Blown 34 Ford

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Build Sheet (updated 5/16/2012)

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

1965 Buick drum brakes, front

I finally found a pair of original 45 fin 12″ Aluminum Buick drum brakes in excellent shape. They have no chipped fins and plenty of meat left- a little bead-blasting and they’ll clean up perfectly. Now I can get rid of those aftermarket Super Bell Super Stopper front disc brakes… they work, but hardly nostalgic.

The New Jersey 1965 Buick Riviera we pulled the drums from, and the Super Stoppers I will permanently remove (right).

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Tranny cooler lines, continued

Fortunately, the DEI Aluminized Sleeving is a bit forgiving and the 1/2″ size worked perfectly for the Aeroquip AN-6 braided hose (~9/16″).

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Tranny cooler lines **UPDATED**

AN-6 XRP Fittings and Aeroquip hose (left), and the built in transmission cooler in the Griffin Aluminum radiator (right).

The problem was finding a clean, reliable way to route the AN-6 cooling lines while avoiding the headers. I stared at the problem for hours and the cleanest, simplest solution I could come up with is illustrated in the photo, above right. I fabricated some basic “L” brackets out of stainless angle that utilize Adel clamps to support the stainless hose along the passenger side of the oil pan. Since the hoses are still fairly close to the headers, I’ll use something like DEI hose sleeves to shield them from the radiant heat. I really wanted to use stainless hard lines like I did for the carbs, but i just couldn’t find a clean path. I was also very concerned about the need for flexibility at the point the lines hop across from the engine to the chassis and radiator.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

A Tight Squeeze – A few hot spots around the headers

I’m not too worried about the oil filter (top), but I am concerned about overheating the Vega steering box (above) and the starter motor (below). To be on the safe side, I’ll wrap them in something like a Versa-Shield.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Connecting custom headers, exhaust pipes and mufflers with stainless V band clamps

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Checking the weights and balances.

Yesterday I had an opportunity to drop the 34 on a set of Intercomp SW scales and the results were a little surprising. As predicted, the dry weight was under 2500 lbs and with the temporary tires, it came in at 2401 lbs. I jumped in the back and sat down where the gas tank will be to simulate a “full tank.” With 190 lbs of fuel (31 gallon tank x 6.1 lbs/gal), the weight bias will be about 48% rear and 52% front- not bad. The left to right weights are nearly identical, with only an 11 pound difference between the driver and passenger sides. But when I checked the cross-weights, the left rear and right front were almost 100 pounds heavier than their counterparts (see table below). I’m sure it’s just a tweaked frame or a suspension thing. I’ll let our suspension guru figure it out…

Wheel Weights:

Current dry weight with no interior

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Jet-Hot Extreme 2000 Ceramic Coating (in dark grey), header install

Jet-Hot did a great job. The quality of the Jet-Hot Extreme 2000 and its application is impressive.  It’s coated inside and out, fully corrosion resistant (even in marine environments), can withstand temperatures up to 2000 degrees and has a lifetime warranty.

On the early Chrysler 392 HEMI, almost every bolt goes into a water jacket! The header bolts are no exception and they need to be sealed (left). A couple shots mounted on the heads. The Jet-Hot dark grey color is actually a bit darker than it appears in these pics.

[Click here to see the headers before they were coated]

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress Ammeter Gauge

I’ve been collecting vintage auto and aircraft components for a while now with the intention of designing some of them into my dash. This gauge was used in the Pilot’s Side Control Panel of a B-17. It’s a fairly common gauge and was actually used in many different aircraft. I’ve had the gauge for a while, but I’ve been looking for an original Shunt Resistor to make it function. (You can’t actually put 300 amps directly into the gauge. A “Shunt” allows the gauge to indirectly read the current via the voltage drop across the shunt). If I want to change the fullscale reading to something more applicable to a car, I could use a shunt with a lower rating; as long as it matches the gauge’s actual fullscale rating (50 millivolts, in this case). I’m thinking a 300 amp fullscale reading might be a bit optimistic for my little alternator.

A full cockpit view of a B-17G showing the position of the panel (left), and a “restricted” page from an operations manual showing a “pilot’s side control panel” closeup.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Sun Electric Corp RC-85 8500 RPM Football Tachometer and EB-9A Sun Tachometer Transmitter (late 1950′s)

Today at a Swap Meet, I finally found a beautiful Sun EB-9A transmitter to match the football tach I found a few months ago. Now I’ll mail everything off to John Wolf at Antique Instrument to convert the transmitter to solid state, and clean and tune the tach.

