57 Ranchero based on Fairlane?

[jvo]

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. 

[jvo]

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

[jvo]

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.

[jvo]

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

[jvo]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[Ford Blue blood]

Very nice work!

[RICH MUISE]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[Limey57]

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

[RICH MUISE]

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.

[jvo]

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.