57fordsforever.com

New member here.  John Van Oostenbrugge in Lethbridge AB, Canada.  I recently bought a rusty 57 Ranchero.  It needs a new frame as well as most of the bottom sheet metal.  In searching for a parts car, I found a Fairlane 4 door sedan for cheap, but mostly and best of all, it has some semblance of floorboards under it, as well as a solid frame.  I have always loved the Fairlane body style, so I did a bunch of measurements and have decided to cut up my Ranchero and put the cab and bed onto the Fairlane floorpan and chassis.  I know the Fairlane is longer and I have to fab up most of the bed with new metal, so I plan on extending it a couple inches.  I'm thinking I will use the Ranchero doors, and either find some Fairlane doors from a 2 door, or use the Ranchero doors and cut the tops off them, and fab up the door tops from the Fairlane to the Ranchero doors. 
I'll probably slant the back of the B pillar forward slightly as per the posts on the h.a.m.b. in the post where the guy put a Skyliner roof on his Ranchero.  The photoshop image is what I'll be looking for in my finished version. 
Anybody know if this has been done before?  I mean, the part about using a Fairlane body with Ranchero roof and bed?  Any help or pointers will be helpful.  I am fairly well versed in metal work.  I'm semi retired and am doing metal fab and patch panel work to buy my groceries now.  Thanks.

Welcome to THE place for help and advice!  I have seen a photograph of a Ranchero with a stretched cab, it had windows behind the doors which (I assume) gave it a small bench seat behind the front seat.

I'll dig around and see if I can find it...........

Found it:

(http://imagehosting.rodsnsods.co.uk/2425429affe4ed4e.jpg)

(http://imagehosting.rodsnsods.co.uk/2425429affe837ef.jpg)

Looking at it, it looks like the rear window has been moved back (and the roof lengthened to suit) losing some bed space, but the wheelbase looks stock.

........and a 4 door stretched version:

http://www.goodguysclassifieds.com/classified/4733/1957_Ford_Ranchero.html

Jvo they let you in!!!!!! Now you'll be 57 Ford smarter! HRD

welcome to the site.james told me you found a frame.looks like a neat project

Thanks for the welcomes.  I don't plan on doing a huge stretch, just enough to put the Ranchero onto the Fairlane platform.  I measured from the front of the door to the back end of the taillight and the Fairlane is 4 inches longer there.  So, I will maybe add an inch or two to the cab, and an inch or two to the bed.  I have to rebuild the bed from scratch anyway, except for the middle removable piece, which is in very good shape.  The project will not commence for a couple months though, even though I'm itching to get going on it.  Just not enough time right now. 
Mainly just doing research for the time being.

I think I might want a couple of doors from a Fairlane 500 2 door sedan.  The Ranchero doors are 46 inches long right at the base of the window, front to back, and the doors on the Fairlane 500 4 door parts car I am using are 40 inches long, if I remember correctly.  Can anyone tell me if the doors on the 2 door sedan are also 46 inches long?  If so, I will be looking for a pair of those.  It will make the job much easier if I don't have to use the Ranchero door bottoms, and Fairlane window area, welding the two together. 
And, I shouldn't say the Fairlane 500 is a parts car, as it will be what I'm going to use.  The Ranchero will actually be the parts car, as the roof and box will be removed from the Ranchero, and grafted onto the Fairlane body. 
I know it would probably have been easier to start with a 2 door Fairlane, but this one I found still has a good frame and most of the floor pan is in really good shape.  Thanks for any input I can get on these measurements.

The Ranchero doors are the same length as the Fairlane 2 dr sedan and the 2 dr ht and the 300 series.

Welcome aboard!

Where does the extra length difference lie in the frame length?  If it is within the cab area (and all other are the same) it would be easier to cut & stretch the cab in the middle and use two doors to make one longer door to fill the gap, rather than adding a bit into the bed and a bit into the cab.  That way you could (possibly) use off-the-shelf replacement floor panels with an extra piece let in.

That should look pretty cool with the larger fins and longer wheelbase.  Keep us updated with photos, I'm interested to see how it comes out.

I'm not 100 percent sure where the frame difference is, but I do have a couple measurements that show some of it.  On the Ranchero, the distance between the front mount on the rear leaf spring to the body mount ahead of it is 3 inches.  On the Fairlane, that same measurement is 5 inches.  I got another rough measurement from the rear end housing to the back end of the frame, not really accurate as I was lying in the grass with the car not jacked up, but this measurement on the Ranchero was approx. 2 inches shorter than the Fairlane.  Again, not a really good measurement, but that sort of coincides with the measurement I got on top of the quarter panels from the front end of the doors to the back end of the taillight was 4 inches longer on the Fairlane. 
Again, I have to rebuild the bed from scratch, so I'll just make the bed sides and floor a few inches longer to match it all up to the Fairlane body.  This I can't say till I get it mocked up and there won't be any planning involved.  It will be a "whatever looks good will be good" type of decision.  The only pieces of the bed I am saving will be the back end of the vertical side pieces where the panels screw on.  The bottom of mine are rotted there also, but I can patch them.  The bed sides, floor, and wheel housings are rotted out on the bottom couple inches. 
Anybody got a couple Fairlane doors from a two door car?  My Ranchero doors are in good shape, including the bottoms, so I might just use them and cut the tops off the parts car, but if I could find a couple donor doors it might be worth doing that way. 

Trying to figure out how to post a pic or two.
Okay, that was easy enough.  Did this to show everyone that I'm not cutting up a pristine Ranchero.  It is rusted on the quarter panels up to the top, and around the taillight housings.  Same on front end.  Surprisingly though, the doors are good, the roof seems good so far, till I remove the trim anyway, and the middle section of the bed that unbolts is very good.  It seems almost that the parts I need to do this project are pretty decent and everything else is pretty much badly rusted.  All the trim is in very very nice shape, and it has a good 302 with top loader 4 speed.  Starts and runs like a champ, but has no brakes.  I was hoping when I went to look at it ,that it wasn't rusted too badly and that I could just register it and drive it and restore it as time went by, but not so.  It needs major structural work.  Only reason I brought it home is the trim was good, and had good power train.
Even the rad support on the front is totally rusted through on the bottom, the parts car is very good.  The inner fender wells on the front though are totally intact.  I think someone maybe changed a few parts over the years on this thing, as the rust is not totally consistent.  How can the inner fenders be good, yet the quarter panels have holes in them at the tops all around the taillights and same with the headlights?  Anyway, this isn't a pristine car getting cut up, but rather I am saving a rusty parts car from getting crushed. 

It is a cool project, I would rather see it saved than going to the crusher.  Making it into a custom of some kind is a cool way to do it.  Personally, I think it will look killer, especially if lowered, it will be a sleek looking ride.  With the Fairlane windshield posts, it will have a chopped effect.  Should be cool.

Welcome aboard. Looking forward to watching the progress on this one, so lots of photos please.

I would think a little stretching of the roof line would  be cool, Some of the things exstreamliner was doing to the ranchero roof on his HAMB project were perfect. Just throwing this out there, I have two solid ranchero roofs available. There will come a time I'll get tired of moving these things around, and they won't be reproduced.   Mark

I won't need another Ranchero roof, thanks for the suggestion.

It will definitely be low. I have the used parts on order to put disc brakes on the front of the chassis, which should lower it an inch and a half, I have read?  I also have a complete front suspension from a Jab XJ6 in the back yard, I am thinking about installing.  Does the 57 handle okay with a good sway bar?  I've never driven one in the past.  Had a 59 Ford sedan when I wore a younger man's clothes, but can't remember much about that, and it was totally worn out also. 
I know it will be much easier to just install the disc brakes and a heavier sway bar, but if anyone were to tell me the car would still handle like a barge, I would lean towards installing the Jag IFS. 

Over here the Jaguar XJ6 front suspension swap is very common on Ford F100's and other US pickups as it is a decent compact unit that handles well.  Obviously it requires quite a bit of fabrication, some guys use custom made crossmembers, others fabricate new chassis rails from the bulkhead forward to mate up with the existing Jag mounts.

The fat swaybars and good shocks will transform a 57.
Use the Ranchero rear axle, it has the big brakes and bearings.
All 57 2dr models are the same dimensions to the rear of the door.
The extra length is behind the door.
Goodluck,
Ron.

Add a quicker ratio steering to what Ron suggested, such as rack and pinion from ST Fabrications, or a Borgenson box, and as as Rob described..."it'll handle like a slot car".

Thanks for the suspension info.  I will stick with the stock stuff then, I guess.  I will definitely use the Ranchero rearend and springs if possible, as the springs under the back end of the Fairlane are sagged out pretty badly.
I happen to have a Cavalier rack & pinion brand new on the shelf I was going to use on my 40 Ford pickup project.  That one is a long ways off, but I assume that is what they used for the aftermarket rack & pinion kits. 
So far, I have taken the skin off the tailgate, and am waiting to take it to get sandblasted.  Tailgate is in better shape than I thought.  Outer skin needs one lower corner replaced, with heavy pitting but not rusted through for about a 4 by 6 inch area in one corner. I have a second bare tailgate that the previous owner said was pristine, but I think its full of bondo.  Haven't explored that yet, but the original one is in very nice shape anyway.  I'll fix it.   Inner tailgate needs a couple patches in the hinge areas, but is in better than I thought it looked from the outside.  But blasting always reveals more crap than we figured right? 
Have the front fenders off the Ranchero also, and will blast them as well.  They aren't too rough to use again.  Not sure if the Fairlane front fenders are better yet or not.  I have the Fairlane stored about 60 miles away.  I live in the city and don't have enough room for all my projects.
Can anyone tell me of any info about how to take the bed panels out?  i.e. diagrams or sketches of how they come apart?  My bed is so full of rust and heavy paint and some sort of thin spray on box liner that I can't tell where the seams are.  I would like to remove the panels in the rear of the box that have the openings in them.  The upright panels that have a screw on cover on them?  I would like to remove those panels and make new pieces for the bottoms of them. 
The plan is to restore as much of the sheet metal as I can so it will be ready to weld onto the new structure when the time comes.  I plan on buying one floor pan, the outer rockers, possibly a couple floor braces if I can't repair the one end of the ones with rust damage, but I know I'll have to make most of my bed parts.  I'm okay with that, but I'm not stupid enough to try to make the pieces that I can easily purchase. 
I do plan on taking the skin off the hood as well, as there is a tiny bit of rust on the front edge.  Will clean up, blast and repaint it.  Does anyone know where you can get some of that "felt" material that is between the inner and outer hood pieces?  I haven't repaired a hood yet, but I assume you need to put that stuff in between when reattaching the skin to the hood structure.

I'm just itching to get the Fairlane home to fix the rockers and start cutting it apart and putting the new Ranchero parts onto it, but it will have to wait a month or two yet. 

I agree with James.. it's very cool and would make an awesome custom.Or, just leave it as is and repair the problems.I keep looking at it and for a strange reason,the rear B pillars remind me of a 59 Ford.

I built the first piece of new sheet metal. It isn't much, but a step forward.  New strip to hold rubber in place on bottom of tailgate.  Rolled it in the bead roller, then turned one edge over 90 degrees. Transfer punched the holes same as original. Also have the tailgate disassembled ready for blasting.  Needs a patch behind the hinge area, I'm sure it will show up more once the crusty stuff comes off.  The skin needs a little repair work, after the old bondo comes off.  I will replace the bottom 4 inches of the skin and massage the dents out with hammer and dolly and shrinking disc.

Also spent today removing a lot of crusty pieces with the plasma cutter.  I figured if I get the crap outta the way, it will be easier to work on and build up again.  I don't have to worry about structural integrity as there isn't any.  The bottom of the tailgate opening is 48 1/4 inches and the top of it is 49 inches.  Bed sides were leaning out before I cut anything out.  I will have to rebuild the whole bed a piece or two at a time.  As you can see, the frame is totally rusted out.  All the body mounts under the bed are gone as well, let alone 90% of the floorpan. Good news is that the heavier member under the tailgate seems fine.  I can build between the cab and tailgate after I drill the spot welds out of the rest of the floor.

Someone asked for lots of pics, and you might be sorry for that before this is over.  Is it okay to post a build thread here?  The corner piece in the back of the bed might be one of the more challenging pieces to rebuild, but it has to be done, as I haven't seen any reproduction pieces of this yet. 
My grandson was my helper for a while today also, inspecting the integrity of my buddy's rotisserie for when we get to that point. 
Lots of rusty crap cut out today.

Even the bottom of the rad support was rusted right through, but the inner fenders are in very good shape.  I suspect they have been replaced sometime in the past.  The rear quarters had rusty quarters pop riveted and welded over more rusty quarter panels.  I still don't have it all cut out, but enough that I can survey how to rebuild the bed.  A shot of the spare tailgate that came with it.  Looks good, but I suspect the outer skin is chock full of bondo.  I can fix the original no problem, its not that bad.
I sort of have a plan between my ears on how to rebuild the bed area, and it will be a little more structurally sound than original.  This car is too far gone to build back to original and I don't plan on going to Pebble Beach any time soon. 
Will be a one off with a Fairlane donor car anyway. The Fairlane is coming home tomorrow morning.  My buddy that is storing it is bringing it round first thing in the morning so I can "dejunk" it.  Have to get rid of the rear seat, seized up 292 and automatic tranny, etc.  I hope the front fenders turn out to be better than these ones.  I'll post more pics in the next couple days as I get to working on the Fairlane.  Hope this isn't boring anyone. 

Well, I got the Fairlane home and am presently "de junking" it.  Pulled all the interior pieces out so I could see the floorboards, etc.  Pulling the front fenders and motor, trans., to make it easier to move around. 
Good news is the floorboards are intact.  I need to make a few small patches here and there mostly around the body mounts, but they are small enough I can do with patchwork, not having to put in full floorboards.  I do however need pretty much all of the body mounts.  Still assessing what I'll need for patch panels so I can make up an order and get with the program.  I have decided to move forward immediately with it. 
I know EMS makes the best panels, but does anyone else make comparable body mounts that are a little easier on the wallet?  I need all of them and its gonna be the best part of seven hundred bucks just for those. 
One other issue that is bothering me are the doors.  I plan on leaning the B pillar ahead slightly as per the photoshop deal I saw on the h.a.m.b. and I'm sure some of you are familiar with that.  I mentioned it earlier.  I'm thinking though that the door tops would be easier to fabricate from a two door hardtop car.  It would be much easier to make the little stainless strip on top of the glass with a curve on the top back corner, rather than making the door frame the same shape.  What I need is a close up shot of a two door hardtop door opening, so I know how to fabricate the door opening for the rubber window seal to close against.  I am sure I can find some door tops from a hardtop car somewhere.  I didn't realize the Fairlane vent window unbolted from the top of the door.  That makes it a lot easier.  If I go that way, I'll just sell my Ranchero doors, as they are in pretty good shape.
I will be slicing and dicing most of the car apart, and putting it back together again anyway.  The top definitely needs the 1 1/4 inch chop to match the Fairlane windshield opening.  Fairlane from top of door to drip rail is 14 inches, and Ranchero is 15 1/4 inches on mine. 
I also go under and got a few measurements to see how things compared on the frame.  I had previously noticed that the Fairlane frame had 5 inches space from the front of the rear spring hanger to the body mount ahead of it, and the Ranchero was only 3 inches for the same space.  The other measurement is from the rear end housing to the back end of the frame.  Ranchero is (I forget exactly) about 4 inches shorter than the Fairlane.  So, I figure the box will probably have to be lengthened a few inches for sure.  I'll have to look at the trim for the top of the box to make sure I can mix and match a couple pieces to make up the extra length.  Not worried about the sheet metal as I have to make it up from scratch anyway. 
Because of the extra length, I will probably extend the roof a few inches also.  I am going to go out on a limb and try to post an image I copied from the other site. Not sure who to credit for the photoshop and I apologize for stealing it, but I want to work towards this for the end product.  I will need some trim for the bottom of the B pillar from a Galaxie or T bird, or I am open to ideas for this also.  I could use some help from the gallery here on some of this stuff.  Thanks.
Also, in case there are any doubting Thomases out there, I do feel this project is doable.  I do sheet metal work now for a living, as I am semi retired.  I'm not an expert like some of the guys I have taken classes from, but its all just simple basic cut and paste stuff, and lots of planning and measuring.  Apologies to whoever I stole this photoshop image from.

