1940 Ford Tudor Build Thread

[rspears]

It's good you got the tunnel covered! You could've lost a kid in there, and not discovered him/her missing 'till dinner time, or worse 'till bedtime!! But if it was your parts thief that might have been his access/egress point, so still good to have it closed!

[40FordDeluxe]

Whew! A good milestone met on the tunnel, and getting the brake pad optimized too! We're getting a bit of a break from the heat here the past few days. Had some HORRIBLE humidity, but the past two days that's been better, too but this morning's thunderstorm dumped 1/2" of rain so I expect the humidity will be through the roof later today....

I've always had bad dreams of other people driving this thing and wrecking it because you would have had to drive it with 2 feet. I wanted to eliminate that the best I could. The weather has been crazy lately. Finally we're getting rain, but it sure can't be normal.

Progress! And yes, I agree, a milestone was reached. I was figuring you'd say the console could be a winter time job.. September is almost here ! LOL.. You guys talking about the weather - we had a small tornado go by us in the next town over. EF1 tearing up some trees and homes, for us it was 4 to 6 inches of rain in about 40 to 45 minutes!! At my house my dirt & stone drive look like the grand canyon now.

I really wanted to not do it now but I want to hide my fuse panel in there and hopefully make the car a little more friendly to work on. We'll see how that turns out. I'm sorry to hear about the nader but glad you didn't get much damage and no one was hurt. I love a good storm but you can't out run a nader.

Tunnel looks good Ryan, dress the welds a bit and and call it good.

I ended up going thru 3 iterations on the brake pedal in the 37 Dodge before I was happy.

Good progress.


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Thanks Mike, everything else has been 3x on this so I guess 2x on this is a good changing point.

It's good you got the tunnel covered! You could've lost a kid in there, and not discovered him/her missing 'till dinner time, or worse 'till bedtime!! But if it was your parts thief that might have been his access/egress point, so still good to have it closed!

Oh yeah, little Cody would definitely be hiding stuff from the bottom up. I've got to take a pic of him kneeling down under this thing acting like he is working on it. What a little stink.

Ok, yesterday afternoon I got some disturbing news so I was in a crap mood. On top of that Cody wasn't feeling well. He climbed up on my leg and wanted me to hold him when I got home from work. I sat with him for a while and then when he was asleep I decided it would be a good idea to go put my dash in and start getting on this console. I should have stayed inside....... I got the dash sat up and in place with 1 bolt in it. I went to go to the other side and bam! The dash fell down and smacked the shifter on the way down. Man I was irate. I'm still mad. I'd really like to say to heck with this thing and put it back in the barn but I know if I do, it'll be another year before I can work on it due to everything I have setting waiting to get done. That's how my day went, how'd yours go?

pS My friend sent me this and I had to share it. Yeah, I'm a lefty.

[Hotrod46]

Been having some issues accessing the site for the last few days, but got caught up just now. Tunnel looks good. Sorry about the shifter incident.

Really glad the tornado missed you. That's the main worry I have with hurricanes down here. Usually not much to them except a lot of rain by the time they make it this far inland, but they have a nasty habit of spawning pop up tornadoes. Not much warning if any.

Fuse block in the console is a good idea. That's where I wanted mine, but didn't have enough room. As I've gotten older, I put more effort into making things easier to work on.

Hope your issues improve so your mood gets better.

[40FordDeluxe]

Thanks Mike. It's going to be tough to get a lot done the next little bit. My wife is leaving for The Lake of the Ozarks to visit her sister for the weekend so I will have all the kids to my self. They may be doomed. Allyson also decided to work our state fair in a concession trailer. She hasn't went to any regular job in 11yrs. Her first day was yesterday and she said it was non stop. They originally had her as a cashier but the lady that runs it had them under staffed so Allyson got offered to cook instead. They have one of the featured foods at the fair so they were extremally busy the entire time. She said she didn't understand where the people kept coming from.

I've got to finish loading some junk as I have a 2001 2500hd I've parted out and the remains need to go bye bye. I also picked up a 72 GMC 2500 Longhorn I've had for about 2 years. It was already converted to 4x4 and has a vortec 454 in it. When going to cruise to the woods last year we were on our way and Allyson over heated the thing. It was nuclear. I've never heard an engine or cooling system whistle like a steam locomotive. I purchased a parts truck for it and have been selling bits I don't need off of it. I need to get enough to buy another 454 and some bits for the 40 I found on an online site in ND. A guy up there has stainless hood hinges, new head light buckets, and trim rings I'd like to get. Hopefully I can make this happen soon. I'd like to have the ol GMC mobile again and possibly sell it.

I was able to get some time in the garage yesterday. I spent most of that time cleaning up and fixing an end table for the wife. Now that her sister's husband has fully retired from his county job, they are moving to their lake house in the Ozarks. His wife already is living there and working at a nursing home there. This sister had a barn and they used to host barn sales a few times. Do you know what that means? That means we had/have to go get all the unsold products from there because they are selling the place. Just what I need, more stuff to hold on to. (If it were car and truck parts it would be ok) She wants to finish a couple of the end tables so we can trash a couple in the house the kids and a dog have helped tear up.

I did put my back garnish moldings on mainly to get them off where I had them set because I could see them getting knocked off. After I put the LH one on, I could kind of see a flash back of the old 40 from my child hood seeing the black and tan again. That was a comforting feeling, I'm not even going to hide it.

[Mike P]

Hey Ryan, got a quick question. Are the valve covers you're using the stock height Ansen covers? I'm kind of looking at a set of them for the Plymouth, pretty sure the tall aluminum covers I have aren't going to fit.


