Vehicle : 1940 Ford C.O.E.

[Suaviloquent]

Salivating at the potential...

 

These are awesome skills to have btw...

[balthazar]

I'm firmly of the opinion that people can do a LOT more than they think they can, it's an issue of application more than ability. A 2nd pair of eyes/hands help immensely, tho.

[balthazar]

Got a few more bits RE the wiring checked off:

• Engine-to-frame ground cable : nice chunky 0 gauge but some missing insulation. Taped the whole length, wire-wheeled the terminals clean, made clean ground spot on the frame, cleaned the nuts & washers, and reinstalled it tight.

• Starter-to-magnetic starter switch cable : same deal.

• cleaned contact area where horn mounts on frame rail & ran new wires from it.

• freed & cleaned the battery hold-down hardware.

 

There's only a few minor things left on the electrical list.

Time to buy a new battery and test everything out for real. Was in PepBois for bulbs for a daily, for fun asked the counter guy if they had any 6-V car batteries. Of course, I wince as soon as they ask the year. Computer pop up list of model years quizzically only goes back to 1962 for batteries… when most cars went to 12 volt in '56. :shrug:

1940 pre-dates battery group numbers. Weee!

Edited February 2, 2016 by balthazar

[balthazar]

Horn wiring complete. Has electric 6 volt fuel pump: wiring complete.
Need to get master cylinder & front brake lines on & system bled so we can test the brake lights (hydraulic switch completes wiring circuit).  

[Suaviloquent]

Now is it true that with lower volt systems they run at higher Amps?

 

One is potential energy, the other is rate of flow, right? So less, potential, more of it can be flowed?

[balthazar]

I think that's right- one of the reasons OEMs went to 12 volts is they could use thinner gauge wire.

 

But I'm still learning the whole 'volts, amps' thing.

[Suaviloquent]

So is the C.O.E going to get painted, perhaps the rust taken care of?

[balthazar]

Nope. Already have a full on resto-mod in the works; a '59 Invicta coupe, about half done. That'll get fully finished/painted.

This one would need thousands of $ of metalwork (where it's rotted, there's no patch panels being repro'd).

Besides, I've really come to love the patina/condition it's in.

[balthazar]

• Straightened front bumper reinstalled; relatively level now.

• Made some of the wiring at the tail lights, temporarily wire-nutted together, permanently spliced/shrink tubed.

• Glove box used to hang open, cleaned out hinge area so it can actually close (still need a makeshift latch).

• Working on last floorboard around column/ brake/ clutch. Fighting me- pedals scrape (they all go thru the floor). Undue wiggle in brake pedal, going to pull assembly & clean/check bearings. New bearing is $1.98

 

• Checked with local, very long time NAPA dealer. Has a brake lathe, turned a set of drums for me before.
I thought he may have turned the COE's fronts, but he said he hasn't turned any drums in nearly 20 years. Then I recalled he turned my B-59 drums, and those were a good 15 years now.

Anyway, NAPA Joe must be well into his 80s- he worked the local Ford dealership service dept, and that's been closed since circa 1959. Joe claims 'no one turns drums anymore', but perhaps this was just 'support' for him saying no. He did offer to sell me his brake lathe, but when I asked how much he squinted and said $3000. Mmm, yeah; no.

 

The last rear drum obvious had water sitting in it- there's 2 rough spots where the drums were parked against the shoes, maybe for years. A shame, because the other drums were all excellent- no turning necessary.
No problem, a buddy who's a truck mechanic -even tho his lathe is broken- knows another guy who does 'em.

[Suaviloquent]

Awesome.

 

You sure you won't make a rat rod of this?

 

The ol rusty C.O.E with a hopped up flathead like they used to do?

[balthazar]

I looked into hopping it up. Who don't like moar powa?

