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My 1940 Ford Jalopy rebuild


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The Pete and Jakes rear shock kit didn't really come with any instructions...I guess at this stage in the game if I am buying this kit I should be able to mount it up...well it took 3 tries but we got it...the first 2 are how not to mount shocks...the 3rd one is how it works. Everything is still tacked in place...I would like to get a motor and tranny in it so I can set the pinion angle...then we will fire up the old welder and make things more permanent....

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I wanted to show the crazy cage mounts...made me wince...my first roundy round car was a 1967 Camaro that I ran in 1979...the cage mounts were not much better but a little...the last picture is of the new black iron cage I hired out to get done...I wont ever race this...probably wont drive it either but it looks a little better from here...

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Most of the previous posts were from 2019 when I really going to town on this old heap....but I have to share the whole seat deal I am working on now...the first picture is the original race car seat as it came in the car...a piece of c channel and a matching piece of I-beam...also it was bolted to the rusted out floor pan....

 

I took it right down to nothing and mocked it back up as it would have been in the car only on the garage floor...I couldn't put it back in like that...

 

So in the third picture is what I thought would work a little better and still be rusty and crusty enough so as to not spoil the Jalopy feel...1x2 steel and set it into the car but weld it to the new black iron cage I just had done for it...had to scratch the ole chin a little bit on actaully mounting the seat...my part time job is at the local Home Depot...so I picked up thes threaded insets...I think they are supposed to be used for wood...but they were steel...so in they went...lots grinding and cuttin and "look mom...we have a seat in the car"...

 

The last picture is me adding some support to the framework so it wont be so wobbly...I am even cutting my own gussets just like back in the day...well sorta...back in the day they probably would  have used a torch to cut them...I used my trusty angle grinder... 

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On 12/15/2020 at 12:18 PM, mikec4193 said:

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I'm liking your Jalopy rescue and enjoying following along!

 

Quick question: Is that (mostly) the original floor in your Coupe?  I'm asking because I have been looking for a '37-'39 Chevy Coupe or a '37-'40 Ford Coupe. The Chevys have a raised section behind the front seats.  That raised section stops the seats from going back enough for me to get comfortable driving it.  Are the floors in the Fords (mostly) flat to the trunk area? 

 

I started out mostly liking the Chevys, but now leaning towards the Fords.  The pandemic has really stopped me from taking road trips to go look at cars that are more than 100 miles away..

 

 

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Duncan said:

 

I'm liking your Jalopy rescue and enjoying following along!

 

Quick question: Is that (mostly) the original floor in your Coupe?  I'm asking because I have been looking for a '37-'39 Chevy Coupe or a '37-'40 Ford Coupe. The Chevys have a raised section behind the front seats.  That raised section stops the seats from going back enough for me to get comfortable driving it.  Are the floors in the Fords (mostly) flat to the trunk area? 

 

I started out mostly liking the Chevys, but now leaning towards the Fords.  The pandemic has really stopped me from taking road trips to go look at cars that are more than 100 miles away..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, I ask this and then see this 40 Ford project Coupe for sale on the HAMB..

 

I know the Chevy floors can be modified, so I assume the Fords can be as well...

 

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22 hours ago, Duncan said:

 

I'm liking your Jalopy rescue and enjoying following along!

 

Quick question: Is that (mostly) the original floor in your Coupe?  I'm asking because I have been looking for a '37-'39 Chevy Coupe or a '37-'40 Ford Coupe. The Chevys have a raised section behind the front seats.  That raised section stops the seats from going back enough for me to get comfortable driving it.  Are the floors in the Fords (mostly) flat to the trunk area? 

 

I started out mostly liking the Chevys, but now leaning towards the Fords.  The pandemic has really stopped me from taking road trips to go look at cars that are more than 100 miles away..

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Duncan...

 

Yes these are original 1940 Ford floor pans...well what is left of them...I have added numerous patches to it...I was thinking about putting new pans in it but this is a vintage Jalopy...a new floor pan would ruin the whole feel of this build...one of the most favorite parts of this model car is...you can gets tons of aftermarket parts for it...the pictures attached are as it showed up at my door...

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Edited by mikec4193
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Your last picture reminded me that our vintage super modified had a clutch deflector over the tunnel to prevent the flywheel, clutch disk or drive shaft  from damaging our feet and ankles.  That was in the days before rules. fastest, best driven, dirtiest trick driver wins!  Wheel locks, rear taps with swerve and blocking into the wall or off the track if no wall were common.  Our cars had extended hub caps that were "ventilated"  so that if a tire contacted them they would shred that tire's sidewall.  Very handy in a pinch.

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  • 2 months later...

It has been cold long winter here in upstate NY...the last of the snow left my woods last weekend...I have tried to stay on task with this project...I was really bad tho...I blew a weeks pay on some cool new shoes for the old man.....8" wide Towel City tires and 2 brandy new 8" wide Vintiques steel wheels...hard to write that check but it looks cool...

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The last time I had one of these old Fords it was the last 1970's or early 1980's and I guess I didn't remember anything from that era...when I bought this project it had a Ford front axle under it...I was told it was 1948 Ford...well stupid me I went to the Pete and Jakes catalog and I ordered a pair of front shocks and mounts and thought we would be done...nothing really fit the way I thought it should...I even roughed up the new shock mounts to looks older...

 

I am thankful I didnt throw out the old shock mounts from I got the car...still nothing would fit...lots of chin scratching again...

 

I bought a pair of shocks for a 1948 Ford car and hoped everything would boult up...still nothing fit...

 

I broke out my trusty angle grinder and took the old mount apart and jerry rigged up this mount...it actually looks closer to what would have been on the heap back in the day...

