Issues with the Rumble lid 32 Ford Coupe

[jim1932]

OK, I know all the arguments for leaving it a trunk.... but this was already done when I bought it.

The gap where the latch is seems way too big. Almost an inch. Were the holes already in the trunk lid for the rumble hinges? Or did someone drill holes that are not lined up?

[DavidG]

Jim,


First check to see that you have the right hinges (they look to be the correct ones in your photos, but let's make sure). They (the triangular brackets attached to the rumble lid) should have a part number cast in on one of the long sides of the triangle and it may commence with either a 10 or a B depending on when they were made, assuming that they are originals, followed by a dash and then a five-digit number of 47430 for the right side and 47431 for the left side.


The holes in a deck lid to accept rumble lid hinges were not drilled originally and obviously neither were the clinch nuts for the screws installed, but the depressions to accept the hinges were stamped in all standard coupe/sport coupe lids, regardless of whether they became deck lids or rumble lids.


There's a slight amount of adjustment in where the hinges pivot on the vertical strainers on either side. Further, while it could be the photos, those vertical strainers appear to be bent slightly backwards.


For what it is worth, the rumble lid stops on the floor do not appear to be the original type (or it could be, once again, the photos).

[Terry,OH]

Your hinges may not be correct for the 5-W

[Ronnieroadster]

A photo of how the lower edge of the deck lid looks when closed would help seeing the gap in that area would tell a lot. However it looks like the holes for the hinges were drilled in the wrong location they should be located slightly higher this would move the deck lid forward a bit more closing the gap.
Ronnieroadster

[Ian NZ]

I find on my 32 - 3/W coupe rumble seat lid that sometimes when it is released with the catch it does not flick up. as there is no handle on the lid I find if you give the lid a push in on the bottom corner it flicks up enough to grab it.

[DavidG]

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It would take some real effort to mount the hinges on the deck lid other than where they belong given the depressions in the inner lid stamping for locating the hinges. The photo below shows those depressions in a typical '32 lid (all '32 standard coupe, sport coupe, roadster, and cabriolet inner lid panels are configured this same way).

[DavidG]

Ian,


The spring tension on deluxe coupe rumble lids (and those on all 33'-'34 coupes with rumble seats and cabriolets) can be adjusted to eliminate that tendency.

[qmdv]

I ordered a Brookville with rumble seat cus I would rather carry grand kids than luggage

[glennpm]

Hi,


I noticed the same backward bend in your vertical channels that David did, however in one of the pictures they look straight.

As noted you can get a fair amount of adjustment at the channel bolt since the hole is oversize and can also be slotted or enlarged if all else with the lid looks good. You could try it first with a smaller bolt diameter to see if it works before doing anything with the hole.

"There's a slight amount of adjustment in where the hinges pivot on the vertical channels on either side. Further, while it could be the photos, those vertical strainers appear to be bent slightly backwards."

As Ronnie says, a picture of the bottom edge gap with the lid closed may help in finding the problem.


Glenn

[TJ]

Is there evidence of the floor pan being replaced? If it was replaced maybe the vertical hinge supports were not put back in the correct location. I would not take much of an error to cause the gap at the top.

[jim1932]

here is the lid closed........

[Flathead Fever]

I was friends with a lot of the 1940 dry lakes racers. My favorite '32 roadster back then belonged to Johnny Ryan. He told me the very first thing they did when they bought a roadster was convert the rumble seat to a trunk lid because they carried so much stuff to the dry lakes. They usually camped over night and took all their tools.

I collect anything that is 1940s hot rod related. Especially '32 roadster photos! I have hundreds of dry lakes photos.

Just for fun I looked for some deck lid photos. These were all taken around 1946 to 1947. This is Ed "axle" Stewart. The guy that sold the dropped axles. He had the fastest '32 roadster in 1947. In this photo he is pressurizing the fuel tank through a fitting in the quarter panel. This is the only guy I know of that did it this way.

Ak Miller is in one of the photos. He would later be one of Ford's performance experts.

I see a lot of trunk lids that were tied down so they would not come open at 124 mph. That was about top speed for the best '32 roadsters. If you look at Jack Mickelson deck lid it is chained down. The fastest '32 roadster, Ed Stewarts ran about 128 mph. There was no way they could compete with the smaller Model T's with the V8s for top speed. So there was an official '32 roadster class among these guys. Those two roadsters next to each other both have their trunk lids tied down. So if your trying to recreate a 1940s dry lakes roadster I guess you need to tie your trunk lid down. That is jack Mickelson on the left. He was the test roadster for Earl Evans Speed Equipment. Number 147 was Nellie Taylor. If you have heard of a Taylor engine rebuilding in Whittier, that was him, along with Johnny Ryan. They built the last flathead to win an NHRA National championship racing against a Hemi.

The bottom photo. They were on their way to El Mirage to run their roadsters. Once they got out of the big city they stopped, opened the trunk lid to get the tools to remove the header plugs.

[qmdv]

My dad at Muroc or Rosemond in 1939. thread drift

[DavidG]

Drift? More like a u-turn.


Jim,


That's a bit tight at the bottom. As Glenn and I have suggested, you can trade gaps between top and bottom via adjustment where the hinge arms attach to the stringer.


If you are planning on installing rumble seat cushions you will need to install a riser for the front of the bottom cushion. Reproductions are available.

[jim1932]

Not these, right?

[DavidG]

Right; those are for use with a deck lid.

