Projects Flashback50 front end redesign and implementation

Paul. The mystery is that there are no joints, it is one continuous piece of wire from voltage reducer panel to instrument cluster. Came off a spool of 16 gauge automotive wire (50 volt rated fuel resistant etc.) and only thing different than other places that same wire is used is the antifreeze leak last year was in the vacinity. Even a mystery there, the wire is coming out of a loom above the panel and hanging down to go into the lowest terminal of the panel so if it was antifreeze it would have had to wick it's way 3 inches or so UP the wire to do that damage. Here is a picture of the panel with the rotted wire sticking out.

Here is a picture during installation and before shakedown showing the heater and AC connections above panel. The dripping on the carpet that led me to the problem did bleach out some of the carpet color (had to restore) but even more mysterious, that spot was to the left of the end of the perf cage around the circuitry.

And finally here is a shot of the car show that we missed out on (wife and I drove over there in suv later in the afternoon when I knew I had the problem fixed) with lots of the cars already gone. Looks like it would have been good fun.

 

Hmmmm. ..must be demons. ..

 

Stopped over to see what new projects the Kings were working on today and decided to take a picture of a roof they were repairing for another restorer and noticed an old 'rust bucket' on the left.

Got a better picture of that one - a rather rare 39 Chevrolet wagon.

Will be interesting to see them bring that one back to life.

 

Guess the years are catching up with me. The Hushpower II mufflers are sounding louder and louder as the seasons move on. I have been listening to all the sound prints I can find for other mufflers but the field is spotty to say the least and most 'performance' gu ys indicate that their mufflers sound different on each engine and sometimes also with different exhaust configurations. Do any of you have experience with Borla ProXS series? The Borla rep acknowledged that they do not have a published sound print for those on any engines, but indicated that they are very similar to their touring series sound. Seems like the Corvette guys and the Mustang guys are split between the ProXS being 'too quiet' and just right. I would like to get rid of the head pounding drone of the Hushpower's in the 40 to 50 mph range and so far it would seem that the Borla's are a reasonable move, I only wish there were some more certain way to anticipate the results. Appreciate any input that any of you care to make. Bob

 

Finally found enough sound prints to determine that the Borla parts would have done the job, but the Thrush Turbo's would do it even better for a lot less money. Have worked out installation based on measurements of spacing available and optimized for all welding on bench with only four clamp connections required. Changed the plan to provide 2.5" pass thru to muffler where current arrangement has two step downs (header collector 3" to 2.5" and reducer 2.5" to 2.25") on way to muffler. That will hopefully make up for some of the power loss incurred by changing from straight thru to offset passage muffler design.

 

Didn't see where you specified the clamps, but I used these on mine and they work really well..
whatever size you might need.... either butt joint or lap joint.
https://www.summitracing.com/search...int_band-clamp-butt-joint+brand:summit-racing

 

Oh, and I don't see a cross pipe.. that will smooth out the sound. Before I did the final fitment, I capped the crossover and cranked her up and I didn't like the sound at all... I sensed more of a "sharp" sound without the crossover.. and very noticeable difference...

Please don't mind the shitty welding.... HF $99 welder.. but still works to a certain extent... ahahha
https://49fordcoupe.smugmug.com/Fixing-Exhaust-Cutouts/

 

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I did consider a crossover but there are some logistics that I don't like with doing a cross over so I am going to try this without. I did see a lot of chatter that a crossover does just what you say (smooth out and equalize the sound) but if this doesn't work then I will consider that for the next car. Best regards, bob

 

Looking at your picture of the underside of your car (I'm just guessing that's Flashback, and your drawing)... what if you moved your mufflers back further toward the rear of the car, then you might have room to get that crossover behind the transmission.. ??? just a little bit of cuttin' and weldin'.....Also, no electric cutouts ???? .. DANG.. I couldn't live without them.. but that's just me (when I feel like showing off..ahahah.. which is alllllllll the time).. you may have noticed that I had NO ROOM for fixing my cutout issue even after it was all complete, but I jacked her up and cut the exhaust system out and did it over, just like your avatar comment.... hahahah..

Just a short story now.. when I was building the chassis, an old friend of mine was sitting there drinkin' beer most of the time contributing NOTHING but criticisms........as I was pondering whether it was worth another $350 (the best I can remember).... he said "If you don't buy them and putting them in now, you are going to end up pissed at yourself".....I never did like to be pissed at myself, so I ordered the dang things that afternoon..... what the heck is money anyway.. can't take it with ya !!! Hope you are having some decent weather these days...

 

Paul. due to the extra length of the 700R4 the crossover would have to be after the frame crossmember which also means there would be no tunnel clearance to work with either. I will get another look at the situation next week and see if there is anything that I missed in the original thoughts of putting a crossover in. I don't have a lift to put the car on so I have been blocking it up and then getting under to see clearances with full load on springs. Seems like it takes a lot more effort to scoot around nowadays.! Will try to take some pictures to show my concerns. Have a good week.

 

I surely know what ya mean about "jacking her up" and trying to crawl underneath.. same here.. only in the last couple of years have things gotten a lot harder to do, it seems.... take another look closely at the pics in the link I posted about my cutouts...since we both have 700R4's my configuration should be pretty close to yours.. I used a Camaro crossmember that looks like yours.........Don't know what you mean by tunnel clearance.. it would go across somewhere under the tailshaft.. and if you use clamps it's loooots easier to deal with.. doesn't seem as if you looked, unless you are wearing "protection".... hahahah.. I have a "tracker" on the website...that shows where folks are that visit my site and which pics they click on...

