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Projects 39 Standard Tudor build thread

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by theHIGHLANDER, Jul 30, 2015.

  1. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well, as some know I didn't make it. Sad as I may be about it I'm also pretty happy with all I was able to do in the rush for a deadline. Several factors formed an alliance of sorts to sieze the moment away from us, the most legit being a big change in the shop's immediate future. I have to move to a new location which is never fun. In order to make lemonade out of that lemon I look upon it as a fresh start for all involved, and I'll have the room to make a bigger and brighter work space to finish this car right, and faster too. Disappointed, a little angry, sad, but by next year it just might be a proven hot rod with lots of miles on it. I can't let up but it has to stay set aside again for the next few weeks. I won't give up on her or you folks following the build. Film @ 11:00...
     
  2. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I did say film @ 11:00. Yeah, yeah, I know it's past 11 :cool:
    Here's the dash all grained. Still needs clear but the art's done.
    139.jpg
    I added some burled walnut to the choke/throttle/ashtray bezels. I do the stuff so I might as well, right?
    150.jpg
    Here's my New Vintage USA gauges installed. I love em. The color, the font, the curved glass, very nice and a fitting addition. If I had to be critical I'd say I don't like the digital odometer but it's a small concession to a direct fit gauge. For anyone contemplating these I say go for it. They're 4 3/8" for a direct fit to the dash panel, however there is a notch in the plastic body of the gauge. Rather than notch my dash I filed the little block down and clocked em in by hand. With the gentle curve to the metal panel itself there's an ever so slight gap between the chrome bezel and dash. It was less than 1/16" so I blacked out the gauge bodies a bit right below the chrome bezel, problem solved, can't tell.
    145.jpg
    The turn signal/high beam indicator is from a late 40s Mopar (47 Dodge I think). It had a curved mounting surface which I needed flat. Ran a tape line and did some careful grind and file work. I wanted it between the gauges but it's pretty busy back there. Also the bulb hardware needed more room so it ended in the spot above the gauges but still centered. Since 39 Fords didn't have turn signals I had to do something, right? I like it, fits like it belongs, and it was NOS so no need for plating. NOS means "Neat Old Shit" right?
    144.jpg
    Here's the overall with everything pre-fitted. The chrome surrounds for the choke/ashtray gig and the radio delete are out for new plating. Gonna look nice, I think.
    149.jpg

    Speaking of turn signals, I needed a complete switch assembly. Got this from NAPA, same old part that's been used for decades. Sadly it comes in black now and has a plastic rear body but the face is still diecast. Sometimes I just can't help it, had to have it match the column but all brown/taupe wasn't gonna get it done. I filed the black powdercoat from the name plate and polished it up nice and bright, taped it and the jewels, removed the chrome lever aasy and ended up with some decent contrast. The name plate is actually better looking than the glared picture shows.
    165.jpg
    I also got the rear windows cut and pre-fit the gaskets. Anyone within a short drive from Monroe, MI, I highly recommend "Floral City Glass" for all your flat glass needs. They're also doing the Duesenberg glass for me if that tells you anything. You won't be sorry.
    137.jpg

    I also shot a couple layers of 3M Body Shutz on the inner roof, precut the carpets, marked off the right rear fender for a 2nd tail lamp, and added the pulse generator from New Vintage USA to the driveshaft "turtle".

    For reference to glass and gauges:
    http://newvintageusallc.mybigcommerce.com/
    http://www.floralcityglass.com/

    Surely more to follow, can't give up now ;)
     
    OzMerc39, alfin32, Thor1 and 18 others like this.
  3. scrap metal 48
    Joined: Sep 6, 2009
    Posts: 6,079

    scrap metal 48
    Member

  4. Thor1
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 1,664

    Thor1
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Highlander, the dash looks fantastic. The woodgraining and burl turned out beautifully!

    On the turn signals - is that a 7 wire unit and does it have an emergency flasher?
     
  5. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thanks for the compliments, I'm pretty happy with the dash.

    Thorl, yes it's a 7 wire. I'm not using the light/wire in the switch so it's a 6 wire in my case. Here it is:

    https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/LIT900

    upload_2018-3-18_9-28-31.png
     
    Thor1 likes this.
  6. Thor1
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 1,664

    Thor1
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Highlander,

    Thanks for the information and the link - I need to get turn signals in my '47 Ford.

    Steve
     
  7. olscrounger
    Joined: Feb 23, 2008
    Posts: 4,770

    olscrounger
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    beautiful work!! Love the dash.
     
