Projects 1947 Ford Tudor build thread (A.K.A. seemed like a good idea at the time....)

well that was expensive...........

fresh from a rebuild at my favorite transmission shop



I know, I should paint the body to match the bellhousing, but it's cold in the garage, and I just want to get it in.



So, we are back up and running, but I'm taking a little time off of working on the car, to enjoy the Holidays, i'll get back on it soon.

 

Good to get that broken part out of the way now! Never fun but a lot better than 100 miles from home with the Missus and the kids on board.
Someone is looking out for you

 

Don't listen to this guy^^, he is a terrible armchair mechanic.

Good to hear you got it fix and back together.

 

Great work, I've enjoyed reading your posts and checking out the photos.
Nice Tudor!

 

a 283 fits nicely

 

thanks man

huh?

 

I finished up the brake master cylinder door


had to cut some strips, and bend them up to match all the curves in that area of the floorpan, then weld them to the piece I cut out. 4 blinds rivet nuts, and good to go.

Trans tunnel took a few pieces to get the shape, and it turned out good too



and I got this in the mail today !!!
now I can be one of the cool kids

 

Well, more fun with the brakes.....

Now that I have reinstalled the floor panel, I put in the pedal, and linkage for the master cylinder, and again found an issue with the MBM Brakes kit

The linkage hits the mounting bolts!
I installed the bedal bracket with the bolts going into the frame rail, so that there wasn't bolts sticking out into the transmission area. Well, the linkage hits the bolt if you install it that way. So I removed the lower one, and turned it around, so now I will need to cut the head off of that one.


The bolt they supplied with the kit, for the linkage was way to long, and the spacer was way to big. All the spacer I needed was 1 washer. So I pitched theirs, and used a fastener that I knew was high quality. I am unsure as to the grade bolts came in the kit.


I bent up a hard 3/8s line for vacuum to the brake booster, and ran that along the lower firewall to the frame.

I only had double line clamps, so I need to get some more, and change these two out.

 

Looking really good! Funny how "bolt on" parts do not actually "bolt on" anymore without some kind of modification

I read this thread from the top to bottom and it has really inspired me to start on the 46 tudor that I purchased from my father recently. Your car is looking great and you should be proud.

Don

 

Thank you Mr Blue

I got home from work a little early, so I thought I'd sneak out to the barn and get some minor stuff done. I realized when I fired up the engine, that I was off a tooth on the distributor, so today I figured I'd pull it out and move it a tooth.

well........
it took only 15 minutes or so to unhook everything, pull it, and drop it back in. Fired it up to check the timing with a light, and it didn't sound right, looked and I had ZERO oil pressure !!!!, shut it right down.

ratzafratzinfricken....

pull the distributor again, and the oil pump shaft came out with the distributor. I didn't get it lined up perfectly in the pump, and when I reinstalled it, the shaft just pushed up inside the distributor shaft. I see now I left off the little doohicky retainer thing that keeps the shaft in place when you remove the distributor.

So I tried to drop the shaft in from the top to the oil pump, after a few missed tries, I dropped it in, and heard it hit the oil pan.

frickenfrackenfruck

So I decided to drop the oil pan to retrieve it. Turns out I had to unbolt the steering rack to get it to drop enough to get my hand inside to get the shaft. I cannot get the pan out all the way, with out lifting the engine

ALLMIGHTYFRICKENFRACK

2 1/2 hours later I have the shaft out. now I need to figure out what all I need to unhook, to be able to lift the engine enough to get the pan out.

I need a beer

 

man good thread . you do nice work. and have the same kinda luck as me with the oil pump drive. ive got a 48 i bought a few years back a freind started on . and ive been needing to start on . this gives me initiative. ive been working on my fairlane alot and need to quit and start on my 48.

 

it's going back together!!

with a little help from "Jay is my name" I put the front clip back on the car.

Compare this photo to the one in the first post in this thread, sadly, not that much different


here is a good "before" shot


and another back together


I had to do some creative on the fly re-engineering of the radiator side mounts -- sorry, no photos of that-- to get the radiator back in. In the future, I will most likely need to make a change so that I can remove it easier, if I need to.

Now having done it, I have to say the Chassis Engineering mounts designed for this car are not a good fit. There is plenty of room between the engine and the firewall, and almost no room between the engine and the radiator. The entire engine/trans could be back and inch, and down an inch (or more) and it would have been a better fit.

