Projects 54 Ford Customline daily driver

HELPPP. Need some help guys, i somehow misplaced this upper pivot bracket for the vent window and cant seem to find a replacement. Anyone have one laying around. Need one for the drivers side

 

If you've haven't already...you should post that up in the 52-59 Ford Social Group.

 

Got the stainless mocked up on the door panels




Lines up nice with the rear panels




You can also see how the paint scheme on the dash will roll into the window garnishes once there painted



Tig'd the lower pivot shaft back into the drivers side vent frame and put in the new glass



Started installing more stuff in the dash and pulling some wires




When i did the interior on my '62, the door panels had screws holding them on and i didnt like the look. That was the one thing that drove me insane after that car was done, it was the one major flaw with that interior. For this car i ordered some more clips and got the door panels all lined up and snapping on with stock style clips




And got the pass side covered




Im having a few issues getting the panel to snap in now with the vinyl wrapped, but the stock holes in the door are kind of dimpled or recessed into the door, i think if i can flatten them out to level out with the surface of the sheetmetal ill be good to go

 

Interior is looking great! Everything flows nicely.

 

Drivers side buttoned up for the most part

 

Lookin good. Have you done upholstery before? Most people don't even attempt it. And those that do usually screw it up pretty bad.


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Beautiful


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Thanks guys

Voodoo i did my 62 belair with ezboy products too. It turned out good but there were details that i did wrong and learned from. Im pretty happy with how this is turning out so far


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Did you see the panels yourself?


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Hey I haven't seen any updates lately, do you think you'll be ready for the mob town greaseball I want to check your car out in person


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Hey guys sorry for the lack of updates. Been super busy with shows, work and helping a few buddys with side work on there cars. Ill have pics soon. Cars coming along slowly but surely. Fuel lines are ran, fuel filter mounted, brake lines almost complete, still runnin wiring. Removed the old pinstriping, other small updates too. Ill get back with pics shortly


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Clutch linkage is in and working well, starters back in, my original blower motor actually works so i guess the previous owner wired it wrong. Went on a big roadtrip for a few weeks out west, got to check out sema and a ton of really cool spots in colorado, nevada, utah, cali and arizona. So needless to say progress has been slow on the car


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Nothing special. Im slackin on pics but heres the blower motor all freshened up

 

Updates, had to modify the trans mount i made. The rubber mount settled a bit and the t5 case was super close to rubbing so i ground down that lip on the trans bracket to clear



Flat top bob from owens salvage got me hooked up with a vent window pivot so all my windows are now back together and working properly



Ended up running around today for hose clamps and fresh heater hose and a few other odds and ends



Got the radiator hoses on for good, little crossover hose on, heater hoses cut and ran and used the “roadkill” zip tie wire seperator method. Actually works great haha. Im also trying to orient my hose clamps to keep the screw end hidden



Whipped up some battery cables with parts from del city. Highly recommend them. Great stuff and incredibly simple to use. Tried to keep these pretty tidy looking



Pretty happy with the engine bay so far. Trying to keep it as clean as possible



Threw a dab of jb weld on the molding hooks on the backside of the door panels just for extra insurance so they stay put



The sheetmetal access covers for the doors are on now that the windows are all set



Its been around 10 degrees here and with the holidays and other life ventures progress has been slow but im trying to pick back up. This cars getting close. Got a kerosene heater to take the edge off

 

So the kick panels fit pretty damn well but i needed a way to make sure they stay put, the inner structure behind them is fairly strange shaped and not easy to mount anything to and i didnt wanna modify the panels. Heres how they look just sitting in place



They dont go anywhere but i wanted some extra insurance to make sure. Snagged some industrial velcro and gave it a shot. Actually works great and is incredibly strong.





Put two pieces along the back edge to make sure the panels stay where they should. Works incredibly well. Pinion shims also showed up. Couldnt find any 2” wide shims for old narrow leaf springs so i got some 2.5” wide steel ones from rubicon express. I know too many people that have cracked aluminum ones so i didnt want to try those, these are 6 degree shims by the way



Obviously there too wide so i cut them down to 2”




Worked like a charm. I also ordered a set of plugs finally. Need a few other small parts, need to set the points gap, i also need a set of scuff plates for the door sills. If you have a set you can spare, give me a holler id greatly appreciate it. Then i need to bang out the wiring and she’ll be almost ready. Anyone rewire a 54 with a rebel wire harness ? Any tips or any other things ill need before i get started?

 

I really like your body side trim better than what is on my 55 Fairlane. It gives it a cleaner look

 

You're giving me inspiration to get out in my garage !!

