1940 Ford Tudor Build Thread

[40FordDeluxe]

Sorry for the bad pic, but I was wet and tired and wanted to get in the house. It was 10:30pm by the time I got it off my trailer and pushed in the garage. I drug it off my trailer with me and a strap, used a car moving wheel dolly at the rear and my engine hoist in the front, and pushed/pulled it in the garage. Raining and misting the entire time. Not really ideal, but it is home!

[RichB]

That's starting the New Years off right!

Rich

[Scooting]

Sure wish mine had a firewall like yours. I think that makes all things easier.

[Mike P]

Great to see the 40 back Ryan!!!

I missed a couple of posts back in December glad I caught up. The Weiand intake should be a good match for the engine, nice score (old HEMIs just don’t look right with less than 2 carburetors )

I assume you are going to be using the Hot Heads adapter for the Unilite

Hot Heads Research & Racing Early Chrysler Hemi Distributor Adapters

Let us know how it works out. I knew they were available but have never talked to anyone with firsthand experience with them.


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[40FordDeluxe]

Mike, yeah, that's my plan. I was actually going to call you to pick your brain about some more hemi info later too. I kind of stumbled into the unilite. A friend of mine needed a part I had so we traded. Now I can knock off a $300 or more dist off my list and get the adapter. Next thing to do is find core carbs or sell something to get new ones.

I've got to pick the body back up off the chassis a little to cut off my rear brace on the rear frame rails. The brace won't allow the floor to set over the frame properly. Once that is done, I'm going to bolt the body onto the frame and get the thing set at a ride height and get it leveled out. Then I'm going to cut off the front of my frame and graft on the one from the 38 frame. Then it'll be time for the new MII cross member. That will be a huge accomplishment. Bye bye hackery.

[Mike P]

Do you have the original dual point distributor for the 354? If you do they are pretty easy to convert to electronic using stock Mopar SB parts.


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[40FordDeluxe]

Mike, I do. It's still in the engine and still worked. I read the info about the swap but wasn't sure if I wanted to do it considering the unreliability of those pertronix kits. What are your thoughts on that?

[40FordDeluxe]

This morning I had about an hour to kill before I had to go to work. I took my oldest son out to the garage with me as I had him until I dropped him off at school. We got the body jacked up and I cut off the brace I had on the frame. I dressed what was left of the welds, we set the body back down and began jacking the frame up. I let him jack the cherry picker at the front and he was having a blast. Next thing is to get the body aligned with some of the original mounting holes, and loose fit some bolts in it. I'm going to try to cut the 38 frame tonight after work. Luckily my parents live out in the country so no one will get teary eyed when I'm running an angle grinder for 10 minutes.

[Mike P]

Great to hear about you getting out there with your son……working with the kids has always been fun for me.

As far as the Pertronix kits I remember hearing about problems with them a few years back, but not lately. I’ve personally had good luck with them and suspect that some of the problems may have been caused by people either using a coil with improper resistance or not running a ballast resistor with them.

I’m running a Pertronix conversion on the Mallory dual point in the 283 in the Ram 50. Up until last summer I’d never run an engine with the Pertronix conversion for more than 3 or 4 hours straight. I took the truck back to Illinois last fall (24 hours straight out there and 24 hours straight on the way back) only stopping for gas and bathroom breaks. The Pertronix never missed a beat and is still going strong.

BUT if you have the original cast iron Prestolite distributor I would convert it to electronic using stock Chrysler parts. It’s what I’m running on the HEMIs in the 57 and 37 and with the exception of 2 very minor modifications it’s a drop in conversion. If there ever is a problem with it, it’s all stock parts that any parts store should have.



What you will need is the breaker plate, pickup coil, reluctor wheel, upper shaft and vacuum advance from a later (73 and up NON-Lean burn) 318-360 small block Mopar. You can’t use a BB Mopar parts because it turns in the opposite direction of the SB and the vacuum advance will pull the breaker plate in the wrong direction. I used to have a few of the electronic distributors laying around and would just gut one for the required parts, but you should be able to souse them new locally.


The conversion itself involves removing the original breaker plate and vacuum advance. In the center of the upper shaft is a felt plug that you pull out and then remove the wire “C” clip that holds the upper shaft (which can be the hardest part of the whole job LOL).





Once the original upper shaft is removed you will need to set the new breaker plate in the housing. One of the retaining screws that comes in from the side will line up, but you will need to drill a second hole (next to the cap hold down clip). Once the new hole is drilled, install the new upper shaft and install the breaker plate with pickup and vacuum advance and press on the reluctor wheel. On the new vacuum advance there will be a metal prong built into the bracket that indexes the distributor cap on the newer distributor…..this will need to be bent over (as I did on mine) or cut off so the cap will fit. You will want to enlarge the hole the distributor lead goes thru (cutting it to the top of the distributor so the grommet on the plug lead now slides into it). Set the air gap on the reluctor wheel/pickup to .008-.010 with a brass feeler gauge and it’s good to go.




That just leaves a couple of things. The distributor cap you will need to use is the 56 -61 MOPAR cap (Airtex/Wells 5D1024 or Standard AL148). The rotor you will need is just a standard mid 60s up V8 MOPAR rotor (Airtex/Wells 4R1021 or Standard CH303).


You will also need a control box to trigger the coil. I’m using a Chrysler Orange box on the 37 and the wiring is pretty straight forward.




I’m using an MSD 6AL on the 57 Plymouth I don’t have a copy of that wiring diagram, but it was just follow the MSD instructions.

Less the control box and coil, total for the conversion should be under $50.


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[34_40]

Mike, I do. It's still in the engine and still worked. I read the info about the swap but wasn't sure if I wanted to do it considering the unreliability of those pertronix kits. What are your thoughts on that?

Well.. my name is Mike too!..
I've run these Pertronix kits in 4 different rides. I've never had a problem, nor even heard of any complaints. But maybe I just lead a sheltered life?

[NTFDAY]

I put a Petronix unit on the 66 289 Mustang I gave my grandson. I converted a Mallory dual point and used a matching Petronix coil. He came home in Nov. and drove the car to Cherry Point, NC with no problems. I'd recommend a conversion.

[firebird77clone]

Disregard post.

I was misreading the schematic. I see now that the ballast resistor is bypassed for start.

[UltraOnyx]

I think the satin black will look great - I might have missed this already mentioned in a post but are you planning on keeping the flames with the satin black or just going straight up satin black?

[40FordDeluxe]

Mikep, thanks for that detailed info. I might just do this so if there is an issue on the road, I can walk into a parts store and get parts for the distributor.

[40FordDeluxe]

I think the satin black will look great - I might have missed this already mentioned in a post but are you planning on keeping the flames with the satin black or just going straight up satin black?

My plan for now is to paint it gloss black and keep the same flames but change the color to silver, white, and blue I think. If I run short on time, it might get the satin black. For now it'll just get single stage unless I get far enough to get base clear.

I have an unrealistic goal to drive this car to the start of power tour in June. Quit laughing.