Projects My 1950 Ford Shoebox Project

1st one!!!! too much blue in the 2nd one for me, but they both look good. but why get rid of the bench seat? i love them!!!

 

Congrats on your new ride! Looking really sweet. Keep up the hard work.

Check out shoeboxford.com - Chris is a great guy with a lot of shoebox knowledge and is always willing to help.

 

ha, thats not her "program". i just did that in photoshop

i agree. the 2nd one is sexy but with the bright color of the car it would be too much teal in my mind. im goin with the 1st one. I didnt get "rid" of the bench seat. it never had one because the muncie four spd on the floor would block it. it came with buckets.

man your shoebox is gorgeous. i checked out your pics. and the chop is great

 

dude, please tell me how the hell your 15x6 reverse wheels/tires arent rubbing in the back?

 

so... my tail lights work, but they dont light up brighter when i hit the brakes. any help to figure this one out?

 

Brakelight switch problems,maybe?

 

yea, but i dont know where to even look for it. is it in-line? on the pedal lever?

 

I dont know what kind of brake assembly you have.But what ever it is,you should find that switch from near master cylinder.And probably from in-line..

 

Well seeing as you dont have a firewall mounted MC, im guessing youre stock still. Your master cylinder is under your driver floorboard. The switch is on the back of the MC (towards the rear of the car) It is pressure activated and they are notorious for going out. It just screws on, you can get one at any parts store for about 10 bucks. Start there, then let us know.

 

yup, sweet!, thanks man, that makes sense.

 

Regarding lowering your "box"...been there several times and it can be tricky. Looks like you have a maverick 8 inch rear in your car....that's what I used too in my 49 coupe. I used 4 inch blocks in the rear and had to modify my wheelwells like you did. I stitch-welded flat patches in to cover the resulting holes and seam-sealed...worked great and got rid of my rubbing problems with 14"X7" american look-alikes.
I reversed my original spindle uprights and it worked great but I don't reccomend it unless you have a lotta mechanical experience. It's far easier to just order dropped uprights from fatman fabrications. Does about the same thing with far less work. I also cut my coils.
Keep in mind when you go 3-4" down, you're gonna begin to run into tire rubbing/driveshaft rubbing problems. My front tires came into contact with inner fender panels [or was it vent tubes? Or both? Can't remember now] but I had to remove them..also the driveshaft hit the rear crossmember [C'd it] and driveshaft hump, which I had to open up and weld in a piece on top to make it "taller" to clear the driveshaft...
I used a mid 60s fairlane/comet fuel tank. It cleared the rear axle ok...don't know if a stock one will or not as my stock tank was junk when I bought the car.
Hope this helps....this is how my car sat when I was done.
PS...a 1.25" trans-am/Z-28 front stabilizer bar from the mid-late 70s will bolt up with some bracket fabrication...makes the car handle like a sports car.

 

Rocky, thank you. I appreciate the experience and knowledge. I am about a month away from dealing with all this, so it will all go to good thoughts.

 

Sneak Peek. Interior Coming Soon

 

Oh yeah that is cool.

 

wow that looks good!

 

That interior's gonna be different - kudos !

 

Very neat, clean and traditional. Nice

 

thanks guys. i'm gettin excited about it and the price is right.

 

cool car, i have jumped through all the same hoops with the rear wheel rubbing and im about to either raise my ride height 1 1/2" to stop the driveshaft from slamming into the floor... or install a gambinos shoebox notch. It seems like the only way to go lower than mine (3" drop mono leafs and 3" blocks) is to do a notch and raise the floor. i had just enough clearance when i lowered the car ten years ago but with the sag the happens over time im sitting with less than an inch between the dif and the floor, or an inch and three quarters from axle to frame.
kinda freaky how similar our cars are huh?

 

haha, yea the color of yours is pretty close to mine. yours is gorgeous man. Plus you got a nice mature chop.
As far as the rub i dont know what to do aside of buy a set of standard wheels which wont be the look i wanted. It sucks because i only need about a half an inch more to get a good clearance. But i have pounded out every last centimeter i can out of it. I also can tell when i go low that my driveshaft is gunna hit too. Going low is NEVER easy. Everything i have owned i have usually lowered and its always a sacrifice for the look. If you get any ideas let me know. "Hombres Ruin" has a '50 shoebox with the same wheel setup but he doesnt rub and i dont know how that can be unless his rear end is narrower or something.

 

Bill, at a glance I actually thought this was your car.
10 years...I had forgotten that we were both working on our cars at the same time.
Watch it with the deep notch, I only went with a 4" notch on my frame and with all the air out of the bags, the G-78's hit the top of the wheelwells before the axle touched the notch. I also raised the tunnel for clearance.
I ended up going with a shorter tire, but Ive got that much extra trunk space.

 

Hey chop32 what kind/size tire did you end up going to instead of the g78's?

 

I used 600-15 BFG's for a while, but they looked too small with the car at ride height, so I finally ended up with 6.40-15 Firestones on a 5" wide rim.

 

Interior should be done soon (hopefully a couple days)

Door Panel Teaser:

 

If you want a narrower rearend look for a 1963 falcon sprint with a V8 in it.This is the shortest 8" rear ens that Ford made.They are 56" wide and have 10" drums.It is a bolt in for your car and will give you some extra clearance.They are not cheap,but will be less that a custom width rear.I have one in my 62 falcon for clearance.Just something to think about.

 

Thanks DirtyEd! This information is very handy. I will be on the lookout now for one.

 

you got rid of it? traded for a bagged '50? sounds like a good deal. how do you like it? I'm also in Arizona.

 

Are those wheels of an 80's Ranger?
Interesting look to them..........maybe ditch the hubcaps though.

I'm thinking a set of those wheels on a 30's highboy would make a cool impact, no?

 

Nice looking 50! I like the color. Looking forward to seeing it lower.

 

yup, ugly ranger rims had to go. i got rid of those. if you see the other pics i switched the wheels up

thanks man. you got a hot one too! i gotta start saving a lot to get her bagged though