Hot Rods A 40 Ford Coupe for Uncle Mike Build Thread

I love watching your work and progress . Thanks for sharing it with us.

 

I had used those dropped arms on my 1941 pickup and experience the same sort of failure but at a safety 23 inspection the inspector found that the arm had loosened up (no safety wire) and the threads were almost no existent, I switched over to the dropped Forged Chassis engineering arms with through bolts using grade 8 bolts and metal locknuts problem solved! I know better as I was in US Navy aviation and we safety wired everything

 

So, how does the top of the center-section come off? I've drilled out the 6 rivets, but the top seems pretty well sandwiched in between the front and back of the center-section and the rail tops of the cross-member frames. What do I do now? Thanks!

 

B.F.H.

 

Hi Scott? I have been enjoying your progress on your 40.

It's been awhile so I had to go back and look at some pictures of that phase of the project. We were not planing to reuse the top of the box but did intend to use the two ends so after drilling out the rivets we cut the top down the center and then applied a chisel and a BFH as suggested by Jack Smith. That didn't work all that well for us.

I remember it being a very difficult task. You can see some tortured metal in this photo.

After looking at the pictures for awhile it looks like we decided to cut the top of the box
until flush with the frame flange essentially leaving it is a doubler.


If you are taking the whole box out it might be a good idea to knock the two ends out before trying to remove the top since they do hold the top in very tight. To get the rivets out we would center punch the top of the rivet then drill the head of the rivet until it was flush with the frame. Then round drift punch and hammer were used to knock the rivet out. That process seemed to work pretty well.

 

Okay, thanks! I notice that there are also rivets between the front and back plates and the cross-members, so they would also have to come out to knock the whole box out. I think I may just try to cut out the top plate only to open up the box. At least that way I can get it clean inside. Plus, since I plan on using some kind of automatic transmission, it would have to come out anyway no matter what type tranny I used.

 

I just finished reading your thread over several days. When looking at the pictures of the car's condition when you started, while it was pretty solid, I really felt like you had your work cut out for you. But you were very thorough and methodical and patient. It really shows in the quality of what you were able to accomplish. Thank you for taking the time to write it all down and post all the pictures here.

 

Thank you Duke of Haphazard! It was a fun project and even more fun to drive. My latest project has really tested my patience and has required copious amounts work and methodical thinking. In fact i was thinking the other day that I was finished with the coupe in the time it has taken me just to do the sheet metal on my convertible sedan project. If you are in for another long read try the thread below.

Sam

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1939-ford-convertible-sedan-resurrection.1204912/

 

Hey Sam, after seeing and admiring your car in person and realizing that I must have been pre-occupied by a million other things during your original build thread (I can't explain how I otherwise would have missed it!), I went and looked it up. I just spend the last few days going through it. As one might expect, great job on your build, documentation and the time spent sharing your experience and thought processes. You (and Don) build killer cars!