    Thor1 and lothiandon1940 like this.
  8. fuzznick
    Joined: Oct 22, 2010
    Posts: 43

    fuzznick
    Member

    nice build,i might have to order a couple of those gauges for my '39
     
  9. GASSERBOB
    Joined: Nov 26, 2010
    Posts: 520

    GASSERBOB
    Member
    from USA

    Beautiful job on the dash. Really nice. Bob.........
     
    Thor1 likes this.
  10. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well I'm on it again. Lucky me, I like to "roll my own" even though I do this shit daily for a living. That aside, I'm sorting out a few "woes" related to the upholstery. Got the seat covers attached, the whole gig assembled, then found a use for old drag race belts for front seat belts. I've done some other things but not too notable on their own, more on those as they near being done. The belts are outdated RJS race belts, which is to say the dates are too old to be used in a racer. NHRA mandates every 3 years. Here's the front seat done:
    20190105_191935.jpg 20190105_192026.jpg The RJS logo says "since 1959" which is sorta kool, no?
    20190105_162358.jpg
    20190105_191809.jpg
    Now that I got that done I've focused on finishing the exhaust. Bought some mandrel bent U-Bends in different sizes and a couple simple glass packs. The system is going to be in the frame rails until I get to the big stainless ends at the back. Of course they have to be polished, right?
    20181202_185451.jpg
    2 1/2 I.D. so they look huge on this old thing. I'll tip the slight turndown at the ends toward the outside, maybe 45 degrees give or take a bit. Stay tuned, more to come...
     
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  11. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Proceeding on the exhaust. I'm past the master/pedal areas, keeping it inside the frame through the existing holes in the X member. I flanged the head pipe to the muffler unit, just generic glass packs being used. The up n over at the axle is next and the tails are almost 2 3/4 OD polished stainless as mentioned before. Also all mandrel bends. Why not, right? It's getting there...
    20190115_192428.jpg 20190115_192441.jpg 20190115_192523.jpg 20190115_192510.jpg
    From here it's planned to follow the rail up and over the axle as far outside as possible, but real estate where the shocks go may be at a premium:eek:
     
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  12. neilswheels
    Joined: Aug 26, 2006
    Posts: 1,213

    neilswheels
    Member
    from England

  13. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Well I got to the end of the line on 1 side, and as 1/2 planned some of the more complicated pipes will fit the other side just right. I paralleled the wishbone in the rear then followed up the rail targeting what was likely exhaust pipe clearance in the rear crossmember. From 1 3/4 at the manifold to a 2 1/2" tailpipe as alluded to above. Time to duplicate for the other side then TIG weld it all for good.
    As seen in an earlier entry, starts at the manifold and goes up and over the steering box...
    20190120_173423.jpg from there it weasels on past the pedals and master cyl, and the pedal is shown completely down below the floor level...
    20190120_173506.jpg
    it then got flanged and adapted into a bigger diameter pipe...
    20190120_173337.jpg
    My initial path would have been too close to the master, I changed course and went thru the smaller hole at the outside of the frame support...
    20190120_173704.jpg
    We're up to 2" from here to the wishbone, the pipe is welded to the muffler, effectively making that assembly pretty long to ease final installation and reduce the number of clamps...
    20190115_192523.jpg
    Once it arrives at the back of the X member it takes a couple turns. I wanted it to parallel the 'bone then turn up in order to have full use of the available real estate and rear travel.
    20190120_172901.jpg
    My target for the tailpipe drop was next...
    20190120_150330.jpg
    From here it went to 2 1/4 then gets to 2 1/2 as it goes thru that 1/2 circle in the rear member, and staying as far inside the rail as possible along the way...
    20190120_172523.jpg
    20190120_172658.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

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  14. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    The car is "loaded" in order to max out travel and clearance all the way back. Once the tails are set it's all smooth sailing for the other side. I'm pretty happy with it so far, lots of old stock bends and few new ones, and the goal was to NOT see pipes under the car except the dumps at the back bumper. So far so good...
    20190120_172707.jpg
     
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  15. Frankie47
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 1,877

    Frankie47
    Member
    from omaha ne.

    First let me say what an awesome job you are doing, you Sir are a craftsman....second let me ask a question please.
    To my untrained eye it seems that your routing has a lot of chances to bang pipe, how do you plan on securing it so it won't drive you nuts.....lol.
    I can't live with pen clicking or gum popping....it would make me crazier than I already am to hear clanking or banging every time the loud pedal was mashed.
    Thanks.
     