Ranchero cabs are small so you might want to add a few inches at the back of the cab/roof.
I think it would be easier to add length at the front of the bed too.
Goodluck,
Ron.

(http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=5272.0;attach=11619;image)

Was this one sitting on the ocean floor for a few years?  Really impressed that you've decided to save such a rough example, a good many would have left it to return to nature  Going to watch this one with interest, a really good project is brewing here!

WOW! that's quite a project to tackle. I don't know how you guys can do it with all the rust. I freaked out when the top of my gas tank rusted out  :003:

The pads between the hood panels are tar infused.
I'd reuse them. They may contain asbestos so be very careful.
Goodluck,
Ron.

I can't reuse the hood panel, as it was half torn out already.  Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes, the body is very rusty, that's why the Ranchero parts are going on to a Fairlane platform.  Wait till you see pics of that.  It actually has floorboards in it, only rusted out around the body mounts.  To you guys down South, yes it seems daunting, but that's all we have to work with here.  Every Ranchero I have seen has been rusted like this.  Maybe not quite as bad as this one, but the price was good, and all the trim was in really nice shape, and it has a good running 302 with a top loader 4 speed, and I'm a 3 pedal type of guy. 
Okay, I tried removing some body mounts from the Fairlane and they just spin on the bottom.  Should I just grind the bolts off, as I need a new body mounting kit anyway?  And where should I buy a body mount kit?  Who has a good one?  I will need one for a Fairlane, not ranchero, as the bottom of the car is all Fairlane. 
Anybody got a couple of doors for a two door hardtop laying around?  I think that's the easiest way to go. 
My Ranchero doors are in pretty good shape, ( well, I haven't ground off any paint and bondo yet, but they appear to be good, and the inside of the door on the bottoms looks good), but the two door hardtop would be easier to build the new door opening with, rather than trying to round off the top of the Ranchero door on the back, as per the photoshop in the previous post.
I am going to need pretty much all of the body mounts, all 700 bucks worth of them, but it will also be easier than making them from scratch.  Anybody glued them on?  I have never used body glue, but I got to thinking maybe it would be the way to go.  Paint the body mounts and underside of floorboards and rockers, then glue the body mounts on, so I don't burn any paint off, and risk the rust coming back inside where the paint would burn off.  Would the body glue help seal out moisture as well?  Thanks for any suggestions there.
I was going to put this off for several months, but I decided to bring the Fairlane home and go for it, as the work I have to do right now is all small stuff, fender and door patch panels that I do for grocery money.  (I'm sort of semi retired, even though I'll have to work till the day I die.)   If anyone cares to have a look at my website, and mods can delete it if they don't like it, it is vanosmetalmagic dot com .  Not trying to advertise, just want everyone to believe in my project.  I am still going to need all the help I can get.  I am not at all familiar with 57 Fords, but I have always wanted a Ranchero.

If what you're calling "body glue" is panel adhesive it wouldn't be a recommended use by the manufacturers. They all say pretty much non structural use only. I will tell you that I was introduced to panel adhesives by a young guy that had adopted me when his dad skipped out on him and his mom who was selling Kent automotive products. And he wanted a way to test the product. So we took a chunk of 3/16" plate cut out a square window in it and glued on a piece of scrap sheet metal with a bout an inch overlap on all sides of the window.We  let it sit overnight and then clamped the piece on my bench vise an took a 16 ounce ball peen hammer to it from the backside thru the window. We stretched it till it ripped but the bond didn't break. Would I use it for a body mount ? Not sure I would. Am sure others will chime in. All I can go by is watching a lot of videos of assembly lines (Ford, BMW, Chrysler) and you see the robots applying it for roofs, body panels etc.... but anything else the welding robots come in. Its has to be more than say a cost factor.

Zap- :unitedstates:

I guess being "old school" I don't trust any joining method that doesn't actually fuse the materials together and would also say that some of the special adhesives work well only when applied in the exact conditions (temperature, panel prep, cleanliness etc) and to be honest I think you'd be just as quick to weld them in place.

.....but to show what CAN be done with adhesives:

Travel trailers outside the US tend to be pulled by normal family cars and small SUV's, trucks here are expensive to run and few can afford it, hence our trailers need to be way lighter than what you guys are used to.  In the search of weight loss, one manufacturer (Elddis) worked with a leading adhesive company and now their trailers are held together with adhesives.  This saves weight and helps prevent water ingress through screws.  the body panels are bonded together, even the chassis is bonded to the floor!  These have been rigorously tested and proved 100% reliable.  The model shown below is one of the biggest available and has an unladen weight of 3,350lbs and a maximum laden weight of 3,620lbs. 

(http://imagehosting.rodsnsods.co.uk/2425440d22d70a7f.jpg)

Pretty impressive, but I still don't trust it personally!

If you find body mount kits I would like to know about them, the last supplier I knew about doesn't have them for Rancheros anymore. I don't know much about adhesives but most airplanes are glued together now and GM has been gluing their door hinges on trucks for years and many other auto makers are using adhesives also..

There are body mount kits listed on ebay, but it looks like they might be generic, i.e. to fit almost anything.  I have read somewhere the reference to body rubber kits, but can't remember where it was.  If there is nothing available, I will have to make my own, I guess.  I'm looking for a body mount kit for a Fairlane, as that is the floor pan I will be using.
The glue issue.  I can easily weld the body mounts to the floor pan.  That isn't the issue. What I am worried about is future corrosion, where the welding penetrates the inside of the body mount, where you can no longer put any paint once the weld burns it off between the body mount and floor pan.  If I were to glue them on, they could be painted inside and out, and I would assume the adhesive would do a pretty fair job of sealing around the perimeter of the body mount to avoid any future moisture from getting inside and rusting it out again. 
The body mounts have the weight of the body bearing down on them, as well as a bolt from the floorpan through to the frame to help hold them in place.  I am leaning this way seriously to the installation of the new items.  I will be butt welding all body seams and metal finishing them. 

Quote from: jvo on 2014-10-17 09:36
There are body mount kits listed on ebay, but it looks like they might be generic, i.e. to fit almost anything.  I have read somewhere the reference to body rubber kits, but can't remember where it was.  If there is nothing available, I will have to make my own, I guess.  I'm looking for a body mount kit for a Fairlane, as that is the floor pan I will be using.
The glue issue.  I can easily weld the body mounts to the floor pan.  That isn't the issue. What I am worried about is future corrosion, where the welding penetrates the inside of the body mount, where you can no longer put any paint once the weld burns it off between the body mount and floor pan.  If I were to glue them on, they could be painted inside and out, and I would assume the adhesive would do a pretty fair job of sealing around the perimeter of the body mount to avoid any future moisture from getting inside and rusting it out again. 
The body mounts have the weight of the body bearing down on them, as well as a bolt from the floorpan through to the frame to help hold them in place.  I am leaning this way seriously to the installation of the new items.  I will be butt welding all body seams and metal finishing them.

http://www.steelerubber.com/search?year=1957&make=ford&model=fairlane&style=2-door-sedan

Quote from: jvo on 2014-10-17 09:36

The glue issue.  I can easily weld the body mounts to the floor pan.  That isn't the issue. What I am worried about is future corrosion, where the welding penetrates the inside of the body mount, where you can no longer put any paint once the weld burns it off between the body mount and floor pan.  If I were to glue them on, they could be painted inside and out, and I would assume the adhesive would do a pretty fair job of sealing around the perimeter of the body mount to avoid any future moisture from getting inside and rusting it out again. 

I painted the insides of every panel with weld-through primer, sure, some will burn off but if the panel is them completely sealed (using good quality seam sealer along the seams) corrosion is unlikely to be an issue.  You could always rust proof the inside of every cavity, for smaller areas I have bought cavity wax in aerosol form, this comes with a thin 2 feet long plastic nozzle which can be poked inside small areas and gives 360 degree coverage.  The hole needed to poke the nozzle in is small and can be plugged afterwards with a rubber grommet.

A little update on the build.  I haven't done a lot, what with getting the yard work done for winter.  I managed to build some body mounts for the front of the firewall, have not welded them in yet.  Also went to the sheet metal shop today and gave them some measurements to make me up some inner rocker panels.  I drilled out a bunch of spot welds on the inner rockers where they meet the outside of the floor pans.  Hoping to be able to cut the body mounts inboard, as they are rusted against the inner rockers anyway.  Cut all the old inner rocker panel out, slide it out past the front wheel, and slide the new one in.  Weld up the edge of the floor pan again.  I have made one small floor patch on the front side of the pass. floor.  Cut out a hole on the drivers side, and going to replace about a foot square patch above the front body mount.  There are only a few small patches to be done on the rest of the floor pan, each above a body mount.
After that is done, I want to remove it from the frame, then put it on rotisserie, load it on a trailer and take the body to be blasted.  Make new body mounts, prime and paint it. 
Planning on blasting the frame at the same time and painting it as well.  With a little luck, I might be able to get this done in the next month or so.  What I am short of is time.
I did manage to find one left front door for a two door hardtop, thanks to Don Engeld.  He also let me have a really nice left front fender for a really good deal.  I gave him all the cash I had in my pocket and he accepted it, door and fender for $340.00 plus he gave me a bunch of trim pieces, and miscellaneous "stuff" that he had in his pile of parts cars. Thanks a lot Don.
I am still looking for a passenger door. 
I kind of have a plan between my ears on how to go about this deal.  I also cut the back end off the Ranchero, as I didn't want to be doing that out there at 20 below zero this winter.  I am still formulating a plan on how to rebuild the back end of the Ranchero body to graft onto the Fairlane, without having it fall apart.  Kinda got it figured out, but we'll see when the time comes, I guess.  I attached a few pics to show the little bit of progress so far.  More to come when I get time.

Also, I still have not figured out how to remove the piece of stainless windshield trim above the windshield on the Fairlane body.  I can get the two outer clips undone, but the two in the middle won't come unclipped yet and I'm afraid to bend the trim prying on them.
The pic of the patch looks awful, as my compressor gave up the ghost a couple weeks ago, and it took awhile to get a new pump from Eaton compressor.  All back up and running now, and welds are now ground. 
With the back end cut off the Ranchero, I have to say, God hates a coward, and there's no turning back on this project now. 

Easiest way is to use a small piece of wood and gentle taps and slide it sideways until the clips hit the end.  Bend it up out of the way just enough to clear the clips and you are home free.

Geez.  Never thought of that. I'll try that tomorrow night.  Thanks for the tip.  I just want to get under that trim to clean up any surface rust that is under there.  Thanks a lot.

Weld all your mounts, drill down thru the floor and daub POR-15 inside.
Weld in ALL your metal and brace the body before you pull it off to blast or dip.
Carpenter sells the rubber mounts.
Goodluck,
Ron.

I have made some progress on the car.  The floorboard patches are all done, except for the very back end, which will all have to be modified for the Ranchero tailgate, etc.  Just finished building and installing  all the new body mounts, and inner rockers.  One of the rear wheel house outers was rusted out, so I cut both sides out of the car.  I'll build new wheel tubs, but having them out will enable me to cherry out the rear quarter panels. 
I have ordered front quarter panels from EMS from the rear of the doors, to the wheel wells.  That will make it a lot easier to put it all back together.  I'll be fixing some minor rust on the one rear quarter panel over the Christmas holidays.
Next issue will be taking the body to the blaster, and whilst it is gone, I will pull the Ranchero into the garage, and strip the engine and trans. out, and cut up the body so I can clean up all the body parts I am using.  I'll start posting more pics once it actually gets interesting.  So far, its just been the really dirty work, taking out the rust and crap, and replacing with new metal.  Glad that part is pretty much done.  Its clean to work on from here on, at least until I get the rusty Ranchero into the garage to strip it.

I just posted a want ad for a vent window assembly for a 57 retractable.  I also need the stainless trim that goes around the top and back of the main window.  The glass does not need to be in either piece. 
I have decided to cut the tops off the Ranchero doors, as they are in pretty good shape and everything else I have found needs more repair than what I have or else its priced into the stratosphere.  The biggest reason to use the Ranchero doors is the door posts are different than the retractable door that I have, and also different from the Fairlane sedan door frame. 
So, I will use the Ranchero doors and door frame back end.  It might be rustier on the bottom than I like, but I plan on removing the whole back wall of the Ranchero in one piece, fixing any rust issues then welding it into the Fairlane body.
Having the Ranchero back of the cab in one piece, instead of using a couple of individual door posts will make it a lot easier to re-align the doors to the door posts on reassembly. 
I will have to hack the roof off the Ranchero when I go to do this, but I'll have to chop it the 1 1/4 inch anyway to get it to mate up to the Fairlane windshield frame.  Having surveyed what I have, I plan on cutting  the Fairlane top just above the drip rail, and using the Fairlane roof skin, if possible to maintain that low sleek look.  The Ranchero seems to be slightly higher.
We'll see if all goes as planned.  The cutting will begin in the next few weeks. 
Anyway, I hope someone can help me out with a vent window assembly for a retractable, passenger side, and window frame. Thanks.

Sitting here waiting for HER to get off the phone so I can call Jerry's Classic Cars as Rich suggested for a vent window assembly.
Lifted the body up with chain hoists on the front, jacked up the rear, and put two large pipe stands,( not shown), under the back end of the body with a chunk of rectangular tubing between them so we could roll the chassis out from under the body.  Then put it on the rotisserie.  I know I should be doing this on the car's frame, but I'm too old to do that work that low to the ground now.  I will have to build most of it on the car frame anyway, cause the body will collapse somewhat once I whack the roof off it to install the Ranchero roof. 
I also trussed up the mounting point for the back end of the rotisserie, so I might be able to cut the back end apart to put the Ranchero tailgate in. I don't think I'll be able to do that now, as I need to put the back of the cab in, then measure to find where to mount the tailgate, so I can get everything where it needs to be.  The rear body mounting points were all rusted out anyway, and did not have any strength. 

The body mounts are all done now.  I cut the outside of the rear wheel tubs out.  Will enable access to do exterior bodywork.

Someone posted a question on how to get rid of the tar from the inside of the fenders.  I used one of these cheap made in China pry bars, and sharpened the end of it slightly.  It scraped off quite easily with that, if I "took a run at it" with the scraper, it popped right off.  Didn't have to heat it up at all.
I also can't believe how simple the wiring is on these cars.  This bundle is pretty much all the under dash harness, as well as most of the engine wiring.  All that is missing is the loom that goes to the taillights.  I am keeping this car simple also, so I can drive it in my lifetime.  Most of the stuff is going back stock, except for the sheet metal rework.
Oh, and I have a crazy plan for wipers also, as my cables are frayed and once I took that mess out, I wasn't going to try to put it all back in again.  Bought some 59 Ford wiper transmission arms, and an F150 wiper motor new off ebay, and got a wiper switch with the delay unit from an F150 pre-1991, where the switch is still on the dash.  I plan on mounting the wiper motor in the engine compartment with the driving arm going straight back towards the windshield, then use a 90 degree bell crank made from scratch, that will drive one wiper opposite the other.  There.  I posted it, so now I have to make it.  But that is a post for another day.  Its only happening between my ears right now, been a few sleepless nights. 
Wife is off the phone, so I can call Jerry's now.

