My miscellaneous projects thread

[Austin Martin]

Ok take two, as all the previous text was lost, here is my latest acquisition a '37 Ford (Matford) with the 2 1/4 flathead V8, as seen on ebay, unusually for me it was just down the road, it is running and driving, although it does have a leaky water pump, and a very smokey engine, the selle thoughtfully provided water pump overhaul kits and NOS pistons and head gaskets ( he did also say that the smoke was jus a bit of oil in the exhaust pipe, but the fact that the section that the oil might accumulate in, is rotted away tends to suggest otherwise!)


F** k me I've only worked out how to post real pictures instead of those f**cking thumb nails, (turns out if you follow the "how to post pictures" advice, it works)

Not the best conditions to take photos (apparently) but you can probably see I've made a start, removing the bulbous awfulness of a boot, and started on the frame to make it a slant back.

[steve1275]

Glad you started this thread

[MYTHING]

Interesting

[HALLnRODZ]

Looks very cool! Much different to our 37's as we had opera windows in the rear 1/4s, and the boot bubble was formed on the body with a smaller square lid in the centre.

[Austin Martin]

I think the body and running gear (and engine and box) had much in common with the post war Pilot, which, also had the boot bulge pressed into the body itself, but the Matford was the only one with suicide doors, and the redesign on the Pilot removed all of the sleek styling and added a bit of post war austerity!

The seller said something about 12 volt conversion, which may have been just the ignition system, as the starter motor looks to have never been removed in it's eighty years of existence!

[HALLnRODZ]

This is an Aussie 37 body, you can see the considerable differences.

[steve1275]

Standard way to go when converting to 12v was leave the starter alone - much more wizzy that way.

[Austin Martin]

Had quite a productive day today, the sun did indeed have his hat on, so I pulled it out of the workshop to remove the remains of the interior; would have been really nice in 1937, and to be fair again in 1979 but passed it's best now unfortunately.

Installation of the mock up seats (i.e the ones I will probably use in the end because of budget issues) couldn't be simpler, due to the base of the original seat being wood, and the seats (ex Land rover) having mounting holes suitable for self tappers; I may keep the seats but will remove the wooden base and replace it with some 2"X 1" box .

As can be seen ,internally it's very poor having no glass, it is V rusty (but surprisingly little rot) and the speedo etc has all but disappeared, and as for the wiring, well I think electrics are over rated anyway!

[Austin Martin]

Made the boot lid/hatch/ trunk thingy today, the frame was sliced form the original boot er thingy ,and the bottom rail was removed and a new one made with a slight curve to match the top rail.

It was a bit of a pain to shape as it was a compound curve, but with my trusty companions brute, force, and ignorance, all was good in the end (you must trust the force), a bit of tweaking on one of the hinges left to do;

I'll make the lower panel out of steel when I find some!

[RAYS CLASSICS.COM]

is the healey for sale. RAY A in sf