Projects Blown Injected Flathead - 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Station Wagon

Long story, lots of pictures, video of blown fuelie flathead running below and questions at the end...

I'm in the process of redoing the chassis, drivetrain, and electrical portions of a 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Station Wagon that I got from my father. I drove this car throughout college in Santa Barbara in the late 1990's. I parked the car in 2004 as the flathead was getting tired. In 2013 I got the car back from my father with the front end gone, and the engine and transmission rebuilt.



The car had been in an accident some time in the 1980s and apparently the right front fender and grill were repaired badly. It was noticeably wider than the left front fender. Along with the car was a huge pile of freshly primed sheetmetal, including a NOS right front fender and NOS grill. The car sat in storage until 2015 when I put it on the lift and and decided to redo the complete chassis, drivetrain and electrical with hopes that it will never have to be done again in my lifetime.


I removed the body from the chassis and redid everything.

The chassis was repaired/restored and it and all the suspension components were powder coated.


I replaced the original rear axle with a Columbia Overdrive.

And put it all together into a rolling chassis.



Since I plan on driving the car for some time I decided to upgrade a few things... I added Ford F-150 front discs , Lincoln rear drums and installed all new suspension from Posie's.

The engine is the car's original 59AB. It's got +.125" Egge pistons, 4.00" crank, 8BA rods w/ARP bolts, ARP main studs, center main cap strap, Isky Max 1 cam, Isky springs, SS chevy valves, ported block, Motor City Flathead heads, Fenton exhaust manifolds, Mallory Distributor, MSD 6BTM, a Weiand 142 Supercharger from Roadrunner Engineering and a Holley Terminator Stealth EFI system from Holley EFI. I've spent a lot of time redoing things trying to hide anything that looks modern, its obviously a work in progress.




I added a return style fuel system and wired everything using modern wire that is covered in fabric like the original.

Then I reinstalled the body.


And ran the engine for the first time...

The ticking you are hearing is actually the 4 fuel injectors in the throttle body. They can really only be heard at idle.

Below is the car's current state as of me writing this.





Which brings me to my questions...

Since I didn't take the front end apart, I don't know how it goes together. Apart from websites like VanPelts, I'm not sure how the front sheetmetal goes together. I can't find a build manual for this car. I'm also not sure what hardware to use. So far the car has been put together with stainless hardware where it is safe to use and zinc-plated grade 5 and grade 8 hardware everywhere else. I live in San Francisco so rust is an issue and I really don't want to do this car a second time. Does anyone have a 42-48 Ford that can take pictures of how everything is bolted together? Does anyone have a 42-48 Ford in the Bay Area that I can come look at?

All pictures from the build so far can be seen here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9dp2UU8LWVseVpZRlpPcXphVk0

 

Got my attention even with the red Xs, Looking forward to seeing what you actually have.

 

Is it just me or are the photos missing? (Red X's)


Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.

 

.....some are starting to show up now

 

I messed up the upload, give me a few mins to fix it.

Fixed.

 

Nice clean build......! I really like the 46-48 Fords, and a woody is just plain cool.

 

A couple other questions.

I'm missing the original horn and I've converted the car to 12v. Can I still use an original horn with 12v? Looking at the picture below. Can someone tell me where to get the Rajah (did I spell that correctly?) spark plug caps and the correct spark plug wire but in noise-suppresion style due to the MSD and EFI systems. The blue modern spark plugs wires have to go.

Also both water pumps seem to be leaking slightly (from the gaskets). They were purchased in 2004. Can someone tell me where the absolute best modern-style 59AB water pumps pumps can be purchased? This car runs a 160º-180ºF pressurized cooling system (15lbs). I've heard pumps have gotten better and better. Where do I get them?

 

Brillman wiring supply is the place for the plug wires and Rajah materials.

 

Beautiful build.

 

The better pumps are from either speedway/Bob Drake etc any of the new ones are good. Call Bill at all ford store in Campbell. He is a great resource.

