The 300

[Jeff Norwell]

Rich, Jeff at some point mentioned a very high C$ figure for a full repaint. I respect your opinion about primered cars not being finished, but honestly, many thsds of $ can be well spent in driving an FE equipped 57 around for years. rather than waiting for years until one can afford a halfway decent paintjob these days.
personally I am a strong believer in doing looooong shakedown runs of a freshly built car before ever thinking about paint.
IF you had an og survivor car, that you disassembled for paint. it would be great to paint the door jambs before assembling the striker plates to the car. With a car like Jeffs, that needed quite some work done. I would highly suggest to give it a thorough, long, good shakedown before going into quality paint coating. there WILL be many discrepancies in alignment and fitment in such a huge project.
imho, Jeffs thoughts of getting the 300 on the road first, are spot on. what do you think, do we have to agree , to disagree ?

Rich...I tried to double quote to include you.but it did not work.


The reason of doing a shakedown in my mind.. is in the past... On both of my earlier Fords.. after Paint,After making all pretty..... there is ALWAYS some kind of adjustment...actually.. Disasters......
I have done the high end car in the past.. and I simply don't have the interest anymore.... If I had the mental strength .. I would love a super stocker OEM car.... that in itself is the most expensive type of car to build.... and when done.. your very cautious of driving it.
To be honest, I should have not touched this car and worked on the super clean Texas B-W 57. It's much better foundation.... but..I was half way to church... so I kept on trucking.
I must say as well... I never had more fun when it was driving.... I took it everywhere.... but the underlying issues where starting to rear  and I needed to fix or let them go past repair.
I also can say I have enjoyed working on this car far better than any car in the past...
As far as paint. it will happen... but I really want to shake this down.. and issues will arise before paint.57's have a big amount of real estate for a body-man.. that.... is where the money is...  and that's the next big step..... The paint of course is going Black..... good lord do I like punishment.It HAS to be straight.I have chosen a Ford Commercial Fleet Paint.... 2x as strong and very tough.It will hold up excellent  against the hard road.The only downfall with it is does not have the same amount UV protection of a  reg pass. car paint.
But... I never leave my cars outside anyhow.... This car is going to be a driver..100%.I hang with about 4 really good pals and i have watched them build their rides and do the exact same process... they have fun with the cars before getting them shiny.. and by the time the paint goes on.. all or most of any issue(technical or whatever) has been addressed
They have lost that caution of driving a freshly painted car.. because of all the road time and the learning the vehicles quirks.
Anyhow... not sure if that makes sense.. but.... that's how Im gonna roll.


My plan is to have this car done for next year(or as much as possible) and drive to the Fathers day roadster show in L.A.I love road trips.I need to get to Boston in this and see Jay, and some good friends there....
Ya gotta drive this things.....

[iamflashman]

I can not agree more with the idea of shakedown.  I have done the other way where you start with full resto just to find you are cutting and modifying nicely painted parts later to to adjust for miscalculations (like bad tire rub!).

Doing a shakedown also gives you some early reward.  Especially if you have a decent body on the car.  You get to enjoy it before it gets all torn down for a long time.

[Jeff Norwell]

Ahh yes.. I have fuel leaks(destroying Paint on the frame).. brake lines leak(destroying Paint on Parts).... and thats the small stuff....

And yes.. my first big Road trip will take me to Austin,Wellington and Lubbock! hahahahah

[djfordmanjack]

Jeff, in your words of road trip plans I can literally feel the joy of driving the wheels off this thing!!! Terrific attitude and way to go imho.
Who knows what next year brings. maybe meet you in one of those places. My friend Baumi and me have been thinking about another US/Can trip. Who knows if that will be possible anywhere soon ?!

[Jeff Norwell]

Doing all the small stuff.. made a big list and crossing things off... still trying to find where i put stuff in them darn safe places.
Anxiously waiting for shifter parts..
.....fitting a NOS grill, finishes all the insulation,finished the brakes and fuel system... the list never ends.(damn,, Ford love Seam Sealer!!!!!!!)

[Jeff Norwell]

Moving onto the Equalizer Bar....
I have a complete 1959 EQ Bar setup.... but the actual EQ bar was crooked when installed into the 57(See pic).... this was due because of the FE sitting forward too much or Motor Mounts not being actual Ford parts(repro mounts from Carpenter)Well in the 60's and 70's it was easy to get the right parts.... but Ford don't carry that stuff any more or either does my local parts house).Asking Lynn,he showed me his solution.(There is a thread on this board explaining, Lynn was a Great Help!)On the Pivot ball bracket(Engine side).... the pivot had to be pushed back about 3/4 of an inch... new hole drilled,pressed in and welded on the backside.
Assembled everything... all perfect... full clutch pedal travel.. and I was a happy Camper.
Again... this is not Rocket science or some mystical voodoo..... and most more experience guys would already know this,.... but for those who plan to use OEM stuff.. ya gotta do some backyard shade tree wizardry hahahah

The first pic is mine.... The others are just ref. from Lynn to show me how to get it done.... just a Guide how I made it work for myself.
On the first pic I made a diagram showing how my EQ needed to pull back and straighten out to a 90 degree between the frame and engine.

