Projects The '40 MorDor project

It's been a busy past few days!
Wednesday, I swapped out the intake. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab an extra fitting for the temp gauge and couldn't get the heater blockoff plug out of the intake, so I was stuck for the night.
Thursday, I stopped by the shop on the way home from work, and fixed a few things that I can't remember off the top of my head
Friday, I found a magic socket that is designed for square head plugs, in my brother-in-law's toolbox, and was able to coax the heater blockoff plug out of the intake, got the hose reattached, and fired it up. Found out that my JB Weld didn't do anything but look good for a day or so. I was able to get a bite on a few threads down lower, and for now, the water neck isn't leaking. I did move it under it's own power, out to the parking area, so I could clean up underneath where it had been sitting.

Later, Friday, I discovered that I had a bad wheel cylinder, so I made a run up to O'Reilly, before they closed. Got back to the shop, but didn't have a brake adjusting spoon, and couldn't quite get the right angle to loosen up the brakes.

Today, Got the brake wheel cylinders replaced, made a run to O'Reilly for a new rubber hose and some new brake line, did a one man brake bleed, and was able to get some pressure on the brakes. It now can stop. LOL
Also took time to cut off all of the old shock absorbers. It had the top pin style, and they were rusty and couldn't get the dang nuts to come off. Got cotter keys in the front suspension, dust caps on my rotors, wheels mounted, and even splurged and bought a 9" air cleaner, just so I knew it would clear the brake power booster.

For anybody who would like to see proof that I got it running, here's the video I took after I stabbed the distributor about where I thought it should be. Still haven't worked on the timing or carb tuning.



Here's a few images from when I pulled it out of the shop, with no brakes.

 

No brakes but you've got "brakes"

Close enough for a photo

 

Yeah, I had not bled them yet, and it had a collapsed rear rubber hose, and a totally dry drivers side wheel cylinder. I put some of the valved quick bleeders in the rear wheel cylinders and got them bled yesterday, and did the pump and hold, using a piece of wood between the pedal and the underside of the dash for the fronts. It'll stop now. LOL

Dunno if I will get to the shop today, but I still need to reroute transmission cooler lines, and start the re-wiring, and change out the front leaf to put the stock main leaf back in the front.

 

Thanks for posting the re-work. I almost seem to enjoy reading about the rejuvenation of an old or outdated, or sometimes misguided project, than the full on ones. Looks quite a bit better with the new rotors and the lowering blocks.
If you still have trouble with the thermostat housing bolts, try J-B Welding a stud in there. That way you're not twisting on the boss when pulling it down with the nut. Or, JBW a threaded insert, with or without stud.
All in all, I like the way you are going with the car.

 

Thanks, @Algoma56!

You and I must think alike, because that was my next line of action with that particular intake. It's not a collectors item, so JB Welding in a stud is not a problem for me.

I stopped by the shop, on the way home from the Branson office, and started pulling some wires. I've stated, several times before, that I prefer using wiring boards that don't have wires pre-connected. The choice for this car is @RacersRods WB-9. Probably the "nicest" thing on the car!

I'm a cheap rascal, so instead of splurging and buying color coded or tracer marked wire, I stopped at Tractor Supply, and picked up a couple of 100' rolls of 14ga wire. One roll is red, the other is black. At least that way the wires will somewhat match the car. LOL

I had to knock off before completing the engine wiring, but I have 3 more wires to run before I can start the car again. My goal is to have all the wiring completed by this weekend.

This definitely is not a "build" thread, but a "get it on the road, and help it find a new home" project. There will be plenty left for the next guy to do.

 

Hey, Bud, don't let anyone convince you that "moredoor" isn't a viable choice. It is a '40, and that alone should be good enough. I recently sold my '37 moredoor flatback to a good friend because I found a '40 2-dr with a 327. I couldn't pass up the deal. We had so much fun in that '37 going to GOOD-GUYS and other places. In the rain, you can all sit inside with the doors open while enjoying the beer and conversation. Those "moredoors" are going up in value, so build it and have fun and don't worry what ANYONE may say.

