Projects A boys intro to hot rodding and 1949 Ford woody build

Let me start in the beginning. My dad having owned a number of cool cars in his childhood wanted his sons to own something cool and to drive it to high school. We started off by looking at a number of different cars from the 30s and 40s before I ended up falling for a 1949 Ford woody on ebay. I purchased it the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school. On arrival from Ohio we learned why you don't purchase things sight unseen. while the body was straight the roof was m***ively caved in and had numerous holes from what appeared to be a pick ax.
Following this purchase I was looking for a fordor to buy in order take parts, floor pans, and roof sections off of, at that time not knowing how different woodys were. In this pursuit I ended up purchasing a fordor that was in fairly decent shape, but not running. Although once I got home and put some gas in she fired right up. After replacing the transmission which had first gear out, I ended up with a spiffy little run around that I drove to high school through out my junior year. This was a favorite with the students and a nemesis of admin as my brother and I were late countless times after breaking down on the side of the road.
Back to the woody. During this time I began to work on the woody, starting with removing the body from the frame. I cleaned up and painted the entire frame. Finding the frame was bent, I cut the frame and using the specs in the Ford shop manual was able to true it. From there I found original Fenton lowering blocks and fatman drop spindles on ebay which I installed, as well as replacing all rubber grommets, dust covers, and steering linkages from Macs. I will voice a little frustration about them later.
At this time I started working part time at a local shop which allowed me to do a bit of work on my car, as well as earn some money to throw at it.
Through out this time I was beginning to talk to some of the people involved with woodys and get a feeling for just what was entailed in restoring one of these impressive cars. Meanwhile my dad and I began am***ing a collection of shoebox parts, as well as woody parts, through ebay and craigslist.
I then cleaned up the bottom of the woody and sprayed it with unercoating as well as replacing some areas of rust with panels cut from a fordor shell.
For the engine I was unsure where to go but We had a engine that was in a ranch wagon that my dad had purchased years ago. In the ad it was said that the flathead was rebuilt but upon picking it up this was refuted by the owner and a price about half that originaly agreed upon was set. We hooked the carb up to a gas can, turned the key, and it fired right up. We pulled the engine and set it up in the frame with fresh motor and ****** mounts. After pulling the pan and inspecting the engine the cylinder walls were smooth and clean with relatively recent cross hatching marks. it appeared as if it had truely been rebuilt. For the engine we found a set of tube headers for dual pipes and fabricated the rest of the exhaust at the shop with a set of cherry bombs.
I put the body back on and got everything secured down to where it was beginning to look like a car. My next step was electrical which I ordered from Macs. After waiting a month I finally got all the wiring for the woody and began installing it. The quality control was horrible as multiple wires were taped up inside of the loom instead of coming out where they were supposed to, as well, over 8 of the bullet connectors fell off which I had to purchase and replace. For the amount I payed I was extremely disappointed. Once in and done everything worked like a charm and I had lights that only shorted out on occasion. While doing this I converted the system to 12v.
From here I had to get the radiator rodded out and cut a little out of the floor pan as the driveline rubbed.
I finally got everything put together for my home coming game sernior year. with only the windshield glued in I proudly drove my woodless, gl***less, and interiorless car to the game.
I first got the gl*** installed, Professional job just took weeks longer then expected and lost special woody only window latches. Then I threw down some costco carpet on the floor and put on the original interior wood paneling to keep a little of the wind out. By this time it was already Prom and as a surprise my parents had the front seat upholstered. The evening was enjoyable but on the ride down I cracked a ring so the entire night I was blowing smoke like a train. That leads me to the point Im at now with the engine and front end off the car while I get the engine rebuilt.
I would like to give a little thanks to several of the people that have helped me thus far. Mom and Dad for lots of help, Cliffside Auto for use of shop,
Wall & Eades Auto Upholstery, O'Brien's Brake Service, Fresno Gl*** Co, Doug and Suzy of WoodNCarr and others that have helped. Ill load what photos I have shortly. Quinn

 

Very cool Quinn . Post some more photos

 

Here is a few pics with me and the woody as complete as I got it and the link to what pictures I have of my build as well as my other fordor.
http://s140.beta.photobucket.com/user/kdqm/library/cars/1949 Ford Woody

 

I hope you are real friendly with Wood N Carr and enjoy woodworking.

 

I have corresponded with them and they have provided very helpful information on acquiring wood for my car though I have to say that money wise it will have to come a little further down the line in my restoration.

 

You can get kits from some of the wood builders and you do all the fit and finish for descent prices. I was going to do merc woody, but the wait on the wood was about a year...your shoebox is pretty slick!

