Hot Rods A 40 Ford Coupe for Uncle Mike Build Thread

wow...just spent two days reading the whole thing... this is one of the most informative and well documented (read: lots of pictures) posts in some time...thanks, great work, lots to learn from you, congrats...

 

Thank you for the Johnee D. There is a lifetime of watching , dreaming. reading and learning from others being being used in this project and I am delighted to share the journey with the guys on this forum. It is my hope that many will be entertained and that some will be encouraged to get out in their shop and try some of the ideas detailed in text and the many pictures and drawings on a project car.

 

well you've succeeded... these late 30's/early 40's Fords are just beautiful... thanks again and good luck for the rest of the project...

 

Well it was a slow weekend here in the shop. I finished the fabrication of the transmission mount. Once I finally got all of the holes and bolts to the size I wanted the mount assembly goes together pretty well and it looks quite sound.
When the transmission needs to be pulled we should be able to unbolt the two bolts on the bottom of the transmission and leave the rest of the mount in the car.

The next job was to make a gusset or brace to bridge the gap I made in the X member for the solenoid. The hole I made is pretty close to the clutch and brake assembly and I figured that there would be a lot of torque applied to the X member as the car was being driven from clutch and brake operations.
So after considerable thought I came up with this plan and made a template out of light cardboard and then transferred it to some 1/8" steel plate.
I cut it out with my sawsall and then cold bent it in the vise using a dead blow hammer.

I used a an adjustable square ( I call it an angle finder) to match the two end bends. (not pictured)
In order to get the plate to lay flat on the frame I had to make an indentation or bead in the plate.

The plate is to heavy for my bead roller so I made the bead by putting two pieces of square stock in the vise with a gap between them. I then massaged the plate with my 16 .oz ball peen hammer to make the bead.

The two bottom plates on each end were welded on and 6 ea. 5/16 bolts secure it to the frame.
Not a perfect gusset but it should do the job. The gusset should double as a shield from debris and the occasional speed bump.

 

Very nice straight forward design and fabrication Sam.

 

Thanks Mickeyc! We are enjoying this frame fabrication stuff. I hope get to the installation of the 9 inch rear by Wednesday. That should be an interesting project. I hope to have the frame rolling around on it's new white walls by the weekend.

 

Awesome thread, Im into changing frame on my 40, so many things here to look at, Hank

 

Thanks Mr. Norton! That is a great looking coupe in your avatar! I have been working with a lot of engineers over the last few years (for my work) and have a great respect for the analytical way they look at things. If you should see something while viewing this thread that looks like questionable engineering feel free to speak up .

 

We had been looking at bolt on front spring perch assembly for awhile and were just not convinced that it was strong enough so another project is born.

First I welded the two frame sections together. Since my plan was to use the two remaining rivets in my bracket I drilled them out. You can see the first step was to center punch the rivet.

A 3/16" hole as then drilled part way through the rivet.
Then I drilled the top off of the rivet with a 3/8" bit.
A drift punch and 16 .oz hammer was used to drive the rivet out. That is why you only drill part way into the rivet.
Once the rivet is out I cleaned up the hole with the 3/8" drill bit.
After several ours of trial and error and a lot of cardboard we came up with these templates.

The two pieces were cut from 1/8" plate using the saws all, band saw and finished with a flap disc.

That top plate required a lot of fitting with compound bends required. Most of that was accomplished with cold bending with the hammer and vice. I v cut the two edges of the top and side plate to get better penetration of the weld metal.


So 5 hours or so later we have this mini boxing plate thing.... I think it is a little more substantial than the kit bracket.That big hole allows access to a bolt in the side of the spring hanger.
The modification is still a bolt on and leaves plenty of room for running fuel line and such through the area. I will use shorter bolts in the final install. Now all I have to do is make the other side today. Hopefully my templates will transfer easily to the other side.

 

Made some good progress today. I finished the drivers side spring perch thingy while Don finished up the rear cross member hole covers.

I wanted to cover up these holes in the rear cross member so Don obliged and spent yesterday fabricating these covers.

I figured these bumper bolt access holes would just be a dirt trap.
The covers will be secured with 4 ea. 10x 32 screws. Don drilled and tapped the cross member. The side rail tab will be secured with the bumper brace bolt.
The top edge of the cover was hammer formed to the rolled edge of the cross member. Silicone sealer will be applied to the covers during final assembly to get them as water tight as possible.

The rear springs were prepped and it was time to trial fit the rear end.

