1952-59 Ford 1952 Victoria Build-Up Part 1

Another beautiful day in Texas...warm and breezy, perfect for working outside. Of course, the only time there's a natural breeze in Texas is when you want to weld or spray paint outside. I'm not easily discouraged.

My first project for today was to finish up the spring perches I'd started yesterday. Not a big deal...except for the wind. So it was one of those weld...wait...weld...wait...etc., etc., etc. kind of thing. But I got it done...eventually.

Next project was installing the Mustang non-power disc/drum master cylinder I mentioned earlier in the thread. Turned out to be a piece of cake.

The master bolted into place with no changes to the car itself. It uses the lower two original '52 Ford master cylinder bolts. Be sure to reinstall the upper bolts as they hold the steering column/pedal mount ***embly in place while the master cylinder is removed.



The actuator rod turned out to be exactly 3/8" too long. So I cut it, tacked it together for a trial fit, then pulled it out, tapered the **** ends to get full penetration and welded it solid.









Bolted back together everything fits and functions just like factory. The eccentric bolt used to adjust pedal free-play does just what it's supposed to do, and the range of adjustment is correct with the actuator rod at this length on my car. This is an important adjustment and must be taken into account when you cut and weld the actuator rod. Be aware: my measurements may not work on your car. Do your own measuring...just in case!

My other little project was to make a mount for the remote reservoir for the hydraulic clutch master cylinder. I found a neat little one on E(vil)bay made by Brembo for motorcycles. I made the mount from a hardware store angle bracket and tacked it to the firewall. Simple and neat.



Well, that's it for today. I'm tired, but glad to have made a couple more steps towards getting the Vicky on the road...

 

More rain, so not much progress on the Vicky in the last week or so. Just one small step forward: license plates. Found these in the swap meet at the Goodguys Lone Star Nats. New Old Stock...not perfect, but pretty nice.



Texas allows the use of year-of-manufacture plates under certain cir***stances. I just hope my cir***stances will qualify... We'll see.

 

It's still raining here in Texas! I don't think it's ever going to stop. One of my buddies stopped by this afternoon with a pickup truck full of lumber, mumbled something about building a boat, and was on his way. Any idea what he was talking about...?

Anyhow, as those of you with sharp eyes may have noticed, I'm using my '52 Vicky as my avitar these days. Why? Glad you asked. I FINALLY SOLD THE '51!!!!! So now I've got enough bucks to finish the Vicky!

So far I've ordered a wiring harness from Ron Francis and an electric windshield wiper conversion from Newport Engineering. Two of the pricier pieces I still needed. There will be more I'm sure.

So...if it ever stops raining I'll get back after it. Otherwise I'll be gathering my critters together, two by two...

Later...

 

Congrats on the sale! I wish I could sell my 61 so I could actually afford to buy everything I need at once. It is kind of nice when every paycheck is like Christmas though.

As far as the rain goes, think of it this way....at least its not 35 degrees like it was today when I left for work! No fun at all. I'd take warm and raining any day over this freezing weather in the beginning of October! I think we're in for a bad winter this year.

 

I can't complain about Phoenix today,low of 65 high of 85 so had my coffee and got outside and worked on the hood of the '54 till about 2:30.My hands are stiff from all the hammer and dolly work and sanding even with an air and electric sander,there were a lot more high and low spots visable after it was down to bare metal,but laid down a coat of prime and looks pretty good.

 

Eric, just wondering what Hurst shifter you have? I got a Compe***ion Plus from Summit for mine and the shift lever cannot be removed like yours. I might've missed it but what trans are you using? Mine is a ford toploader out of a '66 Comet. It fits the '56 okay because I'm using bucket seats but if I had a bench it'd likely be too close. I was just wondering. Ron

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Mine:

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The ****** in my Vicky is a Muncie 4-speed from an early '80s Corvette. The shifter is a Compe***ion Plus that was in the El Camino I got the Corvette motor and transmission out of. I'm ***uming the shifter is for a 4-speed Chevelle/El Camino.

It's an older shifter, from when Hurst actually made their parts in this country. I'd guess yours is current production...from (whisper) China, I think. Looks like certain of the newly manufactured shifters are one-piece instead of the older two-piece construction. News to me...and to you, too, I guess.

The Muncie casting affords two mounting positions for the shifter. I put my shifter in the forwardmost position and gained a couple of inches, which wasn't quite enough to clear the bench seat. I had to modify it a little for more clearance.

Looks like yours fits really well, and is offset to come up in the center of the floor. It will look great between your buckets.

