Hot Rods Bringing my 39 back to life

I actually have a low milage 425 that I had planned for years to put in it. But....that is finding it's way into my 54 f100 to be my daily and I bought all of the early olds stuff my friend Martin had collected up since he is moving over seas and cant take it it with him. Besides, nothing looks as good as early Olds power in a fenderless chopped 32 sedan.

 

What a great thread and car!

 

Wow, now i know I'm a slacker! Is this an 'in tank' pump? Just asking cos Id like to use one, but cant find one thats low enough psi for carbs. Did you run a return line? thanks

 

No its not an in tank pump. I used a low pressure Carter fuel pump that just bolts to the frame rail. The Tank is A Tanks brand tank and can be equipped with an intank pump, as well as has a provision for a return line. I plugged my return port and just run the supply line. I will be going to a larger fuel pump soon as the one that I put in it was to supply 3 94 carbs, so I need the super low pressure. The edelbrock 4 barrel I ended up using just about out runs the fuel pump so I have a bigger one to swap it out with.

 

If you want to run an intank pump, talk to TANK's and then run a pressure regulator. I believe in pressure regulators and a guage when running electric fuel pumps, Mine put out barely 2 PSI so it would work well with 94's or 97's.

 

So I have been collecting up bits and pieces up to replace the 39 trans and banjo rear in the 39. Yes its all new stuff, and it works great, but I also don't feel safe beating on it and rather than blowing up up trying to do burnouts or speed shift I will upgrade it. The Trans and Rear will go to my best bud Del @hotdamn for his coupe project this spring. And I will be replacing all of it with a ford 3.03 top loader 3 speed and a parallel leaf kit from Posies, with either an 8 or 9 inch rear axle. So far I have a clean 1963 3.03 trans, the Jeep T150 shifter to make it a top shift trans, an adapter plate to put a 49 to 64 trans behind a Chevy bellhousing, and an 8 inch rear axle. Still looking for a bronco rear axle. If I cant find a bronco rear and I use the 8 inch I have to switch the rear wheels out to a smaller bolt pattern, and I do believe im gonna have to track down a set of 55 Studebaker caps for it. I had @themoose do his handiwork on photoshop to show what it would look like with the Stude caps. More to come in the next few months, like trans and rear swap as well as chrome garnish moldings, and upholstery.

 

Looking good, Jason.

The gold steelies & caps are timeless, but I think maybe the Studebaker covers go better with the white running boards & firewall in sort of a late 50's/early 60's show car theme.

 

Nice Hotrod...

 

Haven’t updated this in a while. Been working on getting the paint looking better. I started with just hosing it off and then going at it with the buffer.

 

I got the drivers side looking pretty good. Using Meguiars 105 cutting compound on a wool pad on my 8 inch buffer at around 4000 RPM. This stuff works just as good as the expensive stuff from the paint store and I’ve used it on a bunch of cars. Plus you can usually get it at Auto Zone.

 

There were some spots on the car where there just was no paint. Like an antenna hole I welded up and the tops of the doors that had the paint peeled off. So I figured it was worth a shot and sprayed some Rusoleum black lacquer on them. Let them dry for a week wet sanded and buffed them. Kind of amazed at how well it turned out. When I buffed these spots I used a Meguiars aluminum wheel polish cone for your drill since I thought I might have better control with it. Still using the 105 cut compound.

 

After I gotta the hood buffed I decided to tackle the two worst parts the pass side door and the roof. The door had about 15 million little chips in it that when I buffed it it just highlighted them. So I took some of the spray lacquer and squirted it in an old bottle and then took a small brush and proceeded to touch up all the spots. Once it’s dried for a few days I will wet sand the entire door and buff it out.

 

Great Tech @Nailhead Jason...period revival and retaining the soul...

 

The roof was a different story. When I tried to buff it it was just pulling the paint right off. So I said screw it and sanded most of the roof down to bare metal and the sprayed some filler primer on it to fill the thousands of little pits in the metal. After that was good and dry I blocked it down with 600 paper and proceeded to spray 6 cans of spray lacquer on it. I’ll let this get good and hard and then wet sand and buff it as well. Will it be perfect?? No. But it will be sealed up. And look good and I won’t worry about it like I spent 8 months block sanding and 2000 bucks on paint for it. Plus all the paint stores around me are closed unless you have a corporate account. So that screw being able to be better paint. Stay turned and I should have blocked and buffed buy the end of next weekend.

 

Also got the stainless polished up and put on the drivers side. Man it looks good back on there.

 

For anyone wanting to try this themselves all the black that I am spraying on here came from cans just like this.

 

Jason, you´re doing an awesome job and this 39 turned out perfectly! I like your " let´s do it" aproach. Way cool!

 

I Laca Acrilica...Oh Yeah!!

 

Damn!!!!! That thing is looking good!!!
Nice work. Good for you not being afraid of jumping in and just doing it

 

looks great especially the hood

 

I'm very glad to see you installing a hood top. IMO a Ford newer than '32 doesn't look right without at least the top of the hood.
My 31 "A" hiboy roadster doesn't have a hood top YET, but it is in my mind for a future project. When I built it I used a Brookville 1 piece top as a reference on where to mount the '32 grill shell and radiator inside of it. I really think they all look better with at least a hood top.

 

The hood was always in the plan. And I have the hood sides and all the trim for them. Just ran out of time before TROG and Old North State Invitational. It looks much better with the hood. The only problem is the aluminum radiator that I put it it doesn’t let the hood go all the way down. So once I get this all cleaned up I’ll be dropping the radiator to allow the hood to close.

 

Trying to get this cleaned up and wrapped up as quick as I can do I can get back on my model A on 32 chassis. I’ll be swapping out the banjo for an early Bronco 9 inch with Ladder bars from R Jays speed shop and the 39 trans for a top loader 3 speed. Then I can get in this one!

 

love it bud

 

Letting it sit in the sun today made the paint harden up enough to start wet sanding it. Start to flatten out nice.

 

Couldn’t resist a test spot after getting it back inside. Show car???? Hell no!!! But good enough to seal it up and still be shiny!!!

 

...dayuum...that looks primo Jason...

Time to open up a touch-up service...
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Ha!!! I’m hoping my back yard bodywork paint skills will have just enough imperfections that it matches the rest of the car!!

 

Just a great thread. Love it.

 

Nice work on the cost effective patina'd paint fix! It really makes a difference! Keep going, you make me want to get my 40 back on the road but I've just got too much to do at the monent.