[hotrod1937]

Good Afternoon,

Starting a thread on my 1952 Ford Mainline build. At this point in time, I have removed the engine, transmission, steering, steering column, and cleaned off the firewall

History
I purchased the car about two years ago June 1, 2020. The reason for the purchase was I broke my 1947 Ford during a drive mainly because I had a bit of the COVID blues going on and ripped the motor mount out of the car during a hole shot up a hill. The 47 tore the frame rail in the process, so a lot of work was needed. My wife brought up the idea of me going to go find a driver quality car for us to putt around in while I was fixing the 47. Saw the 52 and bought it. The car has 38,000 original miles and no rust on it whatsoever.

The plan is to build a street driven gasser out of the car. Big block chevy, turbo 400, and a ford 9 inch rear. the picture below show the day I brought the car home, and the removal of the engine and trans. So far all is well and going according to plan.

I will continue to update as progress is made.

 

[hotrod1937]

I am planning on placing the straight axle under the original frame. The only thing that I have not quite figured out is the steering linkage. I am going to use a 525 steering box as the vega seemed a little light for the car with a big block. The question I am working on is to use heim joints or tie rod ends. The front axle is going to be a Speedway assembly, but all of them use heim joints for the tie rods and the drag link. Not too sure how I feel about that. I did notice that if I go with a straight axle with ford spindles, I can buy different steering arms which will allow me to convert to traditional tie rod ends. Never used heim joints before for steering systems. As I plan on driving the wheels off of this car for long distances with the family in the car, I need it to be safe. Any suggestions?

 

[hotrod1937]

All, picked up the engine and trans. so far soo good. The engine is a 1988 Mark IV 454. has about 90k on it and ran well before removed. (I know, weren't they all!) So far form what I can, the valve train is extremely clean by peeking under the valve covers. I need to find a fuel pump pushrod and eccentric to convert to a mechanical fuel pump. The heads are smog era heads with 2.06 intakes and 1.77 exhaust valves and 118cc combustion chambers. All and all not the greatest, but when I take a pass off of them that should increase compression a touch. The heads build power up to about 5,000 rpm which should be plenty for a street driven gasser. Although searching through the Summit catalog last night, I did find that a company by the name of VEGE makes preproduction heads that flow a bit better for about 300.00 a piece. May consider that option. It is a four bolt main block with a forged crank and rods. Should be a good base. I plan on replacing the rings, bearings, and resealing the entire engine. I know there is a lot more potential for this engine than what I plan on doing, but I am trying to keep the goal in mind of this gasser project being street driven. A new cam will be in the future, still doing some research on what type of cam to run. A dual plane intake as the car will be mainly street driven with a 850 cfm carb, more than likely a quick fuel brawler as I have used QFT on other engines and absolutely love that carb. One of the best for money in my opinion. An HEI ignition is in the plans as well. Looking to keep it reliable and easy to get parts if need be.

The trans is a th400 out of a suburban as well. It has the heavy drums and clutches and should be great behind the 454. If all checks out well, it will get a new converter and a shift kit. Thinking about a 2500 stall speed converter.

Hopefully mock-up will take place today and we shall see how that goes. Once mock-up is done, time to order the straight axle and headers so I can begin figuring out the steering system.

More to come.

 

[hotrod1937]

Still building. All, hopefully more pics will follow here shortly. I inured my bicep bilateral tendon which has slowed down the progress, but the car is underway. Still shooting for an April date to have the car on the road.

 

[hotrod1937]

Although, I do have a question. I have a ford 9 inch assembly under the rear and I really do not want to cut or radius the quarters. I have the axle mocked up as a flip under the leaf springs to be able to run a bigger tire and not interfere with the quarters. My front suspension should be here by the end of the weekend. I did not want to change the rear until I had the front end mocked in. My concern is that it may sit too high in the rear but time will tell. Any suggestions?

