Hey there 57 Ford Fans,
My name is Art, I'm in Los Angeles. My girl, Amanda, just bought herself a '57 Country Wagon and it's my job to make it safe, reliable, beautiful and fun for her. I've been lurking here for days now, and just got approved to post. This is one of the most informative, and civil, car forums I've found and I'm glad to be a part of it. I'll do my best to search before I post and answer any questions when I can. Thanks for having me!
The wagon is a project but it came with a decent 302/C4 sitting between the framerails. We bought the car last weekend in San Diego and drove it up in the 100+ degree heat, stopping a few times to let her cool down while we enjoyed a milkshake or some bbq. The seller said it was a "running" car. Well, at one point they all were, I guess. This one clearly hadn't been driven much at all in the last few years. The varnish smelling gas, the cracked vacuum lines, no brake lights or current registration. We negotiated a good price (we feel) and asked for the nearest auto parts store, it was going to get a tune before hitting the road for the drive back to L.A. The wagon had different idea. After filling the tires and the tank we headed towards the freeway and the auto parts store. The first stall happened mere blocks away. The second, and AAA calling, stall happened as we were getting on the freeway.
My first thought, on the side of the highway, was fuel issue. The carb was squirting fuel down the barrels so that wasn't it. Still, I checked the gas cap for the "whoosh" of vacuum lock and didn't hear one (Though I may have missed it on the side of the road. I still believe this was the actual issue) Further investigating, I found the points not tightened in the distributor so my focus turned to that. After about a half hour of trying, I gave up and had it towed to my cousin's house 15 miles away, yet, somehow, half an hour from the nearest auto parts store. New fuel filter, pertronix, cap, rotor, plugs, vacuum lines, fuel lines, throttle return spring, transmission fluid, motor oil, temperature gauge,battery cable and clean up of some shoddy wiring, and we were running again. As we were warming her up to set the timing and such, she died again. No fuel going to the carb. My cousin's neighbor suggested fuel pump, I agreed, but added a vented gas cap to the shopping list. That was it, she came to life and we were off on our 140 mile journey home.
The drive was long and hot. Literally over 100 degrees in some spots. The Chrysler 2 row radiator and 4 blade fan couldn't keep her cool enough so we stopped a few times to cool her off, but we made it. I've been working on her every night, getting all the little things working, lights, wipers, turn signals, door locks, etc. This weekend we'll be going to the Long Beach Swap Meet to pick up our ABS brand disc brake kit (Amanda is leaning towards 4 wheel disc brakes) and, likely, their power steering box kit, in addition to a bunch of 57 specific parts we'll be hunting. Once she's safe to drive and stop, a new radiator and fan will be ordered, than the real fun begins, the body and paint! I'll be asking questions about these in the appropriate section of the forum, but if you all have any opinions on ABS Power Brake brand brake kits and power steering kits or choice of radiators, please let me know!
Here's a pic of a very happy Amanda with her new ride after the long drive home. The car was originally solid Cumberland green, the black you see is primer. It will be painted two tone, Colonial White and either the Cumberland or Willow green. Let the good times roll!!!
Cheers!
Art & Amanda
Welcome from Ontario Canada. Lots of guys willing to help on this site, and lots of info. HRD
Welcome to the site. That's gonna be one sweet looking ride when painted. Amanda looks happy!
Just a quick comment..trying to get some things finished up before leaving for a day or two....headed south to do a few car museums and the Decatur swap meet. Power steering: haven't heard anything about an ABS box, but have heard alot of positives about the Borgensen box. Most of the guys that have gone with aftermarket upgrades have either gone the Borgensen route or tha rack and pinion route. Either way should get you good results at a similar cost....the Borgensen is cheaper, but your still left with tie rods, etc to replace that the r & p setup replaces.
Rich
Welcome Art & Amanda. Cool! fender skirts even. Glad you made it home and have many happy hours working on it, the work never seems to end.. Dealing with the SoCal heat also and things aren't moving along to fast with my trans swap..
Quote from: MrArt2u on 2014-09-11 14:33
Hey there 57 Ford Fans,
My name is Art, I'm in Los Angeles. My girl, Amanda, This is one of the most informative, and civil, car forums I've found and I'm glad to be a part of it. I'll do my best to search before I post and answer any questions when I can. Thanks for having me!
