Category: 32 Build

Updates on our ’32 Ford build.

’32 Update: window channel weatherstrip (article 52)

It’s always a treat trying to figure out which profile of weatherstripping to use.  Typically, the stuff you use for the window channel is “cat whiskers”, and is usually attached with screws or weatherstrip adhesive.  Since the garnish molding is a part of the door, it’s not easy to drive a screw through the inside lip of the door (where you rest your arm while cruising).  So I began to explore the different weatherstrip profiles in the Soffseal sample baggy.


I needed to detach the power window channel from the door so the glass would drop right down inside and give me clearance where I would install the weatherstrip.


If I haven’t been able to explain where I’m putting the weatherstripping, this should do the job.


With this style of seal, it’s important not to make the fit too tight between the glass and weatherstrip, or the glass won’t want to slide up and down – it will get stuck.  You may have to combine two different thicknesses to get the spacing right.


The inside door panels which hide the power window motors are attached with machine screws, but there isn’t a seal preventing them from rattling.  I took some sample pieces from the Soffseal sample bag and filet’d the side with the adhesive to the thickness I needed.  After sticking a few of these skinny pieces around the perimeter of the panel, it keeps it away just far enough that it won’t rattle.


This is the profile I used for the window seal.  I took this picture to show there is a good side and a not so good side to this piece.  This profile is manufactured as two strips side by side, connected by a thin bridge.  Afterwards, they are seperated.  This process leaves a tiny ridge along one side (in this picture, the left side).  I chose to install it with the ridge facing down.

“Do You Think I’m Fat” CONTEST!

UPS is always at the NSRA Nationals weighing cars, so I thought I’d take the ’32 over and see if it needs to go on a diet.  Before I spill the beans (and the twinkies, and the ho-hos), I thought it would be really fun to see how much you think it tips the scales.

Click here to email me with your guess!  The winner will get 1% of the weight they guess in dollars.  In case of a tie, you may want to divide it up into front/rear distribution.  I’d be happy to answer any questions about what’s on the car, or you can just read the whole build-up HERE.

Contest closes modnight on August 24/09.

First Drive in the ’32!

This is Producer Paul and Director Dorothy driving the ’32 for the first time.  I was trying to get them to turn on the headlights (lights on for safety!) but I think he thought I wanted him to honk the horn.  Speaking of the horn, it could use some testosterone eh?

After a final once-over of every single nut on the car, we checked the brakes and steering and took it to the street!  I picked up my wife so she could do some shopping, and it drives great.  At 60 mph, I can take my hands off the wheel – no shakes, growls, or otherwise unpleasant noises (other than the horn).  The Shockwaves on the rear will need to be fiddled with to find their sweet spot, but it should be a great drive to Louisville on Monday.

See you there!

’32 Update: Brake Pedal Pad Bracket (article 50)

Update: the picture links are broken, and I can’t find the originals.

I installed our brake pedal pad bracket and thought I’d show the progress…

Here’s the kit – stainless brackets, stainless hardware, and instructions.

One bracket goes on the outside of the pedal, and the other bracket sandwiches the pedal on the inside.  The masking tape is how far the pedal goes during full travel.  As you can see, I’ll have to trim the leading edge of the pedal.

The two holes in the pedal let you set up the bracket to a comfortable angle for your foot.

The slots in the two brackets line up for your pedal pad to mount to.

Another feature of the slots is to let the pedal pad move up and down, effectively modifying your pedal ratio.

#12920

’32 Build: Exhaust (article 31)

Exhaust
I will try to refrain from punning this article to death. However, it will be difficult.
If you were wondering when these kids were going to start running the exhaust, your wait is over. Before we began, there was a bit of a checklist that we needed to accomplish. Install starter. Oil filter clearance. Brake booster clearance. Over or under the rear axle? Try to keep most of the system out of view.
With that list in mind, on we go.


Hey, look… Welder Series parts!  These are #21836 stainless flanges for 2-1/2″ tubing. The flange just slips over the tube – that’s great but the stainless Edelbrock mufflers we’re using are expanded to slip over the tube! I’m going to weld a flange to one side of each muffler.  It’s a good idea to plan the system like this before hand… where it’s going to separate, etc.

 


This is why it’s nice to have the flange slip over the tube – you can tig weld it on the inside and therefore don’t see anything on the outside!


Silent Moment of the Day #2: parting off the collector in the lathe. I don’t know why, but when something’s not round, it tends to look like it’s spinning a lot faster and more violently. I did this to tuck the first bend up by about 2″.


Producer Paul and Director Dorothy check out the progress.


If you have a mill handy, it’s a great way to square up the ends of the tubing.


Here’s the shortened collector in place.  I needed a small wedge to point the bend where I needed it to go.  In this picture, you can also see my ground cable running from a motor mount bolt to the insulator bolt.  I’ve run the rest of Ron Francis’ grounding kit, and there’s basically nothing grounded to the frame except headlights.  I’m grounded direct to the starter from the battery.


Here, we’re trying to achieve symmetry as much as possible. The first side is always the easy one! Now I know why some guys run single 3″…..  In this picture, you can see a few things that will sneak up on you: the angle of the bottom of the engine oil pan is tilted towards the drain, and the transmission pan is offset.


It took a bit of muscle to flip the car on to its side for this shot, but I hope you’ll agree it was worth it. We haven’t installed hangers yet, but they will go just in front of the flange at the muffler. This way, we can remove the rear section and the hangers will still support the front section.


Unless you’re one of the few 2′ tall street rodders, you’ll have a hard time seeing this exhaust.

