morfing a 58 custom into a 57 custom 300

[RICH MUISE]

This time next week, I'll be looking at that Arizona sun...or moon. Excited to get on the way. Check my post in off topic stuff for our Az. plans.
I'm forgetting if you have your trunk lid shaved?

[57 imposter]

Put dye in the non vacuum holding A/C and ran it two days. checked with a black light and no leaks. It makes my other friends idea of pressurizing with nitrogen sound like even a better idea. It seems reasonable to assume if it will hold vacuum, it will hold pressure, apparently, that is not necessarily true. I'll continue to run it and we'll see. Put about 260 miles today and it looks like it is about ready to hit the road. I have to mess with the temp sender as the gauge does not appear to be accurate. Since I have to run some coolant out to do the sender I think I'll also replace the thermostat as I do think the engine is running warmer than it used to. Small, fine tuning, jobs. Already starting to wonder, whats next? I know I don't have the ambition to do another complete car build. I wouldn't mind finding a, period correct, boat to pull around with the car or perhaps s vintage motorcycle. We'll see.

[RICH MUISE]

It's my understanding a vacumn test is only a indication of a good/bad system, not a for-sure thing...just kinda lets you know you don't have any big holes somewhere.
I hear ya on the lack of ambition to do another project. I've got a year or so of odds and ends to finish up on mine, so I don't have to worry about it until maybe next summer. I'm just soooo glad it's finally driveable, I just want to get some miles on it hopefully without breaking anything, lol
I'm thinking maybe a teardrop trailer for a smaller project than a car might be good.

[lalessi1]

The one thing we are overlooking ( I forgot this earlier in a comment I made on the subject) is the primary reason you pull a vacuum on an AC system is to evacuate the system of WATER! The leak test aspect is a secondary reason.

[57 imposter]

A teardrop is kinda on my list also. I am really cramped for storage space so if I do either a boat or a trailer, it is constantly going to be in the way and will have to be moved around to get the Ford in and out of its place. In the , If it ain't one thing its another dept. I filled the tank yesterday and the next time I looked at it the gauge was pegged. obviously a dead short in the sender wire. I cut the wire where it comes out from under the trunk carpet and nothing changed so I know it isn't the sender and something has happened between there and the gauge. everything looked good under the dash but I will unplug the sender wire from the gauge and check for a bad gauge, [fairly unlikely]. A friend said "just run another sender wire" which would be the easiest way but the wire is part of the tail section loom that comes down the center of the firewall, along the transmission tunnel, under the back seat and out under the quarter window and back to the tail lights etc. So if something has pinched one wire in that loom what are the chances that somewhere down the road it might get another? That system was checked multiple times to avoid just this situation so I am a little baffled as to how it happened. So, this morning I am getting my mind right not to do the easy fix but to take out the front seats, console, rear seat base and drivers side upholstery panel, find the problem and fix it right. 
   So much for being "Road Ready".

[57 imposter]

The one thing we are overlooking ( I forgot this earlier in a comment I made on the subject) is the primary reason you pull a vacuum on an AC system is to evacuate the system of WATER! The leak test aspect is a secondary reason.

Ya ,thats for sure, you will always have to do that.

[hiball3985]

Do you have the OEM temp gauge? I'f the CVR for the gauges goes bad it will pin both fuel and temp.

[57 imposter]

Do you have the OEM temp gauge? I'f the CVR for the gauges goes bad it will pin both fuel and temp.

no its VDO crap. these gauges have been nothing but a one problem after another. This turns out to be an internal short in the gauge its self. the gauge will peg with no wire on the sender terminal. got one coming from Summit, will be here by Thursday.

[RICH MUISE]

Have the feeling I'm going to be doing the same thing with my TCI gages. Great to hear the fix is simple though and you don't have to disassemble the interior to replace wiring.

[57 imposter]

Have the feeling I'm going to be doing the same thing with my TCI gages. Great to hear the fix is simple though and you don't have to disassemble the interior to replace wiring.

About one more issue with VDO gauges and the whole mess will be going in the garbage! Because of all the problems with the gauges in the car I used Autometer in the uni-body and they are working fine. Not sure they will fit my panel but that can be corrected.

[57 imposter]

These local road tests, after a rebuild project are so important prior to heading out on the road. I have been having to top off the radiator every time I check it. I thought my plastic over flow bottle may have been cracked so I replaced it with a new stainless canister and made sure everything in the over flow system was correct. I ran the car thru a heat cycle let, it sit over night and it needed to have water added. thats when the intake manifold gasket nightmares began. but I decided to pressurize the radiator before going crazy and tearing the whole top end off. Turns out I could not build and pressure in the radiator. It is an aluminum radiator and we shot windex while trying to build pressure and found that the joint between the filler neck and the top tank was leaking air. So it was pushing water when it warmed up and sucking air when it cooled off. Kind of odd that there was never a sign of a water leak at that joint. Anyway, the radiator shop guy tells me that the correct way to fix it is to take it out and have the filler neck heli-arked to the top tank. So that may be something anyone running an aluminum rad. might want to bury back in the old memory bank. The up side is that I now know what I will be doing Sunday afternoon.   

[57 imposter]

A more detailed inspection of the cooling system reviled that the radiator neck wasn't leaking. I applied fairly high pressure to the system and found two leaks that would only show under full pressure. thats why I was getting no leaks showing on the garage floor. Got those fixed and took it out to run it through s heat cycle and I'll see how I did in the morning.

[57 imposter]

Fixing the leaks didn't do any good so I installed a new thermostat. Ran it about 50 miles this morning. I think I had some air trapped in the system because the temp was fluctuating for a bit ,but it settled down and held right 195 degrees. pretty cool weather but even in traffic, the temp didn't go up and the fan didn't come on. For the up coming road trip I wired in an indicator light that will tell me any time the fan comes on. That will allow me to compare the temp gauge to the fan sensor as I know it comes on at 210 degrees. I'll get some more miles on before we head south, but it finally appears that the temp issues are behind me. Fingers crossed!

[RICH MUISE]

Sounds like you got it nailed. I'm not sure of the accuracy of my gage  at this point, but I've had no cooling/overheating issues at all. My gage hasn't reached 200 yet, and I can't remember what temp switch/relay  I bought for it, but the fans do come on occationally when iddling for a while, and I've had nothing dumping into the overflow at all.

[57 imposter]

On the 4.6 I used in the truck, I ran a 195 thermostat and had the computer set to turn on the fan at 210. Mine operated like you are describing. The fan only occasionally ran. My 5.0L is setup the same except I use a 210 temp switch to operate the fan instead of the computer.