.Art & Amanda
Art & Amanda Welcome to the site. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are lots of people here that have done all sorts of work on 57 Fords. That's right we're informative and civil. That's what makes this site the best. Don't be afraid to post progress pictures. We like pictures. Jay
Welcome aboard. Just finished up a front disk brake conversion on my Custom 300 4 door. Most of the kits require you to convert to 15 inch wheels. I found a bracket kit with all the necessary hardware to do the conversion using 78-80 Ford Granada 14" wheels, thus saving me buying all new tires and rims. The conversion uses 82-97 S-10 calipers, 68-69 Mustang rotors and 79 Cadillac Seville brake hoses. The only problem I ran into was the set of bearing spacers that were supposed to be a press fit, were only snug on the spindles. They can't turn as the inner grease seal rides on them. I used a drill press and drilled 2 5/32 holes in each spacer, and then drilled into the spindles about 3/4 inches and installed tension pins. Put some loc-tite in each hole just for good measure. Good luck on your future work, it lots of fun.
Welcome Art! You stumbled into the right place nothing but friendly and helpful people. Need to watch out for HRD he gets a bit light headed (oxygen starved) riding around in his altitude altered car. Skirts and a roof rack really gives Amanda's wagon a great retro family look,am loving it already. For a fan hit the yards and look for a 70/80s era Chrysler clutching 7 blade fan, very little work to put it on your 302 and will make a world of difference.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Welcome to the club, I'd love to do a wagon, that one looks solid..... Mark
Thanks for all the welcomes, and the tips so far. You have no idea how excited we both are to have this wagon. I've been wanting a wagon for about 10 years now, since I missed out on a 64 Catalina wagon a neighbor was selling. Amanda has never had an old car but she's one heck of a cool gal and LOVES 50's wagons, has been talking about buying one for several years now. My main daily driver is a '58 Chevy Apache, I've done 140k plus miles on it since 1992. The fact that she would date a guy like me that drives a truck like that and take road trips with me in that truck tells you how cool she is. That's why I want to build this thing as safe and reliable as I possibly can. I want her to have a positive experience with it. And, even through all the trouble getting it home last weekend, she was loving it. Positive attitude all the way home. Tomorrow she goes to the DMV to register it. Let's hope her attitude stays positive after that experience!
I spoke to the guys at ABS Brake Supply about a 4 wheel disc kit and their power steering kit. He's putting together a kit at a good price for us so it looks like I'll have a good start to the "safe" portion of the build. I'll document the installation and give you all my review.
I also need to source the correct front seat (it has a newer bench seat in it now) so I can properly locate the mount for the three point seat belts she's requested. (I had to add them to my truck too. And A/C, per her request. In fact, she's already started talking about adding A/C to the wagon down the line!)
We love the roof rack but she is on the fence about the fender skirts. I'll still paint them when we spray the wagon so she always has the option to run them. In the mean time, we're working on our shopping list of parts we need, like the front seat and windshield trim. Hoping to score some stuff at this weekend's Long Beach swap meet if not, "wanted" ads, here we come!
Cheers, everyone!
Art.
Art, ABS is located in Orange, just a few miles from my home. I have several hard core "hot rod" friends that have used their services over the years, and all have had good experiences with ABS. I spoke with them last weekend at the Labor Day Cruise, and they are very knowledgeable about our 57 Fords brakes and suspensions. I will be using them for my front disc upgrade on my Ranch Wagon in a few weeks. I have already purchased a Borgeson power steering conversion box.
Welcome to the group.
Need to watch out for HRD he gets a bit light headed (oxygen starved) riding around in his altitude altered car.
Zap- :unitedstates:
LOL! Hello Zap
That great that she likes the old cars and travels with you in the truck. My wife is the same, we got together in 1975 when I was building my 60 Ford panel and has traveled all over the country with me in it. I finally added air because I just can't deal with the heat in my old age.
Good luck at the swap meet, I found very little in the way of Ford parts there the last time I went but still had a good time.
You have come to the right place ! Lots of good info and help here....
Welcome!
Love my wagon!
Rob
Quote from: hotroddonnie on 2014-09-12 06:15
Need to watch out for HRD he gets a bit light headed (oxygen starved) riding around in his altitude altered car.
Zap- :unitedstates:
LOL! Hello Zap
Tried sneaking that in the middle of a post, yet you found it buddy. Good to see you have your ''A game'' going.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Welcome aboard, always fancied a wagon, almost bought one a couple of years ago but a lack of money and not having a cast-iron excuse for my wife as to how yet another old car "followed me home" meant I (regrettably) didn't go for it...