 

Factory motor is a 239 CI V8, 2bbl carb, 100 HP. It's tiny, and they DON'T respond readily to hopping up unless you get well beyond bolt-ons. General ceiling for power is 200, but that requires fistfuls of money. Beyond that there is a diminishing rate of returns where longevity suffers.

 

• I did add dual exhaust. Might be good for 5 HP

• I looked @ bolting some high CR aluminum heads on. My truck is sitting at 6.75:1, AL heads are 8:1. Speedway Motors has Edelbrock flathead heads available, currently marked down to $676 (from $860).

Unfortunately, that 1.25 point CR bump is only good for maybe 10 HP, which is an unworthy swap for my dollars.

• I'm not motivated to pull the motor & do a full modified rebuild.

• Regardless of what I do to the motor, the truck - while not overly heavy @ 4330- is hampered heavily by the gearing : 5.83 (in high range; 8.11 in low). If I were 'loaded' I'd have a custom ring & pinion made with something closer to a 3.00 ratio (would have to do the math)… but that's not happening either.

 

Soooo, it's 'embrace the charm' and putter along. I have the B-59 for (future) speed contests.  

[balthazar]

Found some in-depth FoMoCo specs for 1949. Tho that is the next gen of HD trucks, there is some spec carry-over pertinent to my COE.

 

The famous Ford F-Series debuted for 1948, so my truck pre-dates this. The COEs in the first gen were either "1-5-ton" or "2-ton", but going by the 1945 registration card I got with the truck, it's registered loaded weight was 15,955 lbs. According to the '49 specs, this matches up with the heavier duty COE, rated for 16K lbs GVW. I take this to mean mine is the '2-ton', tho in '49 parlance, that means 'F-6'. Today I guess that would align with the F-650 (there was an F-7 and F-8 in '49, also).

[balthazar]

Front bumper re-alignment. Before :

 

After :

 

- - - - -

Clutch/brake assembly out :

 

Have to remove pin in one end to disassemble- there's bronze bushings in there. Only recommendation I could find is to heat it all up to 250 for an hour, dribble paraffin on the pins & "they all slide apart". Wife gave the thumbs up to use the oven!

[Suaviloquent]

Are the tires skinny or is it that the truck is really wide so they look skinny?

 

So a brake'n'clutch'n'bake 

 

instead of the shake'n'bake?

[balthazar]

Truck IS wide @ 82" but no; tires are by -even remotely modern standards- 'skinny'. Tread width is 5.5"… which is 135mm. 

They are '7.00 x 20' : 20-in rims, 35" tall tire.

[balthazar]

instead of baking it, I ground one end of the pin off, heated up the pedal arm end a bit & hammered the pin out. Then everything came apart.

Bushing does show wear- this was the cause of the pedal wobble :

 

Looking for repro piece.

 

- - - - -

Installed the master cylinder & hooked up it's brake lines, plus hooked up the last wheel's line to it's hose, so the brake system is now officially 'closed'. Bleeding next :

 

Also installed an auxiliary temp gauge in the glove box (or; the space where the glove box should be) & connected the other end to the motor :

 

Here's the master cylinder pushrod- can't for the life of me imagine how one could break such a low-stress part, but here it is with a section of bolt brazed in :

 

It's fully functional & will be reused.

Edited March 1, 2016 by balthazar

[balthazar]

 

 

Headlights work,

high beams work,

tails work,

brake lights work,

dash lights work, 

ammeter works,

 

horn does not. Horn circuit is strong, the horn itself is dead. Super bummer; I've been waiting to hear this baby 'hork' since I got it.

There are people who refurbish them, have to go that route- it must speak!

 

Overall, a very good evening!

Edited March 2, 2016 by balthazar

[Suaviloquent]

Nice.

 

Is there any way to cheaply preserve the metal or just stop the corrosion that is causing perforations in the metal?

[balthazar]

Sure- keep it out of the rain. Done.

 

Perforations took decades of time, the sheet metal is way thicker than anything this side of 1960. 