 

[hotrod1937]

No pictures yet folks, but I did manage to get the front suspension and steering system torn out of the car, marked my wheel base and will begin to assemble the front springs with bushings, mounts, and shackles. The front axle is a Speedway unit with Ford disc brakes and measures 54 1/4 inches hub to hub. A little more narrow than stock suspension hub to hub at 58 inches but I wanted to tuck the wheels a touch. I figured if it looks too marrow I can always install longer studs with a wheel spacer. With the suspension hanging low in the front I should be fine on clearance for turning radius. I have installed the rear axle which is a Ford 9 inch assemble with a 3:50 locker. I know, the gears are a little low but for a driver on the street at highway speeds should keep the RPMs down a touch. I do have a 4:10 third member for it should the need arise. At this moment the rear end is hung under the leaf springs. Mixed feelings on that as I have mentioned but I am waiting for the front axle to be mocked in to get a look at the car on the ground on four wheels before any final decisions are made.

Picked up the go fast parts for the engine. Comp thumper cam, quick fuel 850 cfm Brawler with mechanical secondaries, HEI distributor, 10mm taylor wires, gasser headers for a 1955 - 57 chevy (Should fit just fine), all bearings, rings, high pressure meiling oil pump, hardened oil pump driveshaft, new valve springs that match the came with hydraulic flat tappets, double roller timing chain, 110 gph mechanical fuel pump, 2500 stall speed B&M converter, street strip shift kit, and I am sure I am forgetting other stuff. I know, some of you may be wandering why did I not go with tunnel ram. I have asked myself that many times. Main reason, I don't want to cut the hood at this point in time. I have a 47' Ford without a hood and it is mesriable when I get caught in the rain. Happens more than I care to think.

Quick question. This being my first gasser build, does anyone have a preference as to which end of the spring to install the spring shackles. I have heard pros and cons for both. Soem say put the shackles in the front, others say put the shackles in the rear of the front springs. I was planning on putting them in the in the front due to a slight kick up on the front frame rails in front of the spring pockets. Suggestions are very much appreciated.

Hopefully by the end of the week, I will have more pictures to update.


Thanks

 

[hotrod1937]

After seeing a pic online of the 52 I do think it will be hard to put a big tire under the wheel opening without lifting it up High According to the pic I found. I thought why not maybe cut the rear and keep the tires inside the quarter.
View attachment 108887
Steve has a fine example on his 53. Radius does the job.

View attachment 108888

Absolutely beauitful. Love the look of the car sits nice. If possible I would love to see more pics of the car. Serves as great inspiration.

 

[hotrod1937]

As far as which end of the springs the shackles should be, it depends on which side of the axle you plan to locate your steering box and drag link. I try to not have my cross steering pushing or pulling on the same side as the shackles, so it's not deflecting from shackle flex sideways. So if my steering box is behind the axle I put the shackles in the front, or vice versa.
I hope your decision to go 2" narrower on each side with your 54" axle width doesn't result in issues. With fenderwell headers it may put the tires too close to the collectors, and have contact when turning, or hitting bumps while turning. The other concern is the car taking on the look of a old tractor with too narrow stance up front. I usually go wider, not narrower, when the stance is higher than stock.

Thanks for the info. I set up the springs today with shackles in the front for the rear cross steer system. I do have a plan for the wheels if they are too narrow for my liking. I can either install a set of wheel spacers providing i do not need to move over about 3/4 of an inch on each side or get a bigger axle. Hate to say it but one of the factors for a narrower axle was do to availability from Speedway. This is all they had in stock for the foreseeable future. I spoke with one of their reps and they told me they had no idea when the 56 or 58 inch ones would be available. Figured I would give it shot. If it doesn't work, I should be able to send just the axle back and order the longer ones......Hopefully. Made some progress today. Springs are mocked into place. Tomorrow I should be able to get the axle mocked into place and set the car on the ground to get a good look at how it sits and such. The headers should be fine. I installed a set of gasser headers on the car when I put the 454 in place and the tops of the wheels were hitting the collector. This was with the stock suspension, I should have plenty of clearance with the straight axle raising the front up. From estimates, the front end should come up about ten inches.

 

[hotrod1937]

Jesus, that is one of my least favorite photos of myFord that Mario posted. I had WAY to short tires on the front. Anyway, there's quite a few photos on the Project Update Section under So Cal 53 Mainline Street Gasser. Here's a link to a couple youtube videos.