YES.  Thank you Rich, Jerry's Classic Cars has a vent window assembly and glass frame.  Thank you.

Been slow getting stuff done lately.  Got the one rear quarter patch made and welded in now.  Finished up all body mounts, cut a little more rust out behind the rear doors. And?.have been spending way way too much time getting my wipers done.  I did a one off mounting of a F150 wiper motor, with F150 wiper switch and delay box.
I'm sure everyone will figure I'm nuts for doing this, but here goes anyway.  I don't like cable drive systems and I didn't want to mount the wiper system under the dash and have to rework all the heater ducting, etc.  This ended up looking only slightly ugly, and is hidden behind the cover.  It only sticks out about 2 1/2 inches from the original firewall, about the same as the original motor, but the box its mounted in makes it look much bigger.  Anyway, its done, and seems like it will work very well.
I tried to mount it without cutting a hole in the firewall, but it stuck out about 6 inches and really looked out of place.
Ended up whacking a big hole in the firewall.  There is quite a bit of room there between the firewall and the upper rain tray.  The wiper motor sits almost all the way in there, just the drive end of the motor sticks out.  One of the first things I had to do was cut the drive arm on the motor, and weld it back in place 90 degrees from stock so the motor would park where I wanted it to.

There was lots and lots of playing around to get the geometry for the system figured out.

Had to make a "land" for the bell crank plate to bolt onto.  Just bent up some 16 gauge material, and welded some captured nuts onto the back side of it, then welded it inside the cowl.  Made up the bell crank plate from a piece of 10 gauge.  I had originally used some 16 gauge with the edges folded up 1/2" on each side, but it turned out there wasn't enough room for the folded sides, so I just made it out of thick material and it is totally flat.
I tried to figure out the geometry with measurements to get the proper swing of the wiper arms, but in the end, just ended up taking it out, welding up the holes I had for mounting the arms on the bell crank, move the pivot over an eighth of an inch or so, then drilling another hole. Bolt it back in place, then do it again, and again, and again.  I must have taken that bell crank plate out 50 times, and made new ones, then welded up holes and re drilled them again.  Finally got the wiper swing right, I think anyway.
One more thing I forgot here, in order to mount this with enough room, I had to mount the box lower than I wanted to, which makes it necessary for the hood latch cable to have to go through the bottom of the wiper box.  There is just enough room to drill both sides of the box, to sneak the cable in underneath the wiper motor.

The whole thing comes out as a unit after disassembling the bell crank, and removing the wiper control arms from the bell crank. 
I still need to maybe roll a few beads into the cover or something to dress it up, so it isn't so ugly, but that can wait till later. 
I bought the F150 wiper motor brand new on ebay for 60 bucks with free shipping, and it came in an original Ford box.  The wiper switch I got at the local pic a part with the electronic delay box. Actually got two of them for twenty bucks. 
I plan on using the original 57 Ford wiper knob on the F150 switch, just have to cut a little length off the switch shaft, as its a little too long, but it mounts the same way, with a flat on one side of the shaft. 
Don't have too much more to say, but the system runs nice and smooth.  I just had to get the sheet metal work and welding done on the mounting areas before any paint and body work was going to happen.  So, one more thing out of the way and now I can push it outside on the rotisserie, then bring the rusty Ranchero in and strip it, and throw away all the rusty sheet metal and rusty frame.
After that, the good Fairlane frame will get blasted, then the suspension rebuilt, and painted, then the Fairlane body will go back onto the frame and the Ranchero build will begin.
Just realized the pics of the bell crank assembly didn't turn out, so I'll take a couple more tomorrow and post them.

Very nice work!

Doing this kind of stuff on a build is the fun part for me, a challenge!! Sounds like you're like that also. Glad to know I'm not the only crazy one!!  I had a thread on here a few years ago when I did mine...sorry I just saw the wiper reference on this thread for the first time. Mine is completely inside the cowl with access from under the dash.
Have you got the hard arms made up yet? I've got some pics posted here somewhere of the pivot modification and arm setup I did  to reverse the sweep direction of the passenger side wiper. Is that f-100 motor you used a back and forth, or a 360*?
If you can't find them, I can post some more when I get home Sunday.

Yup, its all made up, just have to a little more welding, as a bunch of it is still just tack welded.  Then I need to knock the uglies off everything.  Once its painted (someday), it won't look so bad, even a coat of primer would help.
I needed to take more pics anyway, now that its more or less done, as it will go into a box until its ready to install somewhere in the future when I'll be trying to figure out how it all goes together again.
Just for reference, the picture on the bench shows the wipers in the "parked" position.

And yes, the F150 wiper motor is a simple 360 degree rotation unit.
One thing I need help on are the wiper bezels for the pivot arms.  The 57 units have a big taper on the bottom, with a corresponding taper on the underside of the wiper pivot.  These arms are from a 59 Ford, but the little dog that keeps the bezel in place is not centred like the 57 bezel was.  I did a search, and found some rubbers from mid sixties Fairlanes and Rancheros that showed pics of the bezel rubber like the 57 has.  Does anyone know if I can buy these bezels like the 59 Ford, but from a vehicle where the dog is centred like the 57??  I really don't want to cut the sheet metal out and rotate it a few degrees, then weld it back in, if I can help it. MIght be easier to make a new bezel from scratch like I need it, then have it chromed.

And a few upside down pics. And a final shot of the ugly hole in the firewall.  Not sure if you can see it, but there is still about a 3/4 inch vertical edge on the "trough" for water to be channeled down to the cowl drains.  If the car sees a torrential downpour, there will likely be a little runoff, that might come over the top of the trough, and run out over the top of the motor, and dribble out of the bottom where the hole for the wiring will be.  Shouldn't be a large amount though, and the motor is protected from any moisture, as it is in a separate chamber on the bottom that pretty much sealed off, at least better than the factory one, so I don't anticipate any problems there.
That about finishes up this wiper deal. Thanks for looking.

Neat idea, I've just done mine using a Land Rover wiper motor, I'll post some pictures when I remember to take some!

Great engineering on the wiper arms. I did my wiper setup way back before I had even decided on an engine for my car. Fortunatly, I wanted a clean look on the firewall, which at the time was the main reason I moved the motor inside and under. It was a good thing I did, because the intake plenum on the 4.6 I installed would have been a major problem as it is partially under the firewall weld seam I have to go back and change some of the joints on the hard arms, as some I used the Mustang oems, and others I used the heim joints with a stud rather than a hole as your's have. The studded heim joints are too noisy as they want to "slap" a little when the stroke changes direction.

I'd really like to see some pics of yours under construction if you have any. How did you get it up under the dash without messing up all the defroster vents and heater?  Or did you redesign all that as well?  I didn't want to redo the heater, as I want to drive this thing before I die, and I still have 3 more projects to do ( before I die), and I just turned 60 last september.
My heim joints had some noise also, but after a few adjustments on the threads, in or out, to lengthen or shorten the arms, they are basically silent now.  I had to find the "sweet spot" where there wasn't any bind at the beginning or end of their stroke.  That is pretty much why I chose to use heim joints on all the arms also, that and the fact I had them in a drawer in the shop left over from a model A friction shock setup, and other stuff. They are a little bigger than I needed, but I didn't have to buy them.
I am still contemplating cutting down one side of the outer box, so as to minimize how big it looks, but I can do that anytime in the future. 
Got the body on rotisserie pushed outside yesterday, now that the snow is totally gone and its warm outside, ( sorry to you folks out East with the crappy weather), and got the rusty Ranchero front end stripped, with motor and tranny ready to lift out.
Then to take the doors off, and start cutting up the body for the parts I need, and throw away the rusty frame and the rest of the junk. Pics to follow later.

here's a pic or two as I find them:
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3763.0;attach=5372
The first one shows the access box for the Mustang wiper motor, as well as the alterations I did on the defroster duct (removed center section, added 2" dia inlets). My wiper motor is controled by the steering column multi function switch, and utilizes the Mustang  control module to get the variable speed settings.
This pic shows the plate I added for the direction-reversing center arm support:
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=3910.0;attach=5916
This pic shows the hard arms. item #6 in the pic(sq. tube) was insufficient and replaced with the plate shown in the previous picture.
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2410.0;attach=3147

John, I meant to ask you why you used a later year pivot instead of modifying the '57's.

Yours looks like a cleaner installation than mine.  Wish I had seen it sooner.  And the 57 wiper pivots? I guess I didn't look at them too closely, as I never figured I would be able to take them apart to use them.  I'll have another look here right away, going back out to the shop shortly.

I cut all the rust out of the rusty Ranchero today, and this is all that was left.

I went out and looked at the 57 wiper pivots, and I can see if I grind off the spot weld on the bottom of the post, I can maybe take it apart.  How did you take yours apart?  Were you able to spot weld the new arm onto the post, without melting the inside of the post, i.e. bushing or whatever is in the middle of the post?  If I could do this, then I could use the 57 posts, as you obviously did, and my outer bezels would line up properly.  I might have to put a twist into the actuator arm inside, because of the bevel that the post is mounted on, compared to the straight through 59 post I have on there now, but that isn't a big deal at all.  You got any pics of how you modified your posts?
And, the rusty one is stripped, except for the dash and heater.  Then to cut the roof off, but I have to study how the B pillar is put together first, to come up with a good plan on how to chop the B pillar 1 1/4 inches to match the Fairlane windshield height.  After that, I can cut the back wall out of the cab, then butcher the rest up and say bye bye to it.

I'll see if I can find some pics of the actual pivot modification. Long time ago, but I didn't have too much trouble with it as I recall. I think I just ground of the swedging or weld at the end so I could remove the oem stuff.  I think it also is a solid shaft, so no problem with welding it to the new steel piece. I think I press fit the shaft into the new arm and didn't weld it until I had everything correct.

Found some pics. From one of the pics, it looks like there is a bronze bushing inside the '57 pivot, so no problem for welding.

Okay, that looks good.  I will give that a whirl sometime in the next week or so.  Looks like you put a small nylon washer in there too.  How the heck did you keep that from melting when you spot welded the arm on. Stick it in a bucket of water right after welding?  Or, I guess maybe the press fit is holding most of it, so it doesn't need a really big weld?? Thanks.
Okay, upon closer inspection of the first pic, the shaft looks like it has a fine spline on it, so a nice little press fit with a small spot weld will work just fine then.  Nice.

Well, the dirtiest part of the job is done.  Not much left, but I'll have to keep a bunch of this stuff around to take measurements and patterns from.  The bottom of the back wall of the cab is worse than I thought, ( surprise, surprise,eh?) so I'll have to rebuild it from scratch up to and including the bottom of the bed.
The pile of rust and dirt on the shop floor is two inches deep, after cutting it all apart.  I think its too late to turn back now.

But the B pillars are not too bad on the bottom, not as bad as I expected anyway.  The back end of the roof is fine, slight bit of rust on one side of the window frame. I plan on using most of the Fairlane roof skin anyway. 
Now I need to clean up, throw some stuff away, and get some parts blasted, then start work on the frame and suspension.
Picture quality is crappy, as they're phone pics, but the parts are pretty crappy too.

You're definetly not shy about digging into a project, are you. This is going to be an interesting build to follow.

Decisions have to be made real soon.  I am going to put two inches into the cab length to take up the extra cargo bed length, maybe more.  In order to move the cab wall back, I need to put a couple inches in the area behind the doors, on the inside, hopefully pics will explain that.

Now, the B pillar is going to be leaned forward into the window opening.  First off is the pic of the stock Ranchero B pillar done in CAD ( cardboard aided design).  Its too bad the camera makes my design look so bad.  The angles I have drawn are actually parallel, but the camera shot makes them look way off. 
In the first pic, note that the cardboard is overlapping the door opening to show hope the door frame takes up two inches of the door opening.  I am going to use two door hardtop windows, so the window opening will start two inches farther back, as there won't be any window frame on the door, other than the small stainless trim around the glass. Hope that's clear.
Now, on the second B pillar, the extra lean forward piece is added, and note that the cardboard starts at the door opening on the bottom, in other words, I slid the cardboard pattern back two inches, cause that's where the glass will start. 
On the third pic, I added one extra inch that I am still on the fence about.  Not sure I like the B pillar that wide.  Gotta take care of a short dude for a couple hours now.  Hope that was clear enough. 

Well, we're back from the sandblaster with the frame, and I have to say it looks better in most respects, although I am going to have to go over about 65 feet of weld.  I have never seen such a mess of welding ever before.  I think this frame must have been built by a guy on Friday at a quarter to five on his birthday, and maybe he was nipping on the jug while at work as well.  What a mess. 
Anyway, since the rear crossmember was broken on one side, the crossmember that holds the shocks broke out in transit to the blaster.  The end had just a tiny bit of weld holding it to the side rail.  No penetration at all.

Both frame rails, top and bottom, the welds look like this.  Obviously wasn't done by robots in 57.  I think the guys on the assembly line must have been laughing about this one, saying they felt sorry for the poor sucker that got this car. 
So, a lot of welding over top of what is already there.  At least its nice and clean now, and not too rusty.

It wasn't just a bad Friday, JVO, they're pretty much all like that. That was one thing I looked at for quite a while trying to figure out if I wanted to make it pretty. I finally said nope...too much work for a frame that won't hardly ever get seen.

Yea John,the welding on frames back then was not "Job 1"
Every 57 frame I have seen is poor.I agree with Rich.

Good.  Thanks for the comments on the welding.  I ground it down some and tried welding a few spots this afternoon.  Some areas were fine, but most were just god awful, kind of like mig welding without the gas turned on.  So, I think I'll just put a few stitch welds on the un welded areas for peace of mind.  Then maybe seam seal the rest of the weld seam?? Or should I leave it open so water can drain out the cracks? 
Just adding some more progress pics to this thread.  Got the frame inside and painted now. 

Okay, a couple pics of the sway bar and front end crossmember mods I made.  I got a front sway bar from a late model Dodge pickup, 1 1/4 inch, heavy duty sucker.  It might be controversial, but I did a lot of reading about modifications, and I don't want to get into a pissing match about whether its right or wrong.  Its fitted, and I'm gonna try it.  I read that lots of folks heat them and bend the arms to fit their application, with no problems.  The centre of it is untouched, not heated at all, just the arms.
One engineer I read even stated that a sway bar doesn't necessarily have to be made of spring steel, as they never get stressed past their yield point of mild steel anyway.  Regardless, I don't want to get into a bad discussion of this.  Its done, and mounted, and I'm gonna try it.
So, I cut the bottom off the rad support and made a new crossmember that still has access for the bumper bolts on the ends.  The rad support is welded to this crossmember.  The sway bar tucks up under the rad support quite close to the original crossmember, and I fabricated a set of mounts for it.  I will take a few better pics in the next couple days with my camera, that show a little more detail.  That's that.  Thanks for looking.

Forgot to add, I kept the front suspension from the rusty Ranchero around just so I could easily work on the sway bar, and rack & pinion steering mounts.  Took up less space in the garage, and its all mounted to the new frame now, or at least it will be tomorrow.

