1957 Ford Country Sedan mocha silver V8 4dr wagon

[mustang6984]

Excellent! Looks good, and like you said...quick and easy access!

[gasman826]

I lean a little to overkill.  Once innocence are lost, you can get it back.  I lost a barn to fire and had my house broken into, looted, and vandalized.  Every exterior door (and then some) has a fire extinguisher hanging next to it.  All vehicles have a fire extinguisher in it.  I have seen too many small highway fires turn into total losses due to no extinguisher.  I know this sounds gruesome but the extinguisher should be within reach of the driver with seat belts on.  If the driver was pinned in a burning car, the extinguisher would not be accessible to the driver.  A sanctioning body required the moving of the extinguisher for this reason.  Still much better to have one on-board in a less desirable location than none at all.  You also have it properly fastened down rather than stuffed under the front seat.  Nice retro.

[Ecode70D]

Jay possibly has a core or project carb that might be a good donor.
Lynn, I am not sure if that photo is art, But I think it captures what most of us car guys can refer to. Taking the recently finished project out for its first longer drive, having accomplished and repaired a lot and returning home with a feeling that says 'Now we are ready to hit the road'. I confess that this is the time when you sit in the lawn chair and open up a beer

Günter
     I sent you a bunch of pictures of the carburetor that I found in my stuff. All the email came back  back stating undeliverable..  It  is a rebuilt and the box states 57-59 Ford.  The lever that blocks of and opens the float bowl vent hole is on it also.  Let me know if you get them after you free up some space.   Jay

[RICH MUISE]

The fire extinguisher looks great, and I like your location of it......may steal the idea for mine.
Congrats on the inspection, and yes, the bureaucracy would be tough to deal with. When I registered mine, I went down and paid about a hundred if I remember showed proof of insurance and my car was set for 5 years. Nobody even looked at it.

Now I'm anxious to see pics of your wagon out in your countryside!!

[John Palmer]

I have not had any problems with the (plastic?) black floats.  They have been around for a long time.  Todays new ethanol fuel is very hard on fuel system parts.

The old original style cork Holley float bowel gaskets always worked well for me.  I have never had a problem re-using them after jet changes.  Here's one little trick that will save someone some hassle.  This can be easily done with the carb still installed on the motor.  You need to drain the gas from the float bowel first.  Loosen and remove either one of the "bottom" long screws that attach the float bowel to the carb body.  Use a small metal "juice can" to catch the gas, trust me on this, don't use your empty Styrofoam coffee cup, it does not like gas!

SAVE, and use the gas that you just removed, to soak the float bowel gaskets after you remove them, you DO NOT want them to dry out because they will shrink up, and the screw holes will not align.  As long as they are wet with gas, they will stay the correct size, making it easy to reassemble.

Sometimes, when you rebuild a Holley, you will get a very old rebuild gasket kit with the cork gaskets dried up and YES shrunken!  Just lay them on a clean flat metal surface like a welding table, then take a large ball peen hammer and "tap" the gaskets with the heavy flat end of the hammer.  If you hit it squarely, and work around the gasket you will stretch the cork back out just like working a metal fender dent with a hammer and dolly.

It was common for Holley's to have warped body's.  It was likely from heat cycles and over tightening by previous mechanics.  In any case, check all three of the flat surfaces on the main body every time it apart.  The front, the rear, and the bottom.  If the front of the body is distorted, it makes the accelerator circuit leak.  Just check them with a flat edge ruler.  You can easily true them up with a large flat body file if warped.

[Ecode70D]

John
    That's a slick trick with the carburetor gaskets.   I like it when I learn something new.
Jay

[djfordmanjack]

Gary, your words need to be heard by everybody! Quality fire extinguishers are fairly reasonable and there is no reason for NOT having them around, we probably all have seen cars stranded to the highway side with smoke coming out under dash or engine compartment. It could happen to everybody. I'll take your comment about the location in consideration, keep in mind that the CS doesn't have seat belts at the moment. On my VW beach buggy which had sport seats and full safety belt harness, I had the fire extinguisher mounted on the chassis tunnel so it could be reached from each seat. I had been thinking too long about where to find them in each other car. Is it in the trunk, under the seat, do I have to exit the car to get it? I will try putting them in pretty much the same location in my cars. obviously driveshaft tunnel under dash would be best to reach.

@Jay, yes I got the pics of the Holley 2bbl and I can't believe that you have the correct carb lying on your shelf while we have been busy discussing my messed up replacement thingy for days here..... .....hahaha....looking forward to that !

@Rich, it will still take a few weeks until I get it all sorted with the federal inspection, insurance and finally the registration. it is rather a complex system over here. But I will get the wagon out in places and get some pics like you did . roadside pics are the best!

@John....what a wealth of info ! I have been working on carbs from my motorscooter days on for 25 years but like Jim said recently,everyday we learn something new. I get the feeling that those 2bbl Holleys are nice and simple carbs to work on. They have been used for 30 years obviously.
There are several floats available for different versions of the 2300 so chances are high, somebody used the wrong one on my actual carb.
The engine is running nicely now, but I feel that yet a slightly higher fuel bowl level would enrich the idle mixture and increase steadiness in idle, when braking to a halt in Drive, so I could set the idle rpms even a little lower. we are talking 100-200rpms maybe. the dashpod on my carb is in good working order and properly adjusted.
I have ordered the reusable 'quickfuel' type of gasket kit, so when that arrives I will pull the fuel bowl and see what's in there.

