Cowl drain tubes

[Tom S]

Tom
    If you are like me and do not have a lift, then you will have to lay on your back and cut out pieces, make new ones and weld them into place.

Jay, I don't have the equipment or enough skill to properly weld that sheet metal.  I've done it before many decades ago with a borrowed wire feed welder but it wasn't overhead welding and it looked pretty crappy.
It's a Ranchero, no trunk.    I didn't remove the panel in the rear inside of the bed to look, doesn't seem necessary as there is not an actual dent in anything.  Just got pushed in a little but not enough to make a dent, just a little flexing.
I'd probably have to fabricate the pieces to repair that front body mount area. Shipping a floor pan part to here would be cost prohibitive.
I think if I make the parts at least some, but not all, of the welding around that front body mount can be done from above.
Garage space is a real big problem now.  There is none. With the Ranchero in the garage you have to walk sideways in some places down one side & you can't even fit on the other side.
I've boxed myself into a corner with all the bikes, parts, tools, etc.
And, yeah that concrete floor is damn cold.  Isn't it always? Seems like over the years it's also got harder & gravity in that area has increased quite a bit. I assume that people know that
gravity is stronger in some places than in others. Under my bed is another area where it's now sometimes much stronger than it used to be.

I see what you mean about beating the old rocker panel in and covering it with a replacement.  Not sure. Need to do a lot more inspection of that & other places underside. Been feelin' kinda sickly for about a week now so nothin' is gettin' done.

[RICH MUISE]

Some of the repair panels made back in the day were designed to be put over existing panels. Certainly not the proper way to do it, but the panels were made to repair contemporary cars, not classics. I suspected my fender caps were of that variety.
The pics your showing are telling me the mentioned dealer doesn't have a whole lot of integrity. That really sucks. Definetly a car that needed to be looked at prior to purchase. Certainly not all that bad, but not rust free if that's how it was presented. I don't understand why people put expensive paint jobs on, and overlook repairs that should be done prior to paint.
Hope you get to feeling better.

[djfordmanjack]

Now these pics make me want to fly over and find that body guy and punch him ****.... no wait -....make him pull all the wrong work he has done and watch him for several weeks repairing all that stuff for free !

any dealer with a bit of a sense for classic cars should have seen those previous repairs and rust in body mount.

Tom if you are interested in it I will dig out the pics in my own topic, where I repaired the front body mount from above ( of course you would have to cut and replace part of the floorboards, which I had to do anyways).

You might even want to leave all that stuff alone and drive as is.

[Ecode70D]

You might even want to leave all that stuff alone and drive as is.

    What my friend Guenter just said.  Just spray or paint some drain oil on the rusted pieces under the car and drive it. That slows down the rusting process.  I doubt very much that you will deliberately  be driving that car in the rain and snow. The weather here is changing and laying on the floor is the last thing on my mind right now.

[Ecode70D]

doesn't seem necessary as there is not an actual dent in anything.  Just got pushed in a little but not enough to make a dent, just a little flexing.
I see what you mean about beating the old rocker panel in and covering it with a replacement.  Not sure. Need to do a lot more inspection of that & other places underside. Been feelin' kinda sickly for about a week now so nothin' is gettin' done.

No actual dent is a good thing. It could be worse.  Right now you should work on getting better an feeling well again.Jay 

[Tom S]

The pics your showing are telling me the mentioned dealer doesn't have a whole lot of integrity.

