Long time reader but first time poster! I am building my dads old 57 I grew up in. He sold it when I was young but I was able to track it down a few years back and it ended up home with me. It was just wasting away in a pasture! I have plans to change some things but can't wait to have it running and driving. I will need a laundry list of parts and will be posting in wanted section as well!
But for now the 70s 460 has been pulled and a friend is almost done rebuilding it. New heads, pistons, 268 comp cam, intake, balanced at a local machine shop, hei distributor, few more small things. Wanting Holley sniper by end of summer. Should be a runner though!😁
My brother and I have been working on getting engine bay cleaned up enough so I can paint it before stabbing motor back in! Will be ordering brake conversion kit this week so brakes and front end work will be next on list! Here's some photos and I will try to update through the process
Thanks for posting, and welcome to the forum!! For a minute, I thought maybe that car belonged to past/late members...........Tom and then his late son Tim, from Vermont. Keep us posted on your progress. What part of this Earth are you in?
I'm in NE Oklahoma! It was parked in SE OK for past 20ish years give or take. Been sitting about 10. And I will try to keep this thread updated with photos!
Congrats on locating it, and then reacquiring it! Sounds like this spring will be a fun one for you and your brother!
Quote from: mustang6984 on 2023-11-13 20:13Congrats on locating it, and then reacquiring it! Sounds like this spring will be a fun one for you and your brother!
Thanks! We definitely have our work cut out for us but super excited! He actually acquired a 56 fairlane 4 door that he is starting process of rebuilding as well! My dad is helping both of us and the 56 is at his house but they're still working on finding a motor for it. They're thinking 351!
Nice looker! We aren't far apart...I am over in MO near Berryville AR. Look up Shell Knob Mo.
Awesome family history and great to know it's back with you !
I just love the wild seaweed style flames. it totally fits the car and theme imho. Enjoy !
Quote from: mustang6984 on 2023-11-14 09:20Nice looker! We aren't far apart...I am over in MO near Berryville AR. Look up Shell Knob Mo.
Not too far about 2ish hrs or so! Once I get her running have to see about meeting up or going to a car show!
Quote from: djfordmanjack on 2023-11-14 10:24Awesome family history and great to know it's back with you !
I just love the wild seaweed style flames. it totally fits the car and theme imho. Enjoy !
Thanks! I plan on keeping purple flames once I get to point of paint. I think I'm going to do gray instead of white as a background though!
Quote from: campy38 on 2023-11-15 08:17Not too far about 2ish hrs or so! Once I get her running have to see about meeting up or going to a car show!
Indeed! There are plenty of them around here...one every weekend...more than that during the fall.
Painting engine bay yesterday. Layed some flat black primer then a light satin black over it. Honestly liked the flat look WAY better so will be respraying it hopefully today or tomorrow.
Had some help already from members here and local tire/front end shop. Turns out front end seems to be okay and I'm just going to replace one lower control arm that's notched.
Also I found a salvage 2 hrs away in Kansas with 5 57s! Including a 2 door and 4 door wagon!
WOW! Five 57's in a yard today is rare. Have to keep that in mind.
Is the salvage yard in Geneseo Kansas? Roger Vahsholtz? Roger says he has about 50 '57's as I recall.
Quote from: KYBlueOval on 2023-11-20 11:40Is the salvage yard in Geneseo Kansas? Roger Vahsholtz? Roger says he has about 50 '57's as I recall.
No it's near independence. But that's good to know! I'm prolly going to go see this salvage in a week or 2
Nice project. I have a big block in my 62 Fairlane, it makes for fun driving. (Not so great on gas mileage)😑. Are you running a manual or automatic transmission?
Quote from: Fairlane62 on 2023-12-03 00:56Nice project. I have a big block in my 62 Fairlane, it makes for fun driving. (Not so great on gas mileage)😑. Are you running a manual or automatic transmission?
Automatic. I'd like manual but it's already got a C6 auto so I'm leaving it for now.
Engine bay photo after painting and trailered up to go get her heart put back in! Hopefully be running by end of the year!
I don't recognize the wiper motor, does anyone know what it is from?
Aftermarket electric or 57 Chevy.
My first thought was 57 Chevy also but thats what I have on mine and it's different from his.
The AC Delco wiper units retained the control cable. The aftermarket units require the cable replaced with 12v wiring and dash switch. The PIC appears to retain the cable and leads me to believe it is an AC Delco style wiper motor conversion.
The difference I see is his looks like the cable switch location is on the front and mine is on the top?
