Projects The Adventure of a Boy and His Edsel

Happy 18th Birthday to you Silas !




I know about that renegade spirit, of being young and having a cool ride from the past, that none of your friends have.
This was me at age 17, with my cool 41 G.M.C. K-18 signal corp panel van !

Party on young dude, enjoy your youth, it slips away from you very quickly !
Be safe and save your money !
From Dennis.

 

Happy birthday Silas! Glad Pinky is back on the road. Can't you just her Willie Nelson ...."On The Road Again" ? Cruise on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Huge turnout for this cruise night although not a lot of HAMB-friendly stuff.

 

Styling and smiling, I am digging the Mexican blanket seat covers, right on Silas !

 

One of the last ones cruising. Pinky did good tonight.

 

Great way to celebrate a birthday. Congratulations and Happy Birthday Silas!

 

Someone said it earlier but, gotta say this car is one of my favs too!! Inspiring me to paint correct our show.

 

The '59 was quite an improvement over the '58 in many ways. I had the chance to buy a 2-door for $8000 a couple of years back. I really should have taken a good look at it.

 

Happy Birthday kiddo! Keep doin' what you are doin' !!

 

(I haven't read the whole thread, not sure if this has been covered,)
on the heater...
Much of the time on these Fords, the cowl drain-vent (which is a rubber hose that you can get to when the fender's off,) rots out and then leaks on the floor on the passenger side. And, then it's mistaken for a bad heater ('cause there's water dripping from under the heater, so, it's gotta be the heater,). Not trying to get anyone's hopes up, but that heater might be A-OK. Worth checking out? I don't know how cold it gets out there. Happy (belated[?])birthday also!

 

I saw this elsewhere and the '59 doesn't have the cowl drains like the '57 did. I took the heater box out of my '59 and isolated the heater core, it looked brand new. I pressure tested it up to #20 and it held for 10 minutes. The '59 core is a one-year thing and I don;t think anyone makes them.

 

Headed to the Midway Drags in Ark City, Kansas today. Pretty sure we are helping kill mosquitos along the way. Hoping valve seals will help, but Pinky seems sick... Anyway, just watching fluids and temps close. Oh, and seems we sprung a leak in the lower radiator tank.

But, we have tunes and two lanes and should be watching some nostalgia drag racing soon. So, lots to give thanks for. And, Silas had shoulder surgery this past Tuesday and today is the first time to drive Pinky again...in a sling. Surgery went well though and this drive is as much about getting out on the road again as the destination.

 

Added pics of the actual event to the event thread.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...drags-battle-at-midway-this-saturday.1252259/

 

I sure am glad to see another teenager driving an edsel. A lot of memories he’ll never forget.

 

I have to add one funny that happened that is one of those things that keeps us humble... As we got to the drag strip Saturday, it was getting pretty hot out already and pinky was starting to get hot as well. There was a line to get in, and since the car has no fan shroud, it doesn't necessarily like sitting and idling in line when it is hot as you all can imagine. Anyway, I told Silas he should probably kill it so the temperature wouldn't continue to climb. Well, that worked better than expected since when he went to start it to move up, nothing happened. So, that embarrassing moment happened when you are trying to look cool as an 18 year old driving into the drag strip and you have to start waving cars around. We popped the hood and tried to figure out what was wrong. I started checking connections at the starter solenoid, battery, etc. and didn't find anything that seemed loose. I decided to go ahead and take the battery cables loose at the battery to reposition them hoping that was the problem. I had him try it again when I heard a slight pop from what appeared to be the ground cable. Once I saw that, I took the repair end (from some previous owner) off the cable and repositioned it enough that I thought it would make a better connection. It worked and we were in...and it had cooled down quite a bit in the 5-10 minutes that I spent figuring that out. Oh, and the line was also gone by then. One more thing to add to the list that needs fixed right soon.

 

He's learning a lot in the "Old cars need a lot of tinkering" class!

 

I’ve had a similar “adventure” with battery cables. By the time I heard @porknbeaner ’s bike rumbling up I was just figuring it out lol.

it’s almost always something simple

 

Breaking down is good for the young boy.

have you considered building a fan shroud? We did one on my fathers 57. Used wood and cloth to make the frame then resin. Pretty easy. The write up is on this forum or another one.

didn’t cure his overheat issue though. Switched to a griffin and never looked back.

 

Well, I was considering making a shroud, but that is good info. The radiator has another leak, so maybe just swapping to a good aluminum makes more sense right now...

 

for sure makes perfect sense. I did see the heat wave we are having was up in your area also. I know during the car show it was 100-102 in Dallas area. We need all the help we can get on them days to keep these cool. If I find that write up later I’ll post it.

 

So, trying to do some research on the best and most cost effective radiator to put in this thing. Over on the 52-59 Ford social group, there has been some recent discussion on Auto City Classic radiators and their overall value. Anyway, my only problem is that they don't specify that the one for a 57-59 Ford will work with the 59 Edsel. So, just asked Silas to go do some measuring on his to see if I can figure it out. Anyone have any knowledge of whether the 57-79 Ford radiator will work in a 59 Ranger?

Also, after not getting the valve seals I ordered from my local Napa. I called a buddy (with the blue 56 Merc shown in some pics from going to the Midway Drags a few posts back), and he had some. So, we met him Saturday to pick them up and should be replacing them this week. More to come. I also have a lead on a set of heads that we can rework if needed as well in case the valve seals do no good...

 

I know on my 59 wagon, when I search for a radiator eBay come up and list the fair lane and Edsel as the same. I wouldn’t think they would be different. I havnt bought on yet to see. In 59 they switched to more fairlane parts and not trying to be on their own. The 60s was almost all fairlane with few differences

 

Yea, Silas did some measuring and appears that the 57-59 Ford full-size radiator is all the same dimensions as the one in this car. So, I pulled the trigger and ordered one from Auto City Classics. All the reviews I read over on the social forum seemed like everyone was happy with them. Hopefully we get better cooling and solve the leak this time.

 

Have you checked the interchangeability of the core supports between the Ford and Edsel models? Kind of seems like a long shot . . . but . . . you never know. Got access to any old Hollanders catalogs?

 

Just a quick thought. When you replace the radiator, make sure the upper and lower hoses have springs in them. I've had problems with the pump sucking the hoses flat - dramatically reduces the circulation through the radiator.

 

Good idea Russ. I’ll be sure to check that. Thanks!

 

Vehicles quit using springs in the lower hose for quite some time now. The pressure in the radiator is enough. If it sucks a hose down there’s a serious restriction.

 

Also don’t forget to use distilled water with the new radiator. It will save the calcium build up.

 

Also forgot to add. You can run some vinegar threw that motor with the old radiator installed to clean some stuff out. Just a thought

 

I'm using a '65 Chevy radiator in my car. The '69 Fairlane was another candidate. All I had to do was drill 2 extra holes to mount it. I have a loose '59 radiator if anyone needs a dimension.