 

very Cool project - great that you have had it for so long - imagine that it is worth a couple of dollars more now than in the 90's - look forward to updates as you get the glitches figured out

 

Bet ya wont see another one with that configuration......

 

Just a well engineered car...and it improves on the flathead like Darwin envisioned happening.

 

I Like GoodGuys...and Naughty Women.

 

don´t forget to tell us about that black plated red monster in the background

 

Love it. Restomoded just nicely. It will drive and handle better than when it was new, with a little more oomph to make it that much more fun. Should be economical on the highway with the Columbia. A SCOT blower would be nice.

 

You can use the original horn on 12v. It will be loud and just don't lay on it too long. 20+ years on mine with no problems.

 

Wagons are just too cool...I've loved em since I was a kid!
Gotta love a blown flattie in a woody!!....keep up the great work!

Sent from my LGMS210 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Any more updates on this one?

 

That is one nice woody you got there. I am a little jealous of your blown flatty. Sounds incredible.
Question, is the front disc kit you have the one from Speedway? Are you running a dual MC? Just wondering how your brakes are setup. I just ordered that kit from Speedway.

 

Yeah, I've got my eye on that too.

 

Pay a visit to Roy Brizio's in San Bruno.........they've restored/rodded a couple, including this one which was parked out front in Oct 2017 when I popped in for a visit, so likely still a locally based car.

 

So its been quite a while but I finally got the car driving. I installed new water pumps from Speedway and that fixed all the cooling/leaking issues. It makes absolutely ridiculous power for a flathead. Easily making over 300ft/lbs. I love it. Time to get the front sheet metal on and painted.

Below is a video of the very first time its moved under its own power since a complete chassis/drivetrain restoration.

 

Very nice, clean and professional looking work. Yes, it is modernized, but the truth is that once you have the EFI system completely dialed in, it is MUCH better than any carbureted system you could put on it. I'm currently converting an early Crower MFI injector hat over to EFI - using the big-brother to your system - the Holley Dominator. Holley has done a fantastic job in their EFI systems and software over the years -- with lots of experience on various tech boards, etc. Is your timing controlled via the distributor, or does your ECU control the timing curve and boost mapping as well?

 

Bill has been instrumental in helping me get this car back together, I'm a big fan of Bill and All Ford Store.

I don't really talk about it here because it's been modernized.

I really wanted a SCOT blower as well but they are ridiculously over-priced and I wanted something that would make reliable boost for years and years and the Roadrunner Engineering stuff provides far superior performance and reliability over anything else. I also never do business with H&H Flatheads again.

The brakes are fantastic. I'm using the Speedway Motors 91031909 front disc brake kit and the Boling Brothers "Banjo Rear Brake Kit". Between the 11.75" front discs and the 12'x2" rear modern drums the thing STOPS!!! I'm using a Wilwood 1" remote master cylinder, proportioning valve, and 2 & 10lb. residual check valves.

I'm using the Mallory Magnetic Distributor for the timing curve. It runs into a MSD 6BTM that pulls timing under boost. The MSD has a square wave output (tach out) that goes to the Holley ECU as the ignition input. Works perfectly. Starts and runs like a brand new car. Perfect fueling all the time no matter the load conditions or environmental variables. I started with a Holley Dominator but I switched the Holley HP ECU, this build doesn't warrant the use of the Dominator as I'm only using the ECU for fuel mapping and fan control. The Dominator is for the Fairlane which is soon to be twin-turbo, 1400HP, 4L85E, Traction Control, ABS, etc.

 

Sounds good . . . there is really no reason for a Dominator unless you have a lot more injectors, need more ecu control over additional inputs/outputs, etc.. We run a HP ECU on a road-race Mustang - 331 stroker motor deal. It is nice that the same software runs both and even the same wiring harnesses can be used . . . such that it is fairly easy to upgrade from an HP to a Dominator if need be. Nice work on the whole package . . .