Projects Rosie The Red 40

I'm not going to lie sometimes I look back at photos of the ‘35 with whitewalls on it and kinda miss them.

 

I tell you what, I don't think I could make the decision whether to run white walls or black walls on that car. They both look great!

 

Yeah those Bias Look radials look cool, but are stupid expensive. When the car sits low, they can barely be seen, so spend your dough on brakes, seat-belts and stuff to keep your family safe. Don't worry about what the other kids are doing.
(Porta walls are and look fake)

 

Don’t worry about what others think looks good, do what looks good to you. What hotrodding is all about.

 

Sweet ride!

 

Mine has radials ,ground the side walls smooth with a D A to help look like bias ply’s

 

Like it both ways but partial to the ol’ timey moonshine look black walls give it.

 

Well, another weekend has come and gone and I wish I had more to update, but this fathering a 9 month old tends to keep me busy and my wife won't let her help me in the shop just yet I did get some time this last week to check a few things off of the list though! First, I managed to seal up the leaking rear end for the most part with some 3/8's stat-o-seal o ring washers from Summit. It still has a slight drip, but it appears that the majority of the leaking was coming from the bottom 3 bolts in the drivers side axle tube where it bolts to the center section. I can deal with a small drip, so I will check that off the list. Next, I managed to snag plenty of photos of the original wire routing and started the process of removing old wiring and preparing to install the new wiring. I removed the gauge cluster and will begin cleaning that up as well. I did find where the mice had been hanging out over the last 30-40 years, yuck. I'm looking forward to having the wiring done so I can get the car over to our buddy Meeker's shop for an altitude adjustment. Dad and Grandpa are currently headed to the chili bowl in Tulsa, without me but somebody has to work right? If you haven't heard of the Chili Bowl, you should look it up. It's OT for here but a really neat indoor midget race that is worth following. Anyways, they are picking up a drop axle with new dropped spindles and fresh kingpins from Nostalgia Sid's for me while there are out there. Now that the holidays are over, I'm hoping to make some good progress over the next month or two. Stay tuned for more updates, and thanks for following along.

 

Spending some time in the garage tonight and made some good progress on the rewire. Just wanted to drop a note here on making battery cables, I’m sure most of you know this trick but if not here you go. Welding cable is a lifesaver when it comes to battery cables, flexible and quality. I had some 1/0 left over from a previous project and it is super easy to work with considering it’s size. Try it out if you haven’t yet

 

Well, kind of frustrated with the car tonight so I’m calling it quits until tomorrow. Good news first, I finished up all the battery cables yesterday. Today I got the new battery and starter solenoid installed and wired up. She cranks like a dream on a fresh 12v system. So, with the intentions of wanting to try and get her to run tomorrow I tore into the pertronix install and ran into some issues. I got the distributor out and disassembled down to where I just needed to remove the guts and pull the points mechanism out. I tried everything I knew to do to get the guts out of the distributor with no luck. Yes the timing hold down screw is out as well as the vacuum advance assembly. From what I can see in the photos below, somebody else has had this problem before with this unit and they got much more serious about it than I was. There are quite a few broken pieces and what appears to be evidence of someone armed with a hammer and a screwdriver and probably too many beers. Back to the drawing board on this one. I’m thinking I may go ahead and swap to a later distributor while I’m here. I guess I will focus on getting the rest of the car wired up until I can come up with a plan. If you’ve got any tips or tricks to getting this thing taken apart, let me know. It is much appreciated!

 

Yeah it's rough alright... Another dist. would be the quick & easy way to go.

 

I could make a snide comment on your need for the Pertronix, but it sounds like your distributor is already doing it for you.

Pretty sure that once the advance screw is out, it should tap out of the back. Seems like the chipped off parts are when someone was trying to get the snap ring out to get into the advance weights.

You will learn why most flathead hot rodders use the 42 style crap cap distributors. It would require a few new parts, but would be so much easier to work on.

 

Well it doesn’t look like that saved you too many words anyways

Crab cap style would be nice, but the adapters from speedway are back ordered with no ETA.

I think I’ve found another 37-41 distributor and surely between the two I can build one good one, but I won’t get my hands on that one until this week sometime.

 

Dude, were the points not working? I just replaced the points in my 56 and figure they are good for another 10k miles or so.

 

Yes they were lol I thought about just leaving them in for now but then I’ve got to grab a new coil and a 12v condenser and the money is already spent on what I’ve got. I guess I’ll turn my focus to wiring headlights, tail lights and turn signals for now.

 

Hey, when you work on headlights, try these from Summit:
WAG-H6024 - Wagner Halogen Sealed Beams
I just put a set in my coupe and they are awesome! Stock plug in and very bright!

 

Well, after my distributor debacle I turned my focus back to wiring the car and made some good progress with little to no hiccups.

I found a good spot for the fuse panel that utilized some firewall holes that were already drilled, and got it mounted. I wired up the headlight dimmer switch, the turn signal switch, dome lights, main power to the board and the ignition switch. So far I’ve been super impressed with the fuse panel and wiring from racer rods. They’ve got my recommendation if you’re looking to do any wiring. My new headlight switch should be here this week and then I should have the interior wiring finished up in now time. I also got the alternator installed with a new belt and wired it up. Yeah yeah, same thing as the pertronix right?

Anyways, I also got my year of manufacture license plate put on. Now I just need some white deck lid pinstriping to really set it off.
Stay tuned for some more progress this week, I am getting anxious to get this thing on the road.

 

That’s where I put the fuse panel on my 40. I just noticed that your trunk handle is not for a 40 Ford. It looks like you still have the correct base so if you find a handle it’s easy to swap out. Or leave it as is, it doesn’t look bad at all. Good progress!

