Projects 54 Ford Customline daily driver

Looking good!


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Started getting the raised trunk floor tacked in place last night

 

Kool!!!!!!!!!!!

 

On my 52 I had to raise the trunk floor like your doing, but I also had to bring the center section back to clear the differential. Just be sure to check that before you get it welded up. Work looks great so far.

 

Its tight but clears with me jumping like a banshee on the rear bumper. I dont think im quite as low as you either tho


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She coming together really well!

 

Thanks man. Has anyone re wired a 54 ? I ordered a rebel wire 9+3 harness. Anyone have a recomendation on good quality light bulb sockets for all the lights on the car?


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Got the rest of the trunk floor welded up. Heres a pic of it after i tacked it in. Looks close to factory



Brushed on a quick coat of rustoleum, gonna seam seal over the welds next and then paint everything before i lay the dynamat down

 

Got some parts in. Rebel wire 9+3 harness



Rear shackle kit from MAC's



Gold paint for the engine and white paint for the exhaust manifolds



And some chrome valve covers



Also i finally found a 49 ford steering wheel on ebay in great shape so i picked that up for a good deal

 

I like those valve covers! Im rewiring my 54 right now. I placed my battery in the trunk, I used American Autowire but i hear great things about rebel. For the light sockets i went to napa and picked a couple of these up
They look like the one on the right. i slid the new wires off their little spring thing and slid them through our little backing on the left.
You actually dont even need to remove that little plastic thing. just pop of your bulb and push it out from the back.

 

Thanks man there just chrome ones from speedway. Like $40 sor the pair. I found some prewired light bulb sockets for the headlights and taillights. There around $2 a piece so ill probably just go that route. Need to source up some dash light sockets


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Got my 49/50 steering wheel in that i found on ebay. I think no one was bidding on it because its orange haha. The wheels in great shape though, plan on painting it white. The original '50 horn ring is the one i posted earlier in the thread and is another ebay find, and the 49 horn button is a repop from shoebox central

 

Love those steering wheels. Great progress so far.


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Keep up with the pictures, great build.


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Nice build... I like it alot , much good work here...How is it with the 49/50 steering wheel , is it bolt on to the steering column or what needs to be done ?

 

Oldstyle, im hoping it just bolts right on. 49/50 is the first year it went to a splined steershaft and i believe it remained the same untill the late 50's at least. Might have to modify the column some to clear the wheel


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Bent up a trans cover today after work. Just need to drill holes and put in the nutserts to bolt it down



Also cut out some sheet metal access panels to replace the stock cardboard ones in the doors since they always seem to retain moisture and deteriorate



Got the driveshaft tunnel seam sealed as well but no pics of that

 

Nice job on the rear notch and floor. Very sanitary.

 

Floor is pretty well finished. Seam sealed the driveshaft tunnel and raised trunk floor. Got buttonhead bolts holding the trans cover down. Gotta do a little more welding work up front around the firewall/trans tunnel area after i drop the trans. Then paint and dynamat.



Pulled the hood, battery and tray, heater box intake and blower motor, throttle linkage, choke, radiator and fan among other things. Undo the exhaust and motor mounts and itll be ready to pull

 

Got the engine and trans yanked. Tore the engine down pretty well, everything looked clean. Only concern i had was that the rocker overflow tubes were rubbing the valve springs just slightly. Other than that all looked great. I have a thread going on about tearing into a y block so hopefully i find out what to do with the overflow tubes

Heres some pics







Heres the overflow tubes. You can see the one has a perch its resting on and the other doesnt but both were rubbing the spring slightly




Im planning to pull the heads and check everything out as well. Im assuming the rocker assemblies come off as a whole piece and then just pull the heads, but ill do more research on that. Also read the end head bolts are 3 threads longer and to watch out for that. Good progress for now though

 

Just spent my morning reading up on your thread. Awesome job you are doing to this car!

 

Thanks a lot man !! I appreciate the compliment




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Threw down a quick coat of paint on the floor, wheel wells, tunnel and inner doors before work. Also got the inner door access panels i made dynamatted

 

Tore into the T-5 to check out all the internals. Looked surprisingly clean in there....






Got the shoebox steering wheel on the shaft. Bolts up just fine but theres a gap between the back of the wheel and the column so ill have to do some work to fill that





Got the majority of the car dynamatted. Still need to do the doors and toeboard area



Got the dash and column pulled out as well

 

Makes it a lot easier to rewire with it out,some guys suggest painting the inside white as it makes it easier to see under the dash. I changed all my bulbs in my '54 to LED's.

 

Jeff do you have a link or part number for the led lights? Id also like to wire the dash with quick disconnects if i can that way i can bolt the dash in and just clip the harnesses together


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Painted a few coats on some pulleys, blower motor housing and some other odds and ends. No pics of that yet. Also got the front bumper off and valance panel to get easier access to the front crossmember. Snoothed out the stock exhaust manifolds to get a smooth look. Heres a before and after




If anyone knows of one, i desperately need a front bumper BAD. mines SHOT !

 

Got the old front crossmember cut out. This thing was bad. Rotted to hell and looks like someone did some hack repairs to try and cover the rot. Heres some pics




New crossmember



Whacked out the original with the plasma. Check out the crap repairs. Pretty sketchy



New one set in the rails. Fits like a glove

 

Ya the quick clips are awesome for the dash! I used a 12 pin molex..I still have to tidy things up in there

 

Don't be too hard on the PO about the front crossmember... replacement ones weren't always available. I recall going to the local wrecking yards in the early 70s to buy every 'good looking' one I could find. Bought seven of 'em, then had them chemically derusted. I got back one that didn't have at least one rust hole in it....

Seen several with nasty looking repaired crossmembers, but they drove fine....