My "Build that thing and get it out of my spot!" Shoebox build

Well after almost a year, I guess it’s time I started my own build thread. I’m taking up our entire 2-car garage doing this, and The Boss isn’t too happy about me absconding with her parking space. This is the first time I’ve ever built a car like this.

I have been doing a build thread on my company’s message board, so I’m transferring most of that here, rather than writing it all over again. Most are not car guys, so lots of what I’ve written may seem elementary to most of you here. Lots of things have changed in terms of plans, color, etc since I started, and a lot of that is reflected in the stuff through today.

I realize a lot of this is not too traditional, but I want to keep it looking as traditional as I can. Going for a mildly-customized hot rod look, but that may change if I decide to go ahead and chop it.

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3/17/2012
A little history:

The car is a 1950 Ford Fordor Custom Deluxe, with the original 8BA engine and 3-speed manual with overdrive (3-on-the-tree). My dad bought this car for $50 in 1973, when I was 5. He intended for me to have it all along, evidenced by his registering it in both our names at that time. The car was pretty much a basket case, and he fixed it up pretty well. It was black when he got it, and stayed black for many years, then at some point he repainted it the original blue color. He gave it to me for good when I was 17, and I've had it (for the most part) since then. It was in storage most of its life with me, though I did use it as a daily driver for about 6 months in college. As it sat 3 weeks ago, it was stock except for a power disk brake conversion in the front. When my daughter was born, I registered the car in both our names, so she's been a car owner since she was a month old.

It will also necessitate all new rubber gaskets for every piece on the car. New carpet and headliner. Not sure about rechroming, the chrome is mostly ok. It's probably going to depend on what I do about paint. I'm leaning toward leaving it primer initially until I can get cash together (and permission from the boss) for a good paint job. If I do that, then I'll leave the chrome as-is.

The wiring was original, and was truly a fire waiting to happen. Lots of frayed and exposed wires. New wiring harness is a necessity.

I'm going to want to drive it sooner rather than later, so I'm putting in a roller 5.0 and AOD trans from a 1990 Mustang GT, carbureted instead of EFI. I bought a Ford 8.8" rear out of a 97 Explorer, and am having it cut down to fit the 50.

Eventually I'll get the cash together for the flathead rebuild. I love the flatheads and have a ton of awesome speed parts stockpiled for it.

So far, I've got it about halfway torn down.

=================

Here's where I started:


Starting to tear it down:


Rut-Roh!


Engine out procedure:


Interior coming out:


Tidy workspace, right?

 

3/20/2012

I spend about 3-4 hours a day working on it, when my daughter is napping or after she goes to sleep at night.
I've got everything off the firewall in the engine compartment and the interior, pulled the steering wheel, tore down the driver's side door to just a shell and scraped out all the tar sound-deadener crap from inside it, and started scraping the tar crap off the floors. Got a lot accomplished today. I'm hoping to have the interior completely stripped and floors scraped clean by the end of the week.

It takes a lot of self-motivation to actually head out to the garage and get started each day, but once I do get out there, I go to town on it. I figure if I can even get 2 hours a day in, I'll make pretty good progress. I'm learning a hell of a lot about this car along the way, which is cool! It was always a bit of a mystery, since I didn't want to break anything by f**king with it. It’s not nearly as fragile as I had feared.

====================

3/24/2012

Well, didn't get as far as I'd have liked, but still got a lot accomplished this week. Disassembling a door and scraping the tar deadener crap out of it is a very time-consuming process, only managed to do one door per day. All the doors are done, and 3 of the 4 are off the car. Shoebox Ford door hinge screws are notoriously a PITA to remove. The rear doors came off with no issues, but the front door screw heads were already partially stripped, so getting them out was a challenge. I only managed to destroy 2 screws, but now I need to figure out how to fix those screw holes, with portions of the screws still in them.

I'm going to wait on removing the last door, and removing the hinges from the doors themselves, until I get this tool: http://www.amazon.com/Aircraft-Tool...8XQK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332573942&sr=8-1

It goes into an air chisel, and it supposed to be MAGIC in removing rusty and partially-damaged screws. I hope they ship fast!