Welcome, you and your daughter. And the work in front of you two
Welcome and good luck on your rebuild. You found the right forum to get your questions answered. Make sure to keep us updated on the progress.
57 Ford wagons RULE ! :002: that said, it is cool to have a girlfriend like that, wanting to drive her own vintage car and not only taking passenger seat on a show or 2 a year ! she did a fabulous choice with the 57 !
It might also be a good idea to let her take part in restoration work, cleaning, grinding, sanding. SHE needs to get dirty herself before she can appreciate the work YOU will be doing to the car :003:
I have had 2 57 wgns with Smallblock fords in them, they are very well balanced and roll along nicely
looking forward to seeing progress in your wgn.
you might be lucky at the LongBeach SM. I met a guy called Collier's Classics, he is dealing with 50s FoMoCo repro parts and has lots of 57 rubber and stuff in stock. also was very pleased with Edith's Metal polishing, they had rechromed 57 bumpers in stock @ reasonable price.
What djfordmanjack stated about getting your girl friend to help is good advice.
When my wife said that she wanted a driver license, I told her yes, but she would have to rebuild the engine first. Her first car was a Ford Wagon and she did assist me in installing the pistons and rebuilding the engine. I torqued everything up and we installed it. That wagon gave her years of good service.
Art...
By the way...not many 57 Ford Country Sedans in SoCal, which is pretty cool. You will have many asking what it is.
Mine doesn't have any badges so it makes the conversation more fun for the younger car fans with a eye for taste! Too many ask if it is a "Nomad"...ugh...
Mine has a 302 and C4, too...wish I had an AOD tranny for the freeways.
Video everyone else has seen...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj-5odSvX7E
Cheers,
Rob
Hey guys,
Thanks again for the welcomes, and don't you worry, Amanda will be working on this wagon right alongside me. We restore pinball machines and other mechanical games together and I know she's not afraid to get her hands dirty. But I really think those Velocity channel car restoration shows really hooked her on the DIY dream car idea. I catch her watching that channel all the time. I haven't built a complete car in about 6 years so she's missed out on the dirty, frustrating, everything's-backordered, stuff-just-doesn't-fit parts they don't show on TV. I think I'll ease her into those so she doesn't get too frustrated. But I have warned her about jinxing a project by saying "It'll be easy!"
Oh, and she drove the wagon for the first time last night. I wanted her to experience the ride before the power brakes and steering get installed so we found a huge parking lot for her to have some fun. She had a hard time reaching the pedals since we still need the correct seat and an actual gas pedal, but she LOVED it. She couldn't believe the effort it took to stop that car. But not for long...
This morning we went to the Long Beach Car Show/Swap. It was about 95 degrees out and it's a hot asphalt lot so, I confess, we skipped the last two rows. I'll bet that's where all the Ford parts were hiding because we didn't find any 57 specific stuff out there. I think we found some parts that we can use until the right ones come along, though. I'll work on our "Wanted" list and post it on the forum soon.
While we were there we picked up the 4 wheel disc brake kit and the power steering kit from ABS brake (based out of Orange County, Ca) I spent a while on the phone with Pedro, the owner, telling him what I wanted and needed and he did a great job putting these kits together for us. He gave us a great price and threw in a bunch of extra parts we might need for the install. So far, the service has been excellent with ABS. Hopefully the install will go just as smoothly. I have to tell you how I found out about ABS. Well, I spent a LOT of back and forth/hold time with Dearborn Classics because I was not allowed to speak to a technical person. I was told they had 4 tech people and 70 people(!) answering the phones. Those 70 phone ops aren't allowed to transfer you to tech but I was encouraged to email them. Which, I must admit, did work better than the phone. Out of frustration, I asked the phone person where they got their kits, in hopes the manufacturer could answer my questions. She said ABS and, at this point, I'm VERY glad she did. I still love and appreciate Dearborn for what they do for us, but having ABS close to me is very much appreciated.
At the swap meet we were also pricing radiators. I met "the Radiator Lady" out of Wildomar, Ca. She said she could do an aluminum radiator (OE looking) for $280 (not including shipping) No charge if delivered to Long Beach Swap or Pomona Car Show. I forgot to ask who manufactured them, though. I also met Rick from Rick's Radiator in Azusa.. He had US Radiator manufactured aluminum radiators on the truck for $329. The sad part is, US Radiator is located only a mile or so from my office but if I bought direct from them, they'd want $417. We'll be selecting one once the car is spending more time on the road but I thought someone may be able to use this information.
