Im starting to work on this winters speedster project. I set the firewall today, and since Ill be running a DU-4 mag I will not have a coil box. Was there any special covers made in the day for the holes, or did they just put a piece of steel or wood over the holes .?? If there was some "trick" item from the day, I would like to use some "speedsterish" (hows that for a word) type of item.... Now that the project has officially began, Ill probably annoy everyone with silly little questions like this, till springtime.
What are you going to do for a magneto switch? You might want to keep the coil box and utilize the switch.
Maybe keep the coil box for storage? Sorta' like a glove compartment on a modern car? Hey,.....gotta' have at least one little place to keep keys, camera, wallet, cell phone, etc.
I'm with Harold - the old coilbox makes a great glove box for license registration, Band-Aids (should be factory equipment), etc. Most distributor folks I know utilize the old box to cover the holes but I have one T that has a piece of Model A running board cover bolted over the vacant holes.
I don't know if you mean inside or under the hood, but here's what I did to my firewall to cover holes. It's an aluminum sheet, machine-marked with a small disc of abrasive cloth.
Harold, I kinda like the coil box storage idea. Maybe even make a "special" box to go there. Howard. I will not need a switch on the coil box as I will have a dash. I just need to use the standard Ford "instrument" panel for my application. I may look at a model T running board tomorrow, now that you mention the Model A. It has "Ford" script on the T running board "maybe ???" good suggestions so far. I love the Forum, "just ask and ye shall receive "
I used aluminum on my Racer firewall too !
The gray race car that I used to have had a disturbedutor on it. I used the coil box to keep goggles in. The current Boat-tail has timer and coils. I miss my goggle's hiding place. (But I like the coils better)
Ask lots of questions! Us opinionated old speedster fools will get you going one way or another! (Maybe the wrong way?)
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
My roadster came with a distributor, left the coil box on to hide the turn signal canister and other sinful things. engine side wood hole plugs from the wood work shop.
I like the idea of using the coil box for a "stash/hiding" place. I may make my own "special" box. Ill probably be asking lots of silly questions. There are lots of ideas out there on how to do different things different ways. I have been collecting this speedster project for about 25 years. I finally found an original body at Chickasha last year. I will be repairing everything as needed, but "no restoration" I want to save as much patina as I can.
If your using a metal firewall the plugs ffor electric boxes work good and look ok after painting, Don.
Well this is what I decided to do. I took a junk running board and cut a piece of it with the script in it to make a lid/cover for a stock coil box. You have to hammer the diamonds flat and also flatten out the sides to have enough material to work with. I bent about a 3/8 inch flange on the ends and about a 1/2 inch flange on the front. The front flange makes a good finger catch to open it. I just used 2 pieces of angle iron clamped together with 2 c-clamps and held in my vice for breaking the lips on the edges. I used a ball pein hammer to bend the lips over while the cover was clamped between the angles. I made the flanges bigger than needed so I could cut them to a uniform 3/8 or 1/2 inch later. I still have some more "metal finishing" to do, and I need to spot weld the hinge to the cover. I will also make a oak board back for the box to attach the hinge to and also cover the holes in the firewall. But you can see from the pics what it will look like ...