57 Ranchero based on Fairlane?

[SkylinerRon]

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

[jvo]

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.

[Zapato]

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-

[Limey57]

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.

[Limey57]

.....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. 



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

[hiball3985]

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..

[jvo]

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. 

[hiball3985]

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

[Limey57]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[jvo]

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. 

[Ford Blue blood]

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.

[jvo]

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.

[SkylinerRon]

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.

[jvo]

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.