Hot Rods Mart's three month 33 5W Survivor project

Cool car, and nice collection in the garage.

 

Thanks for all the kind words. I'll start getting part 2 lined up for later.

Mart

 

kick ass.

 

Very much so, tis good to watch, ya?

 

Ok, Boys. lets have a look at what happened next.

The next few posts will cover mid May to Mid June.
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5/15/12
Have done a little more, namely the front shocks. I find that deciding how to do it takes longer than the actual doing. And once the first side is done, copying it for the other side is quicker still.

I decided on a similar method to the rear.

Started by drilling a hole straight through the radius arm. 1/2" first, then opened the outer to 5/8".


I then turned one of the 5/8" shafts down to 1/2" to suit the bushes in the shocks I had decided to use, and knocked it through the arm as a test.


Once happy that this was to be a going concern, I cut down the pin, tidied the end and knocked it in again. It's a good tight fit.



I thought about welding it in, but with the stepped diameters, it will be held solid by the nut so I will leave it just as it is.

It did occur to me after doing the job that this location for the shox would not suit a setup where the track rod is above the radius rods. No problem for me, as mine runs below, but could be a problem if not taken into account.

The location I chose for the lower mount puts the shock in alignment with the rear edge of the fender brace. On the 33/34 the brace is a substantial affair, and has an extra brace running through the inner fender panel to the front crossmember. I decided to simply mount the upper part of the shock to the brace using a bolt on mount similar to that used at the rear.

Here's the brace:

The top and large holes are stock, I drilled a new hole lower down.

Here's the raw materials for the upper mount:


And welded up into a mount:


And a couple of shots with the shock bolted up:




Not the prettiest of installations, but it will do the job and it's just another job that needed to be sorted, because without it, the car cannot go for test. As I have said before, it's only metal, anything you do can be undone.

Looking at that last pic, I'm thinking the drag link ought to be the next thing to get some attention!

Personally, I'm pleased with it, particularly the aspect that it has all been done with stuff I had around me.

Just found an extra pic showing both ends at once:


Mart.

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5/19/12

Here's a mini-update to log the work done over the last few days. Just little stuff. I made up the parts for the right hand front shock absorber, and it came out ok, except that when I welded the parts up I managed to weld them up the wrong way around so I had one that was more like a left hand one than a right hand one. Whoops.

I welded up the bolt holes and redrilled them the other way round.

So with the shocks sorted, I turned my attention to the drag link.

This was a mess, it had been cut and welded to shorten it, (right in the middle which is the worst place to do it,) and bent and had something welded to it.

Before I got the car, I saw an A drag link for sale (one out of Tony Cardy's stash), and having saw a pic of the 33 drag link and seeing it was messed up, I bought it just in case it may be useful.

Here's the pic I saw:


And a close up of the dodgy bit:


I got the 33 one off, and put it next to the A.

The length was very similar, the A one less than 1/8" shorter than nthe cobbled up 33.

So I had something I could use - that's good, I don't like messing with the drag link.

The other thing that wasn't right was the pitman arm. It had been bent. God knows why, but it had. I heated it and bent it straight again.


I said earlier the guy that had this back in the day was not afraid to grease stuff, so to my relief, I could see the ball on the pitman arm was in good condition.

I could feel some play in the steering box, so without too much drama, adjusted it until it felt ok in the mid point.

The big spanner is on an eccentric that you turn to alter the relationship between the worm and sector. I just slackened the four nuts, turned the eccentric while feeling if the play was increasing or decreasing, and set it at the minimum, but not binding. Do the 4 nuts up and job done.

I dismantled the A and 33 drag links, and a 32 track rod and salvaged the best parts from the 3. I had a set of repro parts to rebuild, but they were not good. It was as if they had been copied off worn parts, not NOS stuff. The radii of the cups did not match the balls, so what's that all about? I assembled it up with good original parts, fitted new rubber seals at each end and assembled the A drag link onto the car.


And while I was in the area I put new rubber boots on the track rod ends.


