Vehicle : 1940 Ford C.O.E.

[balthazar]

Weather here in Jersey FINALLY broke, and hopefully for good. I believe it was in the low 60s, I was working outside in just a t-shirt (OK, I was ALSO wearing pants).

 

Had cleared some of the off-season flotsam from around the COE yesterday, and tonight I finished cleaning the crud out of the driver's rear brake, pulled the shoes & cleaned/lubed everything & reinstalled the shoes. They have funky brass 'bearings' at the bottom anchor point, that allows the shoes to pivot there. Shoes have excellent material with no visible cracking or other deterioration.

 

Want to get the rear brakes done & back together. This is the Year of the Re-Roading; the '40 is 75 years old this year!! 

[GMTruckGuy74]

Good luck with that goal, balthazar!  That would be an awesome sight to behold on the road.  Just watch out for Jersey drivers 

[balthazar]

Makin' lil' sketches…..

 

 

...makes for quick reassembly:

 

 

Driver's rear brake assembly all buttoned up:

 

Also did some reassembly on the carb… tho I am missing a few screws after leaving it sit out for, umm, what feels like 6 months. Some of it is straightforward, but other bits are leaving me searching for a decent exploded view. For a tiny 2bb, it sure has a lot of gaskets. Luckily I have a spare complete carb I bought at an estate auction for $4. 

Edited April 2, 2015 by balthazar

[David]

Very cool to see the work being done on this.

[balthazar]

Curious if anyone here has rebuilt a carburetor?

I myself have done a 1bbl, a couple 2bbls, a Carter AFB & Holly 4bbl.

[David]

Grew up in my dads auto repair business, rebuilt plenty of Holly carbs and Isuzu carbs. Love the work, but just does not pay like working in the computer industry.

 

Now I am just about everything DI so never will probably touch them especially after I change out the top end of my Suburban so it can support DI for Petrol and CNG.

[knightfan26917]

Glad to see you've started working on this this year!!!!  Looking forward to following the progress.

 

 

Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com

1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve

"All it needs is just a little time" __ Jeff Carson __ 'The Car'

[balthazar]

Forgot to paint the MC cap- did that today. Busted down the rear pass brake & cleaned all the grime off everything. Put that wheel cylinder back on.
Cleaned the threads on the intake for the new shorter carb studs I had to buy; my truck came with a governor below the carb which I am not reinstalling. Also found some missing nuts & bolts for the carb I had misplaced. 

 

- - - - -

NEXT WEEK : Planning on taking the tires/rims, 2 at a time, to a 'country' tire store that is used to farm equipment, and had previously told me breaking down 20" Budd rims with retaining rings was no problem. I need to get new tubes but want to clean everything up on the rim & really check the tires out in & out, then I'll have them remount them. 

The tires are REALLY old.

[David]

If 2 ply then I would replace them. Hate you to have a blow out on the road.

[SAmadei]

Curious if anyone here has rebuilt a carburetor?

I myself have done a 1bbl, a couple 2bbls, a Carter AFB & Holly 4bbl.

Rebuilt a couple 2BBLs and a couple Quadrajets, and some small engine carbs, including several that really was too far gone.  I'm amazed how much one can do, as far as bushings and repairs go. 

[balthazar]

Finished the pass side rear brake hardware assembly today. want to do a final 'hose out' of the differential, then I will button that back up. 

 

Going to try and drop my tires off this week to get them broken down.

 

- - - - -

If 2 ply then I would replace them. Hate you to have a blow out on the road.

No- they are Atlas Plycron 7.00 x 20 10-ply 'Truck & Coach' tires.

 

If anyone is familiar with tire sidewall date codes, they follow a week/year format. For EX, '2711' would be the 27th week of 2011.

Mine, in that inset oval where modern date codes go, says '12108'. 

No. 1, there are but 52 weeks in a year. No. 2, I've owned the truck since '03, and I certainly didn't put tires on it.

Guess what I am looking at is something other than a date code.