Started scraping more of the crap off the floors. It sucks, but it's craploads better than scraping the inside of the doors, as my torn-up hands can attest.

New goal - have the passenger compartment floors scraped by the end of the weekend. If I can get anything done on the trunk as well, it'll be a bonus!

Door gunk before:


Door gunk gone:


The aftermath (and that's wearing gloves, too!). Watch out for the junkyard dog!


As it stands now:


===================

3/25/2012

I've got the passenger compartment pretty much scraped out, and technically I guess I also started on the trunk since I was scraping behind where the rear seat back goes. Hit my goal, woot! More scraping to do, boo! So glad I'll only have to do this once.

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4/10/2012

Managed to get the 2 stripped screws out of the hinges - one by welding a nut to it, the other by weld-filling the stripped part and cutting a slot into it for the screw knocker with a slotted bit. Still spending lots of time scraping out the tar deadener.

Took a basic Duraspark box, gutted it, polished it, and gonna run a GM HEI module in it for spark.

 

4/23/2012

Picked up a 1990 Mustang GT 5.0 HO motor and AOD trans for the car:


My awesome helper:


Test fitting so I can get the motor mounts and trans mounts in:


Need to get a new water pump and alternator, and trying to figure out how I'm going to handle the belts/accessories. I figure I'll run a simplified serpentine system with either an adjustable alternator bracket or a PS delete that moves the idler/tensioner pulley to the PS location. Trying to get the engine clean enough to repaint.

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4/27/2012

Fox pans and early Bronco rear-sump pans are perfect for this swap. I have about 1" clearance between the pan and the crossmember.

FINALLY got all the crap scraped out of the interior. That job SUCKED! Now I'm working on getting the hinges off the doors, and pulling the old rear end to test-fit the narrowed '97 Explorer rear end.

Had to weld nuts on 2 of the hinge screws on one door, but got both hinges off after a week of effing with it. I'm getting much better at welding those nuts on - I'm tempted to do that with all the remaining screws, since it's much quieter than the screw knocker - meaning I can do it while my daughter is sleeping. It helps using .024 wire instead of .030.

I had the Explorer rear end narrowed to fit the car, so now I'll have 3.55 gears with posi and rear disc brakes. Need to test-fit it to measure for the driveshaft. There's a local driveshaft guy that's gonna hook me up with an AOD yoke, correct-length driveshaft, and both U-joints for $100. Works for me!

==============================

4/30/2012

I'm running .024 wire with gas in my Miller Autoset 140 right now, makes nice, clean welds with very little spatter. I've just started teaching myself to weld, so it's still pretty rough. Got a lot more practicing to do before I try welding on patch fender panels. Worst-case scenario, I screw it up and have to buy new patch panels to have a pro put on. But if it works it'll save me $$$$. I'll get some good practice when I put in my floor patches.

Finally got all the door hinges off. Pretty much resigned myself to welding nuts on all the screws - takes a bit longer than the screw knocker but MUCH quieter and works more reliably. All the bubbly-looking crud on the door is where the weatherstripping and adhesive were.


Got the old rear-end mostly out, just need to remove the wheels to pull it out the rest of the way. Then I've got to throw in the 8.8 to get the driveshaft measured up.


Got the rear end mocked in (sort of). It's still in pieces, and I didn't realize til now that the guy I bought it from didn't give me the pinion yoke, so i can't measure for the driveshaft til I get it from him.


If everything looks beefy, it's because it is. The ubolts and spring perches are from Currie Enterprises, and the ubolt plate is from RuffStuff Specialties, and is for an International Scout. It was a challenge finding all the right parts to make 2" leaf springs work with a 3.25" axle tube.

I've still got some work to do to get it in properly. I need to enlarge the locator holes on the spring perches, and enlarge the center hole in the ubolt plate to get it all to fit right. Then I need to weld on shock mounting tabs and gusset them. Looks like it's all gonna work pretty well though. Pinion angle looks pretty good to my eyeball-o-matic.