A little more wiring, and we'll be hitting the road

 

Setbacks are tough to be sure. Looks like you are back on the path with all of this progress. I did a similar thing when I put the 302 together for my T bucket. I forgot to install the oil pump pushrod altogether before the oil pan went on. Realized after I turned the motor back over on the stand. Sucks to have to take everything apart. Worse when the engine is in the car as yours is. Keep the faith.

Funny about those motor mounts from Chassis engineering. I am doing a similar build to yours on my 46 tudor with a 5.0 and was going to use their mounts. Any other suggestions for mounts (other than hand fabbing up a set)?
You are on the home stretch! Don Jr.

 

Look at the photos in post #74, you can see how much room at the rear there is, and also how little room there is at the front. I am using the same transmission as I had behind the flathead, and these mounts made me change the driveshaft length, and floor tunnel. I had made my own engine and trans mounts with the flathead.

If I had to do it over, I'd make my own mounts. Theirs "work", but knowing what I know now, I'd position them differently than their instructions, to gain clearance.

 

getting closer to being ready to go for a drive!!

Seats are back in, and Upholstery is Done


a little wash job sure makes it look good in the engine compartment


pretty sure I am leaving the hood off for Cobo

Dash in and looking nice


Well, I had to wrap things up today, have other obligations for the rest of the week, but come Thursday I'll be at Cobo Hall for the Detroit Autorama.
SEE YOU THERE!!!

 

Got ya, I see what you mean about the clearance in the front. Still looks great though and I can't wait to see some pics or video of your first drive. Awesome! Don

 

I have less clearance in the front.
I couldn't place my engine further to the back (pontiac + th350) without cutting the chassis.
I must place the radiator futher to the front.

nice thread by the way.

 

Well, we made it Cobo!

Detroit Autorama 2011. I had planned on driving it there, but my timetable got a little tight, and I had not even driven the car around the block, so I had a buddy trailer it down.


all nestled in line downstairs

cleaned up best I could without any wash areas


I did find out, when leaving the building Sunday night, that I have a bad sticking throttle. So it was a really good thing that I didn't try and drive it down.

can't wait for the snow to melt, so I can take it for a spin

 

Awesome, glad you made your goal. Smart to trailer with no miles on her yet. Lots can happen on the road

Great Job. Don

 

Yep-your car looks good-Seen it on Sunday-Nice job

 

Time for an update seeing how it made it down to my driveway! Should have taken a pic.
Sounded great pulling away.

 

updates

I did go for a few drives last weekend, and put some miles on it. I got the carb tuned in good, but there are some bugs to work out.



First, the engine starts hard when hot, and a quick underhood listening finds the carb boils the gas out, but is still cold to the touch . I did some googleing and found percolation is common with Edelbrock carbs, so I ordered one of these doohickies.

I'l let you know if it works.

2nd, is the intake is leaking oil. Must have not gotten enough RTV at the ends.


So, off comes the intake.....

The engine runs strong, but the transmission needs some adjustments, as it shifts too soon, and doesn't always drop to 1st gear when I come to a stop. Also the engine spins about 2800 at 70 mph, so I may look into a gear ratio change for the 9"

 

Loving the pics!

 

Glad to hear you are putting some miles on her! You might want to double check your distributor gasket (O shaped gasket under base) for your leak as well. My 302 in my T leaked there. Might be a good start before you rip the intake off. Just a thought. Don

 

you got me all excited Don, BUT.... I cleaned it, and ran it watching....and....crap, it was leaking at the manifold

started the teardown to get the intake off tonight

 

RATS!! Worth a try!
Don

 

the carb spacer / heat insulator did the trick on the boiling carb.

the intake R&I and regasket took care of the oil leak

so lets hit the gas!

 

I watched and listened to the video three time and could not hear the tires smoking. If your not going to smoke the tires you could have put a ch#*# in it
Hopefully you can spend the rest of the summer(if it gets here) enjoying it without any problems.
You heading to Fowlerville this weekend?

 

Great! Now you've got no excuse not to drive it to billetproof.

Hope to see you there.

 

no smokey burnouts, it's not that kind of car....
and with only 100 or so miles on the engine, there is no need to push things. It does scoot way better than the ole flatty, and sounds damn good too!

it does tach up around 2900 at 70 mph, so should not worry too much about speeding tickets

Now, I gotta clean up and paint the hinges, so I can put the hood back on it