Hot Rods A 40 Ford Coupe for Uncle Mike Build Thread

I seem some that where 14mm spark plug threads

 

Thanks Joel, Seems like there is always some fix or adjustment to do...... Latest issue is that fancy remote filter system is leaking at the oil pan as I had feared it might. I was checking your thread and see that your Chebby motor is coming along nicely!

Algoma that is true. I made a trip back to my muffler guy and he had some plugs on hand. He also mentioned that I should chase the threads on the bung since the they are thin and the welding heat warps them. I had a spark plug 18 mm thread chaser on hand and was able to chase the thread and install the plugs with some copper thread lube with no problems.

I need to wire brush theses fittings and put some paint on them.

flatheadfever that is true, This plug turned out to be 18mm.

 

Here is another project we did this week. We went through the steering box. We figured it would be much easier to do a rebuild it now than after the car was totally assembled.





Armed with these drawings and the 39 and 40 Ford Engine and Chassis Repair Manual Volume 15 we started the dis-assembly. First thing we noticed is that there was just a little bit of grease and no oil in the box.
Lifting off the cover you can see the adjusting screw.

The adjusting plate puts pressure on the steering gear roller to take the slack out of the connection between the steering gear roller and the worm gear.

We did not find any significant wear on the roller gear.

we pulled the steering worm shaft and worm gear out and examined the bearing race and bearings. They were OK.
Steering worm gear also deemed OK..

The steering shaft was bent just above the gear so we chucked it up in the late and put a dial indicator on it.

Since the shaft was hollow we were able to insert a spud bar in the shaft end. It took several bends at considerable pressure to cold bend the shaft to within .003.

Don and I cleaned up the gear housing for paint and the bearings were cleaned and oiled.

Reassembled the unit according to the book and it turns nice and smooth. We were able to reuse the original gaskets. I just cleaned them up and applied some Permatex High Temp RTV Silicone Gasket Maker on both sides of the gaskets. I cleaned that surplus silicone off after this picture but I still noticed that paint does not want to stick to the silicone that was left behind.

After painting the unit we could not find the felt washer that had been on the unit so I went to four different stores and finally found some heavy duty 1/4" thick felt to make a new washer out of. If I had looked at my own pictures I took during dis- assembly I would have known that the felt was supposed to go on top of the gear box. Instead (since I did not see any thing in the manual cut a ways or parts books) I made this washer to fit between the shaft and the box.


I found a short piece of PVC pipe to press the felt seal into the socket.

It should work fine. It is mainly used as a dust seal.

I studied several hours on the internet. Mainly on the HAMB and Ford Barn about what to use for lube and decided to use no grease, just 85-140 weight gear oil. People have used Corn Head grease ( a grease that turns to a thick liquid state when warmed up) alone or mixed with 90 weight oil, or CV joint grease, 50 % power punch with 50 % 90 weight and several other concoctions. So far it is not leaking out the new bottom seal (Part #TSM 1152PTB). Since the gear will be subjected to considerable heat from the header time will tell whether or not I need to switch to a grease.

I did not need to replace my bearings but researched them anyway. You should be able to buy them at your local bearing store but I did find them available for purchase separately on the summit sight also.

The upper and lower bearing races are a different sizes but the bearings have the same number. I noticed this bearing is listed as a wheel bearing on the Summit sight.

Upper race Timken 6
Lower race Timken 6CE
Bearings Timken 5BC

 

Top notch reporting once again!

 

I see a floor support cross memeber just above the rear axle! What is the height dimension? As it's sandwiched between the frame and the floor I want to make sure I get that measurement correct or the rear of my car will be too high or too low. That support is long gone on my coupe , as is the entire floor!
Another measurement.... do you know what the dimension is from the floor to the bottom of the rear side windows.

 

my coupe and it's "floors",

39 guy! Your thread has been a blessing, I'm discovering parts that I am missing, what they should look like, how they go together, there is so much information here!!!

 

The floor support you see is just to the rear of the rear crossmember and no one makes them except they come on the Drake/ Carpenter trunk floor sections and of course on the full floor pan. You have a business coupe and the carpenter floor is made for a 5 window; thus the "step up" in the foor is farther forward than the repo floor.
The first hole in the frame to the rear of the crossmember is a body mount and there is a wedge of steel on the uinderside of that hole in the frame. The crossbrace has a hole through it on each end and is spot welded to the underside of the trunk floor. A friend of mine "a tinner" made one for me and I'll post sketches. I have to get them off another computer.

