Hot Rods 1932 Ford 5w Refresh Thread - Closed Driveline T5 now!

I thought I would put together a build thread for the 5w, but first a little background on the car:

We bought the 5w from our friend Reggie in Austin in 2014. It was a running project car, which honestly was a good car as is. I had been on the hunt for a 5w for some time, and time car seemed to fit the bill for some reason. Ironically, both Reggie and I had the same intentions of what we would do with a 5w, which I think made the sell easier.


After getting the car back to Michigan, we decided to do a mild refresh on the car…..we had to personalize it some! It got a simple wheel/tire change, some colors changed, a roof insert, and a valvetrain update. The most major change was a new dashboard, full of restored early Stewart Warners, and a new exhaust system.


We drove the car around in the summer of 2014, and had a lot of fun with it, eventually deciding to take the car to The Race of Gentlemen. Josh Shaw, and his father Dan, lettered the car up for us in preparation. After we got back home, the car went into storage. When I got it back out in the spring of 2015, the drive back home was its last, as it came apart to get underway with yet another transformation…..

 

So getting back to how Reggie and I were thinking what we wanted out of a 5w….we both had huge impressions of the Jive Five coupe, which now happens to be owned by a mutual friend. Knowing that we both would most likely not get a chance to own that car personally, we wanted out version of it…..that meant fenders…..that meant a chop…..that meant a small block…..that meant a lot really…..

Now, building a clone of the Jive Five car wouldn’t have done anyone justice, so I wanted to focus this 5w in an “inspired” direction. It needed the small block, but I wanted make the powerplant unique in this car. So, I set out with the desire to build up a ’57 270hp dual quad engine. Why? – because it was the last year of no sidemounts, and got the largest displacement in that exterior configuration. I located the correct block and heads, which came from the Flint factory as all Corvette engines did. A pair of 9 fin valve covers, the correct carbs and intake were a necessity, along with the dual point distributor. All of those parts set in inventory, because during that time we were still driving the 5w around.

I pulled the flathead and transmission out of the car to get the work underway. The engine, radiator and exhaust were sold to a friend. The transmission went off to Van Pelt to get rebuilt….I wanted it to be up to snuff now that it was going to be living behind the dual quad engine. I threw another mockup trans back in the car, and bolted up an Offenhauser adapter that I picked up here on the HAMB. That allowed me to bolt my plastic mockup long block in place. I also threw on a set of fenders that I had pieced together, along with some Drake running boards. That headlight bar is an original 4 cylinder bar that Pete Eastwood dropped for me (another piece that was in my inventory).


This 5w had a Model A front crossmember installed at one point, which I didn’t want to disturb. I did want to use stock ’32 front engine mounts for the small block, so I went about grafting the back wall of an original ’32 crossmember in place to get the mounting pads back…..the best of both worlds!


While I had engine the engine in place, I also wanted to run fuel lines from the pump to the carbs. I have a Stewart Warner fuel pressure gauge going in place of one of the water temp gauges, so I need a fuel pressure tap. I couldn’t find a good way to get a tap somewhere with the original brass of double flared lines, so I decided to rerun the lines in AN fittings. Doing so allowed an easy, and clean way, to get the pressure tap. I ran it in the stock routings, in an effort to make it look semi-original. While I was doing that, I also reworked the passenger aftermarket rams horn manifold for a choke tube. During that time, the trans came back from Van Pelt, excellent as always!

 

I like a 5 window high boy but man those fenders make the car. HRP

 

What a great start. It looks awesome. I'm getting started on my 5 window but have nothing as nice as yours. I to am thinking Jive Five but my chassis is a bit more Street Roddy and I'm thinking 3.5 inch wedge chop. Keep them reports coming, inquiring minds want to know!

 

So while that took care of the major powertrain changes, I have to rewind a little in this story to a few months before. Ashley and I were at Good Guys Columbus for the weekend, talking about the plans for the 5w. We already had the engine and fenders on the agenda, but I started talking about making a new seat for the car. The original seat just wasn’t very comfortable to me, and I wanted to build a new closed car style seat like I had done for my roadster. That seat lowers the seating position (key for a chopped car), and also puts a little more reclined angle in the seat back for comfort. At that point, the thought of sitting low in the car with the roof unchopped was becoming a major hang up for me. We had planned to chop the car, but I had intended on waiting until 2016 or so to do it…..but that seat threw a wrench in my plans.

