20. Out of Doors

A minor pain in the ass about driving a US model Ford V8 older than 1941 is that they don't have an outside door lock on the driver's side door. My method to secure the vehicle is to walk around to the passenger side, open the door, reach across the seat and push the rear of the driver's side inside door handle upward, which locks the door. Then I close the passenger side door and lock it with the key.

On my car, if the inside handle on the passenger side door is in the up and locked position when the door is locked from the outside, the key will not unlock the door. I don't know if all early V8s are like that, but mine is.

The first time I locked myself out, I broke the passenger side quarter window and used a stick to push the inside door handle down to unlock the door. It was time to remove the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute window decal anyway, but replacing the window cost more than I wanted to spend and I was picking glass out of the passenger compartment for months afterward.

When I found myself on the outside again, I opened the trunk with my key and crawled in. I broke through the paperboard divider between the trunk and the passenger compartment, pushed the seat back up and reached through far enough to push the handle down.

I never locked myself out of the car again. That was my wife Suzanne's job. She left the handle pushed up when I parked the car during a massive cruise night in Golden, Colorado. So when I couldn't unlock the door, I once again opened the trunk and crawled in. I found that it was a lot more difficult than it had been twenty years before. A small crowd gathered to see where the grunts and groans were coming from. They stayed to see what was going on. When only my feet were sticking out of the trunk, Suzanne said "And if he keeps misbehaving, I'll put him in there again."

Incidentally, Bob Drake sells a kit to add a lock to the driver's side door. It includes both door latch mechanisms,  2 lock cylinders keyed alike and a left hand lock cylinder mount. I have the kit in hand, as yet uninstalled.

19   Interference (Part 4)                                            

I had previously changed from aftermarket front wheels to GM code DC Rally wheels because the front caliper bodies needed to be ground down to clear the aftermarket wheels, and because I wanted the front wheels to match the rear wheels (GM code AG Rally). Shortly after I made the change, the front tires began to rub the fenders on turns. I don't  know what it sounded like outside the car, but it was both embarrassing and annoying on the inside.

I decided to replace the ten year old sagging springs with new ones from Eckler's Early Chevy. The existing springs were 1956 Corvette with one and a half coils removed. I replaced them with 1954 Chevrolet passenger car springs, which were stiffer. After a trial fit, I cut one coil from the right spring and reinstalled it. The car still had the front end high look of a Gasser. I re-removed the spring and cut another half coil off. On reinstallation, the front end sat about two inches higher than before. Enough to minimize the scraping and close enough to the look I wanted to be acceptable. I cut the other spring to match and reinstalled it along with new shocks (62 Corvette) and new lower shock brackets from Eckler's.

Attached is an instruction I found on the internet to prevent hurting yourself when working on a coil spring front end:

Materials:
Get a 1/2 inch or 5/8th inch threaded rod about 3 foot long.
Get 3 nuts that fit the rod.
Get an assortment of large flat washers. You need two with a diameter slightly more than the nut (roughly 1 inch dia.), three that are larger (1" to 2"), and then a very large one (3" to 4"). Since the last one is hard to find, I have used ½ inch pipe flanges, as the 3/4 inch hole lets the rod through and the flange is about 3-1/2 inches in diameter, plus they are strong.

Procedure:
1. Remove the shock absorber from inside the front springs.
2. Slide the rod through the small top hole in the frame and the large bottom hole in the a-arm for the shocks.
3. Install two large washers and small washer on top. Put a thin layer of grease between them.
4. Install the top nut.
5. Install the pipe flange, large washer, small washer, and nut on the bottom. The nut should be positioned at least three inches from the end of the rod.
6. Install a second nut as a backup to the first. It only has to be snug to the other nut.
7. Pull the rod up from the top by hand and apply oil to the threads above the top shock mount. Run the top nut down until the nut and washers are snug to the top shock mount. There should be at least 6 inches of rod showing.
8. With a wrench, slowly tighten the top nut until the spring compresses slightly.

WARNING: Do not have anyone or any body parts under the front suspension or to the side of the spring.

9. This next section can be done two ways, depending on if you are removing/separating ball joints or removing a-arms.

a. Removing a-arms

a1. Disconnect the inner pivot bolts on the pivot bar at the frame crossmember. There are two in front and one in back and they are different sizes.

b. Separating ball joints

b1. Loosen the ball joint nut.
b2. Separate the lower ball joint with a ball joint press or pickle fork.