The “Football” style tach (large red oval on the face) was actually the earliest Sun tach design dating back to the late 1950′s. This one also has the “Pinch Cup,” which was the earliest of three cup designs as well. For those interested, here’s some history and a bunch of old ads…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

1960′s Mickey Thompson M/T Finned Valve Covers

I wish these were still available and for 70 bucks!

Because I wanted to run this exact valve cover (for old school nostalgic reasons), I had to place the engine several inches forward of the firewall to provide clearance and prevent the covers from hitting the sides of the cowl. I’m unwilling to cut into an original ford body cowl just to clear valve covers. The M/T covers are actually taller and more “boxy” than most of the other HEMI valve covers more commonly available. Of course moving the motor forward is sort of a double-edged sword. It definitely affects the weight distribution, weight transfer, and fit and position of about everything in or on the engine compartment. But we’re only talking about a couple inches. And fortunately this was a choice I made before I setup the drive train plus I’m not running a hood so in my case it was fairly simple to deal with.

This photo shows exactly where the valve covers would interfere with the side of the cowl if I tried to push the engine back any further.

On the upside, it’s a breeze to pull out my bellhousing bolts!

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Custom headers finally on their way to Jet-Hot to get coated with their Jet-Hot Extreme 2000 (in dark grey).

Chrysler 392 HEMI headers before getting a ceramic coating from Jet-Hot

**UPDATE 03-28-2012: Here’s a pic of the headers after getting coated:

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

1934 Ford Rear view mirror

It took me a while to figure out and confirm what an original 1934 Ford rear view mirror looks like. Very few 34′s out there actually have one! And Google returns basically no photographs (except mine!). So I finally just went out and stuck my head in a few original cars- I figured that was my best bet. I finally found this one at the Hot Rod Reunion, Famosa Raceway event a year ago. You can see where all the silvering has worn off the glass. I think I’ll just leave it as is…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

A few random pics from the build of the 1958 Chrysler 392 HEMI back in 2010

Still sorting through all the engine build pics. More info soon…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Working on mounting the Grille Shell

Theoretically on the ’34, the angle of the grille should match the angle of the windshield. But today I was less focused on the angle, and more focused on just getting it mounted.

The grille is basically dangling on the radiator so it’s a little crooked. A nice shot of the stock ’32 heavy axle…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Finishing the fuel lines, and the 1931 Ford Model A Sedan “Stinkbug”

Above, a current pic with the ’47 Merc hubcaps. The whitewalls are old, leaky and just temporary. I swapped wheels with the 1931 Ford Sedan (below) while I wait for a new set of Coker Firestones to show up for the ’34.

The ’31 above is all original except for the original 1940 Ford 16×4 wheels, upgraded brakes and the “Police” high compression 5.5:1 “B” head. We call it “The Stinkbug.” Notice the 1935 Balboa Park Ford building peaking between the trees in the photo, above right (pic).

Below, finally got around to finishing up the fuel lines…

The Aeroquip braided line is AN-10 on the feed side, and AN-8 on the return. And if you look closely, you can see that each line is supported by an Adel clamp off the tranny adapter.

I decided that I wanted to run some period-correct, vintage (1940′s-1950′s) military shoulder harnesses in the 34. I’ve seen plenty of newer racing harnesses (Crow, Deist, Simpson, Autopower, DJ), but I’ve seen very few vintage ones. With great effort, I was able to track down a small supply of these squirrelled away in a dusty warehouse. 

Specs: These harnesses are an early post-war design (late 40′s – mid 50′s). They fit right into any standard 2″ or 3″ wide quick-release style lap belt (see middle pic, above, as an example). They lengthen to over 70 inches, and shorten to under 24 inches. They have “hard ends” for permanent mounting- NOT the hook-style troop ones that rattle around. They are period-correct, and NOS (New Old Stock) in the original boxes. The sewn on tags are perfect as well with bold lettering on white tags with the military manufacturer and 1950′s date.

Price is $85 per harness

(Shipping and insurance for up to two harnesses to anywhere in the continental USA is $13.95)

VERY LIMITED QUANITY AVAILABLE

To Order (1) harness click here:

To Order (2) harnesses click here:

I will ship internationally, but please contact me first to figure out the shipping cost. This is vintage military surplus and sold “AS-IS” and “WITH ALL FAULTS.”  Send me an email from the contact page if you have any questions, problems with the Paypal buttons, or would like to arrange a different form of payment.

Several old “BEFORE” photos from late 2010

(Click photo above to view old firewall pics)

500 days and counting…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Mufflers

Since I’ll be fabricating custom exhaust cutouts anyway, I wanted the option of being able to make the exhaust as *quiet* as possible. Searching for a quiet, non-droning, high-flow, 3″ inlet diameter muffler with a shell that will fit within a 10″ wide space, is difficult. I settled on the Dynomax design. They’re not perfect but they’re a descent compromise. On the downside, they are NOT made stainless steel and the seams aren’t welded. On the upside, I bought the pair for under $100 so they’re pretty much disposable if I don’t like them.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Showing off her new front axle and squatty stance.

