My 1958 jalopy needs some work!

I have a 52 year old car, I was driving it every day it was not broken, until recently. When a car reaches that age there are parts that are just flat worn out. There are parts that in the normal life of a car just do not normally need replaced, unless you keep it going for 52 years. Recently I decided it was time to do some updating to the old jalopy. The steering was a little loose and when I go around the corners the car leans a bit, the tires do not track tightly and the four wheel drum brakes are nothing but problematic. It was time for some serious updating work. Where to start was the first question and the secondly, and more importantly, where to stop. When the car is 52 years old a person could keep going until he was broke and with more invested in the car than it is worth, I did not want to wind up there.

I love my old jalopy for many reasons, one of which is that it has no payments. With no payment plan, it affords one the opportunity to equate repair funds to the number of car payments it might be if I bought a new car. If I could get all the parts for less than 6 months of car payments I figured it was worth it. I have not had a car payment for a long time so I based it on what my last car payment was, about 500 bucks a month. That gave me a budget of three grand to get this work completed, luckily I can perform the work myself, at least most of it so I am hopeful I can stay on budget. Back to where to start, a tougher question than I thought and it made me realize I needed to know where I wanted to go before I could answer it.

First order of business was to run through the rear suspension and start replacing worn items. It did not take long to see that most all the parts there were in need of some updating and replacement. Front and rear leaf spring bushings and the anti-squeak buttons. There were the shocks and shackles, there were the wheel cylinders and U bolt washers. I also had to completely rebuild the rear brakes, new wheel cylinders, new brakes shoes, new springs and new emergency brakes cables. I was amazed how much dirt, grease and other debris builds up over the years. I laid down plastic sheeting on the garage floor to catch all that mess instead of then having to clean up the garage floor. I will be using the same technique when I get to the front suspension and steering components.

Next, I knew I wanted to install disc brakes to improve the stopping capabilities, simple sounding enough right – WRONG! Disc brakes will not fit inside of a 14” rim, like the ones installed on this jalopy from the factory. I would need to change the rims from the stock 14” to at least 15”. This turned out to be a MUCH bigger deal than I had anticipated. It would have been easy except for one thing, I wanted to keep my original ’58 hubcaps. I could have easily just spent some money and gotten a nice set of rims, pimp Daddy it right up – I did not want that. So, how to get 52 year old 14 inch hubcaps to fit on a 2010 15 inch rim? I pondered this question quite a bit and finally with the assistance of Bride came up with an idea that would float the hubcap in the center of the rim and then powder coat what is visible the same color as the red on the car. It was her idea but I am attempting to take credit. Sounds easy right – wrong again. It was going to require some fabrication work and I am a woodworker by hobby so I do not have a fully equipped metal fabrication shop in my garage. After talking to several fabricators I was getting nowhere, no one wanted to do it. I think it was mainly because I stressed the importance of the wheel being balanced when they were done.

I was on my way to visit a park on the west side and passed a place called Edwards Ornamental Iron and thought, why not stop and ask. It was there I met with Mike and this was not a job he was going to shy away from. To the contrary, he made suggestions that were better than my (Bride’s) original ideas. Finally, we agreed on materials, costs and timelines and I dropped off 4 brand new steel rims I had purchased from Jeg’s Performance Auto Parts up in Ohio. A few days later, he called and said they are ready to go. I stopped by on my lunch hour to pick them up and they were perfect. The fabrication work was smooth and clean and the job was perfect. I was somewhat concerned with the balance but he explained they made a jig to ensure the hubcap ring was exactly centered. Later, I had tires mounted and they were perfectly balanced. No matter the project, you ought to give Edwards Ornamental Iron a chance to look at it, (904) 354-4282 and ask for Mike

So once I had the metal work completed I needed to get them painted or powder coated to match the red on the jalopy. I found East Coast Powder Coating, off Beach blvd. He was apprehensive about what I wanted to do. I only wanted the area that would be seen powder coated, I was trying to save a dime. They went on to explain to me that they normally prefer to powder coat the whole rim. Finally I was able to convince him that only the lip needed to be coated and the job turned out fantastic. If you ever have the choice to paint something using traditional methods or have it powder coated – have it powder coated and use East Coast Powder Coating, (904) 645-5476.

The rims now completed I needed some rubber on them. The rims I selected were 15” instead of the 14” in height that came on the car and they were quite a bit wider as well. From a bit over 4 inches wide to a full 8” for the rears and 7” on the front. That small change alone was going to dramatically change to stance of the jalopy as well as greatly improve the handling characteristics. I decided on Cooper Cobra’s and I used Arlington Tire. I have used them for years and recommend them to anyone, (904) 743-6294 and ask for Dave. We worked through several sizes before I settled on 245/60-15’s for back and 215/70-15’s for the front, I am still thinking about those front ones though. Before I could change the rims on the rear I had to rebuild the rear brakes from the ground up, all new bits. With that work complete, I purchased the rear tires and installed them and they look GREAT, in my humble opinion.

I have ordered the first round of bits for the front end, I should say the first 682 bucks worth. It was funny, the box those parts came in was about 5 inches by 5 inches and about 15 inches long, not sure why but I was thinking the box of parts would be bigger for nearly 700 bucks. That gets me most of the parts, still need springs, sway bars and the disc brake conversion kit and probably a couple of more little bits. As I started to examine the front end and read the original Ford shop manual I realize that there is 52 years of grease, dirt and God only knows what else coating those parts. I will probably need to invest in a company that manufactures degreaser because I think I am going to need a lot of that product. Most of my friends and even Bride wonder why I am doing all this and not just buying something that is new and that does not require so much work. To all the critics I say this, I love doing the work, I love driving the car and I love not having car payments so there ya go. This story is going to continue but here are before and after pictures of the rear rims and tires.