Thread: Vintage '32 Ford Highboy

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This is my first of hopefully many postings. I am a retired mechanical engineer who is beginning to fullfill a lifelong dream of building and driving a '32 Ford Highboy. I want to go somewhat vintage so I have started with a 1946-48, 59A flathead engine now being rebored and modified. Choosing the correct engine components was not to bad by staying with vintage functions, but choosing and finding a transmission has become a nightmare for me. I want to match this engine up to a standard manual 3-speed/od or 4-speed or 5-speed trans. (Preferably from a Ford, but optional.)

Any recommendations from you folks that have more experience than me will be GREATLY appreciated.

NTL Lee

Welcome aboard Lee.

Couple (or more) suggestions.

If you go to the "Forum" section and go down the list you'll see a forum area specifically for deuces called "Deuce Den", there might be some older threads that will give you some more info.

For the trans, go to Cornhusker Rod & Custom; www.cornhuskerrodandcustom.net They make a bell housing to mount late model 5 speeds...............such as the one common to S10 Chevs called a T5 (plentiful in the market place). As for 4 speeds, Speedway Motors has adapters for Chev trans to your engine; www.speedwaymotors.com

Hope you had that block magnafluxed and the cylinder walls sonic checked before they start on the machining. Many of them have cracks in several places and thin walls on the cylinders.

Yup, what Bob said. Used the adapter available from Cornhusker once, works fine. Also used the adapter from Speedway to put a C-4 behind a flattie.

Thanks for the input, Bob. I'll carefully check out that forum section for tips. I had that flathead block thoroughly cleaned inside & out, magnafluxed and the bores soniced for safe over-boring.
I am now very familiar with Cornhusker & Speedway after a lot of searching. The pile of catalogs, rod magazines and rod articles on & around my desk is staggering.

Thank you too, Dave. All input helps. When you mention installing a "C-4" I find myself lacking enough trans knowledge to understand what the multitude of letter/number designations represent. Is there a full description listing available that catagorizes all transmissions that rodders use?

NTL Lee

NTL: Congratulations on finding a good flathead block. My dream is/was similar, but I bought three flathead blocks that all turned out to be cracked in one way or another. Then I have had to take a low buck approach and settled on a '29 instead of a '32, then my wife said I had to have fenders and then I settled on a SBC 350 instead of a 383. The compromises go on and on and "there are a lot of compromises on the road to my horizon", but I am not quitting on my roadster quest. The "C-4" is a Ford automatic trans for which Speedway has adapters; there is also a larger, sturdier C-6 from Ford. Before I gave up on flatheads I had a rebuilt '39 Ford three speed and I believe that for a pretty price new Zephyr gears are still available (see adds in Street Rodder), BUT(!) since I recall breaking several Ford three speeds with just a mild 59AB in a '47 convertible, why build up a strong engine that will just break a stock transmission; so if your clutch leg is still good (I had a left hamstring pull two years ago that converted me to an AT!) you can look into some of the non-Ford 4/5-speed stick shifts. I am writing mainly to alert you to the fact that I have a 4" Merc stroker crank with rebuildable rods, used standard pistons (3 3/16") and a flywheel I am trying to sell to a flathead fan for $250 plus shipping, but maybe you already have a 4" crank. In studying the SBC literature following my retirement 15 months ago I failed to realize that you have to gear them down a bit due to the shorter stroke. Even the 383 has only the stock stroke of a 59AB so the 4" stroke gives more torque at low rpm, say below 1500 rpm when the AT torque converter is just starting to catch hold with the SBC 350. Thus one might think that you should use a 4.11 rear gear with the 350, but actually the Camaro people are quite content with 3.42 rear gears and I am going to try to run a 2.79 rear gear for a while to give it a try. What I am trying to say is that the thinking about rpm range and gearing that I used to think about and maybe you are familiar with is different if you go with a C-4 or C-6, but of course a 4-speed stick shift should be good for mileage as well as better control if you like the clutch action. Well just chatting. I am a little disappointed that I am ending up with a mild SBC-350 due to financial limitations and a reliable, but inefficient, TH350 trans. Actually the modern rodders say that with a power brake in a Model-A frame there is no room for a clutch linkage under the floor. Maybe the '32 has more room for both brake and clutch and of course there are firewall mounts for the clutch or hydraulic clutch linkages. Well let me finish by saying that there are several true experts available on this Forum and they have been quite helpful to me, at this point I think I will need more info from this site to complete my '29.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, and anyone else reading this that may be interested, re; clutch pedal/linkage/cable/hose and power brake booster room in A or Deuce frames. Sometimes going beyond the readily available is necessary. The booster and MC don't have to be mounted to the same bracket as the pedal, which is normally what's available. You can use an extended rod and mount the booster/MC further back on the frame rail (under floor pedal arrangement). Just make sure the rod doesn't flex, which means it should more likely be tubing rather than solid.