10. Slowly loosen the top nut on the rod to lower the   a-arm down and let the spring loose.

To install, reverse the procedure.

The remove, install, re-remove, cut, reinstall, re-re-remove, re-cut and re-reinstall process brought back fond memories of the exact same procedure when I originally installed the front end. This time, though, I turned the front steering by grabbing the right front rotor on the sides and moving the steering which dislodged the caliper enough to cause it to leak, requiring rebuilding. I also noticed a witness mark where the right front brake hose was rubbing on the spindle. I had all four hoses replaced and the system filled with DOT4 fluid, the brakes bled and the wheel bearings repacked at Morrison (CO) Carworks. After I gave up trying to source the hoses, I asked Clint Raymond, the owner, to find them for me. The rear hoses were replaced with '67-68 Camaro front hoses, but he couldn't find correct length hoses for the front. He had custom front hoses made locally. They turned out to be $7.00 each less than the store-bought rears.

Clint mentioned to me that the frame was beginning to crack where the steering had moved outboard. I called Joe Qualls at Color on Wheels / Masterpiece Hot Rods in Denver. He repaired the crack and reinforced the frame. I expect and get excellent work from him every time, and the price is always a pleasant surprise.

18 Cruise Control

 

On December 3, 2008, I bought an Audiovox CCS-100 cruise control unit which was being closed out by Checker Auto Parts. The price was $13.76, but since I was an employee, I got a 20% discount. The final tab was $11.86 including a 7.72% sales tax. Until last week the unit sat in the original box taking up space in my garage. Then a sorely needed and massive downsizing effort started at my small  house. "Use it or get rid of it" applied to everything we owned. I decided to install the cruise control in the coupe.

 

The installation manual which came with the cruise control was good with respect to the mechanical installation. It  said to locate an accessible area to mount the cruise control servo that provides a smooth path for the cable with no sharp bends, away from hot, sharp or moving objects, and not on the firewall. Have they ever looked under the hood of a '39 Ford? I chose a mounting location high on the left inner fender panel.

  

  

The cable goes down, curves toward the firewall, then U-turns upward toward the carburetors. I used the bead chain coupling (item 24), the bead chain coupling sleeve (item 23), the bead chain (item 20) and the bead chain eyelet connector (item 25) to make up the cable attachment to the rear carb.

I placed the dash control switch in the center of the dash where the stock radio head mounted. The area is too crowded, so future plans call for a new mounting plate with a little better spacing and possibly the removal of the heat and air conditioning on-off switch (left side of the plate). Considering how long it took to get this far, the future plans may never reach fruition.

 

 

The dash control switch had 6 wires coming from it. Four of them (red, brown. green and yellow) plugged  into the male side of  a 4-pin Molex connector (like a hard drive power connector). Both halves of the connector had a color coded sticker on them. The grey wire plugged into the parking light slot in the car's control panel. The black wire was a ground.

There are six wires and a co-axial pair in the main harness which attaches to the control module incorporated in the Servo. Three of the wires (brown, green and yellow) go to the female half of the Molex connector.  The fourth wire (red) into the female half of the Molex connector comes from a 12 volt supply which is hot  whenever the ignition is on. I used a fused hot lead in the panel, so I didn't need the supplied ATO fuse and holder. The blue wire connects to the negative terminal of the coil and  disengages the cruise control when the clutch is pressed., The purple wire attaches to the brake light switch on the stop light side and  disengages the cruise control when the brake is applied. The red wire attaches to the hot side of the brake light switch. The 15" black wire is a chassis ground. The co-axial pair gray wire is the speed sensor and attaches to the factory VSS (vehicle speed sensor[ if equipped]) or the magnet pickup near the drive shaft (Auto trans, No VSS) or the negative terminal of the coil (Manual trans, No VSS). The black wire in the co-axial pair goes to the magnet near the drive shaft. It is not used if the VSS connection is used, Although the installation manual did not say so, the black wire is not used when the coil (-) connection is used either. A vacuum connection is made from  the intake manifold  to the servo.

I had to use a Dremel  to shorten the cruise control throttle attachment screw so it cleared the idle adjustment screw and spring on the rear carburetor.

