1952-59 Ford So whats new with everyone?

just wanted to see whats going on with all you 52-56 ford owners.Not much myself. I got some new stewart warner gauges to put in my dash that im slightly customizing. Also took off my door handles so i can start shaving them when i have the time.
Amybody else doing anything or nothing, lol.

 

Been tryin to get the motor and trans if for 2 weeks now. Seems I keep leaving out parts that I need before I do all that. This damn thing just keeps takin money from me. Hoping to get it in this weekend. Then gonna cut out a coil or two in the front to see how it sits. After its up and running, gonna shave handles and side trim. OH! and replace the front floors. My lady doesnt enjoy Flinstoning it... Wish me luck! Anyone have any tips or tricks, I would be more than willing to listen. Thanks!

 

If either of you do a "build thread" in here on how you shave the handles I would really dig it.

 

Kustomline54 Today 02:55 AM

just wanted to see whats going on with all you 52-56 ford owners.Not much myself. I got some new stewart warner gauges to put in my dash that im slightly customizing. Also took off my door handles so i can start shaving them when i have the time. Amybody else doing anything or nothing, lol.

Which S-W gages are you using? I'm putting cl***ic Wings in my '56. Hoping to have the old cluster cleaned out and ready to put the new gages together this weekend.
As said before I'm not much of a mechanic but am getting a lot of the little time-consuming stuff done on the Fairlane. Most stainless is polished and ready to reinstall. It's a hardtop and next is cleaning all the window channels & frames and replacing the "fuzzies" in the front door flippers. Engine headers have been cleaned up and repainted, I found some stock steel wheels off a '65 Galaxy from a fellow HAMBer to use, they've been blasted, repainted and new Fisk Cl***ic 1" WSWs mounted on 'em.
I'm also hoping to help my son bring the '47 Fordor V8 over to my polebarn this weekend. He snagged it last fall off CL for really cheap - just couldn't turn it down.... and it's been sitting in his driveway since. A complete unmolested but condition-of-engine-unknown survivor, he hopes to tear into it this winter & see if we can put some life back into it.

 

Scott...

Geno did some searching on this a couple weeks ago and suggested searching "Bear Claw Latch Installation" on Google. The first entry is from Rod & Custom magazine and is done on a '54 Chevy. It's a really good install story. It doesn't get into filling the outside holes or setting up the electric pulls, but I've seen these subjects treated separately in previous issues.

Hope this helps!

Eric

 

I went with the stewart warner "wings" gauge. In black. Ordered them through Speedwaymotors

 

they'll look great once i paint my dash

 

Thanks Eric! This should help me out. I love shaved handles, but not having much experience, and not knowing many people who do, makes it tough. It would be perfect if you all moved to wisconsin

 

Not much going on with the 53 but the wife and I are heading for a 3 day adventure to Mid California in the 53. I think I got the mechanics all sorted out and very dependable...... we'll see huh? Have a great weekend guys!

 

We've all been to Wisconsin...

 

I am suddenly having a craving for salty,squeaky cheese curds and PBR!

 

Yesterday 09:08 PM Kustomline54 I went with the stewart warner "wings" gauge. In black. Ordered them through Speedwaymotors and Yesterday 09:09 PM Kustomline54 they'll look great once i paint my dash

I'm using the black face Wings as well. Got 'em from the local Parts Plus store, they were just a bit more but by time s&h was figured in it wasn't much and I like to support the local guys. They come to the cruise'ins and are good to deal with. Other than the gages and a column mount tach, my dash will remain mostly stock. Got my Hurst shifter from Speedway.

 

Wisconsin and PBR? Dunno, I kinda go for a Spotted Cow or at least a Leinie Summer Shandy with those curds. . . Anybody hang out around Ft McCoy (Sparta)? I get over there several times a year, work related stuff.

 

I made it to Fresno without any trouble at all. Car ran at 185 degrees all the way with an average of 17.5 mpg. Not too bad. I'd like to see someone make a bigger gas tank, something around 22, 23, 24 gallons for extra distance instead of the puney 16 gallon that is in it. I've been running "clear" (no ethanol) around home but had to use this ****py E-10 junk and the engine doesn't like it too much. I can feel the difference in power and the engine stumbles alot. Anyone else experience this?
I'm off tomorrow to visit buddies and returning home on Monday.
Have a safe weekend guys.

 

Deep fried cheese curds-mmmm....Spotted cow is good, as is any of New Glarus Brewery's beer.

Sounds like a good time Geno- have fun and have a safe trip back.

