1942 Ford Fordor Revival

ericmac, I fully understand the body shops reasoning and have no argument with them. I am not willing to spend, mostly because I can't afford to, what they need for their paint/body work. What happens is I tell them over the phone "it is not a show car, and I dont want a show car paint job". I send them pictures, and they still want to come look at it. When they see it they price it as a concours show car. I fully and completely , rendunduncy I know, understand why they have to price it that way, but why not tell me before they waste their time and mine coming out to look at it. Oh well, no more pro body shops are gonna be looking at it anyway, I have decided to do it myself. I've worked for a cabinet shop for years and can spray finish just fine. Even though this is different, it's still technique and consistency. I can practice and learn that on this.

when i wanted my 63 bonne painted the cost was more than i paid for the car. i bought the Tip HVLP Turbine system .....& did it myself.at shows & cruise ins i have had people ask if i would paint something they were working on i had to refuse because i am working on another one.

I don't understand why there has to be a driver quality and a show quality job. It should be a good job period. Even so called driver quality should be without flaws. Paint jobs are expensive enough regardless what they call it. I won't accept any job that is mismatched, has runs, ripples, specks, over-spray, orange peel, etc. I expect a job to look like it came from the factory, nothing less and I let everyone know that upfront.

Otherwise I might as well paint it myself.

I agree Bleach, I want it to be right, but it seems there are many variations of right. The more I spend on something the fewer imperfections I overlook. And it does seem to be going the route of " Otherwise I might as well paint it myself".

I went to a local car show this wekend, (Elizabethtown,KY) and saw many a car there with paint jobs I know I can do. It brought me back to my original train of thought, I want to enjoy showing it in local events, nothing fancy and never gonna worry about points or whatever. If I spend tens of thousands of dollars on this, will I enjoy showing it or be soooo afraid someone might dmamge it by getting to close that I wind up spending more time worrying than enjoying. The wife told me to just plan on when the time comes to get what I need to do it as right as I can (she's good to me that way, lol). The people that have seen what I have done so far have said I am taking the right steps to make it a good looking car, so maybe I can do a better job than I give myself credit for. We'll see soon enough.

I had a great day today, went to the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville.Ky and found a NOS radiator for my car for $150. I think that is a great day.

I was in Louisville Friday tooooooooo. Love that show, I have been to many around the USA, and this site is WONDERFUL.

Enjoyable time, and HAPPY for YOU.

I met some nice folks from Sumerset too.

Dale in Indy

I would like to ask opinions of you all. I just got my motor back from the machine shop. I intend to paint it. Would it look best painted in pieces then asembled, or should I assemble then paint. Also, of you that have painted engines, what paint works best, is durable to gas, oil etc.?? Should I just go with engine paint made for this motor, it is out there?

Edited September 19, 2014 by edhd58 (see edit history)

When I did mine, I added stuff like the front & side covers, water pump, Pan, anything engine color. Then I masked all the holes (distributor, fuel pump, manifolds. etc.) then I shot it with the engine color.

See posting #241, page 11 in this thread.; http://forums.aaca.org/f190/reconstruction-34-chevy-master-coupe-297983-10.html

Engines were generally painted as whole assemblies, minus the accessories like the generator and distributor. I think the paint was whatever enamel was in use at the time. In your case, probably the old air dry alkyd enamel. No primer was used as far as I know. Just the paint over clean metal. I think the modern spray paints in the appropriate colors are pretty good. A lot of people use them. You don't need "high heat" paint. Joe

Buy engine paint from Hirsch, you can brush it on bare engine metal (use a good brush, not one that leaves bristles behind) and it will dry smooth....very nice...the real question is what color should the block be for a six cylinder? http://www.hirschauto.com/prodinfo.asp?number=EE-QUART

Funny you mention color. According to all the literature it should be blue. BUT, early pictures show that it was green when it was in the car, so I am going back green. I kinda wonder if it wasn't an early production car and they were using up left over '41 parts. My machine shop guy said he learned several things about this motor, and he hopes the next 6 flathead he does is a late model -- parts are easier to find.

buying the engine paint form Hirsch is the way to go. have used on all by cars and have no issues.

