I have followed this forum for about six years. I have only made one other post in that time about fixing the studs on the eyebrows. I thought I should finally post some about my build.
First I will give you some info about how I got to this point. When I graduated school in 1972 I was to young to get a job so I went to work helping a old guy that owned a junk yard. That summer he got in a 57 Fairlane two door. It didn't have a motor but it did have a title. I got that car for part of my pay. That fall I went to work for that man's son that owned a Gulf service station. That fall a man came in with a 63 Thunderbird that had spun a bearing, but he didn't have the money to fix the engine. It was a 390 with the 3X2 carb set up. My boss made a deal to put a used engine in it in trade for the old engine and carb set up. Of course he got the engine from his dad's junk yard for free. My boss wanted the intake and carbs and gave me the block. I got the crank turned put in new bearings and used the intake and carb I already had. I got married that fall and family life got in the way so the car was sold.
Fast forward 42 years. I have been going to Kool Deadwood Nites at Deadwood SD for several years. In 2014 I was watching the Sunday morning parade and talking to a local guy. A 57 Fairlane went by and I commented that I would like to have one again. He pointed out a guy across the street and said he might know where there was one for sale. I talked to the guy after the parade and exchanged info. He said he would call me in a couple of days. About three weeks went by so I thought it was done. A couple nights later he called and told me he had the car on his trailer in his yard. I took Friday off, rented a trailer and left 2 AM Friday morning. Eleven hours later I was in Rapid City SD eating lunch. Called the guy and went to look at the car which was a custom 300. Made the deal and loaded it on my trailer and headed east and was home before breakfast Saturday morning. Put just over 1400 miles on that day.
First time posting pictures so I hope this works
(https://i.imgur.com/KcS2YIe.jpg)
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Unless there is some ugly not shown in the pics, looks like you have a solid base to work from! I think an FE with tri-power would be the hot ticket...but then I am prejudiced...that's what I am going to run in mine!
Keep us in the loop please! :003:
I grew up about 170 miles ne of Rapid City, I have lived in Mt for the last 43 years, but still have a lot of family and friends in SD and the Black Hills area. I have been going to Kool Deadwood Nites since 1998, how ever I have missed the last 2 years. The guy you bought the car from is his name Al Liget,[ a friend of mine] he has a bunch of 56 & 57 fords.
Much much better late than never, lol. Thanks for the story, and you obviously did figure out the pic posting. Keep the rest of the story coming please.
Al Liget was the guy I purchased it from. It had been behind a house close to were he lives. He had been trying to buy it for several years. They guy that owned it finally decided to sell it to Al. I missed Deadwood last year but have my place reserved for this year.
that looks like a promising project and cool story along !
loving the maroon interior and old naugahyde seat cover, wild shifter !
Good luck with the project and thx for posting your efforts !
Quote from: mustang6984 on 2021-03-07 16:59
Unless there is some ugly not shown in the pics, looks like you have a solid base to work from! I think an FE with tri-power would be the hot ticket...but then I am prejudiced...that's what I am going to run in mine!
Keep us in the loop please! :003:
I agree! The car looks pretty solid compared to some I have seen. Good luck on the projectI Of course I am partial to Customs with FE's!
I may have been a little misleading with this post. I have had this car on the road for a few years but I want to post some of the pictures of the build and tell about some of my ideas and mistakes I made during the process. Here are a few of the pictures showing how the car looks now.
(https://i.imgur.com/C3LI4pL.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/s88kY8U.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GLGWqfT.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ETeARiC.jpg)
Guess I don't have this picture posting down yet. There should have been pictures of the other side and front, not all of the left side.
That '57 is pretty enough to make a grown (old) man cry ... sniff ...
SWEET!!!
Slick looking car you got there.
Love everything about that car. The color is perfect, as is the stance. I've always been torn between the 300 trim and the basic........yours goes so well with the color.
There are limitations on picture posting PER POST. Not only is the total pixel count limited to 4k per post, but there is a max of 4 pictures per post regardless of size. The 4 pic max was probably your problem.
