Projects Im getting Married! Project 46 ford begins!

yup 65+ year old stock stuff, the adjusters you refer to, is this in referance to getting the drum itself off?

id assume total removal would go something like back off the adjusters, pull the drum, pull the pin and remove the nut, pull the hub, take out the 4 bolts on the spindal that hold the backing plate on and pull the plate free.

that seem about right? im not going to tackle it until i have the new set to put on right after i pull the old stuff off but seeing as its 34 degrees outside i figured itd be ok to rush ahead in the build mentally and figure a few things out

 

Congrats man on the wedding and the car I love old cars in weddings

my wife and I drove a camaro convertable
best man and maid of honor ... 72 C/10
next 4 drove in a 52 pontiac chieftan
last was a 82 monte carlo

have fun

 

Yes, but you will need to pull the pin and the nut to get the hub/drum off the tapered spindle. I always like to do one side at a time if it's something I haven't done in a while, then you can cheat and look at the other side . Good luck and stay warm!

 

ha, yeah i learned long ago to do one side at a time after realizing that a photo in a book realy leaves about a trillion questions when trying to figure out how to put it all back together.

so i need to pull the pin and nut to even get the drum off? good to know

right now the plan is to basicly work from the back forward. new rear suspension, rebuild rear, rebuild rear brakes, upgrade mc and pedal, swap front spring/shocks, swap new brakes, install lines.

seems like a good plan so far, lets see how far it falls apart on the way

 

nothing new to report this weekend, but had a quick question that i didnt find an answer to after doing some searches and didnt realy feel it was worth starting a new post for, im trying to find photos of sbc in 46-48 ford cars to get an idea what kind of clearance im going to have with the stock battery tray location.

from what i can gather it looks tight but should work, possibly pull it out to install the motor and put it back when its in? looks like it should land pretty close to the passenger valve cover, which im fine with as long as i still have room to pull the cover and change a gasket with out having to pull the battery tray/stand out to do it.

If its going to be in the way has any one have any ideas for mounting it still under the hood? im not into crawling under the car more then i have to especially when im pissed at a dead battery, and id like to stay out of the trunk as i forsee some massive road trips in its future and want to keep the trunk as open as possible.

thanx in advance
timm

 

I've done this with a couple 40 Fords (not all that familiar with the 46-48s) - weld up a tray behind the right front tire underneath the fender big enough to encompass one of those plastic battery boxes - keeps most of the dirt and debris out, short run to the starter, no issues in the engine bay and it's cleaner lookin' .....

 

I agree on moving the battery box.

Looking good. I definitely have a soft spot for the '46-48 tudors.

 

Hmm, and then just bolt the tray to the frame? Any photos of this in one of the 40s you've put together? I get the idea but photos always help

 

Lookin good man, I've noticed we've stopped seeing your wife around in the pics...

 

well to much money and waaaay to much time i have admited defeat on drilling holes to mount the upper shock mounts. its just not going to happen, i used different drills, different angles, different brands of drill bits and the furthest i got was a slightly dipped shiney spot were id realy like some holes to be.

I've decided to just move onto rebuilding/ regearing the rear end and then onto the brakes. when the car is driving ill head a few miles into town to a shop with a lift and have them welded on.

at some point ya just gotta start working on something else.

 

Alright nothing to exciting but its progress, this weekend i got the shock and leaf spring mounting tabs/pads cut off the 'new' 9 inch rear and then ground them down so i can have the new mounts welded on.

but before the photos of that exciting-ness...



proof Sarah is still in the garage helping out and not hating the car haha.

In this super secret spy photo you can see her helping out by studying cardiopulmonary physical therapy. Im not entirely sure how this relates to the car coming together, but I'm pretty sure its important. It'd be a pretty fat book for something not that important.

aaaaaanyhow, here are some pix.

now i know your thinking, why would i want to see pix of cutting off old shock mounts and leaf spring pads? well, because if you search you probably wont find any and its the little annoying things that itd be nice to google and find some help on before your hitting it with a hammer.

step one.



eating some BBQ and a side of stuffed squash, your mother was right. you need your veggies.

step two.



using a cut off wheel in a 4 inch grinder i cut the 3 sided shock mount tab along the bottom of the inner side, and then down the center. with the shock mounting bolt still stuck in there this alowed me to pivot the cut half of the bracket out of the way to cut the other half.

if you had/can get the shock bolt out it'd help even more as you'd be able to just pull the cut bit out.



the spring perches i cut the top out of first.



then with the top out i trimmed the sides down just like i did on the shock mounts by using the cut off wheel and cutting the corners off and then cutting down the center.



you can see it pre cut out center here. i did go ahead and cut some vertical slots into the piece that needs removed. that way your not sinking your cutting wheel very far into the metal before it removes the extra bit.

it went shockingly quick after fighting drilling all those holes for the rear suspension and to celebrate i popped the grinding wheel back on and nocked them all down.

i did leave a little of the metal on the tube as youll never see it and i just felt better about the integrity of the axle tube not knocking the weld and everything all the way down.

