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1936 Ford Project Part II: Chassis & Body Upgrades

After 60 Years Of Use And Abuse, This Ford Cabriolet Gets An Update
By The Rod & Custom Staff
Photography by The Rod & Custom Staff
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The '36 was very complete: The body looked fair, the interior parts were all there and it was still in running condition. We started the project by taking the car to Drezek Environmental Stripping for a baking-soda blast.
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The car didn't look too bad from the rear. The original spare tire was attached when we purchased it, but we removed it for the trip to the stripper. It was obvious upon close inspection that this car would need plenty of work.
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Close inspection of the rumble seat made it clear that the seam alignment of this car was way off. This decklid will require a lot of work to perfect.
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We were surprised by how quickly the paint came off with blasting. Baking soda removes the paint but doesn't attack the body filler or rust. Drezek offers media blasting to remove rust.
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At this point we were able to clearly see exactly what we were dealing with--and it wasn't a pretty picture. There was a lot of thick body filler in this car.
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One rear quarter-panel had been poorly installed. It had to be cut to remove stress and then welded back together after it was pounded out properly. Notice the tail section of the car--it's going to need some major bodywork.
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A Bitchin Products firewall was installed at the Drezek body shop. We ordered a big-block firewall so that we'd have plenty of clearance for the Ford engine. Small-block Ford engines are a little bit longer than Chevy small-blocks, but not as wide.
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When Drezek's body men finished the side bodywork and installed the firewall, the car was primered with Ditzler K-200 with a guide coat. The body looks pretty good in the photo, but plenty of work will be needed to perfect it.
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Fat Man Fabrications has a super-nice chassis for '35-'40 Fords with the buyer's choice of several options. The chassis we ordered has a tubular Mustang II front suspension with large 11-inch brakes, rack-and-pinion steering, front and rear sway bars and a master cylinder/power booster installed. Notice the heavy-duty crossmembers for strength.
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This close-up shows the Fat Man Fabrications optional tubular front suspension. A metal bar is used in place of the coil-over shock that will be installed later. Notice the front sway bar for excellent handling and the large rack-and-pinion steering box. Brakes are big 11-inch units with GM calipers.
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Although the chassis is sitting upside-down in this photo, you can see how the master cylinder/power booster is mounted on the driver side of the car with the pedal in the stock location. This photo also shows the heavy-duty crossmembers and the adjustable transmission mount.
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We located an early Ford 9-inch and took it to Currie Enterprises for narrowing and rebuilding. The company installed its Traction-Lok unit and Richmond 3.55:1 gears. We located the pinion angle on the axle and tack-welded it before we delivered it to Currie. The company welded the perches on, then straightened the tubes during the rebuild.
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We got the frame in rolling condition, but it wasn't painted or detailed at this point. The car had to be fitted together before any paint and detailing work could be done. To swap frames we got several large friends to lift the body onto the sawhorses. We rolled the old frame out and the new one back under the car.
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From stocker to hot rod in about 10 minutes. Wow, what a difference. Now the car is sitting low and looks great with the Halibrand wheels and BFGoodrich tires. It was sure a shot in the arm to get this car finished.
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The '36 is going to be an all-Ford Ford with the addition of this EFI 302 engine. It produces around 250 hp and is hooked to a T5 five-speed manual transmission. The Ford engine with the fuel injection and overdrive trans should give the car plenty of power but will also be stingy on gas. All in all, it's a great car for long drives--like Americruise.
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All the lower quarters had a small amount of rust so they were replaced with patch panels from C.W. Moss.
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Engineering & Mfg. Services offers this reproduction tail panel for '36 Fords. This cabriolet's tail panel was in pretty bad shape and needed some new sheetmetal. (In a future installment we'll show you how to install the unit properly.)
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We laid the tail panel over the car and marked where it had to go. If you look at the spare-tire bracket mounting holes you can see some heavy filler in the upper section.
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Plenty of block-sanding and filling was necessary to straighten this car. Most of the problems were very minor, so the filler was used only as a skim coat. We used an electric puller on all the small dents before we added the filler. If you look closely you'll notice the 21/4-inch chop in the windshield posts.
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Here is the bad side of the car--but at this point it was actually starting to look pretty good. The upper section of the door needed plenty of pulling to straighten it enough to add filler. The door handles were also filled and removed. Note that the window frame has been chopped.
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After block-sanding the car, we applied a coat of PPG K-36 filler primer. The body is starting to look rather good at this point, but there is still plenty of block-sanding and primering to do before it's perfect.
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The rear end of this car was in really bad condition when we started but has improved dramatically. We added the lower section, then cut and pounded out the upper section. At this point we were skimming the entire rear with a very light layer of filler to remove the waves. Also, when working on the rear sheetmetal section of a '36, the brace for the spare tire should still be incorporated for strength.
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After much block-sanding and filler, the car's rear was improving. Notice that we are not going to run the spare tire. Check out the rumble seat seams.
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Fairlane Company manufactures top-quality fiberglass '36 fenders that will make finishing the car easier. We scuffed the fenders down with 80-grit sandpaper, removed the seams, then primered them with PPG DP-50.
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Fitting the fenders can be tricky. We bolted them together on the garage floor, then installed them in one unit. (We'll show you the details in a separate tech story.)
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After bolting the fenders together, we elevated them to see how they fit. Satisfied with this, we began drilling the mounting holes. We must admit the car was looking much better with the fenders on, and we were also able to see its stance.
BFGoodrich
Greenville
SC

www.bfgoodrichtires.com
Fairlane Company
St. Johns
MI
Bitchin Products, Inc.
El Cajon
CA
Fat Man Fabrications, Inc.
Charlotte
NC
Bob Drake Reproductions, Inc.
Grants Pass
OR
Ford Motorsport/SVO
Clinton Township
MI
C.W. Moss Ford Parts
Orange
CA
Halibrand Engineering
Wellington
KS
Currie Enterprises
1480 N. Tustin Ave.
Anaheim
CA  92807

www.new9inch.com
High Performance Coatings/HPC
Salt Lake City
UT
Drezek Environmental Stripping Systems
San Jaun Capistrano
CA
PPG Industries, Inc.
19699 Progress Dr.
Strongsville
OH  44136
Engineering & Mfg. Services
Cleveland
OH
ROCK VALLEY ANTIQUE AUTO PARTS, LTD.
Rte. 72 & Rothwell Rd., Box 352 Dept. VM
Stillman Valley
IL  61084

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