1952-59 Ford Working on the '59

Tossed the seat in last night around 8:30, got it socked down tight.... and went for a ride. Probably the first time the car has moved under power in the last 30 years.
Issues, clutch isn't fully releasing. But it shifted better while moving and got through all 4 gears. Throttle needs heavier return springs. The toe being out of whack made it steer a little funny. And it was LOUD. Only went about a mile total, around the block and there were no other cars out. My buddy followed me in his truck just in case I had to shut it down.
A stressful run.. I wasn't able to really look at the speedometer or tach, but all the lights worked, signals worked and the dash looked great. temp came up to 180 and stayed there.

 

Awesome feeling isn't it?? I totally understand about the "stressful run". I remember my first turn around the block with no exhaust, not sure what was working and what wasn't. No registration, no insurance, cops always in my neighborhood, etc. It was still very cool though

 

T'was a hairy run for sure. Having to feather the gas took a lot of fun out of it. I wasn't able to soft-pedal it at all and had issues finding 1st gear with the clutch not fully releasing. Sounded like a pro stock more than anything. The Hurst handle was too close to the seat. The shifter I bought for a '65 Belair with a bench seat back in '78. Guess the Ford seat is higher. I had the seat all the way back too and I need it to go back more.

Another thing, the halogen head lights were amazingly bright, I could see really far and my buddy said they were bright when I left the driveway.

 

I love those white knuckle rides when anything can happen, as long as you not going downhill, at least now you know what needs to be tweaked

 

Still realizing what some issues were... the ride is coming back to me. The gas pedal issue... the accelerator rod was on an upward angle towards the carb, which explains the "all or nothing" I had with the gas pedal. I need to flatten that out. Made of metal.. piece of cake. Need to find some steel tube or extend it using round stock.

It was definitely a stressful run, drove more like a runaway train than a car. No fun coming to a stop then trying to get it back into 1st or reverse.

 

Making up a new plate to mount my master and clutch master, out of 1/4" steel. The last one was aluminum and had a thin section in it that allowed it to bend. Got it roughed out but need to bore some 1.75" holes through it for the master boots. Hole saw, that won't cut it too well. So time to whip out the rotary table. It was a freebie, but in great shape. I spent a couple of hours making up the t-nuts for it, out of aluminum with 5/16-18 threads. Should work like a champ.

 

Can't beat a freebie rotary table. As you know, the main costs in getting a mill set up to a point where it's actually useful is not the cost of the mill itself, but all the angle plates, rotary tables, indexing heads, dividing heads,boring heads, cutting tools,etc etc etc. A particular problem if your in a non industrial town (like Amarillo) that does not have an industrial supply house. If one needs an end mill here, it's got to be ups'd in!! I use to go nuts just trying to find a correct size drill bit for a hole to be tapped. Lowes and the rest did not stock numbered or lettered drill bits! Lowe's recently added tap and drill bit sets in individual sizes though...I was happy to see that.
I'll post some pics later of some parts I made for the Space Shuttle you'll appreciate. One pic was actually taken in space on the Columbia.

 

I had worked for a shop on the side that made parts for the Mars rover. Crazy almost impossible parts with all the tolerances involved. But cool. I made parts for the Black Bird when it was still cl***ified, we had no idea what we were making parts for back then.

I'm well stocked with drills, taps, end mills, indexable cutters, fly cutters, slitting saws, etc. Any time I saw something at a garage sale or industrial sale, I grabbed all I could afford. MSC has a local office and they have close-out tables full of things. I have literally hundreds of new end mills in the tubes. Lots of things I made years ago, parallel sets, parallel clamps, extended center drills.

If I don't have it, I order it. MSC, Mc Master Carr, Enco, Travers. I have accounts with them all. Lots of things pop up on evilBay too.

 

I still have all my machinist tools and alot of my dad's as well. Mostly Starrett and Brown and Sharpe, but alot of Mitutoyo also. My favorite tool is a 1" micrometer, Etalon Microrapid. It's a swiss made mic with a 4lead screw. Don't know if they still make them.

 

My dad was a metal shaper for Grumman, only a few of his tools are still around. Most of them bit the dust when he was married to the wicked & evil step mother. I have his old Kennedy boxes, wanted to give one to my son, but the handles were rotted off them with age.

