New member intro with a new Country Sedan project.

[Limey57]

Welcome aboard, always fancied a wagon, almost bought one a couple of years ago but a lack of money and not having a cast-iron excuse for my wife as to how yet another old car "followed me home" meant I (regrettably) didn't go for it...

[sprink88]

Welcome, you and your daughter. And the work in front of you two

[GaryI72]

Welcome and good luck on your rebuild. You found the right forum to get your questions answered. Make sure to keep us updated on the progress.

[djfordmanjack]

57 Ford wagons RULE !  that said, it is cool to have a girlfriend like that, wanting to drive her own vintage car and not only taking passenger seat on a show or 2 a year ! she did a fabulous choice with the 57 !
It might also be a good idea to let her take part in restoration work, cleaning, grinding, sanding. SHE needs to get dirty herself before she can appreciate the work YOU will be doing to the car 
I have had 2 57 wgns with Smallblock fords in them, they are very well balanced and roll along nicely
looking forward to seeing progress in your wgn.
you might be lucky at the LongBeach SM. I met a guy called Collier's Classics, he is dealing with 50s FoMoCo repro parts and has lots of 57 rubber and stuff in stock. also was very pleased with Edith's Metal polishing, they had rechromed 57 bumpers in stock @ reasonable price.

[Ecode70D]

   What djfordmanjack stated about getting your girl friend to help is good advice.

   When  my wife said that she wanted a driver license, I told her yes, but she would have to rebuild the engine first.  Her first car was a Ford Wagon and she did assist me in installing the pistons and rebuilding the engine.  I torqued everything up and we installed it.  That wagon gave her years of good service.

 

[robhaerr]

Art...

By the way...not many 57 Ford Country Sedans in SoCal, which is pretty cool. You will have many asking what it is.

Mine doesn't have any badges so it makes the conversation more fun for the younger car fans with a eye for taste! Too many ask if it is a "Nomad"...ugh...

Mine has a 302 and C4, too...wish I had an AOD tranny for the freeways.
Video everyone else has seen...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj-5odSvX7E

Cheers,
Rob

[MrArt2u]

Hey guys,

Thanks again for the welcomes, and don't you worry, Amanda will be working on this wagon right alongside me. We restore pinball machines and other mechanical games together and I know she's not afraid to get her hands dirty. But I really think those Velocity channel car restoration shows really hooked her on the DIY dream car idea. I catch her watching that channel all the time. I haven't built a complete car in about 6 years so she's missed out on the dirty, frustrating, everything's-backordered, stuff-just-doesn't-fit parts they don't show on TV. I think I'll ease her into those so she doesn't get too frustrated. But I have warned her about jinxing a project by saying "It'll be easy!"

Oh, and she drove the wagon for the first time last night. I wanted her to experience the ride before the power brakes and steering get installed so we found a huge parking lot for her to have some fun. She had a hard time reaching the pedals since we still need the correct seat and an actual gas pedal, but she LOVED it. She couldn't believe the effort it took to stop that car. But not for long...

This morning we went to the Long Beach Car Show/Swap. It was about 95 degrees out and it's a hot asphalt lot so, I confess, we skipped the last two rows. I'll bet that's where all the Ford parts were hiding because we didn't find any 57 specific stuff out there. I think we found some parts that we can use until the right ones come along, though. I'll work on our "Wanted" list and post it on the forum soon.

While we were there we picked up the 4 wheel disc brake kit and the power steering kit from ABS brake (based out of Orange County, Ca) I spent a while on the phone with Pedro, the owner, telling him what I wanted and needed and he did a great job putting these kits together for us. He gave us a great price and threw in a bunch of extra parts we might need for the install. So far, the service has been excellent with ABS. Hopefully the install will go just as smoothly. I have to tell you how I found out about ABS. Well, I spent a LOT of back and forth/hold time with Dearborn Classics because I was not allowed to speak to a technical person. I was told they had 4 tech people and 70 people(!) answering the phones. Those 70 phone ops aren't allowed to transfer you to tech but I was encouraged to email them. Which, I must admit, did work better than the phone. Out of frustration, I asked the phone person where they got their kits, in hopes the manufacturer could answer my questions. She said ABS and, at this point, I'm VERY glad she did. I still love and appreciate Dearborn for what they do for us, but having ABS close to me is very much appreciated.

At the swap meet we were also pricing radiators. I met "the Radiator Lady" out of Wildomar, Ca. She said she could do an aluminum radiator (OE looking) for $280 (not including shipping) No charge if delivered to Long Beach Swap or Pomona Car Show. I forgot to ask who manufactured them, though. I also met Rick from Rick's Radiator in Azusa.. He had US Radiator manufactured aluminum radiators on the truck for $329. The sad part is, US Radiator is located only a mile or so from my office but if I bought direct from them, they'd want $417. We'll be selecting one once the car is spending more time on the road but I thought someone may be able to use this information.

