Projects 1934 3 window HighBoy Build Begins

Alright Guys....Headers/Sidepipes (Revision 2) The pictures below are of the second attemp to get something that makes sense... it needs to look right proportionally as well as be asthetically correct to the whole big motor , attitude theme without going too far. Being able to do this in plastic pipe makes life easier to change as well as faster and cheaper as well.


We like this approach better and are going with it. The headers and side pipe will be made out of 304 stainless steel and have the welds ground off before using scotch brite for a final satin finish. Good Job Josh!

Regards,
George

P.S. NOTE: The side pipe will be formed to match the arc along the bottom of the lower beltline.

 

Just my opinion, but those full length pipes really detract from the body/chassis line. Have you considered running underneath?

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Eric,
Yes sir, I really have!,.. A LOT.... It would be a real struggle to get anything inside the frame rails as the heads on the HEMI already hang past and then if you managed that, there is ZERO ,I mean absolutely zero area to go underneath the drivers side through the brake master cylinder area. It is 100% booked , no room at the Inn. sigh. ...not even for a 1.5 inch little pipe! So I have to go outside the rails and considered taking the header collector and then using a 2 inch pipe past the master cylinder and ducking back inside the rails with a hole in the frame. Quite honestly , it looks plain goofy since you have to go about 2 ft. If I was running fenders and boards, this approach would work nicely.OR ,if I had put the master cylinder on the firewall , I would have had the room. But , I don't like that look and the congestion for TV cable linkage, throttle cable linkage and the magneto look a like is too much. The fact is, as a High Boy,I just can't hide it. So here I am... I am forced to make a decision on what to do.Given my choices, I have decided to go with the full length pipes instead of half length and ducking in. Once the header folks build them, we will hang them again before final mock up for a fit and side pipe design. I will have the guys give the half pipe one last honest look see. smile. Stay tuned,...pun intended. grin.

It is most probably going to be 6-8 weeks before we get back to this point. I am having a ball with the project and really enjoying these issues. Some are going to turn out awesome and some not. Hopefully , the finished overall result will still be a car to be proud of!

While on tough decisions, let me go ahead and share my CURRENT paint thinking . Hope you are sitting down, BLACK with the new SATIN clear coat. I have a sample being shot to start looking at it and decide if it is something to seriously consider. It is the standard base coat / clear coat process. The clear coat is designed to flash off/cure satin on its' own and can be waxed, rubbed on etc. with no particular effort.

Food For Thought.
Best regards,
George

 

I would think it could be done ?

Enjoying the build

 

Probably so....But, I like it with HUGE headers. smile




QUOTE=bobby_Socks;8832329]I would think it could be done ?[/QUOTE]

 

I figured you'd given it a lot of thought, as the rest of car is OBVIOUSLY well thought out!

Mufflers in the header collector maybe? I don't want to change your direction, just offering what my eye sees.

Carry on, this is coming together fantastically! And I dig the flattened black, probably what my wife's T is going to end up with.

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Here's the other side. Looking good and going out to be converted to stainless steel by Stainless Steel Headers in Fargo ND. Josh spent a large part of today glueing these together and documenting the clearances needed with both photos as well as video.
Regards,
George

 

ONE LAST PICTURE BEFORE SHIPPING.
They look great!!!!
Josh, Rex and I really like them on the car and I can not wait to see them in all stainless.
Regards,
George

 

I retract my previous statement. The exhaust behind the collector accentuates the body line instead of detracting from it. WELL DONE!

Do expect a lot of heat seeping through the leading lower edge of the door. There's going to be a lot of heat coming off of the collector.

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The last pic is a masterpiece by itself! If there is no room inside the frame, this will work fine. Sacrifices have to be made sometimes. Looking good!

 

I would have runned them under, but hey its your build. Good fabrication either way, keep it up...

 

Wth the headers mocked up and on the way to Chris at Stainless Steel Headers in Fargo, Josh has turned his attention to the velocity stacks. He has put my EFI set up on the engine and cut a hood top out of cardboard. The next step is to lower one stack closest to the firewall to decide how much should protrude through the hood. The starting point is just above hood height for the top of the filter cover. It can be lowered easily by trimming the tube off.

Here's the start this morning. I will continue update Josh's progress today by adding pictures with comments below.
Regards,
George

update1: Adding the first tube cut picture 3 Happy
update2:Adding the second tube cut pictures 4 and 5 UGLY /TOO HIGH!
update3:Adding the second tube cut some more. Getting close to a decision to make them ALL like the tube closest to the firewall

 

Here's the decision made for the height of the velocity stacks. Josh will cut the other four and then he will know what he has to deal with in order to allow the hood tops to open.
Regards,
George

 

After all the work making equal length headers, you're gonna run unequal length stacks? It does look good though.

 

Don't tell anyone...but the header primarys are not really all equal length. smile. The over 300HP minimum output will be way more than enough to move this little car. Even though I know that the tubes should be the same length, it was secondary to asthectics. Shame on me! grin. If truly an issue, we would have louvered the hood and made all the stacks the same length underneath. To be honest, it simply wasn't going to happen after the amount of effort made to get the "OTB GEAR" induction filters on the stacks. Ill post pics of them all on a next post as I have to transfer from Josh's text to my PC and upload.