[57caddy]

Wow! Great thread, great project, great pictures.  Thanks for sharing.  I, too, think you will reach your goal!

 

"Want to get the rear brakes done & back together. This is the Year of the Re-Roading; the '40 is 75 years old this year!!

[balthazar]

Hot water/Dawn/HD scrub brush really cleaned up tire #1 this afternoon. If you look at the pic in post #1, they've always had this fine silt stain on just about all of them, plus they just looked dingy. I'm happy to see them clean up a bit. Physically they are in excellent shape including like no tread wear, PLUS they all match size/brand…. only detraction is fine 'dry rot' cracking. I've looked into 'care' for older tires & I have a procedure I'm going to try out. The 10-ply construction makes for a sidewall that feels like an inch thick (I will try and measure it) and none of the cracks are deep at all. Going to place my order for 2 new tubes and put those on the front, where what must be 90% of the weight. The bare chassis + bare frame rails out back + dually tires there would have almost no stress on them at all. All 6 hold air fine. Post-'procedure' pic to come...

 

Started wrapping my brain around the wiring situation- I've yet to wire a vehicle. This one has to be about the best possible volunteer to learn on; there are TWO fuses in the fuse block. Wiring is the last untapped frontier on this truck, all other systems are finished or mostly so. 

[balthazar]

Here's the 2 dismounted tires, one obviously cleaned and the other 'as-bought':

Started my aforementioned 'experiment' RE said tire… so far it's not going as well as I had hoped; waiting until morning to see if any difference is noted.

 

I will say this; even tho they are akin to Load Range E and 10-ply nylon carcasses, the dry rot is not necessarily…. reassuring.
Still unable to date these via the sidewalls OR vintage ads, but I suspect they are from the late 1960s.
I did order 2 new tubes today.

 

Also finished reassembly of my rebuilt carb, a Ford '91/94' 2-bbl :

Won't have any idea if it's going to be cool about things, or randomly leak gas all over from numerous fissures… until I run it.

 

Also greased one inner bearing & set it & it's grease seal in one rear drum.  

[David]

Very cool B man, that is awesome to see. Sorry to hear the tire rot is not working out.

[balthazar]

Well… after reading whatever I can find on old tires, it seems the vast majority of tire blow-outs happen with radials. The rubber is supposedly not as 'pure' & when they begin to dry rot, the steel belts rust & cut thru the tire. The sidewalls are not as strong since the reinforcement belts aren't in the sidewalls but only along the tread. I can see the criss-crossed reinforcement belts on the inside of my tires, from bead to bead.

 

If I didn't say this before, a few summers ago I cut a bad tire off a rim I wanted to keep, MANUALLY. Using a collection of cutters, saws, pry bars and a Sawz-All, it still took me about 1.5 hrs (IIRC) to get the tire cut all the way thru. I'll never tackle that job the same way again.

 

Either way, I believe the mitigating factors (weight around 4000 lbs on 10 ply tires, bias ply construction and low-speed local operation (45 MPH max) minimizes my risk. If I were closer to it's original weight as a tanker truck (16000 lbs) it would be a much higher demand on the tires, also if I were running at 60 MPH they would develop a lot more heat than they will @ 40. Going to give them a whirl.

Edited April 28, 2015 by balthazar

[SAmadei]

If I didn't say this before, a few summers ago I cut a bad tire off a rim I wanted to keep, MANUALLY. Using a collection of cutters, saws, pry bars and a Sawz-All, it still took me about 1.5 hrs (IIRC) to get the tire cut all the way thru. I'll never tackle that job the same way again.

 

Either way, I believe the mitigating factors (weight around 4000 lbs on 10 ply tires, bias ply construction and low-speed local operation (45 MPH max) minimizes my risk. If I were closer to it's original weight as a tanker truck (16000 lbs) it would be a much higher demand on the tires, also if I were running at 60 MPH they would develop a lot more heat than they will @ 40. Going to give them a whirl.

