51 Custom questions

[Old Henry]

My friend that owned this 51 Custom passed away last month and just before he died he asked me to take his 51 Custom and sell it for him. I picked it up from his widow last week and have some questions about it since I have no experience with one.

1. I've figured out all of the knobs on the dash board except this one at the top middle that is not labeled.



It is very hard to pull and I wonder what it does. Anyone know?

2. Is this door handle on right?



I'm used to pushing down on the handle to open the door but this one like it is I have to lift it. Is that correct?

3. Is this distributor, coil, and wires correct?



Was the distributor moved off to the side like this, still running off the end of the cam shaft? and is this the right coil? and are the wires just supposed to be flying all over like this?

4. It looks like the heater must have two cores with the way these hoses are hooked up.



Does it?

5. Tell me about this carburetor. It looks very different from the 97 and 94 I'm used to.



What does that vacuum motor do and is that a power valve hanging from the back side? How is it different from the 94?

6. Finally, the thing that's really got me bewildered is this second settling bowl between the pump and the carburetor.



Is that authentic? It seems to be causing some problem with the fuel delivery. I've had what seems like vapor lock and poured water on the mechanical pump to solve it but it didn't. This second settling bowl has no gas in it and when I crank the engine some comes in then seems to be sucked back out by the fuel pump thus: https://youtu.be/zvyA6r1ECU0 It looks like a bad fuel pump to me. What do you think.

Just one more: Beside the obvious differences between the 59A, that I'm familiar with, and the 8ba that this car has of radiator hose connections and oil filler and filter location, what are the other main differences between the two engines?

Thanks in advance for your help in understanding this car so I can get it running reliably and know enough about it to explain to a buyer.

[toby]

1- Clock delete
2- Door handle is correct
3- Dist- correct
Coil- correct
Replacement wires
4- 2 hoses go to heater core, 2 go to shut-off valve
5- Carb appears to be the model for an automatic
6- Extra inline fuel filter

[tubman]

My '51 came with a clock, so I'll have to agree with Toby that's the clock delete plate. I wonder about the knob, though. It could be someone added something. One other thing : I believe the black cylinder in the coil wire is some sort of radio suppresor. My car (which was very original) had one, even though it did not have a radio. After I had the car about 10 years, it started running sour. I tried new points, condesnsor, plugs etc to no avail. Replacing the coil wire that has the thing-a-ma-jig thing with a piece of regular solid core plug wire finally solved my problem. I still have it though, and I am trying to get a friend of mine who is an EE to troubleshoot it, as it is original to the car.

The carburetor seems to be a later 2100 or 2110 from the presence of a spark valve. However, since I am not an expert on auto transmission vars, I'll defer on others on this.

It appears to me that the door handle is pointing down too much; I believe it should be up a little. I say this because my car has wear on the door panel higher up that was caused by the drivers ring. In my opinion, it should be moved counterclockwise a notch or two. The door handle does lift up as Toby says. He is also correct about the second fuel filter (which is kind of hard to see), but the fuel line to the carburetor apprears to be copper, which is not correct. As an aside, there is more variety to fuel filters and lines form '50 to '51 that than I exptected; getting the correct fitttings and lines takes a little research. The vendors now and then sell any pumps as rebuiles, and as a result a lot of cars end up with incorrect combinations over the years. (You have to be really anal to worry about it.)

I really like that car, by the way; it appears to be in terrific shape. I had a '51 Fordor in high school. I think I'll keep my club coupe, though.

[LazarusLong]

GREEN dash and trim! What color is the exterior? I have been wanting to paint my business coupe dash and garnish like that,but all I see is silver or black .

Can you post a photo of the outside of the car and the seats?

If not,can you PM a couple to me?

Thanks,
Arthur

[LazarusLong]

5. Tell me about this carburetor. It looks very different from the 97 and 94 I'm used to.




I finally find an original 51 FOM to put into my coupe and think I am making progress,and now discover the automatic 51's used a unique carb?

Do you have a name and parts number for this carb? Anything I can use to help me find and buy one?

Thanks,
Arthur

[Old Henry]

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Originally Posted by Old Henry

1. I've figured out all of the knobs on the dash board except this one at the top middle that is not labeled.



It is very hard to pull and I wonder what it does. Anyone know?

Originally Posted by toby

1- Clock delete

Originally Posted by tubman

My '51 came with a clock, so I'll have to agree with Toby that's the clock delete plate. I wonder about the knob, though. It could be someone added something.

I just had my son pull and push the mystery knob while I looked under the hood to see what it did. It's some sort of a throttle knob that deflects the gas pedal and also seems to be hooked to the transmission but not the carburetor. Kinda weird.

[tubman]

Lazarus, Isn't your car a six cylinder? As such, it would not have a 94 type carb. (Henry sorry for hijacking your thread for a moment.)

To get back to the car, I notice you have the Deluxe 8-tube radio, like I do. I am amazed by it's sound when I tune to our local AM oldies station. I find it sounds best when set to "Bass", not "Hi Fidelity".

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by LazarusLong

GREEN dash and trim! What color is the exterior? I have been wanting to paint my business coupe dash and garnish like that,but all I see is silver or black .

Can you post a photo of the outside of the car and the seats?

If not,can you PM a couple to me?

Thanks,
Arthur

The car is alleged to be totally orginal. Here's the story: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72536

[40cpe]

Looking at the first picture in the above post, the scenery from that house is to kill for!

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by 40cpe

Looking at the first picture in the above post, the scenery from that house is to kill for!

