Projects 32 Ford 3 window build finish details

Looking good. On those spindles, I believe all early Ford spindles were forged, right?

 

Alchemy beat me to it.

 

Thanks guys I looked at the spindle and thought how could they have forged the letters in ? But after I posted it I thought no way could these be cast! I had casting on the mind‍♂️ glad you guys straightened me out!

Alchemy- glad to see you following my project, I know you have my back!

 

I just read through the entire thread, some great info throughout the years.
Great build and thanks for taking the time to share all your progress!

 

Robdski - Thanks for the kind words!

Hi Guys,
Progress has been a little slow lately. Having fun with our new RV Camper has taken some time away from the 32. Then to make matters worse the 32 has been not been playing well...
While I waited for the new length tie rod & drag link (which went really well ordering them from Speedway) I installed the fuel pump & fuel filter. Audi my barn cat inspected my work and the installation passed inspection, then things started to go off the rails!

The suspension turned out well with the new tie rod & drag link so I moved unto the brakes & wheels.

First thing was to paint more parts cast iron gray. The shocks painted great, the wheel hubs painted great and one backing plate painted great. The other backing plate looked like elephant skin on a hot day.


So I sandblasted & sanded the one backing plate and brushed on some two part epoxy primer.


Paint was still bad. So I went to the default "fix any bad paint job" by stripping it bare with paint stripper.



Then another fresh coat of two part epoxy.


Then another fresh coat of cast iron gray.


Finally I have both backing plates painted and ready to install.


A brand new set of shock came with the car when I bought it. I measured the extended & compressed lengths and they seemed perfect. I took off the stickers and painted them spray gray.


I goofed and didn't try them before I painted them. The dust shield interferes with the upper shock mounting bracket. So I had to "re-size" them by cutting off the dust shield.


Then some belt sanding to clean up the re-sizing process. I left a little on because I didn't want to affect the weld joint for the top of the shock mounting barrel. Once installed you can hardly see that. Of course now I have to repaint it because some of the paint didn't cover the shock where the dust cover was last time when I painted it.


Sometimes its the little things that can really take up your time. My wheel hubs look identical but one has a threaded dust cover and the other has a press fit dust cover but I didn't have the press fit dust cover. Fortunately I love a good treasure hunt and it was a long hunt to find the press in dust cover. I finally found it at Speedway but the P/N is not listed online but the gal on the phone found the p/n for me and it fits perfect. I need to go back & order a spare in case I ever lose it. If someday I ever own a bigger lathe I can machine threads in the one so they both match.


Now the front suspension is back on its wheel again.




In other news, my brake master cylinder decided to punish me for taking so long on this project and went on strike and totally seize up. It must of had moisture in it and simply rusted solid. It looked like a early falcon or mustang single cylinder unit. When I got the car it came with a nice new dual master cylinder so I decided to upgrade the system since with the body off this would be the best time to do it. Sadly my friend Rick who I bought the car from had done a very nice job bending all the lines for the single master cylinder unit and I just removed all that nice work. Anyways I installed the new twin cylinder unit, two new residual valves, a new proportioning valve and the surrounding lines. I still have more work to do. I have to paint the master cylinder & bracket for the proportioning valve, attach some new rubber coated clamps for the lines then add fluid and bleed the system. After the exhaust is installed I will need to design some heat shields.


Thanks for following along. Greg

 

Hi Guys,
Way back on post 95 I designed & built the alternator brackets. These were made so that I could put hood sides on in the future without interfering with the alternator. I always felt that they were just not robust enough and several friends made the same observation. Since the engine is now on a stand, today is the day to stiffen the alternator mounting. Here are the 2 existing brackets, one goes from exhaust manifold to the bottom of the alternator and the second one provides adjustment and attaches to the top of the alternator.




I decided to add a bracket from the front intake bolt to the back of the lower bracket. These heads have no taped holes in the front of them. I rounded up this donor part.


cut off the ends


Angle iron would have worked but I am trying hard not to use angle iron any where that it can be seen. So I had to twist the flat piece of steel. I heated it red hot and twisted it 90 degrees.


Very close but needs a little edge bending.


I smushed it in the hydraulic press a little.


Then a little drilling, belt sanding a radius on the ends and it looks good.


Fits good in place.


Clears the valve cover nicely


Alternator in place. This is not the alternator I am using, just a mock up unit.


Front view. The radiator hose fits fine but it doesn't look like it in this picture.

Hopefully when these brackets are painted aluminum color or satin black they will blend in and not been seen. It was difficult to place this alternator and still be able to use hood sides. It is really sticking up there. When I tighten down the belt and all the mounting bolts the alternator is solid as a rock, so I think the days work was a success!!

Thanks for following along! Greg

 

i see the mock-up delco,but are you thinking of using the small denso style alt.?

 

Patsurf- I am planning on using a brand new vintage looking Delco early 1960’s single wire alternator. Later on I might switch to a vintage looking generator. The only concern I have with my set up is that after I put the hood sides on all the air going through my alternator will be hot air after it has come through the radiator. I hope it is not too hot for the alternator. But there must be a million 32 Fords with alternator’s inside the hood with hot air passing through them so probably not an issue. Time will tell.

 

pretty sure that isn't going to be a concern!!