THAT IS BRUTAL !
Making us prepare chips and drinks for a 5 year build and then shooting at us with this finished KILLER ride ! :003:
Very, very, very nice ! Loving everything about it.
When I bought the car in the fall of 2014 I had just turned sixty and the plan was that I would work on it when I had time and hoped to have it done when I retired at sixty five. Life has a way of changing your plans. I was a lineman for the city. We had some power outages on a Sunday night and was called into work. I worked several hours that night in the wind using a 35 foot hot stick replacing fuses on the main lines. About 5 am the next morning I woke up and it felt like I had pulled a muscle in my left shoulder but no other problems. I have been on our local volunteer ambulance services for 40 years and had a good idea what was happening. I went to the hospital and they ran a bunch of tests that came back negative. My family Dr happened to be in the ER that morning and sent me upstairs for observation. They ran more tests that morning and my blood showed I had a heart attack. They sent me to another hospital for stents but ended up having five bypass surgery. Everything went good and I was out of the hospital in five days and back to work in eleven weeks with no heart damage. That changed my outlook on life and I made the decision to retire a sixty two.
Holy crap! (Car.) Holy crap! (Heart attack.) Your car is VERY nice... I really thought you were just starting, talk about fast forward. Keep posting pics.
WOW, JUST WOW!!!!! What a glorious Ford!
Where in Wisconsin are you? Originally from Pardeeville, wife is from Antigo, we visit twice a year, hook up the next trip?
There is more to life than work...especially once we hit 60!
Nice ride! VERY nice! Like others, I was ready for a build thread...but I will settle for more pics of this version too! So nice!
Quote from: Ford Blue blood on 2021-03-08 16:48
WOW, JUST WOW!!!!! What a glorious Ford!
Where in Wisconsin are you? Originally from Pardeeville, wife is from Antigo, we visit twice a year, hook up the next trip?
I am about 2 hours to the west of Anitgo on highway 64. It's a small town called Cornell. It was named after Ezra Cornell the co- founder of Cornell University.
The former owner of this car bought it in 1982 when he was 15 years old. It had been sitting behind a repair shop in Rapid City for years. It had plates on it from California that were from 1972. There was no motor or transmission in the car when he purchased it. He thought that it was probable driven to Rapid City by one of the airman from the base at Rapid City. He assumed that the motor or transmission had gone bad and the car was abandoned. The car originally had a 272 with a three speed. He put in a used Y block and three speed with overdrive. He managed to drive it for less than a year before he had smashed it enough that he couldn't drive it any more. He gave me a picture of the car that showed a big U in the passenger side front bumper where he had ran into a fire hydrant. I also had to replace the rocker paned on the drivers side where he turned short in a parking lot and hit the cement base to a light pole. The trunk had a big dent in it where he backed into a dumpster a McDonalds. He finally put it in the ditch and damaged the front enough that he couldn't drive it. I was lucky that he had collected the parts to repair the front and they went with the car.
(https://i.imgur.com/HDFoNwi.jpg)
Sounds like he had no business driving! LOL!!!
One of the things that I found to be kind of fun with this car is seeing the dumb things and quick fixes that a 15 or 16 year old kid does. The engine in the car was stuck when I got it. I wasn't concerned about it because I was planning on putting in a FE anyway. After I got the car home I thought I would try free up the motor. When I went to check the oil there was no dip stick. Now it had been probably forty years since I checked the oil on a Y block but I was sure I new where the dip stick should be. I went to the internet just to make sure of the location. Went back and looked at the front location and there was a plug in the hole so the dipstick tube hadn't fallen out. That's when I realised this engine must have come out of a truck. It made me wonder how they checked the oil and if this may be why the motor was stuck. I crawled under the car and pulled the plug and about four quarts of oil came out without any water. Went to the parts store and got oil and a filter and finished the oil change. I pulled all of the plugs and put penetrating oil in each cylinder. I let this set for about a week adding a little oil to the cylinders every couple of days. The car had a three speed in it so I put it in third gear and every couple of days I would rock the car a little and one day it broke loose, I put a socket on the crank and it turned over free with out making any strange noises. When I asked the previous owner about the dipstick he said they had taken the motor out of a pickup and had an oil pan for a car which they swapped onto it. It wasn't until they had the engine in the car that they realised their mistake and didn't know how to fix it. I asked him how he knew when to add oil. He said he would just add oil when the pressure gauge would start to bounce at a stop sign. Guess it goes to show that a Y block can be tough.
