Follow-up on '32 Coupe clutch chatter

[Marshall V. Daut]

A while back, I posted a couple questions about the clutch chatter in a friend's 1932 Coupe he had recently purchased. From the accompanying photos, you guys pointed out that the anti-chatter rods were missing. It turns out that this car is a real Frankenstein of various parts from various years beneath the body, and the missing anti-chatter rods were only one of several problems encountered while trying to make this car safe and drivable. The V8 engine is a true 1932 block, but the car had apparently originally been a Model B four cylinder. The early clutch release arm for this engine was one indication. The brakes had been converted to 1939-42 hydraulics, so a hatchet job had been performed on the frame to make the changes, besides later year brake and clutch pedals being installed. No wonder there were no anti-chatter rods! It was impossible to install the left side rod because of all the modifications. A later dog-legged clutch arm was located and installed and with some judicious grinding here and there, the rods finally fit. The right side, however, went in with no trouble.
The front motor mounts consisted of a hodge-podge of thick rubber donuts that were spongy from leaked oil. These were replaced with Bob Drake '32 front motor mounts.
After all this, it APPEARS that the clutch chatter problem has been solved. I say "appears" because with no operating service brakes (or emergency brakes present!), we can only use the clutch in the shop for a foot or two at a time. The owner says the clutch operation is much improved. Until we can address and repair the no-brake situation, we can't be absolutely sure that in the real world of driving in traffic, the clutch chatter is gone.
I will open a new thread about the brakes later today. But I wanted to thank those of you who have contributed advice and suggestions to solve the clutch issue, as well as making needed parts available to us. We had trouble with our home phone answering machine during this period, so some messages came across that were garbled and untraceable. If you tried to phone me, I apologize for not being able to respond. The recorded greeting message still worked, but the recorded calls were unfathomable. 'Sorry that we couldn't connect over the telephone. We now have a new answering machine.
Thanks to all again for your help. Please read my brake questions in the next posting a little later. Remember: I am not an early V8 guy, so all of this is new to me. But I am trainable.
Marshall

[Jim in Wisconsin]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

Sounds like you've already learned a lot about 32 Fords (actually all the early v8's are similar anyway). The closer you can get this car to original the better, but 32 parts are not easy to find or cheap. A Frankenstein car could still be a fun project and you don't have to feel bad about mixing up parts - that's already happened.