I probably should have done a build thread on this car before I lose/delete too many more pics, but let’s just stick to the ‘upgrades’ on this one. Haha. I wonder how many others out there are like me when it comes to “finishing” the look or performance elements on our cars, or if in fact we ever get to final state. It seems like my cars are continual ‘works in progress’ as I fine tune both the ‘performance’ and the ‘look’ of them, but nailing those elements always seems to take me more than one p***. I justify the changes by telling myself to first get the car on the road and then tweak as I go. Truth is that whether it’s money or time, I always short myself and then spend time ‘upgrading’. Good example is my Tudor. Finished it (haha) in 2023 and started doing shakedown that summer. Knowing full well I wasn’t to the ‘final’ stage as I knew I still wanted to A) do a multi carb setup, B) get an interior in and some pinstripes, and C) maybe get some ‘special’ rims to make ‘the look’ perfect (in my eyes as I’ve always been a ‘mag’ guy). To me a hot rod needs all those elements to be really cool, but I really wanted to get the project on the road first and then I could address those elements as time/money permitted. I had originally planned on this 1932 Ford Tudor to be a fendered car, but it’s decided to be a highboy (that’s a story for another day) and it keeps asking for more upgrades. To get the car on the road, the paint stayed plain black, engine I put together had simple four barrel on a dual plane intake, and wheels were plain black steel. So overall, cool look, but plain Jane. This was summer of 2023. Bolted in some seats and seatbelts, but otherwise naked inside. So after a decent summer of 2023 shakedown and getting the interior done in the spring of 2024, it was time to start tweakin the little beastie. The first thing it asked for was pinstripes. So found the right guy to do them, and the first p*** looked like this. I had asked the artist to exercise a ton of restraint and he complied, but I got the impression he wanted to do a little more. I thought the stripes and rear feature looked awesome, but the more i stared at them in the garage and on the driveway, the more I thought…dang…he was right. So after driving around most of the summer and a trip to Nelson BC for their great little car show, I took the car back to his garage and let him finish the look. Only parts I asked for was the globe on the *** (as the car just asked for a cowtown twist), and the V8s on the cowl as the inverted Vs looked like shark fins to me. And this is how it turned out. So by now the 2024 driving season was done, but still not enough miles on the car for me to be 100% comfortable changing anything on the drivetrain. Wasn’t super happy with the torque converter I used either, but wasn’t going to pull the engine out to address that just yet. Car was looking great and running great, and a couple of my car buddies prodded me into registering the little Tudor in the big indoor Autorama car show last winter. So I did. One of the guys that came over and helped me prep the car (clean and polish) thought it would show best with the red rims and wide whites that I had put together for a different project, and I had run them on the car for the Nelson show, so that’s what we did. Not quite what I saw in my head for the ‘final look’ for the car, but what the hell, others seemed to like it just fine. I was a little stunned at the awards it won. The next element to address was the multi carb ‘upgrade’ I wanted to do. Don’t really know why, but I really wanted to put 5,000 miles on the little stroker before I did anything, so the 2025 driving season started with no changes. I had collected all the parts I needed and I thought I did great exercising restraint on this front. P***ed the 5,000 mile target on trip to Northwest Deuce Days this summer and finally had enough confidence in my little stroker to ‘upgrade’ the induction when we got home. As my fancy 200-4R needed some attention too it seemed like a great time to yank the engine/trans and get after the next ‘upgrade’. You’ll see I did a little paint and accessory changes to go a little more black and finish the look I had in my head. And the black rims are back on again. Man I’m getting slow as I age. What I thought I could do in a month took two, so by the time I finished, our driving season was ending. Insert sad face here. Post is getting a little long, so going to end here and start another post for the additional upgrades. Fingers crossed this one uploads.
While I was waiting for the transmission to get fixed, I decided to address some of the nits I had with my build. Little things, but seemed like a ton of them. In the interior, decided I needed to improve seat comfort. After some of the longer drives it became evident that I needed my seats a little taller and a little more slanted. Another silly little job that took too long, but hopefully improved the comfort for the longer drives. Next was gauges, wiring, speedo cable. A couple of the boys that looked under the dash teased me about my wiring job. I usually do a more visually appealing jobs, but again, I rushed so it wasn’t up to snuff. So…..yank….redo. As I pulled the dash to do this I thought I might waste some time/money ‘fixing’ my dash insert. I had polished the dang thing, but could never get it shiney enough. Out it came and off to the chrome shop it went. Might as well do a new plate while at it, right? Next… .
