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What a great find! I see a great tow rig to haul my Falcon to the drags! I'd love to find one like that, and do just enough to make it reliable and safe. I'd probably leave the 3.23 gears, or go no lower than the 3.55, as I agree with your dad about making it a good cruiser at highway speeds. The big FE engines love to roll along at 2,000 rpm's and no reason to cruise it at higher rpm with a lower gear. It's not a hotrod, it's a cruiser.
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So.....been a while since I posted on this car, but some progress has been made of the last 8 months so I'll bring it back slowly as I download photo's from my phone.
The car has become a project for my dad and I - he's retired and I'm still grinding it out in the workforce - so it's a good team. He has time to work on it, and I have the cash. We meet for a few hours a week to do various projects together, but in boredom he has done a lot of work on the car om his own.
The car got put to the side 2 years ago when we discovered a massive rear main seal leak (solved the mystery of where all that oil had come from!) This was after we had done all the brakes, bearings, u-joints, etc. No big deal, we just knew we'd be pulling the engine, but that derailed the gig as I waffled over dropping the coin on a full rebuild. Dad finally convinced me to just get started by pulling it apart to see what we had. So 8 months ago we started really working it. Our goal was driving it from Vegas to Knott's Fab Ford Show at the end of April. We'd take a circuitous route through Rt66 to make it fun. And it looks like were gonna make it!
So here's photo 1 of the car, not long after we wet sanded and buffed the original Springtime Yellow last fall. It came out nice:
I went with TTD's with 215 75 15s.Last edited by hotrodfords; March 23, 2017, 06:02 PM.Comment
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Lookin' good! Please keep the pics coming.
A tip - if you press "large" when you post the pic it'll show up almost full page and that will be easier for old people like me to see.
DanComment
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So here we are with the hood off. Before we buffed it out, we put a water pump on it and did a quicky tune up - set the points and timing, new plugs and wires, oil and filter, and ran it from a 1 gallon gas can - this was because the fuel tank was nasty and leaked. 3-row'ed the stock radiator at a local shop. We fired it to warm it up for 20 minutes to get an accurate compression test. 145 to 155. Good enough for a beater.
Attached FilesLast edited by hotrodfords; March 23, 2017, 06:24 PM.Comment
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Here we are engine out. I still cant believe the grill - it's incredibly straight!
Here's the trans (upside down). It's a BW R-11 OD, the tough one with 4 planetary gears in the OD. You could get this behind a 427 from the factory, or in an F150, so its a tough piece. On our quicky road test (no plates
) we had established the OD worked. The "cylinder" on the top of the picture is the solenoid. We removed it and replaced the leaky seal. Dad has plenty of experience with these trans; he owned a '51 Merc flathead, and later a 55 Chevy 265 wagon with the 3 on the tree overdrive. I can still remember riding in the '55 as a kid: It was a bomb with straight pipes!
We bought a flywheel of "unknown origin", i.e. China, so we test fit the new clutch and flywheel prior to starting in a "Krylon rebuild".Attached FilesComment
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So the Krylon rebuild isn't just paint. We actually have replaced some junk. New stuff includes:
Water Pump, timing chain, new oil pan (someone had off-roaded the wagon at one time) and oil pump, Pertronix, all new gasket (except heads - we didn't lift those), rebuilt the stock 4V Autolite carb, fuel pump, and most importantly, a new rear main seal.
The main seal replacement was consternation. My dad wanted to look at the rod and main bearings. I said bullsh*t, that's the beginning of the slippery slope that would take away from the character of the ride I said if the main seal hadn't been leaking, they would still be the same bearings right? No smoke, bang, knock, or pop when we did our test runs?So, we didn't look at them.
Here's the stocker 390:
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I love this thing I would love to have it or at least go for a ride. What state are you in?Comment
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Dude, we're 2000 miles away in Nevada...but if you're ever out here...Originally posted by Russell View Post
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I'm planning to be volunteering for Speed Week at Bonneville. Will you and Dad make it out for that? I'll be in Impound.Originally posted by hotrodfords View Post
DanComment
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Originally posted by DanStokes View Post
I don't think we'll be at speed week this year, I think for our big car event this year we're looking to a Vintage Trans Am race. If it were to change, I'll let you know. Do you ever bring a car to race at Bonneville?Last edited by hotrodfords; March 25, 2017, 11:58 AM.Comment
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Originally posted by SuperBuickGuy View Post
does that mean it won't make it that far?
Nope, I'm sure it'll make it. it just means I won't be making it, lol.Comment
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Nope. It's pretty expensive and besides I don't want the post-race clean-up. That involves stripping the vehicle completely down, cleaning the snot out of everything, then reassembling the whole deal. Failure to do that results in a wad of salt and iron oxide. I know folks to whom that has happened. You even need to replace the U-joints - yep, it's that bad.Originally posted by hotrodfords View Post
I know a few folks who have gotten away with less but it caught up with them later.
DanComment
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