 

Here's all eight cut...Now for the hard part. Next for Josh, is cutting the hood holes or long oval slots (TBD) to get as tight as possible and still be able to open the hood on each side.
We discussed adding some hood louvers on each side to line up with the roof but decided it would be too much and take away from the clean lines.
Regards,
George

 

Looks mean....

 

From cardboard pattern to steel. Josh measured and measured and measured for the center hole of each stack. When he was absolutley sure he had the layout right, he used a new, high quality 5 inch hole saw, to drill out each of the 8 holes. He will hand radius the points created with the hole overlap.

Looks Great Josh, thank you for an awesome effort.

Regards,
George

 

The hood treatment is definitely different, but looks awesome! Keep going on this great build!

 

Thank you Steve,
Reading builds like yours keeps me fired up and I appreciate your encouragement.
Best Regards,
George

 

Top notch work....

 

Josh cleaned up the passenger side hood hole sharp edges and then radiused the points before spending the time needed to add the perimeter flange on the underside to double the metal thickness for strength. He has come a long way in 4 months and yet there is still a lot to do. Having the hood behind him is a relief as it was one of those defining moments we were most worried about.
We bought "x" braces from Walden's and the door skins have to be removed to get them installed. Once done , Josh has to re-chop the doors as he removed another 1/2 inch from the A pillars. Finally ...putting the factory 3 hinges back in will get the doors completed.

SO,... as stated above, there is still a lot to do. I am still very excited about the progress and look forward to seeing the doors hung.

Regards,
George

PS forgot to point out the the radiator support rods are in and how thankful we are to be able to get them in between the stacks without additional modifications.

 

Josh is working the detail...
1.Radiator side panels are required since we have eliminated the hood sides. The front of both hood sides will need to be massaged to match the grill shell. NO rest for the weary.
2.The door Jambs were in very bad shape from previous rework and hidden hinge adds. These are new jambs from SARS. Josh is also adding new wood and factory hinges.
3. The grill bars have been straightened and a new "chin pan" added for directing air flow through the radiator.
The Model "A" headlight bar is still waiting to be turned into seperate perches for the 34 commercial headlamps.

Regards,
George

 

Here are a couple of pics of the passenger door hung with the hoop cut off to re-chop. Josh is not looking forward to opening up the doors to add the x braces. sigh. Can't see as I blame him, ...but, best to do it now.
Regards,
George

 

OUCH!

Josh opened up the passenger door to add the 'X" brace. A real extra effort for the long term stability of the car. IE: NO doors dragging on the jamb and having to be lifted up to get them closed.
Thank you Josh.
Regards,
George

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INNER DOOR BRACES – No Sag No Drag
Finally the solution to door sag on 1932 3-window Coupes, 1933-34 3-window Coupes, and 1933-34 Tudor Sedans. The inner door braces connect the hinge pads to the front of the inner door frame effectively creating a box. Ford relied on the outer door skin to be a structural support of the door. Over time the door skin hem will loosen up causing the inner door frame to slip and the door to sag. Installing the inner door brace ties the front of the door to the hinge area for the ultimate in strength. The outer door skin just “rides” on the door frame. No sag, no drag! ***Please note - The inner door braces can only be installed if the outer door skin is removed. The last picture is also from Waldens and is not going to open for you as it is a thumbnail.

 

Back from a well deserved weekend....Josh has tack welded the X brace in and hung the door for a trial fit before welding the brace in solid. A side benifit from this effort is going to be the removal of the rust around the perimeter of the door. It was hidden by the door skin flange.
regards,
George

 

Hard Work:
It's been a long day on the passenger door. But... the good news is that Josh has finished installing the "X" brace, removed the rust and has almost finished reinstalling the passenger side door skin. It has to be finish welded and then "gapped" but as Josh says.."IT IS GETTING CLOSER!"

He has been working on the hinge pin install and now has focussed his attention to the door latch.

Josh is planning on having the door swinging and latching tomorrow and is very pleased with how fast this much progress has been accomplished. So am I! smile

Great Work Josh.
Regards,
George

 

Josh is still hard at it on the passenger side.
He has finished:
1. the upper door opening that had to be stretched for the additional chop.
2. Completed the rear door jamb and hinges
3. Got through the first pass rough in of the new latch in the door, dovetail guide and striker in the front jam above the dovetail.

With everything now working as it should, Josh will go through the effort to weld his seams, grind and finish out the installs before moving up top to the door hoop. The following deliberate poor grammar is intentional for fun...DOORS IS SLOW! I had a guy drilling rocks at my house and splitting them to break them up for a retaining wall. Every afternoon I would come home and ask the nice fellow how it was going? ...and every afternoon he would tell me that "ROCKS IS SLOW!"

You just can't rush good work and Josh is doing an outstanding job. See the pictures below and you will know what I mean. smile.
regards,
George

 

Here is a short..."it works!" video as a first time video post effort. This link is of Josh opening and closing the door at my request to try to put it on the HAMB. I also embedded to learn how! I was disaappointed that I could not just attach a .wmv file and that I had to load to YouTube first. None the less..cool! smile.Thank you Ryan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4PjCZc3AIM&feature=player_detailpage

Regards,
George<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a4PjCZc3AIM?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

In case you guys are tired of the short shots...here's a few pictures of the coupe with the door top mocked up. IE: just clamped on with plenty of metal repair yet to be accomplished. Looking good Josh.
Regards,
George