Bucket Brigade

Over the summer I basically drove the cars into the ground.

Guess that's what they're for.

How can a 1940 ford be my most reliable car?

The water pump was starting to chirp,

and it was an easy swap,

until I had the bright idea to spray the car with a hose.

I should know better then to spray down a perfectly running engine with a hose.

As expected,

the engine was shuddering and hiccuping.

Time to troubleshoot.

Funny how little problems are found,

that don't cause problems.

I thought for sure it was a vacuum leak from this dried up plug.

Nope.

Then I thought it must be the custom HEI module.

I had gone through everything else.

Good thing I tried swapping out the distributor cap first.

No more water on a warm engine.

On the parts run,

I found out that NAPA is having a deal month.

Last year it was free hats,

this year it's a bucket deal.

Whatever fits inside is 20% off.

Score!

Perfect timing as I had gotten stuck in the van last week.

Had to make a 20 minute walk of shame home.

For a minute I thought that was the end,

of course I had just paid the registration,

and quarter filled the tank.

After cooling down it magically drove home.

4 years ago it had the same problem,

and the fuel pump was the culprit.

This time the tank was much easier to drop.

The evidence of the old repair was obvious,

I had to weld these bolts on the tank straps after they broke!

Like I said the timing was perfect,

and 20% off a $200 pump is a done deal.

For a free van,

two pumps and used tires I can't complain.

Thanks Sepp!

On the flip side we have enough buckets.

TP

MMW autopilot

Two weeks ago was Jakob's birthday.
He waited patiently for swap meet time,
and of all things he picked out a cheapy skateboard blank.
This was a concession to him not getting one of those plastic Penny boards.
Why follow a trend right?

Jakob Perich - 2013 - never bored-never board

He had this wacky idea of painting it with splash graphics,
something from an era that I lived in that had happily passed by.
Well dang it if I didn't get a series of "how to" pics,
as he figured out the method with the help of the internet.
I was amazed how well it turned out!

You can see he did a basic sunburst background,
then with a dish soap overlay got the black splash shadow.
See why I take so many pictures,
that definition doesn't make any sense!

clearance

What was I doing that was so important?

Well I was trying to eliminate this nastiness underneath the green 40,
which meant greasy hands don't touch the new iphone!

As time has gone by,

the suspension had begun to sag.

This is typical as the leaf springs learn how to hold the weight.

The side effect was the radius rods smashing the transmission pan!

Awesome!

Good thing it was sheetmetal as it basically conformed around the links.

stool time

The fix was easy,
a couple 3/8" aluminum spacers to raise the engine and transmission.
The radius rods pivot on that clamped ball,
so there isn't a huge amount of space needed for the first foot or so,
as this suspension has maybe an inch of upward travel.

custom grip tape templates

Meanwhile Jakob had made a design for his custom grip tape.
He's learning templates are key to the fabrication process!
*****************************************************

▶ Medeski, Martin and Wood - Austin, TX, 1996-04-13 - YouTube

As the day progressed into evening,
neither of us could stop with our projects,
pushed by our desire to see an end result,
In the background this crazy music would have derailed many others,
but in our case it was like fuel to the fire,
both of us in the zone.
Get out of our way!

team perich

While he finished his deck,
I made templates for a temporary floorboard.

rat rod road sign floor

Some day I'll make a real tranny hump and do it right,
but these plates will work for now.
No more lost wrenches, change and screwdrivers falling down this hole!

holey chit

In true Perich Brothers fashion we finished by dinnertime.
Pretty wild for a 12 year old kids first try at a custom grip tape!

stance socks and wavy tape

Don't you think this is better than a Penny board?

TP

no excuse

After almost 6 months a bummer event shrouded by rain
has finally coerced me into making space in the garage for 2 cars.