Of course, another option that's being offered more today is a right angle arrangement on a swing pedal. Personally I think they're too bulky for the limited under dash area on the A or Deuce roadster, but some folks will hide them with upholstered panels. Just depends on what look you're after. Also, they take considerable bracing to deal with the stresses of repeated brake application, which takes away even more room.

Both of these methods are employed to avoid the dreaded wart of a master cylinder hanging over the engine from the firewall.

Hi Don, its nice to hear someone elses struggles with building the rod of their dreams. Or, at least close to the desired one. If I had heard from you about 6 weeks ago I would have jumped at your offer of the 4" Merc crank. But, I had to settle for the original 3 3/4" crank which has now been reground, balanced and ready for assembly.
You lost me with the gear ratio data. I am just now getting into that study in prep. for choosing the correct trans. and rearend. Right now I am looking closely at going for a 4-speed Ford Top Loader. But, I have to take the time to really engineer this phase of my project.

NTL Lee Ketchum

Something like this? Home built by my friend Larry Henderson of Truman, Arkansas. Original frame, mild Ford flat head with a Cornhusker adapted 5 speed & 8" rear end hanging from a buggy spring. Lots of swap meet parts. Larry drove it everywhere. Then he got the itch for a 40 Ford Coupe and the roadster went to Nebraska.

NTL: Thanks for your reply. I guess I rambled a bit on the rear ratios. Let's go way back. The standard flathead rear was 3.78 and in the '50s a 3.54 seemed high and surely a 3.27 gear in a banjo rear was only for high speed racing, not drag racing where 4.11 and 4.56 were common. Then in the early '70s the gas crisis of that time produced some amazingly high ratios for high gear as for instance the '74 Maverick rear I have with a 2.79 rear gear, and even the gas hungry 1977 Z28 Camaro had a 3.42 rear gear. The only thing I can figure is that with the larger bore engines the displacement has gone up as the square of the bore even though the stroke is shorter than the flathead 3.75" or 4.00" and there is enough torque to use the higher ratios. Add to that the use of automatic tranmissions as in my case and the low end torque of a flathead would be wasted in the windup of a torque converter if you use a C-4, perhaps due to the lack of room for a clutch linkage when a vacuum can for a power brake is added, although Bob offers other ways above. I admit I am just trying to figure it all out according to "new rules" (compared to the 1950s) of available parts. In your case if you stay with a stick shift you can probably end up with a nice low gear AND an overdrive high gear if you choose the gears right. In my case I guess I am going to upgrade my TH350 with the lower ratio planetary gear, although this only gives a slightly lower gear in first and second. Since we have experts reading this maybe I could get some advice on whether it is worth about $500 or more to change the planetary gears in a TH350 compared to just changing the rear unit? Well as I said, I am determined to get this roadster running while my health is pretty good and as several others have said it is good to have projects and goals after retirement. The picture above a '32 with a finned head V8 says it all, good luck!

P.S. Maybe Richard Tech1 has a link to a discussion of lower ratio planetary gears for a TH350? I know of about three vendors of the gears (not cheap) but no discussion of the results is known to me.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Great feedback Guys. That flathead '32 coupe is very close to my dream. Is that 5-speed manual or automatic?
I am thick headed and stubborn in my ways most of the time until I am positively convinced by others with greater talent and more experience. I want to stay as much FORD as I possibly can for nostalgic reasons. Therefore, my first choice for a standard MANUAL transmission is from a Ford.
Is there a good list of Rodder's recommended transmissions out there that require that nostalgic foot operated clutch ingagement?

Lee Ketchum

Bib that car is outt sight! That is a REAL hotrod! Thanks for sharing.....