Projects Tim's (aka anothercarguy) 1938 Ford Club Cabriolet Build Thread

Because you insist on interjecting it in places where it is not relevant to the thread! In a discussion about body component fit, why the hell would you bring up the engine, and criticize the poster's choice to boot??

 

Nice metal work.

 

@aussie57wag , thank you for removing your post letting us know your thoughts and opinion (which you are certainly entitled to) and continuing your one man keyboard crusade against the SBC. I did appreciate the positive comments on the metal work in your post.

Just so you know, I've owned and/or built quite a few hotrods over the past close to 50 years. I've had them with 303 and 324 Olds engines (both were hooked up to 4 spd Hydros), SBF's (K-code 271 hp 289 that tripped the dyno at 314hp connected to a 4spd toploader, and a 351C, both were pretty quick), SBD (that was a 318 Mopar, not very quick but a good driver), a 59AB flathead (the most money and effort I ever spent to get 152hp, connected to a '39 3 spd toploader (see my avatar photo)...incidentally, when it came time to sell this car, the FH scared more people away than it attracted), a couple BBC's and of course a few with SBC's (one with a blower, some with single carbs, some with multi-carbs). I really had a lot of fun with all of them. So your comment about too bad it has an SBC isn't going to affect how I'll sleep tonight.

I had this imaginative vision...it's 1962, in southern California, you're walking up to a few of your buddies at the local drive-in when one notices that you've got a swollen left cheek and some bruising around your eye. One of your buddies asks "hey Andrew, what happened?" You respond, "I don't remember...I recall walking up to John and said hey Milner, bitchin' fast yellow chopped 5 window you got there, too bad it has an SBC, and when I woke up, I was laying on the parking lot pavement."

 

Thanks guys!

 

I don't care what you think, I do care that you see fit to inject your opinion about SBC in every thread where a SBC is used when it does absolutely nothing to add to the thread!

 

If you don't care what I think, why are you upset about it?

 

Incidentally I didn't delete my post. Someone who says they don't care what I think must of and complained to get it removed.
Just a thought. If people build a car to suit themselves, why do they get upset when someone doesn't like a certain aspect of the car? It seems to me it actually does hurt their ego.
I think people who get scared of a fh are probably ignorant of their dependability and ease of maintenance.

 

Read what the man said.

And I will add, you are rude and a nag. Like a broken record. We get it, you have a hangup about SBC and SBF usage. It's like some kind of personal crusade and it's getting really old.

It's also very presumptuous - and plain rude - of you to tell people how to spend their money (on engines.) None of the engine choices you extol are inexpensive to build, compared to the ones you abhor. At the end of the day, you have no idea of people's personal financial circumstances or life situation.

 

Life has managed to once again get in the way and the '38 took the brunt of the time shortfall. None the less I managed to get a few hours of work in so it might be time for a small update. I decided to start tackling the under cowl area next...you know, starting to fit that 20lb sack of "stuff" that goes into the 10lb bag of space behind the dash.

So first up was the windshield wipers. I bought a set at a swap meet quite a few years back that was labelled "New, Specialty Wipers Set-up"...the price was right...and I had previously installed a couple of these Specialty set-ups and really like the way they worked. So fast forward to a few weeks ago, and I pull the box out of the storage spot where I had them squirrelled away, and long story short, they are not "Specialty Wipers"...but instead they are "Autoloc's" (which is one of the dreaded Hoffman Group if my memory serves me correctly...). They are obviously a knock off version of the Specialty Wipers so I decided to install them anyway. The box did not have any instructions but I was able to find a set on line.


Pretty straight forward install so I won't go into a lot of detail (that's what instructions are for). First was determining where to install the wipers towers (transmissions). I want the wipers to rest in the horizontal position, at the bottom of the windshield with the tips of the wipers towards the centre of the car. After some careful measuring and mock-up, I located and welded the towers in.

And then I thought before I start mounting the rest of the kit under the cowl, I better figure out how much space was required in the area for the cowl vent. I dug through my parts and found the components, ran them quickly through the blast cabinet to clean them up, gave them a touch of lube so they operate freely and began mocking them in place. In the original install there were 4 holes drilled through the firewall where the mounting studs of the pivot bracket were bolted. This made the studs, nuts and washers visible on the engine side of the firewall. I prefer a smoother firewall. I decided instead to grind the flattened heads off the studs where they mount to the pivot bracket, turn them around so the threaded portion could now go through the bracket (rather than the firewall) and I would weld the reversed studs to the inside of the firewall.

For clarity, the 2 pictures below show 3 of the studs that have been reversed and the last one still yet to be ground off and rotated.


