Hot Rods Oops, done it again. 50 shoebox

Getting to be car poor these days. Couple months ago we traded my wife's OT Jeep for a 50 Ford Sedan project kinda gasser style. Was a good trade but the more I dug into it the worse it got and you could see truly how hacked it was. The decision was made to sell it, which I ended up selling it to a great home..more on that one later.
So a friend of mine had this 50 Coupe up for sale and offered it to me for a really low price so we jumped. The car was brought up to Oregon from California by another friend.
Details on the car: 330hp 351 Windsor, c4 w/firm shift kit, 4 wheel disc brakes, pacer front clip with power rack, hydroboost brake set up, ford 9 inch with 3:73 gear. The car was neglected the past couple years so I'm doing my best to bring it back to what it was..this car is QUICK! The paint is a little crusty and so is the interior..anyways here's some pics of the wife's new ride!






And yes, the horrible headlights are going away!

 

The mechanical fuel pump had failed and a HF electric pump was put on by previous owner, he also put a crappy edelbrock on it..I barely made it home.
I had a 650 Holley rebuilt for it with the ford number for a boss 351. Now battling the ford duraspark box that's failing, I pulled the distributor tonight to have a friend run it and we are going to install a msd box. I've used to brand new fuel pumps now, one failed after 30 min of run time, the second seems to be better.

 

Should be a Fine ride in no time, hope the Wife likes it!

 

What brand of fuel pump pooped out on you so quickly?

 

Awesome score. Crusty is good, it’s honest… Even so it looks very presentable. And if it was quick before, just wait until you get it running right! Will the wife ever get a chance to drive it?

 

Sounds like you have a good deal going there. On the Duraspark, I replaced mine with a 4 pin HEI module.

 

Precision from Oreillys.

 

I rode in it a few years ago when it was running good and it was fast then. And yes she will drive it, we're actually trying to take it to the Estranged Car club races this coming weekend.

And I did get a new cap and rotor as well.

 

It’s too bad about that fuel pump. Hopefully that didn’t cost you too much time… The feeling of having to wait until the next day (or longer) for something that you’ve already bought once might be one of the circles of hell

 

I rather like the looks of it. Pacer front ends are usually way too wide for most early Fords though and hard as hell to find parts for.

If you haven't done so already put a good inline filter between the tank and the fuel pump because the pump crapping out quick may be due to crud from the tank messing with the valves in the pump. I've had that happen too much with old rigs that sat a lot.

 

Let’s see, you’ll need a flathead, three deuces, offenhauser intake, Isky cam, a four speed, and a pair of Smithy’s. Carry on.

 

Yes I put an inline filter where the old electric pump was. It was frustrating Saturday evening but I ended up putting seat belts in the car and went Sunday morning to get a new pump from Napa and return the Oreillys one.

 

As much as I love seeing flatheads with multiple carbs, I like the 351 in this car… I have been wanting a second (old) car that is a little easier to get parts for, so I’d be all over something like this like white on rice if I was in OP’s position. Luckily, I’m broke so I don’t have to worry about searching for it.

 

Distributor is back in with new cap n rotor.
Msd box is in, need to buy some more wire tomorrow for the power lead.
Installed a return spring bracket and springs, it only had the factory style spring on the cable.
Have a few more things to do before Saturday.

And on side note, the guy who's wife bought the blue 50 and surprised him got to see it today and he's in love with it! Already had the kids riding around in it, grinning ear to ear.

 

Well I didn't make our goal of going to the Races yesterday. Worked like hell until 2am to get my OT hauling truck ready for the trip Thursday night, spent almost all day Friday on the shoebox. Put a set of plugs in and drove it back an forth a little, had the wife drive it and it died twice, second time not restarting..kept it running with a bottle and idled back home. Blew the lines out, changed filters, put a pressure gauge on and it wasn't showing any psi while running off a bottle. I put the cheap electric pump on to see what it would do and it would only get to 3.5 psi. So needless to say I threw in the towel, I'm wondering if there's something going on with the fuel pump eccentric on the cam? We drove the wife's OT car to the races to spectate and unfortunately on the way home last night it blew up and left us stranded on the side of the freeway at night with 2 little kids in the car, thankfully my Father inlaw was able to help us and used his triple A to get us home!
So..updates will be slow for a little, hang in there!

 

I removed the bad mechanical fuel pump, put a block off plate on then installed a Carter style electric fuel pump in the rear. I just got it hooked up last night and the car runs again.
There is some other little bugs to figure out before I go driving it but atleast I'm making some forward progress!

 

Your mechanical pump may have been fine, the arm may not be correct for your application , found this myself a few years back. When building my y block I came across several thing that should work but did not, fuel pump was one, at a glance the new one looks the same but after trying to run it, careful measurement shows the arm only getting half the stroke, tested it out of the vehicle and it pumped just fine, sent it back, then tested the old one which worked, put it in and 5 years on it’s still working

 

That is a possibility. I've had alot of bad luck with aftermarket parts recently so it's a 50/50 shot. A friend of mine has gone thru like 5 small block chevy fuel pumps.

 

Ugly ass headlights are gone!

 

Have you looked in the gas tank. The crud may be stopping up the pickup screen

 

That coupe sits really good... Gonna be a sharp ride once you wade through the bugs. Be patient, the car is just testing you... to see what you know. Once you two get to know each other, it'll be fine!

 

I don't blame you for grabbing that car, I love it and it reminds me of the one I bought, mine just needed a lot of body work that I didn't want to do.

My car also had a 351 Cleveland and had plenty of power. HRP

 

Came out to the shop tonight to a giant puddle of power steering fluid under the car..ughhhh

 

I know people swear by mechanical pumps but I've run electric pumps in everything I have for the last 20 years and only had an issue once. And even then, I was able to square it away on the side of the road and get home fine.

Neat car man. I like those coupes.

 

Well I'm tinkering away trying to sort out issues.
I think I have figured out the power steering pump has stopped working so I get to identify what it actually is as far as an application.
The rear calipers were about to fall off, turns out it has had the wrong rotors so I think I found the correct ones..well see.
Then I cleaned up a f100 dash speaker grille and covered a hole in the door panel.
And lastly I installed a new tach I had sitting here.

 

So my rear brake issue has turned into a major snowball..after trying to re-engineer the brackets to accept the different rotors I said screw it and picked up some drum brake assemblies from a friend..come home and go to bolt them on..low and behold I have a small bearing 9 inch and the drums were large...
Next grabbed drum assemblies from a different friend off an 8 inch..bolted backing plates on, center hole on drum is too small! So now I get to purchase new drums for a 70 mustang.
I also have gone thru 3 power steering pumps before finding the correct one...$300 later!

I'm sure some of this is common knowledge for most ford people, I however am obviously still learning LOL

 

I'm currently waking up a business coupe too - the parts list is growing - brakes, tires, cooling system, fuel system - on the plus side, we did get it running off an aux can after sitting 15 years or so - should be a fun winter project - I plan on starting a thread soon

 

Do it!

 

New drums came the other day and low and behold the center hole was too small also! After a few days of sulking I took the die grinder to them and got that done..so now the car has drum brakes in the rear..just need to bleed them. While installing drums I also had to make a new brake line.
I bought a Lokar shifter brand new from a friend yesterday, it's a floor mount cable style..I thought piece of cake and that'll solve the issues I have with the column shift...ha
Now I need a taller trans tunnel because there isn't enough room for the shifter.


Some days guys...