=====================

5/13/2012

Been in ABQ for a week-and-a-half, but before I left I got a few more things done. Got the holes hogged out to get the rear properly mounted on the leaf springs, and emptied and pulled the gas tank. I was expecting the worst when opening up the tank, but it is spotlessly clean. That's $300 I don't need to spend on this - nice!

All snug:


Tank out. Clean as a whistle inside:


Tried out electrolysis rust-removal on the stock 5.0 headers and finished painting them:


I go back home tomorrow, so hoping to get the body to the sandblaster this week.

=======================

5/15/2012

Picked up a drill press vise today, helped immensely with today's project - made some DIY lowering blocks. 2x2" square 6061 aluminum, 5" long. Drilled and tapped on one side for 5/16"-24 grade 8 allen bolt, drilled 1/2" x 1/2" deep on the other side to accept the locating bolt.


Also worked on refurbishing the door hinges. These hinges have been a serious PITA from day 1.

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5/31/2012

Rear end is mostly back together, but for some reason the axles don't want to go into the diff all the way. Gotta figure that one out.


This is known as "hen's teeth:"


1970 Volvo 142 manual steering box. It is just about the only steering box that can work in a 1949-51 Ford, and they are EXTREMELY hard to find. Been searching on Craigslist and eBay, found one that the guy wanted $240 for. Took a trip to the local Pull & Save wrecking yard, which was supposed to have one. Figured it would be gone, but lo and behold, there it was! $27 later, I'm a happy camper!

Body is ready to come off the frame. Found a local shop that will rent me their rotisserie for an indefinite period for $200. Once it's back from the sandblaster, it's going on the rotisserie for priming, floor repair, and undercoating.

 

6/06/2012

New custom driveshaft for the AOD and 8.8" rear:



Pulled the motor out and separated it and the tranny. Need to get some longer bolts to mount it on the engine stand, then I'm gonna spend some time sprucing it up.


The car it came from had a front collision, so the water pump impeller shaft was shoved back into the timing cover and dented/cracked it. New timing cover is on the way, with a new timing chain for good measure. Dented and cracked timing cover:


Got a set of recently rebuilt GT40 heads coming as well. I also cleaned up the valve covers, now I need to decide if I'm going to polish them or paint them.

I bought a "polished" alternator bracket off eBay, and when test-fitting it found that it's scratched, not all that polished, and doesn't fit worth a damn. Trying to get the seller to let me return it, but it's not proving easy. I'm going to run a standard-rotation water pump, and I'm having trouble finding one that will work with any of these alternator brackets. Here you can see that the bracket will interfere with the belt:


And here, the bracket interferes with the water pump pulley. This is a standard rotation pump - this isn't a problem with the stock pump. The standard pump has the impeller shaft/pulley mounted up higher on the pump for some reason.


===================================

6/10/2012
Got the rear end assembled, finally. Took it to the guy I got it from, turns out he gave me a 28-spline carrier and 31-spline axles. Swap out for a 31-spline carrier and all is well. Also convinced the eBay seller to take back the crappy bracket. Now I'm back in ABQ for 3 weeks, so everything's at a standstill for the moment.

Pulled the oil pan, timing cover, and one of the heads. There was a tiny bit of water in the oil, but I figure that was either from the cracked timing cover or from the pressure-washing I did on the motor after I got it. The heads look good under the rockers. Lots of carbon on the pistons, but most of it cleaned off with a gasoline-soaked rag. Debating pulling the rotating assembly, honing the cylinders, and installing new bearings. I'm this far into it, so...





==============================

6/24/2012

So I've pretty much decided to rebuild the motor. I'm looking at somewhere between 9:1 and 10:1 compression.

Also about 80% decided on ditching the AOD and installing a 4R70W. Bigger transmission, but more reliable, stronger, and programmable.

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6/30/2012

Trying to decide between forged and hyper pistons. The hypers are way cheaper, but end up with much lower compression. All my calculations have been based on assuming chamber volume, since I've been out of town for over 3 weeks. I'm going to CC the heads when I get home. I need to figure whether it will be cheaper to buy the forged kit or buy the hyper kit but mill the heads to reduce the chamber size.