And lastly, after a bit off trial fitting, the cowl vent mechanism installed.

I can now install the remaining parts of the Windshield wipers set, along with the remaining 20lbs of "stuff" behind the 10lb dash area.

 

Same.
The underdash area is not a Tardis, that's for sure.

 

Looking good Tim! So where is the wiper motor going?
I tried one of those systems on my 39 a few years ago. After drilling the first hole and looking at the fit I abandoned the idea and went back to the original wiper tower system. I sold it to a friend and eventually tried to install it his 37 Plymouth. After a few days of fussing with it I gave up again and put a more conventional system in the car. So my hats off to you for your talent in getting those systems to work.

As to X38's comment... I had to look it up! So true there is no expansion of space possibilities.

The TARDIS (/ˈtɑːrdɪs/; acronym for "Time And Relative Dimension In Space" is a fictional hybrid of the time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who and its various spin-offs. Its exterior appearance mimics a police box, an obsolete type of telephone kiosk that was once commonly seen on streets in Britain. Paradoxically, its interior is shown as being much larger than its exterior, commonly described as being "bigger on the inside"

 

@The 39 guy ...LOL...I had to look up Tony's (@X38 ) Tardis reference as well! It's a good term for the area in discussion!

I think (hope?) I can get the motor tucked up and out of sight on the passenger side of the cowl...but as you know it's going to be very tight in that area!

I managed to get them to work in a '39 Willys and a '39 Chevy. Both however were closed cars so I was able to mount the towers above the windshield which helped to make space. My fingers are crossed (and I still have the original parts if I need to take steps backwards!).

 

That's what I did, making the best of the situation after LOTS of staring and pondering. It's not such an easy thing to 'tuck' because you need to factor in turn radii for the actuating tube/assembly thingy connecting to the towers. Mine is SPW.

Some suggestions are in the kick panel. Which is fine if you don't mind a 6" thick kick panel.

 

Never heard of TARDIS but driving the T coupe this morning I see it emblazoned on the rear window of the car I was following.

 

make sure the thing works before you move along. friend of mine bought one of these and we never did get it to work right. bought a spw and put it in. less hassle and better fit.

 

Nice work Tim. All the "little" things that have to be thought about and done to build a car, eh?

 

It might be time for another small update. I managed to find a spot for the windshield wiper motor complete with cable routing etc., as well I installed the heater (a Vintage Air mini-heat unit with defrost (no air conditioning as A) this is a hotrod and B) it's a hotrod that has a convertible roof and C) it still has a functioning cowl vent)), defrost vents and the electrical panel onto the inside of the firewall. Nothing fancy or exciting, just physically mounting so I know they all fit and function in the space available.
Speaking of the windshield wiper...and as I previous mentioned it's one of the dreaded Hoffman Group Autoloc units that I had picked up many years ago at a swap meet. I decided to take @cshades advice and make sure the thing worked before investing any more time in it. Seemed to be straight forward enough...I pulled out the instructions downloaded from the internet. The instructions actually say right on them, the wire colors "from the motor to the switch may vary". According to the instructions, there should be green, red, yellow and white...my motor had brown, black, white and blue (oh, and to simplify matters white on the wiring diagram does not correlate with the white on the actual motor!). Also, the switch provided has 5 terminals while the switch in the diagram has 4. After a bunch of trial and error, and by adding a relay I was able to figure out a way to get it all functioning as it should.

So next up, I decided to start working on the top irons. They were a bit of a mess, with broken and bent links, missing pieces etc. I decided to tackle one side at a time starting with the right side. After a couple days of putsing with it I managed to get it folding pretty well. I still need to get or make up some bushings, shoulder bolts, locking jam nuts and plastic washers to help reduce the top rattles. Still need to work on the left side. Following are some before, after and during pictures to show what I had to work with and not necessarily in the correct order. I must admit that I didn't do a great job of documenting the specific activities, repairs, issues and corrections I made.

 

You left out D, because I live in Canada.

Mine is mirror reverse of yours (because I live in AU) but mounted on the sloping panel below. Because I do have a/c it takes up too much real estate to fit the wiper where you did.

The other wrinkle is the V.A. units are made for LHD cars, with all the outlets etc. oriented accordingly, so the sweet spot to mount them in a RHD is problematic. As a result I should have a glove box big enough to put a pair of sunglasses.

The roof would be fun. Reminds me of the one armed man wrestling a deck chair.

 

Indeed, I never even thought about the favored orientation of the V.A. products relative to the LHD cars...the things we take for granted!

The folding roof analogy is a good one. I might have to use that!