So, frame was blasted and painted with KBS rust control.  Got it up on all 4 wheels today so I can push it outside, as I work in one stall in the garage, my tools take up the rest of the space.  For the body on the rotisserie to come back in, the frame has to go out.
And, there are a shot or two of the rear swap bar from the Tahoe.  It is a hollow sway bar, 1 1/16 thick, but my racing buddy tells me the hollow ones are not as still as the solid sway bars.  I think I might mount it up backwards, haven't decided yet, per the picture.  Doesn't have to be right away anyhow. 

I started another post in the suspension section, asking about the 79 T bird spindles and Aerostar springs.  Don't know if you can tell from the pics, but there is excessive camber, wheels out a ways on top.  I might have to move the mounting points in a little for the upper a arms to get it into perspective.  I think I read somewhere that some spindles cause this to happen.
In the shot from the rear of the car, you can see the right front tire is leaning out a bit on top.  The front is not set proper yet anyway, as I have a 14 inch bias tire on the left front, and a 15 inch radial on the right front.  The rears are still original Ranchero 14 inchers. 
The 79 T bird rotors and calipers actually fit over the one 14 inch rim I have with a large hole in the centre.  I need to get another 15 inch rim for mockup for the front, and a matched set of tires,  so I can take some decent measurements. 

I think a lot of your camber issues will go away when the car is at ride height. My car has the same spindles I think and it was lowered around 3" when I got it. I raised it back  to stock and noticed the positive camber issue. In my case there were an excessive amount of shims that had been installed to correct the issue at the lower ride height.

Okay, now for the fun stuff.  I am a little ahead of myself on this part of the project, but it has been bugging me all winter, so I just had to dive in and do it.  I whacked the top off the drivers side Ranchero door, in order to fit the vent window assembly to it.  I wanted to see just how much work it was going to be, and how similar the retractable donor door I have is similar to it.  That is what the vent windows are from.
First pic, is of the back end of the Ranchero door, (brown), and the white retractable door.  The retractable door will not close into the B pillar on the Ranchero, and I want  to retain the stock Ranchero B pillar of course, as it will help with alignment of the back wall of the cab.  By using the Ranchero B pillar, the side to side alignment should be bang on.  If I used B pillars from a donor car that fit the retractable door, I would have to worry about side to side alignment as well as front to back alignment.  Been there on a model A truck project.  I want to keep it as simple as possible.
This set of pics shows the difference between the Ranchero door, and the retractable door.  There are subtle differences, and I circled the areas that I have to modify and/or use to mount the vent window. 
You can see in the one pic, the hole on top that is circled with a sharpie, is on the Ranchero door, but it is there for the one adjusting bolt for the vent window for the hardtop cars.  Ford obviously used this one inner panel for all models.  I just had to mark and cut the hole in the outer part of the Ranchero inner door frame.  Hope that makes sense.

Actually, the second pic in this post shows the hole I talked about in the post above.  This fit is very preliminary, but it looks like its going to be a winner.  I have to modify the "lands" I made to mount the vent window assembly slightly, and I had to elongate some holes from my original measurements, but overall, it looks like its gonna work quite nicely. 
You can see on the upper part of the vent window, on the inside, that I will have to cut back the door frame slightly for clearance.  The top of the vent window needs to go in a bit more, but it will not until I made the clearance cut on the door frame. That is one of the big conundrums I have had with this project.  I don't know yet how to cut and rebuild the door frame so I can put weatherstripping along the top of the window frame that will seal "just right".  Will have to play with that after most of the modifications are done and the new roof is in place.  I am not going to cut the Fairlane sedan roof off till I get the quarter panels welded to the back of the cab.  I'll try to build all that with the present roof in place so as to retain as much structural integrity as possible.  So far, the plan is to do the roof after the doors, cab back wall, and quarter panels are in place.

That's about all for now.  As I stated above, I am a bit ahead of myself on this, but I just had to whack it apart to see how it was going to work.  I am glad I did this, as it seems now that it might just be easier than I thought.  Lots of fiddling around with mounting points to get the vent window sitting just right, and I'm sure there will be some nightmares down the road when I get the door skin repaired and mounted.  The front end of the door should be just fine, as long as I don't modify the inner door structure. 
That's one of the things that got me started on this in the first place.  Once I read that all 57's are the same from the cowl forward, I knew I wouldn't have to modify the front end of the doors, only the window opening area. 
I hope to be able to use the Ranchero window regulators, so they just bolt in.  Should be able to, I think.  We'll see.

I took the back wall of the cab to the sheet metal shop last Friday so they can measure up and bend me new panels.  My brake isn't wide enough to do those panels, as they are over 4 feet wide.  I will be replacing all the back wall with new sheet metal from about 4 inches below the rear window.  Its all very rusty back there, and pretty simple, just time consuming.

I'm kinda jumping around on this project, but I had the parts for the back wall of the cab, so I decided to start putting them in, mostly because I couldn't stand looking at the rusty mess any longer.  The whole back wall of the cab needs to be replaced, and my sheet metal man did a really nice job of bending up 3 pieces just like the factory did it. 
Out with the old rusty piece, shown leaning against the Ranchero roof, and in with some new stuff.
I am cutting out the back wall where you can see the paint scraped off in the one pic.  There are a bunch of small dents in the old panel, and its the same amount of welding if I weld it in up top, or weld it in down below.  I will replace pretty much the whole panel, have nice new sheet metal with no dents. 

The side panels are the inside of the B pillars, the pieces with the oblong access holes in them.  ( the holes I posted some time back asking why those holes were there)  I made new side panels and they are 2 inches longer, so as to facilitate moving the back wall of the cab back 2 inches, to stretch the inside of the cab, and take up two of the 4 inches that the Fairlane will be longer.  I don't want to lengthen the Ranchero bed any more than I absolutely have to, and this will help that issue, along with giving a little more interior room.
The last pic is one of the side panels I used for a pattern to make the two newer and longer panels.

Lots and lots of measuring and standing beside it scratching my head, trying to make sure I don't make any mistakes.  I sure hope it all fits the car when I get it put together. 

I still have to blast the B pillars and clean them up some.  They are not in bad shape, other than the bottom couple inches and I can deal with that. 
I can't weld the side panels to the back wall just yet, and I just noticed while looking at these pics, that I forgot to punch holes in the flanges for plug welds.  Oh well, I can still separate them and drill some, just have to do it the hard way now.
There was a bolt in each side panel when I started on the old ones, and I don't know if the factory did that, or if someone did it as a repair to hold the rusty panels together.  Regardless, I put a bolt in each side, and won't weld them till I put the back wall on the Fairlane floor pan.  That way I can move the cab back wall back and forth slightly if I need to, then plug weld the side panels on, once the B pillars are lined up with the doors, and everything is where it needs to be. 
So, the old junk is removed, and I have the new panels in place, and the back wall is spot welded along the top.  I'll grind the spots down tomorrow, and run a nice tig bead across there, then metal finish it.  It is a 16 gauge panel, so I hope to keep the warpage to a minimum, but I can always use the shrinking disc on it, if I need to.
Now I can throw the old rusty cab wall outside so I don't have to look at it.  I will keep it around for reference till I get all the new stuff welded in place, then it can go to China to be reincarnated into some other junk. And one last pic of the junk before we started.

John, I never mentioned I got the rack all delivered safe and sound.Thank you very much

Jeff

No problem, glad you could use it.  Did you see the post I put in the morning coffee thread about the power brake unit in Hamilton Kijiji?  No price, but someone should be able to use it. Just thought I would mention it.

THIS DOOR THING.  Well, my friend Jer and I made the trip down to Alvin Stadel's in Montana and got a Fairlane passenger door.  It is gonna work.  I wish I had met Alvin a lot sooner.  He is a wealth of knowledge.  He told me the Fairlane door from a two door sedan is the same as the retractable driver's side door that I have and he was right.  Well, its not quite the same, his was yellow and mine was white, but other than that, they are identical. 
Very glad I made this trip.  I was going to use the Ranchero doors, with Fairlane door skins.  Turns out the Ranchero doors are 1/2 an inch taller from the bottom of the door skin to the top of the door, than the Fairlane doors.  I'm glad I found this out before I got too far into it.  I sure don't want to section half an inch out of the door height.  So now I have two good doors that I can use, except that the door posts that they close into are not the same. 
I could modify the ones I have from the four door sedan, but they might not be perfect, and might not seal properly against the weather stripping if I make even a slight error. 
So, I contacted Alvin and I'm gonna make another trip to his place again in a few weeks time.  He has the Fairlane two door sedan that I can take the door posts from that will work with these doors.  I should have removed them when we were there, but oh well, I thought I could make these work.  It was a fun trip last time anyway.

So, the pics.  On the left side, is the brown Ranchero door.  The back end is sort of ribbed, and the door post is as well.  The Fairlane doors will not close into the Ranchero door post, and they also will not close into the Fairlane four door sedan door post, on the far right. 
The white door is from a retractable, the yellow door in the middle is the Fairlane sedan door that still has the window frame bolted on.  That's the one I got from Alvin. Nice door.  The yellow door on the far right is from the four door sedan.  You can see the difference in the way the weather stripping is attached to the doors, and the different shapes. 
I need the Fairlane door posts that fit the doors. 
I could cut the back end of the four door sedan doors, and weld them to the Fairlane doors, and they would close and seal properly, but that's a lot of work, and if I ever get into a wreck and need a new door, I would have to build a door like it from scratch again.
Way easier to drive back down to Alvin's and cut the door posts off his Fairlane two door sedan.

In this pic, you can see the measurement of the door height.  The Fairlane door is 26 1/8 high from the bottom of the door skin to the top edge of the rounded over part of the door on top. 
The Ranchero door is 26 5/8 high from the bottom of the door skin to the same point where I would have to cut the window frame down flush to make it work. 
Definitely don't want to go there.  Wish I had found that out before I repaired the rust on the bottom of the Ranchero door, and hacked the window frame off the top of it.  OH well.
This is quite a learning experience. 
I am still sort of dead in the water till I get the proper door posts.  I have the trim I got from Alvin, but I can't start mounting panels till I get the door posts, and fit them to the car in the proper place. 
Hope I'm not boring everyone, but I want to document all aspects of this build. 

Looking great John.

Okay, summer is past, time to get busy.  Got the quarter panels from Alvin some time ago, and I sure wish I had that whole car to start this with.  Would have saved me a lot of work. 
So, this post is about the quarter panel patches I decided to do.  I have new EMS panels, but the quarters from Alvin are so nice that I am using them.  It will save me a four foot long weld in the middle of the body lengthwise.  Also, another big reason is that the only part of these that are bad is the extreme bottom, and the EMS panels don't come with the little flange on the bottom anyway.  So regardless of which quarter I use, I have to make that.

You can see the bottom flange of the old panel that has the spot welds drilled out is sorta okay, but its pretty easy to make, so I think I might replace that. 
You can also see the new EMS panel doesn't have that flange to put the spot welds in.  The panel stops short of going there, and there isn't enough material to bend a flange.  Has to be added on to a brand new panel.  Doesn't make any sense to me.

Most of this panel is in really nice shape, but the top of the wheel well is perforated some, and pitted heavily in some areas. 
This is how I made the patch.  I didn't want to cut the new EMS panel up just for this little patch. 
Made a paper pattern the way Peter Tommasini taught us in his metal shaping class.  Use magnets to hold butcher paper in place, and a neat little trick he does.  Cut the wood off the side of a carpentry pencil to expose a couple inches of the lead.  Then you can rub that over the creases in the panel to show the body lines.

After that, use a sharp scribe to cut through the paper and make little scribe marks about an eighth of an inch long, leave an eight of an inch of paper, then another mark.  Once you remove the paper, you have the body line.

I used the tipping wheel in my bead roller to tip the body lines, and hand hammered the roll or curvature into the panel, over a post dolly. This pic is the roughed out patch, lots of work to do to it yet.

My lines with the tipping wheel were not perfectly symmetrical to the original panel, so I made another pattern from the paper pattern to some scrap 20 gauge sheet metal.  ( Only reason I keep 20 gauge around is to make profile gauges and such.)

Once I got a perfect pattern sheet metal gauge, I transferred the better lines to my roughed out patch.  Then I hand hammered the lines over another post dolly, (sorry didn't take a pic of the sharp edged dolly, but I probably should have) and the lines were much nicer, and in the right places.
After the patch panel was made to my satisfaction, I proceeded to clamp it to the original so as to scribe it and cut the old piece out.  I marked the front and rear, and left a little of the old panel on the rear end, just so I could match the body lines up in the proper place.  That piece will be cut off afterwards.
Also, in some of these pics, you might notice that after I did an initial marking, I cut the fender flange out so I could match the new flange with the old flange front and rear.  With the old flange in place, you can't get the patch to move up high enough to properly scribe it in the proper place.  Hope that makes sense.

I don't normally have to put this many clamps on, but the shape of this patch necessitated that, as it wouldn't sit down on the old panel without a bunch of clamps.  Hard shape to make so it fits perfectly without any clamps.
I guess I didn't take any pics of cutting the old stuff out, but that's pretty straightforward.  I use a combination of .045 cutting discs on my 4 1/2 angle grinder to get rid of most of it, then use aviation snips to get really close, then I sand with a 3 inch sanding disc, to get an almost perfect zero gap for tig welding.
The spots you see here are mig.  I always spot weld panels in with mig, as I can use one hand to help fit, and its much easier.

After its spot welded in place, its time to grind the tops off the mig spot welds.  I used to tig weld right over top of them and melt them in, but found it was a bad idea, as I had to stop at each spot weld a little longer, to melt in the extra metal of the spot weld.  That caused a big lump of material on the backside of the panel as well as much more warpage. 
So now I do it like I was taught.  Yeah, I got lazy.  Grind the tops off the mig spots, then tig weld the whole thing in one pass, then deal with whatever warpage I get.
This particular panel was almost zero warpage, as its on a high crown area.  It turned out very nice.
Patch fully tig welded in place, a little grinding of the weld bead, down to flush with the rest of the panel.  I use those 3M green wheels that are 3/16 inch wide.  They don't cut into the parent metal if you get off the weld bead like the skinny little ones do.
Then the backside of the panel gets the weld ground flush so I can metal finish it.

Still a bunch of hammer and dolly work to do before we are done.  So far I haven't had to use a shrinking disc to take down any highs yet.  Because the weld is on a fairly high crown area, it held its shape quite nicely.  The last couple pics show it done.  It is about 95 per cent metal finished, and shouldn't need any bondo, if the rest of the repair goes this good. 
I did run a vixen file over the weld to cut any remaining highs off the weld bead. 
Then had to run orbital sander over the panel so it would photograph nicely. 

That's all folks.  I need to do the other side, but there isn't any need to document that unless I run into some unforeseen issue that someone might find of interest. 
As I stated earlier, I'm not sure if I will replace the weld flange on the bottom of the panel yet.  Its not really that rusty, just ugly as sin from drilling out all the spot welds.  But its an easy repair, and I probably won't be happy till I do it. 

Excellent work, I love to see repairs metal finished where hardly any bondo is used.  I did the same repairs on my Ranchero but managed to score a pair of repair panels from the early 1960's for the wheel arches and formed the inner arch repair using a shrinker/stretcher tool, but I didn't have quite as much rust as you're dealing with.

Keep posting, I love to see metalwork!

Very nice work!

Holy cow! and I thought I had a project. Great idea and should provide almost endless hours of head scratching. I know On my project that really proved to be one of the fun parts. To take an idea and figure out how to get it done so that when you stand back and look at, it looks like something that could have come out of the factory. Loved the picture of the streched cab and the four door was awesome. Good luck and keep posting pictures.

