Morning folks, just re-checking in after a long absence. A one time regular poster but I hit a real bumpy road when I finished my Ranchero build. 2020 was a real odd year for me with so many ups/downs, good/bad events that all happened as I got the 57 finished. There it sat looking mighty fine but I just completely lost my enthusiasm so I shut the garage door and there it has sat for FIVE years! Until now, I dragged it out, washed it and am now going through it to try and iron out the last few niggles.
It's hard to describe, but after 6 years and a lot of money spent on its restoration, I just lost my spark for it when it was finished. I had trouble with the rebuilt AOD slipping so it was swapped for a rebuilt C4 which decided to randomly spew out the transmission fluid over the garage floor, I discovered that the breather pipe was blocked so hopefully that's now sorted. The aluminum heads has corroded badly (I forgot to put inhibitor in the coolant.....) which I think were the root cause of the over heating so these have been changed for some standard iron heads.
Hopefully now the weather is on the turn I'll be able to put some miles on it. Covering just 100 miles since it hit the road just isn't on!
Welcome back, Gary ! :001: Glad you and your 57 are still around! I clearly remember your detailed restoration. Extensively restoring our 57s from top to bottom can really take a toll on the nerves and purse, add 2020 and following...not a good combo.
Your Ranchero is looking great, please keep us updated with pics !
greets Guenter
Funny how that very feeling hit me. Car (Ranchero) was "finished", life events and sitting turned it into a pain in the butt. Got fed up with all of it, sold everything and turned them into a 2024 F150 Lariat, except the 36 and was lost for a good solid six months! Now I have a 56 Crown Vic project and a 61 Comet running/driving tinkerer car. I was lost and am now found......just need to finish my sisters MGB!
Welcome back. You have been missed! I think we all hit that bump. My latest "bump" was last year. After replacing my 4.6 for the second time, for 4 or 5 months, something would go wrong every time I drove it. All minor stuff like flat tire, serpentine belt, gauge showing low oil pressure (turned out to be just sending unit for the gauge),etc etc., This year no issues at all. 83k miles on it now since build complete.
Yep, I have thrown in the towel for Betty. I talked to guy who works on cars and am trying to get him to take her on to replace all of the floor pans. If he does, that will take a HUGE load off my shoulders. Not to mention saving me about a year in welding time, plus he will do it correctly and nice and pretty like. Then I can get back to the fun stuff-mechanical things.
Mike
Welcome back!!!!! I wondered about what may have happened, as you can tell we have all been through similar phases at one time or another.
Welcome back. Oh no! To Mike l... don't loose steam. You gotten so far.
I have always been an on and off member with a 57 hardtop custom and a wagon from a fellow member here.
Also on a bit of an ups and down in life this year.
At least you found some hope to get back on with it.
Welcome Back Gary..... I have gone through the same thing... on every car. as some of the fellows here can relate.
You spend years and years and when you are done(if they are ever done) you get failures and troubles.
I think because we sit and dream how wonderful it going to be..... and then at every turn.. it's not.
Keep pushing forward and remember.. we are all there..... the Ranchero is stunning!
Keep punching.
Jeff
here is a seriously important statement of our late friend Gene Winfield, EXACTLY addressing this topic. starting at 0:40 !
Quote from: GeneHang in there and you will be happy. HANG IN THERE !
Very nice! His drive and talent were second to none!
I think most of us have had periods of lack of interest during a restoration or build. I have owned my 59 Meteor since 2002, and for far too long, it`s construction dragged on far longer than I originally could have imagined, (Not to mention consumed much more $$$ that I ever imagined OR told the wife it would!). Between finding and buying parts, finally taking the car all apart, and towing the shell 4 hours away to the body shop, interest ebbed and flowed several times. Even after I got the car back from paint, and I thought that I was all gung ho to finally get it finished, between working 10 hours a day, plus the 1 hour commute each way, plus all the other things that life hands you, it took 4 long years of on again, off again false starts to get it driveable. And then, when the engine needed to come apart twice in the 1rst 3 years (bad valve guide the first time, an almost spun rod bearing the next), really knocked the wind out of my sails. But this will be 3 years since I had to really do anything major, so now it is just enjoying driving it around, and attending as many car meets , cruises, and car shows as I can, and a trip to the dragstrip at least once a year. THAT has made all the time, money, and frustrations all worthwhile. Before the car was painted, I had tried on a couple of occasions to sell the car as a project, with no luck, but now I am so glad that I hung in there, and finally got it done. I have attended a few estate auctions the past few years, where the unfinished project cars, and tons of parts , were sold off, usually for pennies on the dollar, to strangers, like vultures fighting over some roadkill on the side of the road. Seems that a lot of guys (usually older guys), bite off more than they can chew, and despite their best intentions, never get to see their dream car completed. So if one is able to see their vision come to completion, take some satisfaction and pride in the fact that you did, since many others do not.
Thanks folks, I don't know about in the US but here in England the amount of interest in older cars just seems to be drifting away as new generations come along, the art of "fixing stuff" just seems to be dying. Last weekend I had to buy a new battery for my Ranchero so went to the local parts store. A few years back they held everything you'd need, nowadays it's just full of cycling gear, car polish and air fresheners. I asked the lad behind the counter for a battery and gave him the spec. "I can't help until you tell me your vehicle registration sir" was the response (over here your license plate number is linked to a database holding your cars details). I smiled and gave him my details and smiled further when he responded with "1957??? Is that correct?". Bless him, I own socks older than he was......