 

Thanks, Gary! While they aren't typically a hot rodder's "first choice", I've already got my flamed '40 coupe, and my mostly stock '40 stake truck. I sure don't mind the extra doors.

Originally, I had the goal of late summer, but I've been pretty fortunate enough to get some good "shop time" in on the car. With a long weekend ahead, I should have all my wiring done, be able to reroute my transmission cooler lines, put a stock main leaf back in the front, and install some shocks. From that point, I can get it to the exhaust shop, have them re-route the exhaust through the frame. Once that is done, it'll be time to do more "clean-up" work on it, getting some temporary pans in the floor, and stuff that can be done while I am putting miles on it to make sure of it's road worthiness. If I can get a few hundred miles in it, before mid-August, I'm planning on driving it to the Frog Follies.

 

That ride height looks perfect for the street. Ya gotta be able to drive it. Good job, Bud.

 

Thanks. Unfortunately, the steering box that is in the car has a mount that hangs down below the frame. I've got about an inch of clearance between it and the driver's side wishbone, so that's the reason behind swapping the "stock" main leaf back into the front. I hate to do it, because it's sitting "just right" now, but I have to gain some clearance.

 

That's a lot of miles to Frog Follies in that rig! Though if your lucky you only need to drive it one way

 

This evening, I ran back down to the shop and finished wiring up all the "engine" things, with the exception of power back to the electric fuel pump. I spent a little time trying to decipher the steering column wires, and with the help from my good friend Google, I was able to determine which wire controlled which function. I went ahead and wired up the brake light switch to turn signal feed, as well as the hazard and turn signal flasher feeds, too. My multimeter confirmed that I had them all correct.

By this weekend, I should have the headlamps, turn signals, brake and tail lamps all wired, as well as the fuel pump. It's currently got some old Stewart Warner mechanical gauges, and I have a set of '40 Standard gauges that need cleaned up, but I am highly thinking about putting them in the car. I have a temp sender, and I would have to buy a couple of plumbing pieces and a oil pressure sender, and make a few voltage reducers, but I could have that done too. I also need to buy a horn for it. I used a set of horns off of a GM pickup for the coupe, and just may do that for the sedan, too.

Saturday, I am planning on pulling the reversed eye leaf out of the front and putting a stock eye back in it. I was lying under the car, and observed less than a half an inch between the wishbone and the steering box bracket, so it's GOTTA come up, or I have to change the box. Coming up is the cheap and easier solution. I'll also dig through the garage and find the stock bumpstops off of the truck, and put those on the sedan. Hopefully that will minimize any future banging of the bones.

 

Due to the local O'Reilly store not having a headlamp switch or a dimmer switch plug that I needed, I headed down to the shop and decided to un-reverse the eye on the front main leaf spring, so I could gain some clearance between the driver's side wishbone and the steering box bracket that hangs below the frame. Thankfully, I still have @andyg's band roller, and was able to roll the proper arch back into the main leaf within a couple of minutes.

Since I don't have a spring spreader, I figured I would just put the main leaf in, and rebuild the pack under the car. That job was not fun, and took way longer than I had anticipated, but the good news is that there was a storm outside, and I had driven the coupe to the shop, so by the time I was ready to head back home, the rain had mostly stopped.

I'm gonna take some vacation hours today, pick up my parts at O'Reilly, and head down to the shop to wire up the lights on all 4 corners and the fuel pump. Somewhere, I have some pieces to make some voltage reducers, and I would like to swap out the '40 Standard gauge cluster to the one that @okiedokie donated to the project. It needs some cleanup, but should work quite nicely, once I can make those darn voltage regulators.

 

Looks great.....................more doors can be a blast drove mine to Des Moines loaded everyone up and drove all over des moines last night checking out motels...........