I set the DIP switches in the Servo assembly as follows: Pulses per minute: SW1 & SW2 ON  (8000). This is necessary so the cruise control can be set higher than 52 mph. Speed signal: SW3 OFF (tach only) Sensitivity SW4 &SW5 OFF (medium - most cars) I might change this to Low - light cars W/ high horsepower to sooth my ego. Control Switch: SW6 OFF (normally open switch) Tach source: SW7 ON (coil)

On the first road test, the cruise control did not work. Using the trouble shooting section of the manual, I checked the Black wire in the 10-pin connector - grounded - OK,

then the red wire in the 10-pin connector -12V all the time - OK

then the brown wire in the 10-pin connector no voltage under any condition - Oops. 

I disconnected the 4-pin connector and found that the pin on the brown wire wasn't seated in Molex connector. When I pushed the pin in and reconnected the 4-pin connector, the cruise control worked perfectly. 

These units are no longer being supplied nor supported by Audiovox. However, Murphs' Kits

www.murphskits.com is having them reproduced by the original manufacturer (Rostra). The bad news is that they are currently out of stock.

                                                            

 

 

17 Distaff View

So, what does Suzanne think about all this? The following pages are copies of a four page brochure that she did as an Adobe class assignment years ago.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I especially like the subtle logo in the upper left corner of the last page.

16 Let There Be Light

The coupe does not have power steering and it had a 13" diameter Grant steering wheel. It steered alright on the road, but it was a really difficult to turn the wheel when it was not moving. Since I have entered my eighth decade and might not be quite as strong as I was when I installed the Grant wheel, my wife decided to buy a Limeworks reproduction '39 banjo steering wheel for my 71st birthday. These wheels are 17" diameter like the originals.

The steering wheel looks great but felt a little loose on my (stock) column. I was able to shim it with electrical tape between the column and key and the wheel hub. The steering effort at rest is much better than before. It's amazing what four extra inches can do.

However, the distance between the steering wheel and the brake pedal was reduced enough so that it was difficult to get my foot on the brake pedal. I did several things to address this. First I adjusted the pedal return spring so that the brake pedal was even with the clutch pedal. Then I made brackets to move the seat down and back. The clearance between the pedal and wheel was better, but I still worried about being able to stop in an emergency situation.

Since the steering column drop is about 1" shorter in a '40 than a '39, and since a stock '40   drop is damn near as ugly as a '39, I decided to use a custom '40 style drop from SoCal Speed Shop. Since I didn't like the polished appearance, I had it powder coated gloss black to blend in with the dash. I also got a 4' piece of 1½" x .035 wall chrome-moly tubing to replace the thick wall chrome-moly tube we used when we suspended the brake pedals from the steering column years ago. The supplier was OnLineMetals. I cut the tubing to length (41⅜") and had it powder coated gloss black.

While I was making changes in the steering column area, I decided to address another safety related issue. The horn button was the old starter button and I had to think a moment to realize where it was. I wanted to put the horn button back in the center of the steering wheel.

           From Model A (1928) through 1939 V8s, Ford's "better idea" for the horn and headlight

           wiring was to have the switch body mounted at the base of the steering column. The '39

           switch wiring looks like this:

The four wires shown in bold type were routed to the American Autowire panel under the dash. The remaining three wires are for functions already included in the panel and are therefore not necessary.I bought a used stock '39 headlight switch, horn button and light switch rod, brass guide, bottom plate and light switch mount for the steering column. Hot Rod building axiom #3 - Don't ever sell or throw anything away that is in any way related to your car. If you need it in the future it's likely to be very expensive. Of course, this axiom is likely to put a strain on your marriage. It can be worked out though. My first marriage lasted 30 years, until my wife died. My second marriage is still strong after 18 years. If you treat her right, she will put up with the hot rods. The sermon is over.

In order to use the horn button in the center of the steering wheel, I needed the light switch assembly and wiring harness. These parts were purchased from Bob Drake reproductions. The switch housing was made of thinner metal than the original and the tines that hold the two pieces together are smaller than they should be. The result is that the rear piece is not secure enough to hold the rear half of the light switch in place. I had to use a hose clamp to squeeze the front half of the housing so the two pieces together and shim the switch plate contact piece with two layers of electrical tape so that it would not tilt in the housing. It is really tricky to assemble the switch correctly.

