Projects Enough monkeying around: let's build a 5w, or another 4dr bites the big one.

There I was... already knee deep in half completed projects when my ace homey JeffreyJames sent me a pm stating he had a rough 34 4dr body, frame, and a pile of parts for sale... after a few anxious days waiting for pics he got the answer: I'll take it. I'm such a sucker for these "back from the grave" type projects and I've wanted to build a hammered 5w for a while now... so my good buddy Jrblack30 and I saddled up over thanksgiving weekend and hauled balls down to NC and back in 36 hrs... just enough time to drive down, load up, grab some munchies with my iron lords pals, and boogie on back home. I immediately shoved everything else aside and tore into the project. Gonna be a no frills cheap and simple build to drive to bonneville 2012... yes I am actually going this year!

Plans include:
edelbrock equipped 272 y block
39 trans
closed drive QC
heavy chop
nice and low...





dig those sweet .080" thick custom rear fenders!


My first surprise came when I lifted the body off the frame for the first time... why in the hell is this thing so HEAVY? oh, maybe it's the .125" thick plate they used to fill the roof!!



or the 14 ga patch panels...


This cowl vent area will need replaced, jrblack30 hooked me up with a nice cowl top to do the deed...

 

You have my attention !!!!!!!

 

Oh, this is gonna be good!

 

Started with the frame which was just as crooked as the letter S... someone had welded new rear kickups on at some point and when they did, they just pulled the rear legs of the x member in and welded them up, putting the rails in a bind and tweaking the passenger side front frame horn up about 2" with the rear of the frame leveled out. I cut it all apart, leveled it out, squared it up and welded it back together. I also added a model A rear crossmember center section and used the remainder of the 34 rear center section to repair the butchered front crossmember. This dropped the front end quite a bit as well because the spring pocket moved up about 1.5" or so.









I boxed the front and rear sections of the frame, notched both ends for axle clearance, fishplated the joined rear section on the inside just in case, and ground down all the old booger welds from it's previous life.

 

oh this is going to be a cool build, I ll be watching

 

made some rear lower shock mounts out of an old length of wishbone and an F1 spring shackle plate...



and managed to get my new tires mounted up on the '48 Merc 15's...


I had these crappy old split bones I bought at a yard sale here, couldn't sell em, guess I'll use em!

nice!



kept cutting and grinding until I had this...


I keep a supply of old bent up junk tie rods around expressly for this purpose...



I got a GORGEOUS dropped axle from Okie Joe, really nice work here, highly reccomended! I put about 8* of caster into the split bones with the ends mounted just under the frame rail.

 

cool stuff...shoulda swung by I would have bought ya lunch and showed ya the wall of fame where all of your tee shirts are hanging...can't wait to see where this build goes

 

When I went to NC, hotdamn had this lonely old early ford trans for sale... yea, it came home with me. The gears were pretty nice, nice 78 case and 81a topshifter, but it must have been an early '39 because it had the early synchro in it...



SO I pulled a pair of mainshafts and synchro out of my stash to swap in... not so fast! ouch babe!


A new 3" shift fork, a new pair of blocker rings, new synchro balls/springs, a pair of mainshaft bearings, and a gasket set and she's all good to go.

 

so wheres the rough fordor your talking about?

heres my rougher fordor! been keeping an eye out for chunks to do what your gonna do.

 

I have a rebuilt 272 on the stand that came out of my '57 Ranchero, was gonna run that in the coupe and worry about the '57 later until I saw THIS rebuilt 272 for sale on fordbarn... swung down to pittsburgh the other day to pick it up from hamber 34fordman, thanks Dan! ...cool old edelbrock VCs... I got the adaptor from my pal Chris on here, thanks bud! Used the stock y block flywheel and pressure plate with a flathead 11" clutch disc, bolted together perfectly...



and on the way back I answered a craigslist ad for some '40 ford parts and came home with another '39 trans and rear end... sheesh! oh well, now I'll have a spare for when I tromp it and spill the trans guts all over the road!

Also nabbed this on ebay for it... perfect!

 

Subscribed

 

I made a pair of front saddle mounts that use the stock front frame mounts...


Had to scoot the trans back about an inch or so in order to tuck the front pulley in behind the crossmember... I'll have to remove the ubolts to change a fan belt...



And of course I'll need to do some reengineering in this are too obviously... a short oil filter, F1 steering box, headers or ramhorns should solve it...

 

Great so far!

Go go go!

 

Oh yea, gotta see this.
I have a rough but usable rear 5w section.
Pm if you think you'll need one.

 

and... in a stroke of luck, hamber ftroopwillys came through with a big piece of the puzzle for me. It ain't pretty, but with a little elbow grease it'll do the trick!! Thanks Steve!

 

subscribed....

 

Cool, going to watch this one...

 

Okay, I'm in... Keep up the good work!!!

 

How you gonna pull this off so quick

I always look at the Y block aftermarket trip setups at swaps.. they are so small...and cute

...and early Edelbrock covers for any motor are very slick.


...so...how you going to get it done so quick? You retired early in life, or what

 

Hahaha, sheer determination, Frank... I WISH I was retired! I actually have two jobs and do side work as well! This will be a night and weekend project. For starters, I don't have TV... second, I have a great wife who not only puts up with but often enables my "addiction". Third, this car is going to probably be in primer with a well-used feel to it, at least for the first season... god knows I can't leave anything alone and will probably have to blow it apart for paint and detail it before too long.

 

I think I'll use my $30 vintage boat show swap meet find gauge panel in this one... I have a few other old crescent needle gauges kickin around to fill the other two holes. I picked up a funky brit car 12v generator with a tach drive on the back to run the old wings tach.

 

This is gonna be cool ! I cant wait to see you put the body together!!

 

awesome build im digging , i like all the parts recycling to

 

This is great. I'm not the only one building something cool out of a fordor...

 

Cool!
I wondered what was up when I saw your Falcon wagon for sale the other night! A far more noble project if you ask me!!

 

Andy Your the man!!! Cool project can't wait to see your build. I see a road trip coming, to check this out in person! When's the top going under the knife? Latter Bruce

 

I had been seeing you drop hints around the HAMB about a secret project. I figured it would have a Y-block when you hopped in on one of Chris' classifieds.

Your Model A was gorgeous. This is gearing up to be just as nice! Subscribed for sure.

 

Cool project, can't wait to watch this one come together !

 

Man, I had that adapter hangin on my wall for like 10 years and never used it. You have it for like what...10 minutes and already heave it in a car

Looks good so far!

 

glad to see im not the only 4 door takeing a road trip just bought the tickets for vegas leeving april first 2012 in a cadillac 500 powerd chavy sedan and thinkin of bonniville in 2013 cantwait to see yours done