Beginning to chip away at my winter projects on the '39. I pulled the valve covers off, and test fitted the new Brodix valve covers. Passenger side just cleared the firewall by 1/4"! Driver's side wouldn't go on at all! Had to remove the coil from the firewall, and then it just cleared the alternator, and slipped over the supplied studs. Once in place the coil can go back on as it's only in the way when sliding them in place. They do make the engine look slightly larger with their physical size, and height.
I also broke out the metal working tools and cut up some sheet metal fillers to weld into the old bumper openings. Ground everything smooth and tacked them in. Still need to hammer them into shape after welding, and give them a coat of filler. Discovered a small crack on the bottom edge of one fender also, so welded that up too.
Next I swapped out the shackles on my front axle springs. I've had these shackles sitting here forever, and wanted to install them to give a slight lift, and slightly more kingpin angle. They're 1.5" longer hole to hole, and have a tube brace welded between the shackles to make them one piece, and an H shape. Which makes them a little stronger also.
That turned out to be more of a task than I thought! One pair had the brace welded in crooked, so the holes didn't align! Couldn't get a bolt through the close fitting holes. I could have opened the holes up, but that didn't sound right. So I cut the tube brace out, put bolts in top and bottom, and welded the brace back in properly aligned. It went right in after that.
The 1.5" taller rear shackle raised the front almost 1", and changed the kingpin angle from 6 degrees, to 7.5 degrees. Should make it track even better, although it tracked fine before too.
Need to check valve lash before putting gaskets on, and finishing the valve covers. And need to see if I still have spare valve cover gaskets too!