 

Yes, it's a current production shifter I got last spring and no doubt came from china, I didn't check. Sadly there's not too much we can do about that issue at our level. I don't like it but as the saying goes sometimes, life is tough.. I just hope it gets better for the US and its workers and the overall domestic industrial infrastructure.

I'm not familiar with the older Hursts but I went online & looked at some of their stuff, they have a bunch of different shifter arms - angles, lengths, etc. After John (HAMBer streetdreams) looked at it he thought it might not have been a compe***ion plus. But it is.

So for me I guess I'm lucky since it fits my application as-is. As you can see from the elongated hole in the floor it is back about 3 inches from where the 3speed shifter was but it's still okay. But for someone who needs to adjust the angle or change the arm it's not going to be easy to do. Thx Ron

 

raceron: Old Chinese proverb says: With hacksaw and welder anything is possible.

Moving on...

Rather than adding aftermarket guages, I have decided to use the original guages in my Victoria. They operate on 6-volts and require appropriate sending units in order to be accurate and reliable. My new Ron Francis wiring harness will be 12-volt negative ground.

I will not be using the original ammeter which, even though it's inductive, may not have enough capacity to handle the amperage of a modern alternator. In my opinion, an ammeter also cons***utes a significant fire hazard as it introduces direct-to-battery amperage to the interior of the car. A dead short in this circuit will produce m***ive amounts of sparks and will not quit until the wire has completely melted away from the ground. I will leave the ammeter in the dash, but it will be inoperative. I will hide a voltmeter someplace incon****uous to monitor battery condition.

After doing some research I found that running the original gas, temperature and oil pressure guages will not be difficult. All I will need is a source of 6-volt power at each of the guages...and, of course, appropriate sending units located in appropriate places on the engine and gas tank.

The gas guage is no problem as the original sending unit is a single-wire unit which is already in place. A 6-volt power source at the guage, and a single wire to the sending unit is all it will take to make it operational.

As luck would have it, the original oil pressure sending unit from the '52 is also a single-wire unit. And once again a 6-volt source of power at the guage and a new wire from the guage to the sending unit is all that is required.

Same goes for the temperature guage, except that there are two sending units on the '52 flathead engine, one in each head. But they are wired in series, so once again only one wire will be required.

I salvaged the sending units from the '52 parts car and they seem to be in good shape, not corroded or damaged. Hopefully they will operate as they should.

A trip to O'Reilly Auto Parts produced the adapters necessary to mate the '52 Ford sending units to the '82 Chevy Corvette engine.

As it turns out, Chevy V8s have tapped holes into the water jacket in each head so I can put both of the Ford sending units to work, one in each head, exactly as they were in the flathead motor.

Chevy V8s also have a tapped hole just above the oil filter which is a source of oil pressure. It is the same size and same thread as the '52 Ford sending unit, but requires the guage to have a longer reach...a problem easily solved by a couple of br*** fittings.





I ordered a 6-volt 15-amp-continuous 12-to-6 volt power reducer from Ron Francis along with the wiring harness. This will provide the proper voltage to all the guages and still have enough capacity to power the 6-volt heater I'll be adding soon.



So, problem solved. All I need to do now is run the wires from the voltage reducer to the original guages, and from the original guages to the original sending units, one wire to each, just like stock. Not rocket surgery.

The above photo is a spare dash, but it does show how the guages are wired. The jumping wire is the 6-volt power. The single wire from each guage goes to the corresponding sending unit. The ammeter (left) is not connected to anything, thus rendering it inoperative.

I finished up too late to take photos today, but will post them tomorrow.

One more step completed. A good day.

 

Man I'm loving your build keep it up It makes me wish I had more cash fundings to work on my 53' Customline.

 

Great stuff...I get motivated to keep pressing on every time I read your posts.

 

You remember all that stuff I've posted about trying to get the Jamco rear anti-sway bar to work on my Vicky?

Forget it. It won't work on a '52 - '53 Ford. Why? The bar and the shocks can't be in the same place at the same time.

Oh, well. It was fun trying to make it work...

 

The way you are wiring up the gauges is not normal proceure,is this per Ron Francis instructions? When you switch from positive to negative ground you will normally reverse the leads at the gauge,also Ford used 6 volt gauges for many years after they switched to 12 volts if you go to NAPA they offer a special gauge voltage regulator about $10 it is a standard Ford item.The voltage drop for a heater is not meant for gauges either unless Francis has come up with a new style.