1.5hrs... not bad.  I did the same thing back in 1994ish... probably 2.5~3 hrs beforeI gave up... I got through most of the tire, but couldn't cut the steel going through the bead with the tools I had.

I would try the tires and just keep an eye on them.  I had some 20 year old bias tires tires I used a for a short time once and they held up pretty good... with no tubes, even.  I probably don't even want to think about the bias tires on the big trailer right now... they are probably over 20 years old.

I thought using tubes in tires was illegal in NJ... or are these designed for that?

 

[balthazar]

In this era, it was all tubes. These rims in particular have retaining rings- I think it would be impossible to get one of these to seal without a tube.

Never heard of any law against tubes- certainly tube-intended tires are OK with them.

I'm also unaware of any retro-active laws that have superseded those in place the year the vehicle was produced. 

[balthazar]

Here's a snapshot from a 1949 Ford truck brochure:

 

 

It has some interesting factoids. The difference between 'tractor' & 'truck' should be well known, and the gearing is the primary difference. "7.2" means a 7.20:1 axle, which is why the tractor is 'so much' slower at 46 MPH vs. the 5.83-geared truck at 53 MPH.

 

Whoo-hoo! I should be able to top 50 MPH!!

 

I've had a few discussions with my brother, who -as the owner of a tandem-axle Mack- sniffs at my truck as 'medium duty at best, but more like light duty'. Sure, compared to a Mack that can haul 18 tons payload, but 16000 lbs as a truck is pretty decent, IMO. As a tractor moving 28,000… that's no light duty truck.

 

- - - - - 

Got 5 junk tires demounted this week, might be 2 sellable rims in there but the rest are garbage.

 

Monday I get the new tubes/flaps installed w/ the cleaned-up old tires on the cleaned-up rims. Reading up on wiring practices in the meantime…..

Edited May 9, 2015 by balthazar

[balthazar]

Tire outfit (which does a lot of HD truck & farm equipment) gave my 2 front tires a thumbs up. All mounted, new tubes, flaps, valves stems. Put them up front, where the bulk of the weight is. Hoping to button up the axle & rear drums this week. 

 

Also cut a chunk out of one of the junk tires. It was 'only' 8-ply, had dry rot cracking on the sidewall… but there's no way in hell you could blow them apart unless maybe they got really hot- those plys run bead-to-bead and the woven nylon belts are really hard to tear. I'm reassured.

 

New pic to pump (well, probably just me) up :

Edited May 12, 2015 by balthazar

[GMTruckGuy74]

[David]

Very cool

[Escoda]

What an awesome vehicle, seeing old cars like this always saddens me because in my country they are simply to expensive to buy even if they are rusty all the way through. 

 

Do you perhaps have an estimate on what you have spended so far and plan on spending in total? Always curious to see how much difference there is, especially since you are doing so much yourself which I admire. 

[balthazar]

How much spent? Hmm… I bought it for $1250 without a grille, which cost 800. Rebuilding the seats/upholstery cost 500. Beyond those costs, I would guess I only have about 400 more into it- I have a log on another computer but haven't kept it updated over the last 12 months I've been back to work on it… but I would estimate I only spent 150 in that 12 months. That's about $2950 total.

 

I would like to keep the overall number as low as possible. This is a 'get it running & drive it' project; the plan is preservation, not restoration. If I could get this driving relatively reliably for 3500, that would be pretty awesome. 

 

Escoda- where are you located?

[Escoda]

That sounds like a fairly good number! Of course it isn't cheap but nothing too expensive either, a car that old (and cool) driving for 3500 is a good deal. I also like the preservation part, too many people out there restoring old cars and not actually driving them for their pleasure.

 

I'm located in the Netherlands, any import car is overpriced and we don't have that many European old timers that I think are worth restoring to driving condition. For example if I'd want to buy a Mustang shell that needs an incredible amount of work I'd easily pay between 10.000 - 15.000, quite a chunk of money for a non driving car. 

[balthazar]

Thanks a lot, Escoda!! 