 

I havn't been allowed to work on my car because, last weekend I was trying to fix the ****ty sheet metal work the previous owner did and I ended up with a piece of metal in my eye. That was fun by the way having somone s****e on your eyeball, and then proceed to use the worlds smallest dremmel tool on you eyeball (super fun!). ****ing car hacks don't you hate 'em. I'll post some pictures tomarrow.

 

Hopefully no pictures of your eye!

 

No of the hacked mess they made of the car!

 

phgnflt.....dang dude....I can sympathize.

I was grinding some metal on my t-bucket a couple years ago and got a micrscopic piece of metal in my eye. It absolutely ****ed. Every time I closed my eye, it became unbearably uncomfortable and painful and it didn't go away on its own.

I went to the eye doc and he used a huge mangnifying thingy and the worlds smallest set of tweezers and pulled it out in less than a minute. I was IMMEDIATELY better. It was amazing how fast. He gave me some ointment to heal it up good and that was that.

I ALWAYS wear my safety goggles now, whenever I'm near my bench grinder or a hand held one. I used to sort of, kind of wear the goggles, but I learned my lesson.

 

I put a low-rpm rated wire wheel into a high-rpm air tool once and, thankfully, gave it one quick "toot" to be sure it was seated properly before starting to work with it.

The wire wheel disintergrated instantly, sending short pieces of wire at high speed in all directions...including mine.

I ended up picking several of the pieces out of my face and forehead, but the safety gl***es I was wearing kept any from my eyes.

Never have I done any tool work without safety gl***es after that. One warning was enough for me!

Glad you're okay!

Eric

 

Man!, I've done the dremel tool in the eye before, much more careful now. Full face shield most of the time.
I stopped by Obolsete/cl***ic in Okc Friday and asked if they had rockers and lower rear quarters in stock. (These are the same people who back ordered my F-1 bed mounting pads for 3 weeks, 2" sq. rubber with 1 hole in them).
They called my bluff, they had them! Now I guess I'm going to have to switch from the F-1 to the Ranchwagon for awhile.

 

Thanks guys I've learned my lesson too. But hey I got out of working for a couple days. It's to bad I didn't have any vacation though, so I'm having to make the time up (FUN!).

 

I bought a lot of things from Obsolete,but from now on I don't do it online I call it in, when they backorder you end up paying freight twice so best to check if it's in stock.

 

Well... it happened! I ran out of gas due to a stuck fuel sending unit. I got a car to get me 5 gallons to get me to a station. I've had problems with the Auto Meter stuff since I put them in. I've done lots of gauge installs before but these seem to just not work right. I ended up removing the sending unit and completely dis***embled it and s****ed a little plastic off an inside edge where the float swings and hung up on it and now it seems to work again. Very poor quailty control in this sending unit. I'm heading home tomorrow morning expecting a trouble free drive. We'll see huh? I think I'll swap out the Auto Meter stuff and get rid of the problems they have given me to something better.... Anyone have a similar problem? What are you using for aftermarket guages?

 

Before you do anything I would contact Auto Meter and see what kind of "service after the sale" they give you,you see their gauges in almost every professionals' race car so they must be doing something right.The sad thing is these days so many companies outsource to make more $$ you never know when the quality will take a dive

 

I used to have family in OKC and loved to go see them because it meant a side trip to Obsolete. They used to have an imitation Thunderbolt in the showroom.

 

For the first time since I've had my car, it is in another's garage. She has been gone for almost two weeks now getting bagged, 4-linked, clipped and exhaust run. I miss her, but am going to be cruising on a cloud when she returns. Discs in the front are going to be nice too on these California freeways.

 

YOU BETTER POST TONS OF PICS WHEN YOU GET IT BACK!
Cant wait to see it!

 

I made it home!!! The 53 is in one piece without any more incidents. My gas sending unit is leaking around the gasket that I had to improvise. I used a rubber impregnated cork material that the e-10 must have eaten up during the drive home. It's in little chunks! I guess I'll have to change the filter soon as I'm sure some of it got into the tank. So I have a small project some night after work.

I averaged right at 17mpg through the entired 1,500 miles. Not too bad, right?

I'll tell you that these cars really get the looks and thumbs up from just about everyone. When you're the only cl***ic car on the road, every one notices. The car always got a few folks to look and talk about when they had one at every gas stop.

I had a blast! I'm already setting another trip before the weather gets too bad. The wife and I are going to Victoria, BC for a long weekend.

I hope you all enjoy your car as much as we do.

 

Glad to hear you made it back safely. When I bought my car last summer I drove it from Minneapolis back home to the Milwaukee area. The trip usually only takes about 4.5 hours but it took me about 6 after getting caught in some long conversations at two different gas stations. My buddy told me that was going to happen. People just flat out appreciate these cars.