I think I mentioned somewhere else on the site that I did something sacrilegious.  My brother gave me a GM 12 bolt rearend with 3.42 ratio and an almost brand new Auburn posi unit.  I was going to narrow my 57 rearend so as to be able to put larger tires on the back with ease, but its the perfect width for my 40 Ford pickup project that is down the road a ways.  If I have to narrow a rearend and buy axles, I chose to do it to this FREE 12 bolt GM rearend.  Sorry to the purists, can't help it, I am cheap and broke.

In doing this swap, I have been reading you other guys' posts on now the disc brake rears make it slightly easier to change tires as well, so I figured I would do that while I am at it.  I do a lot of reading and research and came up with my own low buck plan.
I went with Ford axle ends on the GM rear end and did away with the c clip axles. The Mustang rear disc brake swap looked fairly easy, so I went with a variant of that. 
In reading and research on the internet, I wanted rear calipers with good e brakes, and I read a lot of comments on the old Cadillac style calipers that everyone has used for decades but there were a lot of negative comments on how well the e brake mechanism worked.
I stumbled across a few articles on these "varga" style of calliper, as I think they are called.  The Mustang guys seem to like them, and I read somewhere that the early 90's Merkurs and Sables had them as standard equipment.  That led me to the Merkur site, where I read everything I could find on them. 
Then I read there that someone posted the varga calipers were the same as the early 2000's Lincoln LS calipers, except that the Lincoln caliper had a more conventional style of emergency brake cable in that it went straight forward the same way our 57 Ford cables are routed.  The Mustang and Merkur and Sable calipers have the e brake cables coming out of the caliper at a right angle to what I wanted it to go, as in, not towards the front of the car.
So now, I was onto the Lincoln LS calipers.  They seemed to be what I wanted.  I found a set really cheap on ebay, and bought them.  I was working away on the project, making brackets and such, and one of my friends asked me why I had one aluminum caliper and one cast iron one.  I hadn't noticed that up until that particular moment and now I'm quite disgusted.
Back to Ebay, and doing more research on what had these aluminum calipers.  After a couple more sleepless nights and some late night reading, I found that the Jaguar cars that are built on somewhat the same platform as the Lincoln LS have these aluminum calipers. 
Did a search for rear calipers for those Jaguar cars, and came up with another pair of calipers for 45 bucks, that were both aluminum.  They came and were in very nice shape, and lightweight as well. 

Also, in doing my research, I should mention that in the beginning, I noticed that the Mustang GT had these optional "anti moan brackets" and I bought a pair of them for 25 bucks.  They were a god send in that I was able to bolt them to the rear end housing, and used them for the bolt spacing for the manufacture of the caliper brackets.  I made up some 3/8 plate brackets that used 3 bolts on the axle ends, and then transfer punched the caliper mounting bolt holes from the anti moan brackets.  I also traced the outer dimensions of the anti moan brackets to the plate steel caliper brackets and cut them out on the band saw, then ground and filed the edges.  Real easy way to make the caliper brackets.
After that, it was just a matter of mounting the Mustang GT discs and measuring for a couple of spacers that I spot welded to the back end of the brackets to centre the discs in the calipers. 

It all seems to have worked out in the end.  I won't know how well it works till I get the car up and running, but I think it will be just fine.
Now, I have to say I was doing research on how to hook up the emergency brake cables.  Since these calipers were from a Jaguar car, 2003, if I remember, I started doing some research on the cables for those cars.  I do a lot of research on ebay, as I like the descriptions and pics.  In one of the ebay ads, they had the length of the cables listed, and it said they were 26" long if I remember correctly.  They had some pretty good pics in the ad, so I took the chance and bought them.  Cost me less than 40 bucks if I remember correctly for the pair of cables.  I got them home and turns out I think they are the perfect length.  They slipped right into the 57 Ford emergency brake cable brackets on the frame.  I got really lucky here, unless someone can tell me from the pics where I might have some problems with these.  I should be able to make up a couple of cable links to attach them to the stock 57 Ford cables, I am hoping.  We will see when the time comes for that, I guess.  For now, it looks like a winner, and I don't have much cash tied up in this rear brake project if it doesn't work. 

OH, and if anyone is wondering why I have washers on the outside of the discs, on the wheel studs, they are there so they don't get lost when I remove the discs.  The chassis is outside, so I take the discs off so they won't rust till I get this thing operational.  I put the washers on when the discs are removed, cause the wheel nuts bottom out without the discs in place on the mock up mag wheels I am using as rollers.  Those thick washers simulate the discs, so I can tighten up the wheel nuts.

Only problem so far, was when I mocked up the calipers and e brake cables after mounting the Tahoe sway bar, I found I had to rotate the sway bar ahead on the housing mounts slightly so the e brake cables had proper clearance to run under the sway bar without interference.  The last pic above shows the clearance after moving the sway bar.  I might end up running a totally different sway bar afterwards anyway, so that isn't written in stone, but I am hoping the e brake cable will be.
This last pic shows the best shot of the Mustang GT anti moan bracket that I used for making the pattern for the caliper mounting bracket.

Looks like a nice bit of engineering to make it all come together. I'm curious because of the late model of the disc brakes...what are the rotor dia's? Are they large enough to create a wheel size fitment problem?

The rotors are Mustang GT 10 1/2 inch diameter.  I didn't think I needed super large rear disc brakes. Only reason I went with discs, is to hopefully gain the easiest possible method to r&r wheels and tires without disassembling the back end of the car. A bunch of you guys have stated that discs make it easier to remove wheels, and I can see the reasoning behind that.  My mock up wheels are an old set of ET aluminum 5 spoke mags, and they clear the discs fine.  They are 15 x 7, with I "think" 3 1/2 inch back spacing.  I plan on running a set of steel wheels with the Ford dog dish hubcaps when done, but I don't want to buy a set till I get the body and wheel wells done, so I don't have to buy them twice.
The calipers just clear the inside "hat" of the Mustang rotors by about 3/16 of an inch. 

That 10 1/2 is pretty close to what mine are....and they're plenty. I'm really happy with the whole system.

Well, that 14" for me. Stock 292 on a 500. Areostar springs with a 1" rubber. Haven't had the wheel alignment yet so I may lose another 1/2".

Lucky..we were talking rotor dia's. I think your talking ride height spindle to fender lip.

See, there's my problem  O0 I shouold be doing the thinking .

Mr. Potter. I would like to nominate that Rish H. fella as a hand. :)

FORGIVE ME FATHER FOR I HAVE SINNED. I have a confession to make.  I was troubled by the 79 Tbird spindles that I installed, with both castor and camber problems.  I installed the Cavalier rack, and was okay with the idea that I would lose some turning radius, but the other problems were not okay.  I couldn't find any Granada spindles so I took a look in the corner of my toy box, and lo and behold was a complete IFS from a 1985 Jaguar XJ6, that I got from a friend that I was planning for a different project.

Couldn't help it.  So, I took the frame stub that I kept from the rusty Ranchero, and put it on my work table.  Did some exploratory surgery on it to see how it would work, and decided that was the way to go.  I made some cardboard templates of the pieces I would need to make to fill in the voids once I cut out the coil spring towers from the 57 frame. I decided to cut just the outside of the frame rails, so as to keep the integrity and structure in place.  I also welded up a small jig that sat on the floor that was tacked to the underside of the frame rails to keep it all in place.

Having trouble loading more pics, so I resized them a bit smaller.

I didn't take a lot of pics during the process of installing the Jag crossmember.  Lots of welding and grinding and measuring.

This swap should solve all my castor and camber problems, as well as not having any reduced turning radius in the steering system.  I put airbags in as well, as it is really easy to do on these Jag suspensions.  That should solve any ride height problems that I might have had.  I kept reading on countless threads here about problems with ride height, so that helped me make the decision to do this swap as well.  It seemed like the logical thing to do, although I have probably tee'd off a few purists.

AND NOW, I HAVE TO ATONE FOR MY SINS.  And you all thought it was because I put a Jag front suspension into my Ford.  Oh no, its far worse than that.  I know I am going to lose any Ford fans I have had in the past, and probably in the future as well, to the end of time.  But I have had too many lunches with my friends who talked me into putting this 5.3 LS engine into my Ford.

I did look at the Ford engines, and I definitely wanted a modern injected engine that would get good mileage run trouble free.  I couldn't get past the computer anti theft wiring thing, and the size of the engine as well.  I knew it would fit, but it was still big.  I would absolutely love to put a Coyote engine into it, but I don't have that kind of money to spend.  And when I read about some of the mod motors spitting spark plugs out, that pretty much did it for me.  Sorry guys, you can beat me with a stick when you see me on the road.

The LS engine I picked up for 325 bucks, complete.  Wiring, computer and all accessories, complete.  My buddy Lloyd also had a set of 2010 Camaro headers at his shop and they will work very well with minor slice to the underside of each tube at the port flange, so as to lean the headers in towards the engine block a bit to clear the steering.  That is the only thing that caused even a minor fitment problem.

There is lots of room for all the accessories.  I am using a hydro vac brake booster.  Never used one before, but a friend of mine gave one to me for free, and I picked up the brand new master cylinder at the last swap meet for half price of new as well.
The steering should be an easy fit as well.  Nice angle up to where the end of the steering column will end.  I have a new ididit column that exits just outside of the firewall that I will be using. 
Anyway, nice easy swap.  Motor mounts are made, just need to be removed and have the welds ground to pretty them up.  I have a brand new T56 Magnum that I bought from Summit as well.  I originally got a T56 from a friend of a friend, who got it from a friend and it was supposed to be from a 2002 Camaro that had 30000 miles on it and was a rollover.  Traded him my top loader with hurst shifter and a little cash for it.  Seemed almost too good to be true.
When I got it, it turned out to be for an LT1 engine, so I would have had to change the mid plate, as well as the input shaft, etc.  Put it up for sale, and it sold right away to a guy that is putting a 383 stroker motor into a Mazda RX7.
So, I loaded up the Visa and bought the new T56 from Summit.  I'm gonna have to atone for that sin as well, when the wife gets the Visa bill.  I normally don't spend that kind of cash on projects, but I had to do something since I was already into the first T56 and there wasn't any turning around at that point.  Oh well.

The part that makes me happy now is that I can pull the mock up block, and the transmission, and fit the doors to the body.  Then I can fit the quarter panels I got from Alvin as well as the back wall of the cab, and carry on with the build.
I didn't want to get sidetracked into changing engines, but every time I started up the old 302 with the blue smoke billowing out the tail pipes, I got depressed, knowing I would have to take care of that problem soon after I got the car on the road anyway, so I bit the bullet and bought the cheapo LS engine and here we are.  I have always said that LS engines are probably the ugliest engine ever made, but I can't pass up the rest of the good points of them, and this is quite an easy swap.  I'll just have to keep the hood closed and locked so no one can see what is in there.

So, I know some of you are gonna be pissed about this, and I'm sure James is gonna puke, as he stated how much he likes LS engines swapped into anything, but its a done deal now.  You can ban me from the site if you want, just let me know, and I will go away quietly. 

Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!  Suspension is a great idea.  You'll love the air bags.  Hot rodding is about your vision.  Custom cars are sometimes influenced by what is available, affordable, what works, and what is fast.  Ford stuff is usually less plentiful and therefore more expensive.  Late model Ford power plant swaps are not easy or supported as well in the aftermarket.  It's your car...build and don't look back.

And alot of us still want to see what this Fairlane based Ranchero concept is gonna look like. Stick around....we'll pretend it has the Coyote, lol.

Never build a car for other folks, build it for you!  The suspension swap is well thought out and looks like it will work well.  Can't say anything about the mill, I have enjoyed the 351C/FMX in my 36 Chevy for many years!  It is what I wanted to do just to be different.  That's why I have a 58 Edsel Pacer 2dr ht, never seen one at a run or show in the 36 years I've been rod running.

Do you know what the wheel base was on the Jag donor car was? You may need to account for Akerman geometry... The swap looks outstanding BTW!

The wheelbase on the donor car was 112.8 inches.  I'm not too concerned with the Ackerman geometry at this point.  In my research I looked at Mustang II options, and they are all front steer from what I have seen.  I don't see how they can get the Ackerman geometry correct on a front steer car, it always seems to be a dilemma from what I have read.  So, I think it will be close enough that I probably won't notice it. 
Most people that I know don't know about that or understand it either and swap suspensions with little regard to Ackerman geometry.  I do like that it is a rear steer unit though. 


Okay, so thanks for all the positive comments guys.  I bolted the passenger door on the car (truck?? I guess its still a car till I cut it up some more) last night and placed the quarter panel that I got from Alvin Stadel on it.  It seems to fit like Ford meant it to be there.  Looks like a two door hardtop with those in place.  Haven't taken any pics yet.

But, I will take a pic of the rear wheel well.  I have 255/70 15 tires on the back for mock up, and the tire intrudes into the front of the wheel well slightly.  I assume that is why I have read that some folks cut the front of the fender opening and reshape it slightly.  Does anyone have any good pics of this before and after?  And how and where to cut it?  Should I post this question in the general discussion so it will be seen better?  Thanks. 

Here are a couple pics of the side of the car with the door and quarter panel in place.  The quarter still needs to go forward about  3/8 of an inch.  There is only about 1/4 inch between the tire and the bottom of the wheel opening.  I will probably use smaller tires on the car when I choose the final size, probably some 60 series 15 inch and either 235 or 255, whatever might fit.
With this little bit of clearance, does it make the tire hard to remove, or is it just a rubbing issue? 
Why do we change the front of the wheel opening?  I kind of like the factory wheel opening the way it is right now, and I don't want to change it if I don't have to. 
If its just a rubbing issue, then I will use smaller diameter tires to have enough clearance. 
What is the general consensus, and does anyone have any close up pics of before and after the wheel well modification is done? Thanks.

And a couple shots of the side of the car.  The quarter lines up quite nicely, even the new patch I made for the top of the wheel opening.

Quote from: jvo on 2016-05-16 09:42
The wheelbase on the donor car was 112.8 inches.  I'm not too concerned with the Ackerman geometry at this point.  In my research I looked at Mustang II options, and they are all front steer from what I have seen.  I don't see how they can get the Ackerman geometry correct on a front steer car, it always seems to be a dilemma from what I have read.  So, I think it will be close enough that I probably won't notice it. 
Most people that I know don't know about that or understand it either and swap suspensions with little regard to Ackerman geometry.  I do like that it is a rear steer unit though. 


I would agree that the wheelbases are probably close enough so that there won't be any noticable negative affects. I have had a friend completely mess up a car by not taking that into account.

I would think if you're gonna stick with a 1/4" clearance, you might want to buy some stock in a tire company. Soon as you wind that thing up your diameter will increase. Be careful, that's not a lot of wiggle room. I'll defer to the opinion on this forum of course, lalessi1 has helped me out with my rim/tire selection before. That's just my 2-bits, really like your stuff JVO, good man, massive project (tip of the hat). :)

Any updates? Haven't seen anything for a while, hope it is still progressing well.

Sorry.  I haven't done anything for the past several months.  I have been extremely busy helping my son and daughter in law build a new 3 storey building that will house their hair salon, with living quarters above it.  I probably won't get much done before Christmas, as it will carry on till at least then.  I am literally ITCHING to get going again, but life is getting in the way.  We all know how that happens.  Thanks for the interest.  I still have time to read about everyone else's progress occasionally though.

Even though it is temporarily on hold it's good to hear that it will progress at some stage. Thanks for the update.

