Cowl drain tubes

[RICH MUISE]

I really like that upholstery. I think once you have it done your way, that's gonna be a great car at a whole lot less time than building from scratch. I agree on the oversize shifter boot/housing.

[hiball3985]

I like your seat, mine is similar but black and red and really comfortable. I'm missing the adjuster knob too.
I knew what I was buying and how much work I needed to do. 57's in my price range aren't easy to find and I didn't really want a ranchero. I only bought this one because the body work and paint was done and it was a stick, if it had been an auto I would have walked away. It already had the discs and electric wipers and everything else was there but needed to be reworked one way or another. I traded an old top loader for a T85 OD.. Some time after I had done a lot of work I ran into the last owner and asked who did this and that which was wrong and he told me the guys name I didn't know. Later I found out he was a homeless guy who rides around on a bicycle with a little tool box tied on 

[57chero]

 I live in the Portland Metro area and when ever I am working in the area ( Plumber) I will stop in and walk through Matthews Memory lane. I was just in there today, the inventory changes weekly and he just sold a 57 Fairlane last week. The owner is a stand up guy and owns all the cars outright. I had him appraise my ranchero and according to him there one of his favorite cars. The one you bought must not have been there very long because I don't remember seeing it there, I wish I knew you were interested in it I could have looked at it for you.

[Tom S]

I like your seat, mine is similar but black and red and really comfortable. I'm missing the adjuster knob too.

Yup, those seats are comfortable.  It's nice to finally have a bench seat again.  I'm not missing the  adjuster knob any more, stole the one off the ratty '58 Ranchero.  Gonna swap outside door handles too since the '58s are better.

I didn't really want a ranchero. I only bought this one because the body work and paint was done and it was a stick, if it had been an auto I would have walked away.

A '57 Ranchero is the only '57 I really wanted & have wanted one for many decades. Had one when I was a kid that was a POS that ended up wrecked.
There just was never one to be found here. I know of one other '57 Ranchero anywhere near here but have only seen it twice at our annual Show & Shine when tons of cars come out of the woodwork.  Some quite rare. It's nice. Light blue with a 302 auto. It has fake spotlights & fake sidepipes. If I had it I'd pull that stuff off. The only other one I know of here is my ratty '58 with the Edsel nose & a @#!&*! Mopar slant six & automatic.   
If I lived down in those 'lesser 48 states' I'd have the luxury to walk away from an automatic car. So I had to settle.

Since this thread has really gone off the rails ...
A couple hours ago I pulled up the center panel of the bed to see what's down there.  This car does not have a normal Rancho/wagon gas tank & from underneath I can see some metal screws that don't appear to normal. Wasn't sure what they have done. Wanted to see if there was a spare tire well & if I could get to the fuel tank sender.
When the aftermarket gas gauge reads empty I fill up & the most gas I've ever gotten into it was about 13 gallons.  This don't look like a 13 gallon tank!
I also have the idea of replacing the stock bed center panel with 1/8" diamond plate & putting a hinged door in it like the wagons have so I could put a spare tire & tools in it.
Been a long time since I've seen a '57 station wagon spare tire well so don't know if this tire well looks semi normal.  Gotta see a pic of one.
Those metal screws I mentioned are around the forward curved area of the  tire well.
Also discovered some real bad news. Left rear quarter panel has been damaged. Some chipped paint & looks like the lower part of off the panel was pushed in making a long crack in the 'bondo'.  This really sucks.  What's maybe worse is that I can't be sure that I didn't do this myself some time, maybe a couple weeks ago, by backing into something in the yard.
Never saw this before.  
Couldn't get a good pic of the damage in the garage.
Tire well & 1/4 panel pic.  Any comments on the tire well?

[djfordmanjack]

Tom, the 'spare wheel well' area in your Ranchero doesn't look original to me. it seems as if the  bottom has been repaired, but repair doesnt look so bad. I think it's not as deep though as og and missing a large diam drain whole. my wagon tanks hold approx 18 glns.

[Tom S]

Tom, the 'spare wheel well' area in your Ranchero doesn't look original to me. it seems as if the  bottom has been repaired, but repair doesnt look so bad. I think it's not as deep though as og and missing a large diam drain whole. my wagon tanks hold approx 18 glns.

Thanks, man! That does confirm my thoughts on it. From what little can be seen from underneath it's clear that that well was fabricated.  Just from the top you can see that the corners are squared off instead of the rounded shapes that an original well would have.
It looked shallow from below but not from the top.
Measured & looks like it will hold a spare.
I expected to see that they had eliminated the well to make room for whatever tank that is.  Sort of surprised that they even made that well for the spare.
Oh! it does have a big drain hole at the front of the well.

Pix of the fuel pump flange.

[Tom S]

I live in the Portland Metro area and when ever I am working in the area ( Plumber) I will stop in and walk through Matthews Memory lane. I was just in there today, the inventory changes weekly and he just sold a 57 Fairlane last week. The owner is a stand up guy and owns all the cars outright. I had him appraise my ranchero and according to him there one of his favorite cars. The one you bought must not have been there very long because I don't remember seeing it there, I wish I knew you were interested in it I could have looked at it for you.

Dang! Missed your post.  I wish I'd known that somebody was there  that could look at it for me. The guy I dealt with never did answer 1 or 2 of my straight questions. Like, 'What on/in the car does not work'?  He did send me pix of the underside rust I'd requested.  (It's a bit worse than what pix show)
I had read up on Matthews Memory Lane Motors beforehand. They had been in business a long time & seemed to have a good reputation.

