Yes it does and its still installed, I have never see heater pipes almost at the top of the firewall but maybe your on to something or maybe its got some shady ties...
Model 40 Tudors are better looking and more useful than coupes. About firewall holes; I use to use a rolling head prybar along with heavy ball peen to punch holes thru the firewall in big trucks for PTO cables and wires. Did hundreds of holes that look like yours. While a little crude, the holes were smooth and didn't abrade the cables or wires that passed thru them.
Well a little update, I have been waiting on parts... I cut some new kingpin bushings with my new/old reamer. Worked like a charm. Waiting on a new main leaf so I can put the rest of the front end together. While I was at it, someone had spaced the radiator with nuts to gain fan clearance on the bottom of the top tank. So I pulled the nuts out to get the alignments back in spec, and then cut .5 off the fan blade tips. Problem solved. Installed new lower radiator hoses as those that were there were leaking and crimped. So I finally have the seats back in for the time being, floor/trans tunnel board etc are in. New wiring and fuse panel are installed, new switches installed. Made a new choke lever so I can have matching switch and choke knobs on the dash. Installed new gauges in a pod on the kick panel. Been gathering wheels and tires, and now there are 2 wheels at the blaster, and the other 2 are painted and just have to install tubes and tires. I went big and littles. 17s with a 475-17 and 18s with a 650-18. Had to check the fit for big boy seating. Stay tuned for the spark plug wires and tube install, this should really clean things up as the final piece of the puzzle in there for now.
Update this week. So I got some 18" wheels from a fellow Hamber... Did some pounding and got the blemiishs out so got the tires mounted. I went 650-18 Excelsiors for the rear. I have never tried these tires but they look ok and figured I would give them a shot saying they are 1/3 the price of the firestones! Also ordered a spark plug wire kit from Nobel Speed Equipment. Cant say enough about them, great service and above and beyond on the packaging, product and installation notes. I needed to move my coil as I was adding back the spark plug wire tubes I had bought a few weeks ago, so the 8BA heads I have in stock had a coil mount, so I figured I may as well put the coil where the 8BA has it so modified the mount a bit and here we are. New coil was needed as the other one had a cracked top, and I wanted a fully internal regulated coil to get rid of the ballast resistor. Opened up the doors, got the trash out of the bottoms of them, the drivers side was alot of removal of old flat pane glass, I will need a new regulator and door glass for the driver side, the passenger side had the window sticking up 1/2" at rolled all the way down, I had to do some searching on how to adjust the regulators but I figured it out on my own, now it fits flush with the window opening. So still awaiting my reverse eye front main leaf, it got lost in transit and should be getting the other one this week. So hope I can get the front end back together. The 17" wheels I got a few weeks ago locally are at the blaster. So hope to get those this week. I only have 2 pics for yall but gives an idea on the 2 major wins.
First heard of this Method ( making holes ) in early 70's from elder family member , Use Leather for a Main / Rod bearings , Pull a wheel , use axle to power things , Only 30 ish miles South of DC , Life here was Country still up until 90s
You got a pic of the other side of the 8BA coil mount you modified? I have one or two of those laying around and that is a good idea
Pretty simple, honestly you could just drill the hole larger and mount it on the head stud instead of making a bracket. Or you could make a larger bracket to grab two head studs but its a coil so I am not too worried.
Well, after a few weeks of waiting on a new main leaf, (Mine was shot and the shackle loops were spread out .25" extra) I finally have the front axle finished on the rebuild. Exhaust will need to be re routed for the lowered height. But all in all I am digging this look now. (Bangs head against the wall) The orig. Idea was FENDERED! But this front end look now with the Big and littles just has a look.... Weekend recap, got the 17s back from blaster Thursday, painted them, installed tires and tubes Friday. Found a sticking brake roller on the drivers side for the backing plate guide being worn in a few places, Filed that smooth and fixed that issue. New leaf came in saturday afternoon.... Massaged the spring pack and here we are with it back on stands till I adjust the front brakes out. Funny side note, the kingpin kits for 32-34 cars, the angle ground in the kingpin boss for the stud to wedge in is at the wrong angle by about 2 degrees. The brake actuators levers wont go in the cups straight and will bind. I ground down the pin in the valley on the back side to fix the angle issue and everything is good. Funny part is the old kingpin was done the same way. I know the general mechanics thing is kinda a bore... So Here is the Look of her right now.... And where we started for before and after... I am still leaning toward the fenders back on with no bumpers.... I guess the beauty of this car is the fenders and boards all come off and on with bolts so I can change my mind easily. I thought I knew what I wanted till she was back on the ground on the new rubber. Don't know... Let me know your thoughts!
My paint is similar to yours. Hopefully I'll get back at mine someday. Working on later model(56 Nomad) for now.
Thanks for the comments...Much appreciated, funny part is the fenders were going on during that time. Well, I was kicking things around yesterday after making my last comment. I was looking at things, and said what the hell, lets put her back together.... So only thing lacking is the headlights.... I figured I would hammer and dolly the rough parts of the fenders on the car, and give em a repaint on the car possibly too. Side note, they come off easier than they go on.
Fenders add to the beauty of these things IMO. Mine was originally built without but so much better now I think.
Well The fun has come to a close on that phase... Got it all together, rewired the headlights completely... This is why I never trust what is there. Cut back and soldered new wires on... Mounted.... Wired up and works great! All lights work that I have hooked up so far. The cowl lights are on the list of the next to rebuild and rewire etc. Thanks for following along on the journey, I will be probably doing rear shackles and brakes next and probably torque tube seal.
A new week update... Well, took her to get fuel the other night, first trip out of the neighborhood. The left rear brake started locking up when it started warming up. SO, I took it apart... the shoes were orig. linings, worn down to the rivets. So I went ahead and relined the shoes. Adjusters were locked up, had to free them up and clean them out. So no photos, but the rear brakes are rebuilt now. I do have to say, she rides good, you can feel the weight difference between this and an A for sure... So in my infinite wisdom or more like a lack there of, I decided to tackle the rear shackles since the rear was in the air... WHAT A PAIN to get the old ones out. The spring eye had rubber bushing's; those fell out... The axle housing end was the insanity. The LR one had no major obstruction, the bolt came right out, the bushing was stuck, wouldn't drive out, so thankfully I had a 3/4" drill bit, and let the bit eat out the bushing material. Worked great. The RR was the 2 hours with air hammer, drill and all the fun. Finally drove out the inner part of the shackle, then drilled out the bushing like I had done on the LR. I have poly bushings on the way. The Front spring settled in some, the rake looks good, once I get this rear back together I will post some pics out and about. OH and I almost forgot... I got a cool surprise, driving down the road with headlights on, looked down and the speedometer was working stellar. I will post some good pics soon! Thanks for following.
Few pictures! Here is the leftovers of the shackle that was the royal pain to drive out of the axle housing. Then how about some Ford brake linings.... Here she sits awaiting shackles to go back together...
Weekend update... Thrashed pretty hard today... Got the rear suspension all done up. She is back on her feet. So I have been wanting adjustable reamers... So I found this set for 100 bucks online.. Covers all I need around here for sure! So my hands were black at the end of todays session.. And here she is back on her feet! Hope to get her out and run a few miles this weekend... Hope everyone is staying cool and doing well! Added my club plaque and license plate topper to the car...
The Jalopy Journal