Well, its about time.  We finally have this building about 98% done.  We also had to tear down this old house for the parking lot for the business to keep the city happy.  Been a big big job, bigger than I first thought it would be, but its pretty much done now.  I just started working on my 57 again yesterday.  I have to do an update on my phone to see if I can upload some pics, or else I have to wait till I get home in a couple days.  Really looking forward to this again.  Been since 2014 when I started the build.

As soon as I can figure out how to get some pics off my phone onto my sons computer, I will post a few more pics.  Barring that, I will update Monday when I get home again.

I only got a little done here, but at least I got started again.  I ended up using one of my ems quarter panels. The quarter I got from Alvin needed 3 small repairs that this would take care of so I decided to use it, instead of 3 separate repairs to different areas of this quarter panel.  It fit fairly well on the initial fit, and there was minimal warpage on the long welds.  I still have to address that warpage before I put it on the car. 
I ended up almost cutting in a new piece however, as you can see in the pics.  Decided I would try to stretch the ems panel where it was a little flat.  Actually more than a little on the front edge of the wheel opening.  The new one was quite flat, and didn't look nearly as nice as the original from Ford.  It did stretch out very nicely though in the end.  I also had to run a dull chisel along the backside to make the body linen a little more crisp.  The Ford original looks way better than the ems panel in that instance.  Regardless, I was able to modify the ems panel to exactly like the original with only about an hour's work. 

Just the last couple pics.  That's all I have to show for the next few days. 

Sitting two hours away from home again at my son's for Christmas, wishing I was at home working on the ranchero.  I got the quarter panel on and pretty much welded in place, and spent a bunch of time trying to align it properly, until I realized that the original ranchero door hinges must be slightly different than the ones that came on this donor car.  Spent a whole afternoon looking for the proper hinges in all the junk I have been keeping.  Glad I haven't thrown much away, other than severly rusted pieces from the original ranchero.   Everything went well after I put the Fairlane door hinges back onto the Fairlane car.  Door fit way better and lined up properly with the quarter panel.
So now, I spent several days fitting the back wall for the cab.  I thought I had it ready to go in, until I started actually fitting it in place.  Just a bunch of fiddly stuff, bend this a little, push that a little, and measure a million times.  It is now in place, and pretty much welded as well. 
So now, just before we left home for Christmas at my son's I hauled the original Ranchero roof down from the loft above the garage, and started measuring and thinking about how I was going to do it.  I am going to use most of the original Ranchero roof, and I have to fix a little rust damage right above the drivers door, where the stainless trim had allowed rust to begin.  Barring any unforeseen difficulties, I should have that most of the way done by the beginning of 2018.
I should back up here and say that I spent a LOT of time looking at pics of B pillars on almost every imaginable vehicle you can think of.  With the exception of some of the galaxie 500's, and the square birds, almost all cars have a tapered B pillar, including modern SUV's.  Some of the mid 60's Mopars even had B pillars that tapered top to bottom, instead of bottom to top.  To make a long story short, I decided to taper my B pillar. 
I had to slice the back of the original ranchero window area to slant it forward.  Made a cut just below the window, all the way across the back panel, and cut the outer corners so the rear window would lean forward.  I mocked it up with cardboard and came up with what I think will look decent.  I sure hope the rest of the free world agrees with me.  The forward part of the drivers and passengers windows will be parallel with the A pillar, the rear panel will have a much more pronounced slant than that. 
I will have to slice the top of the window panel as well in order to get the proper angle of attack. 
So, I put a couple of braces in place to hold up the back of the original Fairlane roof panel whilst I proceeded to whack of the back half of the roof.  It really looks goofy now, with the wrong lines to it, but that won't last long once I get the sawzall out again, and the grinder with the cutting disc.  I wanted to keep as much of the original body work in place until I got the back of the cab panel in, so as to keep as much structural integrity as possible.  I will not cut out the rear package shelf yet either until the roof is welded in place.  The package shelf is holding both rear quarter panels in place right where they should be.
Anyway, I am unable to post pics on my son's computer, cause my phone won't talk to it now. ( Damn updates)  I will post up some pics when I get home the day after tomorrow. 
Really anxious to get going again now that I can actually visualize what the end product might look like.  Will post more soon.

We'll be anxious to see those pics. They should help alot with, at least in my case, trying to understand what you're doing exactly.
Nice work on the wheel well flare modification. I did notice when I did mine years ago the flares were't as pronounced as the originals. I just left mine as they were formed.

Getting a late start today, but I'll upload a few pics that I took several days back.
This just shows a couple pics of the inner wheel tubs I decided to build.  The originals were pretty rusted out around the wheel wells, and I was given a couple trailer fender remnants by a friend who had tubbed a race car.  Decided to do this while access to it was good before welding the quarter panel on.  I can build a copy for the other side that I wasn't smart enough to do before I welded that quarter panel onto the car.  I won't install these permanently until I get all the outer sheet metal done, so I have access to hammer and dolly the weld warpage and minor sheet metal damage. 

I need to remove the rear wheels on both sides to finish welding the vertical seams above the wheels.  There is some warpage there that I can pretty much get to zero, but only after I remove the wheels.  Haven't done that yet, and they are 255/70/15's so I hope they will come off without pulling the rear shackles and dropping the rear end.  We'll see when the time comes I guess.

So next up was to put the back wall of the cab in.  I noticed in Limey57's build that he had openings in the bottom of the panel so as to access "stuff" from the space under the front of the truck bed, and I thought that was a great idea, so I copied it.  My original was closed off in that area.  The whole back wall is brand new sheet metal up to about 3 inches below the back window. 
The ends of the panel, where the B panel attaches to the quarter panel were cut open, and I made a zip wheel cut about 1/8 of an inch wide below the rear window on the inside of the cab all the way across the width of the panel.  With both sides cut loose, I was able to bend the rear window opening forward to the angle I chose with the cardboard pattern.  It was all mocked up at that stage, and I used a digital angle finder to get both sides the same.  Then I took it back out of the car to do all the final welding on the ends again, as well as the four foot long weld below the rear window opening that I had cut. 

After that, it was placed back in the car, and measured and looked at, and measured some more, and stared at it some more, had a beer, thought about it, then welded it in place.  You should be able to see the difference in how the new angle for the rear window, (angle of the back of the B pillar), compared to the one that was stock that is in my hand. 
Then, you can see the cardboard pattern for the final shape of the B pillar.  That's what I meant when I said above that I sure hope everyone else in the free world likes it when it is done.  I sure hope I like it also. 
DO NOT look at the roof line, as it is not the finished shape.  That is the original Fairlane roof.  I am only using the first 8 or 10 inches from the windshield back of that piece.  The Ranchero roof is what will go there.  If I tried to use that roofline it would surely have an ugly step sister look to it.

If you look closely at the back panel, you can see the full width weld below the rear window.  It looks ugly as sin with that roofline. Going out to the garage shortly to begin the cut and fit for the Ranchero roof.  I'll have to slice the back edge of the Ranchero roof also to move the rear window back to the new slope.
I sure hope it goes as well as it has between my ears this past couple years.  Wish me luck.

Made a little more progress today. Whacked the rest of the Fairlane roof off, and prepped it for the Ranchero roof.  I spent time yesterday fixing the really badly pitted areas above the vent windows at the front of the roof, where the stainless trim was. 

Made a slice at the top of the B pillar, so I could slant the bottom of the back window outwards for the finished look.  Everything fit decent.  I can't complain for the first mockup.  The right rear corner is just a hair higher than the other side, about a 1/4 inch, and so far I haven't come up with a solid solution for that, cause almost all of the measurements are the same as the other side.  I think its a combination of a tiny bit here, and a little bit there, to add up to that 1/4 inch.  I'll be thinking hard on how to fix that before I start welding anything.

And now everyone can see what I meant about leaning the rear window forward, and having a tapered B pillar.  The cardboard version is exactly on scale, but the angle will be the same when done as the angle of the A pillar.  Back of the B pillar is in finished configuration, except that I want to roll it outside in the alley so I can stand back about 30 feet and see what it looks like.  Only problem with that is that there is a good foot of snow in the alley right now, with a bunch more coming in the next couple days, and on top of that its minus 30 out there.  Might have to wait till next week to have a good look.  Might have to change something yet.  We will see, I guess.

JVO
      You deserve a lot of credit for doing a job like this.  It is looking great.
Jay

John, I'v been watching your build and to me it looks good. As I study the pictures of the door glass opening was wondering if you will be using the hardtop window frames and flippers [top seals] you got from me or if you will be using 2 dr. post window frames.  Take care, Alvin

impressive amount of planning is obvious......"love it when a plan comes together". I'm going to like it. It would be so cool to pull up next to a oem Ranchero at a show.

First of all, thank for the kind comments guys.  And Alvin, yes, I am going to use the hardtop window frames that I got from you, but I don't think I will use the flippers up top.  I have been looking at all types of weather stripping, and I haven't decided for sure yet, but am leaning towards the weatherstripping and weather strip channel from a 64 Pontiac Grand Prix. 
Originally, I was going to go with rounded corners on the top rear edge of the window glass, with the stainless pieces I got from Alvin, but I am now leaning towards a sharp corner, as that is what is at the top front of the vent window, and its also easier to make ( although the easy part is not what makes me want to do it). I found the Pontiac weather strip channel on eBay, but its going to cost me about 150 in Canadian pesos to buy it, so I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet.  It seems as though that will be slightly less "thick" than the original flippers and weatherstripping.  A friend of mine that I just did the rear quarter panel rust repair last month for his 72 Dodge Charger, brought some weather strip channel over and we tried it, but it wasn't quite what I wanted either.  Another friend runs a local restoration business and specializes in rubber stuff, and he gave me some 78 Eldorado weather strip channel that was close, except that it is curved.  So far, I think the 64 Pontiac Grand Prix channel is what I want, just have to find the extra cash to bring it home.
I am still going about this one piece at a time, and the direction could change in a minor way at any given time. 
I forgot to post the pics that show the difference in the roof profile right behind the windshield.  I really like the Fairlane roofline as it is slightly flatter for the first 10 inches or so. 
The photo with the dark brown top is the original Ranchero with the profile gauge, and the other is quite obviously the Fairlane. You can see the difference in that photo. 
Also loaded a couple of pics of the slices that I made in the upper part of the B pillar on the outside, as well as the two spot welds that were drilled out on the inside that allowed the back window to move to where I wanted it to be.  It was very flexible at this point, after doing the cuts.

I finally got over the flu, so today I finished welding up the top of the roof panel.  IT was lots of fun, as its very flat across there.   Wray Schelin taught me in his class to weld an inch, grind and planish an inch, to remove any warpage, then repeat.  Takes a little longer initially this way, but I didn't have to chase oil cans for a week now either.  Turned out pretty good, as all the shape seems to be in the right places.  I still have a bunch of metal finishing to do on the centre of the roof, but its very very minor now, so I'll finish that when I do final body work. 

The last two pics in this post are the start of what I would like to have photoshopped.  If you look at where the cab meets the bed, it looks like the car is bent down in the middle.  When you stand from the front of the car at an angle, it sort of looks like the back end has a big whale tail in conjunction with that.  I clamped a steel ruler in place in the following pics to show how I am probably going to raise the top of the bed side up to.  That would make the bed side slightly higher than the bottom of the drivers window, but I think it looks better than without it.  Doing this makes the top of the bed rail pretty much even with the bottom of the back window of the cab as well.

Here are the other pics of where the B pillar meets the top of the bed.  Hope this is clear as mud.  I hope someone could possibly photo shop that to where it would look better before I do the final work.  Tomorrow I will finish welding the bottom of the B pillars, and once they are done, the cab should be pretty much solid.
AT that point, I will cut out the old package shelf, and perhaps remove some of the sheet metal along the old trunk edge so I can actually fit the Ranchero bed piece in there.  That would get rid of some of the "hump" from the area by the package tray, so it might look a little better as well.
I envision that area to be quite a bit flatter like the original Ranchero bed top, but we will see when I get there, I guess.  But a photo shop would make it really neat if possible.
I'd also like to see what the car looks like in the original Fairlane yellow and brown colours.  Thanks if anyone is able to do it.  I don't have an inkling of how to go about a photo shop deal, and there's about 10 inklings in one clue from what I am told.

Outstanding work John.

First I will apologize if I misunderstood what you were referring to. Hopefully I was some what on the right track.
All that type of body work is mind blowing to me. I can take a small dent and make it worst  :003:

I'm just looking for excuses not to get on the roof and clean the rain gutters, so I did some sanding and priming. I hate sanding  :003:

Wow, thanks guys.  However, that shot is not quite what I was wanting.  The look I am after is the one with the steel ruler right behind the vice grips in the above photos.  I guess you have to look closely to see the steel ruler clamped in place there to simulate the body line I want to do. 
It would blend the line for the top of the box about an inch and a half above where it is right now, so the quarter panel wouldn't slope downward to where it meets the B pillar.  I am thinking of that line coming straight through, which would also make that line a little higher than the bottom of the drivers window. 
The photo shop you did is wonderful, as it fills in the spaces, but its kind of like a "before" pic.  I wish I knew how to do that, but its a learning curve that I don't need at my old age of 63.  I already sold my Index mill solely because I didn't need the learning curve of becoming a budding machinist, even though I loved it.  Not enough time anymore.
That is also why I don't frequent my metal shaping forums much any longer, as I have several projects in mind for the next few years, and I was "wasting" too much time on that.  I learned enough metal skills to do my own work now, which is what I wanted.  I also do a bunch of metal work for others so i can afford to eat.  I post a little also on instagram under metalmagicone. 

Jim, if you hate sanding and sculpting bondo as much as I do, you should hone your metal skills.  Its not that hard once you get used to it, and I find its very rewarding to metal finish it so you don't have to sculpt the shape back in.  Its easier to do it with metal as far as I am concerned.  I ain't that good at sculpting. 
The roof shots above look like they maybe have a bunch of highs and lows, but I use a stainless steel ruler laid over the panel, then look for light under it, and shrink down the high spots, and dolly up the low spots.  After welding the roof in place, which I probably have about 8 hours in it, including metal finishing to this state, there is only about the thickness of the stainless steel ruler for low spots, and/or high spots.  I know it looks like more than that, but its because I run either a hand sanding block over the surface or a DA sander to reveal the highs and lows.  It looks a LOT rougher than it is.  It is actually smoother than a baby's bottom.  But I still have a little work to make it better, to be happy with it, but that will come with finish body work later.  Anxious to move on right now. 

Maybe this is closer? My photoshop skills are as bad as my body work. I'm almost 71 and I will never get better at body work, although I can paint. This is why I only do engines, trans, rearends, suspension, electrical etc..

That body line reminds me of the lines on the station wagons.

Yes, THANK YOU JIM, that's exactly what I want to do.  And I like it.  I spent all day in the shop, and my back is killing me, but I got the B pillars welded up good and solid.  I'm not going to finish the front part of the B pillar yet, as I want to get the top perimeter of the box and tailgate done.  I am dying to see what its going to look like, and I actually have some time now to do it. 
So, I whacked out the package shelf, haven't drilled out the spot welds on the brackets yet, and I will have to metal finish the inner wheel tubs before I fill all that space in also, but that can still wait a bit. 
Here are the new mock up pics.  The front end of the box rail, is pretty much where I want it, but the back end is 1 1/8 inch HIGH. ITS JUST TEMPORARILY MOCKED UP, HAS TO BE LOWERED ON THE BACK. Sorry for hollering, but I wanted everyone to know the back end is hopefully going to just disappear behind the fin at that point when viewing from the side.
In these pics, the top of the drivers door is almost perfectly level.  I can't get the box rail down any more on the back end without some more work to the top of the Fairlane quarter panel which will allow it to sit down on the back, but dammit I was tired and hungry. 

