Projects 1938 Ford Standard Build Thread

I have another question related to my winter parts gathering. Were there any Ford products that used the same style of rim as mine but wider? If I can do it without spending a fortune, I'd like to have 16 x 5" rims on the rear so I could put a slightly bigger tire out back. I suppose I could have the rims widened, but I'm guessing that is rather pricey to have done by a reputable company.

 

I've put 7.50-16 Firestones on some 4.5" wheels before. Aren't those 4"? I'm sure a 7.00-16 would be fine.

 

Yes, they are 4" wheels. I hadn't thought much about it initially, but Coker tires says 4.5" or more rim width for anything bigger than 6.00-16. I was surprised by that as some of those 6.50-16 are only 1/4" wider than the 6.00-16.

 

You could get some 3.5" wide ones for the front if you want to make a little difference between the F & R.

 

What would 3.5" rims have been on originally?

 

A V8-60 equipped version of your car.

 

It has stayed warmer than expected in my garage so I decided I should try to get a little work done while I can.
I took the old spring out before Christmas and realized that, when I had it apart a couple weeks ago, I had overlooked some issues with the old steel shackle bushings. I had been considering replacing the shackles with nylon bushed ones anyway and this made my decision a little easier.
What is the best way to get the old steel shackle bushings out of the wishbone? Heat? Or is there an easier way? They appear to be stuck in there pretty good.

My other question relates to the spring pack being not as thick as the original. The new spring has 9 leaves and the ears of the cast bars that hold the spring appear to start binding in the crossmember before the spring is drawn all the way up tight in the crossmember.
What is the correct 'fix' for this? I see a few ways to "make it work", but I thought asking here what the correct way is would be preferable.

Tomorrow, I can take a couple pics of the area that is binding if that will help what I have typed to make more sense.

 

The shackle studs have a center stud surrounded by rubber inside a sheetmetal shell which is pressed into the leaf eye. You can lightly heat to burn the rubber and the stud can easily be pressed out. The sheetmetal shell is the hard part. I usually use a hacksaw inside the shell to cut it almost through in a couple places and that will make it easy to collapse and remove. If you heat the leaf up red hot you will remove the temper and ruin the spring.

To fix the clamp problem, I weld a spacer to each crossbar. Basically making them longer so they reach the spring. Some guys say to cut a leaf down short and put it under the spring to take up the space. I think that's an ugly way to do it.

 

Good idea. I knew the shackle bushings came apart, but I hadn't thought of getting a hacksaw in there.

Cutting an old leaf down for a spacer was the solution I was leaning toward. But, as you say, that seemed like an ugly solution. I may do that just to get it on the ground for now and modify the crossbar when I get my welder back.

 

Cool project. Like Alchemy said, knock out (possibly burn it out with some light heat) the stud. Then the fun begins. Best way to get the sleeve out is exactly as he explained..... hacksaw thru and fold it out with a small chisel.

I had a set of wide-fives widened for the rear of my '37, but I would probably not do it again. You can easily run 700s on stock 4" rims. Here is my 550 / 700 stance. Front is a "4" dropped axle" (which is actually 2" drop from stock) with stock reverse-eyed spring, wrap around leaf removed. Rear is a posies reverse eye spring with a couple of leaves removed.

 

Love the stance! I think I can get close to that without spending a bunch of money... except for the cost of tires(holy cow!). I've read that you can remove quite a few leaves from the stock rear spring and still have it ride decent.

 

If you're not going swap to a dropped axle, you might think about running 600s up front and 750s in the back. You will still have the stagger and stance, but the tire will be tucked in the fender better. Your front tire looks nice in the fender as-is, in that last pic. A smaller tire would not look as good at that height.

If you are wanting quick and easy (cheap), stick with the spring. Dropped axle requires dropped steering arms, typically needs to narrow the axle slightly, so your tie-rod may be too long, etc. It's not a huge deal, and well worth the effort, but re-versing springs is cheap.

 

Definitely trying make this a "budget" project. That was one of the reasons I bought it... because I thought I could have a nice driver without spending a ton. I told my wife "You may have noticed, every time I get a car 'finished' I sell it within a year because I've got so much time and money in it that I don't enjoy it."

 

I have finally gotten back out in the garage to work now that it has been warm again. Right now I have begun going through the brakes. When they switched to '39 brakes they threw away the park brake cables and the actuator pieces inside the drum. No idea why they would have done that. But, it looks like I'll be on the hunt for the actuator pieces. What years interchange on the park brake actuator pieces inside the drums?

 

Got my missing actuator pieces and most of my new parts(cables, clips, springs, etc).

I'm getting ready to repack the rear wheel bearings. I'm pretty sure that in the past I just used a little gas to clean up the bearings before repacking them. But, now I've read several places that is a no no... although the people telling me using gas is a no no can't seem to agree on what a better alternative is.

So what should I clean the bearings up with? Gas? Kerosene? Mineral Spirits? Does it even matter as long as they are clean and dry before I repack them?

As I said, I'm nearly certain I just used gas before. But, just because I did it doesn't mean my way was the right way.

 

Mineral spirits is what I use for stuff like that. It doesn't clean steel parts dry like a brake cleaner does. It usually takes a while to evaporate, so in my mind that might also indicate a good combo with the grease you want to use later.