Another Build Thread - My '32

[J. Robinson]

OK, I've been incommunicado for a while because I frankly didn't have anything worth telling. I've been gathering some parts, but not really doing much on the Deuce. My body got delayed (3 times!) which has taught me a valuable lesson, but no use whining about it. While searching for goodies for the Deuce I ran across an exceptional deal on a set of lakester headers for my Model A. I bought them and took advantage of this down time to install them. I'll post up a new avatar soon as I no longer have the track roadster and the coupe looks decidedly different with the new polished stainless headers.

I finally did get something done on the Deuce just the last couple of days. I am using a '57 Ford 9" rear end that I got for hauling it away. It had been lying outdoors, upside down, for years and was missing the brake drums. You can see it and all the fabrication on it in previous posts. The real quandary came in trying to find brake drums - they are non-existent. I looked all over the internet, at my local NAPA store, Autozone, Advance, O'Reilley's, and all the nearby salvage yard - Zero, nada, nope, nothing. What I did find was that brand new drums are readily available for 1957 - 59 Mercury and Edsel. Should be the same, right? So I ordered a pair. Wrong! As it turns out Mercury and Edsel drums ae 1/2 inch wider. Slapped one of those suckers on my rear axle and it hit the backing plate. Crap! It lacked a half inch of going on all the way. Hmmmmm…. OK, just get some Mercury or Edsel backing plates, right? Those are just as scarce as the '57 Ford drums... No problem, just a little inconvenience; I've never seen this done before, but I will make a pair of offset backing plates out of the ones I have.

I began by using my 4 1/2 inch grinder with a cut-off wheel to slice out the center of the backing plate. Next, I cut a piece of 1/8 x 1/2 inch flat steel (got at ACE Hardware) to the appropriate length (17 3/8") and started tack welding it on edge to the backing plate, bending it into place and tacking as I went. After it was shaped and tacked all the way around, I welded it solid. After a little "corrective hammer work", I tacked the center piece back in place and then welded it solid.