Restoring Uncle Henry's 1932 Model B Tudor

[jim5618]

I hope this is ok, I wanted to start a new thread to Chronicle the restoration (without all the advice questions on the other thread).

I bought this car in November 2010 from my Uncle's estate. He bought it in 1959 for $40. I do not know the condition when he bought it, but I did find a notebook with comments on restoring the car which indicated he pulled the motor, repaired a fender and repainted the car(all in 1961-63). To date I have pulled the carb and gleaned it and put new gaskets in it.

Inspection so far shows a missing passenger taillight and bracket, a broken drivers tailight bracket, gunk in the gas tank, drivers side door is sprung and doesn't like to latch, Interior is shot but all there. Drivers seat is off track/broken track?. Motor turns over by hand with plugs out, but we have not tried to start it yet.

Purchases so far:

Motor gasket set (to have on hand and plan on pulling the oilpan to clean it), carb gasket set, both from Dick Spadaro in Altamont, NY.

Edited December 19, 2010 by jim5618 (see edit history)

[jim5618]

First mystery was why LeBaron Bonney did not sell a seat set that matched the interior. When I pulled the back seats out I noticed that there appears to be a cover sewn over the original mohair. Nich job though. Although the car was originally mohair I am going to replace it with the small check. I believe either is correct for the standard Tudor.

[Guest bofusmosby]

Great looking car Jim! I had to make a post, so I would be notified of future posts. I look forward to seeing and hearing of your progress!

[jim5618]

Drivers seat has issue with the track. Looks like the screws pulled out on one side and that allowed the track to come out on the other. I am also posting photos of the tools and and a guard? that was in the car. Other than the wrench, I do not think the rest goes with this car? I did also find the grease pump that I believe was original equipment.

[jim5618]

Today's "progress". Pulled the plugs, oiled the cylinders, and hooked up the battery. Yay! the headlights work on all three settings. The first operational item. starter turned over the motor well. Then we put the plugs in and rigged up a temporary gas tank by hooking it up to the fuel pump. Gas leaked on the floor. Took fuel pump apart and realized the gasket has shrunk. We hooked the tank up to the carb but then realized the battery did not have sufficient charge to really turn the motor over. Need to use a charged battery tomarrow. Also, I am noticing that the wiring seems to be cobbed together over the years. Need to seriously consider a new wiring harness.

[jim5618]

Pulled the satarter today. I don't have pictures, maybe tomarrow. need to do a rebuild on it. Spring in the plunger/lever is broke. Cable is messed up too. time to go shopping. Notices that the dish holding all the nuts and a spare (broke?) distributor was actually a hubcap for a ford deluxe.

[jim5618]

Well....discovered today the armature on the starter is bent. Good News is a friend had 3 Model A "junker"motors stored away and offered a starter. We pulled the starter and cleaned it up...now I know it is not a permanent solution because the switches are different, but we are just trying to see if the motor will run. Cleaned it all up, tested it and then put it in the car and it won't spin the motor....back to square one. I think I will buy a starter we know is good and eventually rebuild the original one we have. Done working on it for now.... shoopping list so far....fuel pump rebuild kit, starter, starter cable, battery, maybe a wiring harness. Oh and the carb had been broken where it mounts to the manifold and has a bad looking, but functional weld done. I bought a rebuildable carb and will rebuild it while I wait for all the other parts.

[jim5618]

One of the neatest things in the car was a notebook my Uncle kept on restoring the car. Not much detail. As you can see the first page was a couple of years in time. He only filled it out to 1964, but it does let me know some of the things he did. He had his own auto repair shop around this time so I think it might have not been running when he got it.

[jim5618]

Haven't posted in a while. Not much going on with the car other than hunting parts. I am going up this weekend to work on it. I did pick up a box of carb parts and am rebuilding a carb, and cleaning up a second carb top to replace the broken one on the car now. That way I will have two good (I hope) carbs. Not being close to a place to blast them I used alot of solvents and rust remover... and steel wool... and brushes (figured out the denti brushes make great tools to clean carb passages). I did the carbs for experience and something to do. I will be very happy if they actually work well... LOL I finished painting them this weekend and will assemble one tonight.

[jim5618]

Update. Went up 2 weekends ago and got a lot done. First issue was getting the switch I got put on the starter, new battery, hit the switch....nothing. tried another switch, nothing. Turns out my Dad forgot to release the springs on the brushes. We fixed that and the car fired right over with the plugs out....plugs back in added lawn mower Gas tank hooked directly to the carb (still need to rebuild fuel pump), got the fire extiquisher just in case, and it started right up! Only ran it for 10 seconds but it sounded good.

We pulled the gas tank, still had a couple of gallons in it (looked dark as diesal). No real sludge, but some surface rust. We are contemplating the rock tumbling routine, but I think we will just go with rust treatment and sealer. The pickup unit wasn't even plugged up. Didn't even need penetrating oil on the bolts, it all came right off. Car hasn't seen moisture in 40 years...

