39 Ford Project

[Custer55]

The next step on the steering wheel project has making a horn button / center cover. I will be using the 78 Camaro parts to make the horn button functional which are similar to what a Tri-five Chevy uses. At least the center plate that goes in and out like a spring is the same as what was in my 55 Chevy original steering wheel.
image.pngBefore starting on that though I needed to fill in the slots around the spoke rods. to do this I wrapped clay around the spokes and then filled in with epoxy from the backside.
image.pngHere is the view from the backside filled in with epoxy. The clay worked good to keep the epoxy from making a mess of the spokes where they go through the hub cover. I will just need a bit of body filler to fill in a few voids in the epoxy and then very carefully sand around the spoke rods.
image.pngSo finally on to the horn button modifications. This is the horn button retainer that sits on top of the clicker plate from the 78 Camaro wheel. On the Camaro it sits down inside the steering wheel more so I need to section it down so I don't need to make a really tall horn button. I have it screwed on the 2 x 4 to make it easier to cut it down with a cut off wheel.
image.pngI have it sectioned down as low as it will go here (about 7/16"). I had to make the screw heads that hold it in place smaller as they were much closer to the top ring now and if they were to touch it would set the horn off. I also had to slightly grind off the outer edge of the plastic bushings that insulate it from the steering wheel hub as well as they would bind a bit with the top part of the retainer being so much closer.
image.pngNext up was making the actual horn button from some 20 gauge steel. I made a pattern of what I thought I wanted it to be and then started shaping the metal.
image.pngGetting closer to the right shape here. At this point though I decided it still looked to tall so I ended up making it shorter and a bit more flat in the middle.
image.pngTo make the button closer to being as perfectly round as possible I made a ring to weld in the bottom that was as round as I could get it to be. Here I have it tack welded in place where it fit tight to the button and then continued to hammer it tight and tack welding it so it would fit tight all the way around the button.
image.pngTack welded all the way around here. Not perfectly round but much closer than it was. By my measurements it is within .015" which would be about 1/64".
image.pngAll welded up and finished out here. I just have it sitting on top of the horn button retainer here. As it sits It has a good gap between the button and the hub cover so I will just need to make some clips to hold it in place on the retainer.
image.pngAnd finally in this shot you can see the height of the button and the gap to the hub cover better.
Brian

[Custer55]

Brian,
What a great look and inventive execution! What a transformation: 'what can be, unburdened by what has been'.
Thanks for talking us thru the process (and pics!). Doug

Thanks Doug,
It has been quite a project, much more work than I figured but I am happy with the results so far
Brian

[Belair-o]

Brian,
What a great look and inventive execution! What a transformation: 'what can be, unburdened by what has been'.
Thanks for talking us thru the process (and pics!). Doug

[Custer55]

Continuing to work on the hub cover for the past few days now.
image.pngI tried to make this in one piece but it didn't got well so I gave up on it and just made it from 2 pieces. I think It may have worked better to just start with a flat circle and make a hammer form to shape it around but this worked too. Also since I don't have a lathe it would be difficult to make an accurate hammer form.
image.pngHere it is all welded up and finished out. Next will be to cut out the center to go over the wheel hub.
image.pngWith the center cut out checking the fit to the steering column.
image.pngWith the fit to the column looking good the next step was to get the cover centered as close as possible to mark the locations of the spokes so the hub cover can be trimmed out to go over the spokes.
image.pngHere I have holes drilled close to the ends of the spoke slots and cut out between them with a cut off wheel. Then I cut from the bottom up to remove the piece that will be under the steering wheel spoke. Then repeated this process on the other 2 and saved the cut out pieces to weld back in place later.
image.pngAll fit up and ready to tack weld on to the steering wheel hub for keeps. Also had the horn button spring plate in place at this time to make sure my hub cover opening was big enough for it to fit. I will take it back off before welding though.
image.pngAnd finally tack welded in place. When I weld the cut out pieces back in I will also tack them into the outer rods on each spoke from the back side as well.
image.pngTo weld the cut out pieces back in I bent up a piece of copper and clamped it to the outside of the hub cover. Then clamped the cut out piece to the copper to weld it back in place. I don't normally use a copper backer but in this case it made sense since the gaps to weld up were pretty wide between cutting them out with a cut off wheel and then filing the opening a bit bigger to fit the hub cover over the spokes.
image.pngView of one of the pieces welded back in place. One good thing with using the copper backer is there is minimal grinding to do to finish it out.
image.pngAnd here it is with the hub cover all welded up so I could finally remove all the tape. Hard to see in this picture but there is a slot going around all the spokes so I need figure out a way to get some kind of filler around the spoke rods to make that look better. Looking better all the time though.
Brian