I'll go ahead and use the grinder to knock the rust off the sections were the new pads will be welded and then throw it in the truck and bring it to my welder to have them put on.

then its time for a new third member, axle bearings/seals, brake springs, shoes, drums, lines and then i can finally take the car off the stands and let it roll outside to see where its sitting! finally!

Priced everything for the rear at a tiny auto parts store just a block down from the shop I work at and happily found that not only can this dad and son store get me my parts for easily a third of what the chain stores want if not LESS, but they also carry a selection of new and used old ford parts all the way back to model T's. awesome

all goes well the dash gets painted next weekend!

 

28. yeah, 28 deg F tonight in my cold little corner of the shed.



thankfully my super bright work lights put off a fair bit of heat. i dont want to hear you guys with heated, well lit, attached garages or garages not a 10 mile round trip away from home bitching about how tough it is to get yourself to pick away at your projects now alright? haha

 

spy pic of my possibly ready to pick up dash

 

so quick updates

*dash is painted and should be finished and in my possession around turkey day
* new shiny chrome trim for the dash is on the shelf waiting
* new brake pedal, mc bracket and dual pot mc also on shelf waiting
* rear axel leaf spring pads welded on
* rear axel tear down about half way threw, looking like im going to keep the tube and the axels. possibly replacing the rest. lol glad i didnt sped to much on that axle seeing as i wont be using 90% of it! haha. im trying to take photos and ill post all of it at the same time as a sorta walk along/how to-ish bit.

bout it keep you all posted

 

finally got the dash back from paint and thought id throw up a little update as much of what I've been messing with hasn't seemed worth posting yet, started in on putting the dash back together tonight



fresh paint and chrome ready to go together!



there are less bolts holding the new chrome trim on then the stock ones, but they have these thread in bolts with nuts instead of little tiny screws so im figureing its prolly just as secure if not more.



a pretty quick install i cant believe how much heavier it is with all that chrome on it haha.



along with the ashtrays i have yet to put the hinges and latches on the glove box so i had to hold it up for a look~see




new paint, new chrome and that stainless i polished up a while back looking good!



all set to get the rest of the hardware painted and tweaked so i can bolt the rest together before finding a nice spot to sit it out of the way until its time to pop some new gauges in it, wire it and put it back in the car. hopefully ill have complete pix tomorrow

 

Dash looks good, BUT there is no way this can come out perfect with a WORKBENCH as clean and neat as that one-------haahaaaa

 

haha, come from having ac ocd neat freak of a dad. id say that bench gets cleaned up more then it gets used. and it gets used alot. haha

 

I had no idea you had a build thread. My turn to bug you.

Loving the '46! I remember going for a ride in a chopped '48 2 door sedan when my dad's friend owned it. It was more of a 90's street rod. Dark purple paint, pink pinstripping, billet aluminum wheels, seats as big and comfy as Laz-A-Boy recliners, and '59 Caddy lights to boot. You wouldn't believe all the attention that car got. I still can't believe it to this day. But that car was one of the first cars to tug me away from the "muscle car craze" I was in at the time. I was in high school, pre-driver's license, so that probably played a big factor.

My brother-in-law also has a '46 Ford 2 door sedan that he'll be getting to as soon as he finishes my sister's CJ7. His build plan is very similar to yours so I think I'll direct his attention to your build thread.

You can count on me giving my input along the way.. Who knows, maybe one evening, we'll get into a long discussion, trying to "out-type" the other.