Here’s a rough profile shot (missing the front grille, hubcaps and still covered in blue masking tape). It’s the same pic I used for the black “sketch” at the top of the website. I’ll have to post a shot with the Halibrand wheels as well.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Stock axle under a “Stock” spring. Front end back to a pre-war “Traditional” ride height.

Notice the slight positive camber in the axle (wheels flopped out)? Typically it’s somewhere between 0.5° and 1.5°. Looks a little strange, but that’s how Ford set them up. It was designed that way to make it easier to steer.

34 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Original WWII USAAF Aircraft Seat Belts: October 1944 (used), May 1945 (NOS). I finally got lucky and found a pair tucked away in an old warehouse. WWII era belts were made out of cotton. Belts from the 50′s and 60′s were typically nylon.

Above, check out the little sewn pocket on the ’44 containing the inspection tag from the former NAS Miami ! During World War II, NAS Miami was headquarters for operations of the U.S. Naval Air Training Command.

Above, the 1945

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Stock Ride Height - New front spring arrived.

Without realizing how many options there actually were, I tried to incorrectly build a “new” front end using a stock 1932 heavy axle and parts that came off my previous front end – a 29-1/2 inch aftermarket spring (with reversed eyes) and 2 inch shackles. Even fully compressed, the spring eye was still a half an inch away from matching up with the shackle pin. Needless to say, it didn’t work. But after a bit of research, I ordered the proper 31-1/2″ front spring and a pair of 1-1/2″ shackles to match the stock axle. This should give me the stock ride height I’m looking for.

(Above) Trying to fit the wrong spring and shackles to my stock axle before I finally took out a measuring tape!

The spring (above), made by Posie, is a heavy duty version of a stock spring (with stock downward eyes) and is designed to be used with a heavier engine. The Posie technician told me they only sell about 5 units of this style per year. Most people use a reverse eye spring. Just reversing the eyes on the spring (curled upward) will drop the front end about 2 inches.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fabricating the Alternator Bracket

Figuring out where to put an alternator (and which one to use) ended up being a serious challenge. I knew I needed at least 85 Amps, preferred a 1-Wire configuration and IT HAD TO BE MOUNTED LOW (for aesthetic reasons). But the depth of the alternator, huge chrysler heads  as well as the belt position in relation to the water pump intake, radiator etc. gave us very little room to work with. The opposite side of the engine was even worse. I’ve learned that if you stare at the problem long enough, eventually you’ll figure it out. I try to avoid taking the easy route. In the end, a combination of cutting away part of the alternator’s rear cover, and some pricey mandrel-bent 2″ aluminum tubing from Woolf Aircraft provided the solution we needed. We tig-welded some spacers onto the bracket and sent it to the powder coaters. More pics soon.

(2/9/2012)

Ignoring the incorrect fasteners for the moment, here’s the powdercoated alternator bracket.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fabricating Stainless Exhaust

I’m still searching for a pair of mufflers, and we still need to fabricate the electrically-actuated cutouts.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Vintage 1950′s Aircraft Seatbelt Harnesses

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Running the Aeroquip AN-8 return line along the driver’s-side inside frame. The CNC master cylinder is on the left.

ARB compressor. Looks like I tightened the rubber washers a bit too much.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Strange Engineering 3″ Chromoly Driveshaft & 1350 Chromoly Yoke finally arrived.

Wiping it with a thin layer of Sharkhide protectant will prevent the bare metal from rusting. The stuff is expensive, but actually works really well.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Replacing the Front Axle, Front Spring, and Perches and putting the front end back to stock ride height.

Soon I’ll remove the dropped and filled 1932 Ford heavy axle (above left, beautifully dropped to 5″ by Jordan Graham) and replace it with a stock 1932 Ford heavy axle (above right) I just found.  Both are original Ford axles. The stock axle was first sent to Hansen’s Ford Garage to be straightened. It still needs to go to the powdercoater. I’m told that if the axle is an original, after 79 years it’s probably bent. Mine certainly was. Bill Hansen does a great job of straightening them.

When Henry Ford was designing the 1932 Ford, in anticipation of the heavier V8 engine he designed a much heavier axle than was present in the previous Model A’s and made it with a slight drop. These axles are often referred to as ’32 heavy axles. They are unique among early Ford axles in having a wider recess at the ends, and a slightly raised area on the front and back of the spring perch bosses in the shape of a fat letter “I.” About half way through 1932, realizing that he had in fact over engineered the early 32 axles, he came out with a new lighter design that he would use until 1936.

