37 Ford build--IE: old Header issues thread /37 Ford/5.0/GT40P heads

[randyr]

Hey Dave,

The car is looking GREAT!!! I wish mine was that far along. I haven't been able to work on it for 3 weeks.. been outa town, etc. I hope to get some things accomplished this weekend though.

Keep those pics coming. I'm lovin' it!

Later,
Randy

[Don Shillady]

IC2, It looks great!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

[IC2]

Thanks guys

Gittin' there. Wondered where you were Randy. Been quiet here.

Don - you're so far ahead of me.... At least yours is almost together though I should get a lot of the odds and ends on it in the next few days - though my wife is taking some vacation and I don't get much done with the requisite honey-dos with her home .

[Don Shillady]

IC2, don't cry. Considering I started about the same time as Brian Rupnow I am at least two years behind him! I think I may have junked up the appearance of my '29 with the aluminum running boards and every so often the whole car looks "plastic" to me, so I will have to keep telling myself "at least it won't rust"! I am stuck for the moment trying to figure out how to put the heater hoses along the side of the frame and still allow the future hood to close. Do you know of any sort of "loom" to hold the heater hoses up away from the headers, anybody?

Best Wishes,
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

[IC2]

IC2, don't cry. Considering I started about the same time as Brian Rupnow I am at least two years behind him! I think I may have junked up the appearance of my '29 with the aluminum running boards and every so often the whole car looks "plastic" to me, so I will have to keep telling myself "at least it won't rust"! I am stuck for the moment trying to figure out how to put the heater hoses along the side of the frame and still allow the future hood to close. Do you know of any sort of "loom" to hold the heater hoses up away from the headers, anybody?

Best Wishes,
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,
Why don't you consider pulling those aluminum diamond plate covers off and sending them out for powder coating. The coaters will probably have a flat black similar to the OEM shade They wont look totally like a vintage Ford pick up but will be close. Or you can have them coated with truck bed liner material.

Why not start another thread about running the heater hose - I'm sure that lots of ideas will crop up. I have a bit of that coming up as well. This is a photo taken while I was first doing the A/C plumbing layout. Under dash is worse!!

[Don Shillady]

IC2, Thanks that first picture is helpful. That big looping hose down by the header is where my problem is. From the look of it maybe I can put both hoses between the valve cover and the carb. With a 14" diameter air cleaner a lot of the hoses will be covered and I will still have the rubbery solution to vibration. The idea of covering the running boards with bed liner is perhaps a possibility. Whether I return to the water pump or the radiator it looks like I need some sort of T-joint in the lower radiator connection. Running a metal tube along the frame might work but there is already a fuel line, solenoid shield and headers close to the frame so I think a flexible hose up on the motor may be better. Yesterday and today I have been moving slowly because bolting in that heater required sitting on the running board with the door edge in my ribs for quite a while on each side and yesterday I woke up asking what truck had hit me! Anyway I am quite familiar with winter in Penna. so I think without a heater rodding would be limited to May-October. I plan to garage my car from Jan to March but I would like to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway in Spring and Fall so I have put the radio and the heater switch on the right side of the dash where my wife has some control. She wanted an A/C but I thought the expense, installation difficulty and drain on what is an almost stock engine ruled out A/C in an open roadster, but I do want good side curtains and a heater so that is my compromise for her.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

[IC2]

IC2, Thanks that first picture is helpful. That big looping hose down by the header is where my problem is. From the look of it maybe I can put both hoses between the valve cover and the carb. With a 14" diameter air cleaner a lot of the hoses will be covered and I will still have the rubbery solution to vibration. The idea of covering the running boards with bed liner is perhaps a possibility. Whether I return to the water pump or the radiator it looks like I need some sort of T-joint in the lower radiator connection. Running a metal tube along the frame might work but there is already a fuel line, solenoid shield and headers close to the frame so I think a flexible hose up on the motor may be better. Yesterday and today I have been moving slowly because bolting in that heater required sitting on the running board with the door edge in my ribs for quite a while on each side and yesterday I woke up asking what truck had hit me! Anyway I am quite familiar with winter in Penna. so I think without a heater rodding would be limited to May-October. I plan to garage my car from Jan to March but I would like to visit the Blue Ridge Parkway in Spring and Fall so I have put the radio and the heater switch on the right side of the dash where my wife has some control. She wanted an A/C but I thought the expense, installation difficulty and drain on what is an almost stock engine ruled out A/C in an open roadster, but I do want good side curtains and a heater so that is my compromise for her.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don,
The only reason that I have a/c is that I started out building a sedan then had a bright (dim, really) idea that I wanted a roadster. I had purchased the a/c kit so.....Be happy you didn't install a/c. There is barely room under the dash, and the hose and fitting "kit" that they sell wont do the job on an 'A' so you end up with a bunch of extra $4-$5 fittings (I think I have about 20)

Air cleaners - why not consider a 12" oval? Saves lots of room though I might double up on the height.

The heater plumbing configuration is not the final one - just one to allow me to get the a/c lines set - a/c hoses don't twist nor should they bend opposite their original coiled direction .

I do understand the aches and pains - I put the body on the chassis yesterday in the upstairs garage - which means I had to push the chassis out of one stall then back up a slight grade to the other stall, align to the body which meant in and out 4 times, then all my parts and tools are in the basement shop/garage and ~30-40 trips up and down the stairs, plus crawling under the car to redo the seat studs, install my remote brake reservoir, put the trans pan back on with a temp sender (Thanks, Jack) check alignment to the frame, raise it up twice and so on. I slept real well last night!!!