I had never cut a 5w before, only chopping my ’34 pickup before, which was much simpler than this coupe. I also had the desire to make the chop turn out as nice as it could, which was perplexing me based on how I wanted the chop to happen. At that point, I realized that I needed someone with some expertise to help me out. Ashley and I walked around Columbus that day, wondering who could help, but I already had the person in mind…..Bill Ganahl.

I met Bill through the work on Darryl’s roadster. I enjoyed my time at his shop when I went out to wire Darryl’s car, and had a lot of fun. I knew Bill had chopped quite a few cars, but most importantly, I knew we would be on the same page for expectations on the car. To make this increasingly long story a little shorter, Bill (without any question) said “yes” when I asked him about it. A plane ticket later, he was here for a long weekend of work. While we waited for our schedules to line up, our friend Eric Black put some ideas to reality to help guide us in the amount of chop.


And then, the work began....

 

In that long weekend, I’d say we got the chop about 75% complete. Bill’s help was essential, and he got me in a position where the final welding, and detail work was the remainder of the work.

 

I'm really on the fence on this one, fenders or no, I know this will be a home run.
As an aside, Cory....some years back, a friend of mine bought an original 4 cyl. 5w right out of your back yard, Dearborn I believe, and he also is doing a 283/270 hp.
He's not on here (afaik), but I know he would just love the direction this car is going, I'll have to ring him up.

 

You guys would make a great team painting cars. The tall guy looks like he could reach clear over the roof and actually see what he is painting. Great work with the 5w!

 

guide 903 J's?
and how much did you chop it?

 

That's too tall Ganahl jr.

 

Nice write up Cory. Love the direction on this one!

 

Keep going! Subscribed

 

Over the next couple of weeks, I final welded the A and B pillars, worked on the window opens to realign the window flanges after the chop, and tackled the garnish moldings. That pretty much brings the project to current times, where I built a body/bulkhead brace today. It ties the back of the car down into the floor, and the B pillars. I’m not boxing the frame on this car, so I think it will help add some torsional and bending stiffness to it.

 

Incredible 32 5w!

 

Very nice. Is that cross brace constructed of 3/16 or 1/4 flat stock?

 

Yes, it has 903-Js on it now. I put the 682-Js that I had on the car as a highboy on the headlight bar, but didn't quite like the look and went for the 903-Js.

We chopped the A-pillars 3 1/4", and the back wall 2 7/8" The A-pillars were leaned back so the roof is untouched.

It's 1/2 x 1 1/2" 16g tubing.

 

What a great build!!

 

Incredible work!

 

I was hoping you were going to do a build thread on this! The car looks amazing so far. I can't wait until you have that little dual quad mouse motor pushing it down Woodward.

 

Great stuff.
I love em both ways, fenderless hi boys, or fully fendered, but chops should be mandatory.
Love the power choice, this is a great car.

 

WOW

 

Hi Cory:
The 5W looks great. Love the fenders, the chop is perfect. Going to be a very classic hot rod. Thanks. TEB

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I love it. A beautiful 5 window.

 

I am sure liking this build.....Lets keep it going

 

There are exactly 32 pictures on the first page.. Was that a coincidence?

Now, let's aim for 283 pictures!

 

Very nice so far - can't wait for more progress pics!

 

WOW, killer job, Cory, I'll be watching.

 

Killer chop

 

I jumped to the inside of the car earlier this week to start building a new seat. I wanted to build another closed car seat, like what's in my roadster. I had patterns still from when I did that seat, so it was as simple as cutting more wood out. Just like on that car, I built the lower base out of 1/2" x 1 1/2" tubing to provide a solid base. The rest of the frame is birch wood, with some plywood inserts that will eventually be covered in foam. I placed some more structure in the base, which aligns with the factory seat holes in the floor. Once I rough foam the seat, I'll determine the final fore/aft location of the seat and drill the corresponding holes in the frame.





After wrapping that up, I jumped to the grille shell where I filled it and dressed the welds. I wanted to peak it, so I went about making a die from some 1/2" bar stock. Then, I took a piece of hardwood and cut a groove in it to hammer against. With the help of Ashley, we worked the shell to raise the peak. It only took a quick cleanup with a file and some sand paper to finish it up.

 

Beautiful work Cory!