 

You are an inspiration-amazing build-can't wait to see the finished product

 

Well White 64 you sure are much braver than I. Joel speaks the truth on the 40 coupe floors. I took some measurements for you today though. I hope they will be helpful if you decide to build your own floor. I would recommend buying a complete floor from Carpenter though.

I added the door jamb measurement to the window measurement because I think the door jamb measurement would allow you to have to base your 1/4 panel placement.

There is a pad at each end. Each one has an anti crush round tube welded inside.


Thanks to both White 64 and Asphalt Angel for the compliments on the threads content.


We got a lot done today but had to stop short of starting the engine. The carburetor floats were not working correctly when we started the fuel pump both bowls leaked fuel into venturies. So we will take the carb apart tomorrow and fix that problem and hopefully start the engine for the first time.

We made a temporary dash panel out of an unused section of 40 Ford floor. Seems like wires are going every which way. The radiator fan will be run from my RV's battery. The fuel pump and ignition from another one.

 

39 guy! PERFECT! Just what I needed. Using your photos on page 2 I've been able to build the rear portion of the rocker panels. I bought the EMS floors, they're not stock in appearance by any means, but they are much better than what I had. And thanks for letting me hijack your thread for a little bit. It's very much appreciated!

 

Thanks for filling in on the sketches; I haven't figured out how to get my autocad drawings off my old XP computer. Joel

 

I haven't seen any EMS floors, but if they fit, then unless you're trying for a totally stock look, they should be OK, I guess, but I'd think about it a long time before I used their exterior panels.
The pristine '40 coupe I bought last month (because at 77 yrs old I didn't feel I had another scratch build left in me, plus I knew I'd never find another like the one I bought) has only 1 replacement panel. The panel below the deck lid was replaced by the previous owner/builder.
He stated that on a previous build he tried to use an EMS panel in the same place and finally gave up and got a Drake panel like the one he put in my '40. Said the EMS panel lacked the compound curve stamped into the OEM and the Drake was perfect in that respect as well as any other issue. No sense in stating out with a panel that ain't right!

 

You are welcome White 64 and Joel. Happy to help when I can Dirty old man, I have not used the EMS quarter panels but since I did use the Drake pieces I can say they were a pretty good fit. Especially the contour of the panel. I did have some trouble with the door jamb area though as was documented in the thread.

I don't blame you for buying a finished car at 77 years young. I am having enough trouble working on this project at 65. BTW that is a very fine coupe you bought!

We started the Flathead today. If I can figure out how to load the video I will post it. We had some good news and some bad news with the project. It started nice and easy and ran OK while adjustments were made. But as it warmed up the valve clearances went away and it started missing on one bank. Then the oil pressure started to drop off so we shut it down.

We disconnected the oil filter and installed a clear hose that ran to a basin. We then turned the engine over with the starter to see if the oil pump was putting out any oil. It didn't pump much and was pumping some air. We added another quart of oil and the pump volume improved but we still got some air. So we can assume that one or more of the AN fittings on the line that runs between the oil pump and the side of the oil pan has come loose or the oil pick up has come loose. Neither of these scenarios is good. So the oil pan will have to come off to check this out.

Before we pull the engine out and put it back on the stand for this work we ran a compression test and found three cylinders were low on compression. So we decided to adjust the valves and do another compression check to hopefully rule out a head gasket problem. So far two of the bad cylinders had to tight of lash so hopefully opening up the lash adjustment will cure the problem. We will finish the valve adjustment tomorrow run the test compression test again and hopefully move on to the other problems.

Oh, and the rear main was leaking too much so we have had to pull the pan anyway to fix that.

Bored and Stroked had asked for a report on the PCV system. I cant say if it worked well but I did not notice any vapors coming out of the breather during the test runs. But since it was slowly loosing oil volume it was probably not a fair test. We did have plenty of vacuum to suck the fumes back into the manifold.

So that's Hot Rodding I guess, You take a bunch of pieces from all sorts of sources and decades and put them together. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes your resolve and patience tested........

 

Press on! We are rooting for you...

 

^^^What lowcoe said! Every seeming problem is just another opportunity to prove you can deal with and solve whatever comes along... at least that is the approach I use. About the same as testing resolve and patience!
Keep workin'
Al

 

a lot of good work shown in this thread, but to clarify our panel has all the curves, with or with out slots.

