Projects Another shoebox build thread...The Mystery Machine!

Another way is to find an old cop. (real old)

In 1956, Bobby Souza had a Cad in his '49 Ford, this old cop pulled him over for laying down a 30 foot rubber strip in front of the high school. The cop asked what he had under the hood...Bobby said the hood cable was broken, but the engine was "stock".
Clever policeman then got a thin pry bar out of his patrol car, inserted it between the hood and upper valance...with a loud 'POP!' the hood was open.
Bobby got a severe tongue lashing about the woes of hoodlums who lie to the police!
I don't recall if the bar left a dent...

 

Haven't been able to look at it this week at all, but my dad's coming over Friday evening to help me tackle it, we'll get the hood open or bust! Also try to vacuum out the inside and maybe get the seats out and upholstery off.

 

Got it open today!



My brother who's a plumber came over to help out, he knows a thing or two about stubborn bolts and not being able to see what you're working on. Angle grinder made short work of the bolts holding on the grille, and we got it off. Hood took a little bit, he ended up sticking a screwdriver in between the latch pin and the latch and prying it open, he couldn't get on the tab with a screwdriver like @Pist-n-Broke originally said. Ultimately, I'm just happy we got it off.

It's a six, so the plan is is to source a 302 to go in there. Thought about a 390, but honestly I don't trust my fab skills enough to make that happen.

 

Victory ! You got it open that's awesome ! Have you checked to see if the motor is frozen ? If it wouldn't take too much to get going might be cool to cruise around until you get your 302 ready to go....

 

I might, just to have something to run around in. Engine and drivetrain aren't really limiting factors though, 302's are easy to find and the bodywork is really what's holding me back. Next item on the agenda is to vacuum out the interior and get the seats out so I can survey the floor repairs needed. I know the drivers side front floorboard needs it, not sure if anything else does.

 

Good going! I dont quite understand why the 302 ,but its your car.Be interesting to see if you can get the 6 going just so you could drive it a bit.Go to your local harbor freight and get a 4" angle grinder and a knotted cup wire wheel for it,they are really cheap-likely 30 dollars or less for both-and will really go to town cleaning rusty sheet metal.

 

What I'd really like is an FE (I think it'd fit, especially with the radiator location where it is) but like I said I don't trust my fabrication or welding skills enough to make engine mounts. To tell the truth, I've never welded before. That's probably the most daunting part of this whole process. For now, I don't trust the original wiring harness (there are parts where the insulation is completely off) so I'll be replacing that before I do anything engine related, swap or not. I really don't want to burn the new house down. I plan to at least see if it'll turn this weekend, like I said the body needs quite a bit of attention before I can drive it anyway. I'll post pictures of what I mean this weekend, especially the mostly-bondo rocker panels. and the large hole in the driver side floorboard. My brother gave me his extra angle grinder, I wasn't sure which wire wheel would be best so that helps. Thanks! Will that work pretty well on bondo too?

 

Well I've followed this from the start. Read your profile and thought a bit. I get the feeling your really new to hands on Old Car work. Nothing wrong with that. At least you have a good project to practice on. You probably have a basic vision as to where you want this Car to end up. I remember being in the same place while in High School. I started with a Model A Roadster project that was already all apart. That was traded for a 48 F-1 panel that ran but needed a rear end. That was traded for a 50 Ford Coupe with no motor. That was just fine because I wanted an Olds motor and to Chop the top. Now at near 70 those early projects are just Fond Memories. Like you, at that time I knew what welding was and I knew electrical was a pain in the A--. Those early projects paved the way for a Life Long career. I like seeing Young Guys keeping the Torch lit. Don't let a project that may be more than your ready for dampen your desire. I now do metal finish work, can hand wire a complete project, hand build pretty much any project that comes through the doors. If I were to give you any advice at all it would be small steps. Learn to weld on something you don't need. Starting out on rockers and floors would not be where I'd send you. Understanding the work needed done is at important as good welds. That comes with time alone. To this day I still resort back to "Think about it First" understand what's happened, then make the plan. It takes a Total Picture to do the job right. This may be your Dream car today when it reality it may just be step One. Nothing wrong with that.
The Wizzard

 

@Pist-n-Broke Thanks, that's exactly where I'm at. I'm 27 years old, and have always been a car nut (my wife jokes about going to car shows with me because I end up talking to the car owners about the cars more than actually looking at them) but haven't had much hands-on experience as far as actually wrenching on old cars. It'll be slow going, and I'll be asking a ton of questions, but I keep telling myself "I think I can, I think I can..."

