....this is why I hate throwing anything away. Someone, somewhere needs it. Problem is finding them. LOL
I just built a trophy for our Inliner show Saturday from junk clogging my shop that should have been thrown away years ago. Now some of it in kinda' cool.
Yeah I’m sure they get tired of my spring texts of “hey need 35 tool boxes and some random old ford shit?” But I hate seeing it hit the curb when I need it out of my way. Had to junk plenty of stuff in years past that I’m now having to hunt for for this project.
Chipping away at getting the box empty. I got the remaining sector shaft bushing out after curling it into itself a bit, and the one that came out on the sector was easy to spring and then slide off. The sector seal is about half way there. I think I’m going to use a dremel and cut a notch out so I can spin it lose. The upper bearing and cup for the worm gear is solidly rusted in place with nearly nothing left to push at so I’ll have to get creative with that one but I’m not overly concerned i did find that in my stash of cardboard that a gift wrapping tube is the exact same size as a 39 column mast so it’ll be perfect for mocking up the new one. I noticed when I sat the new steering wheel on the column on top of the adapter previously that it sat a little further away from the bell than I’d like so this will let me fine tune the gap. I guess I don’t really need the bell at the end but it makes it feel like it’s old parts and not new stuff... even though it’s mostly new. everything laid out so I can keep track. Still need to smooth those shock mounts out a little more and after @Aaron D posted his shackles where rubbing I might leave them with out paint until I can mock that bit up. The box to frame mount also still has one more crack welded up. 78-3553 finally a number I can read! I’m assuming that’s the number that’s on the box as well 18-f on the worm gear. And yes that’s the lower bearing stuck on the end on the left. This thing is toast. I’m considering having a local black smith make me a knife out of this stuff. cardboard tube sitting on the shaft next to the mast the old sector bushings That’s about all I’ve got for photos at the moment. Trying to get myself to crawl under the 46 and address some things but this is so much more fun. Oh! And @drdave came threw and has a t spring on its way to me for the back! I’m thinking I’ll clean it all up and do like he did, use the three longest leafs- including the main- and then a couple A leafs on top. Should get the back down nice Thinking I’ll run a posies super low in the front but this steering box rebuilds taking all that cash. I think if I get time to do the rear spring swap that I’ll just pull all but the main leaf off the front and add a wood spacer to get it all the way down so it at least look right sitting in the garage til I’ve got the money for the new spring. Or who knows maybe I’ll cash by the time that happens
I used the main and the next 4 leaves (5 total) of T spring....those were the only T leaves I had. Then I used the top 4 A leaves, tightening up the radius to match the radius of the T spring better and kick a little reverse curve at the tips of the 4th leaf (from the top) so it didn't dig into the T where it curves back flat. As a side note, I think I'm going to add the 5th (from the top ) A leaf cuz the back is just a smidge lower than I'd like it. Your mileage may vary as you have a tudor with what I assume is less weight than my 4dr. ....and hey....any leaves out of the T spring you don't end up using, I'd be happy to take those off your hands. Haha (even though I know it will be a while before you can settle on the right combo that works for ya.)
Forgive me if I missed it somewhere, are you going to use that steering box in its cross-steer fashion?