[NTFDAY]

With the space restrictions that you both have I think I'd fashion some brackets out of flat aluminum stock and drill a couple of holes in the end to accept adel or open face clamps. They would attach at the carb flange and extend out far enough to keep from kinking the hoses.

[Don Shillady]

NFTDAY, Good idea, a few well placed clamps will keep the hoses from flopping around and preventing the lower one from wandering into the fanbelt space.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

[34_40]

It's been a while since activity on this thread so I thought I'd give an update of sorts. I was working in Milwaukee off and on for a couple weeks and then last week I grabbed a vacation to try and catch up. I figured I would try and register the car - maybe at least get the ball rollin'... well it's just a whole new level of frustration! First I stopped at the insurance agent and that wasn't so bad, they didn't think I was going to do it in 1 day or even 1 visit and they were right. The next stop was the local DMV office. It turns out that they don't have any clue as to the correct process. Of course I found that out after towing the car about 45 miles to the nearest state police inspection center. Only to discover that I first need to make an appointment with one particular trooper in Boston so he can review my paperwork and reciepts and IF they pass his muster then I get to tow the car back to the inspection center and go through another inspection of car and paperwork! Then I may be able to recieve a state VIN to enable me to get a registration. I've only called the trooper some 10 - 15 times to request an appointment only to leave messages that he never returns. I guess I gotta keep trying. It's not gonna be pretty I feel.. Later, Mike

[IC2]

Ah yes - lack of communication. It sounds like we have been too busy on other projects, such as our cars to keep up the thread.

I think that there may be other states worse then MA for antiquated and blue laws, but not sure which. Even NY has tossed some of the dumb crap out and just added 3-4 more fees instead. About all I need here is a bill of sale and a photo or tracing of a VIN, a cert of insurance, some $$ and I get a temporary registration as long as it is pre '72. Six months later, in comes the final reg.

Can you appeal that particular trooper and maybe find one in - say Worcester/Auburn area. That's about as far the other direction from you?

My project has reached the wiring stage. Phew. There are a few body fit up items left, but it's mostly hangin' tin. I needed to pick up some wiring incidentals to finish it at NSRA York this past weekend (and caught holy he!! from Dick Spadaro and Bill - again - for not having it done - again). I kinda promised him that it would be at Burlington. It may not be registered - but.....

Haven't heard a thing from Randy lately - where are you??

Later

[randyr]

Ah yes - lack of communication. It sounds like we have been too busy on other projects, such as our cars to keep up the thread.


Haven't heard a thing from Randy lately - where are you??

Later

Hey Fellas,
I'm here. I haven't forsaken you! My car is going slow due to lack of funds, busy schedule and trying to be a conscientious neighbor (trying to keep the noise level down). Anyway, closer inspection has revealed that my trunk floor is in good shape and there's really no need to replace it with a new one. I'm welding the pieces back in that I cut out to give me access for notching the frame rails. I cleaned & painted those areas of the frame and now I'll weld the patches back in and finish up the wheel tubs. Hopefully, I'll have some more pics soon!

Dave, I'm stoked to see your car with the fenders on it. Sorry about the registration hassles on yours, Mike. That sucks.

Gotta run for now. Chat soon.
Randy

[34_40]

Hey Fellas,
I'm here. I haven't forsaken you! Anyway, closer inspection has revealed that my trunk floor is in good shape and there's really no need to replace it with a new one. I'm welding the pieces back in that I cut out to give me access for notching the frame rails. Hopefully, I'll have some more pics soon!

Dave, I'm stoked to see your car with the fenders on it. Sorry about the registration hassles on yours, Mike. That sucks.

Gotta run for now. Chat soon.
Randy

That is good news there Randy, it'll save some time and money and that's always a good thing!

Dave, we are ALL waiting to see her "finished" ! (finished being a relative term, to be sure)!!!!

I am making "connections" I'd guess you'd call it to get to this trooper. Everyone tells me that I better have patience! "Only" a week of phone calls to him won't get it done. It'll be 3 maybe 4 weeks of daily phone calls to ATTEMPT to evem make an appointment. If it get's to bad I'll "sell" my car to my in-laws in New Hampshire. Get it titled / insured / registered up there. Then at a later date, "buy it" back and with the new hampshire title / reg in hand - title & register it in Mass. Or promise a politician to work on his campaign to get to the trooper... (NEVER!) Stay tuned, there will be more drama I'm sure!

[randyr]

Hey fellas,

I finally finished patching my trunk floor and finished the modifications to the wheel tubs. I needed more room on the inside to accomodate wider tires. I made the new tubs out of 36" 16 gauge steel trail fenders and 16 guage sheet metal. They turned out strong & solid and should take care of any tire clearance issues. I have a little more grinding to do on some of the welds but since they'll be covered with undercoating on the outside and sound deadening material on the inside there's no need to grind them completely smooth I don't think. Here's a few pics....

How's yours coming along Dave?

Later,
Randy

[IC2]

Randy - Caught me on a coffee break from "haying" the yard - again. Had just enough rain for good( ) growth.

Yours is really lookin' great. No more interesting noises will be coming from the back while cornering. As far as grinding - it's a driver (someday) undercoat works miracles.

Mine - well the wiring is progressing at a bit less then a snails' pace. Car work, just like every summer, slows. Too many house things to do and a LL to keep happy. Sometimes I think a concrete block house in the middle of a paved parking lot is the best way to go rather then own a big house in suburbia with an acre of lawn and some messy trees.

The dash is wired as are most of the lights - now it just has to be interconnected, the big power cables finished and some accessories wired up. I need to take some more pictures soon.