I tested the steering through full lock to lock operation, and it now turns smoothly through the whole range. When I got it, it bound up terribly towards the ends of each lock. Track rod rubbing the radius arms, conflicting arcs on the drag link and bent pitman arm all made for a very badly engineered setup.

I have a theory why the drag link was shortened.
The spindles were swapped out for 37-41 roundbacks when the brakes were switched to hydraulic. The 32-34 spindles have an integral steering arm which is correctly aligned to be at 90 deg to the drag link, which means the end is forward of the axle centre line. when switching to a bolt on aftermarket slingshot arm, the arm is at 90 deg to the spindle, and the end is on the axle centre line, not forward of it. Hence the need for a shorter drag link.

I reckon the A link is slightly short, but closer to the ideal length than a stock 33.

An adjustable one is do-able, but if trying to retain the simplistic beauty of Henry's original design, I prefer the one piece original style unit.

I still need to go around and fit lots of split pins, which would make sense to do while the car is up in the air, but that's the finishing touches, I'm still tackling big job-stoppers, stuff that is preventing it being driven.

Still lots to do, but good solid progress made.

Mart.

 

Next I looked at the fuel tank.

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5/22/12


I just came in from a good sesh so I'll bring things up to date.

I finished messing with the shocks, fitting the painted front shox and brackets, and putting washers and nylock nuts on. I started thinking about what is the next job stopper.

The fuel tank.

When I was under the back end I noticed the underseal was shiny and gooey on the one corner of the tank. I looked up with a torch and had a poke around with a chisel. Sure enough I found a couple of pinholes.


This is after cleaning some of the underseal off.

I looked and realised getting the tank out is quite a job. But out it had to come. Quick check on the internet:
"take the bumper off. remove the rear panel. Remove the spreader bar, undo the tank, slide it out."

Piece of piss.

Had to get the big breaker bar out on the bumper bolts, but got the bumper off. I drilled the 4 screws out that held the rear panel on and removed the fender to rear panel bolts. Some of these are into cage nuts so I was pleased when they came out ok.

Here's the rear end with the bumper and rear panel removed:


Spreader bar came off ok, and revealed the bolts holding the tank in:
Right hand:


And left:


I could see the left mount was wound down tighter than it should be, so I knew the tank must have been removed at some time in the past.

I couldn't undo the nuts so I removed the filler panels on each side to get better access.
Once I did that I could undo the nuts and bolts.


When it was half way out I could see then that a second sender unit had been added.

So that is why the tank had been disturbed previously.

I removed the fuel pipe and capillary (still the originals).

And out it came:


I could then see the holes that needed repairing:


Not too bad really, I thought.

I cleaned it all up with a wire brush (on the angle grinder)


And tipped it on end and all this crap came out of it:


I was torn between repair techniques. Glassfibre? Solder? Self tappers and solder? I dragged it back in the garage and said Fuck it. I'll gas it.


Didn't kill myself, so it was a good choice.

I gave it a coat of red oxide with the roller and left it in the sun to dry out (I had flushed it through with water).


I just happened to take a shot of the back of the car with the arse end hanging out:


I looked at the sender units I had and decided to use a Pilot unit I had around. This neat unit fits the 33 6 bolt pattern.


That was last night. I couldn't go any further because I hadn't got any new screws to fit the sender. The old ones were a bit knackered after being removed.

 

Fuel tank continued
Mart.
===========================================


I got up this morning and there was a thought nagging at me. When fitting the sender I could see there was some clag in the bottom of the tank. I remembered Lars Brandow's 33 build and he got drastic with his tank, and that is what I decided to do too.

Marked the top of the tank:


And cut it out with a thin disc.

You can see the yucky mess.

Yuck-


ee-


Mess:

This is half way through scraping it out. I didn't want to use any solvents because I wanted to be able to weld it back up.

I got it all out:


And after welding up the extra sender hole, I put the top back on:


And after a quick run round with a wire brush:


Slapped another coat of paint on with the trusty roller. (Wrapped in cling film and ready to go at a moments notice)


I migged it at intervals (down to 20mm) and gas welded it. I got a little distortion, but not too bad. As it is a closed section, I couldn't hammer and dolly it, so it was just a case of skipping around and keeping the heat to a minimum. I would have liked it better, but it won't be on show, and functionally should be fine. It'll certainly be better than if I'd left it with all that shite in there.

