Thread: How do.. "New" 1939 Ford Steel Tudor Owner

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Originally Posted by Scooting

Just love the miles you can make! It is always fun to see a Hot Rod next to a high dollar forign sports car at a light. Guess which one gets the most attention? So, 2 miles or 200, just enjoy it.

most definitely. . bolted an old seat I had into it and took it out last night to test drive, first time I've driven it.. got lots of looks and questions.. stopped at America's Tire to have the tire pressure adjusted and had people out taking pictures of it..

it's got some electrical issues, but it seems mechanically sound, lays rubber really well, none of the gauges are lights work, but I was already told that when I bought it..

Is there enough room to put in a lazy boy recliner?

I have the same injuries, but obviously I healed better. None the less, my back is happiest when I'm reclined.

Problem is.. If you really made a reclining seat comfy enough for an all day ride, it would be tough to stay awake!

In an M(x) Abraham's tank, the driver's seat reclines. The drivers staying awake is a real issue.

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

Is there enough room to put in a lazy boy recliner?

I have the same injuries, but obviously I healed better. None the less, my back is happiest when I'm reclined.

Problem is.. If you really made a reclining seat comfy enough for an all day ride, it would be tough to stay awake!

In an M(x) Abraham's tank, the driver's seat reclines. The drivers staying awake is a real issue.

oh man, reclined seats are painful. as long as the seat has good lumbar and good side bolster support I'm ok. My daily driver is a Lexus RC-F, go look at the Grand Touring seats in that and you'll understand.

That is a very nice Tudor you have there! I'll be interested in your interior conversation because I need to do mine on my 40 at some point. I'm building my car as a restomod type as well. I agree, you can't see much behind you in a 40. I have some modern looking mirrors I got for my car a few years ago but I haven't decided if I will use them or not. I got some new front seats from Speedway for mine. I wasn't having much luck finding any in junk yards around here that would fit, and I was in a time crunch. (That has now passed) I'd like to drive mine under it's own power this year but I have so much other stuff to get done, I really don't know if that will happen or not.

here are some more pictures of the Tudor, sitting next to my daily driver..



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spent the weekend fixing an overheating issue,

talked to the builder and apparently the car has been overheating for 4 years, he added a second temp gauge, hard wired the electric fan to a switch but the fan still didn't always work, and then wired in a second fan also to a switch, probably spent $400 in parts and labor and was still experiencing the over heat issues.

I spend the better part of Friday and Saturday tracking it down.. sad to say it was a $0.25 cent fix..

even though he had the main fan hard wired, it wasn't coming on, sometimes it would other times it would not, he said the fan was bad and too hard to replace without removing the front of the car and the radiator, so he just put a second fan on the front of the radiator.

turns out to be a $0.25 crimped connector on the thermo-probe attached to the water pump. the connector apparently wasn't crimped correctly so at some point it fell off, and the ground wire to the probe was bouncing against the connector on the probe, so sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't.. Problem was the probe is mounted under the alternator so you can't see it unless you pull the alternator out.

this grounding issue apparently shorted the thermo-relay as once I re-crimped and connected the probe the relay started to buzz.. 30 amp china made POS relay from "rodtronics" that he paid $85 for.

I took a trip to Napa, got a 70amp fan relay for $25. removed all the switches, properly wired the relay and verified all the grounds.. fixed the probe connector, reinstalled the alternator, fired her up low and behold she idled in my driveway AC on full in 103° outside temp for 30 minutes and never got above 190° Fan came on and off as needed to keep the motor below 190°. Car has a 170° t-stat, so I took it for a drive, highway speeds and it dropped to 175° and held that temp at speed, stop and go traffic never above 190° put 125 miles on it in 100°+ outside temp with AC running the whole time and it never got over 190°. prior it was getting to 230° while at speed and 250° while at idle with the small fan running full time.. Small fan not even in use now.


next weekend I tackle the headlights and tail lights. the lights are there, but nothing is functioning, doesn't appear to be a fuse, so I am suspecting it is a grounding issue as well.. in looking over the hack job on the electrical wiring I am preparing to replace the fuse block that is in the vehicle with a painless or a coach control module. I am leaning toward the coach control because it will modernize the vehicle electronics, auto lights, auto up/down on the windows, built-in electronics for remote entry and door poppers instead of stand alone units, built in fan/temp controls, etc. all electronic configuration on a canbus board like a modern car, which eliminates most of these types of issues and the problem of having to trace everything down to a dozen stand alone type modules.

