HUBBA HUBBA my 32-4 Tudor tribute to Gramps

Crank s****er on a flathead?[emoji23]
We all direct our money and time based on our own goals and possible return on said investment. I'm not after all out power as much as a sound and feel.
As a recap so you don't have to wade back through this sloppy thread...
59 block bored 3.313", deck squared, Line honed, ported, relieved, new larger valve seats, larger stainless valves, new one piece valve guides, Isky springs/locks/retainers, billet center main cap, Cam bearings, and fresh truck oil pump.
Merc 4.0" crankshaft turned .010", polished, lightened,and balanced(possibly offset ground to 4.125")
I keep trying to get a aluminum flywheel but they go up quick$ most likely go with lightened steel.
Floater rods, Ross pistons, file fit rings(brand?), big bore head gaskets that can accommodate my old Edmunds heads needing any machining.
New timing gears, the old 400jr cam(if it needs resurfacing I might go with a more radical profile)
Edmunds intake ported with 4" risers welded on.
I am limited by the old chrome 94s.
I certainly can't afford a magneto currently. Maybe down the road?
I am sure I'm leaving out a lot, like bearings, since a engine is a long list but you get the point. I'm just basically going to copy @Bored&Stroked Dale.
My long term dream would be to change the intake and heads to lower the compression and go with a vintage blower. If that happens years from now maybe we'll get that windage tray and s****er made, and it still won't have much power[emoji6]

 

I was being silly about the s****er. But a pan with a tray would be a good idea.

Sounds like a hell of a good flatty build. A friend who has logged thousands of miles on flatheads of several types is a big fan of the 400jr. And he runs iron Icm heads with some mill work on the intake valve area. His deal is milage and driveable power. His 51 convertible is pretty quick and gets mid 20's mpg. It is on its way to 300,000 miles, he bought it with less than 80,000.

 

What, no red?

 

I sure like the direction this is going....k

 

I was polishing away on the crank yesterday still a ton to do. I went to cutting off some big chunks on the two center counterweights next to the middle main. My trusty Black n Decker grabbed and got in a bind and burned up faster than I could shut her down( memorial services today at 2:00) time for a replacement. I still kept shaving other areas with my 11$ HF. I'll think I can get it done with about 8 hrs labor. 8 at free fifty plus horsepower gain of zero equals negative 8 carry the time lost and you have ?
My bones are almost done


and I am working on a new alteration today. Stay on the line.

 

Normal people would never understand why you would polish the outside of something that nobody will ever see.

Bones look good!

 

I'm pretty sure your joking around again like last time, which I knew u were then. For others who don't know your wise guy wit...
It really is just about how I've always wanted to carve on a v8 crankshaft on this level. I've done lighter work before and rods. Some smaller motorcycle stuff too. But nothing this serious has seen my scalpel before.
I'm not doing it in hopes of any real noticeable power gain. It's kinda a three part wishful thinking deal. 1, less surface tension and turbulence 2, a little lighter reciprocating m*** 3, maybe some durability from less weight and the casting finish removed.
But mostly just so I envision it down in the block when done for mental cool points.[emoji41]

 

Your bones are bad *** cool.....

 

Hi runningshine.Looking good.Slicker is better.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Thanks Dennis,
I can't let @flatnasty have all the fun. I'm like that annoying know-it-all kid in school always raising hand "ooh, me,me,me, me!"

 

Ok this is all @ct1932ford Mark's fault! If you saw the sketch for me back some posts ago you will see inside he nailed my interior color. The car is way more teal in his rendering but colored pencils can be limiting. It works great for the "pop!" effect in the drawing though. Well he also colored the steering wheel to match, something we hadn't discussed. I was going to take the lazy road and just run my black 40 wheel the way I got it cause it matches my cars planned level of finish well. I didn't think it blended with my old chrome column very well but p***able.

Well a while ago I saved the original cracked n dry shift knob.