So that's how it stands as I left the garage this evening. Feeling pretty pleased I went the extra mile on the tank.

Mart.

 

5/29/12

Been plugging away at it and have another little bit of progress to report.

I ran a new fuel pipe. The one in the car was the original, and had then capillary tube brazed to it as orig. But it was badly pitted, unfortunately, and I don't need the capillary as I'm going electric, so out it came.

I fitted the sender with a new gasket and hooked up the pipe and got the tank in place.


I then refitted all the rear end sheet metal and spent ages trying to find some suitable bolts for the rear panel. Refitted the spreader bar and the rear bumper. Used new bolts as I sheared one getting it off. Why I didn't free it with Oxy I don't know.

Had a day out last Friday and went to Enfield with some mates. Trawled the swap meet and picked up a few nik-naks. One of the things I got was this Pilot oil filler/fuel pump stand for a tenner. It looks like new, but is lightly used. Best thing is, it is long, and the base is nice and flat (almost).


I cut it down to a suitable height and set it in place. I don't know quite what the crack is, but the filler tube is just fouling the firewall:


I didn't want to pie cut it, so tried to bend it a bit by heating and quenching on the front side.

I did this quite a few times, and while it did move a bit, that was it and it wouldn't go any more.

I ran a file over the base as it wasn't quite flat, and sort of favoured the front side, i9f you know what I mean.


This was enough to just get it to clear, but it should really have more clearance than this.

If I have the firewall insulation out at any time I might just heat up the firewall locally and put a little dent in it to give more clearance.

That was a little bit of a diversion, due to getting the filler tube last Friday. As you will be aware, I tend to tackle the big job stoppers first, because without those things fixed, the project has no chance.

Next job stopper was the radiator.

It must have have frozen up with some water in the bottom, because the lower tank was all swollen up and the seam was split.


I started to dismantle it, and saw some copper rivets holding the bottom plate to the lower tank. I ground the heads off, and removed the plate. I had to cut through some screws at the side.




I set up a piece of 2x4 in the vice and knocked the tank into better shape. In this pic the left side has been bashed into shape, the right side is still bulging out.


I then carried on straightening and cleaning and getting the parts ready for reassembly.

I stopped taking pics at this point because it was difficult, and I had my hands full.

Anyway, for now, here are the parts ready for final cleanup and reassembly.


And as if it was in the blink of an eye, the bottom end all back together:


The side plates soldered bottom:


And top:


And the rad set back in place:


I reused the bottom hoses that were on it. They seem in good shape, nice and flexible, but not too soft, so I'll give them a go.

Once the rad was back in I could drop the grille back in place. I seem to have some anomalies at the front end. The brackets on the rad do not fit very well to the grille. Some internet sleuthing tells me the brackets (well more like remnants of brackets) on the rad are 34 brackets. I don't have an answer to this, maybe the rad was replaced with a 34 rad at some point. (maybe recently).

Other stuff going on on the side is I have ordered some reels of cable to do the wiring. and I don't know if it will work out but my scrappy is going to save me some exhaust systems and I'll cut them up to make an exhaust system. The guy I used to get all my pipe from has left the area so I'm sort of out on a limb now.

And as usual, a parting shot showing the car as it sat last night:


Sharp eyed ones will see a difference in the headlamps. The one on the drivers side has one bulb. the one on the pass side has two. I'm not sure, but I think the two bulb one is for a car without cowl lights, the extra bulb is the sidelight. The one with a single bulb is for a car with cowl lights. The cowl light is the side light. Funny thing is, my car has one cowl light, but that side has the lamp for a non cowl light car. Nothing adds up.

Lots done, lots to do.

Oh yeah, all the paperwork arrived today, import docs, US title, Customs duty paid form, etc. so that's another little loose end cleared up.

Mart.

 

6/8/12

Ok, this update will be a bit disjointed, because that's the way it has been. While not in real time, it will follow the order I did stuff. I booked the week off work so although I havn't been on it full time, I have managed to do more than normal.