[John Palmer]

Guenter, Sorry I'm not a photo type guy, but maybe someone has a photo to share. 

To cure the stall problem when you quickly lift the throttle while "still in gear" requires a DASH POT be installed, it's just a motion dampener.  It was a common part on all the 1960's Ford Autolite, and Ford Holley carbs.  Both two and four barrels used it, so I'm sure you can find one off of a donor carb.  It look alot like a distributor vacuum advance can, but has a 5/16" threaded bolt on one end.  It just slows the throttle arm return back to the full closed throttle stop.  It's adjustable, with just a 1/2" wrench.

I did tune up work in the 1960's, at a Ford dealership in Arizona.  It's a very warm desert area and almost all the cars were equipped with A/C and adjusting the (both Cold and Hot) idle RPM, and the Dash Pot movement was important to prevent engine stalling.

Hammering the cork gaskets also works on valve covers, and pan gaskets that require just a little reshaping.  Always make sure the pan and valve cover mounting holes are "hammered back to flat" when replacing gaskets.  They are usually deformed from "previous" overtightening.

Note, Hiball has one pictured in his Holley photo on reply #350.  They work well, sometimes require a little adjusting.

[djfordmanjack]

John, no wonder that you have sound experience with those carbs. thanx for sharing, the hammering trick is really cool !

I think you missed one of my lines in the last post when I was saying:

the dashpod on my carb is in good working order and properly adjusted.

It was one of the first things I checked and and did readjust several times, as the idle set screw came further out each time an improvement was made on the ignition,carb and valvetrain. I didn't think that so many things could be wrong on the engine and still running that well ( it drove more than 1000 miles all the way from England !).
I am getting the idle lower each day. just took it out for a 1 hour low rpm 20mph Cruising around the neighborhood and the stalling problem is long gone. Unfortunately words can not describe how cool it is to be just rolling around on a mild spring evening, But I think you all know what I mean...

[John Palmer]

Sorry, I missed it, but I'm OLD! LOL

Make sure you check the valve adjustments.  I'm sure you did already, but a little loose and a little noise, is better than too tight.  If it's adjusted too tight, it will not run smoothly (as in stalling) when it's hot.

[djfordmanjack]

Indeed John, 5 or 6 valves were on the tight side ( rather 0.015 or less instead of 0.020 hot) 3 valves were about 0.25 and they made a heck of a noise sounding like a worn rod bearing. none of that! I did adjust the valves as good as possible (partly worn rocker shafts) to 0.020 and with the fresh zinc containing HD oil that rough beater has become a sewing machine in 3 days or so! Literally dozens of little adjustments and improvements have been made all over the engine and it was very well worth the time and money spent! Again it goes to show that 5% extra time spent in the build for details will make 50% of the driving fun.

[Limey57]

Excellent progress, I've been busy for a few weeks & only just catching up on here!  The hitch looks good, how have you wired it for the separate Euro turn signals/brake lights?  I ran my brake lights from the brake light switch & turn signals from the turn signal switch, all run through their own fuse box.  I also used the 13 pin socket rather than the 7 pin as that's what our travel trailer (caravan) and my other trailer have.  I had my own hitch fabricated from 2" box section (1/4" wall thickness) that bolts to the chassis using 4 x 1/2" bolts and 1 x 5/8" bolt in the middle through the rear crossmember.  The only problem I had was finding a US style ball at 50mm diameter that also had a high rating and the right 1" (M24) shank.

I went for the removable "class 3 & above" style, the only thing I don't like is the rattle between the two, I miht use shims to take up he slack.

[djfordmanjack]

Gary your hitch looks rock solid ! love the little reinforcement brackets that you put in the corners. well thought out !
I opted for the 7 pin socket for its vintage looks and we can get adapters for 13 pin connectors ( of course only 7 pins would be hot but the CS doesn't have any gadgets like back up lamps, fog lamps and the like). your travel trailer requires all the lights it can get.
I plan to only pull smaller campers or twin axle car trailer.
I did wire the turn signal over the og front turn signal switch circuits and used an electronic flasher relais. Since I have LED turn signals in the taillights, the relais will easily cope with the additional trailer bulbs. I pulled new wires for the stop lights.

Today repaired a leaking heater core valve, which was rusted out in places. had to make one out of two as the replacement valve had a leaking vacc diaphragm. I did pressure test the assembly to 25psi in a water tank. all fine now.
The heater core is og to the car ( date stamped March 6th 1957) pretty much matching the CS's build date. In comparison to the aftermarket heater core ( bought for the Del Rio) it looks a lot better and seems to have more heating capacity.

[hiball3985]

Not quite sure why you spliced the valve parts together, maybe I'm not awake yet  I wanted to use the valve that is none vacuum and only mechanical, had a hard time finding one but Jay had one and was kind enough to send it to me.

I used an after market core like yours and it puts out plenty of heat but I'm using a 180 thermostat.

[gasman826]

x2 on the pressure test.  Rig up some kind of pressure and test it in the sink.  Too many potential leaks to hope for the best.