Speedsters rule...er, except for all of them being painted yellow and green. Went to high school with a guy who painted the green over with matching yellow and put chrome wheels on it....first car in town with chromies! Beauty.
I scribed a line under the other plate I had mocked up so I could eventually land it pretty close to the same. I sharpies a cloudless references to that on the tube so I could see it with the plate I . Not a lot of adjustability with zip tying it on I think the tail pipes are going to land with the outer edge of the tail pipe even with the inner edge of the hole drilled in the plate it’s got hole in each corner for some reason. I’d I ever clean them up I’ll weld them back up but these are so nice I might just h e to leave it alone. I can’t stand this gap with the plate light really any of the positioning . I’m going to mount the plate light to the plate mount from the back so that I can drop it down closer to the top of the plate and move the light itself back about 1/4 inch so it doesn’t over hand the plate quite so much stuck the back up lamp / third brake light on the car as well and stood back to have a look.i like it, should light up well but not really be noticeable Got a little more work in this afternoon, I got the rest of the holes drilled for the A pillar shelf’s and figured out some little spots that need cut and de welded back on slightly different. swapped the correct license plate onto the car and mocked it up and I think it looks even better. The wider earlier plates just look so much better. any how took some photos and then starting marking the fenders for mounting the tail lights. I think I’m going to actually mount the light stands on the wrong sides. They have a slight angle to them and with them mounted closer to the center of the fender instead of inbound it puts the lense all and at a funky angle. I swapped them side for side and the angle seems much better at the lense. not really sure where I’m putting these in relation to stock as there aren’t holes in these fenders. I’m just putting them where I think. They look right .
Yeeesh a thousand typos and the text block somehow landed after the photos. guess posting with one hand while holding a baby isn’t with out its hazards lol
Got a little more time in today. Hopefully these post in order so pictures explain it pretty well. The first photo shows the lean of the tail light brackets I mentioned previously. after spending a good chunk of time measuring everything I have the center marked on both fenders. I tried to only reference the fender itself because I know the passenger side isn’t bolted on very well so I didn’t want to reference the body or anything to keep it from going wonky when things get tightened up. after finding the center I used a magnetic picture frame to level and square the hole locations. I used a small drill to make a pilot hole and followed up with a 1/4 bit. I only drilled the top hole figuring I’d use the mount to land the other holes exactly where they should be and it would let me really dial in placement. super excited with how they landed. The over head shot shows how the mounts swapped side for side make the lenses land straight
Also, I never noticed how flat the bracket is and how round the fender is, the rubber gasket must either have a lot of squish in it or a wedge shape? Also I never thought about how the wires are supposed to pass threw the fender. I guess a larger hole in the center of the triangle of mount holes with a gromet and maybe an adel clamp on the back side of the top bolt to keep it out of the way? maybe drill the back side of the fender brace and run the wires to that and clamp them? Have to pull the tire and see what my options are I guess.
License plate thoughts. Probably mount it with a single vertical arm in the middle with a slot near the top and then mount a cross arm to it for the top of the plate. Similar to how a 40’s ford is down in the back. Makes it adjustable enough to really get it right on the money. any how I woke up with a picture or two in my head and started thumbing catalogs to find it. Found a strap option that would rap around the spread bar and a c channel bracket that would sit on top. Both decent ideas for the moment also took a quick level photo so I could post it and find exactly how it sat at a later date should I take it apart and lose track of how I had it
And finaly I got the drivers side cowl brace shelf done and bolted on. The passenger side is mostly done, it required a little grinding to clear the cowl side. The drivers side will get ground a little when it comes apart but it’s close enough to bolt on for now. and I quickly mocked up the extra 46 throttle linkage I have which looked awesome until I realized that the carb side arm of the pedal needs to land about where the cross shaft is height wise. best I can figure right now is dropping the entire assembly down giving a 2” tall arm on the carb side and a 4.5 arm on the pedal side. or something near that. The ratio is pretty similar to a lot of aftermarket pedals but I’ll have to mock it up and see if having a gas pedal that goes more down than forward feels super weird. Im just not seeing a way to make this higher mount work? Maybe have it come up threw the floor like the 46 does stock? hmmm I’d really like to avoid a cable as I don’t really like them at all, but this is sure hoeing me why so many people go that route
Don't give up....cables suck . Either run the rod at a downward angle to the carb or drop the pedal assembly down (then section the carb end), heat/re bend and section the other end. You can run a '46-'48 Ford pedal that bolts to the floor, cut off the part on the back that holds the stock linkage, glue a strip of hard plastic to the back of the pedal and re bend the throttle rod to touch the pedal (after removing the stock end). It will be like a GM where the rod slides on the back on the gas pedal. I have my '41 p/u like that, it had a different pedal rod setup when I bought it. Before: After: You can also make the rod to the carb adjustable to take up the ratio slack.