I started looking at the wiring. In a sort of ass backwards way. I knew I had the parts lined up for the headlights, so ran some wires to the headlights, and connected them to the old sockets. Luckily all the sockets were usable. The reflectors from Lars are on their way, and I have the bulbs now, so the headlights are "done" in my book, meaning I can stop worrying about them.

I ran some wires back along the car and up behind the dash, but didn't really have a proper route set out so I just left them long so I could work it out later.

I did the same for the taillights. Removed them, replaced the socket in one of them, and spliced in new wires, ran up behind the dash like the headlights.

I ran the wires to the rear so I could use the brakes as indicators, and laid a wire in for the tank sender too.

I removed the dip switch, cleaned it up and refitted it after checking the operation. I assumed it was stock but I now believe 33's didn't have a dip switch, the main / dip action was part of the light switch.

I did the same for the headlamp switch (again not stock 33), and cleaned it all inside and reassembled it ready to go.

I had to locate a couple of components. I saw that the regulator had been on the firewall, because there were three holes that matched it:


But I decide that looked a bit crap, and it was right by the oily breather so I located it inside the car, high up on the firewall, on the driver's side.


I also cleaned up the solenoid that was in a box in the car. I looked for a good place to mount it and decided to fit it down on the little floorboard extension, part of the stock 33 floor.

I put it down here, because it is a little out of sight, and the original 33 used a starter switch, foot operated, just a little further over. You can see the dipswitch also in this pic.

I had looked online to see how the stockers are wired, and saw how the wiring went through a hole in the firewall. I decided to route all my wiring in the same way. I had looked at bringing it up the a-panel but discarded that for the more stock type setup. I had a short length of expanding braid type shielding so I threaded all the wires through that and fed everything through the hole in the bulkhead.

It's nice and low-key. I must admit I had to undo it about 5 times and keep rethreading more and more wires through it, as I remembered other stuff that needed a wire.

While all this wiring was going on I had a little diversion. I wanted to get the windscreen out, and was pleasantly surprised that the regulator worked, and it wound out fully.


I decided to indo the top hinges, so I set about removing the header panel inside the car. I removed the panel, and hello, what's this?

There was something tucked behind the header, must have been tucked in and then fell right in at some time.
It was a little address book, you know, a "little black book":


There are 10 or 12 pages filled with names and addresses, mostly female names, as it happens:



And so on and so on. A lot of the names have a big X through them, quite what the significance of that is, I'm not sure.

A lot of these people may still be very much alive although getting on in years now, but this is a closed board, right? So I hope I'm not compromising anyones privacy.

Still fascinating, though.

Anyway, back to the sparky stuff.

Once the major components were in place, it's quite easy to start laying in and connecting up the wires. I like wiring, but don't do it often enough to get it looking really tidy. It normally works ok though.

To run flashing brake lights you need a special relay setup. This uses two double pole relays. I used to make up these units and sell them, but I did this one a bit different as I could do it specific for this car and not sort of universal as the others.

Two relays, taped together, with a flasher unit taped on top:

The bank of 4 connectors are for the 4 indicators, the two others are for the left and roght input. I am using a simple on-off-on toggle switch, nice and simple.

And here it is with wires all connected, just cable tied to the (unused) ballast on the original fuse/ballast unit.

It's still a bit messy, but there are now a lot of wires under the dash.

I used the posts on the fuse board to provide three feeds.
First is a Bat post, wired straight from the bat terminal on the solenoid This feed passes through the ammeter as it should show whether the juice is flowing from or to the battery. This feeds anything that needs a direct supply.. Lights, ignition switch, regulator bat post etc.
Second is an unfused ignition live terminal. This feeds the ignition, or in my case the ignition module, because I'm running an electronic amplifier on this one. (I used to make these too, funny enough).
Third is a fused ignition on terminal, for brake switch, indicators, etc.

Nice and simple. Keep it simple. It's the only way.

Couple more things. I bought a 6V flathead generator and a 12V Y block generator last year, and had put together a 12V flathead unit from the parts. I bolted this in place, and was able to run the wires to it.