 

I pulled up my 'other computer' money spent list for this truck. What I used to do is 'apply' side profits to this truck to 'defray costs'… such as I sold the shell of a Nova convertible for $1000. So the bottom line number was artificially low.

 

AFTER stripping out all that sort of 'feel-good' accounting, my spread sheet on this truck is already at 4750… and I know it will clear 5000 just in adding in the receipts from 2014-2015. I also paid 1750 for it initially, not 1250.

 

Not mad, it's good to know these things & keep track. And I still shouldn't complain- that's still cheap for a running antique. 

[balthazar]

Yesterday I installed the passenger rear bearings, fully & freshly greased, the brake drum & the axle shaft. After fiddling with the shoe adjustments, it seems to spin fine. The shoes probably need to just get reacquainted with the drums MOVING past them again.

 

Scrubbed 2 rear tires up.

 

Also attempted to loosen the front bumper brackets & level the bumper. Had some success, but still not quite perfect. Then I promptly undid the bumper… well; 2 of the 3 bolts- the 3rd is too heavily rusted & I'm going to have to cut it off. Will use galvanized carriage bolts, unfortunately new… unless I decide to run it sans bumper. Hmmm...

 

Also, poking around on my 'COE shelves' revealed a straight inner crossmember (that the grille latches to) and a 'chin' piece that hangs from it and continues the sheet metal lines from the grille. I'd have to cut & weld the crossmember in… but I likely will since the one on the truck is badly tweaked & rattled around, making latching the grille improbable at best. 

 

Imagine my joy if I run over my own $800 grille on my maiden voyage.

 

Ordered a 1960s wiring 'how-to' book, which should be the perfect speed for this truck… as sniffing around for wiring advice has not been helpful as far as boosting confidence. You'd think converting tail lights to integral blinkers info would be easily found online… but apparently not.

Edited May 18, 2015 by balthazar

[David]

Still Awesome Blathazar even at 5K. Keep rocking it and before you know it will be rumbling over the roads again.

[balthazar]

Went to Fastenal, HD truck repair shop, 98-yr old hardware store & big lumber yard, apparently 9/16-in carriage bolts are no longer readily available. 2 of the 3 from the front bumper are usable, the 3rd is not. Going to try another decades-old hardware store tomm, and check online tonight. I'm kind of surprised I don't have any in my hardware collection, but I do not. This is just like the brake line fittings I was looking for last fall… fun with 75 yr old vehicles!

[knightfan26917]

So ... did you find what you need???!!!

 

 

Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com

1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve

"Uh, what model is it?" __ Johnny Cash __ 'One Piece At A Time'

[balthazar]

Tried a total of 3 old time hardware stores hoping for some old stock… but I knew things were bad when the aforementioned 98-yr old store didn't have them (they are really good). 9/16-in carriage bolts are OUT of production- they jump from 1/2-in (usually the largest anyone carries) to the rare 5/8-in.

 

One store owner today told me "…if they even ever made them." I'll be hurrying back over there to be called 'stoopid' real soon. 

 

I have a line on some used bolts from another old Ford trucker online...

[Thed]

I am absolutely LOVING every bit of this! Makes me want to go out and wrench on my F-100, for which I'm taking the same approach: get it roadworthy and reliable. 

Edited May 21, 2015 by Thed

[Z-06]

I am absolutely LOVING every bit of this! Makes me want to go out and wrench on my F-100, for which I'm taking the same approach: get it roadworthy and reliable. 

 

Do it man. Life is too short to think too much. This and another one from Camino (It's just a wire or something like that) have been good threads about vehicle projects.

[balthazar]

Another outdoors pic from the year I bought it (2003) :

 

[knightfan26917]

Another outdoors pic from the year I bought it (2003) :

 

 

*grins*

 

VERY cool!

 

 

Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com

1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve

"Time can't erase a feeling this strong" __ Mariah Carey __ 'Always Be My Baby'

[GMTruckGuy74]

I was thinking of you Saturday while attending the American Truck Historical Society (ATHS) National Convention & Antique Truck Show in York, PA:

 

 

 

 

[balthazar]

That 2nd one is awesome!