 

Thanks for the info on the gauges. I have been having problems with my fuel guage. It was working, and when I do A voltage reading at the fuel sending unit on the gas tank I am getting 10 volts. I think when the owners before me did the voltage conversion they got some of the wires crossed. I have tried tracing the wires under the dash but they made a mess out of it.

 

I had a problem with a fuel gauge also and had also replaced the sender,back at the sender I ran an additional ground wire from a sender holdown screw to the frame and that fixed it.Both Mac's and Obsolete Ford offer 12 volt sending units to replace the original 6 volt units,you still need the voltage regulator for the gauges as mentioned above.

 

Missysdad,it seems like a Mustang/maverick sway bar would work for your swap better,maybe a trip to the local Pic-N- Pull with a tape measure might confirm that.

 

Thanks Jeff I have actually replaced the sending unit after testing the old one and found it to not be working correctly. I bought it from Concours and it is a 6 volt unit. My sending unit only has one post for the incoming wire which I also replaced. I am ***uming that it grounds itself to the tank. After I made those changes the gauge works better but reads the sending unit less then what is in the take and loves to hang out at the 1/4 tank mark. I guess I could try to run a wire to from from the sending unit and see if that fixes it. I ***umed the 12 volt sending unit wouldnt work since the gauge works at 6. Though I wasn't aware of conveter for the gauge at the time. I was ***uming at the time the voltage conversion was done correctly since the temp gauge works correctly. That is what you get for ***uming.

 

JeffB2: Thanks very much for your suggestions. I called Ron Francis Wire Works today to verify the information I'd written about the guage wiring and the voltage drop.

According to them the guage wires do not need to be reversed. They will work just fine wired just as they are even though the polarity has been changed.

Also, their VR-4 voltage reducer will power both the guages and the heater with no difficulty...as long as the maximum draw from the combination does not exceed 15 amps.

I plan to put a 10-amp fuse in the power feed wire to the heater. This will protect the voltage reducer by insuring that, should the heater ever draw more than 10 amps, the fuse will burn out before the voltage reducer is damaged.

The heater I plan to use is the one I ran in my Plymouth back when it was still part 6-volt and part 12-volt. I used a VR-4 voltage reducer back then with no difficulty, so hopefully I'll have no problems this time around as well.

Thanks also for the sway bar suggestion. I found a '70 - '77 Maverick rear sway bar online and it looks like it just might work.

It fits very differently than the Jamco bar - below and to the rear of the axle - and is curved to wrap around the Maverick shocks, which fit the Maverick almost exactly like the '52 Ford shocks fit the '52 Ford...at least the p***enger side one does. The Maverick has staggered shocks, the driver's side shock being behind the axle, but the anti-sway bar is symetrical so it should clear both '52 shocks.

I've emailed the vendor for some dimensions, so we'll just have to wait and see. Naturally if it looks promising I'll get one, try to make it fit and p*** along my experiences, good or bad.

Thanks again for the input! It is greatly appreciated.

 

Boy, I hope your going to get back at it soon. I cant say when i've enjoyed a build-up more. One thing I have found on H.A.M.B., everyone is more than willing to share infromation. I came form Stock Car racing. If people were sharing, it was usely ********. I love what your doing. Miss Vicky will be quite a nasty little lady...LOL

 

Well, I finally got some work done on the Vicky today. I had made a valiant attempt a couple of weeks ago, but got blocked from making any real progress by some problems with the Jamco suspension kits.

First it was the rear anti-sway bar that didn't fit, and then I discovered that the springs they sent were 1" too short in the front, causing the rear wheels to sit too far forward. Jamco is taking care of both of these problems.

Last weekend I started to install the front tubular control arm/disc brake kit and once again ran into problems. Though minor, they were enough to stall the project for the weekend. Once again Jamco came through, sending replacement fasteners during the week.

So today I was determined to get my girl up on her feet...in mockup form if nothing else. Unfortunately, though I did get her on four wheels and rolling, it is only a mockup thanks to more and continued fittment problems. I'll go into more detail once I get them sorted out.




I also discovered a potential problem in the area of the driver's side exhaust pipe. Between the clutch slave cylinder, the steering box, the steering arm and the oil filter there just isn't very much room for the downpipe, especially with the wheels cranked all the way to the left. I think I've got the problem solved. I'll take a trip to the parts store tomorrow and see if what I think will work actually will...

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Once again a little research on the HAMB paid off. By subs***uting a short WIX #57099 filter for the regular size filter I was able to gain 2 inches in the area I needed to run the exhaust pipe. I may need to fashion a heat shield for the juice clutch slave cylinder, but at least everything is going to fit and clear.