I decided to try and start this engine to see if it would even run. Knowing that the tank and lines would be full of crud I rigged up a one gallon container and attached it to the cowl to gravity feed the carb. Took some sand paper to the points and put the old plugs back in. The wiring was in bad shape so I made up a push button starter switch and put a toggle switch in a wire going to the coil, and screwed in a oil pressure gauge on the block. Pumped the throttle a few times, flipped the switch, hit the started and it started right up. The motor actually ran good and had good oil pressure. The radiator leaked real bad so I put a garden hose in the filler and let it run slow. After a few minutes it must have burned all of the oil that I had put in the cylinders because it quit smoking. Sold this motor to a guy form southern Wisconsin. He was going to put it back into a pickup. I told him that the motor had been stuck and showed him the dip stick was missing. I suggrsted that he should look at the bearings when he had the pan off but he said he was going to just put it in and hope for the best. The transmission and bellhousing went to a guy in northern Minnesota.
(https://i.imgur.com/XD5BkOw.jpg)
Built Ford Tough... :003:
actually that was a pretty desirable motor. judging by the D1*** casting numbers on the heads, and your info that makes it a 61 truck 292, which are said to have great castings and they also have the road draft tube closed in the cast and a PCV system added on top of the valley cover.
I am not real familiar with the Y block so the D1 thing is interesting. I wondered if this engine may have been rebuilt before the previous owner put it in the car. The motor was real clean on the outside with good red paint. This didn't look like something he would have done since everything that he did to this car was done with a maul, chisel or 1/2" drill.
My next problem with the car was the title. I had the signed South Dakota title but it had the build number from the VIN tag instead of the VIN number. I wasn't real concerned about it because the build number is still unique to that car. I took a picture of the VIN plate and went to the DMV to get it taken car of. The guy at the DMV was really good. He said if it had just been one number on the title that was off he could have taken care of it but with a completely different number the state office would have to handle it. He did give me a new Wisconsin title with the build number so that I could get the tax part taken care of and the paper work to send in. He said that with the picture I had and paper work he gave me it shouldn't be a problem. I sent the paper work in and six weeks later I get a letter saying they needed a state inspector to look at the car. No problem I have the car sitting in my garage with the front clip off and the frame VIN exposed and it matches the VIN tag. Called the DMV and they wanted me to bring the car to them. Told them that it was impossible because all of the front suspension is off. So she tells me they only have one inspector in the area that can do this and he is really busy. OK, no problem the car isn't going any where I just would like to get it done. Her next question is what is the vin number on the dash. That's when I knew I was in trouble. I don't know if I ever got her to believe the tag was on the door frame. Her next problem was that the VIN didn't follow the proper number format. Anyway she said the inspector would be calling. A couple of months went by with several calls to the DMV and no inspection. One day going thru town I saw a DOT truck inspector parked on the side of the road so I stopped and talked to him about my problem. He drove to my house looked at the vin on the frame and tag signed the paper work and told me to send it in. Two weeks later I had my title.
Sometimes going around the system pays dividends. Had to do that with my red Explorer...bureaucrats are a pain...and those that follow their edicts can be worse! >:(
I bought this project in September and spent some time cleaning it out and inventorying all the parts. Got the engine started and pulled it out so I could sell it and looked the car over to see what parts I would need. I found a Fairlane that was missing the complete driveline but had the parts I knew I would need. The car had come from Illinois and the bottom half of the car and frame were completely rusted away. I needed one half of the grill because mine had two of the cross bars missing. These had been cut out for some unknown reason, The dash had the radio opening cut larger to fit a different radio and the cover plate was missing. The previous owner had also drilled a hole in the dash between the cigarette lighter and ash tray for a manual choke control. He also installed a floor shifter and cut a slightly over sized hole for it. On the passenger side of the tunnel where the hole is ( I think it is for adjusting bands on a automatic) he cut it bigger. That had me scratching my head for a few minutes until I saw the fill plug on the side of the transmission. I new the bottom of the car near the trans was greasy so apparently he figured it was easier to just fill it from the top. I think I mentioned this was all done with a maul, chisel and large drill.
