Forever 'n A Day - '30 Tudor

So been meaning to do this for a while as I do have a bit to post but I work slow enough this would be a few years long already.

Back in 2010 I found the car online the short distance of 2000 miles west of me in Alberta and got a little crazy and bought it sight unseen and had it shipped to me hoping the seller was honest, luckily it worked out for the best. The car is in really good shape, less some heavy bondo. The old brush paint job is holding up pretty well and the body is very solid little to no rust, only a few small stress cracks and about 12” of half rotted sub rails in each of the rear corners under the bench seat, that had been poorly repaired years ago.







Managed to find one hell of a deal on shipping as he was headed home nearly empty. The car pretty much sat as it arrived for the next three years. Was used for our wedding pictures shortly after it arrived. (shameless picture)

In the mean time I have collected parts, made the pieces I can that don’t require a mock up to finalize any adjustments. So I’ve been able to somewhat start putting things together, but fairly slowly.

The plan:
- body as is for now
stock A frame
fenderless, probably have a hood
4” dropped front axle ’40 spindles and brakes, ’40 split wishbones
rear is hung over a ’40 rear axle converted to open drive, with wishbone
flathead fairly stock, I have a block that appears to be good, but haven’t mag’d it yet, or really looked into having it rebuilt, if I find a decent priced running engine in the mean time I might be convinced to go that route
T5 trans



To give an idea of where I am headed with no time line in mind. I find it funny to joke with people that my goal is to have it done for my daughters wedding, to explain the joke a little, she’s now 4, I figure I have a few years...




So the disassembly has went pretty slow, I have not been in a hurry to make it a non-roller.

I had called around to a few of the auto machine shops in the area to find someone to ream/hone my king pin bushings. Seems everyone was north of $100 for it. So I talked to the tool supplier at work and ordered an Industrial sized F reamer, the only issue is he couldn’t source a pilot for it and McMaster Carr won’t ship to residence in Canada and couldnt find one elsewhere, so time to make one... Little rough looking but it did work pretty good.

The rear is where I am trying something I haven’t seen done, I think I have worked out the bugs in my head and this should work very close to a stock set up, but with an open driveshaft.





I still need to heat and bend the radious rods, they are really just being sprung into place right now. Then tack everything really well and the rear can be pulled apart for final welding.

We ended up replacing the garage door so I had to roll it outside to be able to replace the door.






So that pretty much brings me up to today.

I appreciate you taking the time to post the pics! The car looks great, looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

Looks good. I know where you are coming from about the roller.

Hey pistol, nice work....interested in seeing how you're rear suspension
works out...

Pete, You're doing fine, keep on tinkering.
I put a T-5 behind a flathead V-8 and like it. There have been a few modifications and some lessons learned.
First, you should buy an adapter, which is simple and inexpensive. Then, remember to get the Chevy driveshaft front yoke for the back of the T-5, to mount on your Ford driveshaft. Also get the transmission mount and the speedometer drive end that fits into the extension housing of the T-5.
To keep the oldtimesy look I welded an old gear stick to the T-5 gearshift base nub. I also raised the pivot point of the shifter up 1" so I could have a longer shift handle and still have a nice short throw. That worked really well.
Good luck.

MercuryMac said:

Pete, You're doing fine, keep on tinkering.
I put a T-5 behind a flathead V-8 and like it. There have been a few modifications and some lessons learned.
First, you should buy an adapter, which is simple and inexpensive. Then, remember to get the Chevy driveshaft front yoke for the back of the T-5, to mount on your Ford driveshaft. Also get the transmission mount and the speedometer drive end that fits into the extension housing of the T-5.
To keep the oldtimesy look I welded an old gear stick to the T-5 gearshift base nub. I also raised the pivot point of the shifter up 1" so I could have a longer shift handle and still have a nice short throw. That worked really well.
Good luck.

Click to expand...

I have done most of that already actually. I made my own adapter and incorporated Model A pedal shaft into the adapter, so hopefully can bend and tweek the model A pedals around the F1 steering column. I also made a short shift mount but only moved the pivot 3/4" hoping it will be enough. I plan to also mount a '39 stick to the T5 but want the body on to determine final position before cutting things up. I have also discovered a stock Model A speedo cable screws into the T5 with no adapter, just need to find a cable that has a square end on both ends...

Thanks for the kind words guys, hopefully this will give me some more motivation as the cold months approach. I would really like to try to make it to an unfinished show next June, so the hope is to have things wrapped up and body bolted back on by next May... the way I work that might be a stretch.

the fantasy cure

pistolpete said:

I...my goal is to have it done for my daughters wedding...she’s now 4...

Click to expand...

I love the realistic timeline!
[P

-Chaz

I'm in as long as it's done by 2032...[P

jfg455 said:

I'm in as long as it's done by 2032...[P

Click to expand...

I make no promises...

And I want to put a realistic timeline on it, if its finished before that then its all gold. I just don't want to say it'll be done in two years and not meet it, get more frustrated and sell it or sit on it for 20 years.

So I said I'd post a few more pictures of what I have done for my transadapter, this isn't complete but will give you a pretty good idea of what I have done to mate the flathead to the T5.







I've made it a rectangle but have been debating cutting the extra meat off it save some weight and make it look more appealing, but lets be honest most will never see it. The tapped hole on the left hand side is for a pedal shaft to use stock Model A pedals. I do have details on CADD somewhere for the plate, would be pretty easy to make up another on in the CNC at work. This one was done oldschool in a 4-jaw on the lathe, and then the tapped holes just spotted off.

So to stay true to the thread name, here's an update. Been a busy year with two young kids and a wife thats a nurse, doesn't always leave a ton of time to work the past year. So sadly I have just finished up the chassis mock up, so now it all comes apart and gets blasted, final welded and painted, then on comes assembly....

I had picked up this running 59A a month or so ago and since then I have made up a rough run stand for it.(not pictured obviously)


So the overall chassis

How the rear connects to the frame


Wishbones/radious rods connecting at the rear end. Not sure the rag seal will hold out for road use though...


Sideview of the front and rear connections at the frame.

Wishbone mounts at the frame, just clamped on for now, need to weld on the plate to reinforce the crossmember first.

Good to see an update on this. Going to be great.