Bob's 57 AGIN is back to the shop (Santini's)

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Just waiting for another check from the Insurance Company so I can "bail" the car out from the body shop without tapping real deep into savings.  The garage is cleaned out, misc. nuts & bolts are being cleaned & painted, the upholstery shop is awaiting the interior re-installation and Rick and I are ready to hook up the electrical systems, bleed the brakes and get the engine ready to start.  After we finish all of the above the car will go back to Santini's for final detailing, buffing etc. and installing the refurbished bumpers.  As of my last posts about the car and getting it home I wasn't aware that the final shop bills had to be taken care of before the car came home even temporarily for Rick and I to do our thing.  I guess I understand that when thousands of dollars are involved, that more than prior business dealings a hand shake come into play.  We'll keep you advised of future progress as it occurs.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Well Guys:

2 years and 1 month later 57 AGIN is finally home again.  The insurance Company, Infinity Select, sent the check I needed to bail the 57 out of the body shop and March 30Th the car was towed to my home, about 8 miles from Santini's.  Right now the fit is a bit tight in my garage, as I had a roll up electric garage door installed while the 57 was in the body shop, consequently I lost about 6 - 8 inches of front to rear space.  I now will have to rip out a bench & shelving in the back of the garage in order to fit the car straight in and clear the bumpers when they are back on the car.  Meanwhile, Rick and I are doing final sheet metal, wiring & etc. to get the car back on the road.  Attached are a few photos of what has been done.  I'm taking my time, as a certified non-mechanic and under the guidance of Rick who really knows what he's doing, so I don't mess up even the simple things. I hope you don't get bored with my slow progress, but it is what it is.

The 1st series of photos show the car getting home and the rest show the various pieces going back onto the car.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

For some reason this post didn't post yesterday when I posted the first 3 photos.  I'll try again.  The 1st thing was to reinstall the new radiator, as the old one was really crunched during the accident.  I still have to work on cutting to proper length some new stainless radiator hoses to replace the old ones.  The next photo is of the reinstalled radiator overflow/catch tank, which fortunately didn't get banged up in the accident.  Finally a photo of the reinstalled coil, before adding the supercharger it was mounted to the engine but now is in a spot with a lot less vibration (unless of course the fender gets banged again. NOT!!!).  We almost have the replacement electric antennae installed.  Rick is working on fabricating a brace to the firewall to prevent the antennae from wiggling around.  The antennae and most all of the wiring leading to the front of the car will be hidden by a fabricated panel holding the MSD 6AL ignition box that bolts to the fender and firewall. There is still plenty to be done, but it is on the way.

Bob
57 AGIN

[JimNolan]

Bob, I remember the car back when it was teal and white and a matching interior with a surfer attitude. I especially liked the photo's of it drag racing. Remember those days Bob. LOL Seriously, glad to see you get it back home. Hope you get it back on the road soon. Jim

[57tudor]

Seems like I did this once before!!   

[Marc]

Looking good Bob!

[RICH MUISE]

Sooooo great to see this coming together again. Great work and patience, Rick and Bob.

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Lots of progress made today.  The antennae is in, the horns, hood hinges and headlights are back on the car.  I also glued (3M Black Adhesive stuff) the last 2 rubber weather seals onto the doors, the main weather strip had already been done by Santini (yes, the doors are very hard to close completely, but the rubber seals seem to be relaxing and it gets easier to close the doors, still not like factory, but getting better).  Thank god for a guru like Rick when putting a 57 back together.  Santini wanted to put the nose piece on before we brought the car home, but we'd have had to take it off to install the horns & hood hinges.  Not knowing, or remembering what order things need to be reassembled could sure lengthen the process.

Tomorrow, I'll be running some parts errands and going over to Santini's and Wheelers to discuss some of the bumper remounting issues.. I want to get the radiator hoses hooked back up again, but am going to get some advice on this from Wheeler's.  They have very smooth and good looking hose setups on their engines and I'm going to look into something other than the corrugated stainless ones I've been running.  I'll let you know what I end up with.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Guys:

Here's the latest update and honestly Rick and I are both working on the car.  I am helping, but picture taking is important, too.  Isn't it? 

Today we made considerable progress.  The grill was assembled and LED amber parking lights and the required resistors were installed and tested.  Boy, are they ever bright.  The grill was installed, as was the gravel shield, lots of specific sized nuts & bolts (Rick has an amazing memory for what goes where and when it's best to assemble it).  Then we reinstalled the sway bar using some tricks that he learned on this Forum to center the rubber and it's surrounding bracket (the Text & Illustrations Catalogs refer to these pieces as the insulator & retainer to stabilizer, I think Rick called the rubber and it's bracket a bushing) onto a straight part of the sway bar so that it doesn't bind on a bend on the sway bar. We finished the day up with installing the front bumper support brackets. 

My next project is installing the radiator hoses and making sure the hoses are all water tight.


Bob
57 AGIN

[Jeff Norwell]

Looking great Bob,..... ya gotta be Happy!

Jeff

[djfordmanjack]

everything looks extremely tidy, great progress!

[maggie234]

Sorry, but I lost my Parts Manual and haven't replaced it yet so I don't know the part numbers.
I have a 57 Ford Country Sedan station wagon 79C and it has a third seat, ours faces towards the front (not towards the rear tailgate window, don't even know if this exists but thought I'd specify). When it is lifted into a seated position, there are two visible long elbow type brackets, one on each side behind the seat that unfolds and extends to hold the seat in place. When the seat is folded, the brackets go down into the floor board. I am looking for the brackets.
Also, I think there is a 2-3" round metal latch embedded into the rear floorboard near the tailgate; it is a flat spare-tire cover-door that allows us to lift up the door and access the spare tire. I also need this.
Is there any way to get hold of Steven out there in the desert? I'm pretty sure it's the same Steven I got a front fender from back in 1990? I'll drive there if I can get more info on his whereabouts? 
Thank you.
Maggie

[RICH MUISE]

Welcome to the forum. I couldn't figure out why you were posting in Bob's thread until you asked about the salvage yard Bob talked about earlier in this post..you obviously have been reading alot!
contact info: go to our "57 Ford supplier and service links" a few boards down from this "general discussion" board and open up the salvage yard links. Their listed by state, including Steve's in 29 Palms.

[57AGIN]

Hallelujah:

57 AGIN's engine is alive and running.  Unfortunately, it keeps running when the key is turned off, no not from timing or dieseling.  Rick's thinking about this and going to trace the circuitry from the ignition switch back.  But, it is alive and didn't sound too bad.  No screeching or other unusual sounds.  We did find that the CD player, which was on during the accident took a beating and needs replacement as do the pair of speakers mounted under the rear package tray.  The radio works fine, too.  I'm trying to locate a hi pitch horn as both of the horns that came with the replacement front clip did not work.  I found a really ugly pair of horns in one of my spare parts boxes, the low-pitch one worked, but the hi-pitch one didn't.  I've contacted Steve Pierce about a working one.  It's really too bad, as the two non-working horns now mounted on the car were both cleaned and painted a looked great.  Steve Pierce has never seen one of the half-round e-brake cable covers that mounts on the floor.  Maybe that is just an Mid-West and East Coast thing.  Still getting things sorted out, but getting closer to back on the road.

Bob
57 AGIN   

[lalessi1]

My car suddenly had the issue of running after the key was turned off. Turned out to be the alternator. Replaced it, no problem since.