We swung the rear end into place with the cherry picker and quickly confirmed that the rear end alignment holes do not line up with the spring alignment pins. For now we just drilled some 9/16" holes in some 2x4 so we could set the rear in place. So far we are thinking we will make an offset adapter/ lowering block. I am not sure just what depth spacer to use at this time. I am thinking either 1/12" or 2 inches will do. But will probably wait until the car is assembled to make a final decision.
Jeff came over to borrow a tool so of course we put him right to work.... By 6:30 it was coffee / thinking time and we decided to call it a day. I will be buying some fine thread nuts tomorrow so we can temporarily install the U bolts without the frustration of running the nylock nuts onto the several inches of U bolt thread . Hope to design and build a bolt in cross member for the shocks next.

 

I discovered your thread today while looking for information on repairing 1940 Ford floors. I hope things are getting better for since your surgery.
I appreciate all the time & care that you have dedicated to documenting your work. It is priceless. I was assembling a build log on an airplane & know that this quality of work takes time. It is easy to leave the camera on the bench and plod on then remember the camera when it is done.
I bought a 1940 Ford convertible project this summer that I plan to start this year. The body is straight & solid but it needs floors & a tailpan. I am sure it will need more as I get deep into it. You have done such a good job of documenting the process showing all the critical angles of restoring your coupe that this helps puts me on a good path. You are definitely experienced & knowledgeable. The engineering looks good. You always go back and reinforce where it is needed. Your last pictures make me smile as you do your thinking with a copy cup in hand. I usually have a cup near by and will stand back with my cup to reflect on what I am doing & where I am going next.
Look forward to watching your continuing progress.
Thank you again,
Glenn

 

Thanks for the kind comments Glenn! It does take some dedication to keep a thread going. I was commenting to Don as I stopped to take some pictures today that here is Don doing this and here is Don doing that and that people must sometimes think he is doing all of the work.... Don does do a lot on the project in fact he is the one deep in thought with coffee cup in hand in that last picture.

Don is a great friend and contributes many great ideas. Without him I would not be near this far along on the coupe.

I hope you have a great time building your 40 convertible! If something I have posted is of help to you that would make my day! As I mentioned in an earlier post I recommend getting one of those one piece floors from Drake or Carpenter. I will be using one on my next project. I think the current price is reasonable and the outcome would be a much cleaner appearance and a more sound structure.. I have owned a 39 convertible for 14 years now and really enjoyed driving it and working on it. Will you do a build thread on the convertible?

Sam

 

Hi Sam,
Sorry. I should have known you were behind the camera. This whole thread made my day! I know I have to do the floors & tailpans. Your detailing of the tailpan and floors are better than any book.

I am looking forward to getting busy this summer.

I agree with you on the Drake & Carpenter floors. The front floor pan & rockers took a drop in price from the time I first started pricing parts. It would be nice if the rest of the floor dropped as well. A good set of floors helps make the car.

The body & fenders on mine are straight & solid but I am sure that there will be discoveries once the work starts. I would like to do a thorough body restoration with a good paint. The car had all the parts specific to a convertible in good shape including a new top in the bag and has an excellent set of top irons & bows that have the original paint. The body is bolted together & it fits together very well but the passenger area of the floors were cut out that caused the rear quarters to lean out at the top.
Some pressure on the top edge of the body behind the doors makes the body move to line up with the doors and the rest of the car. The first priority will be to brace and square up the body up to be able to start the floors. Getting the floors in and the rear quarters stiffened up will be a big leap forward. I found a photo gallery that shows a perfect brace arrangement for the rear door posts to reinforce the rear quarters on a fat fender Ford that may be concealed nicely. Adding the bracing will ensure that the car will stay straight.

The body condition eventually worked in my favour. I told the seller earlier that I was not afraid of its condition but the reality is that the car is a good barn & the price would be what the cheque was written for. I told him that we would be too far apart so I would not disrespect him with an offer. The missing floor & sprung body caused a few prospects to walk so eventually the owner called back to see if I was still interested. We worked out a fair price. If it did not have all the parts that belong to a convertible then I would have stepped away as well. I was looking for coupe project & never thought that I would end up with a convertible.

I will keep a good photo log to go with the car and may consider a thread once there is some good progress to share. I am challenging myself to work within a budget to get the car well built & running.

