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32 FORD

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32 FORD


As mentioned on the main page, the car has an interesting history.  The car has changed alot, but there is still alot of things that remain the same.  For instance, the body, doors, trunk lid, grill, hood, rear fenders, etc. are original.  The steel front fenders were replaced with fiberglass ones as the origianls were somewhat banged up.  The car never had running boards, so we had no option of going with aftermarket, which is fiberglass.  The chassis is even the original one, although it has been modified quite a bit. with boxed frame rails, Mustang II front end, transmission "K-member", 8" Ford rear end, etc..  We still have the original door handles and window cranks.  The engine is a mildly built 351 Windsor.  The car is being built for comfort and driveability.  It will be used primarily for weekend cruises, car shows, and things of that nature. 


Mounting the rear fenders

The rear fenders have to be mounted, then the running boards, then the front fenders- in that order to get everything aligned as you move forward.  Everything was mocked up long enough to take a pic or two (pic on the main page), then removed to avoid having to work around them while running the wiring, and to make it easier for the interior shop- not to mention keeping them from getting scratched.

Running Boards

Here, the running boards were mounted.  We used a hydraulic jack to hold the front of them up while we positioned them and drilled holes for the bolts.

Front Fenders

Once the front fenders were bolted in place, we mounted the headlight bar, then the lights to the bar.  My dad opted for the dropped headlight bar and smaller lights than was originally on the car.

Looking inside from the trunk

This shows the inside of the car as it is right now.  Two bulkheads will be made and installed inside.  One that will seperate the trunk from the interior being basically a vertical wall, then another that will mount just in front of that- almost connected at the top, and angling towards the front of the car.  The angle will be approximately that of the backs of the seats.  It will basically form a trianglular box where the stereo head unit and woofers will be housed.  The battery is in the car to figure out where it will be mounted.  After deciding to mount it on the right side, the battery cables were than ran. 

Transmission fluid cooler

Here, you can see the transmission cooler mounted between the grill and the radiator.  This will help the C4 run a bit cooler.  The grill, grill shell, and the stainless steel trim pieces are original- as they came from Henry himself.

Electric fan

This is an older radiator, but alot of time was invested in making the radiator cap on top functional.  It needs a few fins straightened and the outside painted- which will be done with an airbrush to make the masking job alot easier.  Anyway, while running all the wires that go to the front, I was trying to think of ways to conceal as much of the wiring as possible- such as temp. and oil pres. sensors, choke, distributor wires, etc..  I ended up running the wires through the frame rail to the front, where they exit the frame rail and go underneath the motor mounts, then ran along the oil pan rail.  After getting the electric fan mounted, I had two wires sticking out of the middle of the motor.  I ended up cutting the flared ends off of a brake line, and bending the line to fit the contour of the fan housing.  I then painted it black, clearcoated it with POR-15's Glisten PC (awesome stuff and highly recommended).  The wires were just long enough to run through the tube to where I had to solder the hot wire to the existing "fan" wire in the harness.  The solder joint is at the bottom of the tube, under the small piece of corrugated tubing.

351 Windsor

This is the engine as it sits now.  Still need to tend to a few things such as alternator, wires, mounting the coil, etc., but it is about ready to fire up.  The intake manifold and headers were Jet Hot coated, along with other parts of the car such as front and rear backing plates, strut rods, and driveshaft.  The wires will be ran differently, and is wired to just get it running. 

VIN Plate
Here the VIN plate is installed.  The funny thing is I never realized there was a protective cover on it until uploading this picture.  If I had to do it over again, I would have used rivets instead of the brad type fasteners...I wanted them to stay put so I drilled the holes small, then fought with a punch and hammer for awhile to get them drove in.  I pretty much had to beat the hell out of all four of them, but luckily did not slip once.  Also, as you can see, the car is pretty dusty.  I refuse to run a towel over the paint, so it's going to have to wait until the wheels/tires are on and the car is off the jackstands.  I pull it outside about every six months or so to spray it down with the hose.  The body has been hit with liquid polish by hand, but has yet to be buffed out and waxed. 
Front Brakes
The old Mustang II rotors that were used to roll the car around with has been updated with new ones.  My dad liked the front brakes of the Cobra so much, he decided to go with the same on the '32, as they are both based off of the Mustang II.  The rotors are 11" rotors off of a Granada, which already have the 5 bolt pattern.

In addition to the Granada rotors, adapter plates are used to enable the use of a GM caliper (yea, yea...I know).  It is a good design, and has 2.75" pistons.  Unlike the Cobra, the '32 does have power brakes.  Heres the new rotor and caliper installed.  The caliper will be smoothed and painted.  The pads will be left out until it's time to drive it so I can keep the rotor surfaces protected with a light coat of oil. 
Hilborn style scoop
My dad was wanting to go with one of those low profile type air cleaners that extend out from the carburetor on both sides.  After looking at a few different options, I suggested the Hilborn style scoop.  I thought it would look pretty neat, and thought it would give the cars looks a little attitude.  Even with the full hood on, the louvers are wide enough that you can look in from the sides and see the polished headers, intake, scoop, etc..  Also, the Windsor is not a big engine, so I thought the scoop would help fill some space.  Before he changed his mind again, I went ahead and bought it for him for his Birthday. He likes it as much as I do.