Ranchero build

[RICH MUISE]

That's coming along nicely, Bill. Console looks great...........maybe needs one of those big red toggle switches with the flip cover. What are your plans for the seats?

[Ford Blue blood]

Seats will be re-foamed and covered with the same material as the console.  I will add a little extra to the bolsters to make them closer to a real "bucket" then the stock seats (63 Bird) are.

[Ford Blue blood]

Couple of buddies came over today, drink coffee, shoot breezes, look at car parts and then install the back window and the windshield.  Both roped in no sweat

[Ford Blue blood]

Life is full of little surprises!  Went in for the final check with the prostate thing, after the all clear I decided to go get the eyes done.  Been two years since the last look.  Turns out they both had pretty bad cataracts.  Just got the second one done, no heavy lifting, no strenuous activity for two weeks....:<(

So back to piddly stuff again.  Got the glass for the vents.  Decided to rebuild them.  Took everything off, cleaned and buffed the stainless.  Cleaned out the old rotten "fuzzies" from the channel.  Installed the vent seal.  How to do the back edge with those little rivets?  Finally figured a way to take care of that.  Made a tool to set them.  A real pain in the butt but it worked.

I learned a long time ago that the loop portion of Velcro does a fantastic job re-lining the channel.  First I use the little wire brush to really clean out the junk.  After all the old material is out the channel gets washed with lacquer thinner and followed up with a denatured alcohol rinse.  The clean surface allows the self sticky Velcro to really hold on.

I then cut strips of the Velcro to lay in.  I do the bottom first.  Use a screen door roller to press it down then lay in the sides.  If you get too much up on the rolled edge a razor blade will run down the groove to trim it up. 

[Ford Blue blood]

Rest of the pictures.  The last one just will not focus up right but it looks like new channel in person. 

Wash, rinse, and repeat for the other side!  Tedious but it all works.

If any of you want to borrow the little tool let me know and we can move it around to whom ever needs it or would like to try it.

[RICH MUISE]

Neat tool. That conical point for the for the hollow rivets should roll the flare out nicely. That point is pretty much the same as that on a transfer punch, and that's what I used. I just set the assembly over a 5/16 (?) x 2" parallel bar held in a vise.Then wacked it with the transfer punch.
I'm glad you posted pics of the velcro install. I knew that's what you used, but I never would have guessed you did the back and sides separately. Makes sense though when you think about an aggressive adhesive making it really difficult to push into place as one piece.
Nice job.

[Ford Blue blood]

Been doing a bunch of "little stuff", not much excitement in sanding, priming, sanding, and then shooting paint!  Got all the interior trim items painted.  The doors are stripped down ready for more sanding, priming, sanding, blocking, priming......you know the drill.

Want the tail gate to be smooth.  Been thinking on how to open.  Finally came up with a solution.  Made a latch similar to early door latches.  Works well and will now allow me to smooth out the gate.

[Ford Blue blood]

Got the latch tested and cleaned up a little, now cut a hole in the tail gate cover.....happy with the results.  Now just finish up with some cosmetic work and on to getting the hood ready for paint.

[RICH MUISE]

Nice bit of engineering and fabrication there Bill! I love the cleaned up look to our cars

[Ford Blue blood]

Quick update....besides sanding and blocking....filled all the fluids up, brakes bleed, radiator full of anti freeze and distilled water, engine full of break-in oil, and transmission filled up.  Had a little timing issue, got it put back on time, placed a "nurse" tank on the fuel pump, primed the carb and fired the beast up.  Did the 20 minute run in for the cam.  Happy, temp went up to 200 (190 T-stat) sitting in the garage with the ambient temperature at 93 and stayed there.  Oil pressure jumped up to 68 and held steady during the run-in.  Only one small leak and that was the front seal of the transmission.  It made a 3" spot on the floor then stopped.  Got the idle set down to 650, oil dropped to 50, temperature held steady at 200.  Looks like all systems are working as they should.  Will put it back on the ground and move it under it's own power for the first time in only God know how long.  Don't know how or have the gear for putting up a video.

Side note, the manifolds are perfect.  I covered them with an air cure ceramic coating, had no idea how they would do.  No smoking, no color change, they look as nice as they did the day I put them back on the engine.  The info on that is in this thread.

[Lgcustom]

Questions about the air cure ceramic coating. How much was required for your manifolds? How was it applied ? Rattle can, spray gun? What type gun?
Sounds like a good thing for header coating.

[Ford Blue blood]

"Glacier Silver Ceramic" is what is on the bottle.  It is sprayed right out of the bottle.  Used my touch up gun.  It took one 2 oz bottle to put two wet coats on each manifold.

This is a Columbia Coatings product.  The 2oz. bottle was $20.  Bought two just in case.  Took just a little under one bottle after following the directions.  Put on a light coat first, after it flashes spray a second wet coat.

I'll post a picture of one of them, a before and after the run in. 

OK, the before is in the build, here are what they look like after a 30 minute run in followed the next day with 45 minutes of run.  Sorry for the delay, life has a way of making plans go south......

[Ford Blue blood]

Been a challenge working in the 90+ heat but am making progress.  Got the doors striped down ready for primer, got the tail gate "open" thing working flawlessly so it is time to remove the old tail gate handle.  Went fairly well.  Given I don't have a planishing tool I spent an hour with a body hammer, my welding table and shaped the fill piece.  Got it right, used it as a template to cut out the latch indent.  Made a piece to fill the key hole too.  Welded it in and did some of the body work.  Got it real close with a skim coat.  Striped it down ready for the first coat of primer.

[Ford Blue blood]

Shot the first coat of primer on the doors and tail gate.  Now the fun begins....after mean ol mr sun gets gone curing and shrinking everything....blocking and trying to keep sweat from dripping on it!

[RICH MUISE]

Looking great, Bill.
Yep, sweat.....along with fly specks, ketchup, etc., all that organic stuff is the reason I keep telling guys to use both water based cleaners and solvent based to get everything.