Hot Rods Bringing my 39 back to life

I get it my friend, I really do. I can't leave all of mine original either. What looks good will look like ass if I don't fix it here n there to compliment the overall vibe. I'll still say it's original paint too in spite of the online shit storm I'll get. Lookin forward to it!

I'll be lookin forward to yours as well. Better get your head around it's "stepchild" status. It caught me unaware on many fronts. Anything I can help you out with just sing out, I'll do the best I can. How's the dash panel and gauges? I can maybe do a paper trace of the door panels and send em to ya (mine are done). I'll PM you a list of sources later this week like for the headliner and some of the weather strip supply. Got a lot from Drake in that regard. Good luck with it, should be a lot of fun.

 

Jason sounds like you have a good plan for the old girl. I am one of the few who likes both the {Finished and unfinished } look. I don't have a large budget for the Hot Rods. So when I see a car like your 39, I think how cool it would be to have one that you could drive everyday, without worrying about the high dollar paint job. I like driving mine as much as I can. But I don't drive them in bad weather. I backed the delivery out in the snow last winter to get a photo. I think I could here her shiver. lol I just wanted to say that your car looks GREAT as she is. But that's just me. Have fun and keep us posted. Ron...

 

Ron, She looks pretty good but the pics make the paint look better than it is. The driver side is the best. It will be constantly evolving while the on the road but will eventually come all apart for paint that I'll spray in the drive way.
I will drive this one as much as possible. Almost All my old cars (the most complete ones anyway) have back seats in them. That is so my boys and I can all ride in them. Its just the 3 of us and this is a family deal we all love the cars. To them nothing s cooler than when I pick them up from school in my 51 or grandpa goes and picks them up in his Nomad.
Up until sat my daily transportion has been my 51 Chevy. I threw a rod out the side of the block on the way back from Joe Smith early V8 open house. So that gets a new 283in it and back on the road . I drive the 51 year round and love the looks people give me when its pouring rain or sleeting. It was made to drive and that's what I do with it and every old car I have ever had. What fun is it if you don't?

 

Thanks man id aprieciate it! The das is pretty good other than some nimrod cutting a hole for a radio in it. the guages are all good except for the temp guage that some one cut off the capilary tubing to it.

 

The inside needs some clean up as well...

 

Cool project.... mine was done just a tad earlier, and started with a 265 in late 50s.

The crossmember to frame gusset / radiator brackets should be the same work for 37 , 38, and 39-standard.

 

Check out this cool old army base visitor pass that was in the glove box.

 

Ahhhhhh, The smell of mole hair in the morning. They need to bottle it. I'd buy it. lol

 

Send me your address Ron and I'll put a little in a jar for you and mail it to you!

 

Here is a shot from when I got it home and rinsed all the barn crap off of it. Notice the NOS passenger front fender behind it and perfect complete set of all the trim on the top of the driver seat.

Got an idea to try on un sticking the valve i'm go nna try when I get home from work. Ill post some pics and hope it works!

 

OK it may be hard to see but ...in an attempt to free the stuck valve I have taken an old snaple bottle and cut it down to fit over the valve and spring assembly and rtv'ed it to tge head. Once the rtv sets up then I can fill the old bottle with penetrant. I'll be using Gibbs brand since it is my favorite..and hope fully it will soak down and free tge valve up.

 

Yes I will dig all tge rtv back out.

 

The RTV sealed up good and I filled the whole cup up with GIBBS brand to let it soak. Hopefully this will help free the valve up...

 

Head gaskets don't cost much...

 

im gonna give this a try and if it doesn't free up relatively easy I'll be pulling the heads. Just wanted to try and get it to fire before I yank the whole motor out to start on the cross member and firewall repair.

 

Cool old 39. Looks like the 283 has Power Pack heads on it, too. Have you checked any date codes on the engine? There are a few things that makes it look like a 1963 or 1964 283.....Hex head bolts on the timing cover instead of flat screwdriver heads. A 2 bbl. intake with the Power Pack heads, (although the intake could have been changed). Also, the heads have what appears to be the "clock style" marking that goes with the date codes. It doesn't have a road draft tube, either. Instead there is a connection with a hose that goes to the intake, which is 1963 or newer. Course that could have been changed, too. Or perhaps it's a "California Emissions" engine?