.

If you have any questions ask away.

Thanks for the videos. Keeping the blood pumping.

 

[hotrod1937]

Probably not worth sending the axle back if it works out to be too narrow as shipping on a package that long would likely be almost as much as the axle costs. Better to sell it at a loss than return it.

Got the axle in place today. Looks good at the moment, will see tomorrow when I get the spindles on and lower the car to the ground for the first time with all four wheels on and take a good look at things.

 

[hotrod1937]

Unless you're stuck on a tube axle have you thought about getting a wider I-beam axle from a wrecking yard and shortening it with a Z cut and welding it? You can get the exact width you want that way. If you enter "Z cut" in the search box at the top of the page you'll find that many of the members have done it.

Thanks for the info, I will look into this.

 

[hotrod1937]

Update

Installed the front end today. Everything went ok for the most part. Although I did discover a couple of things that need addressed. First, the front shackles folded flat up against the frame rail. that will eb the first item to take care of on Monday. I think I am going to make longer shackle pieces for the sides and see hwo they work, unless of course someone else has a better suggestion. not to mention I would like to raise the front end a bit more. Next thing is I am nto sure how the tie rods are suppossed to attach to the steering arm. If any of you have the time, take a look at the pictures and let me know what you think.

Rear axle hung under the leaf springs for now. When I set this up with the stock suspension, the car sat very high up in the air. After installing the straight axle, the rear came down over two inches. Waiting to see final height once the shackle issue is solved.

Passenger side. Does this look right? I do nto have the drag link or the steering box installed with a dropped pitman arm. I am running ford style spindles due to the fact I wanted the 11 inch rotors. Plus I have the same setup on my 47' Ford and like how works. I have the steering arms mounted on the upper two hole through the spindle with the angle facing up. Hoping this will give me a good angle for the drag link. Will not know for sure until I install the steering box and the pitman arm to have the drag link made.

Driver's side. Same question here. The bolt did not come all the way through the steering ram which has me a little concerned. I was not sure if I needed the cone pieces or not or what they were even for. I looked throughout the Speedway instructions and did not see anything describing them or how/where they were to go. Quite possible I have this installed incorrectly. Hoping to do more research this weekend on the tie rod end setup for both sides.

Car lowered on the ground for the first time in months. Big block mocked into place, wheels on, not the ones I am going to run, but sitting on all fours for the first time in a long time. Of course I had to install the header to get a look.

Obviously I need to fix the shackle on this one. Like i said, it laid flat on the bottom of the frame rail. I set the shackle slight towards the front with no weight on the axle and when I lowered the car down, it went right up against the frame rail. As I stated earlier, I plan on making shackles to see if that gives the 35 degree angle that speedway suggests. Any information here would be greatly appreciated. Don't mind the mess of the motor mounts, they are not done yet. Everything needs to come out one more time once final mock up is done.

this is the progress thus far. Hopefully folks out there can give me a bit of insight on how this is and suggestions for questions. I thank you all for your time. this is my first gasser build and I must say this has been very enjoyable so far. Thanks again all.



Nate

 

[hotrod1937]

I had Ron Pope motorsports build an axle for me. and the speedway disc brake kit fit perfect.

Thanks for the info. If this axle doesn't work, I will look into that. At this moment it seems to be working, plenty of turning radius with a 5 inch wide wheel and have decent header clearance.

 

[hotrod1937]

You just need to cut the front shackle mount loose and move it forward enough to ensure the shackle doesn't flop over under load. The 35 degrees is fine, but not necessary. Anything from straight up to slightly past that point works fine, and will also avoid this flop over. Looks like your mount needs to move about 2" forward to avoid this.
Longer shackles aren't the fix for this, as longer shackles will result in changing caster, and you wont have the correct 7 degrees angle. It will also make the steering sketchy as the longer the shackles are, the more the shackles can deflect side to side when cornering, or turning. Best to move the mount.

Will moving the shackle, change my wheel base at all?

 

[hotrod1937]

Will moving the shackle, change my wheel base at all?

just thought that question through, I figured out my answer. Thanks for all the advice. I appreciate it.