Hot Rods It's mine now... 1946 Ford Sedan

I have the spec sheet at work, I will try to remember in the a.m.
message me if needed.

 

Rear four plugs were pretty sooty. I cleaned them up and it smoothed things out a bunch.
I forget for how much of an effect the little things can have.
Also adjusted the linkage so the secondary carbs come on at about halfway. No science here just some "try this-try that"type of shit.

The front end came down nicely. Unfortunately I don't have a measurement to compare.

I ended up sectioning the shock links for the sway bar to make them shorter. That solved the interferance. I could have gone with longer shock links on the shock but I didn't want to go shopping.

The other issue was that the sway bar was smacking the stock shock.
I ended up heating the sway bar right under the shocks. Bent them right were my fingure is pointing.
With the car raised up a little I crammed my least favorite hammer head between the two. Then lowered (preloaded) the front end, then heated the sway bar. It dropped a little on its own as the sway bar got hot. Then I let the front end all the way down.
This gave the sway bar a kick upwards to wrap around the shocks. Took a couple trys. Also found out if you don't give it equal kick on both sides the car will lean.

The other issue is the end of the sway bar where the links attach was smacking the shock arm.
I ended up sectioning the shock links for the sway bar to make them shorter. That solved the interferance. I could have gone with longer shock links on the shock but I didn't want to go shopping.

Here's some pics. The shock arm/ sway bar pic is with the car raised up a bit.

 

Heating the arms would not work? I have bent quite a few arms on 1937-1948 dropped axles with good results.

 

I could have. I think I even suggested that to "Tim" on here for his '46. Shortening the links was so dang easy tho since they were already off.
Still needed to bend the sway bar for it to clear the shock bodies.

 

The carbs were set up with:
Middle (primary) .044 jets and #67 power valve.
Outer two (secondaries) #65 power valves.

I changed them to:
Middle carb (primary) .043 jets and #67 power valve
Outer two (secondaries) .042 jets and #67 power valves.

I would have gone one more smaller on the power valves on all the carbs but I just used what I had at the shop. Not sure why though, sounds good I guess.

It runs much, much better. Totally drivable now. Still haven't pulled the plugs to check them out.
Oh yeah, I advanced the timing a bit too.

 

the stance.
first pic, as I bought it.
second pic, with the 16s on the front.
third pic, dropped axle, and two leaves removed.

 

First Hot Rod build was a 46 Coupe this is a Sweet sedan can't wait to see what it looks like once dropped.

 

The last picture is with the dropped axle. I'm not "slamming" it if that's what yer thinkin' . Just a little rake is all.
I wanted to get a little of the front whitewalls in the wheel wells.

Sure could use some dumps popping out behind the front tires.

 

Looks great! Brings back memories of my ol 41!!!


This is when I first put the axle and such under it. WAAAAY too slammed. Rode like shit




This is what I ended up with after some trial and error

 

Thanks for posting the pics Chris! It was at your place when I picked up the T if I remember correctly. I forgot all about it. What a rad car.
The bumper guards look good on it. Dumps poking out too...Hell, I was even thinking about punching a bunch of louvers in the hood, but it's looking like I'll be moving up to Portland next spring. A bunch of holes in the lid might not be a good thing.

 

It was a fun car. I drove it every were. It has gone through a handfull of owners, still in town but one of em flat blacked it Just fuckin ruined it. Oh well, it really needed some body and paint work, and a nice interior. It just had seats and a floor mat. No headliner, no rubber seals and no door or kick panels. It was loud and drafty!!!

 

Awesome sedan!! Love this thread! Im building a 46 coupe right now and i put Chassis Engineerings 302 c4 kit in front and their parallel leaf kit and a 9" in the rear... Soooo easy and fast shipping! Cant wait to drive it!

 

Heck yeah... the new stance looks great!

 

Looks great! Do you remember what you ended up doing to improve the ride and get this stance?

 

Gary, won't be long and you'll have to start chaining up!

 

No shit !! Think their's snow on the summit already. This summer really flew by.

 

To me, the small block in a ford body is as God intended it to be.[/QUOTE]

Its damn hard to beat a sbc .

 

Been doing a little more on the '46. Mostly driving it.
I went down another jet size on all the carbs. The primary carb is running .042s and .041s on the secondaries. I kept the power valves at #67s for now.
A couple times it was acting like it was starving a little when I stepped on it but magically fixed itself I guess.
Plugs are looking good and this thing really pulls when the secondaries kick in. I'm so glad I kept the small block in it.

The bummer is that I still have an oil leak, which was the main reason for pulling the damn motor in the first place. The back of the block up by the intake is bone dry. Dry around the valve covers too. If I had to guess I'd say it's the cam freeze plug or the rear main. It's not tranny fluid. The road draft tube has oil residue in it but I wouldn't think it would blow that much oil. Am I wrong?

 

i had a 350 that the cam frost plug leaked on.

also the early sbc's had little frost plugs for the oil gally plugs in the back like the front instead of the 1/4 that the newer sbc had.

 

Put a bottle of AT205 in it...if it's the rear man it will probably help. If it's a soft plug well, aint nothing gonna stop that until it's replaced.

 

Cool, I give it a shot.

Just read, it's for rubber type seals. The rear is a rope seal.

May try it anyway.

 

Got to thinking on the drive back from Portland today.
My oil pressure gauge reads about 80-85 psi all day long. I've been reading and that sounds high for a sbc.
Perhaps I do have high oil pressure and that's why I'm still blowing oil. ??
I need to check the gauge first and go from there I s'pose.

What would cause high oil pressure? It does have a functioning road draft tube.

Side note: with the 3x2 intake running mainly on the center carb, on "the 5" today, super windy, at 65mph I was getting about 16 mpg. Not too bad for this big boat sail of a car.

 

Thanks for posting your experience with a SBC in a fat fender. I gives this old timer a good feeling to have the younger set have the same satisfying results with the time proven combination of a Chevy in a Ford that I (and hundreds of others) have experienced since 1955 . Some call it a lame combination but argueing with success is a lot like trying to push a rope. Carry on and keep posting the results of your rebuild.

Frank

 

Any clues as to the cause of high oil pressure in an old SBC ??

 

What gauges are you running for the oil pressure? If it is factory, the needle may be bent.
You may want to hook up a temp gauge off the engine and double check it. 80-85 does seem a little high.

 

After market gauges. The gas gauge was not reading correctly when I got it, wrong sender. That leads me to not trust it too.
It has an aftermarket temp. gauge that appears to be reading accurately. Once it's warmed up, 190 all day, unless it's really hot out and pulling a hill.

Thanks for info Titus. I totally overlooked your post earlier. Not in a big hurry to yank it back out though.

 

I hear ya there, i didnt want to pull the tranny on my truck as i too had just put it all back together but what do you do!

the way i finally found it was i put the oil die into it and looked for it with a black light and was able to see that it was coming from above the rear main seal.

jeff

 

Oil die. What will they think of next?

Did, you just "happen" to have a black light laying around ?

 

Oil die. What will they think of next?

Did you just happen to have a black light laying around ?

 

On the drive tonight I noticed at idle the pressure gauge reads 100 psi. Driving it goes down to 80 ish. Gotta' check the gauge.
Higher pressure at idle sounds odd to me.