In the center of the horn button rod is a wire which is insulated from the rod itself. When it is depressed, the horn button touches the top of that wire, grounding it, There is a contact in the center of the light switch which should have a spring behind it so that it touches the lower end of the insulated wire and transfers the ground to the horn relay which blows the horn. None of the parts which I bought contained the required spring, and there was no instruction sheet mentioning the spring. So I had to unsolder the wire from the contact, determine how long the spring needed to be, buy a spring of the required diameter and length, install the spring and contact and resolder the wire to the contact. Also it is a very good idea to check the continuity of the insulated wire before reassembling the steering column. Of course, I did not do that.

Checks - button on light switch end of horn rod to horn rod - insulated
               horn rod button to ground - insulated
               rod button with horn button pressed - grounded
               horn rod button to ground with steering wheel turned lock to lock - insulated

The insulated wire is continuous. However, instead of not sounding at all. the horn sounded all the time whether the key is on or off. The lower contact is isolated from ground .

I tired of trying to make the Drake parts work. I got a hold of a genuine '38 Ford harness and used parts of it to mate with the Drake parts. This required buying a '38-'39 bail and continuing use the hose clamp to hold the housing together. When I reconnected the battery and removed the 9V temporary, the lights and the horn worked properly. I never did identify the ground.

The dash lights only operated when the old headlight switch was activated. Since the parking light contact was on whenever the taillights were, I ran a wire from there to a stock rheostat. The other side of the rheostat was connected to the dash lights. The dash lights then worked with the new stock headlight switch and could be dimmed or turned off when desired.

 

 

horn

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

         

15   Photos and Specs                                                       

 

1939 Ford VIN:     18-4951487

Original dealer:     Duryea Motors, Somerville, NJ

Date of Sale:     August 16, 1939

Buyer:     John N. Alpaugh

License Number:     NA 14 A (NJ-1939) – transferred

Traded in:     To F. Day Ford, Plainfield, NJ on a 1960 Ford in 1959

Mileage at trade-in:     38,000 miles

Purchased by:     Elmer R. Bollenbach for his son Charles

Purchase date:     October 19, 1959

Purchase price:     $400 + 1950 Studebaker 4 door sedan ($95.00)

Family transfer:     December 1, 1966

Registrations:     Unknown number transfered from 1950 Studebaker

                         ATY 765 (NJ), QQ-Q 9 (NJ historic),

                         6G13-81 (NY year of manufacture historic plates),

                         981-EPJ (NV), 00609 (NV - UNLV plates)

                         678-GKP (CO collector vehicle plates)

Body:     1939 Ford Deluxe Coupe

Modifications:     124 Hood louvers

                          cat whiskers & lower side spear removed from hood 

                          Ford Deluxe script removed from hood

                          Ford script removed from deck lid

                          Bob Drake halogen headlights

                          Wescotts front and rear fiberglas fenders

                          1940 Ford trunk handle

                          1940 Ford “swan’s neck” side mirrors

                          1939 Ford “Blue Dot” taillight lenses

                          Bob Drake 1940 Ford front bumper and

                          '40 Ford rear bumper with Ford script 3rd brake light

Paint:     1997 GM (Saturn) Purple Poly Urethane

           

Front suspension:     1954 Chevrolet

Front brakes & rotors:     1968 Corvette w/ stainless steel sleeved calipers

Master cylinder:     1970 Corvette w/o power brakes

Frame:     1939 Ford with altered crossmembers

Steering box:     1939 Ford

Steering column:     1939 Ford with chrome moly tube shaft

Front springs:     1956 Corvette with one coil removed

Front Shocks:     1962 Corvette

Front wheels:     GM Code DC 15 x 6 ('67 Corvette, '67-'70 Passenger)

Front tires:     BF Goodrich Comp T/A 195/60 HR 15 M&S

Rear suspension:     1968 Corvette

Rear brakes & rotors:     1968 Corvette w/ stainless steel sleeved calipers

Rear End Ratio:     3.70:1

Rear spring:     1968 Corvette with 2 leaves removed

Rear wheels:     GM Code AG 15 x 7 ('68 Corvette)

Rear tires:     Goodyear Wingfoot HP P225/70R15

Engine:     1964 Buick Riviera 425 ci Engine # 7K1082768 Code KW 31

Piston oversize:     .030”

Intake manifold:     Polished Offenhauser 360º “Equa-Flow” 2 x 4 bbl

Carburetors:     Two Edelbrock 1404 500 cfm

Camshaft:      Kenne-Bell Mk C-118

Ignition:     1964 Buick distributor Pertronix Ignitor Ignition System

Flywheel:     1964 Buick

Clutch:     Centerforce Dual Friction #DF735552 (‘70-’74 Corvette 454)

                QuarterMaster QTR 720100 Hydraulic Throwout bearing

Trans:     Muncie M-22 Four Speed with Doug Nash Cast Iron Case

              Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive   

 

 

14 Interference (Parts 2 and 3)

Since I believe that the worst thing that you can do to a vehicle is to not drive it regularly, I try to drive the hot rod to work at least once a week.