Here's a shot of me and Pedro from ABS and our wagon full of wagon parts. We're going out of town for a bit next week so those boxes won't be opened until October. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress!
good to see you found a 7 blade fan, along with those ABS parts.
Zap- :unitedstates:
That fan did NOTHING to cool off the guy pulling that wagon full of parts around the swap meet yesterday! Let's hope it does a better job of cooling that 302!
Rob, thanks for posting that video, that ride is SWEEET! And, believe it or not, it answered a few engine related questions I had in my head. Perfect timing! If you don't mind, I have two questions for you. The first is related to the tailgate lock. Can you confirm that the key goes straight up and if you turn it one direction it locks it, if you turn it the other direction it unlocks it? Our wagon came with only an ignition key. I had all the locks re-keyed alike but the tailgate lock only turns counter clockwise. I'd like to know what I'm talking about before I return to the locksmith.
The second question is about your California black plates. Did those come with the car or did you have them assigned through the DMV Year of Manufactur program? We want to do the yellow/black YOM plates but we saw a Black/Yellow "DMV clear" set at the swap meet yesterday that had a letter/number combination that Amanda really liked. We'd prefer the Yellow/black but if they'll allow Black/yellow on a '57 she'd really like these plates.
Cheers!
Art.
Quote from: MrArt2u on 2014-09-15 11:58
That fan did NOTHING to cool off the guy pulling that wagon full of parts around the swap meet yesterday!
Our friends north of the border would probably suggest you wear a Tilley to keep you cool. Now for the 302 it surely will help.
Zap- :unitedstates:
Hey Art...
Yes...the tailgate lock is straight up with the teeth up. It turns counter clock wise to lock and clock wise to unlock. It uses the ignition key. This one key also works the other door locks. I do not know if the previous owner did this. I only have one key...must get another made!
The black plates I have came with the car when I bought it about 9-10 years ago. They have '63 stamped on them. Not sure when they were mated to the car.
Thanks for the nod after seeing the video. You can watch a bunch more videos about swapping in the 302, rack and pinion steering, front and rear sway bars here...(it had a Chevy 350 when I bought it)...get the popcorn...
Episodes 1-9 are on Vimeo...(hope you can see these, let me know if a password is needed)...
https://vimeo.com/user531397/videos
Episodes 10-31 are on the YouTubes...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWq06-maBfWW4aNFqeF4dcm_3dh1AUHcg
I recommend documenting your project fun on video and sharing here. These guys here can provide some great feedback!
Have fun!
Rob
...now if I can just get the dang gas gauge to work!
Hey Art, I was wondering if you installed the ABS brakes yet? I am thinking of front disks for one of my cars and thought you might have some insight on the installation process.
Hey Contibob,
I'm sorry to report that I've not yet completed the install. We just got back from a LONG week in Orlando. Long because of the stack of parts waiting for us at home! I can make some initial comments though as I mocked up one side to test wheel fitment. For starters, our 15" steel wheels fit with plenty of room to spare.
The customer service at ABS is superb. They answered all of my questions and tailored the kit to my needs. I'm very happy with the transaction. The brackets, calipers, rotors, master and booster are all good quality, the level I'm used to getting from my local shop. The brake hoses are nice braided steel. The bearings and seals, however are import. They told me this before I purchased so I knew what to expect. They offered to upgrade to Timken/american products but I passed since I have an excellent local source. Given how accommodating and generous they have been, if I were to do it again I'd ask for the upgrade from them.
The initial mock up of the front wheel was very promising. Everything looked well made and very sturdy. I'm taking the time to remove all the undercoating, detail the suspension and install the power steering box before the install so final road test may not happen for another month or so.
One other thing, plan on updating your steel brake lines when you convert. Our lines were rusted on to the steel tube nut so I soaked them for days with rust penetrant. Even with that, the slightest bit of force with the wrench caused the line to disintegrate a few inches down. I'm glad that happened in my driveway on jackstands instead of on the freeway! This is the perfect time to change those 57year old lines.
I wish I had more to report at this time, if you have any specific questions, fire away!
Cheers,
Art.
Thanks for the update Art. I live in San Diego and almost went to look at that car. Since I already have 6 57's I am glad you bought it so I wouldn't. Bob
Welcome!