Here's a shot of me and Pedro from ABS and our wagon full of wagon parts. We're going out of town for a bit next week so those boxes won't be opened until October. I'll keep y'all posted on the progress!

[Zapato]

good to see you found a 7 blade fan, along with those ABS parts.

Zap-

[MrArt2u]

That fan did NOTHING to cool off the guy pulling that wagon full of parts around the swap meet yesterday! Let's hope it does a better job of cooling that 302!

Rob, thanks for posting that video, that ride is SWEEET! And, believe it or not, it answered a few engine related questions I had in my head. Perfect timing! If you don't mind, I have two questions for you. The first is related to the tailgate lock. Can you confirm that the key goes straight up and if you turn it one direction it locks it, if you turn it the other direction it unlocks it? Our wagon came with only an ignition key. I had all the locks re-keyed alike but the tailgate lock only turns counter clockwise. I'd like to know what I'm talking about before I return to the locksmith.

The second question is about your California black plates. Did those come with the car or did you have them assigned through the DMV Year of Manufactur program? We want to do the yellow/black YOM plates but we saw a Black/Yellow "DMV clear" set at the swap meet yesterday that had a letter/number combination that Amanda really liked. We'd prefer the Yellow/black but if they'll allow Black/yellow on a '57 she'd really like these plates.

Cheers!
Art.

[Zapato]

That fan did NOTHING to cool off the guy pulling that wagon full of parts around the swap meet yesterday!

Our friends north of the border would probably suggest you wear a Tilley to keep you cool. Now for the 302 it surely will help.

Zap-

[robhaerr]

Hey Art...

Yes...the tailgate lock is straight up with the teeth up. It turns counter clock wise to lock and clock wise to unlock. It uses the ignition key. This one key also works the other door locks. I do not know if the previous owner did this. I only have one key...must get another made!

The black plates I have came with the car when I bought it about 9-10 years ago. They have '63 stamped on them. Not sure when they were mated to the car.

Thanks for the nod after seeing the video. You can watch a bunch more videos about swapping in the 302, rack and pinion steering, front and rear sway bars here...(it had a Chevy 350 when I bought it)...get the popcorn...

Episodes 1-9 are on Vimeo...(hope you can see these, let me know if a password is needed)...
https://vimeo.com/user531397/videos

Episodes 10-31 are on the YouTubes...
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWq06-maBfWW4aNFqeF4dcm_3dh1AUHcg

I recommend documenting your project fun on video and sharing here. These guys here can provide some great feedback!

Have fun!
Rob
...now if I can just get the dang gas gauge to work!

[Contibob]

Hey Art, I was wondering if you installed the ABS brakes yet? I am thinking of front disks for one of my cars and thought you might have some insight on the installation process.

[MrArt2u]

Hey Contibob,
I'm sorry to report that I've not yet completed the install. We just got back from a LONG week in Orlando. Long because of the stack of parts waiting for us at home! I can make some initial comments though as I mocked up one side to test wheel fitment. For starters, our 15" steel wheels fit with plenty of room to spare.

The customer service at ABS is superb. They answered all of my questions and tailored the kit to my needs. I'm very happy with the transaction.  The brackets, calipers, rotors, master and booster are all good quality, the level I'm used to getting from my local shop. The brake hoses are nice braided steel. The bearings and seals, however are import. They told me this before I purchased so I knew what to expect. They offered to upgrade to Timken/american products but I passed since I have an excellent local source. Given how accommodating and generous they have been, if I were to do it again I'd ask for the upgrade from them.

The initial mock up of the front wheel was very promising. Everything looked well made and very sturdy. I'm taking the time to remove all the undercoating, detail the suspension and install the power steering box before the install so final road test may not happen for another month or so.

One other thing, plan on updating your steel brake lines when you convert. Our lines were rusted on to the steel tube nut so I soaked them for days with rust penetrant. Even with that, the slightest bit of force with the wrench caused the line to disintegrate a few inches down. I'm glad that happened in my driveway on jackstands instead of on the freeway! This is the perfect time to change those 57year old lines.

I wish I had more to report at this time, if you have any specific questions, fire away!

Cheers,
Art.

[Contibob]

Thanks for the update Art. I live in San Diego and almost went to look at that car. Since I already have 6 57's I am glad you bought it so I wouldn't. Bob

[Jeff Norwell]

Welcome!