What To Do With a Nice 1932 B Sedan

B

billontario

Junior Member
:confused:
I have a nice two door sedan, B powered and am trying to figure out how to make it keep up with traffic a bit better. The car runs nice with the four, 12 volt setup but has 4.11 gears and cruises at 45 mph max. I am considering doing the brakes with Richard's hydraulic conversion, but want to be sure I put those parts on the rear axle/ front spindles I will use. I have the complete drivetrain from a running '37 including the hydraulic brakes. I know I need drums and hubs for the small 5 brakes.
I'd love to hear your suggestions. I don't want to street rod it, but a later flathead V8, or if modifying the four would let me cruise at 60 mph, I'd be happy. The four is freshly rebuilt along with the transmission.
Thanks Fordbarners!
Bill
 
2 suggestions:

Keep the stock brakes, they work well if they are in good shape, adjusted properly, and have woven linings. How many stock 32s do you see? Hydraulic brake converted cars with later V8s are everywhere.

Install a Mitchel overdrive.
 
Echo the Mitchel overdrive. I would also put 3.78 gears in the rear end. I have a Mitchel in my A with 3.54 gears. This ratio works in my coupe but in your sedan, I would go with the 3.78s. Ed
 
Put 3:54 gears in the rear, a cast iron head that's been designed to give you 6:5 to 1 Compression, put a downdraft and a single 97 or 94 on it, use a Reds Header or Cast Iron one for exhaust, and a Mallory ignition. Use the tallest rear tires you can find that fit and you'll be cruising easily at 65 MPH. I use KH 16's with 7:50's on the rear. But if you want to keep the 18's find a tire that's about 31" tall. Mechanical brakes are your call. They do work well when adjusted correctly. Juice brakes can be just as bad when unadjusted. That little Four Banger is a waaay better engine than a Flathead V-8 for torque and ease of use. I'm jaded though my little Banger powered A is my favorite car and the flathead powered one is constantly reminding me of why I love the Banger. The Banger will run circles around the V8.


Good Luck,

Tim
 
I diddo the already said. On the brakes, you need to make sure to radius the brake shoe exactly with the drum. You can get it pretty close by hand with a press to bend the shoes slightly if needed but grinding the shoes on a shoe grinding machine is the best way. Ford spec for the distance between the shoe and the drum ALL THE WAY AROUND is max of .010".

So leave the mechanical brakes (I love mine for their simplicity as it's an everyday driver as long as weather is decent) and as for the four banger.....overdrive or 3:54 with tall tire is the answer. If it's a balanced engine it will make a very nice little driver with a 6.5-7.0 compression and a little bigger carb(s) ( I ran dual stromberg 81's on an Evans aluminum intake on mine and they ran great with no hesitation) and better ignition such as a Mallory YA 11A or something like that.

LEAVE IT A BANGER! Of coarse it's my opinion and it's your car so do what you want to do with it. I think what your asking is whether a banger in good tune and set up right is drivable at 60-65 mph and mechanical brakes in good tune are good stoppers at those speeds....and the answer as everyone on here has said is YES. Mechanical brakes are better than what the tires are capable of....so it you want to upgrade your braking it's my opinion that you would need to look at running radial tires first and then upgrading to juice brakes. And a banger in good tune runs just about as good as a stock early flathead V8 in good tune....so that's a toss up but everyone loves to see (and hear) those bangers out on the streets!!!

Hope this helps you come to your own conclusion!
 
Many thanks for your ideas! I hadn't thought of the single downdraft 94 or 97. I may continue to add power to the four and see how it feels power wise. Maybe it's still tight (about 2000 miles since rebuild) and may feel more responsive with some miles on it. I like the overdrive idea too. If hopping up the four, would the rear end if I rebuild it with new bearings, seals and 3:54s or 3.78 gears stand up?
Bill
 
Keep it stock. The 4 banger is a good little engine and you will enjoy it. Just remember you are driving a 79 year old car, not a muscle car. Slow down and smell the roses. They smell a lot better than burning rubber.
 
Go with the 3:78 rear which is sort of easy, you can use the center section and ring gear out of an A Model with 4:78 (9 pinion, 34 ring gear) by changing the drive shaft to your 32. That will give you a easy 10 MPH more. The Winfield head is another good addition, will give you more pulling power with taller gearing and you will end up with better MPG!
 
Go with 3.78 gears and a Mitchell overdrive and a Weber downdraft carb and a high comp. head. That it. That what I did with my 31 Slant windshild sdn and I run with traffic with no problem. That a nice car.Mitchell is the only way to go to save your engine.
 
I think the OD, while somewhat more expensive than new rear gears, is a better path. Keep the 4.11's...that will give you a good cruise ratio in OD and massive torque in regular. Remember you have with a stocker a very strong torquer with very limited ability to rev...making the engine rev more is much costlier and potentially much more overload on components than souping it in a low speed range compaible with stock innards.
V8 carb, perhaps weaker springs in the advance mechanism...
Hydraulics can be adapted to your existing spindles and rear, better in some ways than the '37 spindles for this...stock brakes can be good but require serious, thorough rebuilding of every moving part and linkage junction, plus more maintenance than hydraulics. Check with Richard EV8 on here...he makes no-cut naster cylinder setup, and as much else as you need, plus really serious knowledge of all early Ford brake issues.
 
I agree with what others are telling you. As much as I like Flathead V8's, if that was my car I would keep the 4 Banger and change the gearing to give you better top end speed. 55-60 at a reasonable engine rpm is all you need. I test drove a '36 that had been converted to hydraulics and the properly adjusted mechanical brakes that I have on my '35 fordor stop the car much better than that '36 stopped with hydraulics. The Mitchell overdrive is a good conversion to consider doing.
 
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If it was my car I would keep the 4.11 rear and install a Mitchell OD. I would probably limit my engine mods to a modern distributor. I would work with Richard Lacy on the hydraulic brake conversion, and would also consider spending the bucks for the repro Lincoln front brakes. In my opinion the self energizing (Bendix-style) front brakes are much better than the '39-48s and you can still run wire wheels with the Lincoln brakes and the proper wire wheel adapter.

Best wishes,
Will Kimble
 
Here's a thought to get that "B" moving down the road a little faster. I know of a complete rebuilt 4 banger with Riley Overhead conversion and it is FOR SALE> It is in the Portland, Oregon area. If you want the contact info, I can get it for you. SIR DUCE
pedalbarn@msn.com
 
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