1932 Nash 1070

A little history on this car, been in our family since 1960 having come out of a junk yard in Severy Ks. My father finished the restoration in the 70's and it has now come to be under my stewardship. My question is this, has anyone found an easy replacement for the ring & pinion? I am up for swapping the whole axle if needed. I am not looking to overdrive the car by anymeans but it gets really busy at 50mph. Currenty running 7.00 x18's on it. I believe the bolt pattern is shared with Mopar products. Any suggestions?

I've been thinking about the same issue with my 1932 1060 Six with 4.70 ratio.

My thought is that with the Nash mechanical cable brakes, as well as the odd groove needed in the brake drum for my wire wheels, a entire swap does not sound like the right way for me to go. My wire wheels have a prodtruding lip facing the drum, at the center hole, so that would need adressing in a swap. Also, the drums do show, and my car came with body colored drums, so that needs thought.

So, being that my transmission is cast as part of the entire bell housing and starter mount, I can't swap to a newer overdrive transmission.

That leaves two solutions that I can think of:

One would be an in-line OD unit, between the trans and rear end.

Or, do what Dean H did on his Hupp in the restoration forum. He found a way to only replace the center section of the rear end, using a newer car part from a junkyard. Maybe 50s or 60s. This way, he could use stock drums, wheels, brakes, etc.

By the way, my 1060 bolt pattern is 5 lug on 5.5" pattern, like early Ford cars 1928-1948, newer Ford pickups, and I think some Dodge pickups

Edited May 24, 2013 by F&J (see edit history)

I read Dean H postings. Man does he do nice work. Not sure what my bolt pattern is to be honest, I know when it was drug home from the junkyard Dad used the spare tire of his mid 30's dodge pu. I have the same issue with with trans and bell housing cast as one. I do have a 41 Nash OD transmission, not sure if I can adapt the OD unit on in place of the free wheeling unit. My thoughts were a Mopar axle, I have extra extra backing plates i can adapt on the the axle just wondering if anyone else has been thru this? I dont want to cut up this unit, if I could find a spare I have seen people take modern 9" Ford rear ends and weld the center section in, leaving the ends original.

A long reply, but I have thought about most of what you have for ideas for several years:

-if you swap just the center section from a different make; the biggest problem is that your stock rear axle shafts won't have the correct splines to fit into the donor spider gear side gears. Dean, I believe, used the stock Hupp "carrier" which is the rotating cage that holds the spiders, and is what the ring gear bolts to. Then he was able to use the stock Hupp spiders and axle shafts. But he had to find a donor center section that had a ring gear that could be fitted to the Hupp gear carrier. He bought two, before finding one that could be machined to fit the Hupp carrier. $$

One way around that, would be to use the entire donor center section and it's carrier. But the axle shafts won't be the right spline to slip into the new spiders. Then you find a race car axle shaft company, and have 2 new axle shafts made and splined. I would guess a bare minimum of 400 to a high of 800 for axle shafts?

-Next, trying to adapt a 40s-50s OD unit to the back of the Nash free wheel trans: You will run into the same spline problem in my opinion. You may need to have a complete new output mainshaft made, if there is not enough material to respline on the Nash shaft. And then you still need to machine an adapter plate to bolt it together.

A problem in hilly areas with those old OD units, is that they free wheel. So going over the top of a big hill, you will be gaining road speed and with less that perfect brakes, it may not be a fun trip.

-my big concern with my 6 cyl 1060, is the low horsepower and torgue, and I live in hilly terrain. If I overdrive by any of these means, I might be a bit too high when I hit a long gradual hill on the highway. I will gradually lose speed until I am forced to shift out of overdrive, or if I have to downshift to 2nd with a new rear ratio. At that point, I will be forced into the break-down lane, screaming the motor at 55 mph or even less if I go into 2nd.

(as far as work)..The easy way out is a properly geared in-line OD, placed between the trans and rear axle. The aftermarket ones are $2500 or more?..but I may try to fab my own using parts of a 4 speed car transmission.

