1957 Ford Country Sedan mocha silver V8 4dr wagon

[djfordmanjack]

YES ! 
Still running nicely, but I may want to adjust the carb a little, from when I last drove it in November and I slightly increased idle rpms. We had terrific weather already last week (as can be seen in the 'GREEN' effect on the property). We had a weather front coming in and today it's down to 40 degrees again. snow coming on the mountains. But it's only said to last for a few days.
I am really looking forward to our annual seaside trip to Croatia end of May. This time taking the 57CS !

[djfordmanjack]

In preparation of the upcoming summer trip, I am starting to drive the 57CS more on a daily basis. Battery is 11 years old and barely holds power to restart after a few weeks, so this is something I will have to replace asap. Honestly getting 11 years out of a conventional car battery is obviously great. It came with my Del Rio.
Had a pretty decent spring Sunday, and I was again able to find a parking lot right in the middle of downtown.

[djfordmanjack]

a few more pics. Interestingly while parking my 57, across the street a sweet GTV was also backing into a parking spot. Out stepped a friendly couple and we immediately got to talking. He instantly recognized my 57 for what it was, as he had been recently working on a '55 Thunderbird, 292 and all. Turns out he even runs a classic car shop and seems very competent. My son and me had previously seen his  red Alfa several times in the streets, but never got to actually meet him. So this was a nice surprise, obviously we exchanged tel numbers, and will keep in touch for future shows, cruises and such. Always good to meet friendly like minded car people !

[RICH MUISE]

Looking great, a nice Alfa Romero as well. What vintage?

[lalessi1]

Great pics as usual! I always wanted a GTV, I settled for an '76 Alfetta I bought new. I loved that car but the mechanical fuel injection never worked right...usual Italian car issues on top of that!

[djfordmanjack]

usual Italian car issues pretty much sums it up ! The owner of the 1976 GTV, Luis, told me his father ran an Alfa dealership back in the 1970s and when the Sud and Alfetta came out, they rusted out as quickly as in the first year, and he told me, his father left Alfa for that very same reason right about the time. Good thing he parted out all the mechanically sound, but rusty used cars he had to take back for rust warranty. He says to this day they have 30+ drive trains and engines to chose from, if they want to rebuild another 'quick' one.    Needless to say, his one is ported and bored out to the max and it's of course a 2Litre DOHC with Weber carbs. It sounds nasty.

today I did a little maintenance on the engine, and I was having a light gas smell from it lately. Never found any leaks, but upon removing the air cleaner, I think I found the problem. The adjustable float jet has some weird seal washers that seem to have disintegrated from Ethanol fuel. The fuel bowl level was still ok, but obviously leaking somewhat from said seals.

I took a look at the rebuild kit and found double silicone washers, the same size as the seals, so I sandwiched a seal between 2 of them, each and it seems to work nicely.

The problem which I found is, that when you tighten said seals (without silicone washers), they get compressed to the point, where the locking screw ( the big slotted screw on top) will bottom out in the jet assembly, without properly compressing the aging seals.

Sandwiching Teflon washers and gaskets, makes them thicker, the locking screw doesn't twist and  rip the 'soft' seal, and because of the added thickness it won't bottom out.
I will have to check this after a few days, but have a good feeling about it staying put and tight.












Also I set the accelerator pump to the leans or summer setting. I feel it really pumped too much , as exhaust was smoking black on hard launches.

[gasman826]

With the bowl vent cap and linkage missing, you will always smell gas not to mention debris and water in the bowl.

[djfordmanjack]

Yes and No Gary.....you may not remember, but exactly said bowl vent was the main problem maker in the beginning ( ca 7 years ago....oops, time flies). My carb is a replacement Holley and it came with a plug in that fuel bowl vent.
It always had an idle stall. After investigating the og shop manual I found that a 57 V8 Ford application Holley 2100, does have a complicated linkage for a moving bowl vent cap. it is activated by the throttle shaft and will pull off in idle to remedy a curbside stall effect. so that bowl vent is usually open @ idle anyways, and there hasn't been a problem with my solution of just removing the plug and leave as is. it is well hidden under the air cleaner.
The fuel smell developed much later (last year or so), and the seal washers that I replaced are on the high pressure side of the fuel pump and fuel bowl needle. So it was really getting wet all the time, let alone at higher rpms with full fuel pump pressure....I just replaced those seals yesterday and will have to see and check back the next days/weeks.

[hiball3985]

With the bowl vent cap and linkage missing, you will always smell gas not to mention debris and water in the bowl.