Assuming a 64cc chamber and .042 gasket thickness, with the forged piston kit I'll be at 9.45:1. With the hyper kit and .039 gasket thickness, I'd have to mill the heads to 60cc to get a 9:1 CR. 58cc would get me 9.2:1.

I probably ought to just go with the forged. Then I'd have more options with the heads in the future if I wanted to change anything, and I could add a blower someday (if I won the powerball...).

========================

8/05/2012

The motor and heads are at the machine shop. The guy here is very good, and relatively cheap. I tried to CC the heads, but couldn't get an accurate fill, some always leaked out. They're somewhere between 64-66cc. The machine shop is going to CC them for me. I found a kit on Summit with the right specs to use, that should get me 8.99:1 with a 64cc head. Worst case is the machine shop decks the block a little to decrease the compression height just enough.

The good news is the block, rods, and crank are all in good shape and don't need to be bored or turned down, they just need a hone/polish.

I also sent my stock cam to Delta Camshaft, and they re-ground my cam to the Comp Cams XE264HR-14 specs, for $95.

I have the body all ready to go to the sandblaster, just need the ok from him to drop it off. It's been a couple weeks now...

 

9/14/2012

Finally at the media blaster, should be in primer next week:


I also bit the bullet on the Summit kit. Got them to sub their Summit brand hyper pistons into their rebuild kit. With the 64cc heads (confirmed by the machine shop) they'll put me right at 9:1 with standard bore/main/rods. Dropped the kit off today, should be done in the next week or so.

I think I've finally decided on a color. I was initially torn between a blue metallic and a copper metallic. Since it's eventually going to be my daughter's car, I asked her what color she wanted. "Pink!" Of course. Um, sorry sweetie, but no. "Okay, purple!" So here it is. Sorry about the non-HAMB car:


2010 Dodge Challenger Plum Crazy. I'm actually kind of excited about this color. There sure aren't many Shoebox Fords running around that color. Should look pretty sweet!

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9/17/2012

The guy that's going to shoot the primer and paint actually has a custom bike shop, but he also does car body and paint on occasion. I spent most of the day at his shop, doing some touch-up grinding on the various panels, and cleaning the panels getting them ready for primer. Primer is going on tonight. The car body will be done at the sandblaster tomorrow morning. I ended up not pulling the body from the frame, but put some spacers in at the body mounts so the blaster can reach all parts of the underside.

Inside and bottom done:


Panels clean and ready for primer (not me):


There will be a LOT of metal work to do. If I can't do it myself, it will be at least $2k.

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9/19/2012

Sandblasted, sanded, and cleaned.


Ready for primer:


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9/20/2012

Primered! Epoxy primer from Southern Polyurethanes (SPI):


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10/11/2012

So to get ready for the metal work, I had a few projects to do first.

Built a stand for my vise, grinder, bead roller, and bending brake:


Beefed up my Harbor Freight bead roller (yes, ugly welds, it’s my first ever welding project), and added a steering wheel to make rolling the beads easier:


Built a sheet metal bending brake:


Added 240v and a couple 120v outlets:


And picked up a REAL compressor (at least compared to the little pinner POS I had before):

 

Then I got started on the sheetmetal work. I figured I'd start with the floors, so I can improve my sheet metal welding skills on something that won't show. Started on the driver's side, where the rust isn't as bad.

Layout and first cuts - this freaked me out and caused an awful lot of procrastination:


Test fitting the 18 ga patch panel I made with the bending brake and bead roller:


Before I can weld in the patch, I have to repair the inner rocker. I originally thought I'd have to replace the whole inner rocker, but I've decided I can repair it instead. The top 3/4" of the front 14" is rusted, but the rest is mostly good. Just a few spots to patch. Tacking in the repair:


Welded up:


Ground down. My first sheetmetal repair ever complete!


Next up - weld in the floor patch.

