optimized for modern cars and also for price, so as far as I know it contains more **** than in the old days because these high pressure injectors and multiple spark high power ignitions will burn almost anything. So there is a great amount of something in one gallon and only a squirt of highly flammable good stuff. The good stuff evaporates quite fast through the vents of the carb float bowl, the rest will not burn.
Like others already mentioned a squirt bottle will help, I've also used a syringe full of gas or short spray with the brake cleaner bottle.
Regarding fuel hoses it's over here almost the same, the old style standardized fuel hoses are looking nice with their braided black cloth on the outside but they last sometimes only for 6 months before they start leaking. Years ago another visitor of a car meeting asked me if I was aware of the sea of gas under my car leaking out of one of these nice looking dedicated fuel hoses.
Since then I've changed all hoses to the double wall style hoses with the cloth between both layers. The are also not forever but at least good for 20 years plus.
I just want to add one more argument for the push ****on momentary switch instead of a toggle
switch. If one forgets the toggle switch, it is quite risky in a case of an accident or other incident, because it's quite likely that it will pump gasoline as long as there is power. Unwanted draining of the battery is the good case compared to unwanted draining of the gas tank.
I hope you're having more fun with your shoebox and have time to shoot some more motivation videos for me

 

Can’t get over this January weather. It’s 70 degrees today so driving home from work with the windows down and short sleeves.

 

I know it’s wild!!! It’s 63* and sunny with a little breeze, feels like spring. Rain tomorrow and then back in the 30’s again Thursday

 

Thanks for the comments! I am mainly just driving the thing lately. I’ll try to get some more videos at some point. It’s good for us to motivate each other.

 

Had to run down to OKC for sales conference this morning. So, figured I would take a couple pics since I figure it’s the first time this car has ever been here.

 

That right there is a good looking car.

 

Hey Jeff!
That car is looking better and better every time you take new pictures!
I really like the hubcaps on on it right now. What are those?

 

Its a joy driving an old car like your 51. Keeping it original as much as you can when working on it. For me, thats the way I look at my 40 and just enjoy the hell out of it!

 

Thanks! I’m liking in more all the time. I was definitely the only old car in rush hour traffic this morning.

Thanks Rick! They are aftermarket 15” “replicas” of 57 Dodge Lancers.

Agreed Dan. This car has been a blast as I’m sure your 40 convertible is as well. I finally showed the widow that I got it from what it looks like lowered and with the whitewalls. She was pleased and also thankful that I am actually driving the wheels off it.