X2, thats the first thing I noticed

[djfordmanjack]

Jim, and Gary....I hear your concerns. The design is phony, if you ask me. Usually a fuel bowl will vent directly to above the venturis, or air horn assembly. I have no idea why they designed it so it needs to have a separate vent cap.
Like I said, this fuel bowl was never ever machined or threads cut where the linkage boss is in upper front of bowl. maybe a NOS replacement, or replaced during rebuilding or professional remanufacture. The car did stall in idle, when the vent hole was originally plugged with, what seemed to be original type of aluminium plug. It took me a long time to even find the problem. it must be somewhere in the first 10 pages of this topic. with the plug removed the idle stall was history and running nicely ever since.
Considering water and debris. The vent is very much hidden under the og 1957 dry element air cleaner. and I have not experienced any trouble whatsoever. Like I said the og vent cap design also leaves the vent wide open in idle, that means if the car is not running and parked, it's always open as well. I have not experience any significant fuel fumes from the semi-open vent. Also the fuel bowl float, is flat on top and nearly touches the vent opening. it leaves a very narrow gap, maybe 1/32 or so  around the vent hole, the float covers the full area inside the hole. There is no pressure in the bowl. So I reckon it will not smell any different, than any 4bbl carb that is venting the bowl to inside the air horn. It would smell the same from the air cleaner snout.

My main problem here certainly are seals disintegrating from getting in touch with ethanol fuel.
I may want to pull the bowl and check for the power valve seal. I reckon if that seal was going bad, it would be running awfully rich.

edit, this is when I originally corrected the problem with the plugged bowl vent (7 years ago)

https://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=6705.315

[djfordmanjack]

So here is my report from when I took the 57CS to Croatian seaside, first week of June. There is an annual 1950s type Rock N Roll Festival, that has been going for 15 years now, and Vintage American cars are encouraged to take part, with free entry and reserved parking area, directly at the harbor/festival club area. It is a very laid back and relaxed atmosphere, that maybe only Croatians can provide. Along with meeting dozens of old friends, great food, cool beer and the best music in the world it really makes for a great vacation, again and again. The music part of the festival is amazing. There is basically dancing to DJs and live concerts (nearly) around the clock for 5 days and all of the artist mix with the audience. RocknRoll stars like Mouse Zinn (played with 'Red Hot and Blue', but is also known for his singer part in the Space Cadets- 1990s Rockabilly) were to be found in the middle of the festival crowd all week long. He is a real cool guy and easy to talk to. Some days were rained out and open air concerts had to be canceled, only to find the musicians and the crowd moving their instruments under a very small covered area around the club bar and performing in the midst of the audience, nearly unplugged. except for a mic for the singer and a guitar amp. We sure had more fun than should be allowed all week long.
Here's a few pics.

On our way to Croatia from Austria, we als drive through Slovenija and finally found time to visit the great military museum in Pivka. They carry lots of Yugoslavian history, and lots of WW2 tanks and arms (US, Soviet, German), along with a real German 52 series steam engine (WW2). A side exhibition covers finds of German Enigma machines (including many recovered underwater marine finds). The museum is located in (former) Italian Army barracks from the 1930s. They have a huge exhibition of USAAF history along with many excavated artifacts and private history of the planes and airmen. You could spend days in discovering and reading all the historical details.



Who would have thought that the Yugoslav Air Force had hundreds of F84 Thunderstreak and F86 Super Sabres in the 1950s/60s ?




^ps thats a MIG 21 on the far end of the hall.


this is the 57CS coming into Opatija (Abazzia) from the high side on a 1000 ft drop down to sea level. Narrow streets and steep stops give it a San Francisco feel....and the brakes nearly faded... ...next time I will put her into Low.






Arrived in Medulin (near Pula in Istria). My friend Baumi from German was already there with his 55. Some of you may know him from over on the HAMB.

[djfordmanjack]

There was also another 57, but I only briefly got a glimpse of and few words with the Lady owner (drove from Germany).





As usual, I may have acted a little JD during this week... 


57CS parked at the harbor, at our favorite Cafe next to the slip ramps.



On our way home, those are the islands of Cres and Losinj off coast.




Managed to get this shot aligned while driving. That is a vintage 1960s pennant (bought from a local collector here in Austria), that I took back to where it originally came from.


with the music, this about sums it up. possibly 3 centuries worth of great British Rock n Rollers on stage. Pat Rayford on double bass (he contributed a song to the Hollywood movie 'Truman Show' with his other Band Big 6), Mouse vocals, Ashley Kingsman on guitar (also guitar player with Big Sandy and his Flyrite Boys/CAL).
About min 4:00 the stage is already occupied by the audience...haha

[mustang6984]

Fun times!!! 

[RICH MUISE]

What a great post!Sounds like you had a great time, Gunter.

[lalessi1]

THANKS FOR POSTING THAT! No words are enough...