Here are the last couple pics.  Should get a little more done tomorrow.

Absolutely amazing. I'm just trying to guess what you are seeing through your visions..
Where is that Norwell character hiding :003:? He's the graphics guy, help me out Jeff.

Wow,looks really good John,looking forward to seeing it in the flesh sometime.
Cheers,John :canada:

Yup. You pretty much nailed it Jim.  Thanks.  This week I hope to get all the top of the bed tacked together, and in place, along with the tailgate opening.  I have to stop however and finish rebuilding the tailgate, small amount of rust repair on the bottom, that I started about 3 years ago, and find all the parts for it.  I have such a bloody mess in the shop from grinding and such, plus parts from the rusty Ranchero that I don't dare to throw away, plus all the 4 door parts that I don't dare throw away.  IN the pics, look at the storage above the sides of the garage door.  Jammed full of "stuff", and its all dusty and dirty, but somewhat organized, but I have a full loft over the garage that is full also.  Can't wait to finish this and sort it all and get rid of some crap.

Really loving the progress of the "Fairlanchero". I'm a Fairlane guy and love the more defined fins compared to the Customs (tho I love them too, so don't flame me).

what a huge but cool project !
I like the idea of the sail panels extending into that ridge surrounding the load bed. Since you mentioned that the Fairlane rear body is getting higher to the rear (while only a mockup). I think leaving the sail panels/ridge level and having it taper to the back could look cool. it will give the car a more natural look while highlighting the og Fairlane fins. after all, that's what is about the Fairlane look. the rear fins being angled and getting taller to the rear.

Thanks for the comments guys.  I realized in the past day or so, whilst staring at the ceiling at 3:00 AM, when I do some of my best planning, that I need to start at the rear now, and work forward.
I brought the last of the rusty tailgate and bed panels in, and am presently drilling out spot welds, and building a bunch of stuff from scratch.  I got the tailgate crossmember all disassembled, and went to my local sheet metal guy.  He's going to bend me up a nice 14 gauge rear crossmember.  The part of the crossmember with the tailgate hinge plates is good enough that I can cut out some rusted areas and save it.  Luckily, the hinge plate area is not in real bad shape. 
I started making the inner rear corners with the two holes in it.  Took a while to get all the pieces separated, drilling out spot welds, and now I am putting new metal in those rusty places.  Dirty dirty work, but we've all done it, eh? 

Anyway, I figure I have to get the rear crossmember mounted, so I can bolt the tailgate on, THEN I can figure out the height of the top of the box rails. 
I almost started fitting and spot welding from the front, then it dawned on me that I could easily be too high or too low, and the probability of being exactly where the top of the tailgate would be, would end up being pure luck only.
Might not have much to show as I have a lot of rust repair on the back end, then finish repairing the inner panel on the tailgate, and put it back together, then bolt it back onto the car.  After that, we will see where the top of the box is.   

I sure don't want to have to chop the height of the tailgate to make it look good or vice versa.  But I guess I could lean it forward like the back window also.  Might look good.  To be continued.

A few pics of the back end of the rusty Ranchero pieces, just in case anyone forgot what we were dealing with here.  Trying to make all the replacement pieces.   

One of the things I need is a close up pic of the side of the tailgate opening. You can see in one of these pics that there isn't anything left to copy from, below where the tailgate strap is.  I don't know how to make this so as to make it look somewhat like original.  The top part I think I can save, where the tailgate strap bolts on, and the latch area is.  Its rusted, but not beyond being saveable.

Just a few shots of making the rear corners. Initially, I was going to make just the bottom of these panels.  Starting piecing the old one together, and it wasn't going like I wanted, so I made a paper pattern of the outer plate, that screws onto this piece, then transferred it onto some 16 gauge sheet.  The box sides are 16 gauge, I think, so I figured I would make these the same.  The originals I think were only 18 gauge, but it was hard to tell, as they are so rusty.
The 16 gauge is more like blacksmithing than metal shaping though.  Tough stuff to work with to pound the reveal into it.  I put the panel into my box & pan brake, and made a series of very small bends so as to get the tapered roll on the back end.  It tends to put slight creases on the bend line doing that, so I had to hammer and dolly it over a piece of railroad rail to get it back smooth again, but it did what I wanted, and the roll is in there to match the original panel.  Tough stuff to work though, this 16 gauge.

I just spaced the line out about 5/16 of an inch from the paper pattern, then put some 3/16 sheet metal under where the sharpie line was on the panel, and proceeded to beat the line into it with chisels and punches.  I use a whole lot of different chisels and cheapo brick chisels, which I sharpen, or should I say "shape" the end so it isn't so sharp ( to keep it from cutting through the sheet metal).  I have a drawer full of different chisels and such to beat shapes into sheet metal.  Works pretty good.  I have to keep moving and re clamping the panel to finish the corners and the tapered roll on the end.  Lot of work hammering this 16 gauge into submission, but it turned out okay, and it will be all new metal when done.  No more rusty crap.

Just a few shots of the chisels and such, in case anyone is interested.  The photos make the panels look somewhat distorted, but they are exactly the same size and shape as the originals. 
The chisels are all shaped on a belt sander, so as to take off all sharp corners and edges, otherwise they make a lot of marking that is hard to remove later. 

Here is where I could use some help.  Can anyone give me a close up shot of what the bottom of the brace looks like on the back of this panel?  Does it tie into the floor of the Ranchero?  Or is it just there to give some rigidity to the middle upright in the panel, i.e., without it, the middle of that panel might be a little flimsy?

Also, the trim piece that ties this panel to the tailgate opening, anyone got a close up pic of what the missing bottom looks like?  I "assume" there isn't any special shape to the bottom of that piece, but I would like to make it look as much like the original as possible.

The bottom side of the tailgate opening is also gone.  Hoping for a close up pic of that as well.  Thanks.

Here's a picture of mine , don't know if it will help or not.

A couple more.

Quote from: jvo on 2018-01-12 11:42
Here is where I could use some help.  Can anyone give me a close up shot of what the bottom of the brace looks like on the back of this panel?  Does it tie into the floor of the Ranchero?  Or is it just there to give some rigidity to the middle upright in the panel, i.e., without it, the middle of that panel might be a little flimsy?

Also, the trim piece that ties this panel to the tailgate opening, anyone got a close up pic of what the missing bottom looks like?  I "assume" there isn't any special shape to the bottom of that piece, but I would like to make it look as much like the original as possible.

The bottom side of the tailgate opening is also gone.  Hoping for a close up pic of that as well.  Thanks.

John.........I'm building a Ranchero, and the body is on a rotisserie,30 miles from home. The frame and tailate are at my house and I can get you photos of whatever you would like, but I think a phone conversation would clear up any misunderstanding as to exactly what you need.
Let me know if I can help.........John    502 773 05 nine two  Kentucky, Eastern Time Zone

Not sure if this will help at all...

John, hope these help.

and these.

Whoa!! Thank god for this forum.  Thanks guys, that makes it a LOT clearer. 
The pic above with the brace, the one with the sort of orange glow in the middle, totally clears that one up for me.  Mine was totally gone from above the middle to the bottom.  I would never have guessed that it ties the bed side to the lower inside of the ?? whatever you want to call that lower inner fender panel.  I guess I will have to make mine do that also, but without these pics, I would never have guessed that was how it was.

And, thanks for the close up of the trim piece for the tailgate opening.  I can see now how I need to make that piece also.  I will use the top portion of my existing piece, but will make the bottom of it to that shape.  I wonder why Ford made the little "dogleg" on the bottom of that trim piece like that?  Regardless, I will try to duplicate that best I can from your pics.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

One more thing. Bill, in your middle pic, where that little dogleg is on the tailgate opening, there is a small hole that I assume has a rubber bumper of sorts to fit in that recess.  Anyone got a pic of what that rubber bumper is, and how big it is? In 57chero's pic of the tailgate opening, it shows what I assume is a little black rubber "bumper" or something.   I'll need to buy them somewhere, and I'll need to size that metal piece as I make it to make sure it fits.  Thanks again.

Great metalwork on those heavy gauge corners !

I got the tailgate inner panel rust free over the weekend.  Starting on the outer skin today, before I paint the inside and put it back together ( assuming I can find all the hardware that goes inside it somewhere in my shop).  The inside I didn't worry too much about, just ground the high spots off the welds cause nobody is going to see that anyway.  Outside is pretty smooth. 

I ground all the old bondo off the outer skin, and it didn't look too bad.  I had this stuff sandblasted several years ago when I started, but after the bondo was removed it looks kinda like a mini moonscape.  This is bare metal, sanded with a hard sanding disc to show the highs and lows.  Today's project will be to metal finish it, and replace about a 4 inch square area on the one corner that is pitted quite badly.  The rust on the other end, is only surface, as it got a little wet in storage. We will see just how smooth I can get it in the next few hours. 

I also got the rear crossmember somewhat done that the tailgate bolts onto.  Don't have any pics of that just yet. 

John that was a rubber bumper.  Have not looked for them yet.  I would expect them to be the same for a couple of years.  The 57 wagon I had did not have them nor does the 60 wagon I have.  The rust pits around the hole will give an idea of the original diameter.  There was a Phillips head screw with a flat washer and rubber under it that I assume was what was left of the original  rubber bumper.

Spent about 5 hours yesterday on the outer skin.  Got it nice and smooth.  I use a stainless steel ruler to find the highs and lows in the panel.  If I can see light under the ruler, I bring down the highs, and bring up the low spots in the panel.  I used a slapper and dollies and a shrinking disc.  I can live with a little bondo, but I am a far better metal shaper than sculptor.  I have trouble getting rid of sanding scratches and pits and such when I put bondo on a panel.  And, I only put bondo on my own stuff, not for other people.  I tell everyone I don't do drywall in my house, and I don't do drywall work on your car. 
But seriously, here are a few pics of the finished tailgate panel.  Turned out pretty good.

Nice work. Is that a shrinking disc on the angle grinder?

Good eye.  Yes, it is one of Wray Schelin's shrinking discs.  I'll add that I usually put it on the floor when I reach for my wet rag.  I have had a couple of them fall off the work table, and its instant death wobble after that.  They bend pretty easily when they fall, if you can bend it back again, good luck.  I've had to buy a new one twice because of that, and that is why its on the floor in case you were wondering.

I had borrowed one from a body man friend a few years back on exactly the same tailgate (58 Edsel wagon) you have there to fix some previous damage. They really do work well.
I never got it quite as perfect as yours there, but pretty close.

One question. Did you ever buy a rebuilt 272 Yblock from a guy in the lower mainland a few years back?
Never mind, the fellow I sold the engine to was from Red Deer.

Any updates/progress on this?

Well, its been two years.  Life got in the way, screwed my back up, rested, healed, did other people's stuff. 

Finally got it pushed back into the shop.  Last I did two years ago, was to cut the back end of the roof loose and raise it up half an inch.  I think this is where it will live, but its only blocked there till I get the box sides done. 

Cutting and thinking and looking.  Mocked up the tailgate side, and I think I have it where it will live also.  I bolted the Ranchero bumper to the existing factory bolt holes for the Fairlane frame.  Will probably move it ahead in inch or so once the new roll pan is built. 

The brown piece in the one pic is the Ranchero bumper whatchamacallit.  Its in decent shape so that I won't have to totally build it new. 

With the original Ranchero piece laid over top of the Fairlane fin, you can see the difference in the two cars. 

Hello John, glad to see you are back.  I was beginning to think that all the parts you got from were going to end up on your estate sale.  Take care, Alvin

Wow there is a lot of work involved !
great progress on the tailgate !

Glad to see you're posting photos of your progress and getting back on the project. I enjoy following along with the progress and creativity. Good luck.

Well, I managed to get a little more done.  I'm going to have to skip fairly fast, but I'll show some pics.  Its been a long long time doing all the "thinking and deciding" and measuring and more thinking.  I finally got the back end of the roof where I want it.  Its amazing how different it looks 1/2 an inch lower. 

The thinking and measuring part is all done now.  I have made all the decisions on what goes where, etc.  so now its just finding the time to get it done. 

I had to make the bottom half of the pieces from scratch, that go beside the tailgate.  That's why the pics you guys sent were so valuable.  In fact, just looking at the one pic now, I can see exactly where I need to weld the box side to the tailgate bottom.  Looks like the box side sticks out about 1/4 of an inch maybe at the bottom, where the bottom of the tailgate is.  Thanks for that.

I have those pieces all welded up to the box sides now.  The back upper, I don't know what to call it, between the tailgate and tail light.  Underneath, the factory had several seams.  Mine were a little rusty, so I cut all that out and made new pieces without any seams, all butt welded once done. 

Just pics of the back end repairs.

Made a little dolly to repair all the perimeter of the top of the bed rail.  This is going slowly now as I'm currently metal finishing the wheel wells, inner and outer as well as the full quarter panels, before building new inner bed sides.  I can get at all the outer body work that way. Metal finishing to get ready for paint is easier now than later. 

Regardless, both top bed sides are welded to the taillight/ tail gate pieces.  Ready to weld together, but finishing outer body work first.

Gotta go find more pics.

If you look closely, the top of the box is clamped in place.  I have it all marked and have taken both sides off again to true them up for fitting to weld.  Just need time.  Life keeps getting in the way, but I'm still having fun, and I'm still here. 

This brings me up to date.  Everything fits. It all lines up just like it should, I just have to start fitting and welding it all together.

I'm gonna tell you one thing, you surely are talented!

I didn't go through the entire thread yet but was wondering, have you thought about mocking the HDTP doors to mimic the CHEV NOMAD window opening frame-less doors and having the rear door glass opening appear as a 1972/ RANCHERO??

No insult intended.

Hey John, good to see you back. That's going to be soooo unique! You sure have the patience, man! I love the longer theme, and I think your perspectives on how things should flow are spot on. I love the way your making something from nothing where you're forming that tailight/tailgate areas one small piece at a time. That's pretty much how I had to do the outer 4" of my inner rear wheel wells, because like you, I don't have English wheels, shrinkers/stretchers, etc. Like you also, I thought it was a ton of fun.
I do like the lowered rear roof line. It'll be interesting to see whatever you have planned for the pillar areas executed.
Thanks for sharing again, and keep us posted.

The doors are hardtop doors. Actually, drivers door is retractable, and pass. door is hardtop.  They are the same.  I got a set of the hardtop flip up thingies for the top of the windows from Alvin Stadel. 
I mocked them up in place, and I'll have to shorten them just a hair to fit, but I do plan on using them.  Yes, the glass will have the stainless trim around it, just like the hardtop, but when the glass is rolled down, there will be no window frame.

I want to put some mockup steel wheels on it soon, and I want to paint them first to see how the colour turns out.  I'm going with the original silver mocha on the sides, and maybe roof, and inca gold for the rest.

I've been to two auto body supply shops locally, and they say they can't match up the numbers to a modern paint system from the silver mocha tab.  I printed the colour sheets with all the cross over numbers from dupont, ditzler, etc. but I'm told that Canadian Fords had different colours and names.  Their computer systems don't recognize the silver mocha.

The PPG guy said he can do the inca gold, but nothing for silver mocha.  Does anyone have an answer for this?  A newer number for silver mocha that will cross over to modern colours, or a color from another manufacturer, that is the same or very very close? 

I plan on doing base / clear, so I can take it to the detail guy afterwards and he can polish out my amateur paint job. I've only ever painted one other vehicle, and that was more than 10 years ago. 