 

That's great that you got the hood open ! I'm with the other guys - see if your can get the 6-popper running. They were only 5hp short of the v-8 anyway, and might be easy to get going.
A 302 is an easy swap, and cheap as well. You can buy mount kits that bolt in and are reversible, if you change plans to like a flathead eight. If you do a fox body rad setup like I did, they're cheap and available at any autozone , and use the hoses for the fox body as well.
Body sheet metal is available from places like EMS . Save up and use that kinda stuff. It will pay dividends as far as time and effort ... Trust me ! Less frustration and easier to get the job done.

 

@Buddy Palumbo I plan to do all that. I'll at least see if I can get it running, the spark plugs look to be fairly new from the outside so it may not need much. I know about the kits for 302 (I'm thinking C4 instead of AOD, that way I won't have to cut the trans tunnel) but I'm still kicking around the idea of going with the flathead V8. Same with EMS, they even have the patch panel for the fender that I need!

My biggest source of trepidation with using the six is that I plan to drive this thing as much as possible, including on highways. Highways around here tend to have lots of 70+ mph traffic and fairly short on-ramps, and I'm worried about getting up to speed with only 95 horsepower in a 3500-lb car. Has anyone with a six or even a stock flathead had issues with this? I'm not totally against keeping the six, I just don't want to get smacked into because I can't get up to speed in time.

 

Knotted wire cup brush on an angle grinder will take bondo down,but its usually easier to cook it with a propane torch and pry it off in big chunks.What the cup brush will do is clean nasty old floors up right quick.Do wear glasses and a nuisance dust mask! You can get a plethora of attachments for your angle grinder for doing sheet metal work,flap wheels,cutoff wheels,grinding wheels etc.Cheap at HF.It is one of your most useful tools for this sort of work.I have owned and driven many 50s cars with 6 cylinder engines ,all of them seemed to keep up with traffic just fine. Before you try and start your engine you will need to clean your carb,clean and set the ignition points and spark plug gaps(.018" on points,.028 " plugs) ,make sure you have spark at the plugs and proceed.I normally use a small,gravity feed remote gas tank for initial fire up since the gods only know what is in the stock tank! You wont need much of the wiring harness to fire the engine,just a wire with an alligator clip on each end to go from the + side of the coil to the + post on the battery.

 

I bought a pair of safety googles and a paint respirator and a Tyvek suit for this project. I may be a lot of things, but I won't be unprepared. I'd seen the idea of torching the bondo, didn't know if grinding it off would be a better option. That is good that the cup brush will do well for the floors though.

Here's my backlog for the next couple of weeks:
- Vacuum out the interior
- Remove the Seats, door panels and headliner
- Strip the Seats
- See if the engine at least turns
- Start removing bondo

 

Just noticed that you have started a build!! Awesome man! I love the 4 doors, always have. I enjoy traveling with friends and I think it will make it much more comfortable for all of us having 4 doors. As you know I'm building my first shoebox also. I have built many street rods and drag cars but this is by far the most addictive! Keep it up man!

 

Thanks! This is my first build of any kind, and I can't get enough of it! I only really get to work on it Saturday and Sunday afternoons while my son is napping, but I'm doing as much research as I can in the meantime, talking my wife's ear off about it too.

Did some cleaning out of the interior today, the floors are in even worse shape than I thought, though not as bad as some I've seen. Holes in the driver and passenger side front floorboards, and a big one right behind the front seat (I can see the floor braces). Rockers don't seem to have too much bondo in them after all, they may even be salvageable. Didn't get any pictures, I'll post some up tomorrow.

 

Good! Just keep on and try to do something every day even if its only a few minutes.

