57 custom 300 build

[glr7533]

I was really amazed at how little rust this car had. I stripped The doors and only found a crease in one of them.

[mustang6984]

Oh I am so jealous! Mine don't look that good.    Not even close!

[glr7533]

Got lucky on the fenders to. A few small pinholes in the lower rear of each fender but the braces were in good shape. Also the right fender had a crease ahead of the wheel. All of the sheet metal around the headlights was solid.

[glr7533]

Found some pictures of when I fixed the eyebrows on my car. First I ground the studs off even with the casting. There is a mark on the side of casting right where the stud is attached, it has back marker on it in the picture. Next I made a pattern out of cardboard to fit inside the recess in the casting and transferred it to 22 gauge metal. When this is cut out the 22 gauge sets flush with the casting. The pattern works for either side, just flip it over. Lay the u shaped metal in the casting and place the bracket that goes on the inside of the fender on top of it. I lined this bracket up with the black marks I put on the casting. I believe I used #12 machine screws and welded them to the 22 ga metal. I had to grind on the screw heads and used the inner bracket to get the right angle. The holes in the fender are large so they don't have to be perfect. I then used panel bond to attach the piece to the casting. When it is on the car you can not tell it was repaired.

[glr7533]

The dash that was in the car when I got it had been hacked up. The radio opening had been cut larger and it had a hole drill in the front of it for a choke cable. The grill cover had also been damaged. I used the one out of the Fairlane parts car I had.

Some of you may already know about the emblem that was on the lock of the glove box. I was lucky to be able to visit with Randy Conner several times at his home. He lived about an hour north of me. Every time I was there I would find out some new trivia. Sadly I didn't write most of it down thinking that I would just ask him if I couldn't remember. Anyway he told me that only the very early 57's had the emblem that designated which engine was in the car. He had an example of each one, I believe there was four of them. He also told me the latest build date that had them but I don't remember. So if you see a 57 with the emblem on the glove box lock it should be a very early production car.

[glr7533]

I found a picture with the Thunderbird special emblem.

[mustang6984]

Looks like the dash is gonna be just fine! Nice emblem too...hard to find things are always a treasure.

[RICH MUISE]

Just getting caught up on this build thread. Nice everything! Nice solid car to start with, nice job on the clean/repair pep. Nice job on the dash redo. Nice job with the eyelid repair. Nice job posting..please continue as you progress. This is gonna be a keeper!

[glr7533]

Rich, actually this car is pretty much complete. I have been following this forum for a few years and learning  a lot. I just thought I would show what I have done and hopefully be able to help someone else with their build.

When it came time to work on the heater core I was shocked at how much the heater core and valve would cost. One of the nipples on the core was badly damaged and tore loose from the core and the valve didn't look real good. Being a cheap person I thought about not having a heater since I would only use the car during the summer. Some times my common sense actually takes over and this was one of those times. I did a search on the forum and  found where a member had adapted a different heater core and a universal control valve so the search was on. I found a heater core that fit ford vans from the mid to late seventies that was close to the right size. It was slightly smaller so I used a piece of poly between the heater core and heater box. The original core is held in with three sheet metal screws. I used two pieces of flat aluminum and formed them to hold the core in place. I believe that I had to drill the fourth hole where the control valve was originally located. I used a piece of foam between the core and these braces. The distance between the nipples was slightly wider so I had to move the holes in the box and firewall but they are out of sight when it is in the car. I purchased a universal control valve and mounted it on the right inner fender. I also got a universal cable that was longer than what was needed so I just cut it to length. The cable is easily mounted on the back of the dash heater control, you just need to remove the old one by loosening the clamp and lift the cable off the stud. I did make a mistake and mounted the valve to far back towards the firewall on the inner fender. It makes a  tight bend in the cable so it works a little harder than I like when you have it all the way open but works fine if you have it 3/4 open or less. With the nipples in a slightly different place one of the heater hoses has to make a 90 degree bend to miss the inner fender. I found a molded heater hose that has a 90 about six inches from the end and about 3 feet long to use there. I put a 390 engine in the car and they recommend a special nipple in the intake that helps reduce the coolant flow or pressure so that you don't rupture the heater core. So for less that $100 dollars I have a heater that works with parts I can get at any parts store. I can not find the pictures showing it all together but here are two pictures showing how the core and cable are mounted from the factory.

CarQuest part numbers
399025     Heater core     $25.94
74627       Control valve   $19.99
55207       Cable              $9.46
don't remember hose number or price

[glr7533]

Because i wasn't sure how the install would go I decided to install the engine and transmission before painting the car. I installed the engine with the headers on and it slipped in with no problems. When I removed the crossmember I had a couple of the inserts in the frame come loose and spin so the bolt heads had to be cut off. I fixed the problem by welding flange nuts in the holes. In the frame just to the rear of the crossmember bolts there is a larger hole. I fished a wire from the holes for the crossmember bolts back to this hole. I slipped a flanged nut onto the wire and bent the end into a tee shape and pulled the nut through this hole and into place. The nut stuck out from the frame a short distance so I could get one good tack weld on it to hold it in place. I then clipped the wire off and screwed in a 6" bolt to make sure the nut was straight and then welded the nut in place and ground it off flush. This gave me lots of thread and I was sure it was straight.