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Automotive Lifestyle
AUTOS: The Hot Rod Build, Part 4: The Engine Arrives
The fourth installment of a multi-part series about the construction of a custom Ford Deuce Coupe.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted April 23, 2010   Phoenix, AZ
The hand-built, all-aluminum Ford V8 is bolted to the frame and hooked up with the transmission, and it fits in well with the fabricated firewall. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
This is the fourth of a multi-part series focusing on the building of a 1932 Ford “Deuce Coupe” hot rod. The scratch-built car is being created at Hot Rods by Dean, an award-winning street-rod and custom shop based in Phoenix, for a Glendale, AZ., customer.

The goal: to build a classic street rod from modern components, including a new all-steel body, that will be authentic and indistinguishable from one created from an original 78-year-old car.

The new, hand-built engine for the Deuce Coupe has arrived at Dean Livermore’s shop as the project moves into its next phase.

Hot-rod craftsman Ron McCorkle disappears under the Deuce Coupe to attach the fuel pump and separate fuel filter to the frame. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
The engine, a Ford 347-cubic-inch high-performance V8 with aluminum block and heads, has been bolted into the frame with minimal alterations. Craftsman Ron McCorkle, who has been basing his fabrications on a dummy engine that was previously in the frame, was relieved that things seem to be fitting well, including clearance with the hand-formed firewall.

“Now that the engine’s in here, you can see that the modifications we did to the firewall worked,” McCorkle said.

The engine arrived with a large, square oil pan that was fabricated by the engine builder, Bob Ream of B&R Automotive in Phoenix. There initially was some concern that the oversized pan could interfere with the steering system’s Pitman arm, but McCorkle demonstrated that the rod moves comfortably with an inch to spare.

Fastening the custom engine to the motor mounts turned out to be more work than expected, he said, with the steel bracket requiring some grinding down where it bolts onto the block. But while they were at, McCorkle said, they smoothed off the corners and shaped the brackets for a clean final appearance once they are painted.

The steering system has been all hooked up and clears the engine, including its oversized custom oil pan. The headers must be built to tuck in around the steering shaft. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
The team was considering using aftermarket headers for the Deuce engine, but McCorkle showed that the high-performance cylinder heads have extra-wide exhaust ports for maximum flow and don’t really match up with the available header systems.

Besides, the new headers need to tuck in perfectly, especially on the left side where the steering column must be circumvented. The headers will be matched with a dual exhaust system that’s shaped to fit the inner contours of the frame.

“We’ll probably have to make our own headers on this one,” McCorkle said.

The carburetor, a Holley 780 four barrel with vacuum-operated secondaries, is sitting in the trunk. This type carburetor was chosen for a balance of street performance and economy, he said.

“A problem that many people run into is that they over-carburate the engine,” he said. “They think, ‘I’m building a high-performance car so I need the biggest carburetor.’ But a smaller carburetor can really add more horsepower and better miles per gallon.”

Pulleys are being ordered for the belts that run the water pump, alternator and air conditioning, McCorkle said, and the next step is building brackets for those accessories and attaching them to the engine.

The seat frame and springs were set inside for fit, with the decision made to replace the bent-shaft shifter arm with a straight one for additional clearance. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
The replacement radiator for the one that was sent back because it didn’t leave room for an AC condenser has yet to return from the company that makes them, McCorkle said.

The front end is nearly finished, with the steering system set up and new Bilstein gas shocks installed. McCorkle pointed out where he notched the frame on both sides over the transverse leaf spring to allow extra suspension movement. The notches had to be carefully box welded for extra strength.

McCorkle has also attached the fuel pump and separate filter to the frame and will soon begin making fuel lines and brake lines from solid stainless-steel tubing.

The interior is gradually coming along, with the seat frame and springs set in place. Corky Chumbley, the Glendale, Az., businessman and former sprint-car racer who commissioned the car to be built at Hot Rods by Dean, recently visited the shop and sat in the interior so that the builders could see how well he fit.

The only complaint was that the tall shifter came too close to the seat; the shifter arm has a rearward bend in its long shaft, so they’re getting a new one without the bend. McCorkle has built up the car’s floor structure for a clean look around the shifter mechanism.

The shop had ordered some vintage-looking Ford gauges but they were too large for the holes provided by the manufacturer of the small, original-style dashboard. So the gauges have also been returned with a reorder for a smaller set.

The '32 Ford hot rod is starting to take shape as the builders move quickly along. (Photo" Bob Golfen)
“We could have cut the dash to fit the gauges,” McCorkle said, “but we want it to look factory.”

While Chumbley was at the shop to try out the interior, he made another request for a non-original part to be fabricated: a windshield defroster. The 1932 Ford did not come with defrosters, instead providing a tilt-out windshield to let in fresh air.

But Chumbley, who plans to drive his street rod around the country, said his wife would never put up with the outside wind blowing in her face. McCorkle now must devise a defroster that will be hidden away behind the dash so the non-original alteration won’t show, much like the AC system that’s also tucked behind the dash.

“So I’m going to put a defroster in it,” McCorkle said. “I’ll have to come up with some ducting for that.”

Week-to-week, the relatively quick progress on the Deuce Coupe is pretty apparent to an outsider, looking now like a partially completed car rather than the empty shell of a month ago. But for McCorkle, who has been working day-by-day on building each little piece of the puzzle, the changes are almost too gradual to notice.
“So it’s coming along,” he said, standing back for a longer look. “Doesn’t seem like it, sometimes.”

See the first three parts of the project at

The Hot Rod Build, Part 1.

The Hot Rod Build, Part 2.

The Hot Rod Build, Part 3.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEEDtv.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, who has driven and evaluated essentially every new vehicle sold in the United States. A lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle, he annually attends and writes about Arizona's famous January collector-car auctions, focusing on Scottsdale’s monumental Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event. SPEEDtv.com fans email veteran Automotive Editor Bob Golfen at

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