The stock axle and spring will bring the front end back up to the stock ride height. I think I prefer that “Traditional” 1930′s/ early 1940′s stance. Almost every rod I see these days has a dropped axle- I just think it’s overdone. As far as “Traditional” hot rods go, I don’t see too many photographs of cars with heavily dropped front axles back in the early 1940′s- that’s more of a post-war thing. Typically the heights were just straight across (below, right). Here’s a link of an amazing archive of 1940′s period correct hot rods over on THE H.A.M.B. forums and a bit of axle history over at Rod and Custom Magazine.

Above, a shot of the ’34 with the front axle jacked-up to get a small idea of the ride height.

Above, a shot of one of the few 33/34 Fords I actually like… “The Alchemist.”

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fabricating the 2 1/4″ headers.

(** Updated 2/9/2012 **)

With the starter motor and the steering box both on the same side, we barely had enough room to squeeze these large tubes inside the frame rails…

It wasn’t easy to find a header flange to fit the 2.25″ primary tubes. I could have modified the Hotheads 2″ flanges but I didn’t think they were all that nice to begin with. Don’t get me wrong- I think Hotheads makes nice early HEMI parts, it’s just that I wasn’t happy with these specific flanges. They’re made from hot rolled steel and appear to be flame-cut (bottom flange in pic).  I also thought about having www.spdexhaust.com make a pair, but theirs are CNC machined and a bit too nice (I’m building a hot rod- not a piece of jewelry!) In the end, we just ended up designing our own. We decided to water-jet rather than flame-cut, use a stronger cold rolled steel, and of course cut the necessary 2.25″ ports. The cold rolled steel gives them a nice smooth surface finish (top flange in pic).  If someone is interested in getting a set, you can get my email off the “Contact” page.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI, Arduino, Gas Tank, Fuel Tank, Custom, Sending Unit, Calibration

Custom backup digital gas gauge.

Below is a pic of my 1940′s Stewart Warner Crescent Gas Gauge being digitally emulated using an Arduino microcontroller and a 4Dsystems uLCD-144. It’s currently a work in progress.

I’ve designed this system to overcome several deficiencies in my fuel system: I really want to use my SW Crescent Gas Gauge in this build because I think it’s badass. But the problem is the old gauges can be quirky. Small amounts of corrosion built up over the past 70 years can make them undependable. And according to some experts, this style can’t be cracked open and cleaned without destroying the bezel (***UPDATE*** 1/24/2012: Someone is now making replacement bezels and curved glass and selling them on eBay here). But whether it can or can’t, I don’t really care. I myself like the quirkyness (and the fact it’s all original), and as long as I have a reliable second method of getting an accurate reading, I’m happy. In dealing with the quirky gauge itself, through experimentation I’ve figured out a way to use certain voltage patterns to get it to read “properly”- but I need a computer (microcontroller) to do it. The other issue I have is that the fuel tank I’ve designed is purposely shaped like a “triangular coffin”

and of course, the sending unit (calibrated for a rectangular “cuboid” shape) doesn’t really understand triangles. This microcontroller fixes these issues and will act as an extremely accurate (hidden) backup gas gauge too.

(DEMO VIDEO COMING SOON)

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fabricating a bracket for an original 1934 Ford gas pedal

The bracket will be rivetted to the firewall

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Custom stainless fuel lines – what a pain! But I refuse to run braided hose around the carbs. In the end, I think it was worth the AGONY.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Carb Linkage, fuel lines and regulator

An old Stewart Warner Military Fuel Oil Pressure gauge from the 40′s

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Testing the Isis Power computers prior to installation

Making an electrical mess on the left, and a shot of the fabricated, flip-down, Dzus-buttoned panel on the inner-firewall for the computer modules. The panel is about an inch deep allowing me to hide a bunch of wiring behind it. The modules will probably be spaced symmetrically.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Mounting shifter, Model A emergency brake, and linkage

We tossed the junky TH350 mounting brackets and fabricated our own mini bracket for the shifter and ebrake. The 350 one wouldn’t really have fit the 400 anyway. That’s also a 31 Ford steering wheel I’m using temporarily.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fabricating the vacuum sync stainless hard line and the fuel regulator bracket

The 4 fuel hard lines from the regulator to the carbs will be much more challenging. The finished fuels lines are here.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Narrowed rearend installed (** UPDATED 2/15/2012 **)

Narrowing the rearend 4-1/2 inches made a huge difference (left pic, obviously)

The Holley 3310 carbs finally find a new home. (Demons may be way better, but a little too new for my taste.) Lastly, a shot with some vintage 1947/48 Mercury hubcaps — just for fun. After 300 days, it helps to hang some parts on the car to keep yourself motivated.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Headers

Trying to figure out if we’ll have enough room to stuff the 2-1/4″ primary header tubes on the driver’s side - we will, but just barely (right).

