1940 Ford Tudor Build Thread

[40FordDeluxe]

It's starting to feel like I'm making progress now. I got my brake pedal bracket made and tacked on the frame. I will have to add gussets to it later. Due to my X member, I couldn't put it in the factory area. This doesn't bother me. With the recessed firewall the throttle pedal would be farther back so moving the pedals over to the left gains me some foot room. I may still have to modify the brake pedal to get enough room in there. I'll deal wit that when I have a seat in it again.

I also got my cross braces cut off so now I can finish drilling my holes for my X member center plate. I started routing my exhaust. Ideally i didn't want to go under the the front portion of the X member. I wanted to cut the tubes and put a round pipe in there then run the exhaust through the pipe. Due to time constraints, I'm doing it this way. The exhaust is a little lower than the front cross member any way due to the length of the headers. Maybe a 1/4". So I'm living with it. Hopefully by next week I can have the exhaust ran and figure out if I want to use my vac booster or go with the hydraboost.

[Mike P]

Nice progress. A lot of people just don't realize the amount of time it take to get all the little details done.


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[Hotrod46]

Looking very good.

Those dang Ford X-members sure get in the way, don't they. The 46 is bigger, but still tight. My exhaust is under the chassis too. I didn't have the ability at the time to run it myself and couldn't find a shop that would run it the way I wanted. Been on there for 20 years, but I intend to change that when the Healey is done.

A lot of people just don't realize the amount of time it take to get all the little details done.

Absolutely right! It really doesn't take long to get one up on wheels, but turning it into a real driveable car seems to take forever.

[40FordDeluxe]

Looking very good.

Those dang Ford X-members sure get in the way, don't they. The 46 is bigger, but still tight. My exhaust is under the chassis too. I didn't have the ability at the time to run it myself and couldn't find a shop that would run it the way I wanted. Been on there for 20 years, but I intend to change that when the Healey is done.



Absolutely right! It really doesn't take long to get one up on wheels, but turning it into a real driveable car seems to take forever.

Yes, they sure do get in the way. Now, I wish I would have used smaller tubing. But, I'm not redoing it now. I'm going to try my damndness to get this thing to Des Moines Good guys this year. I don't care if it just parking lot drives. It will at least run and move.

[53 Chevy5]

Here you go Ryan, boom done! https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...04544080415659

[stovens]

sweet ride

[40FordDeluxe]

That would have been a lot faster and I'd have less in that one for sure.

[40FordDeluxe]

I saw a pretty nice 40 Ford coupe at a show this past weekend and everyone walking by it was saying, whoa, nice Hemi. Dudes!!! It's not a Hemi but a dual over head cam 4.6. Still cool but not Hemi cool IMO.

[40FordDeluxe]

Wow, nothing new with this one since July 2018. Someone is a slack ass. I was at my friend Steve's a couple of weeks ago whom has the awesome Mopar collection. We were chatting about his truck project when Gene Cross strolled in. Gene is a Goodguys rep and was bringing Steve some gazette copies since Steve's shop made it in the July mag because his shop was on the poker run. They got to talking about the good old days so I asked Gene if he had any pics of the 40 from back then. He paused and said he had no idea, but he would look. Last week Gene called and said he found a pic of Sooner and I could come by and take a pic of it.

I'm not sure if I told the story of Gene in this thread or not. I think I did, but it is probably buried in this thread. Back in the 70s, my Uncle Jerry used to run around with Gene and a whole slew of other guys in the ISRA. https://www.myisra.org/isra-events Jerry had the 40 Deluxe, and Gene had a 39 Standard. They both were working on their cars, body paint, etc. Well, Jerry got his car done first so they called it Sooner and Gene's was Later. The last 4 pics are of Later. He is for sale. I sort of wish I had the money to buy it so the Sooner and Later thing could live on for a long time. The first pic is of Sooner in 1973.

[53 Chevy5]

That's a awesome pic of the 40, history of a car make it much more fun. How much is he asking for Later?

[40FordDeluxe]

That's a awesome pic of the 40, history of a car make it much more fun. How much is he asking for Later?

I'm very glad he found the pic. This must have been before the car was painted. Gene knows the guy that painted it as well. I am going to reach out to him and see if he has any old pics of it too. I haven't mentioned but I joined a car club in Oskaloosa called the Rollin Oldies this summer. It turns out that a member in it used to run around with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Nancy and knew them well. He is also looking for old pics of it. He is really eager for me to get the car back on the roads.

Gene said $26,500 negotiable. It has a Ford 302 with Offenhauser intake, Edelbrock 4bbl, C4 trans, 57 Chevy rear end with 3:08 gears, parallel leaf spring rear suspension, MII original style cross member because the car was built before the aftermarket ones were out. Manual rack, disc brakes front, drum rear. Aluminum Griffin radiator, power seats, power windows, GM tilt column, modified 40 dash, power deck lid latch, flush 3rd brake light and tail lights, fiberglass fenders front and rear. 14x6 and 15x7 billet specialties wheels and frenched in license plate with smoked cover. He said there is a small rust bubble on the bottom of each door. He said he was going to fix it but he knows if he starts to tear into it, it will never get put back together. He has the patch panels to go with it.

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[40FordDeluxe]

I've been on the hunt for certain parts for the 40 off and on and I finally got a couple. Maybe I'll re visit my bat wing air cleaner this winter. We shall see.

[40FordDeluxe]

I drug the poor 40 out of the barn January 10th right when the weather turned to poo here. I only have worked on it for about 8hrs sadly. I've just been too busy at work. I was by myself since May 30 of last year and the Covid BS made us extremely busy. Plus I had customer trucks to finish and one of them was a complete PITA. Anyhow, I have gotten the body bolted back down to the frame and the doors shut again. I still need to do some more work on the driver's door but at least it feels like a car again. I have also decided to ditch the 8.8 rear end and go back to a 9". Nothing like 2 steps forward and 15 back.

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[40FordDeluxe]

Like a fool, I sold my 9" that was in the 40 to a friend. He put it in his 51 Chevy already so there was no getting it back. I have been searching for another narrow 9" so I don't have to spend big money on getting one together. I ended up picking up an early bronco 9" the other day. Its 58" wms to wms. 3.50 gears, and I lucked out. Its a trac loc as well. 28 spline axles, 5 on 5.5" bp. My 8.8 is 59 1/4" I believe. So I'm pretty sure I can make this 9" work without having to spend a lot more money.

The biggest reasons I am switching are: 1. The pinion offset on this explorer 8.8 was going to require me to cut my floor tunnel for the drive shift to make it through. Especially since it sets so low now. And 2. The upper 4 link mounts can't be welded on without me taking it to someone that can weld cast. Even then I hear the welds will more than likely crack due to the impurities in the material. I'm not willing to deal with both of those so going back to a 9" sounds like a better idea to me. I was going to make an axle truss type setup to tie the upper mounts into but that requires more floor to be cut out at full drop. Oh well.

[34_40]

I drug the poor 40 out of the barn January 10th right when the weather turned to poo here. I have also decided to ditch the 8.8 rear end and go back to a 9". Nothing like 2 steps forward and 15 back.

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Like a fool, I sold my 9" that was in the 40 to a friend. He put it in his 51 Chevy already so there was no getting it back. So I'm pretty sure I can make this 9" work without having to spend a lot more money. Oh well.

Musta been a heckofa good friend!?!?!