Henry's Restoration Log

HENRY LINKS including vendor sites for parts and tools as well as sites for Ford organizations

RESTORATION LOG includes log entries of repairs and restoration between the time of purchase at Barrett-Jackson and the present.

1. Learning Curve

After the auction, we found that Henry has some issues of which fuel system problems are the most immediate. We stalled out half way on the 25 mile trip back from the auction and it ran badly the rest of the trip when we were finally able to get it started again and coax it home. We suspect old gas. We also had a devil of a time with Henry's ignition switch.

April 7^th 2007 I picked up Sta-Bil, Marvel Mystery Oil, a drain pan and three 5 gal gas tanks during the week. Brought down another 5 gal tank and a hand siphon pump from my warehouse. When I stopped in a Bennett Auto Supply for the gas tanks, there was good news and bad news. The good news is that the tanks were on sale. The bad news was a two to the customer limit. I could sense that the burly woman behind the counter could override policy but that she was clearly not in the mood to. I am not a regular customer at Bennett and probably won't be in the near future.

April 11^th 2007 Ordered online and received two "Battery Tender Plus 6v at 1.25a" chargers, one each for Henry and Frankie. Well, we didn't get to change the gas on Henry this past weekend because we couldn't get Henry out of the garage. My boss, Derek and his son Max were onsite at the house and I was assisting, best I could, via phone at the office. We have ignition switch problems and the integral steering column lock won't come loose. I posted the following inquiry at FordBarn:

"Well, we're having troubles with the ignition switch/column lock today. (I didn't even know it had a column lock). We had a hard time getting the ignition key in when we bought the thing home and the guys at the auction said "Just leave it in". My boss was going to bring it to the Office today for me to try to drain the gas (that's the other problem we're having) but he took the key out to get additional keys made and now the steering column is locked. He explained this to me over the phone while trying to get it started. While we were trying to see if the spark is getting to the plugs, it started but the column is still locked. Any ideas?"

I got several good answers at FordBarn and a e-mail reply from Lou Bousquet, a '46 owner. In the meantime, my boss decided to seek out local talent. He made an appointment and a locksmith is meeting us at the house tomorrow. I also found a eBay listing for a "1941 Ford Super Deluxe steering wheel lock/switch with key". I have no idea what these things are going for so I made what I think is a modest bid. I treat my employer's money as if it were my own and never go overboard. As a result, he almost never questions my purchases and always reimburses me.

April 12^th 2007 The boss and I went up to his house this afternoon to wait for the locksmith to arrive. He stuck the original key in the column lock and tried to turn it a few times. He has a blister from trying to do this without success last weekend. I tried it after he was done and must'uv hit the secret Indiana Jones combination of moves 'cause I had the steering wheel and ignition toggle unlocked inside of fifteen seconds.

The locksmith, Peter, showed up and now we were in a pickle. He examined the thing fer awhile and 'tho he is a lock expert, he is not a '41 Ford expert and, at this point, both the boss and I know more about this gadget than Peter but our combined knowledge is still pretty low on the scale of the total understanding of it. Peter needed to see the key but we were all reticent to pull it out now that we had a working car again. After a minute my boss looked at me and said "You'll just have to be lucky a second time." Peter took the key and went back to his truck. Derek and I admired the engine and piddled around with the Caddy while Peter did his work. He went back-n-forth between Henry and his truck several times. He finally had a better key that anybody could use to repeatedly unlock the steering column in a few seconds providing they knew the correct jiggling motions (which were limited to two).

April 14^th 2007 Derek and Max arrived at the office in Henry mid-afternoon. They drove down from the house, a distance of less than ten miles, without problems. The car was running great. Derek dumped four oz. of Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas tank and they headed off on a beach run. They were back in short order with engine problems. Hard to keep it running and no power. Derek said it really felt fuel-starved when he went around a turn. The engine was shut off.

The gas tank has a drain plug. We dragged out the drain pan and gas tanks I had gotten earlier and I drained a little over a gallon into the pan. The gas looks good and it doesn't smell like varnish or anything but gas. There is no water either. In fact, I'm gonna burn that gas in my truck since Derek didn't want to put it back in Henry. We couldn't get it to start again. That's the same problem we had getting it back from the auction. Runs strong for ten miles or twenty minutes or so, then the wheels fall off as far as engine performance goes. While waiting for it to cool down, we pulled three plugs at random. All of them had light brown electrodes with sooty surrounds. All were dry too. Some of the plug terminals were loose so I crimped them slightly with pliers to get a snug grip on the plugs. Coolant was checked and it was holding good without leakage. It's starting to look like a vapor lock problem to us but we need more research.

I checked the oil next. It's clear and topped off. The seller must have changed it recently. I got a screwdriver and took apart one of the taillights to get the bulb number (w 1154). You can barely see these things when following and we want to order LED replacement bulbs for safety reasons. You can get LED's now that are mated to the original bayonet sockets so no modification of the lamp assembly is necessary (well, for 12v lights anyway. I'm still looking for 6v LEDs). By the time I got the tail light back together, the engine was cooled down and Henry started right up. Derek and Max headed for home before the engine heated up again.

April 25^th 2007 I won the ebay auction for the steering wheel lock/switch and it arrived today. It's in better shape (tumbler-wise) than the one that's in Henry now. If we need it down the road, it won't take much to restore it for use. I don't know the real market for these things but I think the $91 I paid for it is probably a good deal. Derek has been checking around with other local collectors and a recommended local mechanic will be visiting the office tomorrow to talk about both Henry and Frankie.

April 28^th 2007 The mechanic, Jerry, arrived at the office on Thursday to look Henry over. He is going to do some research on the fuel starvation problem and get back to Derek. Seems like a knowledgable fella and first impressions are good. Early in the week, I received a passal of Ford repair book reprints from Bisko Auto Books. Included is "Ford Service Bulletins 1941-1948", "Body/Chassis Shop Manual 1932-1941 Ford, Ford Truck, Lincoln, Mercury", "Parts Book Chassis 1938-1946 Ford, Ford Truck, Mercury", "Shop Manual Engine 1937-1945 Ford, Ford Truck", "Parts Book Chassis 1938-1941 Ford, Mercury", "Shop Manual 1933-1947 Ford", and "Shop Manual Fuel Systems Repair 1938-1947 Ford, Ford Truck, Lincoln, Mercury".

February 2^nd 2007 Henry has been sitting in his garage bay for some months now with his fuel system problem. Jerry turned out to not be interested in working on the car and we found another expert mechanic for Henry and Frankie but he was in the process of moving to the Carolinas. Finally, Tony, Onwer of the Valero station up the street agreed to tackle the cars. Tony's repair work specializes in classics and exotics. He took a few weeks and got Frankie squared away. Henry is now waiting his turn in the classics bay. We've got somebody's beautiful red Mercedes Cabrolet from the fifties ahead of us. I got a fuel pump rebuild kit from Mac's Antique Auto Parts for when Tony is ready for the Ford.

Henry's battery has gone south so I started looking for a replacement for the boss. We decided on a maintenance-free battery from Restoration Battery. It costs $310 with shipping. That may seem a bit high but six volt optima batteries are pretty steep to begin with and that is what this is 'cept that it's concealed inside of a old "tar top" case replica. I called up Restoration Battery and got a answering machine. I hung up to call back later but got an immediate callback. It was the proprietor and he was at a Corvette show on the Florida west coast, not in Cincinnati, where Restoration Battery is located. He took my info down and shipped one out to us when he got back.