Waking up a Sleeping Beauty, 1934 5 window
- Thread starter The Art Doctor
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alchemy
Well-known member
Axles are not supposed to be bent to adjust caster. They should have the 5-6ish caster like in the center. But I can’t see why your car returns to straight with such extreme caster? That’s the range that drag cars use to keep the car heading straight ahead. Gotta be something else sticking or messed up.
The Art Doctor
Senior Member
Dang it, now something else to consider. But, thanks.
Its getting super cold here and the next few weeks will be the chilliest of the year. I'm going to try and wheel her to car guy breakfast Saturday morning as the last drive of the season. It will be about 40 minutes each way on surface streets at the butt crack of dawn, so not a lot of other drivers to worry about on the drive out. Plenty of time to think and notice all the stuff that needs to be corrected.
Once snuggled back in the garage I will first set the front wheels straight again, pop the draglink off and count revolutions of the steering wheel to see where the wheel is centered. The manual states to put the keyway up to get the worm in the correct place to adjust the box. I assume that means the steering shaft keyway for the wheel as its not specific. Is there an easy or marked way to find it with the wheel still on? Or just counting revolutions and splitting them? Maybe the pitman arm is off a full 1/4 of a rotation where the fat splines are, would not surprise me with everything else I have come across so far. No wonder this car never got used. I envy you guys with unrestored cars but I'd rather have this one than not have one!
Its getting super cold here and the next few weeks will be the chilliest of the year. I'm going to try and wheel her to car guy breakfast Saturday morning as the last drive of the season. It will be about 40 minutes each way on surface streets at the butt crack of dawn, so not a lot of other drivers to worry about on the drive out. Plenty of time to think and notice all the stuff that needs to be corrected.
Once snuggled back in the garage I will first set the front wheels straight again, pop the draglink off and count revolutions of the steering wheel to see where the wheel is centered. The manual states to put the keyway up to get the worm in the correct place to adjust the box. I assume that means the steering shaft keyway for the wheel as its not specific. Is there an easy or marked way to find it with the wheel still on? Or just counting revolutions and splitting them? Maybe the pitman arm is off a full 1/4 of a rotation where the fat splines are, would not surprise me with everything else I have come across so far. No wonder this car never got used. I envy you guys with unrestored cars but I'd rather have this one than not have one!
The Art Doctor
Senior Member
32 mile round trip in the bag. All surface streets. It was 45* out when I left and 50* on the way home and the laser temperature gun tells me that she is running way too cool. The radiator at the top was reading 140 and 110 at the bottom. Heads were showing some variety but averaging 155. Obviously somebody neglected to add thermostats. Something else to add to the list. As it was cold I started with the windows up, not far in I had to put them down as the exhaust fumes were unbearable. I had seen rust out at the low points of the mid and tail pipes along with a large damage and rust out to the muffler itself. This goes to the top of the must do list. Even with the windows down I came home smelling heavily of exhaust.
Steering was better with the grease in the box as far as effort goes, but everything else we have discussed still needs doing. The brakes seem to have settled into a good adjustment and it stops straight and if I really jam them hard I can lock them up. Idle seems to still be a bit high, its on the list again.
The car was well received by the breakfast gang who had been bugging me to bring it out ever since I had first told its tale. We rotate between venues and meet each Saturday morning at 745am. We had 16 this day as the venue, the American Legion Post #29, has an all you can eat breakfast buffet for $12 only once a month on the third Saturday, is popular. One of the more vintage members has a chopped, channeled and sectioned 32 sedan but always wanted a model 40. I let him and who ever wanted to try it on for size. Most of the guys have either c10 trucks or model A coupes but there are several who have multiples including a 35 and 40 coupe, 32 sedan and more.
Pics; parking lot show, breakfast crowd, the one and only Joe Hatfield trying on the Model 40 for size (Joe is the Great, Great Grandson of Devil Anse Hatfield)
Steering was better with the grease in the box as far as effort goes, but everything else we have discussed still needs doing. The brakes seem to have settled into a good adjustment and it stops straight and if I really jam them hard I can lock them up. Idle seems to still be a bit high, its on the list again.
