some interesting, some quirky stuff

[RICH MUISE]

skiping thru the service bulletins I've been posting, I've noticed a few things either I wasn't aware of, or some downright wierd..especially when you think about the discusions we've had about "like the factory did it".

A service note bringing up the problem of water buildup on the door scuff plates because the rocker may not be at the proper angle to allow draining  suggests the following fix....drill 3 holes thru the scuff plate and the rocker panel to allow the water to drain.

A kit to install a dual electric fuel pump on '57 p'ups equipped with dual fuel tanks has all the parts needed for the conversion except for the mounting bracket the pumps are mounted to. They supplied a drawing with some formed sheetmetal parts welded together....so I guess each dealer had to have the bracket fab'd in their shop.

A comprehensive list of all the carburetors used on '57's indicates that 312's were available in both the fairlane and Custom models, but the 292 was only available in the Fairlane. The Customs got the 272 version. That was the one that was news to me. Also the 6's were available in all models except the retractable.
next day edit...the carb. listing I was talking about is Bulletin #350, which I hadn't posted when I made the above reference.

[lowrider]

Intresting indeed especially the 312's in Customs. If I had a nickel for every old guy that had a 57 Custom with a supercharged 312 I could go on a nice vacation.

[JPotter57]

My Custom came with a 272, currently has a 292, and as soon as I can get it built, will have a G head 312.  Things change through the years, especially in the hands of hot rodders, lol....I know what you're saying about every Y block being a 312.

[Zapato]

..I know what you're saying about every Y block being a 312.

And they're all T-bird models.

Zap-

[glen b henderson]

From what I have been told, you can look at the first letter of the vin and tell what the car came with orginally. My Custom is (A) so that tells me it was orginally a 6 cyl, both of the parts cars or (B) so must have been 272's. C would be 292, D = 312, E = 312 dual four barrel and of course F is the S/C 312.

[JPotter57]

Yep, John Gambill bought a real F code Custom 300 a few years ago, sold it before he did a lot to it though.  He also had a decent project E code Custom.  Now that its been mentioned, I dont recall ever seeing a C code 292 equipped Custom series car, though a friend of mine has a C code Courier and that wagon I had was a C code car.  All of my Customs, parts cars etc have been B cars, my Fairlane parts cars were both D codes.

[Lou]

I had a C code custom as a daily driver in the early 70s, along with a C code standard shift convertible. Wish I had kept that convertible.

[Hoosier Hurricane]

My Ranchero is  C code originally.   John

[Ford Blue blood]

My Ranchero is a "C" code as well.

[Frankenstein57]

I checked mine, C code

[RICH MUISE]

Another quirky one...looking at bulletin 345, page 2 shows a listing of rear axle ratios and speedo gear ratios(and pn's)...the interesting thing is the tire size references...1/2 of them are 14", and the other half are 15" I wasn't aware '57's came with 2 different wheel diameters.

[Lou]

There were some but not all Police and Taxi packages, and HD packages that included 15 inch wheels. A friend of mine had a 57 ranchero with 15 inch wheels but he bought the ranchero used so I don't know if it came from the factory that way.

[RICH MUISE]

Another interesting service bulletin item...from #363. They changed the gear designs in the 3 speed manual tranny, and the gears are not interchangeable between old and new...but no assembly number change "until new numbers could be assigned"..you have to go by the date cast into the casing.