 

I sincerely hope this is the case, but I'm repeating what was told to me by a man who has built several old Ford cars and the one he sold me is a real jewel. The bodywork is flawless, both underneath and on top, so I believe he knows what he is doing and what parts have given him the best results in this and previous builds.

 

EMS, like I said I have not used your panels on this project so I can't give any comment on them. I appreciate your wanting to clarify. Just curious, Do you and Drake use the same source for forming any of your panels? I confess to knowing very little about your company and how you research and develop your products.

 

Al, you're not stubborn; you are committed... hopefully to excellence... or as close as we mortals can get!
Keep workin'... we're looking forward to your continued success and appreciate your sharing of the trip along the path on your progress.
Al

 

I just went back and for the first time spotted the reference to a business coupe and a 5 window coupe, and I never knew there was a difference in the floor pan in any '40 coupes, and never heard one referred to as a "5 widow". Is the "5 window" also known as the "opera coupe", with the 2 little sideways fold down jump seats? Please, elaborate,. as mine has no rear seat and all I know is "coupe", and "opera coupe".

 

dom, Take a look at this page from the Drake catalog. It kind of explains the (terminology) difference. I had the jump seat version years ago and we all called it the opera coupe back then. The business coupe was considered the version I have now without the jump seats.

There seems to be three different noticeable sheet metal differences.The floor, The spare tire support structure and possibly the steel support for the package tray that is present in the business coupe. Maybe White 64 can show us a picture of the bolster area of his opera coupe body. I say bolster because my opera coupe had a 6 or 8 inch pad that surrounded the back of the interior just below the windows where the package tray is on my business coupe.

http://www.youblisher.com/p/213671-Bob-Drake-Reproductions-Catalog-27/

 

thanks for understanding, to answer your question, as i understand drake goes mostly to china/taiwan for his parts, ems automotive makes it own parts in its own factory's in the usa, we have our own tool/die shop, engineering dept, and production equipment, so your money spent with ems auto stays in the usa ( yes we produce parts for other industries that need metal stampings),

we have a huge inventory of cars to use for patterns or we borrow some cars when needed. we try to use the best panel we can find as a master sample. we use thicker metal then imported stuff,

we take responsibility for any ups damage the ems customer never gets short changed by " carrier responsibility excuse", ems auto can do this as we pack the box ( usa made also) the importer from china can not they have to sell everything as nothing can be returned to china.

our web site www.emsautomotive.com has a photo album section showing among other things, our parts installed on cars when we can get them,

hey guys if you have photos of ems parts installed we would be happy to post them on our site, send me pm

we always apply our label/name to our panels. most patch panels companies do not! no label- not ems

attached is a photo of our rear panel installed on a 40 ford coupe

 

I used an EMS panel.,.actually 2. No complaints. Keep up the good fight...,, made in the USA..,. Priceless

 

If I have to slice and dice a little but know its made in the USA then. ???? No brainier. EMS guy seems to have the pulse of the HAMB if you have concerns let him know......

 

EMS,thanks for the detailed explanation. It is good to know that your products are made in the USA.

 

I personally didn't install them, but had my body shop use EMS door patch panels on my 40 Tudor. Body guy seemed to really like them, said they fit great

 

We have been working on the engine problems this week. I will cover the oil pressure issues after we run the engine later this week. I can share this timing gear to cover issue though.

I thought the cam gear was a little noisy during our initial test runs.

Turns out that the gear was machining it's own clearance on that fancy Offenhauser cover I put on the engine a few weeks ago.

Offenhauser on the left stock 8BAcover on the right. It was an easy thing to miss but I am glad we took the cover off to check for the cam gallery plug the resides behind the gear.

A little work with the dremmel tool machined in enough clearance. This time the measurements were all double checked......... we are currently waiting for the gasket set to come in so we can reassemble the engine.

 

I'm glad you found that now and fixed it. keep on truckin'.

 

X2

 

Gee... I don't really have much of anything inside this coupe, mine doesn't "appear" to have ever had the vertical support from the floor to the bottom of the side window, and has a wooden support in the corner... though how it attached at the bottom remains a mystery. Here are a few progress pics. The EMS trunk and rockers in place, I was able to save the center section of the pink sedan's floor...