Both of these pics are a re-post, sorry.
I couldn't get that light blue/teal steering wheel out of my head. When I bought my wheel it was cheaper than most and in better condition than I would've expected for that price it also came with a shot deluxe wheel that I removed the stainless trim rings from and tucked away.

I actually was to scared to cut into my wheel to install these rings for fear that it may set mine on a course for cracking down the road. My deluxe horn ****on I purchased earlier and it was cheap but the letters are almost sanded or worn away and the Bakelite is distorted, from heat?

Time to give it the same love as the shifter knob.
I broke down and got all revved up over the sketch and took the Dremel with a nice carbide 1/8" bit and made some grooves

I was very nervous doing this on the deck while screaming at my kids.
I found paint on the rings when cleaning them last night that looked very similar to the color I want Hubba Hubba, I took this as some sort of sign.
Then I tried to restore the grooves to some degree with the wire torch tip cleaning tool.

Worked pretty well once I finished but it took a while, my finger tip still hurts. Wet sanded the whole thing down but didn't worry to much about scars, although there are few.
Today I masked off the outside hoop and sprayed on some rust oleum stainless steel(cause I had it and I love this color, think it looks believable to stock in this situation after studying 40 fords pics) when I was sanding the wheel I had left the horn ****on in the bucket of water. The weirdest thing happened to it. It released some sort of grey metallic substance out of its very fine cracks or pours, graphite? Well I tried wet sanding it but that wasn't removing it and I didn't have hardly any meat left around the letters. Today I s****ed, file, and sanded it, all dry of course, all in hopes of saving it. It's original and cool but not the nicest. I masked off most of it around the letters and put a light coat of the stainless on it, not stock gold. Then I tediously s****ed around the letters with a razor blade. It didn't come out very well with a lot of the edges gone. I'm also shaky some days. Cleared it like the shift knob

Then I did something new. I unmasked the outs side of the wheel and used cling wrap to cover the inner portion so tape wouldn't peel any fresh paint off. I used tape over the wrap to keep it on. Then sprayed a rust-oleum light green metallic that best matches my upholstery fabric and also looked believably Ford. I have no clue if there was a color like this in 40s fords I hope it doesn't look too 50s.
In between those coats I ground on my crank some more. Then the brown truck showed up. The lacquer I bought the other day wasn't the right color I wanted to paint the car in. Marks pic is to teal, I wanted the Scion xB color you've seen in the photoshop pic on here. But I couldn't bring myself to put Toyota on Ford. I wanted it much darker than Marks sketch. I darkened his up on my phone.

Still not right, I want something like this, maybe darker...

I ordered another can that I thought I could custom blend into my preferred hue. It took a magical top secret ratio of 1:1 to get the desired results, lol.


Then I un-cling-wrapped the wheel and applied a can of gloss clear in 4-5 coats. When it's dry I will hand rub it but I'm afraid to sand it any. I will post some finished pics when it dry. I want to wait to install the four trim rings. Here is how it looks now.

With the fabric and paint

Close up

With horn ****on resting in it(no spring)

When it's finished I'll show it with the column cleaned up and revived shift knob. As you guys can attest it looks much closer to the fabric in real life. The car color is much darker than the interior color, the way I want it. The wheel is plenty lighter. The metallic gives it the sheen of the cloth when you wipe it one way, and the greenish is close to the other way.
I hope it doesn't look to 50s or custom. Also I'm going to Burl Wood my dash and garnish moldings. Hope it works up against them, even though I don't have any moldings yet, they're crazy $!!!!

 

Rustomod. Wyatt I dig the color combo. Are you doing to paint the roof grey and the body teal. Or just all one color? I don't know how old scalaps are but all teal with little ones would look cool. It looks like you got se pearl or flake in the paint. I likey.

