'49 Ford lead sled (sorry George)

[Kenmojr]

Impressive body work!!

[LennyB]

I think your making good progress there Jim.  Didn’t you have tunnel issues somewhere else. I’m sure you’ll work it out. I’m sure with enough universal joints you can get around the bend    

 

And BTW Mr Hankey approves of your new image  

Edited November 24, 2024 by LennyB

[espo]

20 hours ago, customline said:

Finally got around to this again.  I thought I would put this up just in case anyone was wondering if it was back in the box. It's not much and I'm not sure if it's actually better than nothing. You decide 🤓

I got it wet sanded and it its evident that some block sanding is needed on the roof but more important now is getting it up on all fours. This is where the kit lacks in proper detail but at least it's got the bare minimum for a full detail kit. I had to separate the axle housing from the springs, as I mentioned earlier. In order to "re-engineer" the rear suspension, I needed to "tack" everything together with tiny dabs of CA. This is an ongoing effort to get the ride height worked out and it's a very awkward process. I made lowering blocks and added little tabs at the rear anchor points of the springs. I narrowed the axle housing so the wheels moved up against the springs which  needed slight relocating at the rear.   I  C'ed the frame basically for technical reasons but, really, I could just glue the axle to the frame like the Revell Model A kits and be done with it. It looks like I may need to raise the height of the tunnel (that'll be fun) or use a rubber drive shaft 🥴.  The windshield correction and the restoration of the center peak over it is still in committee but it's not hopeful.  It's a Kustom and as such, certain anomalies are allowed 😊. Besides, there's a 💩-load of body tweaking that needs to be done and well, there's the engine with a huge leak in the block and the front end needs to be lowered. I must say the chassis fits into the body quite well. Yay 😀

Thanks and feel free.

 

 

On the drive shaft tunnel. Just cut along the length of the tunnel on the floor side and add a strip of styrene maybe. I have seen others here cut the body of a ball point pen in half and use that. I know you'll figure it out.   

[customline]

1 hour ago, espo said:

On the drive shaft tunnel. Just cut along the length of the tunnel on the floor side and add a strip of styrene maybe. I have seen others here cut the body of a ball point pen in half and use that. I know you'll figure it out.   

Turns out I didn't need to. I shaved off the "mount" from the tyranny tail shaft and reduced the thickness of the cross member. That gave me a proper angle on the shaft. Problem is solved.   

Edited November 24, 2024 by customline

[LennyB]

1 hour ago, espo said:

I have seen others here cut the body of a ball point pen in half and use that. I know you'll figure it out.   

That's what I did with my Vette.

[customline]

13 hours ago, LennyB said:

I think your making good progress there Jim.  Didn’t you have tunnel issues somewhere else. I’m sure you’ll work it out. I’m sure with enough universal joints you can get around the bend    

 

And BTW Mr Hanley approves of your new image  

I'm glad you think so, Len, that's a relief. I was beginning to think this project  was a total waste of time. I spent half of my afternoon today scraping plating from hub caps and beauty rings.

Just wanted to liven things up a bit with Mr. Poop.  Pretty cool, huh? Maybe Mr. Hanley would enjoy some easy work too....just for the holidays? Maybe I'll replace Mr. Poop with a picture of my dirty, clear coat peeling Ranger when it officially becomes a "historical vehicle" on 1/1/25. 

 

[customline]

21 hours ago, Kenmojr said:

Impressive body work!!

Not yet, it isn't but I appreciate your kind words, Ken.

[customline]

Today I was searching for I can't recall what when I ran across this set of porta-walls. Just what I needed.  Spent the rest of the afternoon scraping plating. No need to paint the rims since the kit was molded in color 🙂.

I added shock mounts to the narrowed rear axle.  I would have done this even if I had not lowered it, due to way the kit was designed.

It's as low as I can get it without going hydraulic. I may need a shim or two in the rear to level it. Skirts are on the table but flush ones, not the crappy kit skirts.

And the kit engine will be used with a liberal application of Marine-Tex to seal up the leaky block ( ever have to do that? 🥴)

I just love this kit.

[Zippi]

The ole Shoe Box Ford is coming along nicely Jim.  

[David G.]

Now that I've found this thread and I'm all caught up, I have to say:

Excellent body work on this one Jim!

I've never had the courage to chop a top like that, kudos!

David G.

[customline]

2 hours ago, Zippi said:

The ole Shoe Box Ford is coming along nicely Jim.  