Here also, except for Chevies it seems like. I do get some younger guys interest but not much. Last year a 30ish guy pulled up next to me in a Porshe convertible and pointed at my car and said "that's the most beautiful car I've ever seen! Ever!" Made my day.
Quote from: Limey57 on 2025-05-06 08:25Thanks folks, I don't know about in the US but here in England the amount of interest in older cars just seems to be drifting away as new generations come along, the art of "fixing stuff" just seems to be dying. Last weekend I had to buy a new battery for my Ranchero so went to the local parts store. A few years back they held everything you'd need, nowadays it's just full of cycling gear, car polish and air fresheners. I asked the lad behind the counter for a battery and gave him the spec. "I can't help until you tell me your vehicle registration sir" was the response (over here your license plate number is linked to a database holding your cars details). I smiled and gave him my details and smiled further when he responded with "1957??? Is that correct?". Bless him, I own socks older than he was......
Having your registration tied to a parts store is something that would only work if the car was stock. Sure isn't going to any help with my car, Riches, Meteor, Gasman and others with driveline swaps and such. Or is that information part of the registration details?
Yea...my '88 Saleen has a brake system from a Lincoln. Back in 2001 I went to a parts store to get brake components...kid told me that I couldn't use those parts on my Mustang.
Hugh, since you can time travel would you be willing to pick up some parts for me? I can give you part numbers for both my Model A and wagon. :003:
Mike
Quote from: 1930artdeco on 2025-05-06 10:54Hugh, since you can time travel would you be willing to pick up some parts for me? I can give you part numbers for both my Model A and wagon. :003:
Mike
OOPs! I SO wish I had retained my typing skills from school! LOL!!! Good catch! I'll edit it! Thanks! :violent1: :lol:
I finally got it nailed back together yesterday, had issues with the starter as well, replaced that and I still had that itchy feeling that something just wasn't right. Cranking the engine I could hear a metallic scraping sound, kinda like a flex plate bolt catching something but it sounded like it was from the front of the engine, I assumed it was the water pump bearings.
The engine fired up first time, revved well BUT the scraping noise was there so I switched off and removed the belts to rule out water pump/alternator/PS pump. Started it up and it's still there..... Time to start some basic checks.
Water - radiator was bone dry! Oil (this was fresh an hour before) - chocolate milkshake time, so that's where the water went. I drained some of it out and refilled the radiator and I could hear a "hissing" sound coming from the dipstick tube, the water was instantly filling the sump!!!!
There's clearly something very wrong inside, no idea how it's happened, possibly cracked the block due to previous overheating issues? No idea, but I now need to pull the motor and investigate. This one's fighting me all the way!
We blame things like that on a guy named Murphy over here. He was a real person who seemed to have a knack for finding ways to make life difficult.
"Murphy's Law is a popular adage stating that "anything that can go wrong will go wrong". It's often used humorously to explain unfortunate or unexpected events and is attributed to an American engineer, Edward A. Murphy Jr."
Didn't know he had visited across the pond! Good luck!
maybe something more obvious. I seem to remember you run a SBF, Gary ?
even a simple thing as a leaky intake manifold gasket could cause your problem.
Yes it's a late '79 302, I had it rebuilt by a guy who works for the Mercedes racing team, he did a decent job and (apart from overheating which I traced to poor aluminum heads) it ran like clockwork. Since leaving it idle for a few years it's developed this strange scraping/shrieking noise from inside the engine AND dumps the water into the sump very quickly. Also when it runs the oil/water mix (chocolate milkshake anyone?) rises to the top of the dipstick tube indicating the sump is pressurising.
I also have a nagging doubt because I had it bored +40thou and more than one person has told me you shouldn't go more than +30thou on a 302.
It needs investigating so I'll start the strip down again at the weekend piece by piece with fingers crossed it's something simple!
You could try a quick compression test and see if it's a bad cylinder or leak down test if you have a compressor.
Quote from: rmk57 on 2025-06-10 10:22You could try a quick compression test and see if it's a bad cylinder or leak down test if you have a compressor.
Yes we'll do that, rational thinking is now starting to appear rather than the screaming, hair-pulling hysteria I had at the weekend. Hope to start to look at it on Saturday, I'll report back any horror stories as I find them......
I had a similar reaction to a similar problem about 6 months after installing my FE. The engine overheated to around 240 F. I shut it down and it started water hammering (thermal shock) which I am familiar with but NEVER it a car engine. After the car cooled down it seemed fine. About a year later it started "smoking" (steam) out of the right bank... freaked out! Wound up changing the head gasket, solved the problem and never looked back, that was 10 years ago. Take your time relax and hope for GOOD LUCK!!!!
Well..... things were a bit quiet this morning (working from home) so whipped all the plugs out and ran a compression test, a healthy 145 to 150psi on all cylinders so it's something a bit more terminal. I'll try and drop the sump then fill the radiator to see if I can see where the water is coming from, it fills the sump so quickly that it should (hopefully) be obvious.
Windsor engines have a variety of timing chain covers, water pump plates, water pumps and gasket sets. A mismatch will cause a huge coolant leak directly into the oil pan. The same issues exist with the matchup between the intake manifold and head...especially the mating up the coolant passages between head and intake. Good news on the compression test.