And I gotta tell ya', she sure looks good! She's every bit as low in the front as I wanted and will be just right in the rear once I get the short spring situation worked out. My plan was to go 5" lower in the front and 3" lower in the rear - see my avitar for the stance I'm after.

To me, stance is everything, so my goal is to get this aspect perfect before I continue on with the next phase.

I finished after dark, so the photos will have to wait until tomorrow...

 

Two steps forward, one step back. Isn't that the way it always goes? Well, today was no different.

I picked up today where I left off yesterday, starting with the oil filter trick and moving on to fine-tuning the front suspension work I'd begun but not been able to finish.

Turns out I'm going to have to exchange the Jamco 3" lowering springs for 2" lowering springs. Why? Because the lower control arms sit right on the snubbers and I don't have anywhere near all the weight on the front end yet.

With the snubbers removed I have about 1" travel available...not nearly enough, even for a hard-core nose-dragger like me. And, ya' gotta' have snubbers...

So I'll go with slightly longer springs and some of those flat-style snubbers. That should keep the front end low while allowing enough travel that the ride shouldn't be too bad.

The good news is that all the alignment features seem to have plenty of adjustment and that the steering arms are not too far out of horizontal so I don't expect to encounter much bump-steer. Jamco seems to have done their homework with this conversion.

I also started the front anti-sway bar installation, but ran into problems once again. This time with the hardware Jamco supplies to mate their sway bar kit with their tubular front control arm kit.

On my car (this may not apply to other cars) the end links were too far out of alignment to be used. The links are so short that it doesn't take much misalignment of the bar to the mounts to cause really big problems.

The only clean way to solve this problem (again, on my car...this may not apply to other cars) is to move the front crossmember forward about 3/8 to 1/2 inch. This solves the front-to-back misalignment.

The side-to-side misalignment will require re-drilling the control arm sway bar mount tabs and moving them about 1/2" inward on each side.



The lines show the amount the crossmember has been moved forward to allow the links to align front-to-back.



This shows the side-to-side misalignment. I had already
moved the crossmember forward at this point.


Once these two steps are taken the end links will be vertical and not in a bind as they are now. Yes, this is a lot of work but it's the only way to do it right.

I had already replaced my front crossmember (see the earlier post on this thread) so it was no big deal to take out the bolts and move it forward. I've got it all clamped together at this point. It got dark too early for me to go any farther today.




All in all the suspension work is taking longer than I expected, but it's still progressing nicely, and I know that I'll be pleased with the way the car rides and handles when it's done.

After I'd cleaned up and put my tools away tonight, I sat in the driver's seat to "try on" the new low stance. I think I'm going to have to lower the front seat an inch or so for the car to fit me right. Anybody done this with theirs?

I like the window sill to be just below the top of my shoulder, but not so low that I'd have to look through the steering wheel.

Oh well, another project for another day...

 

I just can't leave anything half-figured out. Today I played hookey for a couple hours to sort out the front sway bar bracket situation.

Here's what I came up with:

The front control arm brackets will have to be welded onto the control arms in this new position. No way the bolts could be re-used without making a monumental mess.




The front crossmember will have to be moved even further forward than I first thought. There should be no problem doing this as this crossmember has a single purpose: it attaches the core support to the frame and supports the front sheet metal. This is all done by a single bolt. I can add a little bit to the mounting tab if necessary. It doesn't appear that any other modifications will be required. The good news is that the frame attachment holes can be re-drilled and the bolts re-used.








Okay...I feel better. I can go to work now.

 

Well, so much for Global Warming...! It seems like it never stops raining here in Texas this year.

I just got my tools out and started working on the Vicky when the skies opened up...and it looks like rain for the rest of the week.

But, between yesterday and this morning I did make some progress...but precious little!

I got the lower control arms pulled and the sway bar tabs re-drilled and re-shaped, ready to be welded into place. I could have used just bolts, but decided that they'll look a lot cleaner welded. Once I've got the tabs tacked into place, I'll plug weld the bolt holes shut...at least that's the plan.







Edit: Today I managed to get the mounts welded onto the control arms. Turned out pretty clean and should work great. Waiting now for new coil springs to put it all back together for a final trial-fit.



I also got the front crossmember pulled, redrilled for bolts in the new location and the sway bar brackets tacked into place. The brackets are designed as bolt-ons, like most of Jamco's stuff, but I'll feel better with them welded solid. I've always had good luck with bolt-on kits, especially when used with self-locking nuts, but I've heard horror stories of pieces falling off...