 

Honestly I never checked, I could tell it was a 283 from the balancer/hub on the end of the crank and the lack of of a crank bolt on it. It had a 2 barrel intake on it that looked to have never been off before. still had all the little clips and plug wire holders on it. I just figured run of the mill 283 2 barrel. I'll be checking numbers tonight for sure. Depending on what I find, I may stop what im doing if it turn out to be some kind of cool motor and pull it out put it on the stand and go through it completely.

 

as for the year of the motor I don't know for sure that either. When I took the motor apart for exploration, it still had the generator on it and it kinda fit with the story I was given about when the motor was put in. but I wasn't there when they did it so who really knows. I'll be checking numbers tonight for sure.

 

The later 283's, (1963 - 1967) were all 2 bbl. engines, but used the same Power Pack heads that the earlier 4 bbl. engines used. These heads have a casting mark that looks like a flat bar, with a single triangle pointing up. This is on the ends of the heads. The other things mentioned tend to indicate a later 283. The intake has a newer style choke housing that is cast into the intake. Also, the old intake gaskets are original style with gasket material going around the oil filler hole, which indicates that the intake has probably never been taken off. Just guessing, it could be a 63 or newer 2 bbl. 283, which was basically a Power Pack 283 with a 2 bbl. instead of a 4 bbl.

 

when I pulled the intake off it did have the gasket that went all the way around the oil fill hole. I kind thought they might be the original gaskets just from that. The intake has the heat riser choke cast into it on the exhaust crossover. THanks for the info! The casting mark on the front of the heads have the flat bar with the single triangle on it, but like I said, I wasn't expecting anything cool and just figured 283 2bbl motor, that cool enough for me!

 

Cool looking project, hope that engine will fire off. It certainly looks clean. I think I'm in the camp that would make that exhaust a wall display although it'd be neat to hear what it sounds like at least once before it's replaced.

 

Yeah that's one of the reasons why I wanted to get it started, just to hear it, but one it comes off it is not going back on. I already have all the stuff to replace it with. it is destined for the wall at some point.

 

So I checked the numbers on the heads and block. The head number is 3795896 which is power pack heads and the block number is 3834810 which is 64 - 66 283 195 horse or 220. I'm gonna go with 195 because of the 2 bbl. Haven't had a chance to decode the block stamping yet. Its T0626D. All I can remember from that is its from the Tonawanda plant.

 

Judging by the dates the block was cast I'm thinking the story I was given Is off by a few years....I don't care, I finally have a freaking 39 ford!!!
So I'd say it was probly put in , in the mid to late 60's. Still awesome to me!

 

Nice car--get it goin! I had a 40 deluxe sedan a few yrs back with stock running gear and a stock 65 283 2 bbl motor. What a sweet little car it was. Very quiet and smooth-cruised along just fine-no problem. The best part was my kid came by one day and wanted to drive it-told him no problem. We see him sitting in it looking around and my wife said he has no clue how to operate a column shift-hilarious!!

 

OK lets hear that thing purr!

 

I'm soaking the valve now. If it won't free up by Sat I'm going to go ahead and pull tge head off.

 

So I've been soaking the valve pretty good the last few days and it started moving down after a little light persuasion. But now its stuck wide open so I guess I'll keep soaking it and hope the spring pulls it back up and closed. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

So I'm pretty sure this valve isn't going anywhere easily....so I think I'm gonna go ahead and pull the motor out. This way I can pull the heads, fix the stuck valve And go a head and inspect the internals good and hopefully just reseal it. I'll go head and put the new clutch in it and swap out tge butchered cross member and clean up the firewall. I hate that battery box up there.

Got to get some work done on the roadster tomorrow to get ready for jalopy showdown then I'm gonna go ahead and pull the front clip off to get nice wide open access to everything.

 

I was thinking about pulling the heads...let us know how fun it is to get the exhaust off to where you can work on the motor!