First drive in the 38 tudor Humpback.

J

Jagawar

Member
I had to drive it about 5 miles to the State police for inspection. My First reaction to the drive is that you need 3 men and a boy to stop it , 2nd gear will not grind it; you wait about 1 sec for the syncro to catch up, then smooth as silk. Steering box adjustment is a must . All over the road. Reminded me of my first car a 1954 Ford pickup.Whereas I had to steer 3/4 of a turn to get the wheels to move, not that bad in this case. But it definitely needs adjustment. . Not trying to source a complete hyd. brake conversion . Any recommendations would be appreciated.
 
I understand your brake concerns. I have a 1937 standard tudor that I put about 2000 miles a year on.


I went through the brakes and adjusted the cables. I have no stopping problems. It does take a good deal of work to get the brakes to operate that well on a car that has not had good maintenance on the brakes. Woven brake linings are THE BEST.


The first thing I do when I get a driver car, I rebuild the entire front end including spindle bolts. All of my V8's steer like the day they were new. The '37 steering box is good and easy to adjust so you are in luck with that part of the job.


As for shifting. These cars ain't a BMW. Slow the shifts down. If the transmission is working well, your shifts will be great.
 
Thanks for the reply, I plan on rebuilding the front end Kingpins have a bit of play on bottom bushings . The rest, other than the steering box adjustment, is in very good cond. Car only had 64k on the clock. I am definitely changing the brake over, though, they are just too antiquated for me .
 
".. the safety of steel from pedal to wheel." I hear the cable brakes work just fine when set up properly.
 
I have both mechanical and (converted) hydraulic brakes in a few of my pre 1939 Fords. My vote? Mechanical brakes, reconditioned properly are superior to stock hydraulic brakes every time.
 
I think my front brakes could use an adjustment. I will try that, first, I can spend the money on a Pertronix distributor. The Engine seems to break up under a load around 2k rpms
 
Never forgot 1970 going to work from the corner of my eye a boy on a bike hit the brakes and all four locked up this is a 1936 four door that's proof. WE run a shop do You want to see barrels of brake lines, rotor's calipers scrap. that's why I hate juice brake.
by the way it is still in my mind that the pedal can be changed for soft or hard pedal ?


Four (4) black rubber for maybe 6 feet on pavement ::::::
 
Pertronix is for modern cars.
Unless you are willing to pay for the complete setup, I would leave the tried-and-true points and condenser set up alone. It needs to be set-up correctly and will work fine. The points and condenser has been around a lot longer than Pertronix.
 
Jagawar said:
I think my front brakes could use an adjustment. I will try that, first, I can spend the money on a Pertronix distributor. The Engine seems to break up under a load around 2k rpms
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NO! DO NOT INTALL A PENTRONIX! Please, do not...

Send the distributor to Charlie Schwendler in NY for a PROPER rebuilding. Send a correct coil (not that S. American coil) to George Haney in FL. for rebuilding. Two good men that do excellent work at a reasonable price.
 
nelsb01 said:
Pertronix is for modern cars.
Unless you are willing to pay for the complete setup, I would leave the tried-and-true points and condenser set up alone. It needs to be set-up correctly and will work fine. The points and condenser has been around a lot longer than Pertronix.
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This is especially true if you are planning on retaining the generator and the 6 volt system. Generators provide "dirty" power that is particularly hard on modern electronics. The big advantage of a points system is that it will almost always give you an indication that something is going wrong; a loss of power, a miss, or something similar. Usually enough notification to allow you to limp home or even to a safe haven. When they do fail, it's usually an easy fix that can be done at the side of the road with simple tools. Electronic units, on the other hand, have a nasty habit of failing completely and immediately at the worst places; at an intersection, on the freeway, or six miles from nowhere. I find it an on-going joke that some Pertronix users seriously recommend carrying a complete replacement distributor (with points) in case of problems.

If you insist on changing the ignition, get an adapter and a properly set up crab distributor. If you decide to keep the helmet, "Skip" Haney in Punta Gorda, FL is the "go to guy" for rebuilt coils. All of the original coils are so old that, while they may function, they will give you so much trouble that replacement is mandatory.
 
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Wow guys, I stand corrected, and saved a Lot of money on the Pertonix dist. almost a grand. The distributor was supposedly rebuilt 15k miles ago. I have a standard canister-style independent coil Not mounted on the distributor. What scares me about trying to set up the distributor myself is that I have never worked on one and up to a few days ago, never knew they existed. ( I worked mostly on 50-60;s cars as a kid) And from what I read, they need to be set up on a machine to set the dwell correctly. Well, so far I am just going to rebuild the kingpins and adjust the brakes and the steering box. Over the winter, I will be looking at restoring the upholstery. One last thing could I change the distributor to the different type much easier to adjust the one with the cap?
 
Just send dist to charlie and get coil from skip and your problems will be over.
Dist comes off with 3 bolts ,when you install you cannot put it back on wrong, coil just sits on top, whole thing is very very simple.
 
Interesting things on this car Not only did the PO leave a detailed journal of this car , I mean writing down how much gas he put in and when, but I have all the original tools, jack, and things all in original bags, and the original spare tire. This just in, I got a quote on the hydraulic conversion kit (this doesn't include backing plates, wheel cyl., and shoes. 3000.00, Soooo I am going to keep the cable brakes and work on building up my leg muscles
 
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As you will find out, all Fords that Henry built were 'over built'. Otherwise, you would not still see them out driving around.
Have put over 32000 miles on my 1949 Fordor since 1996. Only time it let me down was when a rear axle bearing went out. There is no notification for that. (it was the driver's side by the way, the side without the engine torque applied to it)

Thanks for asking your questions. Understand that we all were where you are one time in your journey with your Ford.
 
Unless you are the ultimate Ford guy, sending the distributor out to be set up is part of the hobby with the older cars.

One more reason I'm an "8BA guy".
 
nelsb01 said:
As you will find out, all Fords that Henry built were 'over built'. Otherwise, you would not still see them out driving around.
Have put over 32000 miles on my 1949 Fordor since 1996. Only time it let me down was when a rear axle bearing went out. There is no notification for that. (it was the driver's side by the way, the side without the engine torque applied to it)

Thanks for asking your questions. Understand that we all were where you are one time in your journey with your Ford.
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I can't agree. Fords were built in mass as quickly and cheaply as possible. There is a zillion around because they were cheap and built a zillion.
I have restored numerous prewar Fords and a couple of Buicks as well. Night and day. Buick was so much better designed and built.

There are not as many of those around because they were much more costly than a Ford. Not as many sold.
 
I agree. And, lets not forget GM was still using lots of wood up to 37, so anything left outside died quickly. Ford got away from structural wood before that.

I had a 29, and 30 Packards years ago, the ride was incredible compared to a 29&30 Ford
 
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nelsb01 said:
Only time it let me down was when a rear axle bearing went out. There is no notification for that. (it was the driver's side by the way, the side without the engine torque applied to it)

Thanks for asking your questions. Understand that we all were where you are one time in your journey with your Ford.
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OK nelsb01, please forgive me for calling you out. What happened when you installed the Pertronix in that 1949 Ford?:D
 
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