[Suaviloquent]

So what's left?

 

Are you going to disassemble and then rebuild the engine?

[balthazar]

WIll you please stop trying to delay the Re-Roading!!??!! Pull & rebuild the engine?? I'm not immortal- who has that kind of time???

 

Just kidding. No- unless it grenades, no engine pulling. It ran in 2003, and it's not stuck as of now… so my thumb is getting itchy to hit that start button.

 

- - - - - 

Left :

Re-do the ignition, plugs & plug wires (have all parts),

install the carb (already rebuilt),

flush the cooling system & reinstall the (re-done) radiator & hoses (have),

Gas.

 

Also have to get one brake drum lightly turned, re-assemble the bearings/brakes there,

Bleed the brakes,

Tidy up the wiring,

re-bush & replace the brake/clutch pedal assembly.

Put the doghouse & seats (all re-done) in & go for a ride.

 

Dealing with the insurance company right now, trying to set up my coverage. Quoted annual rate is $196 (my son had an accident in '14, or it would've been $136).

 

Oh, got the horn working tonight! SQUONK SQUONK!

Edited March 3, 2016 by balthazar

[Suaviloquent]

Wtf $196 to add another driver to your policy?!

[balthazar]

No- to insure the COE for the year on it's own policy.

His accident raised my initial quoted price tho.

 

I have pretty good insurance rates in general- my 2500HD (with collision) is $830/yr.

[G. David Felt]

That is a great rate, who you have for auto insurance?

[balthazar]

NJ Manufacturer's, only in Jersey. 100 yr old company, only takes in 'referred' new customers, and I get a dividend check every year (I think it was about $175 last year).

This, in a state where most auto insurers wear bandanas over their lower face.

Edited March 3, 2016 by balthazar

[ocnblu]

Bananas are good for you though.  Lots of potassium.  And they're fun to peel.

[G. David Felt]

Wow, very cool, it seems the companies that are really old are all big monster companies looking to suck all the money out of you. Glad to hear you have a great insurance company Balthazar.

[balthazar]

 

You guys should've seen the low grade panic when I waltzed into the DMV with this ancient parchment, asking about titling it.

[G. David Felt]

[balthazar]

• Put the horn back in the truck & hit the button & nothing.

Took it back out & adjusted the points a teense and it bench-tested fine. Put it back in the truck, connected the wires & battery, pressed the button and the ENGINE CRANKED.

No more than a quarter turn --wouldn't run anyway since the carb is still on the bench-- but it surprised the crap out of my buddy. Horn circuit goes thru the 'magnetic starter switch', but apparently was on the wrong terminal there. Swapped things around and the horn worked fine via the steering wheel button.

Inadvertent test of the mag. starter switch shows 1 more 75-yr old component still works! 

 

• Dug out 2 rubber bumpers and cut/bent/drilled a spring steel clip and made the glove box latch, rather than the hideous twisted spring 'fix' that really did nothing. 

Edited March 9, 2016 by balthazar

[balthazar]

Not such a good day on the truck today- while earlier we tested the horn, lights, tails, brake lights successfully, those are 'hot' circuits.

 

Today we switched on the 'ignition toggle' (akin to turning the key on), looking to test the fuel sender/fuel gauge, but the truck started blowing fuses. 

Disassembled & cleaned the ignition switch, that wasn't the issue, wracked out brains a good hour…. somewhere something is incorrectly connected, because when said ignition toggle is OFF, one circuit still is getting power.

 

We'll get it.

[Thed]

Start disconnecting grounds. If every ground is disconnected (minus the ground to chassis) and it still blows fuses, then you know you have wires rubbing up against metal. If not, then there are either wires rubbing together or something is incorrectly wired. 

[balthazar]

Gotta be incorrectly connected- there are no broken/exposed wires- they're all brand new.

 

Truck is positive ground, and most stuff is grounded by being mounted (fuel sender, oil pressure sensor, etc).