The car was well received by the breakfast gang who had been bugging me to bring it out ever since I had first told its tale. We rotate between venues and meet each Saturday morning at 745am. We had 16 this day as the venue, the American Legion Post #29, has an all you can eat breakfast buffet for $12 only once a month on the third Saturday, is popular. One of the more vintage members has a chopped, channeled and sectioned 32 sedan but always wanted a model 40. I let him and who ever wanted to try it on for size. Most of the guys have either c10 trucks or model A coupes but there are several who have multiples including a 35 and 40 coupe, 32 sedan and more.
Pics; parking lot show, breakfast crowd, the one and only Joe Hatfield trying on the Model 40 for size (Joe is the Great, Great Grandson of Devil Anse Hatfield)
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petehoovie
Well-known member
The Art Doctor
Senior Member
The next outing is in two weeks which is the annual RG#24 Valentines Luncheon on the 6th. We go to a French restaurant for a fancy meal followed by all the old guys singing an old song, "Let me call you Sweetheart", to their wives, its very endearing and a little embarrassing to be singing off key in a busy restaurant. Hopefully the weather is good as I'd like to park it front and center as many have not seen the car ever or it was a decade and a half or more ago.
The plan after that is to show it at the Georgia Tech Auto Show April 4th followed by the Avondale Estates Easter Parade on the 5th. The Tech show changed last year and was the best yet with the cars parked on the sidewalks in the area of the architecture and industrial design buildings. This was great as the students are in session and the high level of interaction and interest from them was a welcome change. I let about 25 of them sit in my black Fiero though "only" a 1988 it was older than all of them. One does not have to be an alumni to attend. The automotive design/history professor who puts on the show is a close friend and got GM to sponsor the show with keynote speakers from KIA design. The Easter parade is a lot of fun, I have done it about 10 times over the last 15 years. Its usually about 40 cars in a slow crawl throwing candy to waiting children while we snake back and forth in a police led formation through the historic district. We meet in the lot behind the police station on main street. Its put on by the Peachstate Cadillac Club with the V8 club as a supporting partner.
The Hot Rod Revival #6 is May as you know. I will definitely be there. I would like to make it to one of the Zealots Thursday night garage nights if I get a Thursday off, its the daughters bass lesson night and I'm the dedicated wheel-man.
Pic GA Tech auto show from 2025 showing the Ramblin' Wreck Model A
The plan after that is to show it at the Georgia Tech Auto Show April 4th followed by the Avondale Estates Easter Parade on the 5th. The Tech show changed last year and was the best yet with the cars parked on the sidewalks in the area of the architecture and industrial design buildings. This was great as the students are in session and the high level of interaction and interest from them was a welcome change. I let about 25 of them sit in my black Fiero though "only" a 1988 it was older than all of them. One does not have to be an alumni to attend. The automotive design/history professor who puts on the show is a close friend and got GM to sponsor the show with keynote speakers from KIA design. The Easter parade is a lot of fun, I have done it about 10 times over the last 15 years. Its usually about 40 cars in a slow crawl throwing candy to waiting children while we snake back and forth in a police led formation through the historic district. We meet in the lot behind the police station on main street. Its put on by the Peachstate Cadillac Club with the V8 club as a supporting partner.
The Hot Rod Revival #6 is May as you know. I will definitely be there. I would like to make it to one of the Zealots Thursday night garage nights if I get a Thursday off, its the daughters bass lesson night and I'm the dedicated wheel-man.
Pic GA Tech auto show from 2025 showing the Ramblin' Wreck Model A
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petehoovie
Well-known member
The Art Doctor
Senior Member
It is indeed 26 1/8" end to end. I took it off, cleaned, new grease and reset the socket ends which were too tight effectively making it a bit too short and affecting steering wheel centering. The wheel is closer to center now, possibly, but there is another problem, I think.