But I still think the most practical, user friendly way, is to change the center section in the rear end. But make sure that the ratio can work with what you have for hills and engine torque. I even thought about souping up the motor a bit with more compression, but not enough to damage the rod bearings.

All these problems are why so many early 30s cars get street rodded, or modernized; as the owners can't feel comfortable while staring in the rear view mirror waiting to get hit, or just plain don't want to be in everybodys way. So these cars just sit in storage, unused.

I've been thinking about what you said about adapting your backing plates...so, I took one wheel off to take a look.

I was thinking that the drum would be the big problem, but after looking at mine, it looks easy to refit the drum to a modern axle end.

Pic of the back of an (incorrect size) 16" wire wheel that has the same inward facing lip at the center hole; I outlined in white chalk. That lip needs to seat into a slot which is at the correct depth, so the wheel can be tightened properly with the lugs, and have the wheel sit stable.

Other pic shows the 1060 drum setup with that groove highlighted with chalk and arrow. But the groove is actually just a space between the axle hub, and the brake drum.

Now I doubt you can see in the pic, but the drum itself, sits into a very shallow machined surface on the hub. That leaves the "groove" as it is shallow machined spot where the drum sits. But the groove bottom, is not cut as deep as where the drum sits. So you end up with a "step" on the face of the axle hub. The step keeps the drum perfectly centered which is important.

I think this is a simple swap. Remove all 5 lug studs from the "new" rear end axle shaft, then put it in a big lathe that has a large pass-trough hole in the chuck. Now machine that same shallow spot for the Nash drum shell to fit on, and be centered, exactly like Nash did it. The groove that is needed will automatically be formed, as soon as you machine the spot where the drum sits. This seems so easy to me.

I can't really get under the car, but I can feel the back of the backing plate. It's bolting flange is deeply recessed. I think that recess will be wrong for a modern rear end. But I think that can be fixed either by a spacer on the end of the new rear end bolt flange, or by modifying that recess on the backing plate, by sectioning a piece out, and reweld.

I sure don't see this being a tough project at all, except for finding use of a bigger lathe.

My pattern is same as some later Ford pickups from late 40s to at least through 70s if not much newer. Trucks should have the correct choices of ratios that are not too much overdrive. I was thinking a 3.70 or maybe a 3.50 ratio for my 6. I believe Nash models in 32, represent horsepower? I think mine is 60hp I think you are 70 hp?

I think Dodge trucks are 5.5" BC also, just not sure on years.

Even if the newer rear end is 2" or so wider, that's Ok to me, as my wheels seem to be set so far under the fender that it looks odd. Bringing the wheel out would help in looks and maybe stability.

I guess I will measure what width rear end I need, and my sons friend works at a salvage yard to help find a donor.

Edited May 24, 2013 by F&J (see edit history)

SO, Got the old girl out today decided to put some pictures up. She has not been on the road for 5 plus years...... Needs a little TLC.

Your dad had excellent taste in cars.

Your dad had excellent taste in cars.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

..and perhaps a very skilled body man? I could be wrong, but I believe that was a sedan when new?

If it was, I don't think I have ever seen such a skillfull reconstructing of the forward parts of the doors and cowl.

I believe the last two Phaeton/touring bodies offered by Nash, were the "first series 32", one was on the 990 big chassis and the other on the tiny 960 chassis.

http://www.nashcarclub.org/nccaphot/thirty/32_998.html

yes, very skilled. Car was out of a junk yard in Severy Kansas. I think dad paid more to get it put back on its wheels from where it was lying on the passenger side and pulled across the ditch where he could hook to it with a tow bar than he paid for the car it self. If I am not mistaken it was a total of 25 bucks. Now the windshield and all four doors were cut off about 6 inches above the belt line leaving the rear quarter intact. The passenger door was opened all the way around with the spare tire resting in the middle of it while it was on it side. The windshield frame was hand carved out of balsa wood and then cast out of aluminum. hood ornament is not correct for the car but we both liked it and no one else knows what it is from so no issues there.

