Projects The '40 MorDor project

A little background that set the ball in motion on this one:

About a year and a half ago, Dad sold his house, and I lost the free storage on my '54 F100 pickup. It was my "high school hot rod", and I hauled it home with no real plans for it. After sitting for 30 years, I got it running, did some spring pack rebuilding, and drove it some, but just didn't have the desire to pull it apart and start repairing all the rust that needed panels to fix.


Dad kept getting after me, telling me to sell the '54, and a couple of weeks ago, I wound up trading it for this '40 Ford four door sedan. I figured that I've got more interest in '40 Fords, and while it's a 4 door, I've already got a '40 coupe "hot rod", and a '40 1/2 ton stake truck "not rod", so a '40 mordor beater could be fun and would probably have a bit more value to somebody down the road.


The '40 sedan has a late 327, sporting the 350hp 327 Winters intake, double hump heads, and some 7 fin Vette covers, a TH400, and a '55 Chevy rear end. Front GM discs really push the wheels out too far, so I am considering a few other options to pull them back in to stock width.

I've got a dropped '40 axle, spindles, and reversing a spring for the front of it. Will be de-arching the rear springs and reversing the eyes, and adding some blocks to get it out of the current 4x4 stance that it's sporting. Those Cragar SSTs will be coming off and will be replaced with some painted steelies and early 50's Ford caps.

The current steering column is a '72 GM model, and I'm planning on putting a proper old Ford column back in it. I'm also planning on pulling out the firewall mounted power booster and master cylinder, and putting the pedal back under the floor.

I've also purchased a "Black Box" from @RacersRods, to begin the rewiring process.

I have been hesitant to post this one, since I have a couple of guys that have expressed some mild interest in the sedan, but IF they both pass, the project will proceed to get it on the road by the end of the summer.

 

Looks like it could be a fun project. Good luck with it.

 

Congrats - be sure to post updates

 

sounds like a good plan, go for it

 

Borrowed a band roller, from @andyg, and reversed the main leaf of one of my stock 40 springs. Still need to give the ends a little BFH love, to take out the remaining old arch.

This coming weekend, I'll be picking up a dropped axle and spindles, and various other front end parts.

Work on the 40 mordor hasn't really started yet, as we have been working on getting Dad's T coupe ready for the MidAm Nats.

Memorial Day is my planned project kickoff.

 

This weekend, I took delivery of a bunch of goodies for the '40 MorDor.

I got a dropped axle with spindles, dropped bolt on arms, tie rods, a steering box, a steering column with worm gear (to replace the stub left in the '40 box that I got), a '41 column cover with the shifter arms. At the NSRA swap meet, I picked up a Granada 8 inch and a 2004R, but those may be held for a project to be named later.

This photo is one where I laid a stock '40 axle on top of the dropped axle, just to measure the amount of drop. Looks like it's about 2 3/4" over where the stock axle is.

Today, we moved the sedan over to a cleaner part of the shop, to begin the "altitude" adjustment. Got the front end out, and one of the perch pins, however, one is stuck in the old axle. I'm ditching the prior split wishbones, as they were pretty hacked up, in favor of splitting a set that I had in my parts supply.

Still debating on what to do about the front brakes. I could reuse the current GM discs, but they set the wheels out further than I would like. I've got a set of '40 drums that have been redrilled for 4 1/2" bolt circle, and would get me where I would prefer to be.

Working on a parts order, for the stuff I forgot to get, and should be putting the front end back under the car later this week.

 

Looking better already.

 

Keep it going...I'm on my 5th 4-door...I luv em! This one I traded a nice 64 Galaxie. It has a 50 Flatty, 39 Tranny, Duals...neat car, runs great. The 40 Sedan doesn't look as big when compared to my 06 GT Mustang.

 

Had a couple of busy and late evenings this week.

(initial mock up photo. Spring not "fully" compressed, but trying to get an idea where it's gonna wind up)

Due to the fact that the prior owner wasn't concerned about ride height, and split the existing wishbones by pie cutting them, welding the biggest piece of all thread that I have ever seen into the ends, and bolting them to some heavy duty angle irons on the frame rails, we decided to do a fresh split wishbone.

@okiedokie had some of the individual Chassis Engineering brackets, that he shipped to me, and we mocked those up and some new bungs and tie rod ends, on Wednesday night. While they are intended to be bolted on, we opted to use one bolt, to "locate" it, and welded them to the X member.

We've got everything mounted back under the front of the car, however, one of the front wheel bearings was toast, so we couldn't get the rotors mounted onto the spindles. I've got an order waiting on my at the local O'Reilly store, so hopefully I can get that done tonight, and get it sitting on the ground.

I never dreamed that finding a set of stock 15x6 chevy steel wheels would be as much of a pain in the butt as it has been. Due to the fact that we had taken a set of chromed 15x6 Chevy Rally style wheels off of the front of Dad's T coupe, I chose to take the path to least money spent, and ordered a set of 15x5's for the front. Had a set of 165/80/15's installed on the 5 inchers, and some 235/75/15's on the 6's. Gonna slap some of the flatter "Highway Patrol" caps on them.

Once the front is back on the ground, we'll start the process of the rear end altitude adjustment.

 

Cool man! Good to see some more detail shots.

 

What, no crap about the decision to be cheap and use the chromed Chevy ralley's leftover from the T???

BTW...I will get a few shots of "The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY" for you tonight.