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  16. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Since it's all just sitting there it surely looks like pipe clatter is certain. Once centered at each location there's anywhere from 3/8" to 1/2" all the way around the pipe. I don't expect any real shake from the flatty. She's just a stock fresh rebuild for now and rather solid with all new motor and trans mounts. The farther back it gets the more solid I'll mount things, but some areas will have rod and rubber style hangers like seen under late model Fords of various types. I may indeed have to open the 1st hole it goes through which is the smallest opening used. I'm with you, exhaust rattles suck, makes the car feel like a hack job.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2020
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  17. Deuce Lover
    Joined: Feb 15, 2009
    Posts: 1,047

    Deuce Lover
    Member

    Love your dash and nice touch on the tiny turn signal indicator !!
     
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  18. neilswheels
    Joined: Aug 26, 2006
    Posts: 1,213

    neilswheels
    Member
    from England

    Nice job on the exhaust, took me ages to run mine, all those little angle changes, trying to stay away from thing that dont want to get hot. I also put my mufflers in the x member, dog legged out at the back and up the side of the rails, bet then moved to the middle, went over the axle, angled out under the tank to exit at the far edge on the rear fenders. Because mine moves to the center of the car, I put supports just after the muffler, on the rear crossmember either side of the axle center, and then back on the outside chassis rail just behind the rear wheel. I also split it in 3 places, so i could get it in and out.
     

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  19. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    I've been on a rollercoaster the last several months. Business is chicken one day and feathers the next. Still, I plan and ponder, acquire parts, and try to get singular details sorted for a final throwdown. Having just woodgrained a Packard 12 wheel over the last couple weeks thoughts of mine were right beside it. A simple case of the "fuck its" and I went at it with all due enthusiasm. All the repairs are done, primed, ready for some paint magic today. I'll detail that process and add more, maybe as soon as tonight. Taking a "turn" for the better...;)
    20190803_173228.jpg 20190803_173247.jpg
     
  20. scrap metal 48
    Joined: Sep 6, 2009
    Posts: 6,079

    scrap metal 48
    Member

    Seats are cool..
     
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  21. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    In the last season this caped crusader of a Tudor was getting several random things done to it. Of late the car has been moving along like someone who types with the hunt-and-peck method. I could say moving like senior citizen sex, you know, slow and sloppy, but there's too many of us old fucks here so I won't (see what I did there?;)). With the current state of affairs we're all too familiar with my time's been divided amongst honey-dos and a balancing act at the shop that's been akin to those old plate spinning acts on The Ed Sullivan show. Do a youtube search for those if that doesn't make sense.

    For this teaser though, I have managed to install all 4 shocks, change the front spring shackles to raise it up, shagged a big red brake light, painted the steering wheel but the 2nd color turned it green :mad: which was not in the least expected. I've also aquired some 50-52 Chevy deluxe cpe rear armrests (the ones with the ashtrays) and restored the trim for both and got 1 pad covered in matching vinyl. I'll pic post a lot of this later today. I'm back on the pipe job (the exhaust dammit, no meth jokes!) and figuring a decent way around the new gas shocks. So, like other times, stay tuned, film at 11:00. Shit it's already 11:00. Dammit...
     
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  22. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    So a tisket a tasket, time to empty the basket. As eluded to above I've been trying to pic nits on the thing as time and attitude allowed. Let's start with this armrest gig. My dear bro and fellow member @terry54999 shagged me a set of those bitchin Chevy rear armrests. Stainless polished and 1 cover wrapped in matching vinyl. That was tougher than it 1st seems but 1 down 1 to go. Looks like this:
    115.jpg
    The primered area will be painted to match that taupeish color on the column and signal switch. Thought about woodgrain but think it'll tie colors better matching the column and brake lever.