 

Looking hard at the voltage regulator- the one thing we hadn't opened yet.

[Thed]

Ugh... Why didn't you just convert it to 12V?

[balthazar]

I'm in love with the fact that's it's from 1940.

 

12-volt conversion would involve some more work/money spent obviously, for no real gain. And the current electric issues have no bearing on the volts supplied.

[oldshurst442]

SQUONK SQUONK!

 

Im imagining how that SQUONK SQUONK horn sounds like and Im replaying it in mind!

[balthazar]

RESOLUTION!

 

Had voltage regulator (which we opened, BTW, and it was as clean & sparkly inside as if it had just shipped from Amazon) grounded to a clean bolt on the cab.

Schematic said to ground to generator, but there was no 3rd terminal. Closer inspection revealed a small hole on the other side of the generator case, a threaded hole. 

Moved ground wire to it and it NO LONGER POPS FUSES!

 

On to the ignition/plug wires!

Edited March 17, 2016 by balthazar

[balthazar]

Glass cleaned, door windows and latches lubed & working well, windshield latches working well, door hinges working well.

Condenser replaced, ready to take the coil & distributor apart and install new pieces.

Still trying to find time to get the brake drum turned.

[G. David Felt]

Very cool to hear you are getting close to having it back on the road.

[Suaviloquent]

Awesome!

[balthazar]

Bah- still blowing fuses. I believe it was more than one source. Backtracing everything, frustrated. Lack of definitive schematic isn't helping. Have internet feelers out there looking for guidance. Some are saying it shouldn't have fuses, but circuit breakers. Discouraged. Truck for sale. 

 

 

EDIT ::

• moved the ignition feed off the fuses, so the ignition switch is always hot. I say it here and it makes sense, but that was not what the schematic was saying. Also reconfigured a couple wires on the fuse block.

• had to modify the oil pressure gauge- the backing of the gauge was re-ally close to the 2 terminals poking thru. Snip snip, file file, repeated incremental tests and no continuity from the gauge to it's backing, the gauge pod, the dash or anything else.

 

Re-hooked up everything one @ a time, testing hot each stage, no blown fuse! On to the distributor next!

 

 

Oh; truck no longer for sale.

Edited March 23, 2016 by balthazar

[balthazar]

• Got the last drum turned- my buddy has a brake lathe machine. I'd say it's about 80% 'good to go', tho I will do a little hand work on it too (Scotchbrite). Then I can do the bearings & re-mount those dually tires.

 

• Had a local machine shop look at my pedal assembly- they cleaned up the shafts & trued the bushing up, I put it back together & greased the crap out of it. Brake pedal still wobbles, going to try something else to steady it where it comes thru the floor. Assembly is back in the truck.

 

• Re-routed some wires with an eye toward tucking them out of sight better.

 

• Next up is tackling the distributor, which is a complicated sucker, which also has to be removed from the motor to service.

Edited March 30, 2016 by balthazar

[oldshurst442]

Although I dont know you on a personal level....DUH, we talk on the internet with no other human contact other than letters and words on a computer screen...

Im quite happy for you that you were probably only joking, but maybe some truth to it though, that you are keeping the truck.

 

I could sense the passion you have, so Im eager to see this project move forward.

Edited March 29, 2016 by oldshurst442

[balthazar]

Haven't tackled the dizzy yet. List never seems to get shorter.

 

• Have working (rear only) turn signals! Might be worth while in today's frantic road traffic. Have new 6V bulbs & a new flasher, plus re-wired the signal unit.
I really should drive this around during rush hour, make everyone's blood boil.

 

• Busted one tail light lens (glass)- will have to pick up another off FleaBay.

 

• Worked on the 2-spd rear shifting: disassembled & lubed some bits, made sure the rear was in the higher (numerically lower) gear range. As a reminder, the rear has 5.83 & 8.11 gear ratios. The linkage under the cab is fairly loose- will mess with it farther down the road.