Jerry
(https://i.imgur.com/zwC81r5.jpg)
After I stripped everything off the Fairlane that I thought I could use or sell I pulled the 300 into the garage and started on the front suspension. I thought about powder coating the frame but since this was going to be a several year project and would be done in phases I decided to use Chassis Saver instead. I purchased a siphon sand blaster and built a small covering over the car to contain the sand and went at it. The sand blaster actually did a good job and was quite fast. The frame had surface rust and very little grease so it went fast. One thing that I did that I am not sure was a good idea was I replaced all of the ball joints. The ones that were on the car were tight and seemed to be in good condition. I figured they were sixty years old and it would be easier to replace when everything was apart. Since then I have heard people say the new ones don't last, guess time will tell. The mount for the radiator support was also bent but this was something I would take care of latter.
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Looks like great progress already. Maybe shorten that build time a bit? LOL!!! Once ya get rollin'...might be hard to stop...
In March and April I was putting the front suspension back together just so I could roll it around the garage. I was thinking about brakes, power steering and all of the other things for the front of the car. Monday morning April 20th, 2015 was my wakeup call. Woke up in the morning not feeling right and two days later had bypass surgery. This changed my plans for the car. I realised I had my warning. At that point I decided that I would put the car back together mostly stock and make it a good daily driver. I was laid up for a few weeks in the house recovering so I ordered a rocker panel for the drivers side which had a big dent. I also ordered a front floor pan and rear foot well on the drivers side. The front floor had some pin holes but was solid and probably good have been patched but as long as I was replacing the rocker I decided to replace it. The rear foot well was in the same condition with just the bottom having some pin holes. I was able to cut a patch panel out of the tunnel on the Fairlane that I parted out. The bottom of this car was completely rusted away but for some reason the tunnel was in good shape. I had never done body work before but decided this would be the place to start because it would all be covered when done. I did learn there is a big difference in repair panels. The front floor was an EMS panel that fit and looked like the original. Since I only had to replace the bottom of the rear floor I ordered a cheaper panel that fit in the well part only. I couldn't believe how much work it took to get this simple piece to fit.
(https://i.imgur.com/Di6QOJy.jpg)
I had the exact same experience when building my Ranchero. The EMS pans fit perfect! The other "less expensive" stuff not so much. If I were paid to do the job by the hour the EMS panels would win hands down.
I found a guy with a mobile sandblasting truck that would come to my house and blast my body and frame. We did the parts of the body that had bends and were reinforced and stayed away from any flat surfaces. Did the bottom and the inside. We didn't find any hidden surprises. There were a lot of places on the car that had filler but all of those had just small dings underneath. Don't know why they used so much filler. The guy was there for only a couple of hours and it cost me around $100.00. He told me of doing a Mopar that had won several trophies. The owner had purchased it already done a few years earlier and decided to blast it and repaint. He said between all of the bondo and thin metal when he got done they had swiss cheese. He didn't know what the guy ever done with the car.
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This is what the bottom of the car looked like after blasting. There wasn't any hidden rust and the only sheet metal replaced was the drivers outside rocker panel because of the dent and the drivers side floor pans front and rear. Both had pin holes but were as easy to replace as they would have been to repair.
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THAT is a clean car! :002:
This is what the top side of the car looked like. The bottom side of the car and the inside and trunk got two cats of Chassis Saver.
(https://i.imgur.com/uy4wqFx.jpg)
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Not a bad looking shell overall. Glad for you! :002:
I only dream of staring with something that clean! What a nice surprise!
