1935 Ford 3 Window Coupe Build (My dream car at a snail's pace in ultra-slow motion.)

Thanks gearhead bill. Did you sell yours back in 09? I might have seen it advertised.

 

Finally! Got my garage interior finished and machinery moved over from my old garage next door, so the 35 gets its turn and for the first time since I built the new garage it sits on the pedestal as number one in the collection. Here are some pictures from moving day.

 

The body looks pretty solid. HRP

 

Nice to see this thread be active again.
Now get on it!
Oh wait, who am I to talk.

 

Yes HRP it is the best I have ever had to work with.

Appreciate the sentiment Flowmeister, but the beast in the back ground with out the front clip has to go back together first. There is nothing more I'd rather do than throw that flathead out of the Merc in and see this thing move under its own power.

 

A quick progress report.

By now anyone subscribed, gets the title of this thread. Not much I can do about that, but there has actually been a little forward motion.

The bottom end of the "new" motor (post 39) is finally balanced (out 80 gm), and steps are being taken to get it together. Sunday I got the black paint stripped off the block and a new colour has been decided upon.

Today I cleaned out the block of the neglect (dust and grime) it has collected, since tearing it apart. Some of the external pieces, like pulleys, filler tube and breather tubes got blasted and primed today. The cam gear cover got a coat of clear over the bare aluminum, and the other pieces will get some paint tomorrow.

 

Woo-hoo!! man, thats great to hear. Sorry I havent called for a while, I will try to touch base this week sometime!
So your going to drive it out for Deuce days, right??

 

As stated in a previous post.

 

Here is a teaser on the engine's new colour choice.

 

I like it. What colour are you going to paint the car, Cream?

 

It will be ages before a final decision on the car's finished colour. It was originally Washington Blue. I'm going with grey primer as work progresses.

 

The engine colour is Chevy Sierra Gold?

 

Home Hardware Beauti-Tone Copper. Here's how it looks on the block just not as pink (fluorescent lights).

 

Just puttered on the 35 a bit today. Let myself get side tracked on the hole that the mill will call home.

Did a carnauba facelift on the left cowl and part of the firewall. Not too shabby for 81 year old paint. Guess a little wax goes a long way.

 

Yes, that looks a LOT different than the first photo.

 

Ooooh, progress. All ready to be stuffed.

 

^^Go man go!

 

Had an idea for a new Avitar, but one thing lead to another and.... It may be hard to make it out due to it's diminutive size. Here it is again, but bigger.

 

Engine assembly has been slow going, due to the efforts of a previous owner. I had very good reason to tear down a "new" motor.

Someone nicked the crank with a couple rod bolts. The new caps were installed and the crank rotated, cutting deep grooves in the new bearings. My overseer had to track down some new bearings for me.

We've cleaned up the crank journal, and installed the crank. We're finally ready to resume now that the Easter bunny is on break again.

 

nice car whats your plan for the cooling fan
a stock fan wont fit in a 35 /6 with an 8 BA
good luck
Bruce

 

I'm aware that there are issues, but there are several cars around running the newer flatheads. My plan is to research the solution. I've read here on the HAMB that there is a mechanical solution, can't remember the thread off hand. It is a bridge I can't cross till I get to, because I haven't had the engine in, allowing me to assess the problem. I know it is ahead. I am aware an electric fan may be the sole option. Thanks for the input.

 

I can't believe it has been 20 months since my last post. I guess I knew when I titled this thread that progress would be limited, but this is getting ridiculous. There are many things I could have done by now, but the usual excuses keep cropping up.

I spent a summer trying to keep a floundering car club afloat. A friend of mine needed to get his business up and running, and I've been selling off all the "projects in the wings", that have robbed my attention over the years. Not to mention an incident in the Canadian Rockies, just after Mother's day in 2016. Face to face with another car in your lane can mess with your head a bit. I ended up side down in a highway snow shed, mild physical damage, but well shaken and stirred.

Since then, most efforts, have been helping others get their projects rolling, but for me that's part of being a car guy, it doesn't count.

I have managed to plumb brake lines, and get my $20 `39 master and brake pedals in, so I'll post how I did that for now, hoping that I'll have a lot more to report in the near future. I've also undertaken the huge task of removing the decades old gray primer, just because I wanted to see what is left of anything original under there. You could say that the polishing of the firewall inspired the shove in that direction. Just a preview of some posts to come.

 

So, here is a shot comparing the original pedal assembly with the `39 unit. It is not an assembly for assembly swap, but definitely makes the swap easier.



The stock pedals(left) bolt in from the transmission side originally, and the `39 assembly has to go in from the outside of the left K member.

I found my `39 cluster at a swap meet a while back. I was talking to a couple young sellers about their 35s and one asked if I was going juice brakes. He directed me to look down at the pedals under the table. I asked, "is that what I'm going to need?" He said, "yup big bucks and hard to find". He proceeded to point out the 91 prefix in the part code and the mechanical attributes that make them unique for 39. I told him I was sold, but din't think I had the cash. What, you don't have $20.00 on you? SOLD but why not get more for them on the auction site? We rather they go on your three window. So that is the way that went down, honest. All they're info checked out when I got home so I consider them well bought the Canadian way.

Figuring out where to start when I did the swap turned out to be the challenge. I couldn't recall any threads I've seen on doing the deed, but there were some scattered bits of info that came up in a search. I knew before digging in, that the floor sheet metal plate around the pedals had to be clearanced. I also learned that the clutch arm at the transmission, had to be upgraded to a 39, which I didn't have.

I ended up figuring the most important thing was the pedal shaft location. All the holes had to be re-drilled anyway, so I made a masking tape template that marked the center of the shaft all the pedal arms ran through, in their relation ship to the original hole. After that, I transferred the info to the K member.





I didn't know if I was on the right train of thought so I played with the position of the templates a bit, thinking I should try to pick up an existing hole or two, but in the end I think I did the right thing.

 

I heated the clutch pedal arm and tweaked it to match the angle of the original. The brake actuation lever needed more room, so it went in and out a few times, to make sure there was enough clearance.

 

I bought the reproduction 39 trans lever from Mr. Drake, replaced all the bushings and clearanced a little around the floor for pedal arms and I'm a little closer to the road.

 

Making progress! Great project!

 

Just found/read through your build thread here. Great story, any updates?

 

Last fall the only thing stopping me from finalizing the engine assembly was a fuel pump. I have plenty of re-buildable used here, but sometimes it takes awhile to track things down like kits or new fuel pumps or the funds to buy them.

I was at a small swap meet in October making a deal on some parts for a 49 F68 I recently acquired and the thought occurred to me to ask about a fuel pump. I got an unexpected yes, and he even had the new pushrod and bushing I needed. I got the pump for $25 and he called his wife to get her to bring the new rod and bushing to the swap meet at no extra charge.

It is events like that are sometimes needed for a little incentive.

Earlier in my thread here, I showed the 80 plus year old fire wall paint after I cleaned it up a bit. Since then I gave in to a little temptation to see what was under the grey primer applied years ago. I started with a little spot on the cowl next to the firewall and found original color underneath.

I was hoping to reveal what I found after I had the car running and mobile, but other events have prevented that from happening, so far, so here it is anyway.



One thing lead to another and after days and weeks of rubbing and scrubbing I have this.

 

This car is sweet, love what your doing.

 

That is so cool that it was in such nice condition under the primer!