1940 ford coupe

The first couple days parked in the alley spot I had a bit of concern.
Then the week went by,
and a month later that changed more to guilt.
Waking up from wet foggy nights that left the 70+ year old steel covered in dew,
just leaves that "WTF I should know better" feeling.
With no windows I am thankful it wasn't tampered with,
I've got too much trust in the local hood rats.

1940 ford coupe - moonshiner

So what is this bummer event you wonder.
If I could blame it on an old neighbor lady or maybe the trash truck,
it would be so much better.
Instead,
I'll admit that I ran into my own car.
Yeah.
Hack.

holey chit

Here it goes.
I was unloading the van,
and swiped the fender on the way out.
Simple as that.
Jakob was in the car,
and we saw the 40 shake back and forth.
He's observed many of my dumba$$ moves.
Like he knows now not to use a torch to burn the weeds...

dent of shame

The new dent was a sign that maybe I've got to slow down.
On the good side,
this 40 looks way better in these little pictures than it does up close.
The body is really nice,
but the fenders are full of bumps and bruises from the old hot rod days in Perris.
No it's not an excuse,
I'm just trying to shed a little light on this darkness!

stool time

Over the weekend I had to take care of it.
At least smooth it out a little.

roughed

The majority of the bowl popped right out,
using only a simple rounded rubber mallet.
As usual the surrounding circle had multiple mini craters.
A little hammer and dollying and it was a little better.

patina

Over 7 years ago I sprayed the car with a case of rattlecan green,
right over the 60's metallic lime green.
If you look closely I barely sanded the surface,
whatever I couldn't do to save that old paint.
It's so cool to see the actual history of the car.
A friend Detonator Dave calls this "auto-archeology".

auto-archeology

I was running out of time,
and without removing the front wheel,
there was no way to get good hammer access.
Good excuse for a hack job!
I'll have to sand this to bare steel,
and get at it with the shrinking disk and more hammerwork later.

flat black

This is where I really screwed up.
I rarely use masking tape when spraying rattlecan.
The one time I do,
and the tape rips off the original paint,
leaving a ring of bare steel.
Effin A!

stool time

At this point I couldn't be late.
A quick sand and spray,
and the car was wedged in as far as possible.

1940 ford coupe coop

I wish I'd taken the earlier garage shot,
when the rear 2' of the green 40 was sticking out of the garage door.
It did rain that evening!

1940 ford coupes

Now both 40's are where they belong,
under a proper cover.
I'll probably swap the RPU to the garage as it is shorter.
There is basically no room with two full fendered cars.

Anyway always something fun going on...

TP

stool time - overhauling brakes

With the Ventura Nationals coming up this weekend,
it was long ago obvious the green 40 wasn't gonna be a driver.
Too many things on the STD list to rush it,
and the one thing out of my control - the driveshaft,
is still not finished.

stool time

That doesn't mean I'm not chipping away at it every evening.
The rear brakes were questionable,
time to bring out the stool.

ford 8 inch bendix brake

When measuring up the brake lines,
I noticed the bleeder bolt had been twisted off,
the threads jammed into both wheel cylinders.
At $10 a pop,
this was an easy decision to swap out rather than rebuild.

seized ford wheel cylinder

This was a typical $100 craigslist 8" rear end,
with the good old "just was pulled" story.
There was no way this guy had any rear brakes!
A little seized up.

overhaulin'

There's quite a bit going on underneath that drum.
The emergency brake is a tricky mechanism,
and I had to open up the other side to copy how to put it back.

Here's a picture of the underside if anyone is ever in a bind.

It's easy after the first one.

ford 8"  bendix + emergency brake setup

The passenger side was a simple dry overhaul.
The driver side a little trickier.
The rear seal had leaked enough to pickle the entire system with oil.
A little diesel cleaned everything up no problem...

fire - degreasing oily brake shoes

But what about the oil soaked shoes?
There was enough meat on them to last a couple thousand miles,
so I decided to pull a old trick out of the hat.
Here's a quick "how to" - degreasing oily brake shoes.

holey chit - dry brake shoes!

