Congratulations on an great find with an amazing engine. Finding a well built flathead & having it refreshed by Vern Tardel is priceless. Good on you!
I've had some really tough projects in the past but this one seems to want to get back on the road. I feel quite blessed.
About the only choices for dual carbs are scoops, which don't have the greatest filtering, or small filters on each carb. I wanted both good air flow and filtering so I bought a Speedway finned air filter assembly and modified it to fit my dual carbs. I thought about it for a while before starting but I'm pretty happy with the results.
Creative approach. I bet it'll get plenty of air with that setup. Have you measured the RPM's at idle with and without the filter? I'd be curious to know if you see any changes at all. Great job.
I have had rpm changes on a 235 with a single carb and a small filter. I think this filter has enough area to not restrict the air flow enough to change the rpm. The engine is just sitting in the chassis right now but I will let you know when I get it started.
No need for tears, Mista. All of the ugly has been cut off and once I have my wife's TBird back together (got it back from the painter Friday night) I'm on this truck like white on rice!
My bride's TBird is done so the truck is front and center. Took the rear out tonight, going to set up the rear and trans K member next.
Fun fabricating day..... happy to get to where I could start making stuff. Made the first pieces for the crossmember and the removable trans mount. I bought a Speedway tubing bender ten years ago for some project but never used it and once I 'clearanced' it a bit it worked perfectly. I'm going to box the portion of the frame ahead of the running board mounts. I just have to make the trans mount plate and this piece of it is done.
While designing my trans crossmember I wanted to use the same sort of design as the original, fastened in several places, spreading the load and stresses around the frame. I bought a press brake (coolest tool I've bought in a long time) to make the mounts that slide inside the frame rails which will be bolted in before the tubular cross pieces are welded to them. I'm going to run tubes forward to plates that will bolt to the same locations as the stock Ford legs and two more going back from which the front mounts for the ladder bars will be attached. On a roll!!!!!
Put the front end back on the ground so I could see the ride height. A wee bit higher than I wanted but there are still parts to go on that will bring it down a bit. I put in a dropped crossmember and a reversed eye spring do drop it along with the existing dropped axle and it's a couple inches lower than it was.. I want to drive this a lot so it can't be toooooooo low. With regard to the radius rod tie rod tabs on the frame..... are they just welded to the frame? Seems there's a lot of force on them. Thanks!
Wow, that got me a bing in a hurry. Don't want to ruin it by reminding myself that pic could be 20+ years old. Bugger, I just ruined it!
I knew that the S-10 rear was going to be a little narrow but I thought some special back spaced wheels would solve any problems...... nope. While trying to fit the spring perches I was able to only get 46" of the needed 48"apart even bumped up against the backing plates. Went back to PicknPull and found that the rear of 4X4 S-10 Blazers are 5"wider and come with disc brakes. Popped one into my trailer and put it under the truck for a perfect fit. The rear wheels shown are eight inches wide and will be replaced with seven inchers fitted with 235-70-15's. The fronts are seven and will be replaced with five inchers with 195-60-15 tires. Hoping the rear structure comes together as easily....
Big couple of days on the truck.... got the rear end in and located, ladder bar mounts tacked on and then the front mount. I have been thinking about this X-member for a while and once I got going it was pretty easy. Everything is tacked in place, now I have a boat load of welding to do. Gonna do the exhaust too while the cab is off. Pretty happy with the results. Amazing what you can do with a tubing bender and fishmouth cutter. I picked up a cheap set of plates on eBay and checked DMV, hoping they were clear. They were and the kind clerk let me put car plates on a truck. I painted them and gave them to a friend who's an amateur pin striper and offered to letter them. Very happy with the results for an investment of about $60. Just need to find the right license frame to cover up eighty five years of abuse on the edges .
After cutting all off all that ugly and saving only the front axle, installing a variety of Pete and Jakes/Posies parts and some fabrication, my truck is back on it's own four tires.
Nice work! I just got the 33 in the picture to the left and am slowly accumulating parts. I'd like to see a pic of your front end if its all buttoned up.
Beauty! My first running hot rod was a '34 Ford Pick up in 1971 but it had a '33 cab, no extra bump across the back. My front end is nothing special..... SoCal dropped crossmember, Posies reverse eye spring and the dropped axle that was on the truck which I think is dropped about three inches.
Nice! All of my hot rodding experience has been 50's cars so i am following your build hoping to gain some knowledge. Looks great man!
Shocking news!!!!! HAHAHAHA!! Got the shocks mounted and the steering tacked in place. The only remaining chassis work to do is mounting the panhard rod and making a mount on the trans crossmember for moving the master cylinder back so I can fit a booster. Dropped off the driveshaft to be shortened. He apologized that it would be a few weeks until he could get it back..........yeah, not a problem.' I have built several cars over the years and it was all modifying existing parts or, more often, making the part from scratch. This "32 Ford parts from Posies and Pete & Jakes" stuff is like building a giant model kit. Minimal fitting is required before bolting/welding the parts on. Fuel tank is next..... initial observations are encouraging.
Tank Inc. poly tank fits great! I had to cut some 'farmer' weld off the mounts for a fairly industrial rear bumper and then lift the bed to slide the tank between the frame rails. Rather than bolt the tank to the top of the frame I'm putting it against the bottom of the top flange. There is enough clearance below the bed for the filler which will be accessed through the floor of the bed. I gotta come up with a clever way to install a door or something there. It looks like there will be plenty of road clearance.
The Jalopy Journal