=============================

11/05/2012

I've been getting a little done, though I'm considering paying a guy to do the metalwork. He's got one of my fenders and the patch panels I bought for it, so I can see the quality of his work before I commit. He quoted me $3000-3500, and if he can get it done under $4k I'd be happy.

Here's the latest progress:

Driver's side patch welded in. It's since had the plug welds completed and all the welds ground down.


Passenger side floor cut out. Much more major surgery on this side.


Bottom of passenger A-pillar needs to be replaced all the way around below the hinge. Started making patches for that, but still trying to decide what to do about the outer rocker on that side.


This is a tool I made to help me match the small, shallow beads my roller makes with the deep, wide factory beads. I make the bead, lay it in the groove, then beat the crap out of the angle-iron/channel combo to deepen and widen the bead.


==============================

11/05/2012

Patch for the passenger side floor. I had to locate all the body mount holes, the floor-trans xmember pad, and seat bolt support.
Top:



Bottom:


I've also been slowly rebuilding my door hinges. Getting the hinge pins out can be a major pain in the ass, but I've got half of them apart. I made a long punch for my air chisel to help me punch the pins out. Cut down a chisel I wasn't using and welded a long HF pin punch to it. Yes, it looks like a murder weapon.


On top of that, I've spent many, many hours sitting and staring at the car, trying to come up with a plan of attack. Or procrastinating in sheer terror. Take your pick.

 

1/20/2012

So it's been 2-1/2 months since I posted anything. I've made progress, but slow progress.


Fixed the passenger lower a-pillar (and not long after, discovered I had a complete patch for this area I had bought from another HAMB’er months ago, and forgot about. F**K!):






Now around the the side and rear:



Patch I made:


Welded in:


Decided to tackle the rockers myself. Lots of looking and thinking, a little cutting, more looking and thinking, etc, etc.

This section is what caused me all the angst. The patches are basically only designed for the 2-door car, and don't have this curvy section in the sill. Basically they sent me a 2-door rocker, and the rear 2/3 of a 2 door rocker. If this car were a Tudor, it would be a piece of cake.




Cut out, and repaired the top of the inner rocker like I did on the driver’s side:


Left the sill because it is still solid metal:

Test fitting:


Tack welded in:


Frankenrocker:


All welded in and ground the welds:


Now I need to make a patch for this rear section:




I need a shrinker/stretcher!




Still have some burn-through holes to finish patching. At any rate, the passenger rocker is pretty much done. On to the driver's side.

 

Looks great!

 

1/20/2012

I also have been paying a couple guys to fix some of the stuff that I figured might be beyond me. They patched the lower front fenders, and the driver's side doors. About $1k later, I think I'm going to try to do the rest myself. For the $500 I paid to have them fix the doors I could either find a pair of rust-free doors or buy some sweet tools to make the fixes myself.

The trunk decklid was pretty tweaked from having been rear-ended sometime in the past. Found a wrecking yard in Colorado that had a 1951 decklid in great shape, no real visible rust and no damage. Also got the hinges from him - in 1950 the hinges were on the outside, 1951 they used hidden hinges. Once all the repairs are done in the trunk I can work on fitting the decklid and welding in the new hinges.


Months ago, I took the engine into the machine shop for a rebuild. One thing I learned – if you tell the guy there’s no rush, it’ll take a year. Good thing I’m not in a rush. In the meantime, I got a junk block from the machine shop, threw on the old heads, oil pan, headers, and intake, and tried out a couple of different engine swap mount kits. Decided to go with the Jamco kit which allows the engine to sit further back. Also test-fit the Volvo steering box and stock steering column. Everything seems to fit pretty well.







I decided against using the AOD that I had gotten with the engine. It had 120k on it, a rebuild would cost at least $1k, and it would never be all that strong. Decided to go with a 4R70W out of a 2002 V6 Mustang. Much stronger even stock, electronically controlled, and only 19k miles for $350. The controller box and throttle position sensor required to run it is about $600, so all-in-all cost-wise it's a wash, with a better transmission in the bargain. The only real downside is it is about an inch longer than the AOD/C4, so the transmission crossmember won't work without modification and the tranny really intrudes into the passenger compartment. Still trying to figure out how to fab a tranny/driveshaft tunnel.