[Custer55]

Work on the steering wheel project continues.
image.pngHere I am getting ready to Epoxy all the spokes into the outer rim and center hub. In this shot you can see how much bend I had to put in the spoke rods to get the amount of dish I wanted.
I will be using JB weld steel reinforced epoxy that is rated at 5000 psi so it should be plenty strong enough to hold the rods into the outer rim as they will also go into the aluminum core of the wheel rim as well.
image.pngBefore filling the holes with epoxy I put masking tape around the holes so as to not make a mess on the rubber on the outer ring.
image.pngHere I have the holes filled as good as I could get them with the epoxy. Using a slower setting epoxy (4 to 6 hours) so I have plenty of time to insert the rods and put everything together.
image.pngRods inserted in the rim, center brace and center hub section for this spoke. I have a bit of epoxy on the center hub section just to hold everything in place until I weld it in the center as well.
At this point I just need to swing the whole assembly to the side and under the hub into place and insert the machine screws to hold it in the correct position.
image.pngAll glued up it just needs to sit overnight for the epoxy to fully cure.
image.pngAnd bolted on to the column for now to see how it looks. Still need to weld up the center hub then make a hub cover to line up to the column and a center cover and horn button but looks pretty good to me.
image.pngTurned into a mummy with masking tape to protect it while welding and grinding. I have a 5/8 all thread bolted to the hub for a welding ground. Also if you look close I have holes where the 3 center rods go in where I can plug weld them.
image.pngAll the spokes welded up to the center hub. i didn't get to crazy welding this up as the 6 no. 10 machine screws hold the center hub sections in place as well. That's all that holds the steering wheel on my 55 as well as most custom steering wheels.
image.pngSo next up is building the hub cover and horn button. I will be doing this in several pieces as I will need to work around the spokes. This piece is for the part that will line up with the steering column upper end. Just 18 gauge bent around a 4" piece of tubing and then a 3 1/2" tube to make a round ring once I weld up the short seam.
image.pngThis is where I left off today with the ring seam welded up and fitting the column pretty good at this point.
Brian

[Custer55]

Hi Brian,
I fell behind on your build progress, and missed the work you did on the front suspension and steering. You do such a great job in having a vision, and figuring out how to get it done without breaking the bank, while doing a great job of workmanship with safety in mind. Your mockup jigs are great! Love the banjo steering wheel, never would have thought of repurposing the newer vintage wheel to fit your vision. You do a great job of explaining your idea, and the steps and methods you use to turn the vision into reality!
Thanks, Doug

Thanks, sometimes I do just figure things out as I go though. Lol

[Belair-o]

Hi Brian,
I fell behind on your build progress, and missed the work you did on the front suspension and steering. You do such a great job in having a vision, and figuring out how to get it done without breaking the bank, while doing a great job of workmanship with safety in mind. Your mockup jigs are great! Love the banjo steering wheel, never would have thought of repurposing the newer vintage wheel to fit your vision. You do a great job of explaining your idea, and the steps and methods you use to turn the vision into reality!
Thanks, Doug