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[40FordDeluxe]

Hey Ryan, got a quick question. Are the valve covers you're using the stock height Ansen covers? I'm kind of looking at a set of them for the Plymouth, pretty sure the tall aluminum covers I have aren't going to fit.


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Mike, yes, these are the Ansen covers. They may be stock height but they are taller or larger and would not fit where my stock valve covers did. Ansen says they are stock dimensions but stock spark plugs won't work. These are a direct copy of Moon valve covers from what I have gathered. I got my info from Hot Heads. I still need to order the longer spark plug tubes to be able to drive this thing. First I'd have to get it running.

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[Mike P]

Thanks Ryan. I ordered a pair that are supposed to get here tomorrow.

I know the tall aluminum ones I currently have on the 354 are not going to fit in the Valiant without a LOT of massaging and I really want aluminum covers on this car.

Good to know about the spark plug tubes. Are they too tall or too short? If they are short I might get lucky and the ones currently in my tall covers might work.

I also noticed you are running a rear sump pan on the 392.......you don't happen to know where I could find a stock center sump 392 pan do you?


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[40FordDeluxe]

Thanks Ryan. I ordered a pair that are supposed to get here tomorrow.

I know the tall aluminum ones I currently have on the 354 are not going to fit in the Valiant without a LOT of massaging and I really want aluminum covers on this car.

Good to know about the spark plug tubes. Are they too tall or too short? If they are short I might get lucky and the ones currently in my tall covers might work.

I also noticed you are running a rear sump pan on the 392.......you don't happen to know where I could find a stock center sump 392 pan do you?


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Mike, the stock spark plug tubes were too short for these. The moon ones are the correct length. I've been looking for a center sump pan for you. One guy hasn't returned my calls, and the other guy had none. Have you tried asking Matthyj on here? He's in Missouri and has a lot of 354/392 parts.

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[Mike P]

Thanks Ryan. Thanks for putting the word out. I'll try to get a hold of MattthJ.


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[40FordDeluxe]

Thanks Ryan. Thanks for putting the word out. I'll try to get a hold of MattthJ.


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I messaged him on FB last night. He doesn't think he has one but is checking. My local gun shop owner has several 392's he won't sell but he's checking for a center sump pan as well. I also called another guy in SE Iowa I know that has a 392 and a collection of awesome hot rod parts. He said he used to have 1 for sure but he gave it to a guy putting an early hemi in a vintage pulling tractor. I've got to call him back tonight to see if he could locate one.

[40FordDeluxe]

Between all the other excuses and stuff going on, I've been working on the 40. I got the main base cut and fit using my cardboard aid design (CAD). I made some tabs and welded them to the trans tunnel to bolt these sides too. I made a rear section and need to remake one side later. After I got the structure set up, I sat in the car to make sure I had foot room. Then I realized, hey moron...... This thing is going to block the air from the cowl vent and how are you going to open it?

I was not very thrilled and thought about removing the front section and just having a floor console. The more I thought about it, and the more pics I look at of street rod interiors, I decided to leave it. I've always had a vision of a full console so I'm going to try and make it work.

I decided to add wood to the sides and use aluminum for the center. I had a damaged door I removed from a piece of equipment I saved and there was enough material to make the center from. I plan to engine turn the panel once I get all the holes cut in it.

My plan is to use 2 67-72 chevy truck corner AC vents and cut them, and place them at the top of the aluminum below the dash to let air through. I also plan to put a wood diverter to guide the air up to them. I will extend the cowl vent actuating arm through the center panel as well so it can be actuated.

[40FordDeluxe]

I have a plan to make some boots/wipers for the cowl vent and shifter. I have some rubber stripping I think I'll cut a slit in and either glue or screw it to the aluminum to seal up the holes. I still haven't decided how I'll attach the center panel to the wood. I'd like to do allen head bolts. I thought about gluing in some heli coils or even nut serts. Or find allen head type screws. I added the wood to the uppers trying to make this look cleaner and I guess I had the idea in my head from centurion conversion trucks or old conversion vans?

The plan is to add one or two cup holders behind the shifter, and have water temp, oil pressure, and voltage gauges above the shifter. The fuse panel will be on the LH side down by my ankle. I should have room for a storage cubby on the RH side as well. I need to source an arm rest for the top of the rear section. That is where I'm at currently. I have some abs plastic I'll put over the wood if need be and I would like to add carpet or material to the sides. Maybe paint the top? I haven't decided yet.

Once I get the console in place, I can start wiring and that is what I need to do to get this closer to starting.

The last pic was a side squirrel project. The boys were playing with a friend Monday and it was rainy. Clint and his friend wanted card board to make guns out of so they could play military games on their bikes. I didn't have any spare card board so they went to the grocery store to get some free boxes. Colt didn't want to go so I told him I'd help him draw out a gun on my spare plywood and he would have a much more cool gun than their lame card board guns. Colt was sanding his when the boys came back. Their jaws dropped and they both were saying, that's not fair. Whaa, whaa, whaa. Then I ended up making 2 more. Clint's trigger guard and trigger broke off but he painted his black. My friend says he gives it a week before the cops are called.

[Mike P]

Working on the car and working with the boys......doesn't get any better!

Love the color on the dash and trim.

I definitely would paint the the top to match the dash color.

I wonder if you could make the top out of 1/8" masonite. It's relatively flexible and you could always steam the back side to help it bend. It's easy to work with and my experience is when you scuff it up it holds paint well. Just thinking out loud.


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[Hotrod46]

I'm sure I've seen power conversations for cowl vents offered somewhere. I made one for my 46 many years ago out of a power headlight motor. Works ok but is slow.

[Bob Parmenter]

Power conversion for the cowl vent? Here ya go: Mr. 40's STUFF , bottom of the page.