I also cut the radiator core support bracket loose and replaced the rivits with bolts. This will allow me to adjust the bracket when the car is being ***embled so there will be no strain on the core support due to misalignment in the bracket.

If you'll remember, I had to move the front crossmember forward about 3/4" to get the Jamco anti sway bar to fit properly. The crossmember will also be bolted into place instead of welded to allow it to be adjusted during ***embly if required.






I had hoped to get this all done and get the front suspension ***embled again for a second trial fit...but that's just not going to happen thanks to the rain...and some parts that are long overdue. Oh, well. That's life in the Big City!

I have decided to give the Vicky a new name, much like the fad in the '50s. You remember, "Earth Angel', "Rusted 'n' Busted", "Mabelline", "My Dream", etc., etc., painted on the quarter panel.

Well, from here on out, my Victoria will be known as, "Always Something"...because, so far at least during the build, no matter how well I've planned, there's always something that doesn't go as planned!

Hope you've all had a great Thanksgiving!

 

Just a quick Sunday night note:

I finally had a chance today to put the front end together for another trial fit.




As I mentioned in my last post, I traded 3" drop coil springs for 2" drop coil springs to give the car more front suspension travel. The 3" drop coil springs allowed the frame to sit right on the snubbers...not the best situation for ride quality or handling. The 2" drop coil springs give about 1" of suspension travel before the snubbers hit the frame. This is adequate with heavy duty shock absorbers, but I'll probably cut the snubbers down 1/2" or so. 1 1/2" of suspension travel at the snubber should ride very well.

I also like the angles of the suspension components better with the car sitting a bit higher. The lower control arms are pretty much parallel to the ground and the upper ones are now at a much less severe angle. This also improves the tie rod angles which will decrease any tendency towards bump steer.



It is interesting to note that most early customs didn't sit all that low...when compared to today's air-bagged cars, that is. (And yes, the Pete Angress Ford is an exception to this observation...and no, I don't know how he drove it that low, even in So. Cal.) They relied on the illusion of lowness, achieved by careful restyling concepts which emphasized the car's length and de-emphasized the car's height. Fender skirts and top-chopping are two prime examples of these early styling techniques.



Since my Vicky will be a driver and I'm not a fan of air bags, it won't be a ground s****er. As my photoshopped avitar photo shows, my plan is to have it low enough to look low, but not so low as to drive low. Make sense?



I also ***embled the modified front anti-sway bar. Everything fit exactly as it should...finally! It's been a struggle to get it right, but the final result is worth the trouble. The end links are perfectly vertical at ride height and deviate from vertical only slightly as the suspension moves up and down. This is how it's supposed to work.

The new rear anti-sway bar has yet to arrive, and Jamco is still having trouble supplying the correct rear springs so there's not much progress in that area.

The next step is to pull the engine, ***emble the clutch ***embly and transmission, put it back together and get the car running. I'll leave all the front sheet metal off and just hot wire the engine so that I can fine-tune all the mechanics before it all gets covered up.

Stay tuned!

 

Nice to see progress- well done. I will live vicariously through all of you who can work on your cars throughout the winter

 

I like this channel! looking good!

 

I really enjoy following fabrication like this...thanks for taking the time to post the photos

 

Looking great Eric!

 

I've been wanting to put Oldsmobile tail lights in my '52 Victoria ever since I started the project. Today I did it.

I used '53 Ford tail light guts and rings to mount '54 Olds Super 88 tail lights. There's a ton of reasons why I did what I did the way I did it.

If you'd like more info, please ask.



1953 Ford buckets and rings are the only ones that will work for this conversion.



1953 Ford bucket is mounted to the backside of the opening.



1954 Oldsmobile Super 88 tail lights are rarely seen in custom applications.



The reflector portion is cut off and thrown away.



The Olds bucket is carefully centered and clamped to the Ford bucket.



The original Ford holes are used, drilled through to Olds bucket and short screws installed.



Bolts are tacked in place, nuts used on back side to secure bucket in place.



Plain '53 Ford ring is stripped of chrome and tacked into place. Original drain hole is retained.



I think they look pretty good. Buckets drop out the backside for easy bulb replacement. Bulb is suspended in the original Oldsmobile location behind lens for bright light which can be seen from rear and sides. The whole installation is solid and quality-built, just like OEM. Ready to be finish-welded, smoothed and painted.

Everything inside the ring will be painted flat black so the lens will appear to float in the opening. Neat-o!

 

Man, that is sooooo cool! Did you come up with this idea on yer own, or did you find it somewhere? I haven't seen this before- I really dig it! Good work.