Before I go messing with box adjustments I am still perplexed on getting the steering centered to start the whole process. The steering wheel goes a little less than 3 1/4 total revolutions from stop to stop. Both directions go till the spindle hits the spindle stop that is installed with a correct washer below with no interference elsewhere. 1 5/8 turns from stop in either direction, the numerical middle of travel, leaves the front wheels pointing left slightly and the instrument cluster view blocked by a steering wheel spoke in the vertical position. This cannot be the box's center with the front wheels crooked despite being the numerical revolutions center, correct? With the front wheels measured centered to the frame the steering wheel is now closer to having the gauges in the center of the steering wheel Y than it was before with the maladjusted drag link end cap. However, from this position I have about 1 7/8 turns to the left and only 1 1/4 turns to the right with a hard spot of drag at 1 revolution right. Certainly not the numerical center. The factory lists two different turning radius 41' 5" right and 39'4" left. My wheel does go more left than right. This cannot be normal, is it?
The shop manual states "...turn the steering wheel to the straight ahead position which is exactly midway of its travel." I can't get there from here....
Is it possible someone assembled the box off a tooth internally? Is that even possible? The pitman arm is almost touching the bottom of the frame at full right turn but there is no interference there or anywhere else with it nor the drag link. The only thing that hits is the steering stops as they should
I have to be missing something, I just don't know what it would be. Its icy, cold and wet so I have not driven it since the drag link correction.
Bored&Stroked
Well-known member
Also, I believe the worm gear is keyed, so not sure it is possible to clock it wrong.
fordyford
Senior Member
I had the same problem on a 1934 pickup. Every thing on a pickup is the same as a car except the pitman arm. Because the column is tilted higher to fit the truck cab the splines in the pitman are clocked one tooth. Most pitman arms have a part number on them. Prefix 40- is car 46- is pickup, Check it out in the green book.
The Art Doctor
Senior Member
Thank you. This information lead me to another thread about '34 pitman arms that gave full part numbers, images and some further explanation. https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45091
I pulled my pitman off tonight. Every under car part on my car is smooth with a super thick layer of paint. I believe they literally dipped them in a bucket of paint. There is no primer just gobs of shiny black paint with runs everywhere. I could not see a part number so I took it to the wire wheel. I did find something but not the numbers I was looking for. The only markings are the number 14 and a triangle. So according to the thread referenced above I am SOL on finding its original purpose. There is a spot along the forge line where the raised seam was ground down and there is a 1/8" depressed dot in the middle of the grind mark. I am guessing that is a factory hardness test. This may be another NOS part they put on in 1977 thinking it was right and still could be but it also possibly it is the truck one or a heavy BB truck or even RHD unit, no telling.
With the arm off I decided to give the steering wheel a spin to see if anything changed with it being disconnected and indeed it had. I gained almost 3/4 of a revolution. Full travel is just slightly less than 4 complete revolutions, and a bonus the dead middle falls perfectly on a gap in the Y of the steering wheel. The gap is different than the one from before with the pitman arm still attached to the front wheels and the travel limited by the spindle stops.
My solution to get a properly steering car.....to file out the flats in the pitman so that I can clock it to use the full travel and proper center of the steering box/wheel. It was easier than I thought it would be. Using my trusty 7" Craftsman triangle file it did not take long at all. Test fitting looks good as I could clock it in any orientation so I think I did it right. There may be a lot of on and off happening to get it right but I think I am, no pun intended, heading in the right direction. Now I need to find a bucket of gloss black paint to dip the arm in....
Pics: pitman arm cleaned, marking showing 14 and triangle, marked flats with a punch so I would know where they used to be, filed new splines where a flat one was.
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The Art Doctor
Senior Member
Nothing there, no evidence of grinding either. Another mystery.
Exhaust is near the top of the list. Besides the toxic fumes in the cabin it is a bit too quiet as is. Even with a hole in the muffler my friends tell me they can barley hear it running outside. Inside all I hear is transmission gear whine with the floor insulation currently removed. I'm leaning towards straight piping but staying single sided for now. That way I can just repair the one spot on the tail pipe and replace the damaged muffler and keep costs low for now and maybe pick up a little bit of a flathead rumble. My 216 powered chevy is too loud with a magnaflow and big split pipes. I believe the full length and small diameter pipe on the '34 should help keep the sound level reasonable. If I hate it I can go back with a regular muffler for super quiet or steel/glass pack muffler or even duals later on if I get adventurous and wish to start over from scratch. I have read duals help to get out the exhaust heat out of the heads faster to help with cooling. Any truth in that? I do not seem to have an overheating problem but have yet to take it out on a 90*+ day.
