Projects The 49' Ford Roadster Project

Very cool build!


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Have you thought to roll the front pan and not put a bumper on it ?

 

Don't throw that bumper away! Send it to me!

 

It really isn't a gem, but if you want to pay the shipping you can have it.

 

It's better than mine. I'll PM you.

 

ROADSTERS RULE !!

 

I hade a big case of the fuck arounds yesterday morning so I hopped in the 49' and headed around town finding cool places to pretend I was the greatest cell phone potagrapher ever...
This car is a blast, while i don't have room to keep it right now I'm going to have one just like it soon. I like cars that are just fun with no anxiety over scratches or boring sunday mornings polishing it like a pecker (you may have guessed show cars aren't my thing.)
It runs and drives great, shifts perfect, the clutch doesn't chatter and the brakes work perfect. All the gauges work good with exception of the fuel gauge and the clock is even right twice a day! I had better get it onto it's next owner as thoughts of where i could store it keep coming to me.

 

I like it!
Probably better not show that gal what you did to her car though.

 

Neat ol' buggy, lenny
Your photo skills are very good; the backdrops put the car in the right frame of mind...so to speak.

 

Change "shoebox build" to shoestring build and call it done.

I've got that devil-on-one-shoulder/angel-on-the-other-shoulder thing going on with the seats and door insides. I'm going back and forth if it's too clean and pretty or not. But it's a thumbs up from me, for sure.

 

Absolutely freaken beautiful!!!

 

I'm lovin' it.

VR&C.

 

I wouldn't sell it. It's too cool.

 

She has stopped by the shop a few times when she found more parts in her basement, she is pretty happy with it. I might stop by and take her for a ride.

Thanks, i was having more fun than preparing the business taxes, thats what i should have been doing.

All in all it's not an overly expensive interior, with the heat seamed vinyl, outdoor carpet and no jute padding a little rain should be no big deal and the white shouldnt burn your legs in the sun. Kind of went for that boat grade interior.

Thanks guys I appreciate it!

Yeah believe me I hear you, I need to get it sold before the weather turns nice here. It would be the perfect car for summer!

 

beautiful job! those front body mounts are a common problem with those cars. they break and let the body flex enough that the windshield will crack...

 

Love that old style looking louver! Nice work all around!

 

Some cars just have the right look and stance, this is one of them.

 

Love the look! Shoebox rag tops are the coolest ride going!

 

Been tinkering on the 49' can't seem to leave it alone.
It seemed to run very well at lower rpm but a bit ragged at higher rpm's after plugs, cap rotor and changing out to the recommended power valve I noticed that the timing was acting pretty irratic when reving. I had seen the threads for Bubbas ignition, being a cheap ass I kept digging and found this guys thread http://www.flatheadv8.org/hei.htm

While I wasn't down with the HEI idea i did have a couple point distributors and a Mallory dual point.


Decided I like the load input of a vacuum advance with a stock driver I went with the GM units.

First up disassembly.


Clean up


Then chucked it up in the lathe


Pulled the flatty distributor to double check the info given in the thread, looked good..... but i should heve read it better...


So the first mistake i made was turning the barrel dow all the way up to the sealing flange,.....DON'T DO THIS, you need that little step at the top to turn down to the bore size of the flathead.


But i was able to use it for a test fit, sort of a proof of concept. Fits in nicely and seems to have plenty of room for timing adjustments.



Sooo grabbed the other GM unti and chucked it up, i learned on the first one that it would be nice to save the lower bushing, I just turned down the bottom of the distrubutor until i could pull it out.


I'll finish posting this latter today, I smell bacon.

 

Good breakfast!

Anyhow, next I machined down the portion that will fit in the boss to .905"
And then with a boring tool machined out the I.D. to reinsert the bushing.


Removed the steady rest and used the tailstock to support the housing while machining down the rest of the barrel THIS time turning the very top step down to 1.061".....

 

So then dropping the housing in I found two things one is the little bump on the bottom was interfearing with the head, and the second is that the bottom of the bidy was 1/8" above the old didtributor lockdown surface, this was a really good thing.


Here is the bump that needs removed




And I used that 1/8" clearance to make a lockdown plate. Most people are using a set screw in the side of the timing cover to lock the distributor, this seems a lot better to me.






Here is the whole shebang re-installed, and just a bolt and washer are needed to lock it down.

g

 

Next up i cut the shaft to length, again DON'T do that, shortly after i thought ok genius how are you going to turn it down in the lathe, the mech advance won't fit threw the headstock....

So, grabbed the other shaft and put it between the tail stock and the 4 jaw then turned down the portion where the flathead gear will mount to the same size as the ford shaft.....then cut it to length.

 

Then installing tge flathead gear on the chevy shaft and re-drill it for an 1/8" pin.




After installing it I had the pin in and everything looking good and thought just one more tap should do it........


FU@# I knew better than that. After some self loathing it was time to come up with a plan to salvage the project, so it was back to the first housing that I had fouled up.
I decided to make up a steel sleeve that presses on to the main barrel to hold the housing centered in the top of the timing cover bore.


Loaded up with new tune-up parts


Setting in the engine, I found that a 5/16 button head cap screw made a nice retainer.


I had run out of time for the day due to shooting myself in the foot at every opertunity. All in all I'm 8 hrs into a 3 hr project but some days just go that way. I'll report back this week on how it runs.

 

Leonard great distributor rebuild post. Thanks.
Would you make it a separate thread so future generations can find it easily?


..

 

Nice tech article on the dizzy! I like your detailed info and honesty, Nothing usually goes as planned and you made a great recovery! I agree with Petejoe. I think you should post this distributor portion of your thread as a separate tech article so it would be easier to find.

I also enjoyed your roadster build!

 

Nice work. Maybe I missed something, but the flatty
needs much less advance than a GM overhead valve engine

 

Yes, I'll address that this week.

 

Do I did get the timing to 24 degrees and also swapped in some light tension springs in the advance and that made the ignition work great. The car was still running poor at higher rpm's. I have tried and inspected everything I could think of with float level, power valves, jets, clean passages, and a bunch of other "well maybe's" finally i grabbed another carb and viola perfect. The only thing I can think of is someone has swapped in the wrong nozzles. Drove it up to tge spring bbq that the knuckle scrapers put on up in palouse wa. The car is fun to drive. I broke away about 1 am with a little rain and lightening everywhere it was a fun trip. The windshield seems to push the rain up over the car so I stayed dry.

 

Awesome