question for old guys

[rockfla]

AND here I thought the old coffee cans were only used to fill in rusted out spot on the rear tail pan on my 35 Sedan Delivery!!!!

[Seth Swoboda]

Originally Posted by sherwood

thanks for all the replies' , i didn't think any guys under 50 ever worked on older cars
would know what I'm talking about .i liked to use hills brothers coffee cans !!! their was wear on the shims, cork and felt seal were ok, shims were laying on the clam shell inside covered in bearing grease. thanks for all the reply's.

I was just giving you a hard time. There are a few under 50 that enjoy working on these cars.

[cmbrucew]

Bailing wire and coffee cans were a fix for a lot of things. My parents drank Folgers coffee and so do I.



Bruce

[Lamar Wadsworth]

The coffee can shims story reminds me of what I found on my '38 Ford pickup when I first bought it in 1966. The top of the front crossmember cracked where the center of the spring is attached with the U-bolts. A previous owner took the U-bolts off, formed a piece of a coffee can over the crossmember to hold the broken pieces in place, hammered the U-bolts over it and tightened them up.

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by Lamar Wadsworth

The coffee can shims story reminds me of what I found on my '38 Ford pickup when I first bought it in 1966. The top of the front crossmember cracked where the center of the spring is attached with the U-bolts. A previous owner took the U-bolts off, formed a piece of a coffee can over the crossmember to hold the broken pieces in place, hammered the U-bolts over it and tightened them up.

That's some pretty strong coffee.

[SoCalCoupe]

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Originally Posted by sherwood

went to replace front u-joint after taking off clam shell cover i found what appears to be metal shims inside clam shell, upon inspection i found that they were made from a Folger coffee can, why wound they be in their ? their was 2 of them

Not totally sure what you mean by the clamshell but believe you're talking about the clutch housing.


I installed a Tremec transmission on my 1964 Chevy and used a dial indicator to true the bell housing in all three dimensions. You can do two dimensions with offset dowels but to get the third dimension you need shims. Had to make my own shims to do it. Nobody makes such things. Probably where the coffee can comes in. Some people gripe about hard shifting transmissions but alignment in three dimensions is everything. They don't necessarily come from the factory perfect and as soon as you use aftermarket or non-original parts, who knows.


So, just to brag, made my own shims and dialed it in perfect. I could shift that high horsepower 5 speed with just my thumb and index finger, no force at all.


I'm probably an old guy because I'm eligible for Social Security. Also, nearly everyone at my gym is young enough to be my child. A few are young enough to be my grandchildren. Ask me about CrossFit, it's awesome. Everyone can play, it's scalable. You start where you are and move forward, no judgement.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by SoCalCoupe

Not totally sure what you mean by the clamshell but believe you're talking about the clutch housing.

This is a Ford CLAMSHELL assembly. It holds the hemispherical ball end of the torque tube against the transmission in a fashion that allows the torque tube to fully articulate left, right, up or down. Second to last picture should make it clear that the CLAMSHELL itself is actually a two-piece affair. Final drawing shows all pieces involved.

Coop














.

[Seth Swoboda]

Interesting how they used the spindle stop nuts on the transmission mount bolts and it looks like they drilled and keyed them too.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

Interesting how they used the spindle stop nuts on the transmission mount bolts and it looks like they drilled and keyed them too.

Seth ..... Those pictures are of the "guts" in Jim Pullen's (19Fordy) little black '40 coupe. Ask him WHY!

Coop

[Seth Swoboda]

Originally Posted by V8COOPMAN

Seth ..... Those pictures are of the "guts" in Jim Pullen's (19Fordy) little black '40 coupe. Ask him WHY!

Coop

I didn't mean to be critical. It was just an observation. I have ran into many fixes that worked and served the purpose.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

I didn't mean to be critical. It was just an observation. I have ran into many fixes that worked and served the purpose.

Seth .... NOT being critical at all! In fact, I was sort of impressed that you paid enough attention to catch that in the first place. I had wondered the same thing since the first time I saw those pictures some time ago. So, I'm gonna ask Jim about it, and hopefully get him to reply in this thread. Stand-by for more!

Coop

.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

Interesting how they used the spindle stop nuts on the transmission mount bolts and it looks like they drilled and keyed them too.

Seth.... This is what Jim (19Fordy) just sent me in a PM (BELOW).

Coop


" 2/3/23 Hi Dick, When I bought my 40 back in 1963 those acorn style king pin lock bolts were already installed by a friend of mine who was the previous owner. However, I didn't realize they weren't the stock nuts until 1972 when I replaced the transmission syncronizers. Then, it occurred to me that the previous owner had (for some reason) used the king pin lock pin nuts along with the transmission mount bolts. When you examine them closely it doesn't look like the cotter pin holes were drilled by the previous owner. It all looked stock to me. At first, I thought about changing them but, they all fit together so nice that I decided to keep using them all the years since then. They are still on the car since they work well. I guess it's just one of those crazy things where you use what you have. My friend had to replace the front axle before I bought the car and got a complete front end assembly from a junk yard along with the drums, backing plates, etc. I guess he decided to use them once he found they fit. I never asked him about them as I had no reason to. I am surprised you noticed them but, glad you did.
Stay well, Jim "

[History]

I’m not old and I remember Folgers well, they sponsored a young fellow out of Ohio who could drive the wheels off a race car named Tim Richmond. I feel sure he would be a household name had he not left the world so soon as he was a very, very good driver.

Were the shims located between the “bowls” of the clamshell or on the flats. Can’t figure what they were trying accomplish exactly.

[38 coupe]

Originally Posted by Seth Swoboda

I was just giving you a hard time. There are a few under 50 that enjoy working on these cars.

I'm one of the under 50 folks around here and I've been actively wrenching on flatheads for over 25 years (I was only a helper wrenching on flatheads for the first 15 years of my life, so that doesn't count).