AC Delco supplied several versions for many vehicles that will bolt-in and work as a '57 upgrade. PIC is the desired, two-speed,'57 version (according to serial number) to use for the upgrade. Several others will work but this version is better supported by aftermarket parts and rebuilders. I found repop plastic switch parts for mine.
Thank you, thats good to know there are other options. I had to replace the plastic slide also, got it from Ecklers.
Well she is home and moves with her own power! Flamin Mo is LOUD and ready to run. The 460 is pushing significantly more power than before!
My friend installing motor/ front end ran into a few snags as we knew he would. Headers had to be cut and rerouted around steering box. And some modification to the upper control arms in order to get it to align properly. Next I'm fixing trunk latch, passenger door latch, installing new shocks, painting the steel rims black, new tires, figure out why I have 0 lights😂 and the list goes on! But just a few things and she will be road worthy!
Excellent! Progress...and in a fairly short time too!
Regarding the wiper motor, my '57 Courier had a similar electric motor. It was also two-speed and the stamped part# was for a '56 Chevy.
Passed it on to a buddy with a '56 Chevy project car.
I found the electric wiper motor out of a 60 full sized Ford was also a bolt-in. Used the same cable to switch arangement as the 57 vacuum, just needed to run 12V to it. In the 60 it is located under/behind the dash mounted to the cowl.
Could anybody tell me where I could find the sliding ford lock? We had to cut it out. I ordered one from c and g and it is much shorter and the oblong shape does not fit...
Turns out I have a custom 300 not a fairlane! Gues and CGfordparts were super nice and helped me find the correct part. My dad didn't even know that it wasn't a fairlane and he had the car for years!
You've got a Custom and the picture is NOT a Custom trunk lock. The Custom trunk lock covers are the Ford Crest with the FORD part sliding to the right to expose the key tumbler.
Quote from: gasman826 on 2024-02-29 20:46You've got a Custom and the picture is NOT a Custom trunk lock. The Custom trunk lock covers are the Ford Crest with the FORD part sliding to the right to expose the key tumbler.
Thanks! I've got the correct one ordered now. And will send this one back. Luckily I have a lot of other things to work on so not too big of a deal😂
Continuing to chip away! Trunk latch came in. I decided to not buy the badge/emblem. I'm going to cut a piece of aluminum and have my brother airbrush/pinstripe something to fill the space! My wife actually bought me the taillights for my birthday and those just came in! (She's a keeper!) I painted the steel rims white and will be putting tires on Saturday. And last but not least I have began the fun of wiring😂 ordered 8 colors of gxl.
Also I installed new shocks! Went with Monroe oe spectrum. More pics!
Oh that light switch will be just fine with a little duct tape............:<)
Quote from: Ford Blue blood on 2024-03-08 07:45Oh that light switch will be just fine with a little duct tape............:<)
Just what I was thinking😂 there was some shady wiring done and some fried wires happened. Going to slowly replaced everything. Lights are first so I can at least legally drive it here in OK.
Few updates. She's back on cragar wheels with brand new tires! 14 front 15 in the rear. Ive ran a new fuse block and from that wired the brake switch and turn signals with new flasher. I swapped rear bulbs out for leds. For the trunk emblem I wanted something different so my dad made me some spun aluminum and my brother pin striped "campy" on there for me! I love it. Up next is new headlights, gauges and cutting hood so I can put it back on.
New taillight lens look good! New led bulbs are bright too!
You are burning rubber as fast as you are moving on this ride! Good for you!
Can you post a pic of the LED set up you used for the taillights please?
And your trunk emblem looks real cool as well1 Nice!!!
Coming along very well!!! :003:
Do your flashers work with those LEDs? Unless things have changed, I think the flasher unit needs to be specifically for LED........maybe that's what you've got with your new wiring stuff.
More info on the LEDs please! You can purchase transparent red lens paint if you want to freshen 'em up. Love the project. You are inspiring me to do stuff on mine!!!
Quote from: RICH MUISE on 2024-03-23 20:52Do your flashers work with those LEDs? Unless things have changed, I think the flasher unit needs to be specifically for LED........maybe that's what you've got with your new wiring stuff.
Rich, if you only do the rears no need to change the flasher. If you do the front and rear then you do, with 4 there isn't enough resistance for the stock flasher
to work
Well I used the reverse light socket from my old lens and just modified to where they popped into the existing hole. The leds are 1157 and 1156 led bulbs I picked up from Walmart. The flasher I got from Amazon after watching a bunch of YouTube videos on wiring.