 

Jerrod,

Your 4 door is the one that made me think this wasn't such a bad idea. I blame you for this thread. LOL
The first time I remember seeing your sedan was over at Dewey a few years ago, and it really made an impression on me.

Glad you came over to check out my progress on this one. Sits quite a bit better than where it was when I showed you the pic's up at Pete & Jake's open house.

bret

 

Made it down to the shop yesterday afternoon, and got the headlamp circuits all run. The parking lamp sockets were shot, so I didn't get the front blinkers wired. I did run all the wire to the back of the car, and hooked up the fuel pump. That's when I got distracted. Needless to say, I didn't finish wiring up the tail lights.

The distraction was that I discovered I have a fuel blockage. Pulled all the fuel lines apart, and blew them out, and I have good flow all the way up to the carb. Apparently, I didn't get all the varnish out of the jets, because the carb isn't shooting any gas into the engine. I'm planning on running back to the shop today, and I will be armed with some carb cleaner, but will vow to do my tail lights first.

 

Brett, I don't know how I missed this one but I really like it.

To me the '4o Ford is one of the early cars that looks just as good in the 4 door version as it does in with the Tudor.

I'm not to crazy about the two tone paint job but it's still a good looking car. HRP

 

If it makes you feel any better I don't think much of that two tone paint job is long for this world. Add in the idea of Bret driving it and it'll be a bare metal car in about three miles

 

Hey Danny!

Thanks for stopping by and checking it out.

Timm, With the way that the paint is popping on the fenders, it's likely that it will blow off pretty quickly! I haven't looked close enough at the original color, that is hiding behind a few places, but it was a green of sorts. Doesn't look like Cloud Mist Grey, however.

I spent most of the day at the shop today. All the lights now work, although there are no front turn signal indicators now. Rear ones work, and hazard flashers work back there, too. I still need to wire up the lighter, so I can have a phone charger, and I haven't checked the SW speedo to see if it has a light, but at this point, I will say that the wiring is "done" (for now).

I pulled off the Holley carb, and gave it a good bath, but it's still not working. Out of a lack of patience, I took an old Carter AFB that Doug had, and bolted it on. Worked perfectly, but required a little re-plumbing. Also fought with putting on a replacement transmission cooler. I couldn't get to the cooler lines, at the transmission, so I pulled the old ones back and ran them up the side of the frame rail. Had one that kept leaking, only to find out that it had been rubbing against the frame and wore some pinholes in it. Cut it back, flared the end, and all is good now.

Next tasks:

• Remove the stock front sway bar, so I can install shocks.
• Install front and rear shocks
• Adjust the rear brakes and re-bleed

• Get the car to the exhaust shop, so they can reroute the pipes through the frame

• Pull the radiator for some repair work.

I should be able to get the first three done this weekend, exhaust shop next week, and radiator repair when absolutely necessary.

 

Watching with interest! Hope you make your deadline.

 

"The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry"

I had intentions of installing shocks today, but for some reason, each of the O'Reilly stores that I stopped either didn't have, or only had one of the Dorman 31001 shock stud kits, so I only got front shocks mounted. Working by myself, I had a booger of a time getting the stock front sway bar off, as I was having difficulty holding a wrench on the inside of the frame while trying to get the crusty nuts off the bottom. After finally doing that, and getting the second shock stud, I'm happy to say that the front shocks are on. I never got around to buying the rears, nor the studs for them, but I am ordering them from the store, so I should have those tomorrow.

I didn't have any help today, so I didn't get the brakes re-bled, and I spent too much time on the front shock install, so I also didn't get the rear drums adjusted.

I DID, however, go for a short ride.


Cruising down the road with the exhaust pipes clipped in front of the split wishbones! Yeah, it was noisy.

Just idling and showing that the headlights now work.