 

A++ on the battery cables.

 

This was a big help when I wired my '54 The universal harnesses are "GM friendly" and the headlight circuits are different on these Fords from a GM style switch the little book can help you with that. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Book-How-To-Wire-Your-Street-Rod,2824.html Since you will be upgrading headlights get this ebay item put this in search # 262483542712 the stock headlight switch will thank you.

 

Thanks 55 and DIY ! And Jeff thanks for the wiring tips, im a newbie when it somes to wiring haha

 

Scored some scuff plates on Ebay




Got some fresh plugs, gapped them, set the points gap and threw on the new cap as well



Got a new door striker in since the teeth were busted up on my old one



Got an optima red top to throw in



But de labeled it and painted the top. As much as i love these batteries i cant stand how they look in an old engine bay



The optima sticker on the side faces the fender well and isnt visible

Also got a welding table for the shop which took up last weekends progress on the car. 3x8’ 1/4 plate with 5/8” holes on 2” center. Awesome little kit from a company called weldtables

 

When i went to set the points gap, the ole y block didnt wanna turn over. I guess sitting for 7 or 8 montha froze it up a bit. Threw a little oil over the rocker assemblies and down the pushrod cavities on each bank and dumped the remainder of each quart down the fill tube. Shot some wd in the plug holes and she spun free. One thing i am noticing now that the driveshaft is in, the car doesnt wanna roll while its in gear. I posted earlier in the thread that the output shaft on the trans seemed tight once it was all bolted up, maybe the input shaft is a bit too long ? The car literally wont roll in gear, rearend is free, engine turns pretty easy with a breaker bar, gotta be trans related

 

So after poking around more, the motor was never locked up. The input shaft is indeed too long, it was bottoming out against the crank hard enough that the trans and engine didnt wanna turn. As soon as i loosened the trans bolts up and gave it some slack, the engine and trans both turn by hand easily.

For anyone else doing a t-5 swap onto a Y, you need a 93 or older t5 (which is what i have) with the shorter input shaft. Apparently even with the shorter input shaft, some guys have needed to trim about 1/8” off the end due to clearance issues. This is more common with the mummert adapter from what ive read, although i did find a couple guys who had the same issue with the modern driveline adapter like i have. Not sure why this is an issue on some engines and not others, maybe crank differences?? It seems guys with all size Y’s have had the issue tho, 272, 292 and my little 239.

Long story short the trans is out of the car, im gonna trim the input tomorrow, get that all bolted back up and start working on pinion shims and brake lines

 

When I did the t5 conversion on my 54 Ford I used the adapter from mummerts and I had to trim the input shaft down for sure.

 

So i trimmed off a hair on the input shaft, about the length of the taper, a tad over 1/8”. Cleaned up the end and added a new taper to it

Bolted everything back in, starter back in, and everythings moving smooth as butter. Also got my pinion shims installed, the lower column mount to steer box is done and the lower column toeboard cover is on

 

Somewhat stumped here. Brake lines are done, bled the master cylinder, had a few leaks throughout the brake system but got everything tightened up. Wouldnt build any pedal pressure when we tried to bleed, would only build pressure to about an inch off the floor, so i rebled the master and tried again. Same thing. Im getting fluid to the pass side rear and there doesnt appear to be bubbles, but the pedal pressure isnt there. Do i need to do anything special since i have an adj prop valve in line? I also saw one guy say to crack both front bleeders and pump untill fluid is coming from both, then do the same on the rears, then proceed with the normal bleeding sequence


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Best tool I've ever used it works with your air compressor: https://www.harborfreight.com/pneumatic-brake-fluid-bleeder-61912.html Start bleeding at the pass side rear then drivers side next the pass side front and lastly the drivers side front.

 

Tried the harbor freight bleeder. Still no pedal pressure


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Re checked all my fittings, nice and tight. Rear shoes are adjusted properly. The pneumatic bleeder pulled a good amount of fluid through but the bubbles never worked out. Not sure if the air was in the brake lines or just sucking through one of the line connections on the bleeder lines. Regardless no pedal pressure. If you pump the hell out of it for like a minute youll get maybe an inch of pedal, but as soon as its released and you hit the brake again itll go right back to the floor


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Did you convert to disc on the front ? And is there a power brake booster ? You might have an assistant pump the pedal while you are under the car swabbing the fittings with soapy water and watching for bubbles. I replaced all my wheel cylinders and the master on a hot day 105 had several PBR's got everything buttoned up and realized I didn't bench bleed the master the Harbor freight bleeder sucked all the air out of the system just by doing the rear bleeders only I did the fronts but no air was there.