It has been awhile since the last update on the 40 Ford project.
Before having to do maintenance work on the 1939 Ford Sedan and the 1956 Dodge Wagon so that we will be ready for this season’s travels, I was able to do a trial fit of the stock body to the TCI AirBagged chassis. The 1st problem was that the rear height sensors were hitting the bottom of the floor. I was sure when I installed them that the floor at that point was higher, nope. So I removed them for now and will deal with relocating them after I find out what other issues I have with the fit. Next I found that I could not get the back of the body to sit on the frame, thanks to the tops of the rear air bags that are almost 3″ above the rear floor… Mr. Plasma was used to relieve the offending pieces of the floor. Now I will have to fabricate a box to cover the tops of the airbags and close in the floor. On the plus side the top of the box will make an ideal place to locate the compressors and air tank. I plan on mounting the battery in the trunk close to the compressors since the draw almost 70 amps when running. Then I found that I needed to remove most of the front part of the front floor to be able to clear the transmission and shifter. Once again Mr. Plasma took away the offending metal. I do have a new floor and toe boards that fit the 5″ recessed firewall.
Then it got interesting…. I found out that I could get the front cowl bolts and the middle body bolts started into the frame but the rear bolts would not start. I took everything apart and started at the rear and was able to start the rear and center bolts started, but not the front. After three days of screwing with it, I decided to work on the ’39 and ’56 and leave it sit for a while. I think what I will have to do is start in the middle and work out to the front and rear, then elongate the both the front and rear holes in the body. Before I can do that I will have to lift the body off the chassis so I can repair the inserts in the chassis that I screwed up with all the bolting and unbolting.