[Jeff Norwell]

The re-location of pushing the pivot ball bracket worked out perfectly and the bar is at a 90 degree.. all action from the peddle works well and no bind at all.
Moving down to the linkage from the Z-Bar to the clutch fork... I should have had a clutch fork with a simple dimple pressed in.. but mine was a dimple with a hole(no idea what year,make or model)I was NOT pulling the tranny, to change that out.
The Z-bar is a complete 1959 Ford model,..... So I set a tap in motion, fine thread, and since space is at a premium.... made 4 jam nuts and did a trial run assembling.
I was concerned that just 2 nuts would not simple hold the desired Clutch adjustment.(I really overthink stuff)

I still need to attach shim washers and button the whole system up.. but all seems good.I have good clutch travel,no binds,clutch release at the halfway pedal point....
I will be searching for a good muffler/exhaust shop ..... Did I mention space is at a premium?.... but a good shop can do the job....
Not getting carried away with "Stainless exhaust" either.... this baby is a road brawler.....I need to run a tap over the exhaust studs and clean them up too.

got my inspection plate in too,.. lots of local guys told me I did not need it... yea... I don't like rocks in my pressure plate.

Again. all simple basic stuff.... but we continue to push forward.

[Jeff Norwell]

Needed a clutch fork retraction spring.... because its an oddball setup.. and my auto parts sources looked at me with 3 heads....
We live rural.. so I headed to a tractor and antique farm supply house.... Had what I needed and then some... cost me $3.95 for a part Carpenter wanted 20-40 bucks for plus shipping....

Its the little things that eat so much time..... anyhow.. Clutch pedal to Transmission works very very well....

[Jeff Norwell]

Starting to wire(STILL WAITING ON SHIFTER PARTS!) hahahaha
Opened up the kit and stared to separated the looms in the direction they will go(rear,Dash,Front,etc,etc)Should be very simple..... I am not using a bunch of accessories......

Deciding on where to place the fuse panel.... I am surprised how little room with all the vent/heater duct work that space is a premium.
Needed to get the car on the ground and put on the new rubber and 15's.... happy with the oh so important stance.

[Jeff Norwell]

BTW, on the wiring thing..... There is a small glass fuse that is placed at the rear of the light switch.... anybody know what size fuse?10? 15?....  can't seem to find that info.....

[lalessi1]

Looking REAL good Jeff! I think the fuse is maybe a 4 amp? The wire in those is very small. I will look.

[Jeff Norwell]

Thanks Lynn!

[hiball3985]

Glass fuse on the back of the light switch is for the dome light. Should be low amp as Lynn mentioned

[Jeff Norwell]

Lynn,Jim,..I think I found it. a 7.5 glass unit... I needed a mag. glass to see it on the manual.... Thanks guys!

[59meteor]

Not sure if 57 is different, but on my 59 there is 2 short glass fuses clipped to the back of the headlight switch. Top one for dome light, lower for turn signals. In my 59 shop manual, both are AG5 fuses, which seems to be obsolete, my car had a SF6, wrapped in foil from a cigarette package, funny I ordered 2 new fuses Saturday, have to pick them up this afternoon, weird timing! Jeff, what exhaust manifolds are you using , 406 Shortys? Did they just bolt on? Years ago, I tried the 63-4 427 long exhaust manifolds on my 57 Sedan Delivery, no go, not enough room. On my 59, I used a 58 Z bar and block pivot from a 352, didn`t have to move anything to make it line up OK, although I did need to do a couple of minor changes to clear the FPA headers. The clutch fork I used has just a dimple, was the fork that came with the bellhousing (1962 Ford car).  As for paint vs primer or "patina", as cheap as I am, I just don`t see a car as "finished" without decent paint and chrome bumpers. When I was working at the dealership, I just shook my head at guys that would buy a brand new $60,000 truck, then pay another 4 grand to have it wrapped in flat black, so it looked like primer. Maybe just me, but as someone who struggled to come up with money for decent, (not big $$$ show car) paint jobs, and having bumpers rechromed, I just don`t understand the whole "beater" look. My 59s far from a show car, but I just feel better having it in decent paint. I have over 500 "shakedown" miles on it so far,since I put it on the road for the first time in 18 years, and other than a few minor electrical tweaks, it has been pretty reliable and uneventful, other than 1 bent pushrod in the 428. Nows its just working on finishing minor details , before hopefully moving back East in October. The hard part is having the discipline to work on it, rather than be out driving it!