So you want to build a '32 Ford Roadster?

Get friendly with a restorer!

2011-10-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

One of the hurdles involved in building a hot rod is finding parts! If you are building a "catalog hot rod", it's easy, just order everything from Speedway and bolt it together. But when you do that, it looks like what it is, a generic car using off shore made parts from a catalog. Yuk.

Since I only build vintage cars, I like to use as many vintage parts as I can. I was lucky enough to be introduced to a Ford flathead restorer named Ivan who has been collecting parts since the 70's. He has a huge stash of just about everything you can think of. This stash of his came in handy when I wanted to use some nice rust free vintage Ford parts for the '32.

Ivan has had this stuff stored in his dry attic for years so most of his stuff is pristine. This is a good thing to have! Getting the best pieces you can will save you a lot of time because nice parts don't require that much work to get smoothed out & into shape for paint or chrome plating.

Guys that have big stashes of parts also might have some rare parts that are hard to find and that add value to your car as opposed to run of the mill stuff. For instance, if I wanted to spend the money, I could have had Ivan set up a complete Columbia 2 speed rear end. He has all the parts including the speedometer changer that changes the gear ratio so that the speedometer maintains the correct speed when the 2nd speed on the rear end kicks in. But, since I was trying to build on a low budget, I didn't opt for the Columbia.

I did get a few pieces that I needed including a nice '40 Ford truck steering wheel, a '38 Ford truck column drop with the mast jacket attached, a '48 Ford steering shaft and a 2 bolt front cover & distributor for the flathead engine. It might have taken me months to pull all that together using ebay, Craigslist or Forbarn.com but Ivan had it all in his attic and all his parts are categorized, kind of like a Costco for vintage Ford parts! As you can see he has doubles and triples of everything and then some!

So if you ever meet someone at a show or cruise night who starts talking about cars he's restored in the past, keep asking questions and see what parts he might have lying around, you might just hit the mother load at the right time and find what you need to keep your project on track.

Shortening a Torque Tube

2011-09-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

I f you are building a vintage ride like I am, you probably want to go with a closed drive line.

When you hear the term "closed", it means the driveshaft is enclosed by what is known as a torque tube. The torque tube bolts from the transmission mount on the K member to the rear end and the rear radius rods attach to it.

You can convert to an open drive line with these cars by either using a truck banjo rear end with an open end or buying a kit Speedway sells to convert a closed drive line Ford banjo rear end to an open drive line. Then you'd have to have a driveshaft built and you'd need a truck transmission to bolt it to or if you were using an automatic transmission, you'd have to figure out what universal joint yoke you'd need for that transmission.

But, to keep the car period correct, I'm using a '36 Ford torque tube that I am cutting down to fit between the rear end and the transmission mount. Why do I need to cut down a torque tube? You may not if you are using a stock 1932 Ford banjo rear end but, those rear ends are basically Model A rear ends and are very weak compared to later banjo rears. Plus, a '32 rear end has a pinion shaft that is part of the driveshaft. Mine was missing the pinion shaft and to buy a set of matching pinion/ring gear was way more than finding a later flathead Ford rear end and shortening the torque tube & driveshaft.

So, I found a complete banjo rear end off Craigslist for $250! I mean everything was there, drum to drum, radius rods, rear spring, and it even had the speedometer gear on the torque tube. I had the entire chassis media blasted and then I had a flathead restorer rebuild the entire rear end. It should be bulletproof! But, I still need to shorten the torque tube.

To do this, you need to completely assemble the rear end and put it up on wheels, preferably the wheels you will use in the final build along with the front end on wheels so that you know exactly how the car will sit on the ground. The rear end will sag forwards so you will need to get a scissors jack to put under the rear end to level it.

What I normally do is get a piece of pvc pipe or a long round wooden dowel to put temporarily between the coupler on the banjo to the U joint on the transmission and eyeball it to get it level. Make sure you have the torque tube bell on the transmission, that is important! That's how the car will be going down the street pretty much once the torque tube is bolted together.

