34 Ford build

enjenjo · December 01, 2014, 11:40:07 PM

I finally got back to the 34 Ford. I got under the rear of the car to see where to start, and found that the boxing plates were bent and cracked. Further inspection found that they had only been tack welded at the top, and all those welds were broken.

So to fix it, I am going to replace the cracked boxing plates, and weld them in properly, and build new four bar mounts.

I also found that the X member had the center cut out, and replaced with nothing. So I am going to figure out a bolt in X member that I can fit from the bottom.

enjenjo · January 12, 2015, 07:52:41 PM

I have the box plates repaired, it appears that they were installed with the body mounted to the frame, and were never welded to begin with.

I fabricated a new bracket to connect the suspension to the 8" rear end

enjenjo · January 24, 2015, 06:41:47 PM

I got back to it today after not doing anything on it for a week while I waited on parts. When I pulled the pinion carrier to replace the seal, I found that both pinion bearings were bad. I waited until Wednesday to get the new bearings in, and until Friday to get the Oring that fits on the pinion carrier. So today I set it up, and installed it.

This is not the original third member from this housing, the third member is made for a housing fill, and the housing is made for a third member fill. I drilled and tapped the housing for a drain plug, but I am filling through the vent hole. It works okay, but is a bit slow doing it that way.

kb426 · January 24, 2015, 07:18:00 PM

How many more items will you find? Was this a high mileage car or one built from used parts?

enjenjo · January 24, 2015, 08:34:44 PM

Quote from: "kb426"How many more items will you find? Was this a high mileage car or one built from used parts?

The car sat for about 15 years without moving. It was put back in service after that without any thing cleaned or changed outside of the fuel system. I am addressing those things now.

UGLY OLDS · January 25, 2015, 12:39:48 PM

Frank ....
Does that bracket for the rear upper bars attach to the axle by using the top bolts on the third member

Will that be strong enough for the axle twisting & etc ??

Do you use regular grade 8 hardware or are longer third member mounting bolts available ??

On the oil fill issue ...Why not drill & tap the third member for a fill plug

Just wonderin' ....

Bob ....

enjenjo · January 25, 2015, 02:18:08 PM

Quote from: "UGLY OLDS"Frank ....
Does that bracket for the rear upper bars attach to the axle by using the top bolts on the third member Will that be strong enough for the axle twisting & etc ??

Do you use regular grade 8 hardware or are longer third member mounting bolts available ??

On the oil fill issue ...Why not drill & tap the third member for a fill plug

Just wonderin' ....

Bob ....

I have mounted the upper bars this way before with no problems on 9" rears. The original bolts are plenty long enough, there are about two threads showing outside the nut.

There is no boss in the third member to tap, and I did not pull the third member, so I used the vent. I filled by OE specs.

enjenjo · February 17, 2015, 03:12:18 PM

I have the suspension done front and rear. I am now working on the Xmember , I made some pieces to replace the original center that was missing. They are bolted in, so the transmission can be removed without pulling the engine. A few more holes to drill, and that will be done. The only thing left to address is the power windows.

papastoyss · February 18, 2015, 03:19:14 PM

Quote from: "enjenjo"
Quote from: "UGLY OLDS"Frank ....
Does that bracket for the rear upper bars attach to the axle by using the top bolts on the third member Will that be strong enough for the axle twisting & etc ??

Do you use regular grade 8 hardware or are longer third member mounting bolts available ??

On the oil fill issue ...Why not drill & tap the third member for a fill plug

Just wonderin' ....

Bob ....

I have mounted the upper bars this way before with no problems on 9" rears. The original bolts are plenty long enough, there are about two threads showing outside the nut.

There is no boss in the third member to tap, and I did not pull the third member, so I used the vent. I filled by OE specs.

"Back in the day" some friends decided to try out the local dragstrip w/a Mustang they thought was fast. They borrowed a 4:56 chunk & when they installed it they found it had no filler plug . They wound up pulling one axle, jacking up that side of the car & filling thru the bearing end of the housing!

enjenjo · February 21, 2015, 07:14:36 PM

I got the new Xmember parts all bolted in today. There was two pieces of 3/8" by 2 1/2" bar stock in the Xmember when I started, the top one was welded in, and the bottom one was bolted in, and acts as the trans mount too. I made some gussets out of 3/16" steel, about 7" wide to fit between the two pieces of bar stock. I cut a hole in each one to open it up for access to other things, and bolted them in place with 4 bolts top and bottom. I then made some angle braces out of 1/4" steel 2 1/2" wide, 16" long, and bolted them to the lower bar, gussets, and to the existing Xmember near the back of the bell housing on each side. The angle braces have one side bent down at 90 degrees to make them stiffer. I think this will be strong enough, ideally I would remove the transmission, and make a new top plate, but there were issues with the battery box, shift linkage, and exhaust, so I did it this way.

The last picture is of the rear end installed, and the pinion angle set correctly, which was impossible before. The bars were binding before you could even get it close, This time I set the rear end at ride height, with the pinion angle correct, and fabricated the bar mounts in that position.

The yoke in the transmission is just to keep the oil from leaking out, it gets a conventional slip yoke when I install the driveshaft. It also works good for checking angles.

A nice flat face for the angle finder.

jaybee · February 22, 2015, 12:02:06 AM

Interesting design...serviceable, solid, simple. It's a little different than most of what you see out there too, which is always fun.

chimp koose · February 22, 2015, 01:44:09 AM

That upper 4 bar mount is a nice design . I like that it is a bolt on instead of welding . I wonder if a guy could make a nice looking bolt on lower mount using an existing leaf spring mount . Not for this car but something to think about for a future build.

enjenjo · March 11, 2015, 09:21:30 PM

Quote from: "chimp koose"That upper 4 bar mount is a nice design . I like that it is a bolt on instead of welding . I wonder if a guy could make a nice looking bolt on lower mount using an existing leaf spring mount . Not for this car but something to think about for a future build.

I don't see why not. You could adjust the width if need be.

I took apart the drivers door today, this is the first time I had a chance to get back to it. The regulator arms come out of the window track, because it has a cobbled up track on it. Any one know if the doors on a sedan delivery are the same as any other model, since the sedan delivery is not listed in the parts lists I am finding.

enjenjo · April 27, 2015, 07:59:40 PM

Well, I could not find any tracks that would work in these doors, so I modified the tracks he had to make it work. I then had to make up stops in the track to keep the rollers from popping out.Every thing is now working as it should.

So a couple weeks ago I started it up, let it warm up, and checked things over. Today was a nice day, a little cool, but sunny, so I was going to take it for a test drive. It will start, but as so as the ignition is released to the run position, it dies. It has power at the ignition switch, and at the fuse box, but nothing is getting to the coil. So I have to dig further into it to find the problem. I never touched any of this, so it has me puzzled.

kb426 · April 27, 2015, 09:37:40 PM

Why is it that gremlins and elves work overtime to wreck things but never help with anything constructive! There must be a lot of them because most have the same stories.