The Art Doctor
Senior Member
Time for an update. I put another 75 miles on the car. I put the re-clocked pitman arm on and the steering wheel is almost centered. It drives much better now, a lot less fighting of the wheel. It is very close to being perfect, but I know it can be better still. It is now clear to me that the left front steering arm is indeed just a bit bent which is limiting the ability to be 100% dead on. Its good enough for now but is on the list for perfection.
On the exhaust leaks, well I still need to permanently address that. I simply used the aluminum high heat insulation/ducting tape to seal up the worst of the holes. Its holding for now but its just a stop gap to allow me to use it without coming out woozy and stinky.
I have the insulation the car came with back on the front floors and that has helped a lot with the in cabin heat that was getting too much as it gets warmer outside. I have 1/4" of foil faced jute down but the passenger floor over the exhaust was still warm to the touch so I have another layer of 27oz jute on order to install before I put my new floor matting in place.
I was getting a slight left pull under braking, so I backed off the left front adjuster one click. I think I should probably have instead added a click to the right front as the braking power seems to be a bit down now. I need to find a place to do a skid test, not much gravel road in the concrete city jungle.
I found a nice level road to do an idle test. In first gear I can maintain a GPS 4.5mph at idle which according to the manual is on the low side so I think I am good now on that issue. If I turn it down anymore it stalls. I have not adjusted the needles, they are where I started and probably should try and lean it out as the exhaust smells a bit fat. Will probably have to do idle again afterwords as they can affect that somewhat.
I worked her up to 60mph for about a minute and she did not complain. Not ready for the interstate but its there if I need it.
Overall I'm pretty happy. Its is reliable now starting easily and drives OK if you slow down and smell the roses. I sometimes get into a corner a bit too hot and she reminds me that the steering is heavy in return. I am still getting used to shifting, its a real challenge for me not to make some noise when shifting. I'm about 80% there. The rumble area rattles constantly. The lower seat is not attached and the upper became loose the other day, need to investigate that. The list never ends but I can hop in it and go anywhere locally right now.
Pic: Gathering at Rottenwood Garage, a local community shop where we meet up to wrench or just kick tires and BS after breakfast most Saturdays.
On the exhaust leaks, well I still need to permanently address that. I simply used the aluminum high heat insulation/ducting tape to seal up the worst of the holes. Its holding for now but its just a stop gap to allow me to use it without coming out woozy and stinky.
I have the insulation the car came with back on the front floors and that has helped a lot with the in cabin heat that was getting too much as it gets warmer outside. I have 1/4" of foil faced jute down but the passenger floor over the exhaust was still warm to the touch so I have another layer of 27oz jute on order to install before I put my new floor matting in place.
I was getting a slight left pull under braking, so I backed off the left front adjuster one click. I think I should probably have instead added a click to the right front as the braking power seems to be a bit down now. I need to find a place to do a skid test, not much gravel road in the concrete city jungle.
I found a nice level road to do an idle test. In first gear I can maintain a GPS 4.5mph at idle which according to the manual is on the low side so I think I am good now on that issue. If I turn it down anymore it stalls. I have not adjusted the needles, they are where I started and probably should try and lean it out as the exhaust smells a bit fat. Will probably have to do idle again afterwords as they can affect that somewhat.
I worked her up to 60mph for about a minute and she did not complain. Not ready for the interstate but its there if I need it.
Overall I'm pretty happy. Its is reliable now starting easily and drives OK if you slow down and smell the roses. I sometimes get into a corner a bit too hot and she reminds me that the steering is heavy in return. I am still getting used to shifting, its a real challenge for me not to make some noise when shifting. I'm about 80% there. The rumble area rattles constantly. The lower seat is not attached and the upper became loose the other day, need to investigate that. The list never ends but I can hop in it and go anywhere locally right now.
Pic: Gathering at Rottenwood Garage, a local community shop where we meet up to wrench or just kick tires and BS after breakfast most Saturdays.