I wired blinkers to a toggle switch. I'm doing the same with headlights. I'm converting to newer style 7 inch leds so definitely need the new flasher. And thank you guys for the support! It's been a blast working on it.
How I feel sometimes with working on this project😂 well I've wired a tach in. I ran into issues because I bumped a wire hooking it up on distributor and lost spark. Took forever for me to find the issues. I now have another new cap and ignition module... now that's done I'm running into cooling issues. You can see me here replacing water temp gauge. I'm hoping it's part of the problem. Going to replace thermostat as well. we think it's sticking some or that the old gauge wasn't reading correctly. The engine is a new build everything's new. The rad should be plenty to cool the motor at least while running but gauge increased/decreased at random. Will update hopefully this week after doing some more work and testing!
Baby steps...which sometimes drive us to the bottle...or mug. :occasion14:
Go in the house and borrow a cooking thermometer. Stick it in the radiator and compare the readings to your gauge. Should be close.
Quote from: gasman826 on 2024-04-08 20:57Go in the house and borrow a cooking thermometer. Stick it in the radiator and compare the readings to your gauge. Should be close.
Yea...and be sure to REALLY clean it good...and do NOT tell the lady of the house what you did! Oh she will NOT be appreciative! LOL!!!
If im still getting strange reading with the new one thats prolly what my next step will be. Prolly just buy a cheap one to keep in the shop though😂
also the old one was not very good and hard to read. The numbers went from 190 to 230 and the spacing between the 2 numbers made it difficult to tell what temp it was really at
So much bigger problems... looks like more work ahead. Honestly I'm still ignorant in many aspects so I'm not fore sure what has gone wrong. Luckily guy who built motor will be helping with fixing any issues that may have happened. Had a knocking so stopped quickly after and pulled the valve cover. One rocker was completely off and 3 others were near it. 3 pushrod guides are worn on driver side haven't pulled passenger yet. Not what I wanted to find but will be a good opportunity to see what went wrong and why....
On the plus side the short test run the cooling issue is solved.
Could they have been adjusted too tight and bent? I'm just tossing out an idea here. Not sure if I am all wet or not.
That's what I'm worried about. Also looks like pushrod guides may have not been hardened correctly. My buddy who built the motor is coming Sunday to assess. He may be trailering car to his shop depending on what all needs to be done.
Well, what was the verdict on the rockers?
Quote from: Fairlane62 on 2024-04-18 00:56Well, what was the verdict on the rockers?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
x :felix: 2
So from what we could tell it's just crap quality parts. rechecked geometry and everything was correct. The pushrod guides were super soft could take a file to them and it just DUG in. Also the pushrods were the wrong style or just crap idk. They have a lip on them where they were pressed together right where they would slide on the guide. That lip just ate the guide. The new Manley guides we got are smooth and do not have the lip.
Initially we used pro comp... which I am now regretting going cheaper. The heads are procomp so we went with the guides that came with them and procomp hardened pushrods. I have read a multitude of people telling how bad their quality is. So lesson learned. Dont be cheap😂 I will be getting the car back Saturday. My buddy has put good amount of miles on it after replacing push rods, push rod guides, oil and oil filter. And checked oil and cut old filter to make sure it caught most of the material worn from this.
Also the cooling issues are all fixed as well. Doesn't go past 190 now!
Excellent! Road time! :burnout:
Yeah I "accidentally" bought some Procomp heads on EBay several years ago and finally ended up using them in one of my sons race car. I noticed that the guide plates had pretty much side slop so I replaced them with Comp cams guide plates Which were much better.
I'm terrible about taking photos... but first real test drive after getting the car back! It went well. I love how it runs and rides. Filled her up with gas and put a few miles on it. Got a few compliments and some good conversation at the gas station! Now back to work with wiring. Will be ordering headlights next. Also going to crawl underneath and recheck everything mount, bracket, and bolt after settling in with some miles on it. Gotta check Speedometer cable too it's not functioning so will check while I'm underneath.
I think you are doing great in bringing this car back as it is/was, without restoring it. making it mechanically sound and enjoy as is.
Quote from: djfordmanjack on Yesterday at 13:01I think you are doing great in bringing this car back as it is/was, without restoring it. making it mechanically sound and enjoy as is.
Thanks! I am definitely going to make a couple changes but nothing major. Different head lights and rims in the long run.
I love how it looks! That's my goal to drive it as much as possible! That's what my dad did when he had it. He drove it to work almost daily back in his 20s! Just want to look cool and drive fast!😂