[Custer55]

image.pngHere I have all the spokes from the Corvette removed from the rim. The groove at the bottom is where the sewn seam of the leather wrap fits into.
image.pngOn the left of the rim is the jig I made up to drill holes in the rim for the new banjo spokes to insert into. When I drilled the holes it turns out the center of the rim is an aluminum tube so it was easy to tell how far to drill into the rim. Since I don't want to mess up the foam rubber on the rim my plan is to epoxy the spokes into the outer rim. Should be plenty strong this way as the spokes will be sandwiched between the outer rim and the center hub.
image.pngHere is a better mock-up of approximately what it will look like. The rods for the spokes are just 1/8" tig welding rods.
image.pngAt the top is the center hub that I cut out of the pick up truck wheel. At the bottom is a ring I made out of 1/4" steel that the spokes will insert into. For assembly the ring will need to be split into 3 pieces so I have holes drilled and tapped so each section will have 2 screws to hold it to the pick up truck hub.
image.pngI then had to drill all the spoke holes in the ring. This took a while as I had to get the holes at just the right angle so I files notches in the outer part of the ring that would be square to the hole angle so the drill bit would go in straight and not wonder. The tape is the angle the hole needed to be so I could use my digital angle finder to line ring up properly in the drill press vice.
Only 15 holes doing this as each spoke will have 5 rods.
image.pngHere I have the ring screwed to the center hub with 10-32 counter sunk stainless machine screws. I made partial cuts where the ring will eventually need to be split apart for assembly.
image.pngThen I made these from 1/4" steel for the spoke braces which will go in about the middle of the spokes between the rim and center hub. I didn't want to weld these or epoxy them in place as that could turn into a mess in a hurry either way so I drilled and tapped them for 8-32 by 1/8" set screws to hold them in place from the bottom.
image.pngHere is a mock up of a spoke with the brace in place. The spoke is straight now but will need to be bent to give the wheel a slight dish. I am thinking about 3 inches as the Camaro wheel has a 4 inch dish and seems to be ok. I want this to have a bit more of a flat look to it though.
image.pngThe next step was to build and assembly jig to hold the center hub and rim in alignment to epoxy the spokes in place. The center hub bolts through the plywood into a drilled and tapped hole in my welding table and the rim is up on blocks which will give me the amount of dish I want.
image.pngAnd here is my final mock up / test fit before epoxy gluing the spokes into the outer rim. I did have to modify the jig though to make it work. I didn't have quite enough room to swing the spokes in place under the hub so I had to hole saw out the plywood under the hub and then bolt the hub back down to the table with a stack of washers under it equal to the thickness of the plywood.
I think is is going to turn out pretty well so I am glad I decided to give it a try to build it.
Brian

[Custer55]