 

And I use Duck Duck Go for lots of searches so that no traces are left behind.

 

The wife and I have been talking about one addition to Flashback when we take on the muffler change. Pin stripes - have talked about several times with the idea that not getting wild, but doing something about all the open areas with no detial. She always asked why I removed the hood ornament and I have always liked the idea of light pins over the headlight so I have been photoshopping some images of the car with pin stripes that I saw here and there to see what it would look like. I think we will be doing something like this (different colors and the colors will be coordinated with the color of the panel they are being applied to but here is the idea) in design weight and style. Andy has a pin stripe guy that is genius when it comes to original design so we are thinking of letting him take this on while the mufflers are being changed and exhaust routing updated.

 

At the top of this page there is a picture showing a wire attached to the translator panel (12 v to 6 v active regulator) that is disconnected. This was done during the shakedown due to the, as noted, leak of coolant seeming to disintegrate the copper wire strands near the connection terminal. I have just repaired the wire next to the one shown as earlier this week I had another issue with the translator not working properly and traced it to another disconnect. This time I was more interested in the why than how fast I could get it fixed. I cut the wire back about 1/2 inch at a time until I found solid copper strands again. I saved the sections that I cut out and have taken a couple pictures of them as I am really curious if any of you have run into the same thing.
The segment on the left was connected to the terminal block and segment in the middle was about 1.5 inches away while the segment on the right was between those two. I proceeded to split open the insulation of that middle segment and here is what it looked like.

I have never seen this happen to copper wire. Again, the wire had been soaked with anti-freeze which is sold as protective of aluminum components and other modern engine materials that come into contact with the coolant. However,,,, if it can do this to wiring,,, what does it do to the copper tubing in the radiators (vintage ones) or have I missed something really significant? I do have the original Ford radiator in this car and I am sure it has (or had) copper tubing. I do not see any discoloring of the anti-freeze so am hoping that I am not damaging any of the radiator by using a modern anti-freeze. On the other hand,,, this small gauge (16ga.) wiring was purchased for the car low power circuits and specified as automotive grade wiring. I may have not paid enough attention to the rest of the specs. Have any of you ever seen wiring go to powder? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. bob

 

I'd guess some sort of galvanic reaction w/ the antifreeze serving as an electrolyte. I like to use good quality wire (e.g. not eBay or Harbor Freight etc), solder connections, heat shrink and dielectric grease if you the the area is prone to exposure.

 

Thank you, appreciate your input. I believe it is related to the anti-freeze as I do not see anything similar in other areas of the car. Hope you can stay safe out there, get some quality time with your car. bob

 

Son and Daughter in law figured out a way to help me break the depression from not being able to do much with the car this year. What a great idea! Shutterfly might become one of my favorite non-car-parts retailers. Hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a healthy and peaceful New Year. bob

 

Took a break to change out the hardware and wiring for the switch from Accel to Holley and now have found some time to finish the puzzle. Here is a shot of the puzzle - I am still thinking about gluing to backboard or putting in frame. Not a simple puzzle to put together as laser cut and random patterned. Was a fun and sometimes frustrating 3 days effort! Hope you all have a great Spring goin and will have an active summer. bob

 

It is hard for me to explain how nice it is to finally be able to 'see' what the engine is doing!

 

This may sound stupid, but could it be condensation dripping from the uninsulated part of the low pressure a/c hose? The low pressure metal fittings should be insulated. On a humid day it may be developing condensation. Maybe even frost. Antifreeze will not cause copper to corrode like that. See if it is wet under the carpeting. Is there a drain in the evaporator core case? Is the drain hose plugged or kinked? Did it come off the case? Good luck.

 

thanks for the pointer. I will check that out as soon as I get the car back on the ground. On blocks now to change out a noisy fuel pump before it fails. Hope you are having a great weekend. Regards, bob

 

Ever have one of those "One thing leads to another" episodes? I (hope) am at the end of a long string that started with the fuel pump replacement (previous post). Then it was loaded up fuel filters that had to be replaced. While replacing them found some aging fuel lines that needed to be replaced. Got all that back in place (even decided to add a fuel cutoff valve so next time I want to change filters I don't have to drain tank) and made some pressure checks - - - guess what ------ the fuel pressure regulator needed to be replaced. Once I got it opened up found a badly deformed diaphragm and, of course, the 'exact replacement' that I ordered for replacement was NOT . Had to return it and am now waiting for another one to see if that one is dimensionally correct. Keeping fingers crossed that I am not then going to find a bad seal in the fuel rail or bad injectors but, at this point, it would not be all that great of a surprise. Hope you are all staying healthy and enjoying some productive time on your projects. bob

 

New regulator arrived (Standard brand) and it was exact to spec. Installed and got fuel pressure adjusted to 45 max and showing 38 at high vacuum which should be just right. Finally got the engine put back together and made some final checks to finish around 11:30 AM last Sunday morning,,,, just in time to miss out on one of the car shows that I had really hoped to get to. Couple more significant ones (concentrate on those that benefit vets and kids) that I now hope to get to before putting the car away for the winter. Here is a shot of the car this morning (good dusting, wash, and fresh coat of show wax) and tomorrow, with some luck, we should be able to cruise a bit and see if there are any more 'gremlins' still sticking around from the Covid inactivity years.