Projects Project 1946 Ford Tudor

Kids are great to have as helpers

 

Wild guess, the little lady is your project supervisor, right?


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Same helper as here in the build. Time flies.

 

If you are not careful your daughter will be grown up and you still won't have your car finished. The voice of experience.

 

Time passes too quickly. That's why I try to keep a second old car around to keep them interested (F100, Corvair, Beetle). As long as I can keep them getting their hands dirty I think they will be okay.

Off topic, but here she is helping me lose the bolts for the carb on an alternator swap a few weeks ago.

Back to topic, I dug the bumper brackets out after you fellas motivating me and they are headed to sand blast and powder so I can help get that exhaust finished up. Once that is done and the crate motor goes in for the first time for the last time I hope the body can go back on.

 

Got a big package today from FedEx.

 

BluePrint hooked it up with free shipping. Love that it came with a dyno sheet.



443hp and 464ft lbs. And holy crap, look at that torque curve! Almost 400ft lbs from 2500.... I think that will make it scoot alright. Should still be pretty steetable as well at only about 9.5:1 compression.

 

Snuck out today for a few hours and got the new engine on a stand, primed, and painted. Got my new stall converter in from TCI this week so I should be able to bolt it all together next week.

 

Any updates?

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This pic is just a few hours old. I've got a ton of pics to get to this point but I'm excited it's back on the tires.

Body to go on next week hopefully.

I'll try to go back to the last time I posted and catch up the build thread. I can't believe it's been a year since we painted the engine.

Been some ups and downs in the last year. The car is moving forward and hopefully under its own power soon.

 

Well, now that I have searched back through my pictures for the last year... it seems to support the progress on the car.

Around February of this year the exhaust was finished up and sent off for heat coating.

 

Then it was fuel lines and brakes lines.

 

I had a miscommunication with the driveshaft shop over the length I needed. Took an extra week or two to get sorted but they were pretty easy to work with and it fits great now.

 

After reaching that point, I found the flexplate the engine builder sent with the engine.... and I quickly realized that the one mounted on the engine came off the wrong motor.

Backwards progress but I didnt want to take the chance they were the same or close enough once the car was buttoned up. Spent a morning tearing everything out and swapping flywheels.

 

With the exception of a few boring things like finding the right length front shocks, finding brass fittings for fuel lines, or putting in new wheel studs.... that mostly brings us to yesterday.

 

Put her back to bed for the night or week. If anyone stays healthy the body will probably go back on next Saturday.

 

DRUGASM,

I am glad to see you back posting on your build thread. The chassis and engine look great. I can't wait to see the body sitting back on it.

Steve

 

Thanks Steve,

I am excited about the momentum I've had in the last few weeks. I was hoping to keep it up over the next few weeks but with social distancing and the like I am now wondering what the right course of action is.

The 46 is not in my own shop at the moment which means I have to go out, which is frowned upon. I am so close and I dont think anyone in the social circle is at risk, however theres just not enough information about what's going on to say 100% that its wise for 3 or 4 guys to get together and help mate the chassis and body.

I'm giving it a good think this week and hopefully will have some clarity by Saturday when I can work on it again.

Obviously I want to get that body mounted and throw the rest of the parts I have at it as soon as possible.

I do have other stuff around the house I can work on in the meantime.

I just picked up a new 61 Beetle project that needs some love. I was going to hold off on it until the 46 was further along but maybe I'll stay home and get it sorted instead.

 

I need to clean up the area around the roof insert and clearance the headlight buckets so they dont rub anymore.

 

Drugasm killer build and details. I have a 46 sedan as well and gathering parts to do almost exactly what you have done.
Here’s a photo of mine. Hope to see some updates from you here soon!

 

Got an hour or two today and figured it had been enough time.... got the body mount rubbers laid out and glued into place. Used a little dab of 3M weatherstrip adhesive to hold the rubbers in place.



Thank you Bob Drake. Parts and pieces all seem to fit pretty well so far.

 

This hole on the X frame proved to be a real pain in the ass.



There really was no good way to force that dude through the hole. Eventually wrapped a piece of string in the gap and tried pulling it through while poking it with a small screw driver. That only resulted in poking a hole in the flange part and scratching the powder coating.


Eventually somehow got it all poked through. Just that little task was exhausting ..... but its done and checked off the list now.



I would like to have seen how that was done as it moved down the assembly line in 1946. If I had been on the line they would have got 3 cars built that day and half the tools would have been thrown across the factory floor.

 

Got the crane wheeled back into place. Next Sunday should be the day the body goes back on the frame for the first time, for the last time.

Keep your fingers crossed and send those positive vibes.

 

Quarantine has not been a total waste though. I got the rag top installed in the Beetle. Tried out my best version of a "patina" look on the paint around the insert.



Of course, once you do something nice for an old car it will instantly repay you. Clutch started slipping real bad and the charging system took a dump. New clutch and 12V upgrade kept me busy for a week or 2 at home.



Once it was done I could take the crew for a cruise, though. I think keeping some type of old car around keeps them interested in "hot rodding" while the long term project is out of the picture, even if it is an off topic car.

More on the 46 next week! Stay tuned.

 

For the people who want to run cast iron exhaust manifold without the hassle of the left header pipe these work perfect and clear the steering box. I ran them on my 40 for over years .

 

^^ Those would have been nice. Truth be told I did not do a whole lot of research.^^

 

Today is the day!!! Had to start by removing the body bolts that had broken off in the body last year along with the caged nuts. Couple of holes and a blast from the air hammer got them out of the way.

 

Rolled the naked chassis outside for the last time.

 

Had to roll the body from where it was resting to the big chains over by the door. Used big wood 4x4s across a couple of wheel dollies and got it in place.



Once we rolled it over, we repositioned the straps to use the two outer pulleys and began to hoist it in the air.

 

A couple of wood screws on each side to make sure the straps wouldnt walk off the end of the board and it was time to lift.