Customs Looking at purchasing a 41 Ford Coupe and have questions

Put the spring back to stock and you get your clearance back. So you install a dropped axle, and unless you also drop the steering arms, the tie rod will then rub the oil pan again. Or if you have the tie rod ABOVE the wishbones with the newly dropped axle, it will be even worse. You can either bolt on a truck pan, or do some hot wrench work and move the tie rod lower.

 

Probably going to lean towards a truck pan and a dropped axle. Man I think I just threw out a perfect 40 front spring I had cuz I figured I'd never use it about a couple months ago. Might be at the house have to check

 

I guess you're right. It is pretty subtle but yes I see it now including the drip rail

 

Yeah, my thought exactly. BUT, my skirts go onto my '47 California rust free black Mordor sedan!
I have 25 grandchildren. True. They take turns...

 

Or man hole covers

 

That's an old mid-west trick for getting traction in the snowy months...

 

That's a great looking ford coupe. It has great looking old paint. It has a great stance. It does not need full custom treatment. If it were mine I would just do the minimum to get it driving safely and drive the shit out of it. Little tweaks can come as time goes by. Mart.

 

Heck yea. Low in the front. Stupid low in the back.

 

Yesterday I took the springs that they put on the bottom of the pack and put them back to the top plus an extra spring leaf from a F100 I had. It raised it up about 2 in and now I have about an inch and a half clearance on the oil pan. I've purchased a 2-in dropped axle from a hammer so that should bring it back down to where it was which was a good height and I guess I'll drop the arms or get a truck pan. I've got some 2 inch lowering shackles coming for the rear and I'll take a couple of leaves out of the top of that. Was supposed to get my new radiator yesterday but I never showed so I didn't get too much done. Going to go in today and put the cleaned up gas tank back in run new fuel lines, get the rear brakes done replace the master and make new brake lines and bleed the system. Hopefully I can get the water pumps swapped out today also we'll see how much time I'll spend there today as I have to go pick up a 40 truck tomorrow for a friend

 

Well I put in 8 hours today. Took all the old brake lines few lines and rear brakes apart. Installed all new rear brakes fabbed all new brake lines and install the new master cylinder. Still have to turn the rear drums. I took a couple leaves out of the rear spring and one broken one so we'll see how much that gets lowered tomorrow or Monday when I get the rear drums back on. Stalled the fuel tank that I cleaned out and made all new few lines from front to back. Installed new shifter linkage rebuild kit and it all tightened up nice. I only took a picture of the broken spring and of it sitting on the ground today

 

Put in a couple hours today. Got the water pumps and mounts swapped out, new fuel pump installed and hoses connected, brakes bled and adjusted and gas put in the tank. The radiator never showed up and said it was delayed, lame. Well got it fired up and running again and tune it in a little better for a couple minutes without the radiator sounds pretty sweet. Drove it about 15 ft in the shop haha. Hopefully the radiator shows up tomorrow and I can let it run for a while and actually drive it. The Stance as it sits right now looks pretty damn good though I do have a 2 inch drop axle coming and 2 inch shackles for the rear but we'll see if it fits into my garage on account of my crappy driveway. Fixed a couple of electrical Gremlins under the dash for now so I can fire it up before I completely rewire it and the spotlights actually work LOL

 

The new aluminum radiator showed up today and it's about 3 inches shorter than the one I took out but the same shape. The one I took out as a newer type core so I imagine they made it as tall as they could. Just rattle can get black so it'll disappear and I've got to mount it in there and get some hoses and then perhaps I can let it run for a while see what it does and drive it up and down the street

 

From that side view, I'd drop the front the 2" and call it done!

 

X2. Snowman ⛄️

 

That's what makes this hobby so great, seeing the different ways they get built!

 

I really like the way it looks right now but I've got to see if it'll get into my driveway at the house first. Got the radiator today got it painted and installed. Got the alternator mount in and mounted, new belts, temporary coolant filters in the top hoses, temporary overflow and I've got to Bolt on the fan but I don't have any damn lower hoses and that's all that's holding me up from driving it. Stopped at the parts store on the way home and look through the wall of hoses and found a couple that will work so hopefully I can get them installed tomorrow and take it for a spin.

 

Never saw radiator hose filters but that seems like a really good idea for the first hours of running an old engine. Where did they come from?

 

These are from Jegs and are their own house brand but basically every other place that sells speedpart sells them

 

Not nose down, just low and level.

I like tail draggers too, but on cars with flowing fastback tops, where the top gradually slopes down to the bumper in one long fluid line. The stepped top just looks better level.
Just my two cents, not everyone will agree, and that’s good or they’d all be built the same.
Variety is the spice of life!

 

Good news bad news. Bad news, got everything together and had it running in the shop and the driver side definitely heated up faster than the passenger side and open the thermostat about 4 or 5 minutes before the other side and when it did bubbles were coming out I could see through the filters. Let both sides open and let it run for a while all seemed okay but still bubbles. Drove it.Got back into the shop and it was overflowing and you can see the driver side was pushing out coolant like no tomorrow so hopefully it's as easy as a head gasket. No water in the oil. Maybe I'll pull it apart today after it cools down. The good news it ran and drove great and shifted smooth just need to get the square tires off of this thing.

 

Bubbles still coming out

 

The filters doing their job

 

Looks like those filters were a smart purchase! Are those elements cleanable/reusable? I'd say they should remain in the circuit until its good and clean. Whodda thunk there would be that much free-floating junk?
Also...JMHO, but drop the nose to level and call it done. I agree with @BamaMav : the slope would make a taildragger stance look awkward. YMMV

 

Yes you just loosen the hose clamps and unscrew the ends and hose them out. I've used them on a number of cars with dirty cooling systems

 

That's a hell of an eyeopener! Might be a good separate post/thread to show others dealing with cooling problems what really goes on in a cooling system. Updates as the system gets cleaned up would be helpful. Thanks!!

 

Those filters are slick , work great by looking at the pictures... nice 41, dual spot lights bonus ! congrats

 

Well I'm impatient so after the car cool down I drained it all out and pulled the head off. It had two head gaskets for some reason and nothing that I could see looked out of place or bad except.. number six cylinder was a little bit pitted and Rusty where the valves seat and I could see a crack. I'm going to get the head resurfaced and hope for the best