The length that you come up with for the distance between the coupler & the U joint is the distance you'll need the driveshaft shortened down to. I used a '46 thru '48 Ford driveshaft which is the same diameter all around, this makes it easy for a driveshaft shop to cut and re spline or cut and re weld it. You can't cut & re weld the tube type of driveshaft found on '36 Fords. Leave those for guys to make headers out of! You can also get a '34 Ford driveshaft and cut the 10 spline end off that attaches to the banjo and use a 6 to 10 spline adapter turned down in a lathe and then welded into the drive shaft. But I would have a driveshaft shop do the welding and have it balanced.

Okay, now once you have the chassis mocked up with something simulating the driveshaft take out the mockup driveshaft and put the torque tube onto the bell on the transmission mount and then put the back of the torque tube next to the rear end as close as you can get it to where it'll be bolted. You may want to get a couple of jack stands to hold the torque tube in place, it's much easier. Now measure the distance from the front of the flange on the banjo to the tip of the torque tube. That should give you your distance and mark it on your torque tube. I can't tell you exactly what it is because it's different for every car. Even if you were using the exact same parts, you might get a measurement that is off by a half an inch.

Now get out your chop saw and cut it but only cut it where the diameter is constant! That is very important. Then cut it again taking out how many inches you need to make the torque tube fit in the '32 frame. After it's cut, you should be able to join the 2 pieces together and they should mate up perfectly if you cut it straight. Use jack stands to hold everything where you want it and tack weld it in a few spots. I always take the torque tube back out and stand it up straight on the ground on the end with the flange to make sure it's level. You can even check it with a level on top of the torque tube while it's standing on end. If it's good, finish welding it together and than grind and smooth or just leave it if you want the raw look.

Now you can take that drive shaft and measurement to a reputable shop and have them shorten and re weld it together and balance it. Or, if you can find a place that can re spline it, it won't need to be balanced.

Stewart Warner Mechanical tach drive for a ford flathead

2011-03-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just get lucky.

I went to the Long Beach swap meet in January when I was in LA for the Grand National Roadster Show. I went with the purpose of finding a vintage SW mechanical tach drive for a flathead. Believe it or not, the first vendor I went to had exactly what I was looking for at a really low price! I bought it of course.

In case you aren't familar, flatheads are tough to hook a tachometer up to. GM cars had tachs driven off the backs of generators and companies like Mallory made tach drives off distributors for small block Chevies and other engines.

But, with a flathead you had to run an electric tach setup. In the 50's, that wasn't so hard. You went down to Western Auto or SoCal Speed shop and bought a tachometer setup with instructions and you just hooked it up.

Flash forward to today, you would have to find an electric tach, then find the correct sending unit, either one of which might not work and then figure out how to wire it up, or you could buy a SW mechanical drive which mounts on the front of the flathead using two bolts that screw into factory tapped holes in the engine block and then you run a cable to the tachometer on the dash. There is also a small cable that runs from the tach drive to the crank nut.

It's a simple setup and that's why I wanted it. That's why guys in the 40's had them at the dry lakes, it was the easiest way to set it up and at the lakes, it was necessary to know your RPM's for fear that you could blow up a flathead if you revved it to high.

But for some reason, either they didn't survive the constant beating of high RPM's or they got thrown away when OHV engines came in, these mechanical tach drives are rare and usually very expensive.

I'm glad I got this one and it has nice home on the '32. It just needs some more cleaning.

All I need now is SW tachometer, anyone got one for sale???

Front end stuff

2011-03-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while! I've been so busy with the '32, grinding, welding, sanding, chasing parts, etc.

I disassembled the front end to sand down & smooth out the metal after the media blasting. I found a lot of pits which I expected and some little issues that I had to fix.

I found divots in the top of the wishbone on each side where the tie rod ends made contact with the wishbone when turning. This is a common problem and I fixed it by welding globs of weld into the divot, then grinding the whole thing down and finishing with 60 grit sandpaper on an angle grinder, then 60 grit sandpaper on a palm sander.

I also redid the front spring. I had a friend re-arch the main leaf to lower the front end by an inch and I took out half the leaves in the spring pack further lowering the car. I media blasted the remaining leaves and sanded down each one as best I could. There are pits in the metal that will have to be filled in with a little putty and filler primer but, not bad for 79 year old metal!!

