Hot Rods Street Rod to Hot Rod Conversion

So I had a steel '34 Ford 3 window for many years but stuff happens and I sold it about 10 years ago although I did not want to.
Went through a few cars since then but have always wanted to get another 3 window but just couldn't swing the money for one.
Here is my old coupe that I had set up pretty much like I always wanted.

 

That looks badass! Did you pick up another one?

 

A few months ago a buddy had this car and decided to sell it as he has a pretty nice 51 Merc too. He offered it to me at a price that was just too good to pass up. It is an all glass car that was built in 1988 and it shows with all the classic stuff from that time period with the smoothie/monochrome paint and Centerines.
It does have "good bones" as they say with a nice fully boxed frame, SuperBell dropped axle with 4 bar and disk brakes, C3 Corvette rear suspension, all done very nicely. It has a 231 Buick V6 , T-350, heat and a/c, fancy booming stereo, and still has crank out windshield.

 

So change of powerplant first thing on the agenda or is it wheels?

 

So I have to de-street rod it and create a proper hot rod out of it!
First will be adding door handles, trunk handle, big headlights (or at least chrome headlights as I have an extra set), mirrors, and get rid of all the billet crap and replace with stock stuff (inside door handles, windshield cranks, inside mirror, gad peddle, gauge bezel). I'm not a big fan of the steering wheel and shifter either. The car came with a shorter Lokar shifter so will use that and go with a 60's/70's smaller 3 spoke steering wheel.style

 

Then the big decision, do I go fenderless and kind of duplicate my old car or keep the fenders and build a more traditional "CA Kid" type car. Part of me likes the idea of having a "reacher" with a/c that gets decent gas mileage that I can drive the wheels off of. That would entail keeping the fenders, covering the running boards with rubber pads, may some steelies or Halibrands or TQ's, I have smooth steel hood sides which I would punch louvers in, keep the small Buick motor but maybe add a small B&M blower(?), maybe convert to a 5 speed manual trans or at least a 700R. Something along the lines of these cars.

 

But the racer hot rodder in me likes a bad ass scare the old ladies and children hot rod too. That would mean no fenders, maybe a 392 or a 401 nailhead with a blower and a 9" or maybe a quick change rear. It wouldn't be a road trip car but it would be fun to tear around in and maybe occasionally drag race. Something like these. I've also always loved the late Jim Ewings SuperBell coupe. The last photo really gets me going. So that is another option where I could have both fenderless bad ass look but still run the Buick and have a/c. Not sure how "traditional" that car would be considered though.

 

Yeah, those CenterLines have to go! Never been a fan of them even back in the 70's when they first came out. I had thought about painting them gloss black though, getting rid of the fake knock offs and running chrome lug nuts or maybe some sort of small centercap so they look like steelies.

 

All of the fenderless cars are channeled over the frame. Anyone ever channel a glass car before? I've done steel cars but this is my first glass car and don't know much about them. Do they make fiberglass welding rod?!?

 

Channeling with glass seems pretty basic...smelly ass hell though

 

Doesn't the 33-34 come from the factory with a channel?

 

Put a TBI or throttle body injection system on it, they are about $800 dollars, add A/C and drive the wheels of your choice off of it.

A buddy's son got a little Model A his Grandfather left him with the 231 Buick V6 TH 350 combo. He opted for the TBI and it really woke that little A pup up!

 

Hot Rod are to be driven …. so make it look the way YOU like and hit the highways !

otherwise, you will be disappointed with the results. Don't fret over whether or not it meets others approval and options.

 

a lot depends on your current way of life related to driving your ride - do you prefer to staying pretty close to home, or prefer to do long distance runs? - some of that would depend on what your close buddies are into as far as traveling - even though you got a good deal on the car, planning to spend a lot of extra money and time changing it makes me think that you should sell it as is - then buy another car closer to your end goal - even if you keep the car, a V-6 will never be as rewarding as a V8 when you and others hear the exhaust singing - my vote is swap out motor and get a v8/5-speed, keep the fenders -

 

I love 33-34s with fenders and if my car has them- they stay. But without fenders, badboy highboy! That's me though. And i agree with Jalopy. After seeing the coupe you had before- can you be happy with the v-6?

 

Food for thought
https://www.good-guys.com/hotnews/doc-mcclellands-33-ford-coupe/

 

Yeah, in stock form they are channeled a couple inches but not like the cars in the photos I posted. Those are channeled so the bottom of the body is at the bottom of the frame. Stock, the bottom of the body comes down about half way on the frame (see the photo of my yellow car in the first post. That is stock).