I think I saw an article in a magazine years ago about that car being built.

Edited May 28, 2013 by keiser31 (see edit history)

Thanks Chad, for putting up the pics and history. I have been thinking about that car for 2 days now, and was going to ask if there were any old pics of it. I did not want to be a pain, though.

Wow, first off; for a person to tackle such a huge project back then is incredible. I would guess a "good" barn find would have been less than 400 or so. Seems the one pic is dated 1963.

What vision he had; truly amazing save. We have seen other great saves in modern times because the prewars are getting rare, and people now start with rougher cars than decades ago.

Your Dad was/is such a skilled metal worker, as well as being able to "see" and then create the curves that fit that car so well. Just wow factor to me. I wish I could have seen him making the modifications.

Barry Wolk needs to see this, as he wants to convert a Contental coupe to a roadster, and I did not think it was possible with a closed car cowl. I am eating crow right now

What a great car to have.

Edited May 28, 2013 by F&J (see edit history)

F&J,

Where did they plumb the oil pressure gauge in on your nash? according to the pictures of the engine compartment mine is plumbed correctly bus it makes no sense to me. According to the pictures mine should be plumbed on the outlet side of the oil filter which then drops straight into the pan...............

The ornament looks to be a 1934 Buick lady.

no,

not Buick. Bigger breasts.

I looked at my 6 cyl Nash engine today, and the gauge is not hooked up. My car might have been stripped in a junkyard decades ago, as the glass & lights were full of BB holes and all the removeable engine parts have been replaced with parts from other makes, by a former owner.

I did see what looks like an oil galley running along the lower driver side of the block, and it has several 1/8" NPT pipe plugs, so I assume a gauge could be hooked up there. No idea if the 8cyl Flathead Nash is the same.

Last night I closed of the filter in an effort to increase pressure with negligible difference, maybe a 10% increase. A little disappointed in that. Hopefully it will clear enough this weekend i can drive it and get it hot and see what kind of pressure i have. Previously when hot, pressure was 5-7 lbs top. cold was 25. Of course the car calls for 40 weight in the summer which is now obsolete......

The old car hobby is slowly coming around to understand that modern multi-viscosity oils are far superior to protect our old engines. When cold they have low viscosity - so they are thin - to quickly splash and pressurize throughout the engine but when hot they are the vis. you seek to take up bearing clearances and fully protect. So find a brand of 10W-40 or 20W-40 you like and use it.

Great car. Your dad would be proud.

Check with the street rod people .Its common practice to cut the center section and replace with a 9 inch Ford differential. Find a rear that the axle tubes are the same or close to your tubes. Ive seen a Ford F150 rear center section in a Hudson retaining the original brakes and wheels.

It irritates me to spend time money and effort to do something only to find out later I have to redo it all.....

This past spring replaced the electric fuel pump which is only used for priming the carb to find out it no longer works. nor does the accelerator pump in the carb. Spend one morning fixing the carb, not a big deal but I did rebuild it 10 years ago and have not driven it more than 50 miles since. The next Saturday morning I spent testing the electric fuel pump wiring connections and then bench testing the pump and the only thing I can assume is it is a mis-labled 12 volt pump..... oh the aggravation. But at least it is up and running now and in good company. look to the back left with hood open.

Chad, you didn't tell us you had a model J!

Sorry to disappoint but I don't own a J. Didn't mean to mislead anyone but I keep one car at a friends house and this is the picture of his shop. A LOT cleaner than mine. The KB & J both belong to his father, the rest are his. Sorry no pictures of what is hiding in the basement.

Oh,

and that J is mighty fun to drive.

Chad, your Nash is amazing, the craftsmanship in stunning. This is exactly what I had in mind, but have to admit I do feel an immense sense of guilt taking a plasma cutter to a set of perfectly good doors. I will rethink this approach, and commend you and your father on such a great labor of love.