I still needed a distributor, so looked at the one that came on the car.
It was a bit crusty:

Interesting to see the original feed wire, with it's cloth braid protector and the original capacitor with a rubber shield on the live bit.

It was crusty, but when I gave it a quick wire brush it cleaned up easy. I popped the cap and it looked ok inside:


I decided to use it. I stripped it down and the advance mechanism was free, but the cam was tight on the shaft. I oiled it and got it freed off. I cleaned it up and greased it and put the unit back together.

I cleaned the points and they looked to be in good condition, and as they were original Ford parts I thought they would probably work better than the modern repo stuff.

You can just make the F M Co script on the base plates.

and the Ford USA on the points.

Now, heres where I may have overstepped the mark on the "use the old stuff" idea. I cleaned up the cap and leads and put them on as well, with the plug wire tubes exactly as removed from the 59A. It may work, it may not. I'm sort of curious to see if it will work, so I'll give the old stuff a go first.

The distributor in place:


And the leads of dodginess:


You may have noticed the fan belt has also appeared as if by magic. I couldn't fit it with the engine sitting where it is. I believe the cranks were shorter on the earlier motors. I found it was easier to undo the u-bolts than jacking up the engine. With the u-bolts out of the way the belt went on no problem.

Well that's it all up to date for now. Still a bit of wiring to do, and a lot of tidying of the wiring to do. Sort of need to take stock now, and start knocking off all the other little jobs that need doing.

Mart.

 

I decided to push right on through - not that many posts left..

Mid June to Mid July..

Mart.

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6/14/12

Blinkin' Lights!

I had a problem. I want to run flashing indicator lights. I had some little Butlers sidelights and was going to use those as my flashers.

I set them up down low behind the bumper, but wasn't that keen, then set one up on the cowl and couldn't decide. I asked in a thread on the Meltdown forum in the UK what people preferred, and the answers sort of told me what I was thinking but didn't want to admit: They both were a bit crap.

But one suggestion, "Make the side lights flash and avoid both" set me thinking, and sparked an idea.

The reflectors had arrived from Sweden (Thanks Lars) so I had the headlamps all wired up. He also sent the sockets for the bulbs, so I had a spare pair of twin filament sockets, which bayonet into the same holes as the single filament sidelight sockets in the reflectors.

So the idea is to use twin filament bulbs as sidelight / indicator within the headlamp. this gives a 5Watt side light and a 21Watt flasher.

I rigged it up and tried it and I think it works pretty well, and is a better, cleaner solution than either of the first proposals.

Here's a piccy show and tell:

Sidelight brackets made from chunks cut from the Mercury frame:


Both Butler sidelamps fitted:


Wasn't too convinced, as the front is already a bit cluttered with the twin horns, and the lamps are partially obscured by the overriders.

Tried one on the cowl (My car had one incorrect cowl lamp one side and an aeriel that doesn't work on the other):


Then tried to decide between either one, and asked on the Meltdown forum.

You can see both in this picture.

And here is what I went with:
Standard reflector with single pin holder for the sidelight.


Fitted with a second twin filament bulb holder, same as the headlamp.


And the 5W / 21W bulb in place - it just clears the headlamp bulb.


I had to unwrap the wires and put in a 4th wire:


And a tip: If you want to thread 4 bullet connectors down a tube you have to stagger them. (You can see where I mis-crimped one of the bullets in this shot)

I learnt this from a 100E indicator switch, which has the wires down the centre of the column.

I hastily made a few connections and: (Click on the picture)


So I can now ditch the Butlers, lose the cowl lamp and now move on to other stuff.

Mart.

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6/16/12


Thanks again for all the feedback.

I had another thinking session and came up with hopefully a final iteration.

Ok, I had been browsing a lot of 33/34 pics and realised only the resto cars tend to run the horns. One of my horns was a bit out of alignment and missing the mesh so I pulled it.


I made up a little bracket and bolted the butlers lamp on.


And:


Of all the proposals, I like this the best. I can get a small 23W bulb in the butlers unit and I'm pretty sure there is an orange version available.