And a REAL short clip showing the rear lamps work, and so do the hazard flashers. @Tim & @twotallokie, I'm prepared for in case I forget to fill the tank. ;-)

 

This morning, after the initial "honey-do" consultation that I got from the missus, I ran down to the shop, installed the rear shocks, adjusted the rear brakes, re-bled the rear brakes, and called it a day. Or so I thought...

Ran back to the house, to perform the "honey-do" tasks that were laid out to me earlier in the morning. One of those was to haul an old entertainment center to the DAV store. Since I only have 1 truck, I shuffled the coupe and the stake truck, and hauled it up to the store.

When I got home, I thought to myself...I can make the 23 mile trip to the shop, in the truck, and swap it for the sedan, so that I can take the sedan over to the exhaust shop this week! So...Yeah, I drove back to the shop, got the sedan, and drove it the 23 miles back home, with the exhaust clipped at about the firewall. Man, it was loud, especially on the uphill sections where I had to be on the gas!

The car did good. Tracked great, oil pressure was good, and the temp gauge never got over 170, but the hood is still off.

Should make it over to the exhaust shop, around lunch time on Wednesday. I figure that Tuesday evening, I can work on the '40 gauge cluster, and hopefully have that in by this weekend, too.

 

I keep mentioning that I have plans to change the gauges to a set that
@okiedokie graciously donated to the cause. Personally, I am not a fan of aftermarket gauges in old cars. Even though the sedan has a cool Stewart Warner "Green Line" 160MPH speedo, I prefer the old school look of a '40 gauge panel. Truth be told, I kinda prefer the standard panel over the deluxe, but don't tell my coupe!

As you can see, from the first photo, the gauges were pretty crusty looking. The face plate had some rust in it at the bottom, so I decided I'd pull it all apart, blow out the paint flakes, shoot some leftover Ivory Krylon (from the 286 flatty that is planned to go into the '40 stake truck), cleaned up some stuff, and put it all back together. I made some 6V reducers (from a thread here on the HAMB), and have it all ready to go into the car. I need to swing by O'Reilly and grab an oil pressure sender (I used a BWD S330 in the coupe), a fitting for my flathead temperature sender, and I should be able to swap gauges tomorrow after work.

@BenD called me, with a delivery of a cool 40th LA Roadster show poster that he was asked to drop off to me, which was quite a surprise, and while he was checking out the mordor, he called dibs on the Stewart Warner gauges, and said he'd hook me up with a shallower dish steering wheel.

I did make it over to one of the exhaust shops and got an estimate. The guy told me it was gonna be about double what I thought it should be, so I will be getting a couple more quotes. In the meantime, I am trying to turn a few parts and make a few more bucks to raise the funds for the additional exhaust expense.

If anybody is interested in the 66-67 350HP 327 intake that I pulled off the car, the special HAMB price is $300. I'm gonna go ahead and put it on E-bay, and hopefully some Corvette buck head will offer me stupid money for it.

 

Great project!!

 

Thanks! I'm not much of a "builder", but I do get a thrill out of taking an old, neglected hot rod and giving it new life. I'm down to the end of my budget, but the list of stuff I intend on doing with the car is just about done, too, so that's not a bad thing.

Things that "have to be done"

• Exhaust re-routed

Things that "I'd still like to do, but could leave for the next guy":

• Replace passenger side windshield and passenger side rear window
• Fit hood and make the latch work

Things that I can do that won't cost me any money:

• Scrub the body with some comet and dish soap, and remove some of the crust off the paint
• Pull the intake manifold back off and re-install it to stop the oil leaks that I created when I put it on the first time.
  
• Wax what's left of the paint
  
• Pop rivet in some temporary floor pans
• Make a cover for the gas tank sender access
• Add some length to the accelerator pedal and add a spoon (it's got a cut off GM truck style pedal hung on the firewall)
  
• Use what's left of the "peel and seal" that we got for Dad's firewall and floorboard, and cover some of the holes in the firewall
  
• Drive the snot out of it and have a good time until somebody else wants it more than I do

After the exhaust is on it, I plan to go directly to "Drive the snot out of it", and fill in the other stuff in the available time in the evenings after work.