[deuce_roadster]

Has the panel above the deck/rumble lid been replaced? Or have the vertical pieces the hinge bolts to been replaced. I have 3 DIFFERENT part number sets of 32 rumble hinges I have been taking to swap meets. Make sure you have the ones David gave the numbers for. 3 window and cabriolet both take different hinges. 3 window is quite a bit different but the cabriolet pair are very similar to what you need.

[FritzJr]

I have some related questions. Except for the differences in drilling for hinges and latches, are trunk deck lids the same dimensions as for rumble lids? Also, are the lids different between roadster, 5-window coupe, and cabriolet? I ask because I have had lids which that appeared to be too short for a standard coupe.

[DavidG]

'32 deck and rumble lids are the same for roadsters, standard coupes, sport coupes, and cabriolet except for hole locations which depend on which use they were made for. The part numbers are B-41440-A (deck lids) and B-41440-B (rumble lids). Deluxe coupe deck and rumble lids are unique to that body and are not interchangeable with the B-41440 lids.


There were three different sets of hinges used with the B-41440-B rumble lids, one set for roadsters, another set for sport and standard coupes, and a third set for cabriolets. While often advertised as interchangeable, they are not and a proper fit of the rumble lid to the car body cannot be achieved without the correct set of hinges.


Perhaps the 'too short' lid that you have is from a Model A. They are close in terms of size, but not the same as those for '32s.

[BoxCar Tom]

The first thing I thought, Model A deck lid. Second thought, thats crazy. Third thought, let some body else figure this out.

[jim1932]

I didn't see numbers on the hinges, but there does seem to be a lot of bent going on.

[DavidG]

Yes, something is amiss. Those horizontal braces that run from the vertical strainer to the ends of the bottoms of the troughs should be straight when viewed from the side. In your latest photos, they are both bent downward in the middle suggesting that the vertical strainers are bent rearward (assuming that the horizontal braces are the correct ones for a standard coupe).

[jim1932]

I was looking at it again tonight. I can't really read the parts numbers, but is it possible the triangle hinges are on the wrong sides? Also, is there a measurement on the trunk lid to tell if it is an A?

[DavidG]

Not likely as you'd have much worse fit issues, at the back if you switched the hinges on the lid. As for lid measurements, sorry, but I'm away from my car stuff at present.

[jim1932]

Well, here's more photos. I am thinking At this point going to a trunk will be easier. Some one took all the shortcuts on this one.....

[TJ]

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You would be much happier with a trunk, especially when going on a tour.

[DavidG]

Judging from your photos it is evident that the car was originally a trunk model and the rumble seat was added by converting the deck lid into a rumble lid. The elongated holes in the vertical strainers suggest that perhaps the horizontal brackets used there were not the right ones for a standard coupe (there were three different versions originally and none bore part numbers to permit easy identification).

[jim1932]

Originally Posted by TJ

You would be much happier with a trunk, especially when going on a tour.

Definately the short term answer. How do these two grey pieces mount in the car. Especially the wider one.

[jim1932]

These ones I need to know how they go.

[jim1932]

Where do the pieces in the previous post go. Looks like the skinny one is where the trunk latch goes?

[Tony, NY]

I'm an A coupe owner and know there is a water drain channel that's in the latch area. My coupe is not stock though.

[DavidG]

Jim,


This is the best I have here, which is 1,600 miles away from my old car stuff. It might help a little.

[FritzJr]

Here are some photos with a bit more detail

[jim1932]

Does the skinny piece go under this? The holes line up with holes there.

[FritzJr]

Jim, yes that is where the "skinny" piece will go.

[jim1932]

Great. Now all I need to do it drill out all the screws that a previous owner ground the heads off of.....

[jim1932]

OK so the big piece looks like it goes here. does the skinnier piece screw in to the back panel (where the screw were cut off on mine)? I assume it that is what the larger part screws into? if so I clearly need to drill holes in the skinny piece I have.

[jim1932]

Originally Posted by FritzJr

Jim, yes that is where the "skinny" piece will go.

Can some one post a photo of the "Skinny piece"? Mine clearly does not have the holes to match up with the upper piece. Also the upper piece does not have the hole for the latch. I'm sure it is centered, but how far in is the upper hole?

[BoxCar Tom]

hope this helps

[deuce lover]

I could be wrong but that skinny piece looks like the dam.Not needed for a trunk car.

[DavidG]

Nope, the only thing close is the seat riser for the rumble seat bottom cushion and it is noticeably larger than the 'skinny' piece in question. There was no dam used on '32s and interestingly enough in my experience (which is not statistically significant), the '32 floors were least rust-through-prone of any of the pre-WWII Ford floors

[Randy in ca]

Originally Posted by jim1932

Can some one post a photo of the "Skinny piece"? Mine clearly does not have the holes to match up with the upper piece. Also the upper piece does not have the hole for the latch. I'm sure it is centered, but how far in is the upper hole?

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It's been awhile and I don't recall exactly how the larger piece attaches and I could only find a couple of pictures showing primarily the smaller "skinny" L-shaped piece which does screw on where you had to drill out the cut off screws in the lower exterior panel. (ignore the custom latch installation). The Model A's used a very similar setup but on them the larger piece was also screwed to the skinny L-shaped piece which doesn't appear to be the case with the '32's.

-

[jim1932]

I could use a low shot from inside the trunk. What is the large piece attached to? My holes are in the vertical part of the body??

[jim1932]

anyone?