Backstepping a little, With the previous setup I hooked up a battery to get enough oomph to power the lights and indicators at the same time, and as Lars had indicated (geddit?) it would be confusing. I could use an amber bulb, but then would be stuck for a sidelight, so I ended up rethinking it again.

So I'm pretty sure I'm going to give this setup a go. With a little touching up with matt black paint thay will sort of blend in, but show up when illuminated.

No Henry Ford sheetmetal has been harmed in this experiment.

The brackets are made from metal cut from a Mercury frame.

Hardcore!

Mart.

===================================================

6/16/12

Thanks Mike, I'm glad you're enjoying following along. I said right up front it will be warts and all, and it really is in real time, so the fubars and blind alleys are all there to see.
730
Had a couple of hours in the garage this evening, and finished off the indicator installation.

The pics below are video's you click on 'em to make 'em run.

Here's the result:
Right:


Left:


And right with the lights on. Please excuse the rambling.

In reality the headlights are nowhere near as bright as the camera makes them out to be.
I might try a different flasher unit to see if the light will stay on longer, and also might try some amber or orange bulbs.

I thinks the car looks slightly more badass without the horns. A bit of matt blackery will visually diminish the new lights and bracketry.

Here we can run white indicators at the front, and red on the back if the car is older than (something like) 1966. But legally the indicator is supposed to be within 400mm of the edge of the car, but hey ho you can't have everything, can you? We're not allowed to run amber sidelights, which causes some problems when importing later Amurrican cars into the UK.

I also mounted the coil using the original 59A bracket. Wiring that in and making a new HT king lead will be the next jobs now the front indicators are finally settled.

Mart.

 

Very cool, look forward to seeing this progress.

Joe

 

6/17/12

Time for a change.

I needed some exhausts.

I hoped to cull a few systems from the local scrappy, but that didn't work out so out of desperation I looked on ebay. I just wanted something I could bang on there to allow me to run it and get an MOT and have it on there for de-bugging.

I decided I didn't want to buy lots of bends and stuff, so I wanted a system. I clicked buy it now and bought a couple of these:

This is a mid section from a Nissan Primera. How un-hotroddy can you get.

There has been a balls up and I've got one, whatever happened to the 2nd one hasn't been settled yet.

But anyway, I got that one because it looked like it had some bends, some flanges, a silencer and some straight bits. I only had the image to go by, but it's for a 1600 engine, so shouldn't be too small.

Turns out it's 41mm dia, which is 1-5/8", which should be ok for a nice stock flatty.

Anyway, 10 minutes with the saw later:


Cleaned up one of the flanges, and redrilled it to fit the flatty manifold, and started welding bits together.


Hadn't really got enough tube, but did manage to come up with something that'll get 'er rolling.


It runs just below the frame, rather than through it, but hogs the middle, where the x-member dips low.

I just put little turnouts on because I was out of tube. I just need to but a little mount on the rear end.

This will do for now, just need to sort out the other side, a mirror image of this side once I resolve the issue with the seller.

I had also been looking at the top hoses and have ordered a pair of 180 degree silicon bends off the bay. I think I can use these with a bit of tubing in between.

That'll be it for a few days as I'm off to Belgium for a long weekend at the European hotrod and custom show in Chimay.

Can't wait.

Mart.

=============================================

07/02/2012

830
Mini update just to cross the I's and dot the T's.
Bloody exhausts! I ordered two exhausts from one seller on ebay. Long story short, one arrived, so I made up the left hand exhaust on the car. Bit of to-ing and froing with the seller and the second one arrived the Monday after Chimay. Problem was, it was completely different! Bollocks! But I liked the look of it better, the pipes were bigger, and the silencer a nicer (bullet) shape. I made up the right hand side, and as it was the second go around, it came out simpler and better. I was pleased with that one, so I just ordered another one from a different seller, making sure the manufacturer and part number matched. The re-do of the left side went quickly and easily and I'm pleased overall.





I still need to finish off the rear kickouts, and put a bobbin mount near the rear end but they are good enough for now, or at least to allow me to start the engine.

