Looks good man . After you get the front end on it and want a quick fix to get the car down a little. Order you some lowering shackles from Tardell. They will drop the car 1 inch.
Has anyone rewired on of these ole gals before? I am looking at converting to 12V using a Rebel Wire Harness 9+3. Any suggestions or tips???
Ronnie, Just found your build thread! 38's are one of my favorites. Can't wait to see it out on the road!
Great project Earl. I too am bias. Id suggest pulling all the extra wires out of that harness you will not use. There is not enough room for all that unused wiring. You are able to hook up the original light switch onto the harness by attaching your wires onto the switch at the end of the column in this manner. The diagram shows which terminal energizes in each position. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=169925&highlight=light+switch Why install the battery in the trunk when you have a great original location on the firewall? The fuel gauge is 6 volts and will burn up without a AC Delco U1745 voltage Reducer or similar. The 6 volt starter will last many years with 12 volts. A 1959 through 62 ford 12 volt generator looks more fitting and will fit the original type of band brackets. A 12 volt regulator will be required. Fit your exposed wires into woven sleeving instead of plastic. I would not use lowering shackles. Use a mono leaf rear spring. Check out the 37 pics for ride height after I re-painted the coupe. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=328 Cool project good luck. Rick
This is one of my favorite threads. Are you going to switch out your standard front sheet metal for the Deluxe in the rendering?
Thanks. If I can find the sheet metal I will. I like both looks, so for now it will be standard. When I decide to paint it I will look into the Deluxe front. sheet metal.
Thanks for the info. I plan to run the new wire in sleeving, and ditch the old stuff (well I will keep it on the shelf for many years most likely )
I am not fully convinced I want the battery in the trunk. I was wanting to clean up the firewall some, so moving the battery to the rear was my first thought. Are you running 12V?
I found some of the pictures from the frame swap. Thanks for the helping hands! texas truck, jrod60, and treb11 getting the flathead started May not have been the best way to swap the body, but it worked out fine... A few hours worth of work, a messy garage, and a running ch***is.
Update: *running boards have been blasted and painted, and need to go on *fuel filler neck installed *Carb rebuilt *Fuel pump rebuilt *New coil installed *seat bolted down *rear license plate bracket and light installed. Still trying to free up the latch to install There was a fuel delivery issue with the carb and pump, so both were rebuilt. I am now having some electrical issue, so time to rewire. I still have a lot of work ahead of me, but goal is to make it Round Up!!!
Lookin' good! I had a 38 standard coupe many years ago and I hope that you keep the standard front end sheet metal as it looks a lot cleaner then the deluxe front end sheet metal IMHO. Watching you do the tear down on the body and frame brings back fond memories of my 38. Good luck on the build.
So Ronnie, does this mean you will be cruising to LSRU??? If I am done, we will take off Thursday morning and head to Reggie's and Billy's. Two places you really need to see.
That is the plan... I am done traveling with work, so now I can spend some time other than one day a week working on the coupe!
Last week I tried to fit the 38 inner fenders on the 39 ch***is. I knew that there would need to be modification. The 38 came with mechanical brakes, and the brake cables ran under the ch***is. The 39 has hydraulic brakes, the the lines run on top of the ch***is. So I have to either a. relocated the brake line, or b. trim the inner fender to fit. I have yet to decide which way I want to go. So this weekend I got some help to mock up the front sheet metal. There was only one problem... the 39 radiator is too wide for the 38 standard grill and fenders. I still have the 38 radiator in storage, so I will have to have it re-cored and then mount it up. While little progress was made I do know what I need to do moving forward... And no I have not fixed the distributor/coil problems so she is still not running You can see here that the front sheet metal still need to go reward at least 4" I did get the inner window frames on... glad to get them out of the way so they don't get bent!
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