Projects 1934 Ford Tudor - Bonnie

A little piece of me dies inside... lol @33Doll

 

I didn’t feel to bad... since the 33’ has had hydraulic brakes on it for over 40 years! My Pops just never cut them off.
It is losing a part of the 87 year old history though....kinda like losing a hang nail, I would say! Ha!

 

USED CHROME BUMPERS: A friend sold me some bumpers that he picked up in a parts lot sale, old chrome but with a bit of a clean and polish quite presentable for the old girl. Need to get some bumper bolts to install the front but should tidy it up quite nicely.




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Yes, big improvement.

 

Beautiful car! Good job on the bumpers!

 

Looks like the paint protected the chrome! Good for you!
Whats with the Orange tape! some weird law thing down there? Do they really give old car enthusiasts a hard
Time still with petty old rules and regs?


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@33Doll yes it was /is a local thing that reflective tape was used on rear bumper or a later model stick on reflector. I guess in the instance the sole tail light was out. They are different bumpers not paint removed, We do have quite a few regulations to comply to, I couldnt do what you have done to 33Doll chassis etc without a engineers certification, scratch built cars can be a mare to get compliant, but most of what they have is good engineering practice and safety related.

 

If you put two tail lights on there can you get rid of the tape?

Yeah I’m sure California eventually is just going to be all electric, and they’re just gonna scrap all our old cars If Newsom/Biden has there way!
Enjoying it while I can!


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No, Legally we still have to run the tape or reflectors, many dont but these bumpers had it on so left it there for now, I am going to add a Left hand tail light that I have from a Deluxe and will likely add indicators at some point.

 

REAR AXLE 9” AXLE CONVERSION: back on to this job again as I ended up getting NOS bearings as I wasn’t happy with the quality of the previously sourced ones, So doing it over again. With Genuine Ford parts.Lesson learned.


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Great job. Yea those off shore bearings and races are not up to par. I had an extra set of Ford bearings and Timken double cone race for the pinion for sale very reasonable and no takers.Ford Store in CA took them.That double cone race is nearly impossible to find.Ford bearings are easier to find and made by Bower .

 

REAR AXLE 9” AXLE CONVERSION AND 3:54 RING AND PINION CONVERSION: So finally got it all back together my first full rebuild of a banjo and although very simple they take a lot of time to set up and I had the pinion in and out three times and shimmed the pinion forward .025 in the end to get the backlash to .004 and a nice tooth contact and correct pinion and carrier preload, a fun job that I learnt a lot on and in the end happy with the results. Brake lines next and then rear spring and put it back into the car.



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Nice! And Clean!
I got Dutchmans for my 8”
They look pretty stout.


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BRAKE LINES AND SPRING: rear brake lines run, spring on and ready to go back in.




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REAR AXLE INSTALLATION: Time to put it back together, refitted the new/old chrome bumper on the front. Like a diamond in a goats ass.




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I´ll say it again! Top notch job on a beautiful car. I also find it interesting to read about all the different rules we Hot Rodders have to deal with all over the globe.

 

@Baumi Thanks for the comment, she’s coming along, still plenty more to do, trying to keep it together and hit project by project with this one rather than blow it into a thousand pieces. Once I get done with the axle I will get back into the 59A for it and then some steering box upgrades. Cheers


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Awesome work! Here’s my dads “Bonnie”

 

Wow @EV34 that’s a beauty! A really great looking car for sure, what running gear is in it?


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Thanks he’s proud of it.
Sbc combo 9 inch ford dropped axle up front. Pretty basic stuff but sits good.

 

Sits perfect!


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STEERING BOX UPGRADE : So working my way through this thing and making subtle improvements without losing its natural being too much.

The nine inch axle conversion and 3:54 pinion along with hydraulic brakes have all been worthwhile upgrades. I drove the car last weekend and like the gearing with the 7:50 16 rears and the new hydraulic brake performance.

I recently bought a 4 1/8" stroker kit for the 59A I am building for it so want to address the stay on the road items brakes and steering first.

The 15:1 steering on these although functional I would like something more responsive, nimbler, smoother and a little less required effort. We have restrictions here that don’t allow cut and weld F1 or other style upgrades, although I have seen some outstanding quality versions of these used in the USA, so have been looking for other options.

So the local vintage car club has a stash of stuff so I went for a look through their steering box selection. Looking for something RHD and side steer that could be used.
I ended up with this early Gemmer likely from a Ford big truck but clearly earlier than F4-F6, had a tapered key way 39 style steering wheel but heavier duty shaft, has a Ford style shaft lock and light switch adapter so possibly 32- 39 era big truck, I actually have no idea but some one reading may recognise I am sure it’s available in a LHD variant.

I did look at installing 17:1 LHD 36 internals in the RHD 34 box which I believe would also work but heard the sector sgaft is too short, So a worm and roller and this heavy duty design will be even better I hope if I can make it all work.

It was pretty ugly but the housing looked worthy of having a further look at it. Even though the rest of it is pretty much done for. I like the fact it is over slung worm shaft like the 34 design and not under slung like the F1 would be, This should keep it as stock looking as possible in the steering column angle, I should be able to use original column jacket and steering wheel and will adapt the light switch etc to the new box.

So stripped it and started googling the Gemmer numbers but didn’t find much and then on ebay of all places stumbled on a sector shaft NOS for a Lincoln Zephyr/ Continental which had the same sector shaft design with the top bearing on the sector. Some more ebay searching and I found a pair of used said boxes for $90 USD so figured give it a punt and see if will all go together. The LHD internals cross steer look to be the same as RHD side steer. So yet to find out as they are in transit.

The steering box flange mount angle is favourable for the 34 chassis angle so hope to be able to get it in there pretty easily. Stay tuned

 

WAGON WHEELS: I picked up four new 17” 5:25/5:50 tyres from a EFV8 club member who wanted white walls so I ended up getting the set for the price of one new one down here so couldn’t pass them up.

I have some 32 18” wires for the rear that I have 700 18” deluxe champions on back order with Coker hopefully supplied by January. Will give it a more aggressive look and get the rake back.

 

Here is a stock '33 roadster in France with 18's w/700 on the rear and 16's w 600 in front.Since he retained the mech anical brakes he removed 3 leaves from the front spring to lower it a bit.

 

The 18’s look good. Hard to get though will just have to wait until the next batch is ready

 

Got to be some in Aussie land or NZ as there were lots of '32's . There is a fellow I correspond with a '32 collector in NZ. He is connected and might know of some.His name is Ian.

 

I have a pair of rims just waiting for supply of new tires from Coker. Is that Ian Stables @Deuce Lover ?

 

Great,I thought you needed some.

 

Steering box clearance is awful tight in model 40's. If that box is physically larger, you my want to stick it in the frame to check. My 34 with stock box has only about an 1/8" of clearance with cast iron fenton headers.

 

STEERING BOX UPGRADE: HUDSON - Revised Plan So today I went wih a friend on another outing to the Vinatge Car Club parts shed and had another look through the stash there of steering boxes and after sorting through the rack of probably 200 steering boxes I found what I didnt believe I would ever find, but here in front of my eyes was a 38-39 Hudson Gemmer 3 RHD steering box... The holy grail for model 40 steering box upgrades, I messaged Neal Jennings and he confirmed from the photos so I couldnt be happier finding it. Our RHD side steer Gemmers use LHD Cross steer components so I will be able to source worm and roller etc and use a stock ford worm shaft and column jacket to complete the package.

So the next project is getting this stripped cleaned and sourcing parts to rebuild and this hopefully will be a very good upgrade when done, 17:1 ratio worm and roller, self centering steering box.