How to replace '32 Ford front frame horns

2011-01-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

My '32 frame came with front frame horns that were "clipped" or cut off. Whoever owned it before me cut off the first 4 or 5 inches of the horns which is where the front spreader bar bolts on. Now, I could have left the frame horns as is but I wanted to use a front spreader bar because it adds rigidity to the frame and you can mount your license plate off of it like it was done at the Ford factory.

In order to do this I needed to find some genuine or "gennie" frame horns. I did buy some Brookville horns but they did not match the contour of an original '32 Ford frame correctly.

I finally found a pair from a fellow HAMBer and went to work.

The way I did this was to bolt the new frame horns directly next to the frame horns on the frame using factory holes in the top of the frame that bolted the front splash apron to the frame I believe.

Then, I marked with a marker where I wanted to cut the frame horns off by lining up the cut on the horns as best I could. I used a cut off wheel on an angle grinder because I knew that would give me the straightest cuts which is really important because the contour of the frame has to line up perfectly and the distances to the front of the frame had to be equal.

Once the horns were cut, I clamped them onto the frame and checked over and over again to make sure the frame had the right contour and length. I did have to grind down the metal on the horns slightly to get them to fit better and I did that until I was happy with the way it looked.

Then I tack welded them in place with my MIG welder and again I checked to see how they looked. When I was satisfied, I finished welding them on. Then I ground down the welds with a large grinding disc on the angle grinder in order to get inside the rails then and sanded the welds them using a 120 grit sanding disc and then I sanded down the rails with 60 grit on a palm sander. I did have to take out the front crossmember to do this. Then I hand sanded the rails with 120 grit sandpaper to make sure I got all the rough spots.

Now I can add a front spreader bar with a license plate or a car club plaque!!

How to Modify Ford F1 shock mounts

2010-12-26T12:11:00.000-08:00

1932 Fords originally came with lever action shocks but I wanted to use modern tube type shocks which Ford started using on pickup trucks in the 40's. So, I got a pair of Ford F1 pickup front shock mounts and had to adapt them to the '32 frame. Vern Tardel & Mike Bishop covered this in their book on how to build a traditional Ford hot rod and the basic idea is the same for a '32. The stock F1 shock mounts are not a direct bolt on swap because the distance between the mounting holes is different from the distance of the frame mounting holes on a '32 frame or on a Model A frame.

The first thing I had to do to the frame was enlarge the 2 holes in the side of the frame where the original rivets held the cross member onto the frame to 7/16th and that also is the size of the bolts needed to bolt the shock mounts to the frame.

I had the mounts media blasted so they were easier to work with & weld on. I started to cut the first mount with a cutting disc on an angle grinder just below the first mounting hole and I cut off that entire piece of metal. As you can see, you will have 2 pieces once you are finished cutting. You can also use a hacksaw for this if you wanted to but do not use a torch!

Next, I bolted the assembly to the frame to see exactly where the shock mount would be when it was tightened against the frame. I did need to grind away at the small piece I cut off in order to make it fit more snuggly against the other piece of the mount and it makes it more symmetrical if it follows the edges of the frame.

Placing it this way told me where to tack weld the assembly in place for a more precise fit.

Once I tacked it up, I unbolted it all and put the shock mount in a vice and filled in the metal all around making sure I had good penetration and lots of build up because you will end up grinding away a good majority of the metal in order to blend the metal from the shock mount and the weld together. Then, I smoothed out the rough spots some more with a 120 grit sanding disc on the angle grinder.

You could also go over the entire piece, making sure to grind off all the flashing left over from the forging process. You could also polish them and have them plated if you wanted to go that far!

These shock mounts will probably need to be cut down some more because I want to use short shocks on this car, but you could leave them exactly the way they are depending on where you put the lower shock mounts and the size of the shocks.

Running Gear

2010-11-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

So, once I had the front end parts together, I needed to find an engine, transmission and rear end. It makes the most sense to find as much of that together as possible because it will save you time & money in the long run. So, I started looking for deals on running gear. I mostly looked on Craigslist, Ebay, the HAMB & Fordbarn.