 

Lol!
One color, drab 40s, no flake of course.
I was watching A League of there own last week late one night and this color is all over the place, seriously. It's so wartime. Remember I call this Navy grey Lathe gear oil stain color. Funny cause I think these two are GM based colors. Transport blue and woodland green.
The wheel is a touch more flake than I'd like but it's mostly the sun really makin it hit. It's a bit fancy for Hubba Hubba.
When this car sees the light of day it'll be worth real 32 money, like at least 500 thousand dollars or something[emoji23]

 

I kind of "get" everything you do. Similar cir***stance. Although I keep quiet, because you are "doing" ... and me (?) ... still dreaming. Regardless of what the outcome may be ... me thinks, this car will turn out exactly as it should. It's a beauty man. (!!!!!) One step in front of the other.

I could give a rat's *** about patina. It's going to be your best effort .... for here and now, and I like it ! Followed all thru your other stammering build, and figured you will always do better than I ... because you are doing, and of course ... I am not. I'm in regardless. Keep the lights on for me Wyatt. Crush it !

No answer needed. Single dad club out. Two thumbs up from the armpits of Dallas. Love it man.

 

When I built my one and only Ford flatty I did the same thing to the crank. Was super crusty on the outside. Turned out it was a steel 3 3/4 stroke crank. Rare as **** but cool once done.

And the wheel looks great!

And yes I am a smart ***. Sorry for the sarcastic humor. Some get it, I hoped you would.

 

500 thousand sounds alittle low for a one of a kind holy grail super duper rare duece Tudor suicidal sedan. It's priceless. You will have the only one. Plus the patina it will have by the time your kids take over on it makes it even more priceless.

 

First off, I'm absolutely diggin' this build. Great stuff! F&%# the haters and nay-sayers. Carry on and kick some ***!

I have a question about the polishing of the crank. I had heard that a bead blasted or slightly roughened surface has less surface tension than a polished surface...do you have other information that says different?

Cheers!

 

Do note, a super slick polished crank will not hold lots of oil for the splash oil system technology of the ford flathead. Lightened and polished out cranks are for race cars that they don't plan on putting a millon miles on. It will still splash but run off very fast. You will gain horsepower, will it be noticeable maybe... I feel if your listing to dale, you will end up with a damn near race motor, that's what I did so I think you will like what your doing, makes me want to do it to my race motor. Lighten crank plus lighten flywheel = hello RPMs. I see you

 

I like painted steering wheels! I think plain not metallic is more retro. But hey it's your ride.
My Roadster wheel:
You are right on the colored pencils! I used 3 different colors to get it where it is. I knew it needed more grey but it was going to start getting muddy. I could not find the right color at the art store.
Your wheel looks great!

 

One thing to think about adding to your build if you can find one is a "Donaldson" valve off a dodge flat six. It is an early style PCV valve and have been around since forever. Helps keep the sludge down and dirt from getting ****ed up the road draft tube. As well as negative pressure helps seal the rings.

I have a super old NOS Fram hydro vent PCV valve I am going to run on my Plymouth flat six.

 

You are correct Jeff. I have to use a grinder to get it shaped and down to the size I'm after. That "shine" you see is 60 grit. When you change direction with the grinder you see how it's not all that polished. I don't know what surface type I'll settle on yet. It's really about shaping it to me.
I also will not be leaving my oil system alone.
I don't know if I really want to consider this a race motor. It won't be having the valve spring pressures tested all the time. I don't plan on running VP or the like through the fuel tank. It won't have the timing maxed out, etc, etc, etc.
I will change the oil like crazy.
I don't care if the motor doesn't live forever. I mean I hope it's reliable and all and maybe it stays together. I plan on driving it that's for sure. I'm not expecting to go 100k without tear downs. But most importantly it has to be HOT as in hot rod , hopefully not too hot of a temperature, and sound ferocious!