I believe the 1942 6 cyl was blue.

"I believe the 1942 6 cyl was blue. " Yes ILIKECARS53, the correct color according to all the books is blue on the motor in '42. Mine was green when I pulled it, and just because it was that color to start with I am leaning towards re-painting it that same color, just because I can not because it's right.

Got the engine set back in this afternoon. Its just setting there but its back in the car. I'm still working on all the bolt on pieces, oil filter - wire loom etc. I am doing those and bolting them on as I get them finished. I won't post again until some major progress is accomplished but getting the motor back in was a big joy for me and I just had to show it.

Edhd58,

Yes it is a big joy getting the motor back in. Wait 'till you hear it run!!!!

Looking good!

Okay guys I have a problem. Bob Drake and every other supplier of the battery tray for early Ford's say their battery tray is for 41 - 48 Ford cars. My tray is nothing like theirs, and I do not know why. Theirs won't come close to bolting up to my chassis. My option is to make my own battery tray, which I am in the process of doing. Lucky for me I have a welder friend that has scrap metal the right gauge to do this, and he will help me when it comes time to weld it all together. The shaping of the metal wont be to bad, just time consuming. What I keep trying to figure out is why my tray and theirs is so different, and what theirs really does fit.

Below is a picture of where my tray bolts to the chassis

On the picture below does anyone have any idea what was the thin sheet metal that was riveted to the from of the battery tray mount??

I am not sure but in think the battery tray for the 6 cyl is different than the 8 cyl just a guess

edhd58,

If the new tray is the same size and style as the old one and if the old brackets can be reused can't you just have your welder guy swap the brackets onto the new plate??? Just a thought, The car is coming along.

I thought about that, but the new one cost $85 and I think thats a lot for a piece of sheet metal thats about 12x13 inches square. It's not gonna be a big deal to make one out of the sheet metal piece I get. I called it scrap but its a good new piece of metal, just a piece he cut off of something else. I'd rather use the money to but something else I can't make. The old brackets are fine, I even got a small sand blast cabinet to clean up all the smaller metal pieces, it's a lot quicker and better at getting into the corners than a wire brush. The brackets are in one of the pictures repalced on the chassis so I can tack weld the tray in place when its shaped. My friend will then finish weld it at his shop, its easier to take it to him than him bring his stuff to me.

Ouch. That is a little costly. A little time and some simple tools and you can get it done. Doesn't look that hard of a tray to make. Looking forward to see how it comes out.

Well, its been a while since I posted anything. Work has been slowly continuing as I've been working 55 to 60 hours a week. I did find out that the battery tray is engine specific. The V8 wont work for the 6 because of manifold interference. Any way....... I did get the brackets off the old battery tray and made my own, it's not gorgeous and beautiful, but I think it'll be just fine. The newest adventure is finding a fuel pump (original type) for the engine. The fuel pump HAS to be for the G series engine I have found out. My pump is old and all the rubber etc has dry rotted and cracked to pieces. There are many kits out there, but none of them have seem to have the cup that fits below the diaphragm and keeps fuel (or oil?) from running out the bottom of the pump. I am posting a picture of the battery tray, again it's not professional, but hey a battery is going to be covering most of it.

The tray looks good. I don't see anything wrong with it. If it holds the battery nice and secure than it's doing the job.

Well guys, I just couldn;t stand it anymore. NO water in it, I am waiting on a thermostat, but I had to hear it run. I also did it so I can make sure it doesnt draw moisture in the cy

Well guys I just couldn't stand it anymore. I had to get it running because of how humid it is here lately, I didn't want to risk the cylinders drawing condensation and maybe flash rusting. I did oil them heavily, but I'm a worrier. Anyway, no water in it I fired it up yesterday, and it sounded excellent. I ran it several times about 30 seconds each time and let it cool about 10 minutes between times. That was yesterday, flash forward one day. All hell broke loose today. Got everything to fire it up and run it a while. Put in a set of mechanical gauges and had filled it up with antifreeze solution 50/50. I had no worries about what I had done leaking. I was just finishing the oil pressure line when I hear a dripping sound. Once I got out of the car I see green under the engine. As I get to the front of the car all hell broke loose, 4 gallons of antifreeze is pouring onto the garage floor. I don't know how many gallons this thing holds down to the bottoms of the freeze plug, with the radiator full to the bottom of the neck, but it's all over my floor. The rear freeze plug on the driver side fell out. I just don't have the heart to mess with it tonight, I'll tackle it tomorrow.

