32 5-WINDOW COUPE
This is "Ruby" -- Martha's 32 Ford 5-window coupe at the
NSRA Western Nat's in Bakersfield. She sits on a TCI
chassis and runs a small-block (302) Ford with AOD. Vintage
Air A/C for comfort. And the original 1932 Ford seats to
convince you not to drive too long at any one time! Gotta
do something about these.
Ruby donated her engines to the Mustang several times, when
I would blow up a race motor and need a short block to
start again. She languished, engine-less, for quite a long
time. I have finally gotten an engine back in her. A
stock-block, .030" over 306 engine with SVO heads and an
Edelbrock RPM intake. I decided to go back to a carb
because re-installing the fuel injection looked like such a
pain. Live and learn.
I cannot believe what horrible junk modern gas has become.
Let it sit for very long and it forms a gooey sludge that
absolutely clogs the small passages in your carburetor. I
had bought a brand-new 650 Holley for this car. Put it on,
started it up, and it ran fine. Had some health issues that
kept me from doing much for a couple of months and...the
damned thing wouldn't idle any more. Pulled the carb,
cleaned it, put it back. Same thing. Off again, clean
again, on again. Same thing. Put on the old Edelbrock carb
and it idled fine. Back to the Holley, no idle. I had
bought a Road Demon carb many years ago for this car, put
it on a mildly-hopped engine, and it ran like crap. Called
BG for help and they told me this carb was strictly for
stock engines. No help, no hope. (They later folded. BG is
back, I hear, with a new line of carbs.)
Anyway, cleaned the mud-dauber nests out of the holes and
slapped it on just to see what would happen. Voila'! It
ran. And idled. After a week, the accelerator pump clogged
up but a bit of cleaning and all is well again. Son James
and I are finishing up re-installing the grill shell and
headlights and I have some wiring issues with the dashboard
instrument connectors but Ruby is just about ready to go
driving again! Just in time for the New Braunfels Area Car
Club carshow in April. It will be nice to get some more
carshow pics.