Next: Top Hoses. I rifled through my old hoses and found nothing suitable. I looked at tractor hoses on ebay but couldn't tell what would be the right size. I was looking for 45mm, or 1-3/4".
In the end I ordered two 180 degree bends in black silicone. I got the 180's because I could get two bends out of each one. I had two bits of 1-3/4" tubing, so trimmed them down to length and trimmed the hoses into 4 suitable pieces. They are a bit shiny and have a cheesy logo, but I'm going for functionality over beauty at the moment.



I finished wiring in the ignition module. Same as on Old Rusty, keeps the points but does away with the condenser. With all the problems associated with duff condensers lately, I thought it a good way to go.

I fitted the new coil I got from AES. Looked good, old fashioned terminals and all. Checked the timing was not 180 degrees out, (always worth the bother) but couldn't do any more as I hadn't got a battery cable.

Sourced a cable, but had to put one terminal on. Cleaned everything up, used the vice to crimp it as tight as I could, and then used the oxy acetalene with a very light flame to quickly heat it up and flow some solder into it. I managed to do it quick enough that I did not damage the insulation on the cable.

I got sidetracked a bit on another car, but on Sunday got back on the coupe. With the battery in place and the engine able to be cranked, it was time for the startup.

First preliminary check was the ignition - was it sparking? No.

I tried this and that, and only with another coil fitted could I get a reliable spark out of it. I ended up with a 100E Lucas LA12 coil date coded 1958.

I filled the rad with water and put a couple of gallons of fuel in the tank. I primed the pump and it lit up pretty well straight away.

Yay!

Then it stopped.

Obviously the ignition is the prime suspect, but no, a good healthy spark was available. Tried the primer on the pump and it pumped fuel. That's odd. If the pump were working, the primer would do nothing once primed.

I pulled the pump and housing, and the push rod was being held in by the baffle tube thingy. I grabbed the rod with some grips and made a discovery:



The ends are splined and pressed into the tubular centre part. That's handy. I drilled out some 6mm washers to 7.5mm and put two over the splined part and pressed it back together. I licked the od of the washers down on a grinder and here's how it looked:


I put it in and tried it, but it was still no good, so I pulled it apart again and put two more washers in.

Success!

I ran it long enough to realise it was getting too hot due to having no fan.

So a pretty lack lustre update, but with a great result!

Here's the video of the startup, for any that have not seen it in the other post.



Mart.

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OK folks: here's the biggie.. Mart

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7/14/12


Ok, lets get the build thread up to date.

I already posted the first drive thread, when I took the car for the MOT test. Getting the MOT is the first step in the process for getting the car registered. The details get entered onto the computerised system, all based on the chassis (vin) number. The tester verifies the vin number is correct to the vehicle and logs it all in. When the registration application is made, the details are already in the system.

Once the engine was running, there only remained a few things to do to get the car driving. First was to bleed the brakes. This is where I had a problem. I had bought new wheel cylinders from Macs. But they don't make them, and many other vendors get their cylinders from the same source. The fronts are all right, but the rears are machined wrong. Here are a couple of pics. First is an old lockheed cylinder, see how the feed and bleed holes enter the bore at the root of the larger bore.



And here is a pic of the new part:

Note how the bleed hole is positioned correctly, but the feed hole is a lot further up the bore than it should be.

This caused a problem for me. I have decent shoes and good drums, so the pistons sit well down the bore. With the hole misdrilled, this put the seal lip over the hole and the fluid just leaked straight out.

I contacted Macs about it, and while it seems they will be prepared to refund my money, I don't think they will be troubling the supplier to see what's going on. hopefully they will, you never know.

I stripped, cleaned and rebuilt some older cylinders and fitted them. I then had trouble bleeding the system, but once I got out my old pressure bleed system, that soon came good. There was loads of air in the system, pump bleeding didn't get it out, but the pressure bottle did the trick.

So then it was a last round of checking things over, fitting splitpins and making sure the engine started and ran on demand. I had to rig up a horn, as it was a legal requirement, and refit little things like light lenses and the mirror.

The night before the planned test day I started it up and revved it a bit and it was misfiring and banging.

So at the last minute I stripped the distributor, cap and leads off Old Rusty, and put them on the coupe.