Pulled the oil pan (had to post here to find out I needed to turn the steering wheel to the left to get the pan to go past the tie rod). Dumped the oil out and dropped the pan in the grass. The inner piece popped right out. Oil in the bottom was like mollases but no chunks of anything in it. We did find some gasket looking material in tihe screen for the oil pump, not a lot though.

What a pain in the AS_ to get the pan back on. Finally realized I needed to screw a bolt in where the setscrew was to hold the oilpump up. Got it all back together.

Was VERY happy to discover the bottom plate for where the pedals meet the floorboards was still attached. My drivers side door is pretty screwed up. May have been repaired, but it is way out of alignment and the seam looks like it is coming apart by the bottom hinge.

My locking hub cap on the spare has no key and I can't get at it even from the back. The rear bumper was broken off and welded back on. It looks straight but is why it was painted and not the polished nickle. Sorry for the long post but excited to finally have progress.

[keiser31]

Thanks for the update!

[jim5618]

Oh, and I got new floorboards from Roy Nacewicz, still need to stain them. I am still hunting for the cover that goes over the battery. Is that the same as a model A?

Still to do...rebuild fuelpump, clean out and reseal gas tank, replace radiator hoses and flush, see if horn works (I think the wiring isn't hooked up), order new tires, drill out the locking hub cap on the spare tire. Need to take the aftermarket heater out. Replace the 30 amp ammeter with the correct 20amp on (which I found) Hmm...need to figure out where the engine splash guards go and put them on (probably need all the bolts for that. Redo the interior... OH and the biggie for next week...try to get the title. I have the 1932 plates to go in the car. Once I get the title the registration is easy.

[jim5618]

Time for an update. Not much new. Maryland rejected my title paperwork so I am having my cousin remake the bill of sale out to my Dad and go through Massachusetts. Since the car was last registered in Mass, I have a better shot. Going straight through the main Title office with notarized affidavits.

In the mean time I got the two front floor boards from Roy Nacewicz and used his stain. They came out great. Next work trip is Fathers day weekend. I am hoping to make the early v8 meet in saratoga.

Edited May 23, 2011 by jim5618
typo (see edit history)

[jim5618]

I thought I would update this thread. Went back up to work on the car this weekend. Stopped in at Dick Spadaro's on the way home from the airport. Man does he have a lot of used stuff. Got to see his 32 Tudor as well. Busy day yesterday. Started the POR 15 treatment on the gas tank. Got the seats and floorboard out (after a quick call to Roy for directions). found a previous owners 1947 license in the car as well as a wooden gas guage stick in the door. Replaced the battery tray and fuel pump. Got the horn working. Once I got the wires hooked up right and realize my uncle had wired a door bell button by the vacuum gauge, it worked. Had to take the heater out to get the floor out. Drilled out the lock on the hubcap. All the parts work on it so I may get the lock replaced and use it. Believe it or not I have yet to need penetrating oil on a single nut so far. Car is in great shape. More work on the tank and getting the floor board ready to go in today then putting it away till the July 4th weekend. Crossing my fingers on getting it to saratoga. Might trailer it up if I have to.

More photos on Smug mug: http://jrodda.smugmug.com/Cars/henry...264092_5sctdM5

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[jim5618]

Posted up moire photos:

Uncle Henry's Model B - James Rodda's Photos

Screwed up sealing the tank with the POR 15 Kit. Anyone know how to get that stuff out? I guess either the tank wasn't dry or the rust removal didn't take. Huge chunks of the sealer came loose. Disapointing as I wanted to get the tank in last weekend.

[unimogjohn]

Jim, my tank on the 23 was like yours, the sealant had failed. I took it to Gas Tank Renu and they had to rebuild the entire tank and reseal. The problem is that it costs lots for the service. I paid almost $700. Ouch!

On my Avanti I took it down to the local old time radiator shop and they cut it open, sand blasted all the rust out, did repairs, and sealed it for $140.

You should consider sending it out as there is no way knowing that you got all the gunk out. It could leave to stranded with plugged strainers or lines.

[jim5618]

John,

The tank is really in good condition. I was sealing it as a preventitive measure (which I regret now). I talked to th ePOR15 people and they said thier marine clean will take the sealer out. What normally prevented the tanks from rusting inside? Just the gas sloshing around?

[trimacar]

While I'm not an expert on gasoline, I do have a few thoughts about rust in gas tanks.

Most gas tanks on automobiles were delivered with bare steel inside, no coating.

To rust, this bare steel needs two things, oxygen and moisture (water).

Gasoline, by itself, does not promote rust, as it doesn't keep moisture (water) in suspension, and while it may have some dissolved oxygen (gas companies sometimes add oxygen to increase octane), that oxygen alone will not cause rust.