It's a good thing it happened when it did and not later sometime on the road miles from home. Did you use sealant and tap them hard as to expand and seat them well?

It's a good thing it happened when it did and not later sometime on the road miles from home. Did you use sealant and tap them hard as to expand and seat them well?

Bleach is right. Take heart, count your blessings. No expensive tow.

Oh yes, i definately count my blessings. Bleach, I didn't put them in, the machine shop that did the rebuild will. I am going to go back, clean the openign good, I read somwhere to use aviation Permatex, and reinstall it. I am also going to hit the others a time or two to flatten them out a little more too. Other than the flood, everything else went good.

just a quik video of it fianlly running with no leaks. Valves sound noisy in video but arent bad in real life.

Sounds great to me.

Nice feeling eh?

Well CRAP. Took the car out to wash it to get ready to put on some more primer. I was letting it idle to come up to temp while washing it. At some point the oil pump quit. I dont know how long it idled with no pressure, but it never made any unusual noises. Guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend. Damn, I hate this. It hasnt ran 3 hours since the rebuild.

Do you know for certain that the pump failed? Perhaps it's just a faulty gauge. Even if the pump did fail, todays lubricants are quite superior to those of yesteryear. I can recall television ads that show draining oil from engines while running with no adverse effects. Don't panic until you've done a thorough investigation, and then probably count your blessings! Best of luck!

Last night all I had time to do was unhook the gauge tubing and start it to see if I had pressure to the fitting, I didn't. I did use compressed air in the oil jacket to make sure it wasn't plugged, it wasn't. With everything unhooked I started it to see if oil would squirt out of the engine, it didn't. I have a few things to check tonight. I'll keep the stats updated as I go along.

I have seen engine destruction lotteries where they sell estimates of how long an engine will run without oil before seizing. They usually last something like 20 mins running flat out with no load.

Oil pressure release valve working?

Well, its official the oil pump came apart. As you can see from the picture I was able to get the front cover off the engine to expose the crank,camshaft and oil pump drive gears. The oil pump drive gear shaft should be snug in its housing, its not, it is loose and you can rattle the gear around a little. you can move the gear forward and backward and just in general rattle it all over the place. Next step is to find out if I have to pull the motor or if I can just raise the engine and drop the oil pan. I am tempted to just go ahead and pull the engine so I can have ample room to work with what ever I get in to repairing the oil pump.

Lucky you didn't ruin the engine. Did someone else assemble it?

Bleach, yes the machine shop that did all the rebuild work assembled all moving parts. All I had to do when I got it home was install the head, cam gear, oil pan and other outside the engine parts. The oil pump was rebuilt and installed by the machine shop, and yes I'll be calling them. I dont think anything has been hurt, the engine never got over 100 to 110 degrees and except for the day it was idling while i was washing it, the engine hasnt ran more than 15 to 20 seconds at a time while i saw if what i was doing solved the oil pressure problem.

Well I've made progress. Today I painted the body, doors, hood and deck lid. All in all I'm happy with it. there is some dust in the paint, but that's my fault, I had two people look at it that knows paint, they say when I color sand it everything should be fine. If not I have more than enough paint to do another coat, making sure to not do what I did do this time, not tack cloth it before painting. Yes I had the tack cloth, even had it handy and made sure I had it before I masked everything, I just got ahead of myself and forgot to do it. 

 It's actually a medium dark blue, which turns out to be a mid 50s Hudson color, Boatswain Blue. 

Thanks for saving this great old Ford. A lot people would walk right by, or clip it, or put in a 350, or in some other way abuse it. I'm glad you are fixing it up. It will be rare and an example of the old days.