Gunter may have the silver Mocha current reference numbers.......that's the brown, correct?

Found this online...

http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorcodedisplay.cgi?type=sample&paint=5558&ditzler=21469&syear=1957&smanuf=Ford&smake=&smodel=Fairlane&sname=Silver%20Mocha&rows=50

We had a Doeskin Tan/Silver Mocha Fairlane 500 back in the day.

I am sorry to say, but I do not have any modern equivalent mix or # for the Silver Mocha. I used a bunch of  non specific  base colors from my local paint shop and mixed it up myself. It worked ok on my patina paint 57CS, but no accurate match, I confess.
That plan for factory 57 colors ( and imho the best combo of all SM/IG !!!) will fool people even more in believeing that this could have come from factory. this is an exciting project ! Looking forward to seeing further efforts.
Guenter

ps. I have yet to see a doeskin Tan/Silver mocha 57, Lynn, but it sounds to good to be true. it sounds equally nice to SM/IG !

   I wonder when it's all finished and painted how many passer byers or car show attendees would pick up thats it's Fairlane based Ranchero. I bet much more than half would think it's just a nicely restored Ranchero.  What a task and great looking work!

My paint guy called the BASF tech support and got a really close match for the yellow on my Edsel.  Turned out great.  The cowl vent is the new paint, the cowl is the stock 58 Edsel Joaquin Yellow.

Just talked to the PPG guy again, and he reminded me that 21469 number was good, but I can't have it cause I'm not a pro.  They only make that in water base, he says, and he can only sell it to professional shops. 

So next question is, Silver Mocha available anywhere else that's not water based?

But I still need the Silver Mocha paint code that will work for the suppliers here.  Sherwin Williams guy can't do it either. 

I thought I read somewhere there were some Chrysler colours that were very close.  I guess I should say it doesn't have to match anything on the car.  The whole car is getting painted, so it could be slightly off but I'm not good with colours so I don't want to just match a paint chip. 

Been making progress although not as fast as I'd like. Everything is fitting nicely now, and I'm ready to scribe and cut the tops of the quarter panels, so as to fit and weld them.
BUT, I decided it would be way way easier to finish the inner fender well, and finish welding the outer quarter panel where I couldn't get at it when the wheels were still on it. Metal finished the whole driver's side of the body now. Its ready to prep for painting.

Also, its way easier to be able to finish fitting and welding the inside box corners once I cut out the area for the fuel tank. Thus, I now have the fuel tank pretty much fitting into place. I can remove it now, then I can stand inside the box as well as outside for the fitting and welding about to take place.

Remember, this floor pan is from a four door sedan. Thus, the tire well is not the same as a regular Ranchero. I found this fuel tank online after much measuring and searching. Its a 1995 Ford F150 tank with pump. Fits the space nicely, and its only a hair over 7 inches deep.

I have to take a trip to pic a part to look for some weather stripping maybe from a mini van door or something with a pinch seal like the outer edges of the gas tank. I plan on putting the weather stripping on the edge of the gas tank so as to seal this area on top of the tank from the elements.

The bed floor will be hinged at the front so I can access "stuff" under it, like the duster and polish and tire stuff and **** like that, right?

The tank looks good. Will the filller neck be in the bed?

Oh boy, how do I answer that one?  Its a secret that I've been keeping till I got things worked out.  I'm not all the way there yet, at least not for the final product.  I'm pretty much all the way there with the picture between my ears though.  But I don't have any pics yet. 

I've been thinking about where to put the filler, the whole time it was sitting outside in the snow and rain, waiting to come back inside again.  That was a long time.  I presently do not have any holes in either quarter panel, and I really like it that way, as the originals from the Ranchero didn't fit very well and I really didn't want to cut a hole in the quarter.

Really didn't want to put it in the bed floor either.  That is a compromise, at best.  I didn't want that or even on the inside back corner of the bed on the vertical bedside, just as though it were on the outside of the quarter panel.  Still a compromise.

I wanted the tank to be tucked up under the back end.  The filler wouldn't work under the tailgate, like the original Fairlane.  I didn't think I could get the gas to flow uphill into the top of the tank. 

So, I got this wild hare idea about taillight fillers, like 56 Chevy.  No pics yet, but its mostly built.  Bought a couple linear guide rails, bent up a housing to hang it all in, put a plate on the inside of the taillight area on the fender  to give it some structural integrity.  With all of this, I got to thinking about how I would put the actual light in there.  I needed it to be skinny, like one of those led taillights on the back of a school bus.  Bought a couple of those cheap and found the bus taillight actually almost fits inside the 57 Ford taillight.  Wouldn't work that way for my application without sticking out the back of the taillight housing and looking like horse dung.  Carefully dissected the bus taillight and found a nice skinny little led board that I can still use the original back, albeit ground down slightly so as to fit precisely inside the 57 Ford taillight.  I have it fit, but not attached yet.  Thinking perhaps some industrial silicone or urethane adhesive to permanently attach it inside the back of the Ford lens.  You end up with a 57 Ford lens with the led light inside, and 3 wires sticking out the back of it.  That will be attached to the original Ford tin backing plate for the taillight. And that will be attached to the linear guide rails.  There will be a little housing made that the whole shebang slides straight outward about 6 inches, and I plan to hinge the lens as well to gain total access to the filler inside the bottom of the taillight opening.  If you bothered to read this far, I'll get some pics up soon as I can so this might make some sense.  And now, if this doesn't work out, I'm going to look like and idiot. So far, it looks like it will glide in and out of the taillight housing precisely.  The housing if you take note, has the inner diameter on a slight taper, I imagine so as to make it possible to replace taillight lenses without scraping the paint off.  I can see as soon as the taillight becomes unlatched, it will pop straight out with no clearance problems.  I hope.  And oh yeah, I forgot about the latch.  VW beetle hood latch purchased cheap.  It will be on the inboard end of the sliding taillight mechanism and will have a cable release mounted "somewhere".  You asked.

Maybe I shouldn't have asked  :003: Thats a major project that would keep me from sleeping at night.
Good luck, looking forward to seeing the pictures in the future.
I've seen early Ford trucks were people wanted the in cab tank moved to the rear of the bed, they usually use a Mustang tank and all the different filler ideas people come up with so that sparked my curiosity.

John it sounds that you have your assembly figured out. Maybe my design can give you some additional ideas. Guenter

http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=4930.msg44164#msg44164

Well Guenter, I think I like your idea better.  I didn't think I could get it to swing inward far enough to get to the gas cap.  I guess I should have tried harder. 

I see it appears that you removed the inner mounting ring.  How will you mount the taillight housing now?

So here are the pics of mine.  Not quite so proud now that I see how clean Gunter's is.  Oh well.

I tried to take this lens apart by drilling out the rivets.  No go.  Had to grind down the outer circumference to free up the led board inside.  Easiest to grind with a 36 grit 3 inch sanding disc on the black back side.  Melts just like black abs plumbing pipe.  Smells just like black abs plumbing pipe. Dirty mess to get it apart, but it sure fits nicely inside the 57 Ford lens.

I have a bunch more work to finish this up, and now I'm considering stopping production of this item until further notice.  I'd like to see more detail on how Guenter did his.  I'm thinking it might be less work to start over and do that.

John, I hope that you don't take offense in my posting. It was never meant as a know it all.

Since you hadn't posted pics of yours I just wanted to share my idea, which I find quite simple.
Let me say, I already did another conversion on my 57 SD 15 years ago, but unfortunately no pics. That conversion also put the light outside and swung it out to completely open the taillight area. I always just was afraid of the filler hose catching the unit and ripping off the taillight. So I came up with this newer version. it has some shortcomings. like water drain and what about fuel spilling. also getting rid of fuel fumes. it will need a small vent tubing added to the filler pipe and a non vented cap now. vent tube routed out and under the car.
your unit looks extremely solid and could also be welded closed on the bottom to build a bowl, for spilled fuel. add a drain tube or hose out under the car, and it will add safety benifits. I like your idea with the VW hood latch, because yours is obviously locked and doesnt need a locking gas cap. remote opening is very easy with a simple cable or solenoid. Also I want to add, the angle and length of the fin on a Fairlane is different from a Custom model. so you would need to make sure if my arrangement even works on your Fairlane quarters.

I liked my idea because it is extremely lightweight and undetactable from the outside, still using stock lights. I also thought about building a sheetmetal 'funnel' sort of that would drain spilled fuel outside, but never got to finishing the install yet.

concerning the bolts, yes I removed the inner ring metal from the quarter panels, which is easy, just drill out some spot welds.
as you can see there is one stud left in the potmetal housing. I plan to add 2 or 3 more studs with JB weld or similar to the hollow pot metal, which should be easy to do and pretty sturdy fastening to the quarter panel.

Your set up also gives me some good additional ideas and maybe we both end up with a mixed/matched version of both.
btw you can still use your led panel an any mix of ideas as well.
Keep us updated on your project !

John, I moved the gas filler on my Ranchero to behind the left tail light. I'm using a '63 Fairlane tail light, but the method of moving the tail light to get to the filler pipe is the same, regardless of what tail light is used.
There are a couple of additional details now that it is finished. If you would like more photos or more information, just let me know.
John

http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=7657.msg66066#msg66066

Nice. I like that one too.  Mine is about 90% built so I'll probably leave it like it is.
Yes, I do plan on making a little drain bowl below the gas filler with a drain tube down to the ground below, in case gas is ever spilled, or water leaks in there.

Back to work on it today again. I finished welding in the gas tank opening.  Now I can stand in there to make the pieces to tie the bed side bottoms to the tail gate bottom.  I need to leave the tailgate mounted precisely where it is and build around it.

Until I cut the gas tank opening out, I was struggling to gain access to that area to finish it up.  Today.

I bet there will be someone eventually who will make that time worn comment..."WOW! My dad/grandad had one just like that too!".

You're metal work makes me jealous...well done!  :003:

At long last, I have one box side spotted in place. I had to melt a ton of lead off the top in order to be able to shear it to fit and weld. My shear wouldn't go through 3/16 inch of lead. I'll probably replace those areas but for now its all lined up in its final resting place.

The hard part is now done. All I have to do now is fill in the blanks. And the other side.

Quote from: jvo on 2021-03-07 13:09
I tried to take this lens apart by drilling out the rivets.  No go.  Had to grind down the outer circumference to free up the led board inside.  Easiest to grind with a 36 grit 3 inch sanding disc on the black back side.  Melts just like black abs plumbing pipe.  Smells just like black abs plumbing pipe. Dirty mess to get it apart, but it sure fits nicely inside the 57 Ford lens.

I really like your LED tail mod.  Do you happen to have a part number for those bus lights ?

It's been quite a while since I got to work on my Ranchero.  I got sidetracked with this little truck that came along, and I have always wanted one.

I have started again. I was wondering what the taillight area would look like, so I made a patch to close it in. The tailgate is pretty much aligned and sitting where it's supposed to be now. 

I spent a lot of time looking at alternative ways to finish the back end, and looked at a lot of different bumpers.  I mentioned the 56 Chev bumper to my brother and he happened to have an extra one that he brought over.  Turned out to be a winner.  I think. 

I like the truck!  :003:

The bumper is held in place by two good spot welds, but I think it's right where it's going to live.  The only thing I need to change is the outside bottom corner needs to be tucked in to the quarter panel.  It looks like it's bent out at the bottom leading edge the way it is now.

The part here that I find comical is the 57 Ford was supposed to be the new generation of lower wider cars, but I have to narrow the 56 Chev bumper 3 inches for the "peaks" below the taillight line up properly.

The new sheet metal piece below the taillight is only a rough representation of what the finished piece will look like.  I will make a new piece for there that will replace all the crappy rough sheet metal below the taillight.

I had to mock this up so I could see if it was just a pipe dream or would it really work?  I'm kind of liking the way the new piece mimics the bumper shape, then rolls around the corner with the masking tape.

I'm itching to make that piece now, but I'm still knee deep in a bathroom renovation for the wife. I'm doing this on the sly.

The filler piece between the bumper and the tailgate is the original Ranchero lower valance.

I'll have to modify it slightly but it will still work just fine.

Now that I've posted an update, I might just feel motivated enough to keep going now that the truck is mostly done.

Forgot to state that the Ranchero bumperettes will be reshaped slightly on the inner edge that meets the bumper face, and will be bolted in place over the spot where the new welds will be.   They almost fit the shape of the Chev bumper, pretty close fit.  I'll post a pic later on that.

Your bumper alignment looks really sweet. The way the quarter panel body line rolls right into the top of the bumper makes for a clean continuation of the flow the line brings to the bumper.
On the back the roll of the panel under the tail light is perfectly lined with the curvature of the bumper as well...continuing the line down to the ground.
Well done modifications. No one will ever notice probably that the bumper has been adapted from a '56 Chev.
(I won't tell the wife you've been slippin' away to work on it! SSSSHHHhhhhh... :headbang: )

So glad you're back on it. I really like that '56 Chevy adaption! I didn't look too far back, but do you have a pic further back from the side so we can see that Fairlane fender. That Ranchero is going to be so sweet. Very impressive body work.

Here are a couple pics that show the whole side of the Ranchero.  Keep in mind that the shape of the B pillar is nowhere near finished yet.  That will come later.

Hope you don't get sidetracked too many more times, but I know how that goes. That is going to flow very nicely. .....being very well done!

Very cool work on the Ranchero, will certainly be one of a kind, that will have even Ford guys scratching their heads, thinking, "something looks different, but I just can`t put my finger on it!" Great looking uni cab short box, extra cool that it`s a Mercury too ! Is it the stock front beam axle, or some type of IFS? I have seem those with Jaguar, Mustang 11, Dodge Aspen/Volare before, seen several bump and dentsides with the aluminum Crown Victoria front subframes, not sure if they would be too wide for a 61-66 trucks.   Is it a 1961 model? What powertrain?

Quote from: 59meteor on 2024-01-25 16:22Very cool work on the Ranchero, will certainly be one of a kind, that will have even Ford guys scratching their heads, thinking, "something looks different, but I just can`t put my finger on it!" Great looking uni cab short box, extra cool that it`s a Mercury too ! Is it the stock front beam axle, or some type of IFS? I have seem those with Jaguar, Mustang 11, Dodge Aspen/Volare before, seen several bump and dentsides with the aluminum Crown Victoria front subframes, not sure if they would be too wide for a 61-66 trucks.   Is it a 1961 model? What powertrain?

. Regarding the truck, it has a 300 ford six in it, as I happened to have one in the shop for my other truck, as well and an overdrive A833 overdrive 4 speed that I built an adapter for.  Offenhauser intake with Rochester quadra jet.
It has a Jaguar XJ6 front suspension, and after now driving it, I would highly recommend it to anyone.  Drives like a sports car now.  Really fun to drive.   
The truck is technically a Ford, but the only difference between a Ford and Mercury truck is the M100 or F100 serial number plate, either an M or an F, the horn button and emblems. 
There is a whole build thread on the truck on the Canadian Rodder forum, titled "62 Ford unibody roof swap to big back window".  I purchased the truck as a rollover and happened to have a really rusty Merc truck with the big back window and all the trim.  Nuff said on that.

Yes, I am quite familiar with the unique Canadian Ford products, I used to own a 1967 Mercury 100 Fleetside short box PU, with a 352, automatic, and the 5 lug Dana 60 rear end.Wish I still had that. I have also owned a few Meteors, including my 59 Meteor Niagara 300 2 door sedan, that I have owned for over 20 years now, but has only been finished (or at least 95%!) and on the road since 2020.