 

MikeC

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So when I bought this project I thought it would be simple fix the rusty stuff and put it back together but the more I dug into it the more stuff didnt make sense...someone got ahold of this car after JB Davis ran it in 1966 and tried to upgrade it and then stopped...

 

they hacked the firewall flat and put angle iron supports in it and welded and screwed pieced of sheet metal to the front cowl area....

 

When I bought this project the guy threw in some extra parts...one was a stock cowl for it...

 

I borrowed the wife's painters tape...did a lot of chin scratching too...broke out the angle grinder again...cut cut cut....grind grind grind...

 

Tac tac tac....tac tac tac again...

 

A couple night later...the new cowl is on the old body...

 

Still not sure what I am doing but we are having fun...

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

So I was hoping to get farther than we did but it kept me busy most of the winter...mounting the new old cowl/firewall was a lot more work inside than it was out side...I have to remember again what sheet metal I am working with...this car sat inside a warehouse for 40 years in New Jersey...the cowl probably came out of the guys back yard in PA...my last two projects came from the South West...I was spoiled when it came to metal quality...sometimes when I hit the wire feed there is metal there and sometimes there is not...

I keep going out and finding more holes to patch too...

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I did get a lower rear apron from a fellow on talked to on Facebook coming from the west coast...I could not for the life of me put a brand new piece of sheet metal on this lumpy old body...so it is in route from the left coast to the right coast...oh yeah remounted the the old school gas tank...gotta get it boiled out before we fired this old guy up...took it back out again as it still smelled like shellac...

 

The wife says it wont pass inspection with a gas tank like that...only time will tell...

 

Waiting on a fellow who owns a bunch of old Ford power plants...hoping to get something that fits the mid 1960's era...tranny too...no race motor...something that will make this car move under its own power...

 

 

Edited by mikec4193
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On 6/18/2021 at 6:09 AM, mikec4193 said:

The wife says it wont pass inspection with a gas tank like that...only time will tell...

 

Not sure how it works there, but here if you get it registered as an antique, there is no road safety inspection?

 

On 6/18/2021 at 6:09 AM, mikec4193 said:

Waiting on a fellow who owns a bunch of old Ford power plants...hoping to get something that fits the mid 1960's era...tranny too...no race motor...something that will make this car move under its own power...

 

My shop landlord has some old 50/60s Ford V8 kicking around? Not sure excactly what it is, just know it's not a Windsor...  😄

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On 6/19/2021 at 3:50 PM, datsunfreak said:

 

Not sure how it works there, but here if you get it registered as an antique, there is no road safety inspection?

 

 

My shop landlord has some old 50/60s Ford V8 kicking around? Not sure excactly what it is, just know it's not a Windsor...  😄

I am not really sure how the New York State inspection goes...the last old heap I put plates on I think he checked basically the lights and horn...so I might be in luck when it comes to inspection time....

 

Those motors would be awesome to check out but dam...I bet shipping on a pallet from Texas to upstate NY would probably get pretty pricey...thanks for the offer tho...I really appreciate it...

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  • 1 month later...

So the old heap came with a hood...at first I thought it would work but then I actually layed it out on the cowl...gotta love painters tape to make a visual...

 

A little chin scratching and head banging and we were off and running...I had an old fence panel that I had cut apart for the garden and I saved the drops...a little grinding and cutting and then some bending too...I tried to get all the galvanized off of it before I hit the welder and for the most part I did...

 

I had bought an early Ford radiator for it and tried to figure out where is went in the frame rails...I winged it again...

 

I found out the approx. dimensions of the 1937 Ford hood and trimmed this one to fit....what a hodge podge we got goin on here boys and girls...

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Still fiddling with the hood...now I could get it to lie up with the cowl...even with a support I made up from actually setting the rod in on the existing cowl and the frustration set in...

 

Finally after a week of hodge podging this thing I said...ok kids...this thing last ran in 1966...what would they have done back then???...so I added a piece of the old hood back on and cobbled to then gauge sheetmetal in as well....so from afar this will look fine...I hope...

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The radiator needed something to mount to to hold it up....so I had this old bed frame and some scrap diamond plate...and we were off and running again...

 

Being this is an old jalopy doing this work makes me smile...trying to save a little piece of history here...I hope my cobbling makes sit look authentic...

 

we can only hope... 

 

 

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So the back panel was very very flimsy...I had talked to a fellow on the west coast about a used rear panel he had...he wasnt keen on the cost of shipping was more than the part was...well I saved all winter and gave him a quick shout out and he still had it...so I payed the piper and he shipped it...

 

After several nights of cuttin and choppin we got the new old piece in place...it is so smooth of a piece and this car is such a bag of walnuts...

 

And the circus continues...

 

 

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Edited by mikec4193
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1 hour ago, mikec4193 said:

Being this is an old jalopy doing this work makes me smile...trying to save a little piece of history here...I hope my cobbling makes sit look authentic...

 

Totally! 👍

 

That's the best thing about doing something like this. Do it the way they did it, on a shoe-string budget. Gotta use ingenuity rather than just throwing money at it. 

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  • 2 months later...

So I have been bad...I kept diggin on this old Jalopy and it was fun to boot...I really enjoy cutting metal and grinding and welding too...I posted a question to one of the vintage race car facebook sites asking about period correct hood mounts and for the most part it was make something work with threads on it...so away I went to town...

 

Even a little fake patina action too on the old hood...

 

I did a little cobbing along the way...loved this build a lot..

 

 

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The car came with some decent fenders...I couldn't cut them up...so I put a shout out to the 40 Ford guys asking for some crappy front fenders...$100 later I had a fresh set of crusty goodness to cut up...

 

The car originally was white with red fenders...so I rattle canned it roughly back to something looked like aged red paint...

 

We were having fun for sure....

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