Yup. Oh and I grabbed my favorite drift... an old kingpin, and got the last seal and the upper bearing out. Just need to get the upper cup/race out. Inching closer
Thinking I’m going to mig a bar across the face of the upper bearing race so I have something to land a drift to and knock it out. Got it soaking in kroil at the moment. In other news my buddy got this done for me! I had been trying to figure out how to make the big hole in the pedal set up the same small size as the other. Spent a lot of time looking at washers, spacers, bearing races, shit even 1/4 wall pipe. Finally I took it over and said go for it. Ended up torch cutting a 1/4 plate filler for the entire hole, cut over size and whittled it down so there was a nice bevel to really get it good and solid from both sides then drew the circle where it needed to be and cut the hole with a torch. A lot of time with a burr bit in a dremel and it’s perfect! He found this socket in his tool box that measured exactly correct with his calipers so he just kept sneaking up on it and test fitting it with the socket. Some real @zibo style work. Pretty sure he’s got more than one light bulb in his shop but in the same spirit Anyhow, need to drill two vertical holes to mount the master and a few holes in the sides of the bracket to mount it to the braces we havnt made yet and it’ll be ready to put back together and paint black
Thanks just picking away at it but I do have a plan in my head. As soon as it steers it’ll set me up to complete a lot of other little projects. Hoping to have it lower, with an actual floor on subrails, with steering, at least an e brake rigged and the dash filled and stuffed with gauges by winter. I have this delusion about stripping it and throwing a quick coat of primer on it but I think that’s probably pretty far fetched
Well some more scrounging and I’ve got some model T parts for the car this weekend. I think this brings me to 10 different years of fords I've used so far and I’d guess around 30 actual cars. But of a patchwork hotrod I guess Ben D dropped off this T rear spring for me from DrDave and I’ll add a single A spring on top to start with and see where it lands me via @Ron Brown sedan post and Daves as well. The. @BigJoeArt dropped me some T sub rail scraps this is most of it Measures almost exactly the same, just has another fold at the bottom on the T stuff should fill that gap nice! and I think if I can lop this section off the drivers side front and juggle it around to fit here i should have all I need to have full subrails in the car! It’s going to take a bit of head scratching and zig zag cuts to patch in the best metal from the 4 different cars but I’m feeling good about it
Just chipping away at it here and there. Even if it is 7 minutes a day. Time to hit the hay. Should have the pitman arm and steering arm re tapered to fit the rod end on the other side by the end of the weekend, as well as the upper bearing race/cup out of the steering box. Inching closer to having steering
Today’s 7 minutes. Thst lock pin does not want to budge. Glad I got it in tight but I sure wish I’d have thought ahead so I didn’t have to pull the spindle with zero miles on it
Well, I couldn’t get that upper cup/ bearing race put on my own. Everyone makes it look like it slides right in with the rest of the stuff so I figured it was just rusted in place like the rest of the stuff. There wasn’t a ledge of pop it with a drift or anything so I brought it to my buddy Ryan who has been more than a little helpful as of late and said go for it. My idea was to maybe tack a bar across the face of the cup and then land the drift on that That’s not what he did but he got it out! first half out, you can still read the part number and everything. Out and on the bench cleaned up! Thinking I’ll give it another good wire brush scrub down and then it’s ready for new guts
....uhhhh, if you’re going to use the wife’s brushes, I hope you asked her first....or used it when she wasn’t home, kinda like running hubcaps through the dishwasher. lol
Alright steering box bracket all cleaned up, box empty and all cleaned up! Gonna throw some primer and paint on them while it’s warm out in the next few days. Still need to weld on some spacers to the bracket but I need to have it all mocked up and on the frame before I can check them. The bottom flange just hangs below the frame a little, not enough to justify sectioning the entire bracket but it will take a little spacer. Want to weld them in place because if it ever had to come off the car while assembled it would be a pain in the ass to wedge the spacer in and then try to get the bolt threw it all.
Chipping away at it. I’m posting a lot of little detail stuff because I felt like I looked all over for some of that information and couldn’t find it online. Stuff like that upper bearing race that we fought to get out is press fit and a good way to get it out is welding a washer to it and hitting that with a drift to pop it out. Hopefully I’ll have some bigger bites to share in the nearish future
Totally different image, and a totally different level of involvement on her part. No one has married that gal yet.
Didn’t take any photos but wow! Got to check out @drdave model A today and try it on for size. Man that sits perfect! It’s got such a great vibe in person. It’s really got me fired up to get the car together and back on the ground, then get it closer to Mother Earth
I was going to run that same set up on the 27 I built for Scott. Had it all mocked up on the frame, linkage all figured out, and when I turned the steering wheel it all worked, but the frame twisted back and forth a lot. I pulled it all out and went with the trusty F1 route. Are you going to brace the frame somehow to prevent the twist?
I’ve heard of a slight bit of twisting but nothing serious. Either way my plan right now is to run a front pan hard bar and then take it from there. I’ll let you know what it does. I’m probably going to hold off on doing the pan hard until I have the car at final-ish ride height. Guess I could make a temp one if it takes me to long to get the front lowered.
Glad you guys got a chance to stop by! You say too many good words about a banged up ol’ 4dr, but thanks. You might not have taken any pics, but I did. Here’s our friend hangin’ out in the hot seat....well, cheap clearance sheets covered seat anyway. Lol What y’all can’t see is that squated down on the ground outside that open passenger door is Timm’s precious 2 year old girl flipping though old car mags. He’s got her pointed in the right direction.