One of the last jobs was to refit the seat. When I bought it, the seat back had slipped out of position, which meant you couldn't really sit on the seat. I cleaned up the runners, wrestled the seat back in and got the seat back back properly into position. The base slipped into place easily and I was finally able to sit in it. The first time I drove it was probably only the second or third time I had sat in it.

And it felt good. I like the size of the 33. It fits me. Everything falls nicely to hand, and the visibility is better than on the 40. I also found it much easier to reverse than the 40. The access up the side of my house is quite tight and the 40 was a real struggle to get in and out. The 33 seems much easier.

I have already posted about the trip to the test station, but I'll post some pics here just to round off the build thread.

















The journey there and back went really well. The car drove great. having a known engine "from carb to pan" was a great advantage. It takes a lot of the uncertainty out of it. So how did the rest of it go?

Clutch: Smooth and light. Also no chatter. The car has only one anti chatter bar, the one on the right, so I didn't know what to expect, but it was spot on.

Trans: I ran the trans exactly as removed from the car. I just whizzed a wire brush over the rusty gear teeth and buttoned it up with new oil and a new top gasket. It's a later bcase (41 pu I think) with early gears and shifter. Amazingly it ran smooth and quiet, just a little noise from the straight cut gears as can be expected. The synchro's are good if unhurried, again as can be expected from the earlier constant load synchro's, and amazingly it didn't jump out of gear in 2nd when going on/off the pedal. It does leak a bit, but I can put up with that at least for a while, overall I'm very pleased with the trans.

Axle: The bearing surfaces and wheel bearings were good, I didn't open the diff to have a look, I prefer blissful ignorance, but it drove nice. No unpleasant noises or clonks, Ok, it's got 4:11 gears, so soon leaves you trying to shift into another gear you don't have, but as far as I can tell it's all in good shape.

Brakes. Not fantastic. Light application results in a little pull to the right which had to be corrected by a little turn to the left on the steering. harder application seemed to be ok. I need to investigate further. Handbrake was very good. it all got tested properly on the machines at the test station and while the imbalance would be a problem for joe public in a daily the tester knows I will sort it out so wasn't concerned.

So that's it.Just less than three months from collection to first drive, and it's been a great journey for me, with a few blind alleys and mistakes, and curve balls thrown in, but triumphs too, and overall a great sense of achievement.

I started off rounding off my plan by saying I wanted to see what it would be like to drive an UNRESTORED 33 ford coupe, and now I know the answer: It feels GREAT!.

Mart.

Edit: For anyone that't's not seen the first drive video, here's a link:

And the shocks: They work pretty well. I was worried about the low angle on the rears, but the car felt very stable on the roads even around the lanes, so I guess they must be working well.

M.

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And that's it!

Three months work in two night's postings.

I hate those build threads that sort of dwindle away as enthusiasm dies off. That's why I held it back.

Hope you enjoyed following the blind alleys and pitfalls as well as the parts that went well.

Just need to get all the documents sorted and get the registration applied for.

That's the next challenge!

Mart.

 

Awesome!

 

Excellent documentation, Good Work!

 

Posts like this are the reason I love the H.A.M.B. ...so much better than all the goofy question threads and nonsense....Thanks !!

 

Mart, great read & great result, cheers Wayne

 

Looking good...

 

AWESOME CAR! Man, your little tricks and mods are great! Nice finish for what you started with!!

 

This is a perfectly written post, Mart. Thanks so much.

 

Just watched the video, great stuff!!

 

Nice job Mart. I enjoyed your faithful reporting as usual.

Charlie

 

Very cool thread, thanks !

 

Mart, this is really a great thread! thanks for the documentation!! The car looks great too!

 

Really awesome thread. Thanks so much for spending the time to put the text and pics together. Great job getting the old girl back on the road!

Mike

 

damn good read mart...

 

Fantastic Mart! I loved seeing the Kansas City decal on the windshield and then the addy book is just icing on the cake! Send it back once you get it all sorted would you please, ha!

 

Great job Mart, rock on.

 

nice build, you do good work!

 

Just too cool!

 

x2!!