I picked up my bearings and seals, over the lunch hour, so the plan is to have this thing on all 4 tires tonight.

 

Nah... Moon caps'll fit over 'em anyways!

 

Wish you would quit messin around and get something done.

 

A few shots from after we set it back down on the ground.
Full on "Hound Dog" stance.

A worm's eye view of the current grille height. As the back end gets lowered, that will come up a bit. Yes...that's a transmission cooler line hanging down that will be relocated when we start the engine compartment work.

The rear fender gap, after some jumping up and down on the rear bumper, is now at about 5". Some spring de-arching and the 3" lowering blocks should get me in the right ballpark.

A view from the passenger side. I've seen "highs" and "lows" before, but the current stance is a bit extreme. LOL

Due to a bunch of clearance issues, and not wanting to modify the spindles more than they already are, I have decided to swap out the current discs for a "metric" setup. I went ahead and put the old rotors on so I could set it on it's own weight and see where the tire/fender clearance was going to end up. I'm pleased.

 

Dang! Talk about a stink bug! I don't mind where the front tires landed, could be further in but they don't look weird and should tuck in enough to clear the fenders and steering range.

Loving it.

 

Tim, the rotors that are on the car appear to be early Nova, or something like that. They are about the widest discs that you can put on one of these things. After looking at the parts and modifications that I would have to do to the spindles and such, I've decided to put the same ones that I have on the coupe. Should tuck in a bit more when they are on there, and have it sitting right.

Not quite sure of how soon I'll be able to get back to work on it. I have to travel for work this coming week, and tomorrow, Doug and I are running over to the SW corner of MO to look at an AD truck that he's wanting to buy. Might spend Sunday afternoon/evening working on de-arching the rear springs and making lowering blocks for it.

 

Cool man take some good before and after shots so I can see how much it tucks in. I keep telling Sarah every time I see this thing that I want it and she keeps asking where I'm putting a fifth car lol

 

Keep it going! Looking better all the time!

 

good looking sedan

 

Doug and I took the day off, today, and ran down to Anderson, MO, to look at a '52 Chevy AD truck that he was interested in. After we got there, his interest went right back out the window. We may go down to the shop to tear up the rear end tomorrow, after church.

 

LOL. It's definitely "available" to anybody that has the right amount of Benjamin's.

 

Hmm I could just park it out side right? Lol

 

You buy it and I'll help ya replace the window rubber all the way around. Then you could do that.

 

At least the rear axle center is closer to being at the imaginary line across the bottom of the rear fender

I realize that this is not the appropriate use of a lowering block, but it did serve as a good measuring tool.
Getting closer to the right rake.
I may need to put a stock main leaf back into the car, versus the reversed eye leaf that I used.

Since I am going to be out of town for the next few days, I decided to head down to the shop, after church, and see if I could get some arch out of the rear springs. Without reversing the eyes, I was able to coax about 2" out of them. With the weight on the car, they are now flat.

Unfortunately, I was a little distracted by the way that the previous owner set up the rear spring mounts and didn't think through how easy it would be to make my lowering blocks and go ahead and put them in. I've gotta put in new spring bushings, anyway, so I will knock out the blocks later this week.

 

It's looking good Brett. I am looking forward to seeing how the stance turns out.

Steve

 

Finally got back to the shop with some new urethane leaf spring bushings. Got the old ones out and got my 3" blocks in. Finally sitting right. Brought the grille chin up to about 5".

Brakes and shocks are the agenda for next week. Then a carb rebuild and wiring.

 

much better. the old rake screamed "bootlegger!"

 

Due to some issues with the pre-existing disc brakes and calipers, I chose to punt and install the Speedway "metric" disc setup on the front of the car. They fit great, has no interference issues, and the new rotors moved the wheels inward at least a half an inch. I'm trying to ID the power booster on this thing, and the nearest I can find appears to be a 66 Chevrolet C10 pickup. If anybody has a better idea of its origin, I'd be grateful for the info.

 

Had a pretty dang busy week, this past week, so not much to report on the MorDor, other than:

Stopped by the shop on the way home from work, Thursday, and yanked off the old externally regulated alternator. Went to O'Reilly and picked up an internally regulated one to take it's place.

Saturday afternoon, Doug and I ran down to the shop and I swapped the master cylinder for one that we had as a spare, and filled it up to get ready to bleed brakes. I had stopped by a buddies house, on Friday evening, and we did a "quick rebuild" of the Holley carb, so we bolted it up and did a little plumbing work. Found that we had cut one of the O rings in the crossover tube, so I pumped fuel all over the intake for a few seconds.

After a 20 mile round trip to the parts store, we were able to swap out the O ring and cranked the motor over a few times. Did get it to fire and run for about 5 seconds, but it acted like the car was out of time and backfired through the carb. We started to set the timing, and found that a stock Chevy HEI doesn't fit with a '66-67 Vette 350HP/327 intake. Doing some quick "least cost" analysis, the conclusion was to pull the old Edelbrock Streetmaster intake off of my 283 (sitting in the corner of my garage), and use it on the 327.

The Streetmaster has a chunk broken off around the driver's side water outlet hole, so I am attempting a "quick fix" repair with some JB Weld and will put a helicoil in it. If that is successful, it'll go on the 327, and I'll be able to fire the motor later this week.

 

Here's a few shots from my "Hillbilly repair" on the streetmaster intake. While it would be better to have it welded, redrilled, and tapped, I'm taking the "free to me" option