Hello all, hope you had a good Xmas. Quick question for you, I'm fixing to change out the bushings and ball joints on my control arms. The book says to remove the splash guards prior. I don't see any splash guards, are they talking about the inner fender? If it is the inner fender, do I need to pull the front fenders off to get to the inners? How tough is it to work on the control arms without removing fenders? Got a hoist and looks like easy access.
PS - How many silly questions am I allowed? :001:
Lucky 57 , Originally your 57 Ford was fitted with a tough rubber shield that is stapled to the inner fender. That is a splash guard. Most have been rotted away for decades, but are available if you are so inclined to replace them.The rubber guards were placed in several places along the near contact areas of the inner fender and the frame. Since yours have been most likely rotted away , you may now proceed to the next step. I have replaced entire front suspensions and never touched the inner fender.
Well, that's a goldang relief, I just couldn't see myself pulling the inner's without pulling the outers, grill, etc. etc.
Thanks a million.
Lucky57 (Ron)
Quote from: jumping jack flash on 2014-12-27 16:10
Lucky 57 , Originally your 57 Ford was fitted with a tough rubber shield that is stapled to the inner fender. . I have replaced entire front suspensions and never touched the inner fender.
I agree completely. I too have never had to remove the inner fenders when working on the front suspension.
I still have all rubber splash guards.All in great shape,still very pliable.My Question is this.How the heck to you re-staple that back onto the inner fender????
And what kind of industrial stapler would one use?
I don't know , Jeff. If you find out let me know too. Right now I use a minature set of needle nose pliers, with mixed results. The splash guard at the rear bumper is the hardest one for me. I wind up removing the bumper to do it. The staples are stainless and always left behind after the rubber parts are long gone.
We've had several threads running on the stappling in the past. No one knows for sure, I think at one point someone was going to contact a person that actually worked in the production lines in the 50's.
The patterns for the stapling seem to be random, so the best guess is they had some kind of elaborate stappling machines that did one stapple at a time. If you were going to build millions of cars, you sure would fork up some money for specialized equiptment (and staples). Not likely your gonna find one of those staplers at a swap meet.
The staple question is right next to "what is the meaning of life" in my book...how and why????
Quote from: Lucky'57 on 2014-12-27 13:31
How many silly questions am I allowed? :001:
Lucky you haven't even scratched the surface yet............. keep them coming.
Zap- :unitedstates:
I imagine it was a heavy duty industrial Staple gun,the forefather to the nail gun.Possibly an outfit like Minters would know.I just find it fascinating it had the power to drive staples through an inner fender or a rear tail pan.
Staple gun, humph! you could just screw it.
Mine are missing and if I ever decide to replace I'll probably use pop rivets..
I think mine are just going to stay missing.
When I had my car apart, I just removed them along with the staples and am not going to worry about them.
Splash guards actually served a purpose in rainy climates. Back when distributors still had points it was easy to kill a car by going too fast through a "puddle". I can't tell you how many times I had to dry out the distributor to get my car started again. It was a common experience around here "in the day". :003:
I've never had a problem with them missing, and most of my 57's over the years didn't have them, must be a California thing.
Quote from: lalessi1 on 2014-12-31 18:46
Splash guards actually served a purpose in rainy climates. Back when distributors still had points it was easy to kill a car by going too fast through a "puddle". I can't tell you how many times I had to dry out the distributor to get my car started again. It was a common experience around here "in the day". :003:
Clarification. Sorry to have misled you. I do have my (inner fenders) metal splash guards in place. It's the rubber pieces with the staples that I did not replace.
When talking about splash guards I was referring to the rubber pieces also..
Nah, I was talking about the rubber parts. They were intended to help keep water out of the distributor. When I switched to an FE (front mounted distributor) the problem was not as frequent. We get over 60" of rain annually here sometimes at rates of 4" an hour. The ground is flat and streets flood frequently. Cars are still stalling but not as often. I don't drive the '57 in the rain but if I did I would make sure all the rubber splash guards were in place.
Splash patterns can be wild. I have been driving reasonably slow, hit water and seen the splash from the tire in front of the car!
Those staples were sent home in about 30 seconds by the nice man at the factory.
To replicate them I buy the staples with the splash guards and using an awl and some needle nose pliers painstakingly poke holes in the splash guard to match the original holes on the inner fender , insert the staple and bend it over with the needle nose pliers.
This generally leads to a little blood flow, some harsh language and eventually a finished job. Once you get a rhythm down it goes pretty fast.
Yep, that's the method I use also.
You can also freeze the rubber and use a Dremel and tiny bit to drill them.
Stainless wire bent into staples w/ 2" legs makes it easier to pull thru
then bend and cut off.
Goodluck,
Ron.
Looks like there are some for sale on the Ebay. Only $20, I might get a set just to say I have them. Even got a pic of the install location and what looks like a little bag of staples...
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1957-1958-57-58-FORD-CAR-FRONT-FENDER-SPLASH-APRON-SEALS-GASKETS-NEW-/190662572230?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c645ff8c6&vxp=mtr#ht_698wt_867
Thanks for posting that. What's interesting is the Ebay store that that poster has. Anybody use them?..Vintagefordparts. They've been on ebay for over 10 years, have 350ish '57 - '59 parts listed in their store 99.4% positive on 14,000 transactions.
It got me to thinking maybe we should have a section in our supplier links for ebay stores.
That's actually not a bad idea Mr. Muise, there are several Ebay specific Ford "suppliers" out there that when you do manage to get to a website after a Google search, you get redirected to their Ebay store.
I've gotten a couple things from this outfit (+/- $100) with no problems. They are from Indianapolis.
I purchased a bunch of stuff from them. It arrived fast and was good quality.
I've used it a few times, never a problem.
I have used them for several things. Very efficient. I got the impression they are reselling Dennis Carpenter stuff at a slightly better price. I plan on using them again.
vintagefordparts....they also have good international service, for all of us non-US 57 owners.