Modding the transmission crossmember:








Still some work to do on this.


The dash has a clock in the center, that has never worked since I've had the car, and I've been trying to figure out an unobtrusive tach setup. I had heard about a Jeep tach that would fit right in place, so I ordered one.

The clock:


The tach in its place:


Not bad for $35. Note also the speaker grille above the clock. I'm trying to figure out a way to hinge it so I can mount the tranny controller under it.


==========================

That's about it for now. Working on a water condenser setup for my compressor to get the water out of the air. Tired of my tools spraying water all over my bare metal.

 

Thanks! Sorry about the diarrhea of the keyboard, but it's 10 months of progress all at once.

 

off to a hell of a start.. car looks good. what happened to the ol flatty

 

Watching! Looking good!

 

Great progress! Keep at it.

 

Nice work

 

Thanks guys! I'm a hack, learning as I go, but doing my best.

The flatty is on a stand in the corner of the garage. I haven't decided what I want to do with it yet. I'll probably tear it down and rebuild it once the shoebox is done, and maybe use it in something else. This whole thing started because I was just going to rebuild the flathead and put it back in. When I went under the carpet to remove the tranny xmember bolts I found the floor rusted out. It all just snowballed from there.

I had collected a ton of parts for the flathead, so it would be a waste not to rebuild it and use it in something.

 

Looks like you got the trunk taken care of...I'll cross it off my list now...thanx for letting me know you found one...!!!

R-

 

Sorry, thought I sent you an email about it.

 

(Thanks guys! I'm a hack, learning as I go, but doing my best.)

I dunno but I dont see any hack work going on here! You are off to a great start to whats gonna be a fun car and I am looking forward to following your progress!

 

Nice

 

Looking good, shoud be a fun cruiser when its done.

 

Nice looking build/work for a Rookie.

VR&C.

 

Nice work so far

 

lookin good man

 

Looking good Blue. Would like to have that visor ... it makes these cars. Building a 49 right now. What are you doing on the front suspension? Im using an S-10 frontend.

 

Thanks for the kind words, gents!

I'm sticking with the stock front end for now, with Aerostar springs and probably Fatman drop spindles/steering arms. I'm trying to avoid having any Chevy parts on this thing. Just doesn't seem right to me.

If I don't chop it, I'll stick with the visor. But I don't think it would work too well if it's chopped, though I'd only do 2.5-3.5" front, 3-4" rear.

I'm in Albuquerque for the next week and didn't get much more done before I left, mainly was working on an air condenser setup to try to dry out my compressor air. I will probably have ended up wasting about $50 in copper pipe and fittings, but its worth a shot.

 

Looks good man keep it up. I found your thread after searching for shoebox hinges. Did you have to rebuild your hinges? Did you just drill them and use gm rebuilds? I had a little time today so I pulled my hinges and need to rebuild them before I hang the doors agin.

-Dane

 

I followed the hinge rebuild tech here, and had mixed success with it. Some of them came out ok, some ended up loose. Getting the hinge pins out is a huge PITA. The drill bit size noted in the tech is too small for the GM bushings, the next 1/32 up is a tiny bit too big. Luckily I have an extra set of junk doors that have hinges, so I'm probably going to have Chris at shoeboxford.com rebuild them. Eight at $40 a pop...sucks! Gonna have to see how many I can reuse without rebuilding.

 

Yeah I may do the same. I have a ton of stuff to do on my build besides screw with door hinges for a day. I would have to go to a friends house to use a drill press so that sucks as well. Thanks man, Ill look into shoebox ford.com

Dane

 

Chris says it takes him an hour-and-a-half to rebuild one hinge. Based on my experience, I believe it. At $40 each that's a bargain. Give him a call, he's a great guy and very helpful.

 

Nice work, looks good so far. My buddy and I are getting ready to start tearing into some sheet metal work on his car, but neither of us have much sheet metal experience. It's good to get some inspiration seeing yours come out pretty good even though you are learning as you go.