 

Pic of Eaton rear :

 

- - - - -

Major items still on the list:

• distributor

• re-assemble one rear brake/bearings

• bleed brakes

• weld minor front crossmember in so grille/hood can latch down

• bundle wires

• reinstall radiator/hoses

 

• start it.

Edited April 9, 2016 by balthazar

[G. David Felt]

Very Cool update, I can totally understand the frustration but then we do take on these projects of love. All the best to getting to your next item on the list and checking it off.

 

Appreciate the pictures you include as that really helps understand what you are dealing with.

 

Keep on Rockin!

[balthazar]

Crappy cell pic of driver's floorboards. On an earlier page I showed how I fabricated these, here finally they are fitted with the surrounding steel plates that cover the opening for the steering column, brake & clutch pedals. Some heavy jute material in the hole around each keeps the pedals from wobbling too much. With these in place, the last smidge of wiring can be done: connecting to the dimmer button, determining which click gives me high beams, then wiring the high beam indicator light accordingly.

 

[balthazar]

• Mounted a 3rd headlight… in the center of the roof. It seems befitting of a commercial truck. Yes, it will be operable. 

Had to check that the truck will get out the garage door- got about 5 inches to spare.

 

• Installed the last rear drum/ bearings/ rims. Rear tires on that side were pretty low on pressure, like just about nothing… but they're so stiff, you'd never know it.
This task completed, the truck sits on all 6 tires… on the ground again. 

 

• Made new radiator pipes. There are steel pipes between the water outlets on each cylinder head and the twin ports on the radiator. The old ones were too rusty and a set I had a muffler shop punch-bend were crude beyond acceptability.

Edited April 20, 2016 by balthazar

[balthazar]

• Got the "Cyclops Eye" roof headlight wired to an ancient toggle switch that came in the truck; done.

 

• Reinstalled rebuilt carb & found a excellent throttle return spring; done.

 

• Finished dimmer switch wiring. High beam indicator wouldn't light- so took that assembly all apart, cleaned everything (socket, bulb, housing, spring, etc) & reinstalled. On the dash its a tiny 'peephole' which used to have a colored lens in it (about 1/8th inch in diameter), so I used a leather punch and a peanut butter lid to make a perfect red 'lens' which snapped into the 'peephole'. Works great.

 

• Test-fitted the doghouse to make sure it cleared the aftermarket air cleaner. It does; you can still slip a pice of paper between it & the doghouse.

 

• Made an aluminum plate to work with the battery hold down. My battery is an Optima Red Top, but their 6V batteries are half the width of a 12V, so the plate was needed to clamp the battery down under the full-width hold-down. Done.

 

• Flipped the front license plate holder upside-down & mounted my other 1940 plate. I like how it peeks out, not sure how cops will feel (Year of Manufacture plates are NOT legal in NJ, so double the pain).

 

Roof spot light & front plate :

 

Also note (vs. post #113) that the wiring is greatly tidied up. Looking for some period cloth wrap to hide the blue wiring under the hood.

Edited April 24, 2016 by balthazar

[G. David Felt]

Awesome, the Beast is looking better and better. Nice Job!

[balthazar]

'Grille crossmember' on my truck was mangled- with the missing original grille & the bent bumper, seems obvious it was in some sort of minor head-on impact. 

Issue was; the grille latches to that crossmember. I had a spare I bought with my replacement grille. 

 

Cut out the old one, which was completely detached on the passenger side. I didn't weld the replacement in because there is nothing to weld to on the pass side anymore- the replacement was a few inches short due to being torched out of another truck. Luckily this piece lines up with 2 outriggers on the frame and instead got bolted down with 1/2-in bolts. 

 

Grille latches cleanly now, so I don't have to worry about it popping off & me running it over.

 

Edited April 26, 2016 by balthazar