Went through a ton of rain on the way back from Deuce Days and it seemed a little water snuck in so…. Let’s redo the front floor and might as well get it rhinolined to matchy match the rest of the floor and firewall this time, right? Yup, that’s gonna work better. Next…. .
I really like the look of how stainless steel looks as it goes through a few heat cycles. I call it brown sugar. But after the wet/dirty roads in BC, my exhaust looked like ****. So yank…and clean/polish it all. Man what a ***** to do. Another delay as I ordered some cleaner that I read about on a triumph motorcycle forum. Need to take care both cleaning and rinsing, but man it did a job. Again, a little laziness kicked in and I didn’t do the mufflers, but…. Read some negative stuff about the cleaner, but rinse, wash, rinse and hopefully I’m ok.
One last saga for today. Over the course of the first 5,000 miles there was a mystery tick/thunk in my steering that haunted me. I was sure I did my geometry correctly, but it was the first time I used/mounted a Unisteer half-rack. I know it’s not trad, but I built this car for long distance drives and wanted it as easy/comfortable to drive as possible. Hence the first 200-4r trans use as well. Anyway, long story short and while the engine bay was empty I decided to move my steering shaft heim joint. Not only does the steering work perfectly now, I think the location looks stronger/better too. It was really close/tight to the front of the exhaust and now it’s behind. Only concern now might be a little more heat transfer. Having to buy and cut more polished steering shaft from flaming river ****ed, but what’s a girl to do?
Here’s better pics of the engine transformation. While I was at the changes it was time to recurve the distributor and modify the msd advance can so it will bring in a little more vacuum advance. Originally modified it to bring in about 8* so filed a little more groove into the arm shooting for 10*. First few runs and it seems I hit the number on the nose (so at least I’ve got that going for me). Little more fun tuning two carbs and haven’t used an edelbrock since they were called carter. Can’t believe how loose the throttle and choke linkages are/were. Oh well, more **** to tweak. Still not 100% happy with the distributor set-up, but will fine tune it more in the spring when I can get some more decent pulls on it. My neighbours love me.
I’ve tried multiple tire/rim combos on this car over the past two years……, but I saw a couple cars out at Deuce Days that had some rims that I’m really getting ***** for. For some reason…wink wink….when I had the pinstripes done, I chose ivory (to match the firewall/steering wheel/shift knob)…and wait for it…..grey. Always liked mags and knew someday that I’d like to put mags on this car. And the mags I’ve always liked have had grey centers. I’ll post some pics of all the rims I’ve tried, but here’s a pic of the ones I’m really jonesin on. Thoughts??? . .
Under the heading of ‘I am such a picky *******’, one of my nits was the steering wheel location/position. So after a couple more days wasted, final position is now about 1” closer to the dash and of course this meant raising the column to compensate. This meant changes to the firewall and under dash mounts, but at least I did this before I cut the new polished s/s steering shaft. Fun part came when I noticed how much closer the lower end of the column was in relation to the exhaust manifold. Dang, it never ceases to amaze me how one ‘adjustment’ on these little cars always leads to 3 more. Now I need to shorten the column. Whole new bag of fun. I guess the good news is that by shortening the column, my ujoint angles would get a little better too. I’m not sure if it’s blind luck or the good lord throwin a little karma my way, but I’ve been toting a brand new in the box 28” flaming river steering column around to my swap meet tables for a few years now and it always pissed me off that no one bought it even when it was priced at more than 50% off. Well wouldn’t ya know, it’s going to be the perfect solution. So out with the 32” column and in with the 28” and I net 3” shorter. Lotsa clearance now on the exhaust manifold and I think it’s a stronger set up as the lower steering column bushing is closer to the lower firewall mount. And I bet astute observers will be able to see the cause of the mystery steering rotation bind in these pics now that I pointed out I had one. .. .
Another area that I’ve played with has been the front view aesthetics. Here’s some pics of the evolution. Some changes have been upgrades and some are just changes. Can you spot the changes? .
Red wheels replaced with black, 682J headlights now shorter bucket style and not pinstriped, and grill logo shifted. What do I win LOL
Your attention to detail is amazing. I think I change my wheels more than some change their underwear, but I hope I’m on the last charge this winter. As noted the other changes are the headlight mount (cross bar gone), insert now painted satin black, and the guide headlights changed out for 34s (included need for new conduit for wiring). Still need to get pinstriped. Beaver moved around a few times too. Not 100% sure about the bigger headlights yet, but I love the grille insert change. .
The Jalopy Journal