 

Didn't get anything really done on it this past week, busy with my day job, side business, and family. Plus moving the rest of the stuff out of storage into the new house. I did, however, post a picture over on the Photoshop thread and @themoose was kind enough to render the car for me, which was quite the undertaking since I didn't have great pictures in the first place. Which color do you like best? I've always liked dark blue on shoeboxes, but the green and root beer have me thinking as well. Again, @themoose did these, not me.

 

I had a 1950 with the 226 six and a non overdrive 3 speed about three years ago. For everyday driving I would upgrade the brakes and swap in the Overdrive. Otherwise the six will get that thing up and moving pretty good! I have found that people in traffic give you quite a bit of leeway if you are in an old vehicle and not accelerating/cruising/etc. at the rate they expect out of everyone else.

 

I really like the rootbeer color.Any progress toward getting the engine fired up?

 

I do too, green's my favorite color though so it may end up being either one. Not anywhere close to that point though. No progress yet, I'm under a budget freeze right now so I haven't been able to get anything, but I have been able to examine what I need. I'll need new plug wires, a new wire from the coil to the distributor and a battery. I'll try to at least see if it turns this week, and go from there.

 

Went out and worked on it some today, worked on cleaning out the interior and trying to figure out how to get a wrench on the crank pulley to see if the engine turns. The water pump is in the way going from the top, and the generator and hoses are in the way from the sides. It looks like there's a panel under it that would prevent me from turning it from the bottom, I'm not sure if that's the splash apron or something different, I'll look at it some more tomorrow and post some pictures. Anyone know what the easiest way would be? Or, for that matter, what size wrench I need for it? I think I can get a wrench on it from one side or the other, I'm just not sure which one I need and don't want to do process of elimination.

I also decided that I'll keep the Six for now, unless it needs a lot to run. This is a budget build, so I don't want to completely break the bank, but at the same time I don't want to throw away a perfectly good engine if it's in good shape.

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Subscribed to another Shoebox thread! Can't have too many

I'm in the same boat as you. Limited fab skills and a shoebox project in the garage. Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

Thanks! Do you have a build thread for yours?

 

Invite a couple of friends over, put the car in 2nd gear and rock it back and forth while watching the fan blade to see if in turns. That is after you have taken the spark plugs out and shot some MMO or some other type of oil in the cylinders and let it soak.

 

There's no belt on it, otherwise I would have given it a shot. The water pump is at least not seized, the fan moves. I'll give the belt a shot and then try to rock it.

 

No need for a belt, just mark the crank pulley and see if it moves.

 

Personally I never try to turn a motor from the front Crank bolt. Think about, bolt dia and torque. If the motor is stuck and you start leaning on it to make it go good chance your going to end up with the head of the bolt in your socket. Now you have a real problem! Go to the Flywheel. There is a neat tool for getting hold of the ring gear teeth. This will give you lots of solid leverage. No tool then use a big flat screwdriver in the teeth. But first just rock the car while in gear as mentioned and see what happens.
The Wizzard

 

OK, I just knew you'd mentioned watching the fan, didn't know if marking the crank pulley would work too. Should be easy enough, I know the transmission will go into gear and I have a couple of large friends that can come help.

Good point about the crank bolt, I had just seen that done elsewhere to check whether or not an engine will turn, including putting a length of pipe on the wrench long enough to extend to the ground, then removing jackstands and letting gravity do the rest. Wouldn't do that myself, but did see that suggested elsewhere. For now, I'm going to keep focusing on getting the interior cleaned out and surveying the floor rust.

I know Marvel Mystery Oil was mentioned above, I've also seen a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF mentioned to spray in the cylinders. Anyone else have a recommendation?

 

For the rocking method, use THIRD (high) gear. Hard rocking will 'jounce' the engine gently, over doing it 'sharply'. When you get it broken loose, add more ATF (hell, we used to use brake fluid! But its paint-abusive characterics made it 'prohibitive' to blow all over the engine compartment when it turns...) to the open spark plug holes...when you can push the car fore-and-aft in gear, then switch to second, rolling it 10 feet in both directions.
Leave some towels on top of open plug holes: there WILL be some surplus oil running off that 'level head'. KEEP a 'level head'...

 

Any luck yet? Inquiring minds want to know