 

For a few months, I fantasized about a '40 Fordor very much like that -- in the weeds, with a little rubber rake, but otherwise a black/black restored stock body and stockish mohair interior. Fortunately I got over it.

 

Got home a little late tonight, and just didn't feel inspired to go out to the garage. It's been a LONG day already, and the plan was to pull the intake and re-seal it. Draining the coolant and pulling everything off just didn't sound like fun tonight.

I did swing by the hardware store and got a fitting for my old Ford temp sending unit, and stopped by O'Reilly for a S330 Oil Pressure sender. I also finished wiring the power leads to all the gauges, so I'm ready to tear into it. I'm kinda hoping to get up early in the morning and get some work done while it's cool outside. I should be able to pull the stuff off to yank the intake, get it cleaned up, and back on before my 9am conference call. That'll leave installing the gauges and running the wires to the gas tank, oil pressure, and temp sensor, and should have all that done tomorrow night.

 

Good job Bret. Your sedan sits right. You should be a 40 specialist by now.

 

Pulled the intake off and reinstalled it, to fix a leak in the front and back. While I had the fluids drained, and the distributor out of the way, I installed the senders for the temp and oil pressure gauges.

Spent this evening pulling out the old dash gauge panel and installed the 40 standard panel. I got the temp and op senders wired, but was hot and tired, and quit before running a wire to the fuel tank. I'll knock that out tomorrow. The biggest problem I have is that the new gauge panel interferes with the ignition switch. Looks like I'll be working on a new location for that soon.

 

Saturday, I finished wiring up all the gauges. Unfortunately, I think I have a couple of bad 6v regulators on two of my gauges. They work, sometimes, and don't work most of the time. The only one that has one of the "first batch" of voltage regulators works like a champ. I ordered another batch of regulators off of E-bay, and will commence to replacing the two questionable ones once the new ones arrive.

I also bought a speedometer cable that has the speedo working, however, I need to pull the speedometer gears and do some recalibration calculations. It's currently reading about 30% too fast. Although it was pretty fun to get the car up to 100MPH (actual about 70), I just gotta fix that.

I took some time this afternoon and scrubbed on the paint, using a bucket of dish soap and some Comet. It did a pretty good job of taking off a lot of the oxidation, without removing too much paint. Still need to do it again, but now it's more of a focused areas that need attention.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to run the car to a second exhaust shop, and get an estimate. If they are within reason, I may just bite the bullet and have them do the work, so I can be done with that and move on along with the car.

 

Drove the car down to the exhaust shop, in Nixa, this morning. Apparently, there was a slight misunderstanding of the shop hours, and I showed up a little before 8am. While the shop has 8-5 posted on their door, there's a nifty little "Open at 9AM" post-it note hanging on his window. OOPS.

While I was waiting, my brother-in-law was driving by, and he spotted me. He was headed to the airport, but his flight was delayed, so we chatted until the shop opened. He hit me with the "how are you doing with the budget?" question. I told him that I wasn't quite positive, as I had lost track with all the extra trips to O'Reilly, and such. He got a laugh out of that, as that seems to be a common thing, the closer you get to your goal.

Pulled the car up on the lift, and the shop owner looked around, and shot me a price that I was actually hoping for, which was about half of what the other shop had told me. He told me to leave the car there and he would have it ready by 5pm. I had to hitch a ride back to Springfield, but that was totally cool with me!

After getting back to the house, and getting some work done around here, waiting for the call that the car is done, I ran a transactions report on my debit card. Unless things go majorly over budget, at the exhaust shop, I should still be sitting in decent shape. I'm looking forward to driving it, with the exhaust routed out the back, so I can learn all the rattles and creaks that have been overpowered by exhaust exiting below my feet. I'm also looking forward to not having my ears ring for a few hours after driving it, because I always forgot to take ear plugs along with me. LOL