Your thread has excellent detail for working on a 1940 Ford. I have learned more from the HAMB than I have from a stack of books. HAMBers are resourceful and ingenious lot that take pride in their work and support one another. I enjoy the frank dialogue and debate that goes on in the various threads as that is an education. I worked in an environment for 40 years where we supported one another & had good open dialogue so this is like home.
I will be keeping an eye on your work & posts.
All the best,
Glenn

 

Mike the painter has been ill but managed to get his old body out in the paint booth and put some blue on the body of the coupe. Don and I have been busy working on the chassis. I hope to post on some of those projects soon.

The cross bar for the shocks is in.

Fuel pump is mounted also.
I will post more on the fabrication of these items soon. This phase of the project has interesting and fun

 

We decided the X member needed a bridge to replace the top of the X member box that we had cut out for the OD transmission install.
Don made a cardboard template.
Transferred it to some 1/8" steel plate.
The plate was then bent using a vise , some big and little hammers and the torch. Several hours and test fits later the bridge was ready for installation .
3/8 bolts were used for the fasteners.
Note the piece was far from symmetrical and was kept as tight as practical to the transmission tail shaft as possible.The shape was dictated by the shape of the tail shaft. Now I think we have done all we can to shore up the butchered X box.

I had to order some brake fittings today. They should be here tomorrow though so we will be able install the brake and fuel lines.

 

Well it's been a busy and fun week. We started the brake system install by installing the master cylinder. Which is a 70 Ford dual type with stainless steel sleeves in the 1 " bore. The unit I chose is from Speedway #91031425. An adapter is required to convert from the 40 Ford 3 bolt MC to the 2 bolt Mustang unit.

I used this style. Drake offers it as #EC410. I probably could have made one of these but it would have been very time consuming and this one fit well.

Here is an overview of the master cylinder and proportioning valve.

Don bent the the fancy lines. His years as a Hydro wireman came in handy. He tried to explain the theory used in figuring gain and loss ( of length) used in the process of bending conduit and tube but it is beyond my primitive mind. He did allow me to bend the simple stuff though.

We used the speedway hold off valves. Of note here is that I should have paid attention to the description of these valves in the catalog. They mention that these valves have 1/8 pipe thread on each end. Why they sell them that way and do not recommend that you buy the adapters for them to be used with our 3/16: inverted flare or AN fittings I do not know.

Of course like most of the chassis parts for this project I bought them a long time ago and just popped them out of the package this week and tried to thread my inverted flare brake line fitting into them.Well that didn't work so after some research and a trip to the local NAPA store I was able to buy some Weatherhead #302X3 3/824 adapters. I used my favorite sealant Rector Seal #5 on the threads. The 10 pound unit was used on the rear and the 2 pound on the front disc brake circuit drum brake circuit.
The 10 PSI valve was installed about 18" behind the Proportioning valve.

The proportioning valve is a classic Performance Products # APV-DB. I also purchased this from Speedawy item #910 31 358 BLK. It comes with the pressure switch for your brake lights . It has two outlets for the front brake lines and one for the rear. All of the ports (except the switch port) are for 3/16" inverted flare. They include some nuts that can be used with your brake lines and an adapter to a convert the rear line to 1/4" line. They should have included a plug for the optional use 2nd front brake port. So I had to go back to the parts store again (after some research) and buy a plug for the inverted flare port.
The Wetherhead # for this plug is 131X3.

Fortunately the plug seats in nicely into the body of the valve and did not require any modification to the mounting bracket
A couple of pictures ago you can see the 2 pound hold off valve mounted just 2+ inches forward of the Proportioning valve. From there the line runs forward through a new 3/4" elongated hole I cut in the X member to the tee mounted on the front spring crossmember.We then came back to the drivers side front wheel. You can also see a clearance problem between my fancy sure fit header and the stock steering gear. I had hoped that I would get lucky here.... I guess that is what hammers are for....
This is a little better shot of the tee. I took my Drake catalog down to the NAPA store and they were able to find it in their books. Weather head # 3476. I liked it because it was compact and had and had an ear that sticks into a second hole to stabilize it.


The rear brake line install was pretty simple. I went on line again and did a search for 58 Ford Station Wagon rear brake hose and found a NAPA hose #36091 It is about 18 inches long and since the rear end is hanging as low as it can go it looks like it is just the right length for this application. Be sure to ask for the copper crush washer you will need to seal the hose at the tee end.
I welded one of these brackets onto the shock cross member to mount the brake line end of the hose to.I found that the serrated center serves a purpose to clock the hose in the position you want it to stay in.

We will finish the front brake lines after we take the motor out. I wanted to test fit the steering gear and the column shift linkage before the motor comes out. Turns out there is just 1/8" clearance between the steering gear and the drivers side header at one point. and the shift linkage is hitting the much thicker than stock Edelbrock cylinder head..... More on that later.If any of you guys have run into a clearance problem with your shift linkage and have solved it somehow I would appreciate your input.