I think I've mentioned before that I did research the dealer fairly well before ever contacting them. They have been in business a very long time, since maybe the late 1960s, not sure now. In any case they have a very good rep. The guy I dealt with there had the car put on their lift & sent me the underbody rust pix just as I had requested. He even pointed out that the rusted area around that front right body mount was likely to be of most concern.
The car was not presented as rust free.
So I wouldn't feel right about slamming the dealer too hard.
Knowing that there was some rust I made an offer that was a couple grand less than the asking price.  Was a bit surprised when it was accepted without a counter offer.
Of course seeing pix is quite different than seeing things in person. He did answer most of my questions but I doubt that he knew of several things that weren't quite right.
The dealership owned the car outright.  They were dealing with a guy that handled the sale to them for the PO. They ask the 'handler' a couple questions for me but I could see that the handler's answers were completely wrong.
Hey, I knew I was buying a car from a dealer & a salesman that wanted to make a sale. I took the gamble since it was something I had wanted for decades, had never been able to find, had desired upgrades like disk brakes, the FE & the price and proximity to here were favorable.
Besides the one '57 Ranchero I've heard of that has been someone's ongoing long term project there is only mine & one other running '57 Ranchero anywhere within our limited road system. There is also my ragged out '58 with the Edsel nose & the %#@! slant six automatic.
Now, with the help & advice of the fine helpful & knowledgeable  people on this board, I just need to try to make this a better car without breaking the bank.

[Tom S]

Guenter, yes!  I would very much like to see those pix! Thanks!
Or maybe the link to your topic would work?  It's not always easy to find the right topic with a search, so ....
Fixin' the front body mount from above was what I figured I'd have to do. Getting at the vertical area where it is welded to half-loose inside rocker panel will be tricky. And there's no tellin' how much stuff us to rusted to weld to.
'Drive as is' & try to fix some of the niggling or worse stuff as I go along is sort of the plan for now. Just gotta try to move things ahead as best I can.
Thanks again!

[Tom S]

What my friend Guenter just said.  Just spray or paint some drain oil on the rusted pieces under the car and drive it. That slows down the rusting process.

Yup, see my last post.
I had been thinking of oiling some of those rusty areas. But I don't know if I'd want to oil up some places that I hope to get welded on at some point, might be hard to get it cleaned up enough to weld on.
Don't know if any of you have seen this.  Ran across it years ago in a thread that I think was titled "Death by Brake Clean".
Was about the serious danger of welding on something that had just been cleaned with brake clean or any product that contained a certain chemical. Very scary!
http://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html

[djfordmanjack]

Tom, must have missed your latest posts on your topic.
this is on page 9 where I started to remove frt pssgr floor and cleaned out the  body mount. it shows how you could get access to those areas and replace/repair what's rusted out. also a few pages earlier I am dealing with the drvr side. hope this helps.

http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=6705.120

[geraldchainsaw]

since i've read this post i had to check to c where my drains were.   and sure enough there gone,  but now i have a question,  i've had my car for 7 to 10 years and never noticed any water on the floor after washing,  so now i haveta check to c if I do get any water,  in fact now i'll have to check to c just whats involved to fix it,  and I thought i was done

[Tom S]

Tom, must have missed your latest posts on your topic.
this is on page 9 where I started to remove frt pssgr floor and cleaned out the  body mount. it shows how you could get access to those areas and replace/repair what's rusted out. also a few pages earlier I am dealing with the drvr side. hope this helps.

http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=6705.120

Thanks a bunch, Gunth! 

[Tom S]

... now i'll have to check to c just whats involved to fix it ...

Not to hard to this way --> http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=3895.msg65607#msg65607

[geraldchainsaw]

ok,  now i can add my 2 cents worth.    checked out the drain tubes in the cowl,  had the wife pour a gal of water just to c what would happen,  the water flows great,  in  fact so good that it pours right out the side inner fender panel,  only dribbles a couple of drops so to me its no big deal,  carpet not wet enough to worry about,  the sheet mtl dosen't show any rust,  the car has never been in the rain,  kept in the garage,  only water it sees is when i wash it,  so the heck with it i'm not going to fix it,  it'll last more years then i have left any way

[SkylinerRon]

We see a lot of cars at Carlisle that flippers threw some bondo and fresh paint at.

They never replace chrome or emblems, just paint and jack up the prices.

Ron.