Been a while since I posted but I have been making progress. A lot of this stuff just takes a lot of time to do.
image.pngI made a bracket to mount the column to the dash in the stock location. I shortened the upper part to the column that rotates by about 2" so the mount bracket would be more inline with the bottom of the dash.
image.pngHere is another view. I welded a clamp of sorts directly to the column that bolts to the drop bracket which bolts to the dash.
image.pngHere is the upper portion bolted to the dash. The dash gets wider in the middle so the bracket is angled a bit. The notch in the bracket is to clear the control rod that operates the ignition switch that is mounted lower down on the column.
image.pngThe column was very solid just bolted into the upper bracket but to seal where it goes through the firewall and make it really solid I made a flange that will weld to the column and bolt into the firewall. Making the flange which is similar to what the Camaro used out of 2 pieces. Here I have one tacked in place and the other half mocked up with a carboard pattern.
image.pngAnd the other half tacked in place. I have clecos holding it in position at this point and will just need to drill those holes out to bolt it in place. I will add a rubber gasket of some kind also to seal it all up.
image.pngAll welded up and the holes drilled out.
image.pngBolted in place and good to go. I will need to fab up some covers to make it look nicer eventually but it is fully functional at this point. I will also need to add a gear selection indicator of some sort on the portion of the column that rotates but that will be a project for the future as well. I will not be using the Camaro steering wheel as it is hideous in this car so my next project will be possibly building a steering wheel.
image.pngSo here is the options I had laying around for steering wheels. On the upper left is a from a 77 Chevy pickup, Upper right is the Camaro wheel, (both of which are a direct bolt on tot he column, and in the lower bottom is a 90 Corvette wheel which came with the swap meet part for my C4 conversion on my 55 Chevy. The Corvette wheel had a sewn on leather wrap which I removed hoping I could re-use it but it ripped in a couple of spots so that is a no go. The style steering wheel I wanted is a Banjo style which would be period correct for 39 as they were used on cars of the time period. After looking at a few online they are pretty pricey so I decided to try and make my own.
image.pngMy plan was to use the Corvette outer rim and the center hub from the pickup wheel, and make the banjo style spokes, The Corvette wheel was a good diameter at just under 15" (the original wheel in the 39 Ford was a 17" dia.) and the foam was in pretty good shape yet. Here I have it cut away from the original Corvette center hub and one of the stubs completely removed. I have some 1/8" welding rods mocked up to get and idea of what the spokes will be.
image.pngI used a dial caliper set to the dia. of the wheel rim as guide to removing the old spokes as you can see it is still a bit off between the tape.

[Custer55]

image.pngThe first step was to weld and 1/8" plate behind where I had moved the holes. If I had known how much I need to move them I probably would have just welded the holes shut and redrilled them where they needed to be.
image.pngThen I was able to drill the new hole locations where they needed to be.
image.pngThen I made some 3/4" spacers and tack welded them in place. I had made some temporary mock up spacers out of 3/4" plywood before I made these to be sure they would be the correct thickness. I had a piece of 3/4" thick steel that was just big enough to make these. Just used a hole saw to cut them out and then drilled the center bore to 5/8" to match the rack mount bolts.

image.pngI then welded the spacers around the top 2/3rds so there is no chance of them moving or getting lost. I'm sure these would have been fine not welded in but now I don't have to fumble around with them when installing and removing the rack. Also had to get rack mount bolts that were about an inch longer with the spacers in place.
image.pngWith the rack bolted in place it is now positioned within a 1/16" of so of where the Mustang rack was and just clears the lower control arm mount bolt.
image.pngThen decided to mock up the caliper brackets, calipers and pads to make sure they would clear my 14" wheels that I have. The rotors are 11" dia. so it is tight but they do clear the wheels by a 1/4" or so.
image.pngThen I dropped the engine and a mock up transmission in place before setting up the steering column.
image.pngThen I made a mock up tool to position the steering column. Just some 2 1/4" exhaust tube with some scrap pieces welded in the ends so I could run a 1/4" rod all the way through to mock up it up easier. I taped a piece of wood about where it will bolt to the dash at the approximate drop below the dash it will need to be. Also made this in two pieces, the longer end what will be in the car and the shorter end about what will be in the engine compartment. This made it much easier to tell where it needed to be positioned to have the steering linkage clear everything.
image.pngHere is a better view of how the mock up tube was made. As you can see by the plug I drilled out I wasn't happy with the first 1/4" hole I drilled through the firewall and moved it a bit before drilling the full size hole. Drilling a 1/4" hole worked out good as my holes saws use a 1/4" pilot bit.
image.pngAnd to hold the bottom of the column in place I made a mock up bracket that bolts to the frame. At this point just using some wire to hold the column in place at the dash so I need something to hold the bottom in place that would be consistent each time I put the column in place.
So next time I will be making permanent brackets to hold the column to the dash and then a permanent mount at the bottom of the column to the fire wall at the bottom.
BrIan

[Custer55]

My next project was to set up the steering column. I found my old swap meet find from years ago and started cleaning it up and partially taking it apart to see what I was dealing with.

