Another Build Thread - My '32

[mrmustang]

Where's Bill ??? :lol:

Driving, driving, driving

[Dickster]

Greetings Jim, I am finally here but no pix?

[J. Robinson]

Hi Matt. Yes, more time than money in my case, too. It's always been that way for me. The coupe in my avatar has parts from 32 different vehicles. I fabricated the Deuce style frame from scratch using 2 x 3 tubing, 1/8 x 2 flat stock and some 1/4 inch plate. The roadster in my avatar has a frame I fabricated from round tubing. I fabricated all the radius rods and bracketry on both cars. I rarely buy anything that I can make myself. As you said, each car build is one-of-a-kind and that is as it should be.

The rear end is a 9". I have both and have used both for years (8" in my coupe and roadster, 9" in my son's sedan and I used lots of 9" in my stock car days). The tag is the gear ratio, but the other markings are not familiar to me. It is a passenger car rear because it has the 5 on 4 1/2 bolt pattern. I'll pull it apart soon, but right now I'm taking care of a "honey do" project - happy wife, happy life... Thanks for your reply.

[patfromjersey]

Hi Jim! I'm looking forward to all your build updates. I love how everyone here has their own personality reflecting in the car.

[J. Robinson]

Hi Pat. I got sidetracked temporarily with my Electrathon racing. The season is finally over and now I'm knocking out the wife's honey-do list. I'm anxious to get started on the Deuce. All I've done so far is collect some parts, so nothing photo-worthy. Soon, very soon... Thanks for your interest. I did a build thread on my Track-T (the link to it is in the first post of this thread), so this one will be written in the same style with pictures documenting my construction techniques. I build everything I can myself; it takes more time that way, but a lot less $$$. Stay tuned.

[J. Robinson]

I got a brief reprieve from the "honey-do" list this past weekend, so I took the time to finally blow the rear end apart. The housing, axles, and backing plates are fine, so I'll be able to use them. I have another "chunk", so I don't need the one that was in the housing. I still don't know what is wrong inside it (the spiders are enclosed and not visible), but something is broken in there. As I said in a previous post, the left axle would turn and make a clicking sound, but the right axle and pinion were stuck. It's full of rust anyway, so rather than try rebuilding it I'll just use the other one I have. It has a better gear ratio, too - 3.50.

One curious thing I found, though, is the bearing on the right axle. I'm replacing the bearings and seals anyway, so it's not an issue, but I've never seen this before. The outer race is split all the way around!(see pic) In my old days of racing stock cars I've had bearings lose the balls or rollers and chew up the race, but I've never seen one split. It wasn't from me pounding on anything because the axle came out fairly easily. Also, the split is not shiny new-looking; it looks like it's been that way for a while. No big deal, but just a curiosity.

[34_40]

Hi Jim. A detroit locker will "click" when holding one axle and turning the other. And (if my memory serves me??) the "chunk" is enclosed not allowing you to see all the components.

I've seen one axle bearing come out like that one the split. It was in a pickup truck that was probably over loaded more hours than empty.

[J. Robinson]

Hmmmm... Maybe I need to take the chunk apart and investigate further. I've had a bunch of 9-inch rears, but never a Detroit locker. thanks for the tip.

[Dickster]

Jim, you won't like a detroit locker on the street unless you don't mind skipping around a corner. My '32 roadster had one and it wass a rush, but nice in a straight line.

[firebird77clone]

I enjoyed watching the evolution of the track style T.

I hope to see many of the same low cost techniques you employed, plus more!

[J. Robinson]

Thanks, Firebird. I had fun doing that thread and, when I finally really get going, you will see all the same types of things here. The main difference here is that I bought a frame. On all my previous builds I have fabricated the frames myself, but this time I decided I need the dimensional accuracy of a good repro frame. All the mounts, brackets, and fabricated suspension parts will be made by me. Stay tuned.

[40FordDeluxe]

Hopefully that is a detroit locker for you. That bearing is odd too. My luck the balls would have made their way in the gears and caused more failure.

[J. Robinson]

I haven't had much "newsworthy" progress to report here, so I've been quiet. I haven't been standing completely still, though. After finishing the wife's pergola I finally got a couple things done. First, I was finally able to identify the 9" Ford rear end as a 1957 model (the first year for the 9"). I still haven't taken the chunk apart, so I haven't determined what may be wrong with it internally. Anyway, it's full of rust and dirt, so I'll be using the one I have in the shed for now - it's a better gear ratio and it doesn't need rebuilding right away.

I took the axles to my local NAPA store and had new bearings pressed on. It took two tries to finally get the right seals (Ford had two different diameter seals up through at least '63 - no explanation why). The whole mess was $153; I could have gotten cheaper bearings, but I'm running a big-block in this car and I may want to take it to the HAMB drags eventually...

I decided that I needed an effective way to remove rust as the housing and backing plates are in less than great shape (what can ya expect for free?) after lying out in the weather for years. I read some time ago about removing and/or neutralizing rust by using electrolysis. A quick search online turned up several articles on the subject and YouTube has a bunch of videos, so...

I got an empty plastic barrel (free) from a swimming pool service company. I bought 5 pieces of 1/2" rebar from Lowe's and welded up a sort of basket to fit in the barrel. The local Winn Dixie had the washing soda I needed. All that was left was to suspend a rusty piece in the solution, hook up the battery charger, and wait. I hung one of the backing plates on a piece of chain (leftover from another project) and suspended it in the solution with a piece of PVC pipe. Negative cable goes to the part (I clamped it on the chain) and positive goes on the basket (I clamped it on one of the protruding rebars). When I turned it on bubbles started rising off the chain and moving toward the rebar. After a while, the submerged part of the shiny new chain was dull gray, but nothing else much had happened. I removed the backing plate and replaced the chain with copper wire. This time, with power on, the bubbles were rising directly from the backing plate. I left it for about 4 hours; when I took it out of the tank all the rust had turned black. I'm not a chemist, but I think I read somewhere that that is either iron phosphate or iron magnate - does anybody know? Anyway, the rust is killed. Now it can be easily wire-brushed off and painted over.

[J. Robinson]

So, how does it work? Pretty good, actually. After removing the backing plate from its bath I hung it up and let it dry overnight. The black had dried to a dark gray color and touching it left gray-black dust on my hands. I wire-brushed it as thoroughly as I could to remove the loose flakes then used a Roloc "conditioning disc" on my small angle die grinder to clean it better. Below are some pics; the freshly cleaned backing plate next to the other rusty one and then with a coat of primer. (Of course the pictures loaded in reverse order... as usual!)

Both parts are pitted where they laid in the sand and weeds for years, but at least the rust is gone. If I run across a couple of good backing plates before final assembly I'll swap 'em out. Otherwise these are at least usable now. The good news is the process works. For those of you who are dealing with rusty parts, this process is cheap and easy and can be done in almost any size from a small Tupperware bowl to a large barrel like mine.

[Dickster]

Jim, you wold be well advised to invest a with couple hundred in a glass bead cabinet. They are a godsend. Clean most anything without damaging the metal surface.