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Triangle Cover Plate.

A vintage Cragar triangle cover plate for the old GMC 6-71 blower- a little piece of hot rod history. I just like the old triangle cover plates. It seems that most of the newer blower designs have done away with them. As was common back then, someone drilled a hole in the cover (smack in the center of “CRAGAR” on this one!). Anyway, I pulled the 1/8″ pipe plug and replaced it with a pressure relief valve (right). I was at the Don Garlits museum in Florida back in 2010, when I asked one of the technicians in charge of maintaining all the dragsters if he knew where I could find one of these covers. He laughed and simply said “Good luck.” — Haha — They’re still around.

(Tri-Plate, Blower cover plate, 4-71, 6-71, 8-71)

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Steering installation

Original ’34 Ford steering wheel, original ’34 column drop, 1-1/2″ Limeworks stainless column (really nice), a modified Borgeson swivel floor mount and a CNC chassis-mounted brake lever that’s tapped for an original ’34 brake pedal (look closely-left pic). Since I’m running a Mullins Vega steering box (USA), trying to use an original steering column would have been a pain. The square access panel in the floor to the front of the brake pedal is for access to the brake fluid reservoirs. A good shot of the Wilcap 392/TH400 tranny adapter (right) – okay so I used something billet…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Final installation, motor and tranny

Wilcap tranny adapter (so nice), and the TH400

The firewall still needs some metal work, but it’s definitely not a priority right now. I’ll keep it bare-metal for a while…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Narrowing the 9″ rearend 4-1/2 inches.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Prepping to narrow the rearend

Ignoring the squatty stance, test fitting the early 1940 16×4 Ford wheels and the 1952 15×8 Halibrand wheels with a simulated 4-1/2″ cut down axle width. I had the axles flanges double-drilled to accommodate both bolts patterns.

PIC FROM THE ARCHIVE

Since I haven’t worked on the car in almost a month (as I moved my shop space), I thought I’d post a pic from Fall, 2010 – way back before I conquered replacing the floor…

(Above) circa October, 2010: A test fitting of the 92. You can see we are just beginning to fill holes in the chassis and it’s missing both the floor and the firewall. I’m guessing the motor mounts are just tacked in place as well…

I did a test-fitting of the Halibrands the other day and it looks like I may have to narrow the rearend ~2.5 inches per side to get the 15×8 Halibrands & Coker Cheater Slicks to sit in the correct position. The trick will be to find that perfect balance of axle width between the two different types of wheels, since I may *occasionally* change things up and run an original set of 1940 early Ford steel wheels (shown).

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Working on the Fuel Lines…

AN10 fuel feed across floor, and Aero 100 micron filter with shutoff.

Notice the AN8 return line bulkhead coming up from the floor in the middle pic (right). That’s the return line bung in the upper right area of tank. Internally on the other side of that fitting there is an arced piece of 1/2″ aluminum tubing that points over and down toward the side of the tank. This causes the returning fuel to sheet down the side of the tank, cooling it while keeping good separation from the fuel pickup at bottom.

Filler neck, sending unit base, and vent (top left)

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Bolting the Body Back on the Frame

The body is *finally* back on the frame but not without great effort. The undercoating created a predictably tight fit where the outside “overhang” of the body comes down over the frame.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Electrical Conduit Through Hidden Body Passages

In an effort to avoid running power and data cables across the threshholds of the door,  beneath the seats, or otherwise exposed to the environment, I decided to utilize the hidden body channels. These run just to the inside of the rocker panels and beneath each of the doors (left pic). Since these passageways do have some rough spots and edges, I ran a length of 1/2-inch LFNC-B industrial-grade non-metallic conduit to insure the wires will be seriously protected. The 1/2-inch ID conduit was even large enough to fit the length of 1/0 highly stranded welding cable which will supply the starter with power from the battery in the trunk-section. I will eventually cut these conduits to length, secure with Adel Clamps, and hide behind aluminum interior panels.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Metal Prep, Primer and LIZARDSKIN Undercoating ** UPDATED 2/2/2012

Lots of metal prep… removing some previous undercoating, DA sanding etc…

Select areas were prepped with SEM Rust-Seal (insuring any overlooked rust on the original metal has been rendered inert), then everything was coated with  U-Pol #5 High Build Primer

The first of two coats of Lizardskin Sound Control

The final coat of Lizardskin Ceramic Insulation. Although the color seems grey (left pics), it’s actually more of a flat black (right pic).