I need to get another 1" micrometer, my OG one from 1981 is pretty much shot but still works. I have them all the way up to 6" as well as 6" and 12" dial calipers. Most are Mitutoyo, some B & S and Starrett. Etalons were always really nice. The German guys who apprenticed and came over here all had them. Many were gifts for graduating from the apprenticeship program and still expensive.

I worked in a nice shop at the time and one guy said the Etalons were too good to use there and took them home. I believe that Brown & Sharpe bought them or the rights to make them to sell in the US. They used to be difficult to buy here.

 

I now have a working clutch with some minor adjustment required. All of the fancy links I had for the linkage and the old mounting plate, gone. The old plate was aluminum and had a ton of flex in it. My bro came up with a 10" x 10" piece of 1/4" mild steel and it worked out great. We used all 4 holes from the OG master bolt pattern. Moved the clutch master over .50" and up by 2.38" and moved the pivot point up on the pedal arm.

Lots of machining and 1 run to Ace for rubber gasket material and some longer bolts. Moved the clutch master forward .75" to give more adjustment at the pedal.

My brother gave it a go in the driveway and did a once around the block, without asking me. Again, car was LOUD but ran well. Heard him go through the gears, he had a big grin when he came back. All in all, the best day we've had in the garage in the last few weeks struggling.

 

Looks good Bob. Its a good feeling to finish something that's been giving you fits. Can't wait to see more.

 

I somehow had no doubt you'd get it worked out. Well done.

 

Thanks gents. Next is to of course adjust the release point, it releases too high from the floor. Need to set the toe so it steers better, try some peep mirrors, change the oil, bleed the brakes since we had the master off.

 

Looking good in there Bob.

 

Thanks, sorting it out. Need to get insurance this week and go to DMV maybe next week on their late night.

 

What are you planning on colour and trim?

 

Lookin' great!!

 

Coming along slowly. Looks a lot better without the stack of boxes on the roof.

 

Been chugging along and have been too busy to stop and take pictures, but will fix that soon.

Door panels (not the best in the world) are on. I'm missing a bracket from each door that holds the panels at the bottom. Made up some from Ace Hardware u-channel. Headlights are out for hopefully the last time. This is the access to the end grille hardware and hardware up along the top of the front fenders. The entire grille, splash pan is secure and tied to the bottom of the fenders.

Hood support brackets are on, had to paint those and remove a few broken cage nuts that hold them on. I had some extra old ones that were good. Also missing one side bottom-of-fender to the radiator wall bracket. A little 1.25" x 1/8" steel strap fixed that. It was the mirror image of the other side. Never seize was used on all hardware.

The hood is ON, wasn't that confident that it would clear the air cleaner. It came off last fall and I forgot that I had drilled line-up holes through the hinge and into the hood, which came in handy. The hood fit first shot, closed and latched. Checked air cleaner clearance with duct seal and it does by a 1/4". So a tear drop scoop is still a possibility and the hood is not that great with rust towards the front lip.

 

I had 2 ****py pictures on my phone. The hood fit is better than when I got it. We're going to loosen up some of the fender mounting bolts are spread them apart with a hydraulic ram to make the hood to fender gaps a bit bigger.

 

Theyr a bit tight, did you notice how they were when you took the hood off?

 

The gaps were always tight. The fenders were never off the car either. I have some space and the hood is centered. I'd like to see a 1/8" (3mm) gap on each side.

 

So youre at less than 3mm on each side? That is tight on a large (twisty/wobbly) hood. I meen, you will possibly start damaging your new paint when in full use. I know I have, but maybe the 56 hood frame is more fragile, causing it to wobble more.

 

New hood bumpers will keep the hood centered/aligned as it is being closed. My '57 has 2 bumpers each side of the hood that correspond to an angled feature on the fender lip.

 

My hood side bumpers are in good shape, new bumpers for where it closes, new cowl seal. The hinge ***embly was cleaned up and painted, lubed with white grease. I match-drilled the hinge to the hood, both sides. It opens and latches nicely. Hood is perfectly centered, we got lucky with everything.

 

Texas, are these 2 bumpers on each side OE or custom made?

 

oe

 

Couple of more pictures I took today. Most of the interior is back in. Got peep mirrors on, didn't like the door mounted ones. Front belts are complete and work fine. Some shots of the hood clearance, happy with it for now. Have to do some surgery on the shift handle soon. I have the front springs in my acid bath, first one is done and down to clean steel.

 

Far out.