My Summer Project

[Emmit51]

Hey Folks. I'm new here but I've been reading the posts for about a month and they have been very helpful.



I'm gearing up for my summer project, which is to get my 1951 Custom Fordor up and running again. This is the first car I ever owned - purchased from the original owner in 1984. So Cal car all it's life. It was my daily driver in the late 80s and I racked up about 20k miles on top of the indicated 84k.



The car then sat for about 8 years while I was away at school, but I got it going again in the late 90s and was able to drive it on weekends every now and then for a number of years.



Ran into a problem with sludge in the gas tank that fouled the fuel pump and carburetor about a decade ago. Kids also came along about that time, and while I was able to clean and rebuild the carb, the car has been sitting ever since.



I'm finally getting around to getting my baby up and going again. Now, I've found the water pumps, which were weeping 10 years ago, are completely shot. Over the summer I'm planning on replacing the water pumps (any suggestions? I've been searching around and saw that the Drake pumps are good), flushing the cooling system and putting on new hoses, and also cleaning out the gas tank and fuel lines. I put in a new battery yesterday and was glad to see the engine cranked without any issues.



This will be a s l o w project, as I have a busy work and travel schedule, but I look forward to any comments or suggestions. I'm sure I'll have a bunch of questions that come up along the way.


Once the car is running, I'm going to eventually get going on the interior as well. It's pretty ratty, but it is original!

[RalphM]

Welcome to the Ford Barn!
Beautiful 51! Great you could hang on to it for all that time. Yes Drake pumps are well built, also you could have your originals rebuilt by Skip Haney.
Is that the original paint?

[Emmit51]

Thanks, It was repainted by the original owner just before I bought it in 84. I think it is the original color as it matches well with the door sills that were not repainted.

[tubman]

Boy, from the front, that looks almost exactly like mine, only I have a club coupe. Even the visor looks the same. Do you know if it came with the car originally? Mine was a dealer installed option (it is listed on the original invoice.

One thing I would suggest is to replace the front motor mounts while you are replacing the water pumps. I thought I had clutch problems a few years ago, and had the flywheel resurfaced and installed a new disc and pressure plate. It helped, but never completely solved the problem. A few years later I replaced the front motor mounts (my water pumps were good) and it completely solved my clutch problems. While you're under there, I would suggest replacing the rear (transmission mount as well. It's not that hard to do and it's not expensive. I would also suggest trying to get the mounts at NAPA (if you have one near). They might have to special order them, but they should be able to get them, and the quality may be a bit better than you might get from the "specialty" places. I've also found "Rock Auto" to be good. They have a lot of stuff (choices) and may be able to let you chose between foreign made or domestic.

[Emmit51]

Thanks Tubman, was planning on replacing the motor mounts while I had the water pumps out, will look into the tranny mount as well.



The visor looks to be original, cant say more than that. I have the original pink, but no invoice. Hard to see in the pic, but there are also window vent shades on all doors, which were there when I bought the car. The (working) spotlights were my addition, done way back when I was a kid... I'll post better pics when I can. The car is wedged in the garage and not moving at the moment.

[JSeery]

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Welcome to the Barn Emmit!

[40cpe]

That is a beautiful car. It is rare to see original chrome so nice.

[LuckyFordGuy]

Welcome to the barn nice looking car

[Emmit51]

thanks guys

[alanwoodieman]

I would flush the engine prior to replacing water pumps, even if they are leaking. Use white vinegar, works really good and it cheap and bio-friendly. I have a friend with a 51 4 door also and it is a nice riding car.

[glennpm]

Great project and love the car!!

[Emmit51]

Originally Posted by alanwoodieman

I would flush the engine prior to replacing water pumps, even if they are leaking. Use white vinegar, works really good and it cheap and bio-friendly. I have a friend with a 51 4 door also and it is a nice riding car.

For a quick flush, I was thinking of essentially pouring water from top to bottom through the radiator, and also into the thermostat ports down through the engine, after removing the thermostats and with the water pumps and hoses also off.

Could certainly do this with vinegar, or were you suggesting to run the car all hooked up with vinegar instead of coolant?

[RalphM]

I think it works better if you can run it and get it warm, kinda like cleaning out your coffee pot with vinegar. Just be sure to flush out good with water afterwards, or neutralize it with a base.

[39portlander]

Great story Emmit, Fordbarn has been a huge help to us all through the years. Glad to see it will help get another project rolling.

As others have stated get those original H2O pumps rebuilt by Skip. What has been helpful to me with my various projects are pictures.

I have a Nikon koolpics and take photos of location and condition before I take things apart. I also have a log with that picture # and size of any bolts/nuts ect that were or should have been attached.

This applies to the older vehicles, but make damn sure a replacement part is available or reproduced before getting into all those "liitle projects" that are hidden in that summer project

[Emmit51]

Originally Posted by RalphM

I think it works better if you can run it and get it warm, kinda like cleaning out your coffee pot with vinegar. Just be sure to flush out good with water afterwards, or neutralize it with a base.

Makes sense. I’ll just need to get my fuel supply issues sorted out first to get the engine running

[leon bee]

I just bought pumps from our man Mac VP, don't know how they could be any better. I'd go ahead and get the fuel tank out on the ground, takes some effort to get it clean enough to use. Look up under the dash for bare copper wiring waiting to cause problems.

And buy that green book if you don't have it yet.

New echlin ignition parts from NAPA have been pretty good. They also can get all the brake parts and belts and hoses, etc., but Rock Auto is a lot cheaper if they have it.

And study the Shoebox Central website for a good indication of all the reproduction parts available. (Quality of anybody's repro parts is a separate issue.)

[leon bee]

And we should add that the Van Pelt website is a treasure trove of information.

[TJ]

Trying to clean out an old gas tank can be pricey depending on how you do it. Most likely it's also rusty inside.(the inside top can get real rusty) . New tanks are fairly reasonable and if it was me I would buy a new tank and save yourself some time and money. Also check the flow of you radiator. A car that has sat that long may need the radiator rodded out due to crud stuck in the tubes.

[Emmit51]

I’ll be dropping the gas tank for sure. Then, see how it looks. May need to go for a new one, but I’d like to keep the stock gauge sending unit if i can. Have refurbished it in the past and was working well. I think a new tank will require a new sender, or at least an adapter...

[RKS.PA]

Emmit, agree that you should keep your original sender because many reproduction ones have been problematic. I got a new tank from Dennis Carpenter for my '39 and it solved once and for all my original tank problems....and, the peace of mind was more than worth the price I paid. At the time, I think DC had a free shipping offer, but it's been a while.



Welcome to the Barn!!!