20240912_095942.jpgAt this point I had cut off and cleaned up the lower flange where it would have mounted to the firewall when in a 78 Camaro. I had also checked the ignition switch and neutral saftey/back up switch to make sure they still worked (they do) and label the function of all the wire stubs. Also I de-pinned to turn signal switch (which seemed to work fine) connector so I could remove that for now.

20240912_100049.jpgThis column Is from a floor shift car (which is what I will be doing also) but there was a shift lever at the bottom (which I had already made removeable) which connects to the transmission shift lever to operate the column mounted neutral safety and back up light switches as well as rotate the upper part of the column to show what gear you are in.

image.pngThis is the neutral safety and back up light switch which is operated by the inner tube in the column much like a column shift car even though the Camaro this came out of had a floor shift.
image.pngHere as I mentioned above I had made the lever to rotate the inner column tube removeable so I wouldn't need such a big hole in the firewall to install the column but will be able to retain the column mounted neutral safety switch and back up light switches if needed, as well as using it to set up a gear selector indicator.

image.pngBefore going any further with installing the steering column I decided to get the front suspension and steering rack mounted so I could make sure it will be installed where everything works right instead of just guessing at it and having to re-do it later. I got these tubular upper and lower A-arms which eliminate the strut rods and got them installed.

image.pngHere is a shot of the rusty originals. Figured by the time I sandblasted, painted, installed new ball joints and bushings in these It would have cost almost as much as the new ones.
image.pngAnd a view of the new control arms from the rear. I have a stack of washers on the long lower control arm bolts so I don't wear out the nylon lock nuts before final assembly.
image.pngSo next I went to install my rebuilt rack and pinion which I got at the Jefferson swap meet this spring at a great price. (half or less than what you would pay at an auto parts store)
That became my next issue to figure out as it would not clear the new lower control arm bolts to install it. As it turns out the new rack is actually an 82 to 88 Thunderbird rack which is the same length overall and the same at the tie rod pivot points as the Mustang II rack but the mount points are a bit different. Hard to see in this shot but the mounts on the Thunderbird rack at the top of the photo the mounts are a 1/4" closer to the rack centerline.
image.pngFrom this top view it is easier to see that the mounts on the Mustang rack extend farther out than the ones on the Thunderbird rack. Also the mount spacing is 1/2" narrower on the Thunderbird rack. 15 1/2" vs 16" on the Mustang rack. So after a bunch of measurements, some research on the internet and bolting the Mustang rack in place to see how it fit I figured out what I needed to do. Basically moving the mount holes in and up a 1/4" and using 3/4" spacers between the Thunderbird rack and the mount brackets on the crossmember.
image.pngHere I have the holes moved up and in 1/4". At this point I could have just made some spacers, bolted it together and called it good but I didn't want to have the rack slip down so a bit more fabrication was in order.
"to be continued)

[Custer55]

Brian fantastic work as always thanks for the updates.

Thank you and your welcome

[bigblock]

Brian fantastic work as always thanks for the updates.

[Custer55]

Good Morning Brian ,

Thanks for posting all of your work on the 39 , I really like how you are going about it and trying to show all how its done .
also thanks for keep trying to post stuff , I know its not easy but the old program was no Longer being supported so lots of scammers where getting in and posting garbage.
Ian is one of the best web guys he can fixed any thing so when you have a problem please post problem & we will look at it and get it fixed
Have a great day & Be safe

Sid

Thanks Sid, as I mentioned part of the problem was on my end so glad I got that figured out so I can keep posting my progress.

[567chevys]

Good Morning Brian ,

Thanks for posting all of your work on the 39 , I really like how you are going about it and trying to show all how its done .
also thanks for keep trying to post stuff , I know its not easy but the old program was no Longer being supported so lots of scammers where getting in and posting garbage.
Ian is one of the best web guys he can fixed any thing so when you have a problem please post problem & we will look at it and get it fixed
Have a great day & Be safe

Sid