 

Hi Guys,
I made a little progress on the 32. When I bought the car, it had a cool, brand new Hunt distributor. I have been thinking about the initial start-up and breaking in the new solid lifter flat tappet cam. I need this motor to start up quickly and run good for cam break in. Since I know nothing about the Hunt distributor, I decided to switch the distributor to one that I am familiar with, a good old Delco Remy points and condenser unit. This way if there is any ignition issues at start up I can quickly figure them out before I destroy the cam.

Here is the Hunt Distributor I took out. I'll save this for later.


I found this distributor on eBay. It is a 1965 327chevy distributor which I thought was cool since my motor is a 1965 327. It had very little wear on the cam gear but the shaft was stuck.


I finally got it apart. I think the oil inside of it had fossilized into rock. I practically needed dynamic to get the shaft out. Once I got it apart I spun the shaft in my lathe to check for run out and to polish it a little. The shaft is good.


After sandblasting the body and cleaning up all the parts and a little painting it was ready to rebuild.
I ordered a new cam gear, shims, vacuum canister, small parts package, pig tail wire, points plate ground wire and tune up parts.


I replaced the ground wire for the vacuum advance plate. This wire moves every time the distributor advances and the wire inside can fail and the wire still looks fine on the outside. I soldered the new one in place.


I sanded off the paint at where the vacuum canister sits since this is the path for the grounding wire.


Next was a new pig tail with rubber grommet.


Next I packed the grease reservoir with the thinnest grease I could find since I was not able to find distributor grease. Then I used a socket to slide in the plastic washer.


Then I soaked the felt with some drops of oil.


Then slide it into place.


I installed the vacuum canister and the vacuum advance plate and checked it with a vacuum tester for smooth operation. all is good. (I installed the c clip but have no picture of that)



Next the shaft is greased and installed.


Next is shimming the cam gear. I left about .025 gap. I aligned the dimple ( shown in white with the pencil) with the rotor then installed the roll pin.



After everything is back in place I do one last check with the vacuum tester to check for smooth operation.


Then a check with the multi meter to make sure the electricity is going where it is supposed to and not where it is not supposed to. All is good.


The finished distributor.

and in the motor.


After the car is broken in I will return to the distributor to fine tune the springs and advance curve for top performance. Now I need to find a port to pull vacuum from. It seems neither my WCFB carbs or manifold have a vacuum port... more on that later.
Thanks for following, Greg

 

Excellent detail photos and rebuild information about the distributor.
The engine is looking great too.
Thanks for the update.

 

Thanks for the write-up and pics of the distributor rebuild. Where did you order all the small parts for the rebuild?

 

Check out that Hunt unit before getting too far out of town, my pal bought a car that had one already installed, was out for a drive, started acting up, then just died, no start.
Internal parts were loose, they have been known to give trouble.

 

The Delco Remy points distributor is a very reliable unit if maintained as you have shown. My three running cars have single point Delco's and I've never had any issue with reliability. Your project is progressing very well and will be a great driver. Looking forward to more updates. Not many guys know about the dimple on the gear and lining it up to the rotor.

 

Is the dimple for balance or for alignment for the roll pin? Or what? 60 Special

 

is that so a pre-determined #1 on the cap is correct?-never heard of this dimple...

 

Hi Guys,

Robdski - Thanks for the kind words, glad you are following along.
Algoma56 - I got the small parts kit at Top Flight Automotive, see below pictures for part numbers.
DDDenny - I have read here on the Hamb some guys have had their hunt distributor internal coil overheat and cause the car to die. My Hunt Distributor came with the car, it was brand new in September, 2000. Its never been used. I hope there were no issues with a unit from 2000. We will see later. Thanks for the info!
Fogger - I also run points & condenser in all my cars. 50 years ago I had an Accel BEI (breakerless electronic ignition ) in a Z/28. I think it was Bill Jenkins that ran them so I had to have one. It left me sitting. I sent it in to Accel for repairs. They sent me a brand new one, no charge, its still sitting on the shelf. Been using points & condenser ever since.
60 Special & patsurf- see my answer below about the dimple.

Here are the part numbers for the parts from Top flight Automotive. (and the pig tail from Summit )


Here is the part number for a really handy punch to drive out the roll pin when your hands are old. It has a spherical ball on the end to locate the punch better.


I have a magic concrete floor in my barn ...it can make any small parts you drop totally disappear, especially little distributor screws. So I bought extras so when I drop a small screw behind the motor or off the bench, I have extras. Here are the part number for extra parts.


See the dimple in the distributor gear. This is an old used Pontiac gear but the dimples are the same as Chevy.


The gear can be put on two ways. The correct way is with the dimple lining up with the rotor electrical contact. The dimple is painted white in this photo and see how it lines up with the rotor.


Still not clear? Maybe this photo will help. See how the dimple lines up with the rotor.


Don't panic if you never did this, your car will run fine. This is the way I was taught to do it so I always do it this way. I suppose it was done this way at the factory to help assembly set the distributor in place and have the number one post on the distributor cap line up with the rotor so that the dwell adjustment window is in the perfect spot and have the proper swing clearance for the vacuum diaphragm when setting the timing.


In other news, I set the motor on the frame rails today and installed the clutch.



Thanks for following along, Greg