Very easy.
Brush or spray some kind of solvent cleaner
- acetone, brake spray, moonshine hooch...gas...
and clean up the majority of the oily dirt.
While they're still moist,
light them on fire!
Wipe and repeat a couple times,
and wow - you got some clean dry brake shoes!

1940 ford coupe

You think not the most earth friendly way to do this?
Less emissions than driving down to the parts store,
and buying some cardboard + plastic packed new shoes sent from China.
Right?
Ok before everyone's panties are in a bunch,
here's a couple cute kid pictures to distract ya...

grease monkey Macey - 2013

There was a miss when running the engine,
and Macey found out there was a cracked spark plug.
I seriously couldn't keep her away from that engine!
She's gonna be trouble that's for sure.

Macey James Perich - 2013

Until next time...

TP

time for tres huevos

Okay - how about 3 cheers for ADD!
With the wife and kids out of town for the past couple days,
I've been spending a bit more time in the garage.
There's so much to do on each project,
that a couple hours on a least important task is like a mini-vacation for me.

1940 ford custom dash

The last time I showed the dash it was that nightmare green paint,
the pro-line epoxy that has taken forever to cure.
The bright side was it allowed a break from the old "tres huevos",
and focus on the other coupe.

green

If you haven't figured this out yet,
usually I'll compile a series of short work bursts
into an article that looks like I just spent one long day.
In some instances that is the best way to work,
as it's good to have breathing room to let things cure or settle,
and not fall into that rushed build trap that I'll regret later.

brown

Over the course of the month,
I've sprayed some rattlecan primer on the dash.
A metallic Mrs. Butterworth's Brown followed that I thought I'd like,
and dang it the pictures were all blurry.
The brown was cool just a little too boring for the dash.
In the dark it looked like the rusty front fenders.
A can of metallic cherry was scrounged up from the kids model paint stash.

hand rubbed

Now that was a color that was a bit subtle and a bit flashy.
A bunch of clear coats were sprayed on,
and a week passed to let the layers cure solid and hard.

A half hour with some 600 grit soapy wet sandpaper,

and this was almost the sheen I was hoping to see.

All it called for was a good hand rubbing with some watered down rubbing compound.

custom 1940 ford dashboard and insert

Sometimes I'll use a soapy scotchbrite pad,
but there's a tendency to gum up and leave swirl marks or scratches.
My bare hands are about 1200 grit anyway!

cozy

What made this all possible was this cozy throne.
Just enough comfort to get the job done,
and let my mind wander into a potential engraving project on the insert.

shiny

The finish is far from perfect,
almost a patina but really just a cheap rubbed out spray job.
I'm hoping it will age gracefully.
At least now it's possible to install some windshield rubber.

deadeye

In addition there's been a little headway in another unrelated area.
These headlight buckets had been rattling around forever now,
and I'm surprised they weren't lost in the shuffle.
The caged nuts had rusted up long ago,
and there was no easy way to bolt them on.

more green

The solution was so simple it took about 10 minutes,
although now I'll need a wrench to tighten things up.

ring

There were a couple instigators.
First off I had found some '39 deluxe headlight rings.
They have the sleekness that this front end needed,
even without the glass lenses.
If you have some send them my way!

stool time!

The second was a surprise package from "chocolate & cheese Dan",
whose been diligently working on the orange roadster.
He had this electroline sealed beam kit,
and knew I loved freebies.

electroline sealed beam headlights

I only needed the contraption that holds the light bulbs,
and now I'll have to figure out how to set these in place.

broken nose - missing teeth

It looks easy but there are a couple catches,

like being able to remove or adjust them,

and not make them look like they're wearing eyeliner.
Funny how headlights make the car look awake.

1939-1940 ford chopped coupe project

Slowly this 1940 ford coupe is turning into a 1939 ford coupe.
As you can see it hasn't turned into a shelf yet!
Yeah I still need to fill in that hood hole...

TP