[GMTruckGuy74]

I agree!

[balthazar]

Got the differential cover & gasket back on, tightened down the rear brakes lines, and pumped 13 pints of gear oil in. There's still some minor amount of rust bits inside, but thankfully there's a drain plug at the bottom- I can run it some then change out the fluid- let it self clean.

 

I think all I have brake-wise is to connect/tighten up the front lines, install the master cylinder and get bleedin'.

 

Stopped at a small old-time junkyard I've passed numerous times before. I know they have some early '50s trucks because I'd previously been in from the backside.  He's going to check his bolt selection and supposedly call me. Still waiting on an online connection to see what he has.

 

April and into May was mad busy, hopefully I can get back on the COE regularly now.

Edited June 6, 2015 by balthazar

[knightfan26917]

Hope the junkyard can come up with something for you ...or your online connection ... or both!

 

Will be nice to see progress on this!

 

 

Cort www.oldcarsstronghearts.com

1979 & 1989 Caprice Classics | pigValve, paceMaker, cowValve

"Windows open on the rest of the world" __ Suzy Bogguss __ 'Drive South'

[balthazar]

Month of June & July sucked for working on the truck (too much work!), this week looks light from here tho.

 

Junkyard guy said 'no' to bolt request. So I bought 3 galvanized 1/2-in bolts & nuts… by measuring both the new & original bolt shoulders, they are only about 1/32nd apart, so they won't turn in the bumper holes. I do want to get the bumper brackets loose/off so I can align the bumper- it was mad crooked. 

 

Took the last rear drum, knocked the last bearing out & cleaned it up… right before my parts washer goose neck broke off the (plastic} motor. I can fix it… but at least I got the last usage out of it I'll need for the truck. I hope. Outer bearing has one really rough roller, but I'm going to use it anyway. Races are excellent. Cleaned the retaining ring & grease seal also.

 

Drum brake surface is not as awesome as the other side's. Lot of rust on the surface with only maybe 20% of machined surface left. However, I worked at it with a razor blade, sandpaper and a Scotch Brite pad and I CAN get the surface completely smooth under the scientific 'closed eyes/ fingertip drag' method. I believe I can get the whole drum into smooth, useable shape. There's plenty of iron on the liner but I'd rather try this first.

 

I need to get the rear brake buttoned back up before I forget how. Then wash the rear tires and install them, and the rolling stock is done.

[David]

Very cool update, thanks for Posting Balthazar.

[balthazar]

Trying to get back into this project.

Got a buddy of mine being point man on the electrical segment, which is a great help. Today we disassembled the taillights/bracketry and the 3rd stoplight, cleaned all the grounding surfaces, smeared a pinch of dielectric grease on them and buttoned them all back up. Ran continuity tests, fixed one grounding situation in one tail, and got both tail's running & brake lights, plus the 3rd brake light operational (off 6V lantern battery). Felt pretty good to see a flicker of 'life' from the beast.

 

 

Rest of the wiring is a hot mess, good thing there's just not much to it.

Edited November 1, 2015 by balthazar

[ocnblu]

Nice update, sir.

[balthazar]

I'm still leaving my buddy as the lead on the electrical walnut. We talk every day or 2, I've been throwing him some monkey wrenches because I'd like to have turn signals. Truck has an aftermarket turn signal unit… but research so far seems to point to needing dedicated tail lights for turn signals, and I don't want to put 4 lights (plus the 3rd stop) hanging off the rear. I can tell he's getting stressed.

May have to shop for a different signal unit. What puzzling about this one (a 'Signal Stat 700') is that it's marked "front" and "rear", NOT 'left' and 'right'. Still puzzling on that one. 
Here's a pic of a NICE one, mine looks like it's every day of 50 yrs old. 