I found a complete, rebuilt late 1938 81A flathead engine and transmission in Colorado Springs for $1,750. The engine came out of a restored pickup and was rebuilt by Aaron's Machine shop in Roseville CA. I turned the engine over by hand with a large socket on the crank pulley just to be sure. The seller had the rebuild sheet so luckily I knew what went into the engine. The transmission was also rebuilt and all the helical gears looked brand new when I took the transmission cover off.

Now, I was damn lucky to get all this at that price!! The engine rebuild sheet had a total of $4,300 for all the machine work. That's about what you'd pay if you took a flathead to a shop and had them rebuild it.

If you are a hot rodder, you are probably wondering what an 81A is. That is the first 24 stud flathead Ford made in 1938 and in 1939 it was called the 59AB. The 81A was actually an 85 HP engine but this engine that I got has adjustable lifters and has been bored over and with the dual carbs, aluminum heads & headers I plan to add, it should have plenty of HP for a '32 roadster.

The '32 came with it's original banjo rear end but someone had taken the driveshaft out of it, rendering it useless unless you change the complete banjo center section. Since the '32 rear is basically a Model A rear end, a later model rear end was in order.

I found a '40 Ford rear end on Craigslist complete with the drums, backing plates, torque tube, wishbones, brake lines, rear spring and the speedometer gear all for $250. It was all in great shape, just surface rust but all there.

So, now I have all my running gear!

However, when swapping a later banjo rear end into a '32, a shortened driveshaft will have to be made and the torque tube will have to be cut down to the correct size and welded back together.

Also, the stock '32 rear spring cannot be used with a later banjo rear end because it alters the wheelbase which is 106 inches on a '32 Ford. I ended up using the '40 Ford spring and had to grind grooves into the side of the spring in order for it to fit into the stock '32 rear crossmember. When I bolted it together and checked the wheelbase, it was 106 like it's supposed to be. That is an old hot rodder trick in case you were wondering.

Most guys remove the '32 crossmember and replace it with a Model A crossmember and spring. I wanted to keep the frame 100% 1932 so I used the '40 spring and I also removed 7 leaves from the spring pack and had the main leaf spring eyes reversed. All that lowered the rear end quite a bit!

Pretty soon, I will be taking the frame with the front & rear ends to the media blaster along with a few other parts bolted on to remove 78 years of rust, crud, & yellow house paint!

Talk soon.

The next step

2010-10-31T20:24:00.000-07:00

Once I got the chassis home, I immediately got out the tools!! You might have noticed in the last blog pictures that there were some clunky pieces of metal welded to the front side & rear. Those were braces welded on to hold up the platform of the hayride! Some were bolted on so I unbolted what I could and finished the rest off with my angle grinder.

Then, I set about taking apart the front end. I needed to send out the '32 heavy front axle to be dropped so I needed to get everything apart, easier said than done!! Years of sitting out on a Nebraska farm really took it's toll. Everything needed to be heated and beaten into submission to get it all apart which didn't actually work, in the end I ended up taking the axle/wishbone to my friend Nick with a Bridgeport lathe and we had to drill out what was left of the spring perches to get the wishbone off and then we had to heat and pound out what was left in the axle! Whew!

I finally was able to send the axle to Joe's Speed Shop in Oklahoma and he did a 1 3/4" drop a.k.a "gentleman's drop", and straightened the axle. While it was being worked on, I bought some '46 thru '48 Ford front spindles & brakes I saw on Craigslist and when the axle came back, I was ready to put together the front end with hydraulic brakes.

When you put hydraulic brakes on a '32 Ford with a stock uncut wishbone, the best way to do it is to heat and bend the spindle arms up about 2 or 3 inches and ream the top of the spindle eye in order to run the tie rod on top of the assembly. From the factory, Ford spindles only have the bottom of the eyelets tapered for tie rod ends because Ford only ran the tie rods on the bottom with the tie rod threads poking up through the hole and the nut on top.

I also needed a new tie rod, the original '32 tie rod was bent like a pretzel so I found one off a fat fendered Ford and had my friend Nick cut it down to length and tapped it in his lathe. Nick also TIG welded together some old tie rod scraps I had and tapped one side with 11/16th RH thread to make me a drag link to hook up the '53 Ford F100 steering box to the steering hoop that I bolted on to the left front spindle so that the chassis would at least steer with a temporary steering wheel when the time came to trailer it to the media blaster.