 

The car runs pretty good and already has a/c. It has a single 4 barrel Holley on it now but I'm sure one of the new TBI setups would improve it. I had a B&M blower on a 327 in a '29 Tudor that I had and liked the way it ran so that's why I thought about adding one to this car. It would be a lot cheaper and easier than replacing the engine with a V8. Still wouldn't have the V8 sound though.

 

That is part of my dilemma, not sure how I'll be using it. I used to live in southern CA so most of my car buddies are back there. I'm in rural north west NV now and don't really have any car buddies up here. So I am thinking I'd like to be able to take some long trips in this car, maybe driving to events across the country. Then again, I might trailer it behind my nice fancy diesel truck which has more room and comfort. I will be 62 next week so I've done my share of long road trips in hot rods so I have nothing to prove to anyone. On the other hand, there is nothing like doing a road trip in a hot rod!
I also have a '63&1/2 Galaxie Z code car I'm building. The chassis, engine and driveline are done and just doing body and paint now. That car has a 450HP 390 and 4 speed. It is a big comfortable car but won't get very good gas mileage but I'm not sure how much I care about that. Other than the gas thing, it would be a great road trip car.

 

Yeah, they are cool either way! I guess for now I'll leave the fenders and just do the de-street rod thing to it and play it by ear. I like the way your car looks so maybe I'll flame it to give it some color. Really don't like the everything black look it has now.

 

Wow, what a cool car! Would have never guessed it was glass. Definitely something to think about. Like I said, I can just run it like it is for now with minor mods and then down the road I can always pull it apart and redo it to something like that car.

 

Definite potential, an OEM dash and glove box as you stated along with big headlamps etc would really change the look, are you able to remove a leaf in the rear to get it a tad lower? Or remove the IRS and go a QC with transverse rear spring to match the front suspension and be more period correct?

 

There are some real hot rod-types in the Gardnerville area.

 

One thing I don't like but not sure what to do about it is the way the rear tire / axle sits. It looks like the axle center line is about 1" too far forward in the wheel well. It also sits a little high for my tastes. I'll have to play around with it it to see if I can lower it slightly. I know you can lower a Corvette pretty easily with the spring bolts so should be the same here. I guess I could run a taller tire too to fill in the wheel well a bit.
Not sure what to do about the center line though short of hacking off all the mounts and rewelding them to the frame.

 

A QC has crossed my mind. I wanted to put one in my yellow car but sold it before I did. If I go fenderless than I'd be more inclined to run one as it shows more. The Corvette transverse spring has bolts at each end and you can lower them by using longer bolts. I'll try that first and then see how it looks.
Yes small things like door handles, big headlights, and dash can make a big difference in the look and feel of the car without too much work or money.
One thing I want to stay cognoscente of is how much money I put into this car as it is a glass car. If it was steel then I wouldn't even think about it but I'm not sure about glass car values. I have seen some glass cars for sale at higher prices but asking price ain't selling price. On the other hand, I got this car at a very good price so maybe I shouldn't worry about it.

 

Yes I believe so but have only been up here a year and haven't had time to meet anyone yet or go to any shows.

 

I was hoping that by lowering the rear trailing arm suspension that it might centre the tyres better in the rear fenders by pushing them back slightly? Short of cutting everything out to remount it correctly, installing a rear cross member with transverse spring, QC and bones requires a bit of fabrication. In the interim you can just drive it, swap in what is needed as well as collect other sparts for the eventual upgrade. When the time is right you can pull it off the road and do what needs to be done.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/de-street-rodding-a-34-ford-coupe.1011343/

Not sure if you’ve seen this thread..it’s worth a look.

 

with right trans & rear gears can make most anything hwy friendly - had a '66 Ford Fairlane GT with a warmed up 390, close ratio 4-speed, very tall rear gears (some factory set-ups where 2:85) - from a stop it was a slug - on the fwy at 70 mph would shift into 2nd gear and would launch like hit a nitrous button

 

Personally I like that model better with fenders and fenderless 34 coupes seem to be pretty close to belly buttons in the hot rod world. I like the idea of loosing the street rod look and going to a hot rod look with some chrome in the right places and no billet unless it is painted and is now machined aluminum.
Not sure about the engine but a little hot rod with an engine that will give the big dogs a run for their money while laughing it's way pass a few gas stations that those big V8's in the same coupe would have to stop at has it's merits. It's rather nice to be able to stop where you want to for gas rather than where you have to on some road trips.