 

Mark I hope I'm am coming across as totally gracious. There is nothing wrong with your work or generosity. I love that pic and understand any ways that it is only a stylized drawing not my finished automobile that isn't even done or fully realized yet.
It has been hugely inspirational more than I hoped. I believe this whole steering situation that "turned" out of control is proof of that.

I think now seeing the roof slats in color(I hadn't decided on a stain yet) has me leaning towards keeping my copper grill vanes raw. I am huge proponent of fluidity and cohesiveness in a artistic movement like all 34s being cut up into 32s in the future[emoji38]
Thank you one last time, "good ol'Wyatt" (pointless Tombstone quote).

 

i can't believe the wheels aren't red........

 

Let me just say one thing more...
To all you guys on the positive side of the tracks thank you so much.
When I started this project I thought I was taking a short pause from the seemingly endless uphill climb that my 32 PU "Runnin Shine" will be. I only wanted to throw something not very flashy, kinda dark, and functional(back seat) to share with my family in honor of my Gramps. It was no secret that I wasn't going to build a clone of a car he owned. This all spun out of a story about his high school jolopy having the words Hubba Hubba hand lettered on the cowl. It's crazy where we get are inspirations, I'll start a project on one part that may not even be related to the build at all in its original intended purpose.
Now I'm up to my ears in something that may actually be substantial or unique given its narrow 1946-49 timeline constraints,not to mention the HAMB police and those I impose on myself, and is motivating me and maybe some of you, in new directions I never thought of at all one year ago. A big chunk of this evolution has been brought on by you guys. Your words, your pictures, your likes, your own threads, and your builds. I feel a light push from the HAMB to keep diggin deeper to build something beneficial to us all that inspires others.
In ten days I will have had this dream a full year. Sadly it's not near completed. Just like so many before me the deadlines keep being pushed back "two weeks, two weeks, you sound like a little bird, two weeks, two weeks". I'm ok with it though because it should be all worth it now in the end.
Thanks boys.

 

Funny I was just about to name drop you then go to the garage.
We all know the trickeries light and cameras can play on paint. I wanted point out with strong conviction that my steering wheel color in real life is not as dark as @tb33anda3rd s green Chevrolet. It is also not crazy metallic even though I wished it would have been more subdued. To Mark I agree completely. But I did study up on 40 deluxe wheels. The metallic feasibility came from seeing them with the light silver or champaign colors on Ford Barn worthy builds. I got the idea of using the silver in the hub and spokes to blend with the chrome column literally from one of these pics. The outside teal green is all from the sketch, I had no luck searching green 40s.
I was super elated to take out the trash and see my new steering wheel in the low setting sun this evening. Strangely the color was much lighter than in my pics and my eyes from the middle afternoon. It now looked as good a metallic to cloth match as any.
Maybe red wheels would help this effect out[emoji6]

 

I like the work you are doing on restoring these original parts, great stuff. I also like the direction of this build. Keep going and keep the updates coming.

 

Wyatt, everything is good! I am just going along for the ride. Keep driving. Mark

 

I have to defend my good friend before I start in this not so epic update. I asked him when drilling the holes in my bones to not make them perfect. That I didn't feel they would look authentic on my car if they met modern ch***is shop standards. I told him to not make each hole a perfectly progressive down or up step in increment. And to only "eye ball" the centers. Well he did this and I would say he didn't get it on my level. It's alright,and the driver side bone is better, but this is the thing you chance when farming out work to a non-traditionalist. My decision my mistake.
This the worse of the two

I'm just so happy to be finally able to put it on the ground soon and pair it with this
View attachment 3274965
I narrowly escaped him beveling/counter sinking the edges of the holes. This to me would ruined their vintage vibe.

 

I know it'll tear you up but I bet five bucks some one complements them being that way. Guess you can chalk it up to un faked character

Lookin good man excited to see it rollin

 

Thanks Tim! I think they're pretty nifty.
Oh I had forgot to mention the main reason I wanted them drilled that way was to match the job I did on the axle.