    116.jpg 117.jpg

    Last summer Mrs Highlander and me went out to that state wide US-12 garage sale. Lots of kool stuff but 1 of my star picks was a 6" red single bulb light. It was the right stuff, perfect silver reflector and clear red lense in pretty damn nice condition. I cleaned it up right away and lit it up. I actually didn't like it all red so I made a "stop" pattern and transfered it to some art paper. Once laid out. centered and striped top and bottom I sprayed a nice wet coat of acid etch black primer then a coat of semi-flat black Krylon on the inside of the lense. Better but not diffused enough so I added an inner lense of diffused red plastic cut to help center the glass better and Voila, big red "STOP" light for the back. Jury's still out on where to put it but I don't want some mope texting to pack the ass end of my car. 39 lights aren't exactly big, right? Here it is:
    094.jpg
    097.jpg
    098.jpg
    099.jpg
    188.jpg
    Those nits picked, I got back into the shocks. When we last talked about it I was perplexed as to dimensions and such, why things didn't just bolt up as desired up front. I ended up extending the frame mounts and adding a gusset to the back, then fabbed up a quick threaded tube adapter piece and welded it to the end of the 'bone at the spring mount. I paused on that for a minute, looking at the forged construction, but Henry welded to tubes to it, so I went for it. I got more turning radius for my trouble as long as I run the 3 1/2" wide 5s for now. All in all not too hateful:

    305.jpg
    304.jpg
    374.jpg
    I did cut the bells off the front shocks. They're all NAPA heavy duty gas shocks, front and rear. Speaking of the rears those are in too. I got the rear mounts from @purehotrods here on the HAMB and fordbarn. I like the parts, they look right, and in my case 2 minor things caught me unawares. The inside radius of the axle mounts needed to be very slightly ground for clearance to the axle tube. Likely less than a 16th, just enough so it all assembled easy and flat. I got his upper and lowers, and what caught me on the uppers was my rear cross member. It's angled back at the top where it's under the body so the mounting post was tipped up. I took a big ol mac daddy 'C' clamp and squeezed the shit out of it to get it plumb with the lower. The lip had to be trimmed to clear the shocks I picked. I could have cut those bells too but decided not to. All in all it came out well and both shocks are in at 30 degrees which should offer maybe a little extra lateral stability. Not too hateful, like I said:
    054.jpg
    055.jpg
    373.jpg
    372.jpg
    I'm into the pipes at the moment and will pic post how all of that had to shape up now that the shocks are occupying the same space they were in before. I ran out of 'U' bends and there'll be 1 here tomorrow. It's possible that might be all in before the weekend. Hope you enjoyed this episode, see y'all again soon, same HAMB time, same HAMB channel...
     
  23. 1pickup
    Joined: Feb 20, 2011
    Posts: 1,437

    1pickup
    Member

    @theHIGHLANDER Can you snap a pic of your rear upper shock mounts? Gotta make something for mine, & it looks like it's gonna be tight with the exhaust running through there.
     
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  24. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Hey @1pickup , will this do? If you want more I'll shoot a couple tomorrow.
    20200415_184641.jpg
     
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  25. Thor1
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 1,664

    Thor1
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    @theHIGHLANDER Did you get your steering wheel wood grained? If so, any pictures you can share?
     
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  26. theHIGHLANDER
    Joined: Jun 3, 2005
    Posts: 10,245

    theHIGHLANDER
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Thorl, I'm not woodgraining the wheel. I'm doing a sort of trick paint deal where it will look semi translucent. I was working into the final coat and it came out an ugly almost military green pearl. Still scratching my head on that one. The wheel I was woodgraining was for a 33 Packard 12. It came out like OEM, which was actually cast in a brown and orange swirl to imitate grain. Here's few of that if you like. There was a brown and burnt orange Bakelite mix that they used, this was the base I mixed up:
    031.jpg Then did my grain thing and got some satin clear on it. The goal was "as bad as" the OEM look.
    060.jpg 078.jpg 079.jpg
    Then the horn bezel gets grain and is gloss clear. Tough to take pics of but in person it looked like the real deal. Client was quite pleased.
    076.jpg
     
  27. Thor1
    Joined: Jun 6, 2005
    Posts: 1,664

    Thor1
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Wow! That looks beautiful! Amazing work - thank you for sharing.
     
  28. sliceddeuce
    Joined: Aug 15, 2017
    Posts: 2,981

    sliceddeuce
    Member

  29. Peanut 1959
    Joined: Oct 11, 2008
    Posts: 2,179

    Peanut 1959
    Member

    This was over on the "I'm Here to Pick Up The Rubbish..." thread. :) tapatalk_1587604454030.jpeg
     
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  30. 1pickup
    Joined: Feb 20, 2011
    Posts: 1,437

    1pickup
    Member

    @theHIGHLANDER that helps. Just wondering if you had made a "crossmember" to mount the uppers, or just individual mounts on each side. Is yours a bolt in, or welded in? Plus, my exhaust has already been done with the stock shocks, but I will be replacing them. Might be tight, & I don't want to re-do the pipes.
     
    Stogy likes this.

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