All good ideas has actually just looked at a similar set up on a vw that used what looks like a roller blade wheel with a nice bearing and all on the end of the rod that the pedal glides on. hadn’t considered putting some hard plastic on the back side of a ford pedal however. Good idea
I use chunks off of a roll that fuel hose comes on, they were going to throw it away after I bought some hose at the parts store. You can also go with a stock spoon setup and reverse it, but it seems like those are getting pricey (unless you know someone going to a cable).
Clever plate mount tech from Neal a while Back https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/32-rpu-front-plate-part-ii.517869/
Wow That's a good thread with great examples. I especially like the ones with the aero slant. Gotta' grab a little speed where you can. On the throttle look at some of the Chevy inline cars and trucks. Late 40s-early 50s AD pickups. A hinge mounted pedal on the floor pushing a rod connected to a bell crank mounted on the engine block with a second rod up to the carb. Some inline intake manifolds have provisions for bell cranks on other linkage. Depending on the bell crank design you cam make them do a lot. Sorry no pictures right now but inland linkage has some of it's own issues. I agree cables suck. A few trips to Bonneville will illustrate that. The salt has no problem getting anywhere long after you have left the Flats. You however will have a tough time getting it out especially from cables. It's the same everywhere Boneville is the extreme example.
Well, You are a cross gender rodder now. You have to cop to Fordication when you bring an engine from the other camp.
I don't want to discourage but will the Law allow an angled license plate as it may affect readability...There may be a clause for that or even stuff like a nerf bar running across the face of the plate...When it comes to plates they usually want them easily readable with no obscurity... Painted stuff looks great...doodle art rocks...
The cop will be so busy he won't have time to notice the plate. Their little tablets only have about 20 lines.
After over thinking it I decided to drop it down the required amount and move it around so the arm side lands where it would need to be and see where that puts the pedal arm. looks like it should work actually! The funny 45 deg jog on the pedal side follows the fire wall indention pretty nice I just need to bend the pedal end up to an appropriate angle and it should clear everything just fine I’ll wait to see what that does as far as making it feel like the pedal is going down or forward before I make a call on what I do as far as a long pedal pad or a spoon.
So I used my vice and flattened the bend closest to the pedal out flat and mocked it up again. The next bend was pretty close but it needed more or less rotated. so I marked the center of the bend as well as the “ends” of the radius and flattened that one as well, then I put it back in the vice clocked differently and used a hammer to put the bend back in but rotated from where it was. Should fit great! As it sits I have two inches of pull on the carb end. Easy to get more by changing the end of the pedal arm. Then I got some measurements from @flatout51 to locate the end of the throttle arm/ lever. I’ve got a Holley mocked up but will run a stromberg where the arm goes up instead of down. I mocked up some throttle linkage to get some ideas. I think I’ll end up drilling the hole up quite a bit higher to keep the pedal ratio and then stepping the rod down with a Long Z but want to wait and see. I could put it near the firewall but I’m thinking given the air cleaner I might be able to ... not hide but obstruct view of the drop in the linkage. Also related I think I’m going to attach an arm to the top of the pedal assembly to attach a return spring to and then the other end will hook to the bracing. I can’t see a place for a carb return spring under hood that wouldn’t look like total dog shit so I figure I’ll put it on the pedal seeing as it’s solid rod the whole way. Anyhow two photos.
Man, you are one of the most detail obsessed people I know. You measure everything and I eyeball most.
Does the different colors of tape have meaning? You will either have to bolt the carb on or use more tape.
The green tape is covering the top of the adapter and is what I had handy a year ago when I did that. The blue is what I had handy to hold stuff together for a look see this time. we can’t all just wood glue them together
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