 

Looks great, I have a question, why did you bolt the rear crossmember in rather than weld it in?
Thanks keep at it, it will be done before too long

 

EXCELLENT PROGRESS ON A BRAVE PROJECT!

CRAB LOUIE

 

Thanks 34toddster! I bolted it in because I think it will be easier to make an adjustment on it if I find it is not located correctly after the car is set at ride height with full weight on it. Although I have been playing with cars for several years I admit that I have not done a complete rebuild such as this before and have limited experience in chassis fabrication and set up. So chock it up to lack of confidence.

Thanks Crab Louie! I love this drawing! I should be using it for my avatar!

 

very nice--you are doing an excellent job. Really like Crab Louie's drawing-should be on a T shirt.

 

Thanks olscrounger! I will have to look into that T shirt idea.

Here is a little sub project I did Friday.

The shift linkage that we acquired at a swap meet several years ago was missing the rubber bushings. So I bought a kit from Drake. 01A-7354-RK for 40 to 48 Fords.

It comes with 4 ea. rubber bushings, brass grommets,and steel washer. One mandrel is also provided.

I suppose you could press the grommet on with a hammer but my previous experience using a hammer for shaping a grommets resulted in mixed results.I decided to try the HF 20 ton press for this process. It worked very well.

I inserted the rubber bushing into the socket , then added the steel washer, placed the mandrel and gently pressed down until the brass mushroomed out being careful not to crush the rubber bushing.

A test fit of the new bushing on the transmission arm showed that it would not slide on to the arm. Thinking I may have pressed too hard on the grommet deforming it. I tried inserting a non processed one on and it did not fit either. There is a small lip right at the edge that must be created during the manufacturing process.
So I did a little hand filing and the unit slides right on.
So now all we have to do is figure out how to get some clearance at the cylinder head. Looks like a little grinding on the cylinder head may be required. I don't think we can raise the shift assembly up on the column much (after looking at the tear down pictures) because the stock firewall is pretty close to this linkage as is. More on this later.

 

Here is a little detail of the rear cross-member fabrication. Originally we intended to install the 7/8" cold rolled round stock in the middle of the 2 x 1 1/2" tube. That plan didn't work out because it made us mount the bar too far down in the frame and still would have made the rear end hang on the shocks when the wheels were off the ground.
So we made up some brackets and inserted the cold rolled bar brackets and welded them in. The 7/8 cold rolled rod was drilled and tapped to about 1 1/14' deep with 7/16" fine thread. I was able to use the old lathe for tapping . I seem to have forgotten to take in pictures of that process.
I didn't have to but decided to cover the brackets with some 18 gauge steel.
Fired up the old mig welder and welded the covers on.
Used the flap wheel to quickly finish the welds.

The upper shock attachments stick out about 7/8"

Rear view of the cross member.
The crossmember is bolted in with 8 grade 8 bolts. I stated the reason for bolting it in in an earlier post. I hope it does not need any adjustments made to it's position but it would be much easier to unbolt it than grind it off and make a new one if it does.

 

The cross
member looks great!

 

We worked on the 40 column shift linkage problem Monday. We straightened one link arm and that helped a bunch. The problem was that the linkage would jamb on the cylinder head during the 2nd gear shift.


I ground off a short fin on the back of the head and removed the nut off of the stud. I bought a half nut to replace the nut ( not pictured here). We also decided we had some room to move the engine forward a little so we did that.It now shifts easily into 2nd.
Moving the engine forward meant we had to modify the opening for the governor again.
A little welding and grinding and we now have room for the governor again. This engine move also meant I had to modify the transmission mount plate. Elongating the bolt holes took care of that.

olscrounger recommended that I wait until the body is mounted on the frame to make any further adjustments to the column shift arms. He thinks I can gain a little more clearance for the linkage by bending the arms a little.

Below are a few pictures of the linkage just for future reference for me and maybe someone else can use them in the future when setting up there own linkage.

 

We installed the 3/8" steel fuel line today.
The 3/8" fuel line was purchased in a 25' roll.


We probably should have waited until the frame was painted to put this line in since there is no practical way to remove it in one piece.
We cut a notch in the inner frame behind the spring bracket and welded to the outside frame rail to allow a smoother transit of the fuel line.
Don put this nice little V bend in the fuel line to get around the X brace.
The 3/8" line is a little overkill for the flathead but I may get tired of the low HP flatty and put something more fuel hungry in there some day.