OK. Now you've asked for it. This is Utah Valley where I live:

Looking up at Mt. Baldy and Mt. Timpanogos above my house:



(No that is not my house. Mine is just below this one a few blocks)

Pepe and me at Squaw Peak Overlook looking up at the Cascade Mountains:




Looking down at our neighborhood from Squaw Peak Overlook:



Mt. Timpanogos from Squaw Peak Overlook:



Another of Mt. Timpanogos from Squaw Peak Overlook (Pepe's in this one):



Mt. Timpanogos in the winter from the end of the pier at Utah Lake State Park:


I live at the foot of that mountain where the lights are.


Utah Lake from West Mountain looking toward where I live, Mt. Timpanogos, and the Cascade Mountains (my son and his wife with me on a drive around the lake):



Mt. Nebo from the other side of the lake on a drive around it:



More pictures of this drive: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=154806

(Hey! Did I just hijack my own thread??? )

[LazarusLong]

Originally Posted by tubman

Lazarus, Isn't your car a six cylinder? As such, it would not have a 94 type carb. (Henry sorry for hijacking your thread for a moment.)

Yes it is,and now that you mention it,I am screwed because I will never find the correct FOM carb for a flat 6 Ford. MAYBE it was used on another make of car and I could find one if I could get the model number?

Thanks for reminding me of that uncomfortable truth.

I'm still determined to keep the flat 6 in it and keep it as close to mechanically stock as possible,though I already bought a spare flat 6 bellhousing to section and weld to a V-8 bellhousing so the trans will bolt up to my engine because I know I will never find a flat 6 FOM bellhousing. Nobody,even Ford knows if they ever sold one.

[LazarusLong]

Originally Posted by Old Henry

The car is alleged to be totally orginal. Here's the story: https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72536

Thank you,thank you ,thank you! This is proof that not all dashes and garnish were silver or black.

I plan on painting my dash and garnish a much darker green,but the outside is going to be the same green on that car.

[Old Henry]

Originally Posted by LazarusLong

Thank you,thank you ,thank you! This is proof that not all dashes and garnish were silver or black.

I plan on painting my dash and garnish a much darker green,but the outside is going to be the same green on that car.

The grey on this dash board is the same metallic Euro grey that is original in my 47.

[LazarusLong]

Originally Posted by Old Henry

The grey on this dash board is the same metallic Euro grey that is original in my 47.

LOL! People tell me the same thing about my green 06 GMC pickup.

Now you know why no one ever asked me to color match paint when I was doing body work for a living.

[Marv]

All the 51's i have seen when new had the gray dashes and window trim.

[LazarusLong]

Originally Posted by Marv

All the 51's i have seen when new had the gray dashes and window trim.

I never really paid any attention to factory colors on anything when I was younger because I was going to change it anyhow,but to the best of my memory the color I call silver (and in some cases light green) was the only color I remember seeing back in the 50's and 60's.

I can see now that I can't/won't be keeping mine original because I AM going to have a dark green dash and garnish to go with my light green upholstery.

Guess I am going to have to be content with keeping the original drivetrain and outside paint.

[scicala]

The carburetor on you're car does look like a 2100 off of a '54 236 Y-Block or a '55 272 Y- Block. '56 had an auto choke. Spark valves (on the base) didn't appear until '54 with the new Y-Block V8. The thing you called a vacuum motor is actually the dashpot that was used on cars with auto trans. If the back side of the center section of the carb has a "1" cast on it, it's a '54 carb. if it has a "1 1/16" cast on it, it's a '55 carb. An original carb for you're car would have "94" cast on it.

Also noticed along the line, someone installed some cast iron Fenton headers (exh manifolds) and dual exhaust.

Very nice looking original car you have there !

Sal

[my4dv8]

Does this car have overdrive? Could the un named dash knob be the overdrive engage if it is connected to the gear box. Does the bale go to a big solenoid poking out the rear tail shaft section of the box?

[LazarusLong]

Originally Posted by scicala

The carburetor on you're car does look like a 2100 off of a '54 236 Y-Block or a '55 272 Y- Block. '56 had an auto choke. Spark valves (on the base) didn't appear until '54 with the new Y-Block V8. The thing you called a vacuum motor is actually the dashpot that was used on cars with auto trans. If the back side of the center section of the carb has a "1" cast on it, it's a '54 carb. if it has a "1 1/16" cast on it, it's a '55 carb. An original carb for you're car would have "94" cast on it.

Sal

Sal,you seem to know a lot about these carbs,do you know what parts number and name carb was put on the 215 OHV 52's with FOM transmissions? I'm thinking I could use one on my 51 226 flat 6.

Know anybody that would have one for sale?

[scicala]

"Sal,you seem to know a lot about these carbs,do you know what parts number and name carb was put on the 215 OHV 52's with FOM transmissions? I'm thinking I could use one on my 51 226 flat 6.

Know anybody that would have one for sale? "



LazarusLong,

I don't think you need another carburetor to make a FOM work on you're '51 226 flathead 6 cyl. The only difference in the stick shift and FOM carb would be a dashpot mounted on the same carb as youre's, if they even used dashpots in '51. The carb calibration will be the same or close enough.

Going to the style car they started using in '52 (215) woukd probably have the wrong linkage and a headache to adapt since it's a completely different design than '51 carbs.

Any downshift linkage to the FOM would probably be off of the bellcrank and not the actual carb. I would just use the same carb that you have which is a Holley model 847. Still rebuild kits available if needed too.

The '52 carb is a Holley model 1904. If you want to see what it looks like, just go to EBAY and search for "Holley 1904". There are tons of them there. If you really want to pursue a Holley 1904, the part number for a '52 Ford 215 6 cyl. FOM carb is Holley LIST 698, Ford part number EAA-9510-E. Don't think you need to though.

Hope this helps you out,

Sal