SoCal '57 Country Sedan Rebuild

[hiball3985]

forgive my ignorance,  i'm not a eng guy,.  i know flatheads, 292's, 312's, 302's, 351's but i don't know what a FE is,  enlighten me,  thanks   jerry

FE's were the 332, 352, 360, 390, 406, 410, 427, 428 type from 1958 to 70's

[rmk57]

  Throw in the 361 E-400 Edsel engine to.

[Ford Blue blood]

Let us not forget the 361T and 391T, both have forged steel cranks.  The snout on the crank can be turned down to accept passenger car balancers.  The high nickel block can be used if you make an adapter for the distributor giving you a "bullet proof" FE.

[hiball3985]

I think we have cover them all unless we list all the variations of 427-428's 

[geraldchainsaw]

thanks for the info,  but i'm to old now to remember any of that,   jerry

[Cecil]

Well, I bit the bullet, put on my big boy pants and looked underneath the car for the first time.  I am so grateful that this is a California car.  As far as I know it's lived its life in inland California.  Heck, even the cars that live in the coastal regions tend to rust more quickly due to the salt air.  My beloved C***y S-10 was a beach car, and it shows.   

But this thing is nice.  Yes, there is rust.  If there's no rust underneath a 62 year old car then the rust fairies were working over time.  But overall it's in really, really good shape.  Surface rust everywhere but nothing is rusted through or even close to being rusted through.

I lucked out, and cannot wait to get the space ready in the garage and begin the serious work.  But even where she sits I'll be doing inventory or what it needs and I'll be cleaning and redoing the interior.

I was a body shop apprentice at one time and I love doing body work, unfortunately, except for a bad bondo job on the passenger side, there's not much to be done. 

It does have a bit of rust along the rain rails but the headliner is toast and I've ripped enough of it out for now, enough to tell that the rust is on the outside and has not gone into the interior of the car. 

Pictures to come. 

[rmk57]

  A while back I had a 1958 Edsel Villager wagon I bought from El Centro. The car had been parked from 1968 under a carport/ sundeck and was in amazing shape. The only rust was in the right rear floor pan and a tiny bit in the fender tips, other than it was as solid as they come.

Sounds like you got yourself a nice solid car to start with, which is half the battle as you know.

Randy

[Cecil]

Thanks Randy.  I feel as if I lucked out too.  A little sand blasting, and and little paint with undercoating and I'm doing well.

I spent about 15 minutes today rocking it back and forth, no squeaks, no resistance, I think that with a minimum of work she'll be good for another 50,000 to 100,000 miles. 

This car is going to shine, and she's gonna be babied. 

There are those who may say that this car was lucky to be found by me....but I feel blessed to have found this car.

[djfordmanjack]

that is saving you about 200 horrible working hours in one sentence ! 

It does have a bit of rust along the rain rails but the headliner is toast and I've ripped enough of it out for now, enough to tell that the rust is on the outside and has not gone into the interior of the car. 

[Cecil]

More pics before I really start to work on it.  These I took today in anticipation of clearing out the weeds and getting rid of all the magazines and various car parts that don't belong.  After that my main focus is clearing out the garage and parking her there so I can being disassembly. 

This is gonna be fun. 

[lotsafords]

If and when you start looking for parts, heads specifically, I have several pair of G's.  I also have all of the interior from a 57 ranchero.
Email me at jackf@acespack.com    Anyone else may as well.

[Cecil]

Well, we'll have to see if the heads are worth pursuing.  My question to all  is this...the previous owner said he was racing another car up Valley Center Grade and it swallowed a valve.  I'm thinking of maybe pulling the heads and seeing exactly what's in there.  How are the heads, how are the valves, how how are the pistons...is it really as bad as he said? 

First thing I'm gonna do is pull the plugs, pour some of that good old Mystery Oil down the the holes, let it sit a day or two, bring out the breaker bar and see if this engine, which hasn't turned a single revolution since 1995 will still move.  It if does, then put a battery in it, crank it and see if it turns over.  Then run a compression check...and finally, if all is good, pull the heads and see first hand what happened. 

Does that make sense?

[Cecil]

Not that it matters much, but I was going to go down to AAA to register my new love today, but then I found out she had to be insured first.  So I called my Farmer's agent to have it added to my policy and he referred me to their classic car specialist who insured it through Hagerty. 

Now I feel special

[hiball3985]

I f you are lucky it may just be a bent pushrod or one that has fallen out from valve float, very common thing to happen..

[Tom S]

I f you are lucky it may just be a bent pushrod or one that has fallen out from valve float, very common thing to happen..

When I was about 18 the ol' man apparently decided to adjust the valves on the family '56 Ranch wagon with the 312 & 4 barrel.
When I got home from wherever a disgusted ol' man told me to go see what's wrong with the wagon after he'd worked on it. And fix it!
I went out & saw that he did not put the right bank valve cover back on the same way it had come off.
The 'indented' side, for lack of a better word, was at the top instead of the bottom.
Pulled the cover & found 1, maybe 2, bent push rods. The rocker had caught & jammed into that indentation that those valve covers have. I guess when the lifter pushed the push rod back up it hit the rocker in just the right spot & bent it.
Went to the popular auto parts store & ask for push rod/s for a 1956 Ford 312. Guy at the counter said there wern't any '56 312 engines.
272/292 push rods are probably the same as 312's but what did I know back then.
After I argued a little the counter dude did find 1956 312s in his parts book.
I guess there ain't much room to spare under those stock steel Y-Block valve covers.