A tank will only rust if there is water which is at the bottom of the tank (bad fuel, and the gasoline floats on the water), or if there is little gasoline in the tank and the air contained in the rest of the tank has moisture in it. Thus, when storing a car, it's best to have a full tank of gasoline. With today's gas, this also means youneed to add a stabilizer if the storage is greater than 6 months or so.

As a side note, the ethanol that's added to modern gas has a high component of moisture, so it can promote rust far more than the "straight" gas of the old days. It also hurts your gas mileage of course, as ethanol only has about 60% or so of the energy content of gasoline.

Great project you're doing, and so glad that it's going back to original, too many '32 Fords have been lost to the rodders.

[jim5618]

Went up this weekend and worked on the car. Two gallons of liquid stripper finally got all the loose sealer out. The tank is back on the car. Dd not have time to try it out. Went to put in the new exhaust.... Great news was I have 2 of 3 original hangers and an original clamp. Bad news is I thought I had a solid pipe from the motor to the muffler. Once i took the muffler off I could see that the end had rusted and it looks like about 7" were cut off and the muffler Cramer on. Is explains why the last piece of tailpipe was not on it. Pulled off the three shocks I have (one is Mia) so I can send them to Bill to rebuild. Also noticed the driver rear fender has a repair done to it. You can only see it from inside the fender well. Oh, used the stripper to take the paint if the back bumper. I think it will be good enough to re-chrome.

More photos added to smug mug: Uncle Henry's Model B - James Rodda's Photos

More photos on my smug mug.

[jim5618]

Well I was reading the posts on other people's progress and realized I hadn't posted on mine in a while. I only get to work on it once a month or so...progress is slow.

I did find a correct rear view mirror...or should I say glass. I was going to just get a repro mirror, but I noticed the original had nice round corners and the repro all had noticibly sharper corners. So I found someone to resilver my glass. I was real happy with the result for about $25 more than reproduction. I did not repaint the frame as I wanted it to match the older interior.

[jim5618]

I have also done more work on the car itself. Tank is back in and all the fuel lines hooked up. I had issues with fuel not getting to the carb. Finally took the fuel pump out and put it back in. It worked. Fired the car over and it started right up.

I also put a new exhaust in. I had to take the pipe that goes from the manifold to the muffler, to a local guy to fix the bend. No way it would work out of the box. Slapped a milk crate in and fired her up and drove her out the door. First time she has been driven in at least 30 years!

Video is here 2011 09 24 15 51 37 310 - YouTube

I did get my used seats put in as well...shaping up....

[keiser31]

NICE!!!

[jim5618]

Not much new going on. Got the motor splash pans repaired then I painded them with rustoleum appliance paint. Rebuilding the tailights, but got the wrong gaskets so I need to reorder them. Little by little.........

[Flop]

hey Jim the pans look good shiny black! glad i could help you out!! keep it up on the ol 32!!

[jim5618]

hey Jim the pans look good shiny black! glad i could help you out!! keep it up on the ol 32!!

Hey GREAT job! I am so happy with the job you did fixing the cracks and crappy welds. Hard to believe there was a whole chunk missing from one. Used appliance paint on them, worked well.

[jim5618]

Been a while since I posted. Not much new, but I did get the floorboards in. I continued my "lucky streak" by reading a post about carpet clips in the floorboard of a deluxe. Mine is a standard, but I looked in the old ratty floorboard anyway and they were in there. If I hadn't read the post I would have pitched them. The trans cover is like swiss cheese on one end so it was sent off to Flop for repair.

[jim5618]

Just some more small stuff. Flop did the metal work. I will be doing major stuff on the car next week.

[jim5618]

Latest progress on the B. Interior is done as far as I am going this time. Keeping the original headliner as it is all there and has one small tear (and I am not looking to tackle putting the newer one in). Floors from Roy. Original tranny cover and cup cover. Rebuilt shocks by Bill and 5 new tires and tubes from universal tire (Goodrich). Dad and I changed the tires by and. Not fun (and I clocked myself in the head with the tire iron once) but not that complicated. Only issue is the 18.5 tires do not fit in my spare tire strap so I am leaving the strap off for now.

[jim5618]

So good news, found someplace local to move the car to so I can make better progress....bad news, something in the wiring fried out, smoke in the cab and everything....good news, I already have a new harness from Tyree to put in.

Photo one, loaded up for the trip (yes that is a real Muffler Man in the back ground).

Photo Two, checking out the Gettysburg site for the 2014 Early Ford V8 eastern meet.

[jim5618]

SO I pulled the horn rod out and cleaned and replaced the spring. Hopefully I can get it back in with out bending it. In a Tudor you can just barely get it out. I hear in a coupe it has to go through the roof or take the back window out. Once I got it apart, I realized I only needed to slide it up a foot or two and could have disassembled it with the rod still in. Would have been a pain though.