Projects 1954 Ford Customline Resurrection/Build

must be that. I could hammer it out but it’s a tough reach!

 

Man, I am having some trouble lining up my door gaps.

On the passenger side door, the gap between the roof and the top of the door, in front by the A pillar, is really wide. The same gap in back by the B pillar, is super tight.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to make this adjustment as the hinges only seem to move the door toward or away from the body, and not up and down.

tips?

pic to follow

 

Wonder if............you could put a thick washer/shim in the hinge to move it up some.?
Surprised there is no up & down adjustment in the hinge assembly!
6sally6

 

Are you adjusting the hinges on the door side or on the pillar side? Door side is up/down - Pillar is in/out

 

Ah, I will give that a try

I didnt see any room for adjustment at the door side on a pair of old hinges I have, but I figured there had to be a way.

 

The door gaps on my ‘54 wagon are not very good, but someone has elongated most of the holes in the hinges to get more adjustment and the face of the tailgate hinge has been milled to get the tailgate to open without hitting the body. You may need to do something like this to get it perfect.
On other cars I’ve had to add flat bar to door edges to make the shape and size of the door fit the opening perfectly.
I think that these cars didn’t have great gaps from the factory and 60 years on the road and several restorations and repairs haven’t helped.

 

Wanted to show off at the local cars and coffee

 

After the car show, my dad helped me finally get the driver side front trim on. Looks pretty good for a couple of newbs putting it on, If I say so myself

 

Trim and car are looking great!

 

My wife is a graphic designer and whipped up a nice car show placard

 

The Nashville Good Guys show was a blast but it feels like my car is falling apart. Here’s a list of things that broke in the last couple weeks:

1. I keep blowing my turn signal fuse. I replaced it with a 40a fuse and it seems to be holding but now I have some other problems
2. I think gauges are on the same circuit as the turn signal fuse and there must be a short because the oil pressure switch is now staying on and dims and brightens while driving. I think this is due to a short in the circuit grounding the switch even when open. Also there is 12v power at oil pressure switch when it should just be a ground wire.
3. Tach died
4. Brake light switch died. Replaced and fixed.
5. Driver window handle jumped off into the floor trying to die
6. Hood hinge that I recently repaired broke at the weld, which I thought was good

why is this car trying to kill itself???!!

i have some fun stuff in mind that I’d like to do to it, but I’m going to have to first start fixing all this $#!+

 

Should I have 12v power at my oil pressure switch? Im under the impression that it is merely a ground wire, but the test light comes on when touching to the oil pressure switch.

 

put test light between ground on battery and clean spot on frame.
Start pulling fuses until the test light goes out or your meter reads ZERO.
Then replace fuses until the light comes on again. When it does..........that's the first circuit to work on.
These old cars have super simple elect. circuits making them EZ to troubleshoot.
Don't be afraid to ground EVERY circuit! CLEAN metal and put in a sheet metal screw with ground wire attached.
tail lights head lights instrument panel......oil pressure switch?!...each gauge....
Redundency grounds are a good thing.
Makes future troubleshooting EZ'er!
6sally6

 

I will give it a try soon. I went cheap and got the 21 circuit wiring harness and it’s got gauges on the same fuse as the turn signals. I used the old original turn signal switch and I’m thinking that may be the problem

 

Well, silly me. I had the incorrect oil pressure switch in the whole time.

I was using one for a gauge, when I needed one for a light...

I swapped it out and the dummy light works well now.

I swear the other switch was working properly for a while, which is a real head scratcher.

Now my tachometer is broken. Any thoughts on good classy brands for gauges?

 

Alright I’m experimenting now with turning the factory fresh air heater ducts into “ram air”

seems to work ok and sounds KILLER after I put this together.

At high speed and high rpm I seem to get some sputters and loss of power. My initial thought is that it’s forcing too much air down the carb and leaning out, but it could be starving for air too if my plan has backfired. Any thoughts on rejetting?

 

I put a larger secondary metering plate on, holley part 134-21. Went from 0.073 main hole to 0.081. Will give it a try after Im off baby duty and report back.

 

no help. high rpm and high speed i can hear the air whipping through as i left off the gas after the stumble. so is my 3" set up not giving enough air or cramming too much in the engine at high speed? It doesnt seem to mind as much at high speed in overdrive with lower rpm

 

I don't think I would drive around with a source open to fuel in the interior of the car?

 

Eh, i took the “CAI” setup off until I can figure out how to make it work. Needs more fuel I think. Maybe a cheap AFR gauge will help diagnose the issue.

separately, I took the 54 down to the Nashville cars and coffee and hit the mobile dyno up, 237 hp at the wheels and something like 278lb ft of torque. Not bad I think. I’m estimating 237/80% = 290 something HP at the crank

 

Have some misc. 54 body panels for sale too. Pm me for details. I will make a great deal for you.

 

For your cold air intake, I don’t think there is much to be gained from this and you run the risk of creating a vacuum in the wheel well and pulling air out of the carburetor.

your carburetor probably needs more airflow than the one pipe can supply, lots of cars with your amount of cubes and HP had factory dual snorkel air cleaners and factory stuff like this is usually barely adequate.

 

Hmm not sure what the reason is for the drop at 3500 rpm’s. Maybe vacuum advance dripping out?

vacuum secondaries dropping out?

this was WITHOUT the CAI experiment….

 

Well well look what the cat dragged in

351w

Maybe getting stroked to 408 or 427

maybe the rings get gapped for a future turbo

 

That certainly escalated quickly. Keep after it!

 

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