where is my 53 Ford custom? Found!!

Had that same problem, I dealt with the manufacture of the springs in St Louis instead of Jamco (that is another story) Mine were off by about 3/4", I knew it because my driveshaft would not fit. Anyway the owner of the shop in St Louis made it right.
I took the spring stack up apart and sent him the top spring.

 

No plans to round the hood corners, going to leave it this way for now. Still lots of work to do on this custom, but it will have to wait because I am back on my 33 five window project. Like my grown kids say "it never ends!"

 

Leadsled - you say the springs were off by 3/4" - meaning the mainspring was too long by that amount? Or did your spring position the rear axle assembly too far to the rear by that amount?
Thanks for your input on this problem!

 

34coupe,
It positioned my rear axle assembly too far forward. (I think) what ever it was it was obvious it was wrong. What was interesting is the man at the shop that built them stated he had made many to Jamco's specs and never heard of the problem. I'll see if I have my emails they had measurements.

Tim

 

Thanks Tim!

 

302 and auto is bit of a let down. I understand though if you have a tight budget and cant afford a cool period engine like a flat head or y-block 3 speed column shift. Cool car though. Good on you for finding it. Look forward to seeing it finished.

 

aussie57wag - I look forward to seeing the custom finished as well, but the project is on hold for now while I put together my 33 Ford 5 window coupe - that one does have a period motor - a 331 Cadillac.
Thanks for your comments!

 

dug thru my emails no luck.

 

Thanks for looking. Good luck with your car.

 

I really dig your project. I hope you post some progress pictures when you get back on it. Nice job.

 

I noticed that you have not done anything with the headlights. Old school trick is to mount the headlight bucket from the back instead of the front. Weld the trim ring to the fender. Give it that tunneled look.

 

Thanks! I like the car in your avatar, looks to be the same color my 53 convertible was as shown in the pics earlier in this thread. Hopefully will get back to this project soon, right now there are three others to deal with as well.

Will be doing some more mods on this one before it is ready for paint - thanks for the comment!

 

I stalled on this rebuild, but fortunately the son of fellow who built the custom in the early 60's (with some help from his brothers) has picked up the project. So it is going back to the original builder's family, where it should be. Shane is showing a lot of enthusiasm for the project, and has already picked up a motor, trans, wiring kit and other parts to put the old custom back on the road. Here are a couple of pics - the first shows the custom on the ferry going back to the mainland, and the second shows the car in Shane's shop.

 

Like many major rebuilds the start and stall, and start again, keep us up to date. HRP

 

Thanks for everything Steve! Glad this car is back in the family, longways to go on it. I will be getting to work on it very soon been a long six weeks making room for it.

 

Keep us posted on your progress, Shane. Your 53 Ford convertible is an important part of British Columbia's custom car history.

 

Ok, so been pretty busy on this! I bought a donar 01 Mustang for the transmission and a bunch more parts, seats, brake system the list goes on. I also have acquired a 351W. I bolted them together and all is good until I go to mach up the mounts and trans mount. Anyone put a 351W in a 53 Ford? I'm sure it has been done. The oil pan is definitely not going to work. the motor came out of an 89 Crown Vic. Any suggestions on the oil pan? There was a post on here regarding Butch's motor mounts and headman headers 88400's https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/sbf-in-1953-ford-customline.988618/ great info. My question is will these bolt up to my 351W ? Here are a couple pics of where I'm at. any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Check the shape and dimentions on a 351W pan to fit an Econoline van. Not sure if it will be much different than your Crown Vic pan, but they are a rear sump. 4x4 pickup is also a possibility to check. Most Ford passenger car pans are front sump. and what you have looks to be a dual sump, similar to a fox chassis 302.

 

looks like I'm going to try this out...I do not think there is any way around notching the cross member. but will have room to move back another inch and some clearance. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

So here is a bit more info on the Pacers car club. My uncle (Jim Jameson) came by yesterday to check out the car and brought by some memorabilia.

 

Just going to leave this here!

 

Shane - good to see you are going back to the shade of blue that your Dad used. Looks good!

 

subscribed! im customizing a 53 for a surprise bday gift for my dad, my first car was a 54, live em

 

Thanks Steve! I have been quite busy. Had some time between parts coming in. I pulled the rear end and felt I needed to move the perches so I moved them in 3/4 on each side. Worked out well. Then I started thinking about brakes.... Pics say the rest.

 

Yep only pan that works!

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