The car had old air shocks on the back when I got It. Thought as long as the body was off the car it would be a good time to mount the new shocks after the Chassis Saver was applied. Hadn't really thought much about how the old ones were mounted until I looked at the new ones. I found another modification The previous owner had made. At least it was an easy fix when the body was off.
(https://i.imgur.com/seVHFyM.jpg)
One of my best tool purchases for this project was a cheap siphon sand blaster. I used it on all of the hard to get to spots on the frame and body. I used a product called Black Blast. It didn't pick up moisture and would feed real good. I would do this outside on the garage apron. That way I could sweep up the material and reuse it several times. I found a metal cake cover that was used for picnics at a discount store for a couple of dollars. It was like a big screen cover. I would set it upside down on a five gallon pail and run the blasting sand through it to clean. I used Chassis Saver on the frame, and the bottom and inside of the body. I used epoxy primer on the outside of the body. When I set the body back onto the frame it sat perfectly. I did not have to use any shim's on any of the mounts.
(https://i.imgur.com/vbDXLy5.jpg)
Black Blast? Never heard of it.where did you find it? I am going to need to re-do mine after the move...so blasting it would be faster than sanding by hand again. Thanks.
I get it at Menards Home Center. If you go to Menards.com and search for black blast it should come up. It's around $8.00 for a 50# bag.
For some parts, there is no substitution for media blasting. I bought a broken air compressor and fixed it. I bought a large blast pot at a cemetery monument foreclosure sale. Over kill...maybe. I blasted all the sheet metal for the '41 project. It took more time to position the parts and fill the pot with media than to do the blasting. I got a skid of coal slag (Black something or another) for $6.45 a bag from my local Tractor Supply. The '41 is in epoxy primer. The blast pot and compressor went down the road for a lot more money than I had in it. It was very hard work but way easier than sanding.
The Black Blast is coal slag so it is probably the same thing you used. I found a guy to come to my house to do the frame and all the big areas on the body where we didn't have to worry about doing any damage. The small siphon blaster was handy for cleaning out all of those crappy welds on the frame and around any of the joints or seams on the body.
Quote from: glr7533 on 2021-04-03 13:45
I get it at Menards Home Center. If you go to Menards.com and search for black blast it should come up. It's around $8.00 for a 50# bag.
Thank you sir. I have a dual tank blaster from Harbor freight...given the light rust on the car from transporting it 2100 miles on an open car hauler that should take me back to clean again in no time.
I was really amazed at how little rust this car had. I stripped The doors and only found a crease in one of them.
(https://i.imgur.com/sKp7rxD.jpg)
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Oh I am so jealous! Mine don't look that good. :-[ Not even close!
Got lucky on the fenders to. A few small pinholes in the lower rear of each fender but the braces were in good shape. Also the right fender had a crease ahead of the wheel. All of the sheet metal around the headlights was solid.
(https://i.imgur.com/EtxFCE7.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/QXL5q4g.jpg)
Found some pictures of when I fixed the eyebrows on my car. First I ground the studs off even with the casting. There is a mark on the side of casting right where the stud is attached, it has back marker on it in the picture. Next I made a pattern out of cardboard to fit inside the recess in the casting and transferred it to 22 gauge metal. When this is cut out the 22 gauge sets flush with the casting. The pattern works for either side, just flip it over. Lay the u shaped metal in the casting and place the bracket that goes on the inside of the fender on top of it. I lined this bracket up with the black marks I put on the casting. I believe I used #12 machine screws and welded them to the 22 ga metal. I had to grind on the screw heads and used the inner bracket to get the right angle. The holes in the fender are large so they don't have to be perfect. I then used panel bond to attach the piece to the casting. When it is on the car you can not tell it was repaired.
(https://i.imgur.com/Ebg5rLG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RimEdr9.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fKUJHwY.jpg)
The dash that was in the car when I got it had been hacked up. The radio opening had been cut larger and it had a hole drill in the front of it for a choke cable. The grill cover had also been damaged. I used the one out of the Fairlane parts car I had.
