Thread: New Build-1946 Ford Tudor Build

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That picture of the Merc convertible made me sit up straight as wouldn't they be rare now. I lke the soft grey colour too Don Jr with the dark red wheels and trim.

cool old photos. That one on the mountain, looks like the going to the sun highway in glacier nt. park.

That grey is calling my name too Whiplash........hmmm Funny how ornate the Mercury's were compared to their Ford counterparts. More trim, bumpers, etc.

Gorgeous scenery with that rock wall to be sure Stovens, What cool simple times.

Just too cool, Don Jr.

Well, I was able to make a small amount of progress this week and weekend. I had to start small (seemed like a big project) and I decided to clean the shop (my area anyhow).

I was storing a 350 chevy, 291 Desoto Hemi, 390 ford, 302 Ford, three shelves of engine and car parts, boat parts, 20 gallons of used motor oil that needed recycled, etc. etc. and trying to have a work area and it was not working

I decided to rent a storage area (10x20) in the same parking lot thankfully to store everything. What a big difference it made. Now I have room to work. Now I only have my tools and workbenches in my area and it is fantastic. Here are a few pics of the cleaned area.

The last picture is just of pops and Dans car. Just thought they looked cool together

Looks great, but you didn't run all of the cats off did you?

Great spot ... plus you have the support of your Pops & brother. Now that's hot rodding at its best.

I'm trying to get mine to a rolling stage so I can retrieve it back to my home garage to pick away at it.

Space ... you can NEVER have enough.

Paul

After taking a few days and getting organized I took a whole day Sunday and worked on the 46. I had high hopes to totally pull all trim, bumpers, etc off the car...........It has been a while since I dismantled a 65 year old car so 4000 rusted bolts, nuts, etc. limited me to only getting the front end off the car (bumper, hood, grill, headlights, turn signals, etc) It took all day and I had a blast. Henry Ford used all bolts and nuts to hold these cars together. There were hardly any clips anywhere. It is no wonder why these cars lasted so long.

The best part is I did not have to use one metric tool!!! Seems like I have to drag all my tools out to work on all my other cars!

Finally I degreased the front clip area and trunk. See the before and after pics. I found the moonstone grey color. It was right under my nose all over the firewall. It was so dirty it looked Tan. Seems really solid still. They say the first time you wash the car it is yours forever. Really enjoying getting to know this car. Thanks for looking. Don Jr.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Looks great, but you didn't run all of the cats off did you?

Too funny,
Dad is so into those cats. He feeds them nightly and if he does not see one of the group he calls the police!!!
Gotta love pops!

Originally Posted by REGs

Great spot ... plus you have the support of your Pops & brother. Now that's hot rodding at its best.

I'm trying to get mine to a rolling stage so I can retrieve it back to my home garage to pick away at it.

Space ... you can NEVER have enough.

Paul

Paul,
Your floorpans make me drool and your Ford, Awesome car.
That is my plan. I want to get her up on wheels so I can make sure the wheels sit where there are supposed to. I have heard horror stories of variances in Henry's frame that make the IFS set ups not sit in the center of the wheel well. Could you imagine getting the IFS welded in only to find out the wheels are too far back or forward? Plus I want to see her on wheels before I blow the frame out from under her for powder coating, Etc.
Don Jr.

Don Jr,
Glad to see you starting on this one; I've always liked the '46 - '48 sedan body style. A friend of mine had one of these a few years ago. He left the beltline molding and stock door handles and on it, put smooth bumpers on it, and dechromed all the rest. It made the car look really slick. He used smoothie steel wheels painted the same color as the body (Chevy Marina blue) with baby moons and blackwall tires. It had a nice nose-down stance. I wish I had a picture to post...

I installed a Posies parallel leaf kit in a '40 Ford coupe a several years ago and it truly was a bolt-in. I seem to remember having to chisel out a couple of rivets and replace them with bolts to accommodate some of the brackets, but I could be remembering something else... Anyway, installation was a piece of cake.

The Ford engine will be nice if it doesn't give you too many headaches stuffing it in there. Have you measured the length of it and measured the engine room in the body? I haven't messed with one of the newer ones, but older 289s and 302s were almost 4 inches longer than a Chevy which necessitated recessing the firewall on some swaps. The good news is the Ford is slightly narrower that the Chevy which sometimes eases exhaust and steering clearance issues. Good luck; we'll all be watching... and commenting...

I'll be watching- I just bought a 1946 Coupe- I had a 1939 coupe for 24 years or so- I lowered the front with dropped I-beam- I'm thinking along the lines you're going with the Sedan-

Jim,
Good to hear that the rear leaf spring set up may go in with little or no hassles. Dan, dad and I have a saying that "There are no true bolt ons" Perhaps this one may fool us!

There is a thread on the HAMB right now with a 41-48 sedan like mine getting a 302 swap in place of the flathead. He used chassis engineering mounts (tranny and engine) and it fits lengthwise. In a recent post though he said he would have moved the engine back a hair to get more radiator clearance so we shall see. He used a full serpentine belt set up off of a mid 80's Ford and it fit. His belt system is huge on the front of the engine so perhaps a v belt set up would give me a bit more clearance. He did have to mount his fan on the front of the radiator like as a "pusher". to get it in there. Not as efficient, but do able.

2bubbas- I am gaining alot of respect for these cars as I take mine apart. You need to get a build log going!
Don Jr.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Looks great, but you didn't run all of the cats off did you?

Well, when Don started his T up with open headers ,to put it away for the night, it did kind of send cats heading for the hills. Don and Dan laugh at me for worrying about some of the strays when they don't show up for a night or two, especially since I have named them all.

Don really made some great progress on his car and in getting his area organized and cleaned. Funny how Dans and Dons area are pretty clean, and then there is mine.

Don

Here is a shot of the rear spring set up I got from TCI. Looks good so far.

Pops has a storage too.......He just needs to move some stuff over there!

I think we have some "hot rod" cats on our hands over there as some of them don't care if our cars are running next to them or not!