 

Pretty cool looking project. Don't worry about the wood part. Like anything else, with the proper at***ude, just start somewhere, jump in and work on it until you figure it out and get it where you want. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. If you don't make mistakes, you aren't trying hard enough. If you could somehow even manage to do it all without making mistakes, first off you'd be a genius, and secondly it would just be boring anyway. Have fun with it whatever you do.

 

Man that is going to be a very cool Woody once you get it the way you want it to be. Sorry to hear about that ring though, totally ****s to have rebuild that Flathead.

 

Cool car,,I've always like the 49-51 woodys,,what does the car look like now. HRP

 

You seem like a great young man and we should all be proud that you are here on the HAMB. Good luck as you move forward with the Woody project. Looking forward to watching the progress.........................Don.

 

The guys at Wood N Carr are a'holes..sorry I've built several woodys and stopped at their shop in Signal Hill and was treated very rudely. Contact Rick Mack in Tacoma he specializes in shoebox Fords and does first rate work

 

If you need any replacement structural metal or woodie specific hardware contact HAMB member TFritz as he specializes in woodie stuff.
CCRods.com and here is a link to the woodie parts page:
http://www.ccrod.com/cataloghome.htm

 

Thank you all. The current condition is as pictured above with the front end off but with the motor removed. Interesting opinion on Wood N Carr and I will contact Rick Mack as meeting another person is always a good thing and the same for TFritz though I dont know exactly what I may need right now.

 

Pics of it today with upholstered front seat and engine out. It may not be the most attractive thing out there but its probably the only one in that condition that is or at least was still being driven.

 

Ok so I have some questions. Number one I have 5 sets of exterior door handles for my woody how ever every single one is broken in one way or another. Does anyone have any experience with these door handles or how they might be repaired? or are they all a lost cause? Number two I was playing around with the idea of putting the grille from a 1953 Ford on this as the propeller grille is very attractive in my opinion. Has anyone put a later model Ford grille on a shoebox? thanks

 

I got to talk to somebody and they said that the woody door handles for 49 were the same as what came on all 49 mercs? can anyone verify that?

 

consider it verified.. yes.. mercs and shoebox woodies are identical..
for what its worth.. I have a few sticks of wood.. but I am in pa.

 

Thank you thats good to know with the price of stuff for 1949 Mercs I am not sure if that helps me or not. I will pm you, I am interested to know what wood you may have.

 

Here is the one other thing I have gotten to learn working on my woody. Ill go into more detail later but here are a few pics of the faux wood graining I have done on two rear lift gate trim pieces.

 

you have one heck of a project for a first car. love those woodies

 

I'm in on this one ... I dig woody projects.

 

very cool. i too am a high schooler. like you my dad was into cars and we got a 4 door project for my first car.

 

Thank you I really enjoy the whole wood theme and I love surfing so it is a project for me. 49styleline I really like the car 4 door cl***ics are under rated and in my opinion have some of the coolest lines out there, in some cases I would have to say even better then their two door counterparts. I will be following your build as it progresses.

 

Ok a whole year later I finally have torn down the block and Monday I am sending it in to finally be rebuilt. Being bored .60 over already I am hoping this block has enough meat left to take out the scoring or if not I will have to see if I can use one of my other blocks. Currently I am planning on just the rebuild and a port and polish job thinking that it will be one of the cheapest and most effective ways to get a little more power out of it with out spending a lot.

 

I like the wood grain work,,looks good. HRP

 

Great car!! Keep up the good work.


Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad

 

Good stuff Quinn, I like your style. Congrats to your Father for raising a fine young man.
The woodgraining turned out nice. There are a lot of methods for doing the woodgraining, using rolled up rags, feathers and cellophane to put on and pull off colors.

Keep us posted with your progress.

All the best,
Dale
Cleveland OH

 

I would have to say I paid way to much for the wood grain stuff but it has been a very interesting learning experience. I purchased the various parts I needed from Grain It Technologies as they were from what I understand the only ones to provide the patterns for the original transfer means of wood graining. I now have the rollers the patterns as well as the paint required to wood grain all my interior trim pieces and dash. Also I would hope to some time make a little money on the side graining other peoples trim if I become good enough.

 

Great project. Love to see young guns getting into it. Keep it up.

 

Unrelated to this it seems I have to get my fordor running again about every week. I think this time the timing skipped a gear as suddenly it was off by a very large increment but yet again I was able to get it running smoothly. My next question does pertain to my rebuild. Will I need to get new head bolts for my flathead or will I not have to worry about snapping them on the reinstall? Secondly do I have to worry about my oil pump being worn or are they good to go for a long time?