Projects 1954 Ford Customline Resurrection/Build

If you search Amazon for the Aerostar Springs, Moog CC850 Coil Spring Set, you can see one of the first reviews is about installing them in a 1954 Ford. It even list the shocks to use.


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hey just a heads up, the reason the line that runs over youre u bolts has that coil over it is to prevent vibrations wearing a hole in your line where it makes contact. not a crisis but you can always slio a small diameter rubber hose over that section as a safety measure

 

Do these shorter coils mess up the front end geometry? I cut the springs in my '53 chevy and it started wearing the tires FAST. Any drop spindle options for these fords?


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From what I’ve read, no.


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No they do not. Also common swap on the '49-'51 shoe box's to lower them about 2" in the front.

 

Save yourself a bunch of money, and shop around for a pos Ford with a good running 302, C4 transmission, and 8" rear end. You can use the drive shaft, radiator, and maybe the disc brakes with a bearing change. Simple.

 

Talk to this guy.
http://www.dropnstop.com/full-size-ford.html

 

On my '59 Ford, I used the lower holes to mount the master. The hole to hole spacing (~3.20") is the same on the later Mustang and Fairlane masters. I'm using a Speedway dual drum-disc master on my car. I just ran bolts through the upper bracket holes and used nuts on the other side.

I do use an adapter plate, I needed to stiffen up the firewall for the clutch master. It picks up on all 4 holes and is made from 1/4" steel plate.

 

An alternator should change between 13.8 and 14.1 volts. Over that and it drinks the battery water and could be harmful to the battery or worse. Looking at the wiring pictures, a re-wire might be a good idea.

 

You really need to address that rusted out front cross member back on page 2 before you progress much further. Have you located or repaired the front cross member yet? A new wiring harness can be obtained from Rebel Wire, an Alliance Member on here. I would get the frame rust issues repaired before you have to tear it all out to repair something back a ways. I don't want to see you putting the cart in front of the horse then loose interest.

 

There were a couple on eBay last I checked. I spent some time last night reading reviews of local shops to do the frame repair. It's high on the list.


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I actually had to rewire since that photo to get it to charge to the aforementioned 16v while running. The wire which I currently have running to the coil is connecting to the coil after the circuit runs through the ballast resistor, which I think may cause the alternator to read lower voltage, causing it to put out more voltage than necessary. I am going to try running the wire to the "in" terminal of the ballast resistor to see if that helps bring the voltage down to normal levels.


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Thank you Sir. I hadn't heard anything about it for awhile and would not to hear that you; had an accident due to it, done a lot of other work and now have to un do it to repair it, just disappear. Make sure to keep us informed as to the repair and show us pictures when you get it done.

 

Great project. Definitely a nice clean body to start with. Keep it up!

 

Small update, i still cannot get my hand into the seemingly 0 cubic inch space that I need to to get the rear brake lines connected back to the adapter/splitter (whatever it's called) on the frame near the steering box to get the brakes up and going again. I put this task on the back burner after the below occurred.

A few weeks ago, After deciding it was best to put the brakes down for a day or two and come back later with fresh motivation, I charged up the battery and ran the car a bit so I could tune up the carb (it had supposedly been rebuilt, but who knows) and listen to the rockers after adjusting them (still noisy, of course). I also put a vacuum gauge on while tuning the carb and everything looked great. It seems to run good, although the faint smell of burning oil is pretty overpowering after a bit.

It was at this point that I noticed oil pouring out all over my driveway. It seemed to be coming from the back of the engine. The guy I bought it from told me he had put a new rear main seal in and a new clutch. I'm thinking it blew that out and probably sprayed the clutch with oil (the flywheel cover was missing from the car when I bought it, there is now oil everywhere under there).

So... I quickly decided it was time to take some of the early advice I got here and hunt down a replacement engine, rather than pulling and rebuilding the 239.

I found a 302 on FB and snagged it, and what I think is an AOD trans, on the cheap and am in the process of rebuilding that.

So the plan for now is to take my time, read a lot, and get the 302 rebuilt properly, pull the 239 and get the crossmember repaired while it's out, get the brakes back in order while the engine is out, clean and paint, clean up some wiring, and pop the 302/AOD combo in following the guide on the 1954ford.com forum. Simple, right?

Once all that's done I'll probably attempt to clean up and revive the 239 on a dirt cheap budget and figure out something to do with it and the old trans.

All that to say, I haven't posted much (or done much other than research lately) but the 54 ford is not going anywhere anytime soon. Plans of light mechanical and maintenance work and cruising this spring have drifted into plans of major updates and cruising maybe late summer and fall..

That's all for now!

 

^^^ I had the same experience with my '51 Shoe Box kind of. Did one side of the bodywork last winter with the vision of driving all last Summer and finishing the other side body work and shiney paint this winter. Then my wiring harness started smoking and now finally being re-wired and body work finished. Don't give up or be overwhelmed, just keep at it and you will be cruising.

 

Also not entirely sure if the old 239 would pass emissions testing to get tags in nashville either..


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^^^^Would it not be exempt due to the age?

 

Still plugging away slowly on the ford.. over the last few weeks, I pulled the engine out, got my 302 block freshened up, and pulled out the ratty wiring. Yesterday I got the transmission and drive shaft out.

Last week I also took the front bumper and splash pan off to prep for getting the crossmember repaired. I'm open to suggestions.. the only frame repair shop that gave me a quote quoted $1,800 to fabricate a new crossmember and weld it in, which I thought was way out of line. What do y'all think?

I keep pulling parts out, can't wait to start putting them back in...







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I found a new fabbed 56 front crossmember on ebay for 300 bucks. I replaced it myself with all my suspension in.
Use allthread to lock the springs, then pop out the A arm bolt.
Bang the new member between the rails, bolt up and check the front end alignment. Then weld er up.
It was easy

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$300 sounds more reasonable than $1800. WTF was that guy smoking wanting that much?
The 54 looks similar to the 55-56 cross member but I'm not totally sure.
Good luck.

 

That $300 doesn't include labor...

 

https://www.1954ford.com/ has a form that might be of some help on parts and other topics.

 

Will the 55-56 crossmember work? I see them from Goodell Fabrications sometimes but wasn't clear if they would fit.

I don't have a welder or the requisite skills to weld it in unfortunately, so I'll have to have someone else do it..


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Not sure. It looks real similar.
My buddy put his fluxcore 110v in his trunk and brought it over.

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Tyler, check out a build by member Shane Spenser, his post is “54 Customline daily driver”.
He had the same problem with the front crossmember and replaced his. Check out his post.
I was reading his posts for a few months before starting my 54 customline. Feel free to check out mine also...good luck with your build. Now that I found your thread, I’ll be watching. I’m doing the same car.

 

Excellent day! Never underestimate a flux core welder in capable hands.

 

I'm not 100% sure that "capable" is how I describe my hands, but I'll take the compliment, brother.

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Well, lots has happened since I last posted.

I’ve been slowly accumulating 302 parts, and ended up buying a donor car on the cheap to swap the frame out (and got lots of parts to sell to more than make up for the cost).

I’ve been stripping and painting the “new” frame, and thought the front crossmember was fine until I got around to hammering out the bolts that hold the lower A-arm on and the rust fell out and revealed Swiss cheese.

I was pretty devastated but found a mobile welder to come by and he did a great job patching it up. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the original frame.

Now if only I could figure out how to post pics from my phone...

Next step is finish rebuilding the front end, lift the car body and start stripping and painting the underside of that.




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