 

Actually, Bret noticed that before I did and got me in touch me Charlie Rambo out in Tulsa who hooked me up with a couple 40 handles. I plan to swap them out one day, when all of the real work is done lol.

 

I know I’m more than a day late to this but did you and Bret discuss running a small alternator on the flathead? See this thread pictures towards the bottom:

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/small-alternator.1030564/

Reason I ask is because I love the looks of a flathead but when I see a big GM one wire on them that is all I see visually. Based on the pictures in that thread I just see so much more of the flathead with the smaller alternator.

But maybe there is a reason it shouldn’t be used that I don’t know about.

 

No we hadn't discussed that, but that is a pretty cool idea. I had never seen a "small" alternator until now.

I went with this one because I had it leftover from my C10 build, but if I have any troubles with it I may look into that small alternator. I like the idea of being able to replace this one at any o'reillys though!

 

I didn’t know about these small alternators either until I was talking to someone the other day and they brought up these little forklift units and I looked into them and really like how it opened up the engine compartment where you could see the flathead. But the price on the alternator your using can’t be beat.

 

Hey guys! Here’s a quick pre weekend update. I had a few nights this week to get some work done. I was able to pickup another 3 bolt distributor and a new gasket from Bret, and between the two I got one good one ready to use. I got the “rebuilt” dizzy installed and last night I was able to get some spark plug wires made and installed. I’m still trying to figure out where I want to put the coil, but once I figure that out and get it wired up she should run again on 12v for the first time. I’m hoping to get that figured out this evening. Drop your coil mounting ideas below if you’d like.

This weekends plan is to get the new headlight switch from Vintique installed and finish up the interior wiring. I really need to make a parts run to pick up some 12v headlights and a handful of different 12v bulbs. I’m also needing to grab a new brake light switch and plan on using the Harley Davidson 72023-51E switch as recommend but quite a few buddies.

Everything is coming together slowly but surely! Stay tuned for some post weekend updates early next week.

P.S. I couldn’t help but include a photo of my hot rodder in the making. I’m looking forward to the many memories we will make in this car!

 

Perhaps making a bracket so it can mount to one of the front head studs?

 

That was my thoughts as well. Unfortunately I decided to rewire the car at my house and all of my metal working stuff is at my shop about 6 miles away. Maybe I'll make a cardboard template and see if I can build something with scrap. I figured if I went that route that the top water pump bolt would probably be a good mounting point for the bracket. We'll see

 

Well, sometimes my own mistakes cost me more time than planned. I didn't make much progress this weekend but I did check off the accomplishment of running the car on 12v, although it didn't come without a story.

Friday night, after arriving home from work and hanging out with the wife and baby for awhile, I made my way to the garage knowing all I had to do was bolt on the distributor and wire up the coil temporarily and the car should run, right? I might've been in a rush as I was excited and I knew the baby needed to go to sleep soon so I'd better give it a try before I needed to be quiet. I flipped the ignition switch on and hit the button, it gave me a couple huffs and puffs and one exhaust backfire and then nothing. I went to text @bchrismer and ask his best advice as I wasn't sure why the car wouldn't start at the time. I looked down to make sure all the plug wires were in their corresponding holes and the attached picture is what I saw. Well crap, I broke the free distributor that I was given. I was pretty disappointed, and before Bret could reply I had sent him that photo. His response was "darn kids"

He told me to meet him at Jim Pike's house the next morning and we would try to find a different housing. I walked in to Pike's shop the next day and the first thing he said was "I guess you found out those only go on one way" to which I responded, well yeah I guess you could say that. Anyways, we found another good housing and I made sure to pay a little more attention when installing this one. Once it was on, the car cranked and fired right up, and is running as smooth as ever. It took me more time than planned but mistakes like that paired with good friends who are willing to help always makes for the best stories and I am super thankful for those guys. We'll see what I can get done this week and catch up with you guys next weekend.

 

Nice little project. Plenty of people use 40 ford brakes, and if theyre adjusted correctly, I understand they work well.If you want to go the front f100 route, its pretty straight forward, loads of info on here, including this
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/f100-brakes.226861/
You can also put them on the back, I've got a link for that some where as well, a bit more work, but not a crazy amount, and all the guts are available from Rock Auto.

 

Rears, here ya go.. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...-put-early-f1-brakes-on-a-ford-banjo.1073582/

 

Another weekend has come and gone means another Monday build thread update. This week was just more chugging along on wiring. By Saturday I had finished up everything on the rear of the car and got the tail lights wired in as well as the license plate light and fuel sender. Say what you want about the brighter tail lights but I will sacrifice looks over people being able to see me stopping, and you can really see these things ! I am happy with out it all turned out. I also cleaned up all of the wiring under the hood, got the coil mounted and built a new coil wire to reach from the dizzy to the firewall. I am still waiting on front park/turn signal lights to get them and the headlights installed and then I just have some wiring and cleaning up to do under the dash. I spent Sunday morning cleaning up the instrument cluster and installing the new bezel, and I am also happy with how that turned out. I took her for a ride around the block and everything went pretty smooth. The brakes need a little bleeding and I still can't get the carb to idle but I haven't played with it much. I've got a Stromberg rebuild kit and that is on my list of things to do as soon as I finish wiring. This weeks plans are to finish wiring, then what? I haven't really decided yet, but it will at least be drivable by then We'll see ya next week!

 

Lights look good and having folks see them is definitely important especially as distracted as drivers are today. You must like wiring more than I do. It is my least favorite job on an old car...or new for that matter.