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Aeromotive Fuel Pump, Fuel filters and Fuel Regulator

*** FUEL SYSTEM UPDATE *** The current fuel system is composed of an Aeromotive 12331 100-micron pre-pump filter (with integrated shutoff), an Aeromotive A1000 pump (wasn’t happy with the quality of the OEM Holley Black pump), an Aeromotive 12335 40-micron post-pump filter, and an Aeromotive 13224 regulator. Both filters have a cleanable stainless steel element. We also changed the fuel system from a “dead-head” type, to one based on a much more efficient return line. Using a return line reduces the load on the pump, keeps fuel temp down and helps maintain a more constant fuel pressure to the engine. Without it, a hard hit on the accelerator can cause a drop in fuel pressure (due to g-forces and fuel consumption at the carbs). Since this “drop in pressure” signal will propagate relatively slowly through the fuel line,  the regulator and pump will not be able to respond quickly enough resulting in fuel starvation and a lean condition.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Bulkhead and floor electrical connectors

ITT Cannon Connectors (MIL-DTL-5015)

For electrical connections between the body and engine (firewall), the body and dash and the body and chassis (floor). And check out the old-school Zinc Chromate Green primer!

Here’s a shot of a WWII riveter working on a bomber wing. The ribs are coated with Zinc Chromate Green primer.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Stewart Warner Crescent Gauges

Here’s a few of the parts I’ve collected that I may use in designing my dash:

Above, a rare 1940′s Stewart Warner Crescent gas gauge, an even more rare Stewart Warner Crescent 60A ammeter gauge, a 1950′s Stewart Warner Crescent vacuum gauge, a 1940′s Stewart Warner Crescent water temp gauge and a 1940′s Stewart Warner Crescent oil pressure gauge. It’s my understanding that the “cups” on the 1940′s ones were made of “Tin,” and those from the 1950′s were made of Brass.

Stewart Warner date stamp code reference

Above, a 1940′s Stewart Warner “Police Special” Speedometer.

Some additional info on SW Industrial Gauges can be found here: http://www.roadsters.com/sw/ and http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=341938&showall=1

I know this isn’t directly related to my project, but being a B-17 enthusiast and since I wasn’t able to find a decent closeup photo of a B-17 engine data plate, I decided to post one of an original data plate I own here. This one was found on a B-17 Flying Fortress Studebaker Wright-Cyclone, 9 Cyclinder, R-1820-97, 1200 hp engine. Anyway, for those interested…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Riveting the new Tranny Tunnel and Floor Stiffeners (** Updated 2/15/2012 **)

Today we began replacing all the rosette spot welds on the floor stiffeners with solid rivets. A few months back, the spot welds were done with a dying MIG welder resulting in several failed welds. Rather than try to fix the “bad” welds with our new MIG, we’ve decided to just drill them out with a spot weld cutter and use solid rivets instead. It’s not a perfect solution, but solid rivets are a pretty clean fix. Next time I’ll avoid the spot welds altogether.

Originally we spot welded the floor – Cool pic, but big mistake.

Above, a few of the welds replaced with rivets

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fuel Tank

Here’s a rough idea of the 31 gallon prism-shaped fuel tank. The tank is heavily baffled to quiet the “slosh” since it will sit directly behind the front seat. The slanted design allows us to maximize fuel capacity and storage area and lends itself naturally to the contour of the available space- sort of a win-win. All fuel-line fittings are XRP. All Steel braided lines are Aeroquip. We tried cheaper fittings (Summit), but were really unhappy with the quality.

A set of 1940 Steel wheels and some Firestones for the ’31. All I need now are some original headlights, and maybe some juice brakes and she’s done.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fuel Tank & Seat Belts

Photo showing the fabricated removable seat belt loop and the fuel tank frame to which we’ll mount the prism-shaped 31 gal fuel tank. For this motor, I’m thinking 31 gallons really isn’t all that much…

*** FUEL SYSTEM UPDATE *** here THIS HAS ALL CHANGED…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Fuel Pump, Fuel filter and Brake Lines

Brakes finally! Also a shot of the Holley Black fuel pump, the CNC master cylinder as well as the ARB Compressor. All the black fittings are XRP.

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Almost done! A few brake lines and some fuel lines and the “restoration” of this modified original henry 1934 chassis will be complete.

These are getting hard to find! I found these in Canada…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

3 months into it… checking exhaust, steering and tranny clearances.