[balthazar]

My buddy has been an amazing help on the truck. He's thrown himself completely into the process of learning automotive electrics. We have a semi-generic, Ford-created wiring schematic, and he's been tracing wires, identifying circuits & continuity testing everything. He works on it at least 3 days a week now. Taillights are temporarily wired & work. Headlight assembles have both been removed to get the original wiring out of them. Headlights & their sockets all work. Gauges are out, so is the fuse block. Lots of jury-rigging has occurred on this truck's (estimated) 35 years of active service, including questionable wiring 'splitting' and added toggle switches. 97% of the wiring has to be replaced as it's in terrible condition, but I happen to have 3 spools of 10 & 12 gauge stranded wire on hand.

 

I have much nicer replacement gauges that I'm going to use, and tomm I plan of fabricating a new fuse block… pics to come.

 

Meanwhile, here is the current state of wiring affairs :

 

 

[Thed]

Oh, the horror of all those wires. I would be bugging if I didn't have any wire loom, or at the least electrical tape. 

[balthazar]

Some great progress today. 

Took the headlights off- the buckets are on 'stalks' (see the pics in Post #86), which had integral parking lights. 1939 & prior, the parking lights were incorporated into the headlights, '40 is the first year for sealed beam headlights, so the PLs were installed on the stalks for '40. However, my PLs were in rough shape- one lens fell off on it's own and the underlying bucket looks like it'll never come off. After removing them from the fenders, one mounting bolt was MIA.

 

 

According to my state's vehicular code, they have an equipment mandate for trucks built after (what sure sounds like a wildly random date of) July 2, 1954. As long as all existing lights are functional, I believe I'm in the clear. There's no mention of PLs for vehicles prior to '54. I have a pair of rough spare fenders and they had PL-less stalks- they're either '38s or '39s. Shot everything up with Kroil, took both sides apart and swapped out the stalks, eliminating the PLs up front. The stalks are black, but they blend in fine

 

 

Cleaned everything up, checked all the grounds, cut new rubber gaskets, ran new wires from the headlight sockets thru the dimmer switch and to the headlight switch- everything checks out continuity-wise! I've yet to buy a 6V battery, as 2 ganged 6V lantern batteries don't have enough juice to run 2 headlights, so we didn't test them. Tails, brake & headlight wiring is all done & checked now.

 

Also fabricated the new fuse block. Old one is the most sparsely-equipped fuse block I've ever seen. 2 fuses & a circuit breaker:

 

Edited December 13, 2015 by balthazar

[balthazar]

I was extremely lucky to score an NOS speedometer at a swap meet a few years ago (duh- the one on the right).

 

The one on the left is what someone, at some point, installed. It's a period Ford passenger car unit. It interchanges physically, but it's incorrect (& quite optimistic). It's also rather deteriorated.

Note the correct HD truck unit's shift point recommendations.

 

 

The COE speedo & the gauge pod are side-lit by the newly-cleaned, checked & fully functional twin bulbs, transferred over from the pass car unit.

 

Tiny signs of life.

[balthazar]

Been working steady on the old girl. 

 

Wiring is about 95% replaced now. Compare pics in post# 96 with the below :

 

 

 

Still testing circuits but once all is done, will adjust lengths & wrap/tuck everything. So far, so good. Only area left is the motor/ignition electrics.
You can see my new fuse block with the hardware transferred over. 

Also looked at the horn & opened it up- all 'looks' good inside, uses a metal plate to vibrate rather than any sort of diaphragm. Have a tiny bit of cleanup at the steering column, run a wire and it'll be ready to test. Just about time to buy a new battery for the truck.

 

- - - - -

Also 'learned' the key system & tested it out. The column drop (holds the column to the dash) has a key and an 'ON/OFF' toggle. Ford addressed car theft in the '30s with a locking steering column.
To stop the truck you toggle to 'OFF', turn the steering wheel until it locks, then remove the key. To start, you insert key, rotate to unlock column, toggle 'ON' and press the starter button. As with a surprising quantity of things on this truck, all seems to be working well RE locking/unlocking. (And yea; big flipping deal RE the modern move to starter buttons. What's old is new again… )

Edited January 1, 2016 by balthazar