Thanks, Bob, I'm having fun with it but it's full of mistakes. The up-side is learning how not to do some things. 

[customline]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

Now that I've found this thread and I'm all caught up, I have to say:

Excellent body work on this one Jim!

I've never had the courage to chop a top like that, kudos!

David G.

Thanks, David. See above. ☝

[David G.]

41 minutes ago, customline said:

Thanks, Bob, I'm having fun with it but it's full of mistakes. The up-side is learning how not to do some things. 

It's like I say:

Each kit I build is really only practice for the next one!

=D-

[customline]

1 hour ago, David G. said:

It's like I say:

Each kit I build is really only practice for the next one!

=D-

Exactly 🤓.  This kit has already served its intended purposes. Sort of 🥴

Edited November 24, 2024 by customline

[customline]

You may recall that I narrowed the rear axle housing in order to get the car lower. No?...well I did, and it caused some problems.

This kit came with a non-ford engine that is set up with dual exhaust and tri-power. Not great but cool enough for my taste. I decided to run with it.  Although most of the kit is marginal, I wanted to use as much of it as possible, and that includes the exhaust system.

I discovered the tail pipes and the re-positioned springs and all that stuff wouldn't play well together. I let that little issue take root in my fertile(💩) gray matter and after a week it finally bloomed.

This was the problem 👇

lp

Too crowded. Nothing lining up right. 🤔 .....and then....one week later...😃 an easy solution!

Who needs a spare tire? I have AAA!  Oh...I guess I still need a spare tire...but not the well.

After removing the gas tank, spare well, and trunk floor, I glued a piece of .020 sheet to the top-side to catch the actual floor and fashioned a floor with .030 to mate with the existing floor and hid the seam with some half-round. I patched the tank where the well was sawed off of it and glued it to the new floor. Yay! 🤓.  I still had an alignment issue with the drive shaft so I modified the housing at the "pumpkin" to get the shaft centered. I added spacers to my shock mounts, too. The shocks will be re-located inboard of the tail pipes rather than the original mounting holes adjacent to the frame rails. That's it, thanks for sticking around!

I still need to detail the spring mountings but it will just be totally uninteresting.

 

Edited December 1, 2024 by customline

[LennyB]

All you need is a can of fix-a-flat in the glove box, nobody gives you a spare tire anymore 🛞 you needed the extra trunk space anyway for when you go to Ollie’s

 

But seriously, nice save on the crowded posterior, sometimes you need to walk away from something so you can see it in the right light   👍

 

[customline]

2 hours ago, LennyB said:

All you need is a can of fix-a-flat in the glove box, nobody gives you a spare tire anymore 🛞 you needed the extra trunk space anyway for when you go to Ollie’s

 

But seriously, nice save on the crowded posterior, sometimes you need to walk away from something so you can see it in the right light   👍

 

Yeah, I think that's what happened, Len.  I blamed it on lazy but getting away from it is a proven method. I just didn't plan it that way. I kept focusing on the pipes. But there was some lazy involved, the truth be known. 🥱

[Mattblack]

Good save!

I'd have glued the axle to the frame and called it a curbside.. 😀

[David G.]

An excellent solution Jim!

David G.

[LennyB]

7 hours ago, customline said:

Yeah, I think that's what happened, Len.  I blamed it on lazy but getting away from it is a proven method. I just didn't plan it that way. I kept focusing on the pipes. But there was some lazy involved, the truth be known. 🥱

I ran into a similar problem with my Vette, taking me a lot of backtracking to get things going forward again.  

[customline]

5 hours ago, Mattblack said:

Good save!

I'd have glued the axle to the frame and called it a curbside.. 😀

  Thanks, Barry, I'm going to put that solution on my short list. 🤓

[customline]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

An excellent solution Jim!

David G.

Thank you, David, I think it was extraterrestrial intervention 👽

[customline]

1 hour ago, LennyB said:

I ran into a similar problem with my Vette, taking me a lot of backtracking to get things going forward again.  

I don't recall, Len, I'll have to review it. I'm all about this sort of stuff these days. 😞

[LennyB]

5 hours ago, customline said:

I don't recall, Len, I'll have to review it. I'm all about this sort of stuff these days. 😞

I haven't posted it yet, I'm still catching up....🏃‍♂️

[customline]

1 minute ago, LennyB said:

I haven't posted it yet, I'm still catching up....🏃‍♂️

Oh... Well, I did  read a lot of it again (there's some funny 💩 there.)  The work you did with the interior and the firewall, etc was what I thought you were referring to.