The ISIS Intelligent Multiplex System, consisting of a ISIS Power Mastercell input unit and several Powercell control units, will greatly simplify the wiring of the Blown 392 Hemi in the 1934 Ford and will allow me to implement some pretty neat dash, security and cooling logic. http://www.isispower.com

 1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Rear Tires

Original 15×8 Magnesium Halibrands are really hard to find. These are the small lipped Kidney Bean style from the early 1950′s - oiled-up with original patina. These are wearing Firestone 820-15 DOT cheater slicks (from Coker).

(Updated Jan 21st, 2012) 

One of the most interesting things about a Hot Rod is its history. But sadly, most of the history of this car is unknown. I found the car in Northern California back in September 2009. I was told by the last owner, who had traded up and out of the car after only four months, that it was built by an ex-dragracer in Oregon- but who knows. The joke among my friends has always been, that based on the types of things I uncovered during this project, we understand why he was an “EX” dragracer. J-B Weld isn’t actually a type of welding, people! Seriously, I mean no disrespect. But someone at some point had actually J-B Welded (epoxy glued) the firewall together! What a nightmare. It’s great for household repairs, but come on! There was even a gate hinge holding the gas pedal in place. I get the whole Rat Rod thing (no money, creativity, art) and I can appreciate it. But this wasn’t that. Someone was actually trying to pass this car off as a polished Hot Rod. Booger-welds, Brazing, and Bondo were all that seemed to be holding this poor car together, and like growth rings of a tree depicted a varied history of building talent and exposure. The car was dying and the entire mess was very meticulously hidden beneath carpet, paint and upholstery board. And it worked. I was fooled. It was my first Hot Rod and when I discovered these things I was really upset and I knew I wanted to fix it myself. 

Once I got the car apart, I was able to guess at a bit of its history. I’m guessing that a lot of different people have touched this car. There were so many different building styles- many of which were simply stacked on top of the previous ones. The car has had at least three different floors and based on the front suspension, radiator, and several other “period-dated” parts, it was probably last “rebuilt” sometime in the 1980′s. And of course, every original part worth a damn with the exception of the body, chassis, and seat, had been removed and over time replaced with reproduction parts of varying quality. I mean that’s sort of expected right? People follow the trends. But it just sucks. People will actually pull out an original beautiful metal dash and replace it with a fiberglass piece of crap! (here was mine) But again, I don’t know much of the history of this car. These are all just dramatic assumptions. For all I know, someone found the body and chassis in a field and decided to bring the car back from death and a fiberglass one was free or all they had. But I do have a new appreciation when I see a car with original parts. I think it’s awesome. If original parts were easy to find, it wouldn’t be that big a deal. But anyone who has worked hard to restore a ’34 and took the time to track down an original ’34 steering wheel or a column drop or a silvered headlight reflector gets my complete respect.

Since I don’t know the cars real history, I decided to give it one. The car started its Hot Rod life as an early 1940′s lakester and after the war got a few serious pre-1960′s upgrades- including its ’58 Chrysler HEMI.  It’s simple, nostalgic and believable. Whatever. I do have a lead on another previous owner. We’ll see if he knows something.

I think it’s safe to say that this car was “owner-built”, but to say I did it alone would be a lie. In fact, I’ve had a lot of help. One of the best things about Hot Rodding are the friends you make and all the help and advice (wanted and unwanted!) that comes with ‘em. “When the hood goes up, all the experts show up.” But without the assistance of these new friends, my vendors, a talented fabricator and a skilled machinist I’m not sure I would have made it this far. And of course, all will be duly noted at the end of the project.

We have put quality above all else. And with a few important exceptions (usually for reasons of safety or strength), most of the parts used in this build are original or nostalgic.

View the Build Sheet Here

Oh and no tubes of “glue” were harmed in the building of this car…

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Hardened TH400 Tranny, Strange Nodular Pro N case w/ ARB Airlocker, *Mostly* Original ’34 Chassis/ Ford 9″ Rearend w/ Moser 35-spline axles/  Chassisworks ladder bars/ Fox shocks/ Hypercoil springs/ Vega steering box, Ford 11″ drum brakes (double-drilled axle flanges!), Custom firewall, filling chassis holes (I friken hate bondo!), New custom floor pan (early spot-welded version;it’s since been riveted), Working on tranny tunnel, Chuck Neal of CNC displaying a chassis-mounted brake setup, Floor-mounted brake, Carefully “unboxing” front section of frame

1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

What a mess… Two nightmare interior shots (the last “welder” seriously must have been blind), filling the original chassis holes and some not-so-original ones, not-so-square chassis slowly taking shape, preparing to “unbox” front of chassis, and body after removing firewall.

Several OLD photos from late 2010 of the firewall area.