 

Very awesome work. Keep the photos coming.

 

Thanks Tony, there will be a lot more photos to come!

 

I decided to modify the frame a little. My 39 sits so low that this element of the frame would often drag in the the grass at car shows or hit speed bumps. I finally made this modification to the 39 but the bottom piece that I cut off and welded back on in this case, had to be replaced with a new piece of sheet metal. This car will probably not be as low but I figured it would be much easier to make the modification now than after the body is installed.
The line is drawn from the bottom of the X member to the bottom of the outside frame rail.
The cut leaves the holes intact and there is sufficient metal to weld too.

The cut off section was relieved for the holes and the ends pie cut to allow it to be matched to the frame.
The modified bottom section was then clamped to the upper section and welded on.

So now I won't be cutting grass at the local car show (with the frame anyway).

 

We installed the emergency brake cable system last week. I chose to use the Lokar kits for this. I like the black kits for this over the braided steel look. The black lines are much easier to clean than the braided steel.

Kit EL-80FU a universal kit was chosen for the min cables.
Kit EC- 8000U was chosen for the hand brake section.

We chose to run the cables to the passenger side of the frame because it was getting a little crowded on the drivers side. There is plenty of cable in the handbrake kit to cross over the transmission and enter the cowl at the stock location. We elongated this hole and bent the provided bracket a little to get the required angle.
According to the instructions 9 3/4" is needed between the universal e brake kit and the hand brake line to allow for adjustment of the cables.Using the cross brace ( with an 1/8" steel plate doubler) allowed for a little over 10 inches for this adjustment area. This area also should allow easy access for adjustment of the cables. We decided to wait until final assembly to cut the cables and install the adjustment hardware.
You can see the 1/8" doubler in this picture. The doubler will be welded in place.
A 3/4" by 2 " oval hole was cut in the X member on the passenger side to allow the E brake cable to pass through the frame . Rubber tubing was slit and installed in the hole to give the cable sheath some extra protection from abrasion. The drivers side cable was run through a stock hole in the frame and a standard rubber grommet was used for protection. We checked the drive line clearance for the drivers side crossing of the cable and we think we have allowed sufficient room.

Rubber coated conduit clamps were used to guide the cable sheaths. We wanted to guide the cables while allowing them to slide a little with rear ends up and down motions.

That's all I have on the E Brake install for now.

 

So we have moved on to the radiator and fan shroud project.

I chose a Walker FH-Z-497-1 Z series 4 row high flow copper radiator for this project. I have used aluminum griffins' on other 38-40 Fords and on a 50 Chevrolet pickup. They worked ok but you have to be real careful how you mount them and if they are (in my experience) jarred they can can crack where the core is epoxied to the tanks. This is not repairable on a Griffin. So I thought I would give the Walker radiator a chance. I liked the way it is boxed. The dang thing is heavy too.


I have decided to run a 14 inch electric fan in the coupe. I have not found a fan shroud that I like for this application so Don and decided to build one. Here is the layout. The plan is to have rounded corners on all sides. The corners will have a 3/8" radius.
We teamed up to cut the 19 gauge aluminized sheet metal with the HF sheer.
This initial cut of the corners is to allow for the bends.
We were looking around the shop for something to bend the 3/8" radius on and discovered the frames X member was just right. So we clamped the tin to the frame and used the dead blow hammer to make the 90 degree bends for the sides.
We then bent the side (mounting) flange with the HF shear. .
With the side bent with the 3/8" radius we moved on to the top bend. We could not do this on the frame.
To make this bend we found a piece of 1 1/4" square stock and welded a piece 3/4" round stock to it.A piece of 3/16" plate was clamped on the top bend line. Then used the dead blow hammer to slowly bring the edge down to 90 degrees. This top edge did not require a flange.
The bottom edge was bent to 60 degrees using the same clamping method but with the square edge of the 1 1/4" tube. Both ends were then formed to the 3/8" radius and welded. A bunch of sanding and filing later the ends were finished.
We clamped the shroud on the radiator and test fit it to confirm where the fan would be mounted. basically it had to be mounted as high as possible clear then crank pulley on the engine.I then used the dividers to score the sheet metal for the cut line. Wish I would have had some blue die for this.
Drilled a starter hole.
I used a 36 tooth blade in the saw to cut out the fan hole. A little tedious but doable.
This hole came out pretty good. It took some work with the bastard file to get rid of the burs and a few high spots.