 

Nice tidy install of your under -dash components! The Auto Loc products do require that the installer can do some creative interpretation of the limited instructions along with copious patience. It sure looks like you have plenty of space for all of the equipment without the dash in place.

X38's comment on your top irons sure rings a bell with me. My CS top irons requires at least two old men to wrestle it into submission. I also still need to make some of the fanny shoulder bolts required to make the irons move smoothly.

 

Work on the top irons has continued. I ordered a bunch of stainless steel button head allen screws in 4 different lengths, stainless locking jam nuts, bushings of various lengths and UHMW washers in 2 different sizes. As well, I dug through my raw steel collection and came up with a couple pieces of cold rolled steel tubing and bar that I could also turn into larger diameter bushings. The purpose of the bushings is not really to function as a bushing, it's more to turn the allen screws into adaptable length shoulder bolts. I checked the availability of shoulder bolts with the various lengths of shoulder I needed, and to no surprise, the available sizes were simply too limited. I then debated using oversized allen bolts and turning down the threaded end on the lathe followed by rethreading in a smaller diameter to create shoulder bolts...but that seemed like too much work.

Working one side at a time, so I had the other as a reference, I ground off all the factory rivets and separated the pieces. This allowed me to fully clean and sandblast the components. I then re-drilled all the smaller rivet holes to .377" (V drill bit) so the .375" bushings fit nicely.

On re-assembly, at each joint, I added together the thickness of each link, plus the thickness of the number of UHMW washers needed at that joint and then added .010". I then turned the bushing to the calculated length on the lathe.
The assembly at each pivot location included the correct length allen bolt, with the now correct length bushing, a UHMW washer on the outside, the 1st link, a UMWH washer, the next link, UMWH washer etc. and finally locked into place with locking jam nut (note: as I'm still mocking up, I used regular nuts until final assembly is done after paint). The final result is that all the joint move very smoothly, with no slop and the UHMW washers should work well to stop any top frame related rattles.
Next up was the windshield header. I bought it and the rear wood bow from a fellow HAMB'er. When I received them I tucked them into storage for safe keeping until needed. The windshield header contour fit pretty well but the pre-drilled holes were not right for my car. I knocked out the wood caps which covered the captured T-nuts. I then plugged the holes top and bottom with some Ash dowelling (ok, it was an old broom handle that I turned to the correct diameter in my metal cutting lathe (I'm not a woodworker, but the broom handle and metal lathe seemed to work well)). After the holes were plugged, I re-drilled and re-installed the T'nuts in the location I needed them. I don't yet have the center mount for the convertible top, so that'll remain plugged and undrilled until I have those parts on hand.
I then turned my attention to the rear bow...I'm not sure wtf is going on here, but as the picture shows the new bow on the left is about 6"+ too wide. I'm going to compare it to the rear wood bow on my '48 to see if it might fit a 46-48 Ford, otherwise I have no explanation. I had entertained the idea of trying to re-steam it to the correct contour and then cutting it back to size...but that seemed like a lot of work (step 1., build a steam box...) and could be destined for poor results. Not to mention my Google and Youtube searches suggested it's not good to re-steam previously steam bent wood...so I've ordered a new replacement rear bow and will once again wait for parts.

So, that's as far as I can get on the convertible top frame until the new rear wood bow arrives.
I'm thinking the next task will likely involve fitting seats and establishing the seat belt mounting points.

 

Like WOW!

 

Broom handle. That is smart thinking.

 

Really nice , thorough work. That will pay off with smooth, sound operation. I guess it's already proving to be the case. I see you have a Robertson headed screw in the header. That was a Canadian invention.

Funny you mentioned the broom handle. The metal handle on one of my shop brooms broke so I replaced it with 25mm hardwood dowel I had on hand!

 

And just like that, the broom handle to dowel ratio space-time-existence-continuum balances out across the world. But the steel broom handle remains in deficit.

 

Okay! So this is one time my tendency to procrastinate has paid off! I'm going to steal your bushing and washer idea for the top irons. Excellent idea! I also used the Broom Handle idea on my header. It worked well. I am needing to buy a new wooden back bow also. I see the price has gone up a few hundred dollars since I first found it and didn't order it..... Procrastination didn't pay off on that issue. Great post BTW.

 

Thanks Sam, McMaster Carr was my source for hardware, bushings and UMHW washers. They had everything in stock and had very quick delivery. Even to Canada!

 

That is becoming more the case. Either the price has gone up a lot or the item is no longer available at all.

Going by the sidewall thickness after it got a kink and subsequently broke, there wasn't much steel in the handle!

 

Very clever approach to the top iron situation. That should work really well.

 

Tim, is it possible that your wide rear bow is for a convertible sedan like The 39 guy has?