’32 Update: Weatherstripping (article 32)

Weatherstripping
All gaps are not created equal.  Having said that, once I decided which weatherstrip profile to use, the job itself was rather simple.

You’ll have to start with your doors hung and latched.  To determine the size of the gap, I used what I’ve been telling people to use for years, but never had the opportunity to do it myself: playdough.  Do I have to put a letter C in a circle after that word?  Actually, I didn’t use playdough.  I used Sticky Tack.  Man, what’s the generic word for stuff that’s pliable and somewhat sticky and holds posters to the wall?  From now on, it shall be called “Silly Putty”.  Oh, never mind.

Roll the Nameless Wonder-Goop Door Gap Replicator (don’t worry, I don’t require a Registered Trademark symbol) into a ball, and set it in the place you want to measure.

Close the door all the way.

When you open the door, you’ll be left with a positive mold of the door gap that you can use to see which weatherstrip profile will work best.

I got one of Soffseal’s sample packs and compared each sample with my Nameless Wonder-Goop Door Gap Replicator.

It turns out I was able to use one of their smallest profiles on both the door and the body.  I like this, because I have weatherstrip sealing against weatherstrip.  This profile fit the edge around the door opening perfectly.

In this picture, you’re also able to see the courtesy light I installed in the bottom of the door.  At night, it will illuminate the ground as you’re getting out of the car.  You never know what will be waiting in the hotel parking lot.

’32 Update: Miscellaneous Stuff (article 33)

Some Miscellaneous Stuff

Here are a few random shots of what I’ve been up to lately. They don’t each require a separate posting, so I’ll just throw them all in here.

I made up these little spacers for the wiper posts, then painted them black.

 

Here you can see my heater lines. I decided not to run #10 heater hose just because of the size of the car. A #10 hose has a 1/2″ i.d., so by running 3/8″ hard line, I’m not losing all that much flow. I’m using the head as one connection, and the water pump for the other. The hose clamp on the hose going to the water pump will be replaced and eventually will look like the one just below it. Remember to flare the end of the hard line so it’s tight in the hose. I’m also trying to figure out where to run the spark plug wires.

 

I made up two 3/8″ double clamps to hold the e-brake cables to the floor and keep them out of the way of the driveshaft.

 

Here you can see the Specialty Power Windows wiper motor that’s mounted to the steering column mounting plate.

 

 

I couldn’t exactly hide the A/C drain behind the upholstery (because what you see is the “upholstery”), so I had to come up with another way. I decided to use the leftover trunk weatherstrip I had. It’s hollow, flexible, and has an adhesive back. It’s not stuck to the firewall yet, but when I’m ready I can just peel off a few small sections of backing and hold it in place. It drains out a hole under the toe board area.

 

And here’s where we are, pretty much up to date. [wow, look how shiny it was!]

’32 Update: License Plate Holder (article 46)

This is another idea born from necessity… we hadn’t decided/bought a license plate frame or holder, so the idea began to be tossed around.  On a roadster, plate positioning is a bit easier because the section below the trunk lid is taller; most plates get mounted there.  But since there really isn’t enough height there on a 3 window, we decided to put it somewhere else.  Here’s what we came up with.


Masking tape makes it easy to mark dimensions with a pen.


This is the little fixture I came up with to draw a line parallel with the tube.  I have the spreader bar clamped to my bench, nestled up against a section of 1.5″ x 1.5″ tubing which is just hanging over the edge of the bench.  I used a square and set the ruler so that the mark on the tube (which I made while the spreader bar was still on the car) was at an inch line.  Doesn’t matter what number.  I could then move the square along the tube and make marks at the number, then connect the dots.  Voila!  (That’s french for “eh!”)


Here’s a picture of my setup.


I used a cutoff disc to slot the spreader bar.


I cut the bottom off a Bob Drake stainless license plate frame…


…and tig welded it to the stainless spreader bar.


You can see where this is going…


I sectioned the piece that I cut off the bottom of the Bob Drake frame, and welded it to the spreader bar at the bottom of the license plate.


Now I have a short license plate that doesn’t interrupt any body lines.  I still have to make a final decision on a light…

’32 Update: Powdered Parts (article 35)

This is another article from the ’32 build archive.

Odds and Ends / Powderific
Since the last “miscellaneous stuff” email, there hasn’t been a whole lot going on with the ’32, let alone much more miscellany. In highway terms, it’s “driving on the shoulder”. There are some items on the excuse sheet we’ve hung in the window, however.

First, the space we use to work on the car has been seized by hundreds of odds and ends, all with pallets as magic carpets. The people who were renting the building where we were storing this “stuff” moved, so we had to take it all out. It’s invaded our car building space; thus a chunk of the delay can be blamed away. Second, the powder coaters had some electrical issues while they were trying to set up their oven. The story is a bit longer than that, but all that’s important to me is I can’t be help responsible 🙂

In any case, we did get our powder coated parts and they look really great. We are doing most of the removable frame parts (bars, batwings, adjusters, brake pedal, etc.) in flat black. I have a thing for flat black. I would take a punch for flat black. So, with these parts in hand, I’m able to start reassembling the frame! Now if it wasn’t for all these odds and ends… I think I’m going to have an egarage sale. If you like, sign up for our newsletter and you’ll be able to see what edds and onds we’ve got and how cheap you can get them.

 

Now the next step is to make the frame black too so we can start putting the pieces together. I can’t believe the clarity of the parts even after the powder coating. The welds aren’t muddy looking, and the finish is very consistent. I hope it’s as durable as it is good looking. I’ll keep you posted on the frame painting process.