[KYBlueOval]

Tom, I'm going tomorrow to where my Ranchero body is located to do some work on it and can take a photos of the "tire well" area if you like. I'd have to E-mail them to you.
Let me know,
John

[hiball3985]

Too bad the damage happened to the rear quarter, we have all done something like that at one time.

Thats not original but it looks ok. Mine was completely rusted out and so was the top of the tank because some idiot plugged up the drain hole some time in the past. I discovered that the first time I tried to fill the tank  No plan to put the spare there so I just cut it out and covered with flat sheet. Did the same to the top of the tank..

[Tom S]

Tom, I'm going tomorrow to where my Ranchero body is located to do some work on it and can take a photos of the "tire well" area if you like.

Thanks for the offer! But don't bother with it.  I think Ive seen what I needed to see.

[RICH MUISE]

Just my 2 cents, but in my opinion, for buying a car unseen, you really could be in a LOT worse situation. That spare tire well, for example, may not be to oem specs, but from what I can see they made a pretty decent effort to get an acceptable repair done. It's not like we're the Chevy guys that have just about anything needed available. Sooooo many horror stories on the net about guys getting really burnt buying misrepresented cars.

Like Jim said, we've all done something like your rear quarter damage at some time or another, but I know that sure doesn't make you feel any better. Hell, I remember a story a few years ago (while you were gone) about a forum member who spent 10 years building his car then made the stupid mistake of reaching in to start his car after bypassing the neutral safety switch and ended up crunching the entire drivers side of his car on a building.
Oh, wait, that was me.

[Tom S]

Just my 2 cents, but in my opinion, for buying a car unseen, you really could be in a LOT worse situation. That spare tire well, for example, may not be to oem specs, but from what I can see they made a pretty decent effort to get an acceptable repair done.

I'm sure I could be worse off but there are quite a few things, some small & some that are pretty serious issues, that I wasn't made aware of.  Rocker arm rust is a lot worse than I expected or was shown to me in the under body pix I ask for. On the driver's side the whole  vertical inside section of the rocker is all there but is completely separated from the lower seam of the rocker. There's more but no use in whining about it here I guess. 
I think whoever went went to the trouble to do that spare tire well did not have the center panel of the bed on hand & didn't know that it wasn't used on the Rancheros. Seems kinda funny.

Like Jim said, we've all done something like your rear quarter damage at some time or another, but I know that sure doesn't make you feel any better.

No it doesn't make me feel any better no matter how it happened. But to be clear I'm not 100% sure I did that myself.  If so it would been done weeks before I even noticed it.  Looked all around the only possible object that I could have hit & found no evidence. Still... 
What looks to be a big scratch on that lower rear 1/4 is actually something worse.  It looks like a big section of thin 'bondo' that the lower portion of is pushed out away from the body. A big crack probably caused by the lower section of the panel being pushed in a little. Now I'm afraid that I'm gonna be driving along & have a bunch of it just falling off. Ain't had it outside for a better pic of that yet.

Damn, Rich! I didn't know you crunched the side of your car after all that work.  I'm really sorry to hear that. What a bummer!  A BIG bummer!
I found out that the neut safety switch on this @#$%! Lokar shifter ain't adjusted right & will start in reverse.
I'm not used to driving auto trans cars & have walked away leaving it in drive a few times.  I've trained myself to always use the what was once called the emergency brake but haven't been doing on this car. I doesn't work very well, drove quite a ways with it on a couple times.   Thinking of adapting a different operating mechanism.
I have stories of a couple semi-catastrophes & near catastrophes about my not using the emergency brake when I should have.

[Ecode70D]

     Tom
      I'm a little late getting into this conversation but I have to tell you that the cowl drain that you came up with is real slick.  It will save a lot of guys that don't want to remove their front ends a lot of headaches.  It still had to be no fun getting into those small areas on each side of the cowl.  Your are right. "Ford didn't do us any favors with the original setup and that was  responsible for the demise of our front floors."
     Sorry to see what happened to the rear quarter panel and hope that you can repair it without getting into a huge project.  Could the inner rocker panels have been deliberately left open a little when the outer rockers were replaced so the water and silt inside would drain out? You know that Henry didn't do us any favors in that area also because that area filled up with silt and blew out the inner and outer rockers. Just thinking.   Jay   

     

[Tom S]

Tom, I'm a little late getting into this conversation but I have to tell you that the cowl drain that you came up with is real slick. ... It still had to be no fun getting into those small areas on each side of the cowl.

Thanks, Jay. It just seemed to be the easiest & most straight forward way to fix the problem.  Getting at the hole between the fender & the outside of the cowl was easy enough, the reach up under the dash was harder & it would have been nice to have a helper to push the plastic elbow & tube in while I guided the tube onto the cowl drain itself. Couldn't pull it on to the metal of the cowl drain for lack of enough space for fingers, especially on the right side. And that big thick plastic tubing had a permanent bend in it from being on a roll.

Could the inner rocker panels have been deliberately left open a little when the outer rockers were replaced so the water and silt inside would drain out?

I don't think they deliberately left open. Just didn't even try to fix it. I think that panel not being attached makes for a weaker structure too. This certainly was not a body off job.
There were some fairly decent looking floor pan patches under the front footwell area that I'm assuming were done long ago & before this last body work & paint job.
I'm afraid much of this can not be properly repaired without doing some serious damage to the expensive paint job.
Check this stuff out.

[Ecode70D]

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.  You should be able to make those underside repairs without messing up the outside paint.  I try not to do that kind of work in the winter though because the cement floor is real cold.  Where you are, it has to be extra cold.  How bad is the quarter panel damage? Can you see anything from inside the trunk?
     I hope that my eyes are lying to me. From what I see, please don't tell me that they beat the old rocker panel in and covered it with the replacement panel. 
JA