At this time, I took apart the front spring and removed about 4 leaves from the spring pack to lower the front end. I also re arched the front main leaf using a hydraulic compressor. This is the old school method used by early hot rodders. You lay the main leaf down a flat cement floor making an outline with a piece of white chalk. Then you slowly bend the leaf in the press until it's flat. Then, you try to re arch the leaf back into it's original shape using your chalk outline as a guide but bending it the opposite way. When you are done, the shape or the arch should be identical but the spring eyes will now be reversed. It takes a while but it works.

I also had to buy new spring perches to replace the ones we destroyed and I got new shackles. I did also get new tie rod ends. All of this stuff can be bought from Speedway or Mac's or if you know a restorer with this stuff lying around, try to get the real Henry Ford stuff, nothing is better than Ford steel!

Once I had all the pieces, I temporarily bolted it all together. I say temporarily because again at this point in the game I'm bolting it together for a trip to the media blaster soon. That trip will come when I get a later banjo rear end from a '40 Ford or Merc and bolt it under the frame.

A lot of hot rodders & kustomizers name their cars. As silly as it sounds, a lot of them do it!! I have been thinking about naming this '32 soon to be roadster. The fact that this chassis came from Nebraska and was used as a hayride for most of it's life, I was thinking of calling it "Nebraska Hayride", hmmmm, not sure yet, sounds corny. Maybe "Horsepower Haywagon".

'32 Roadster still sounds better. :)

How this whole thing started...

2010-10-27T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was checking through the Denver Craigslist as I often do back in February 2010 and I typed in 1932 under auto parts and up came an ad for an original1932 Ford chassis for an unbelievable low price. I really did not need another project but it was too good not to at least make a phone call.

I called the number the next morning and talked to the seller. He was a car guy so he knew it was what the ad said it was and not a Model A or '26 Hubmobile!! He said he'd be home after 5pm if I'd like to see it. I went to work and told work I was leaving early, I got directions from Mapquest and was the first one there and the seller had just gotten home a few minutes before, perfect timing.

He led me to his backyard and there was a rolling 1932 Ford chassis, all original front & rear end, all stock cross members were there and it was rolling on '40 Ford steel wheels. Wow, what a find. The frame was in great shape but it had surface rust and brush painted yellow paint on it. He said that he bought the chassis in Nebraska and that it had been used as, get this...a hayride! Someone actually cut up a '32 Ford to make a hayride pulled by a tractor! Jeez!

I told him I'd take it and we shook hands. Now again, I really didn't need another project but this was a great oportunity. I think most people when they want to build a hot rod, think '32 Ford Roadster highboy. That is exactly what I started building with this. Now, there are a million ways to build a hot rod out of a '32 Ford frame. It is the perfect foundation for a '32 body, a Model A body or a Model T body.

I chose to build a '32 and the hunt began for parts, not just any old parts but the correct parts to build a traditional 1932 Ford Roadster Highboy in the tradition of hot rod heroes like Doane Spencer, Walker Morrison, Ray Brown, Vic Edelbrock, Joe Nitti, Bob McGee and many others.

A traditional '32 has to have the following running gear: Ford Flathead v8 engine, '39 Ford 3 speed transmission, closed driveshaft and banjo rear end. It also should have a dropped front axle and big and little tires. Personal preference now takes over, you can build it with steel wheels or wire wheels, a hood or no hood, top or no top, any color you want, black walls or whitewalls and whatever interior you want as long as it looks vintage.

This '32 will have a rebuilt late 81A flathead engine & Ford 3 speed transmission and the closed driveshaft with banjo rear end. It will have Maroon steel 16 inch wheels, the body & frame will be gloss black with an oxblood colored interior if I can find a shop that can do that! I will run a hood but no top.I'll wear a hat instead. :)

So, please check the progress on my '32 as I will be blogging in the future, the build has just begun and I'm still gathering parts but it's looking more & more like a '32 Ford everyday.