If you look closely, you can see the wooden-gate hinge brazed to the floor supporting the gas pedal, a very “interesting” GM tilt steering column support, “booger” welds around the tranny tunnel, lots of corrosion issues, as well as some fairly bad gaps in the firewall joints. On the engine side, these gaps were filled in with J-B Weld and Bondo! In some photos you can see we had already started “boxing” the inner chassis in a few places. What a mess.

Sunday, Sept 26th., 1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

Establishing engine position and driveline angles… (Note: This was BEFORE I decided to tear the car down to the last friken bolt and basically replace everything!)

Friday, Sept. 24th., 1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

AAAaarrgh! So sick of grinding, but almost done… (update 2/8/11: HOW WRONG I WAS… here it is February, and I still find myself grinding!)

Thursday, Sept 23rd.

Relocated the engine, test-fitted the Wilcap tranny adapter then tapped the crank flange holes for 1/2-20.

Wednesday, Sept 22nd.

Grind!

Tuesday, Sept. 21st.

More stripping and grinding; prepping for the new floor. Tomorrow we should have motor mounts, alternator bracket and header flanges. In the next few days the TH400 tranny will be done and we can fit the engine.

Saturday, Sept 18th.

Fun with the Plasma Torch! Yeah, we’ve went off on a bit of a tangent. After pulling the old motor, and deciding on some minor sheetmetal work to fix the hokey-ass trunk, I started looking around under the carpet and discovered the “Franken-Floor!” I made a decision that there was no better time than the present for a little destruction… yeah, maybe not so little.

Update: 04-11-11: Yeah, it’s been almost 7 months now…

Friday, Sept 17th.

After I pulled the bench seat, the gas tank and prepped for a little sheetmetal work I had a WTF!#!@# moment: Whoever built this car must have been smoking crack. Seriously embarassing.

Seemed apropos for my future Ford-Chrysler hybrid.

On rare occasions, I’ve seen old classic cars, ratrods, and barn-finds that have tarnished yellowish-brown headlights. I used to think it was the glass that yellowed but that’s actually not the case. To achieve that old-school yellowed headlight lens look, the key isn’t finding yellowed glass but finding a pair of original silver-coated reflectors that have tarnished over (right pic). The result on my lights can be seen above (middle pic). I was told of this trick, but haven’t tried it myself: If you have relectors that are real silver and you want to force them to tarnish quickly, throw them in a large ziplock bag with a couple cracked-in-half hardboiled eggs. The Hydrogen Sulphide (rotten egg smell) given off by the egg whites and the bacteria going to town on the sulphur-containing proteins will bond with the Silver to form “Tarnish” aka Silver sulfide, Ag₂S.

Keep in mind that having unpolished reflectors will affect the overall light output and can be dangerous and is not recommended. Assembling them with Halogen bulb replacements, will certainly improve this. As far as I can tell, this is the only reference on the entire internet to this subject. I think I’m the only one who cares- haha.

The original headlights and reflectors on my 31 are only slightly tarnished.

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1934 Ford, Blown 392 HEMI

updated 5-13-2012

Thursday, Sept 16th.

Out with the old 350/350…

Side note: Here’s a nice shot of the Jordan Graham dropped and filled original 1932 heavy axle in the ’34 (right).  Jordan Graham and I installed it a few months back at his shop up in Solvang, CA. The ’32 heavy is beefier than Ford’s late 1932-1936 version, but a bit harder to find.

When Henry Ford was designing the 1932 Ford, in anticipation of the heavier V8 engine he designed a much heavier axle than was present in the previous Model A’s and made it with a slight drop. These axles are often referred to as ’32 heavy axles. They are unique among early Ford axles in having a wider recess at the ends, and a slightly raised area on the front and back of the spring perch bosses in the shape of a fat letter “I.” About half way through 1932, realizing that he had in fact over engineered the early 32 axles, he came out with a new lighter design that he would use until 1936.

source: http://www.roadsters.com/axles/

Wednesday, Sept 15th.

Short day – just pulled the blower, and a few remaining connections

Tuesday, Sept 14th.

Began prepping the old 350 motor for the pull.

(As an anecdote, I was almost able to pull the entire motor using my trusty $99 Costco Crescent toolkit I carry in the trunk – haha.)

Monday, Sept 13th.

Hauling her to the shop! Prepped her by pulling the headlights, grille etc…

I friken hated these things… who puts t-bucket headers on a Coupe??!

Blown 392 HEMI for the 1934 Ford coupe. Here’s a Youtube video of the first startup:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOhQsgyw5Zc

http://www.cafepress.com/+got_hemi_bumper_sticker,41837063