On one of these trips, I heard a loud snap, then the engine started to backfire through the carburetor under load. By removing one plug wire at a time, I was able to determine that the problem was in number three cylinder. When I removed the valve cover, I found that the exhaust rocker arm on #3 was broken in half.

 I bought three rocker arms (two of Egge Machine # 44000, the type that broke, and one #44001).  One was hand filed for clearance as mentioned in Chapter 9, installed on the right rocker shaft, and reinstalled on the engine. (Nailhead Buick cylinders are numbered  1, 3, 5, 7 on the right bank and 2,4,6,8 on the left.)
 

Less than 1,000 miles later, the #3 exhaust rocker arm broke again.

Less than 500 miles later, the #3 exhaust rocker arm broke a third time.

Thinking that the problem was that the rocker was hitting the edge of the (larger diameter) Kenne-Bell valve spring retainer, I decided to keep the Kenne-Bell cam, but install a stock head on the right bank until I was able to determine how to fix the problem.

 I found a stock 425 head with rocker assembly at Wheatbelt Antique Auto, a Buick specialist in Carrier, OK. When it arrived, the UPS driver was the first and only delivery person to acknowledge the sign in the empty planter along side of the front porch which read "Please place deliveries here". I had to reach down two feet into the clay pot and lift the heavy sucker out of there. After that ordeal, installing it on the right side of the engine was relatively easy. For nearly three years, there have been no further problems with the right bank valve train.

Recently the engine developed a miss and an intermittent tick on the left side. Because I don't know all of the peculiarities of Nailhead Buick engines, I decided to find  someone who had experience building them to see if we could find a permanent fix.  Most of the builders I talked to had never worked on a Nailhead.

Ryan at Ryan's Rod Service said he had some experience with Nailheads, and he knew an expert to go to if he ran into trouble.   
                  

I asked him to degree the cam at 113°ATDC ± 1° per the cam card and check out the miss problem . (The cam was originally installed straight up at 118°ATDC, 5° retarded from where it should have been.)

This engine was built following  the 1997 series of articles in Street Rodder written by Doc  Frohmader. There was an error in Part 6 (June 1997) describing advancing the cam to the 2A marks. However, the particular and peculiar crankshaft gear that we both used is marked in camshaft degrees, not crankshaft degrees. The cam should be advanced to the 4A marks. On page 60 of the magazine, the photo caption on the left hand photo is correct.

A minor problem cropped up when reinstalling the timing cover. The original rope  front crankshaft seal and stamped  steel retaining ring  had been removed and replaced with a more modern nitrile lip type seal sourced  from Carmen Faso at  J&C's Parts in North Tonawanda, NY. Carmen is not on the internet. TA Performance in Scottsdale, AZ  lists a neoprene seal part number TA 1514 but that number does not cross to any other manufacturer. The source article did not mention an application. A little digging on http://www.v8buick.com  revealed that a National 474272 seal, an SKF 19786 seal or a Chicago Rawhide 19786 seal will work. I still don't know the application. Getting this solved took way more time than it should have.

After correcting the cam to crank timing, Ryan removed the left valve cover and discovered a broken rocker arm on number two intake valve. According to his sources, Nailheads with non-stock cams break rocker arms because of incorrect valve train geometry. That makes sense because of the complexity of the valve train. However, they said that the rockers will break when the pushrods are too short, which is counterintuitive.

Ryan installed one of the filed  rocker arms from  the modified head  I had removed from the right side. The pushrod was reused. If another rocker arm breaks, the plan is to order Smith Brothers adjustable pushrods and install them with the adjustment end near the lifter (upside down) for easier adjustment. The intake manifold and valley cover will need to be removed to adjust them, but it should only have to be done once.