Some of you may already know about the emblem that was on the lock of the glove box. I was lucky to be able to visit with Randy Conner several times at his home. He lived about an hour north of me. Every time I was there I would find out some new trivia. Sadly I didn't write most of it down thinking that I would just ask him if I couldn't remember. Anyway he told me that only the very early 57's had the emblem that designated which engine was in the car. He had an example of each one, I believe there was four of them. He also told me the latest build date that had them but I don't remember. So if you see a 57 with the emblem on the glove box lock it should be a very early production car.
(https://i.imgur.com/51OEP16.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/VepQUru.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/fPC1EH5.jpg)
I found a picture with the Thunderbird special emblem.
(https://i.imgur.com/aAVras5.jpg)
Looks like the dash is gonna be just fine! Nice emblem too...hard to find things are always a treasure.
Just getting caught up on this build thread. Nice everything! Nice solid car to start with, nice job on the clean/repair pep. Nice job on the dash redo. Nice job with the eyelid repair. Nice job posting..please continue as you progress. This is gonna be a keeper!
Rich, actually this car is pretty much complete. I have been following this forum for a few years and learning a lot. I just thought I would show what I have done and hopefully be able to help someone else with their build.
When it came time to work on the heater core I was shocked at how much the heater core and valve would cost. One of the nipples on the core was badly damaged and tore loose from the core and the valve didn't look real good. Being a cheap person I thought about not having a heater since I would only use the car during the summer. Some times my common sense actually takes over and this was one of those times. I did a search on the forum and found where a member had adapted a different heater core and a universal control valve so the search was on. I found a heater core that fit ford vans from the mid to late seventies that was close to the right size. It was slightly smaller so I used a piece of poly between the heater core and heater box. The original core is held in with three sheet metal screws. I used two pieces of flat aluminum and formed them to hold the core in place. I believe that I had to drill the fourth hole where the control valve was originally located. I used a piece of foam between the core and these braces. The distance between the nipples was slightly wider so I had to move the holes in the box and firewall but they are out of sight when it is in the car. I purchased a universal control valve and mounted it on the right inner fender. I also got a universal cable that was longer than what was needed so I just cut it to length. The cable is easily mounted on the back of the dash heater control, you just need to remove the old one by loosening the clamp and lift the cable off the stud. I did make a mistake and mounted the valve to far back towards the firewall on the inner fender. It makes a tight bend in the cable so it works a little harder than I like when you have it all the way open but works fine if you have it 3/4 open or less. With the nipples in a slightly different place one of the heater hoses has to make a 90 degree bend to miss the inner fender. I found a molded heater hose that has a 90 about six inches from the end and about 3 feet long to use there. I put a 390 engine in the car and they recommend a special nipple in the intake that helps reduce the coolant flow or pressure so that you don't rupture the heater core. So for less that $100 dollars I have a heater that works with parts I can get at any parts store. I can not find the pictures showing it all together but here are two pictures showing how the core and cable are mounted from the factory.
CarQuest part numbers
399025 Heater core $25.94
74627 Control valve $19.99
55207 Cable $9.46
don't remember hose number or price
(https://i.imgur.com/p2puAuO.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/e11QCt1.jpg)
Because i wasn't sure how the install would go I decided to install the engine and transmission before painting the car. I installed the engine with the headers on and it slipped in with no problems. When I removed the crossmember I had a couple of the inserts in the frame come loose and spin so the bolt heads had to be cut off. I fixed the problem by welding flange nuts in the holes. In the frame just to the rear of the crossmember bolts there is a larger hole. I fished a wire from the holes for the crossmember bolts back to this hole. I slipped a flanged nut onto the wire and bent the end into a tee shape and pulled the nut through this hole and into place. The nut stuck out from the frame a short distance so I could get one good tack weld on it to hold it in place. I then clipped the wire off and screwed in a 6" bolt to make sure the nut was straight and then welded the nut in place and ground it off flush. This gave me lots of thread and I was sure it was straight.
(https://i.imgur.com/pinVjPu.jpg)