Nice work! Can buses are great, when they work. We've got ground support equipment at work that have them and they can be real fun to work on. Especially when you don't have the mfr's scan tool to hook into the unit.

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

Nice work! Can buses are great, when they work. We've got ground support equipment at work that have them and they can be real fun to work on. Especially when you don't have the mfr's scan tool to hook into the unit.

I spent 20 odd years as an ASE tech, specialty in electrical systems and canbus programming, my last job in my previous life before I did a 180° career change was programming fuel management systems for the Mopar Drifting team, after the 2009 BK by Chrysler and GM I had to make a career change, having always been very good with cornpukers and dad being a programmer I went back to school and got certified in credit card encryption systems, since vehicle management systems are very similar insofar as the encryption goes it was an easy change, and one I probably should have done long before I did. Pay increase is 2.5x what I made as a tech, plus quality of life is much better with a literal 9-5 job, not a 6am to whenever you are done job.

Another excellent example of " You're never to old to learn new tricks " and change direction in ones life for whatever reason. Good on you young man and thanks for the latest photo's as my young brother has almost dribbled on my keyboard over the Lexus as he drives a LS250 I think and once you have the issues sorted on the Tudor, you will be welcome to park it in my garage for our summer and your winter months so that I can help keep the cobwebs out of her.

Originally Posted by Whiplash23T

Another excellent example of " You're never to old to learn new tricks " and change direction in ones life for whatever reason. Good on you young man and thanks for the latest photo's as my young brother has almost dribbled on my keyboard over the Lexus as he drives a LS250 I think and once you have the issues sorted on the Tudor, you will be welcome to park it in my garage for our summer and your winter months so that I can help keep the cobwebs out of her.

IS250? LS only comes in a 400, 430, or 460 flavor. the number is a designator of the motor size. IS 250 is a 2.5 liter 4. IS 350 is a 3.5 liter v6, LS 400/430/460 is a 4.0, 4.3, or 4.6 liter v8 and so on.. the LS is a large family sedan, the IS is a sporty mid size sedan.

my Lexus is an RC-F, which is technically a RC 500 as it is a 5.0 V8 470hp. there are RC250, RC300, and RC350; those are the lower models of the same line. the "F" is the Lexus designator for their "sport" or "super car" models. There was an IS-F from 2008-2012 that was a 412hp 5.0 V8. There is also a GS-F which is the same motor as mine in a GS series (sedan), and next year there will be a 660hp twin turbo LC-F (for $180K USD) released.

and yes it is fun car to drive, but not so fun to work on.. Hence the drive to buy the Tudor, something to tinker on without all the computer crap.

Originally Posted by mjeds

purchased a 1939 Henry Ford Steel Tudor Sedan a week ago, this car is about 70% complete, done in a Modernized Retro-Rod style.

Chevy ZZ4 Crate Motor
TH350 Transmission
Power Steering, Brakes, Windows, etc.
Vintage Air,
Modern Suspension, brakes, wheels,

etc. etc.


Car still needs paint, interior, functional exterior lighting, bumpers, and some other minor fixes and corrections.

the previous owner did a pretty good job with the build, those some of his choices are specific to his taste and not mine..

I tried getting some info on various things from HAMB, but apparently I don't fit their "criteria" of a "traditional hot rod" whatever the "F" that means..

So I will try here..


I will take and then post up pictures in a few days when I get back to the garage to do some more work on it.

I've never been on HAMB before but I just checked it out. It looks like they're pretty hard core traditional like you said, whatever that means. Just skimming it , it sure looks like it takes a lot of fun and thinking out of the build. I like this place better for me.

The Hamb is great if you have a traditional ride. It is also a great source for parts. I've gotten some really hard to find stuff off there. My car was already to far hot rodded to be traditional and I can't see putting it back to stock now. So I just stay here.

there is nothing wrong with HAMB, and I am using it for information.. just don't post up that you are modernizing your car, as they will run you off with torches and pitchforks. . I'm a lot thicker skinned than most so their little game didn't phase me, but apparently I did get under the skin of some of the thinner skinned members by mentioning that the car I have has some Boyd wheels and is lowered.

As soon as you mention mustang 2, billet, or air bags, you'll be tagged and ignored. Haha

You might consider changing that 170 Tstat for a 190 now that the cooling issue is resolved.


I've seen Tech lecture often that a low temp T stat is bad.