Keep up the good work.


iPhone - TJJ App

 

haha, thanx.

alright got it all buttoned up this afternoon, just needs the glove box half of the latch and new gauges to fill the holes and its good to go



its incredibly hard to get a good photo of :\



but im trying



love how the old square gauges look with it all together, this photo is pretty off from the right colors but oh well. i think ill have one of my photo savy friends come over and help me shoot the car when its all "done"



before



after



installed! its just some little teeny tabs that hold it in so im thinking later down the road i may put some magnets to hold it a little firmer and hide my 'real' radio behind it. that way i dont have to put it in the glove box and i have no need to ugly up my dash.

i guess ill keep you posted on that

edit: in one of the photos it looks as if the glove box trim and the dash trim dont match up quite right. they do line up perfect i think its just a funny reflection or something

 

a sneak peak of what i got to deal with this afternoon

 

Talk about a shock imagery. I was so enamored with the beauty of your dash that the rear caught me off guard. Nice work!

 

haha, yeah you think that might be why it wouldnt turn?

 

WOW, yep I think you found the problem.

 

latest update, also posted in a separate post elsewhere

Hey guys,

So I decide to mock up my new brake pedal/ master cylinder that i picked up from speed way a couple weeks ago while i was in town.

while i was nowhere near surprised when it came with absolutely no instructions on how it went together, it seems that it should just bolt together like youd think it should.

I was sadly surprised to see that some of the parts seem to not be threaded correctly to actually put it together.

So I figured that i would i post some photos and hopefully be informed that im just looking at something wrong and dont need to rethread a brand new part to fit the other brand new parts that came with it.



so here we go, we have the link attached to the pedal and the mc push rod.



I line/mock it all up and everything seems it should bolt up and line up correctly.



Now the problem, the tube that links the heim joint to the m/c pushrod isnt threaded correctly.

not only is it threaded a few sizes to small but its not even threaded deep enough to thread the whole pushrod in so i can later adjust it.

So unless I'm missing something i need to rethread the link to the correct size and deeper?

 

so went back and looked at it again and turns out they are threaded correctly, but the first few threads were either pinched shut or had 'slag' from the tap blocking them. some "manual persuasion" man it all work out alright. just wanted to follow up on this

 

so not much of an update but got the rear end all torn apart, the new third member ready to go and sent the new third member, axle housing and backing plates to be bead blasted and painted with por15 before bolting it all back together.

holiday season put a dent in the schedule....well that and its something like -20 right now, but we're well on our way to being back on track

 

Cold weather '46 ford builders unite! We're almost through the worst of it- 2 more months! Great work so far- dash looks real nice, keep it up... I'm also struggling with the cold... Can you get a wood stove in that barn? Anyway, it's inspirational to see the work you've done- thanks for sharing-

 

no wood stove but i do have a propane heater i can use if i need it, ive been messing with stuff in the basement and in a freinds heated garage that last few months, work was slow so progress was obviously sloooooooooooow but im getting the momentum back up.

got the rear axle housing, backing plates and third member bead blasted, por 15'd and painted and all the new guts should be here by thursday. new seals, bearings, and everything on the ends, ive got some naked backing plates to build off and thats about it.

im hoping to have the rear axle done and in the car for the first time on the new suspension on this coming sunday or monday. no internet at the house so no promises on awesome updates but ill try

going to order the chassi inc motor/trans mounts that include the split wishbone kit, a new posie 3 inch drop spring for the front and a disc brake kit from speedway in the next month or so and see if i cant get this thing back on the ground and rolling

 

quick update, after about 3 different try's i finally found the correct wheel cylinders for the rear. something like a one year only option had me scratching my head but other then missing on of the little studs that you pop into the side of the wheel cylinder ive got all that parts to put the brakes together brand new and put it on the ground with fluid in it.

It's been allot of hurry up and wait, im swamped at work so i grab parts during the week in hopes of thrashing on my days off only to find the parts are slightly or totaly wrong

but im keeping positive. in the mean time ive snagged a new posie super slider 3 inch drop reverse eyelet spring and new shackles for the front, and the chassi inc motor/trans/wishbone split kit showed up.

everything looks pretty nice so after a trip to Arkansas I'll take advantage of the now longer and longer days and get the rear FINALLY under the car... and then tear the front end off.

the plan is to get all the brackets mounted and the new spring swaped then send off the wishbone to get split/welded up by some one who welds better then i do.

He tends to take a week or so to get to things so im hoping ill have drive train to drop in when the front end comes back to me, if i dont ill just go straight to doing the front brakes.

super excited to have all the brakes/suspension out of the way other then lines. feels like half the battle some days.

 

It was great meeting y'all today at drdave's orthodontic clinic. And great build thread, too! I look forward to seeing it progress to completion!