Customs Needed like a hole in my head: '55 Ford Mainline

Going back in your thread... What would cause a bottom shock mount to blow out like that???
1) Shock too long
2) Shock seized up in mid stride??
When you replaced shocks did you check that they aren't too long for your application? Only time I've ever seen a shock mount break was on the rear with air or spring wrapped overload shocks. Normal shocks don't support weight- they just dampen..

 

Thanks for the kind words man.

I'm really happy with the way the exhaust came out. I'm sort of kicking myself a little for not splurging for the stainless kit as opposed to the mild steel one. It would have been a nominal additional expense, and would likely look good for longer. It was $189 for the mild steel versus $500 for the stainless. If I get 5 years out of this exhaust, it will be be money well spent, which I see no reason why I wouldn't.

It was a fairly simple operation in terms of assembling it as well, and didn't really require any real specialty tools. Of course I have a nice TIG machine, which is immensely helpful. But other than that I only used a Harbor Freight 12 ton tube bender to sort of make more slight adjustments to the direction of the pipe, where I didn't need an angle to necessitate an elbow. That's what I used for the longer pipes after the mufflers so they hit the same spot in front of the axle and tucked up nicely within the space of the frame rail. If you make too hard of a bend with that device it will kink the pipe, so you need to be judicious about how far you go. If I needed to make a harder bend, I would weld one of the ends of the pipe shut, fill it with play sand, and then weld the other end shut prior to bending. The kit came with 4 30 degree bends but I wound up not using them, along with 2 extra Us. I'd also add that I used basically all of the straight pipe that was included in the kit. The '55 Mainline is a pretty short car by 1950s standards, so if someone was doing a longer car than the typical Ford or Chevy, I'd imagine you'd need to grab a couple extra sticks of straight pipes to get you out past the back of the car.

I found the easiest way to cut the pipes was to use a metal chop saw as opposed to my bandsaw, since the chop saw had a fence on it that would keep the pipes square and made for tighter gaps for welding. I just deburred them with a carbide bit in a die grinder. I also have one of the good Maddox brand HF tail pipe expander sets, which is actually effective in doing what it is supposed to do. But the only time I needed it was to true up the end of a pipe I accidentally dropped and made an oval.

I'm also sort of looking at this car as an experiment. There are loads and loads of threads on the HAMB that bemoan the rising cost of this hobby and how it has become prohibitively expensive to have a HAMB-appropriate car that can be utilized in real duty. Not a local driver to get ice cream on occasion, but a car you can jump in with your family and drive to a show hundreds of miles away without a second thought, and do so safely and comfortably, without spending a small fortune. So that's part of the reason I'm trying to keep my budget in check here, it's a proof of concept. It's easier to have a car that hits all of those check marks when you spend like a drunken sailor.

 

These shocks are what are listed as a stock replacement that has a slightly better handling characteristic. I'm not sure what spring is in the front of this car, and it sits pretty low in the front. Not sure whether the coil has been cut or whether it's just a shorter spring. I wouldn't be opposed to putting a little taller spring in to raise the nose a little. I sort of just surmised the shock is a bit stiffer than a stock shock, and the pot hole I hit was massive. In general driving, even over bumps, it didn't bottom out hard like that.

 

Thanks for catching this part Jeff! I agree and have been trying to fly this flag as well lately. HAMB-friendly cars can be done on a budget and can also be very driveable. I would honestly hate to tell some how little money I have in some of mine.

 

Hard to tell from your engine photo but an unshrouded fan needs to be about 3/4” from the radiator or closer. No 55-56 Ford full size car ever came from the factory with one and the stock 55 had a 3 blade fan. They also had a panel above the core support with a rubber seal to the hood so all the air sucked by the fan had to come thru the radiator. It went fender to fender. There were also 2 panels from the lower part of the radiator back to the engine pan between the frame rails so that the fan could no suck air from under the car. Todays gasoline blend doesn’t help.
Also Fords had vacuum wipers. If you have 2 speed electric they have been changed. Newport makes a kit for 55-56 Fords.

 

The fellow I bought the car from was candid when he said the mechanical fan he put on didn't work as well as the electric fan he took off. Someone wired in a 50A relay to run the fan, and when it got removed, the wiring and relay are still there, just taped off. There is a basic toggle on the dash to engage the relay. I guess the old timers just trust a mechanical fan over an electric fan. But I agree with you, it's clear from how far away the fan is from the radiator that it's not doing much, and especially so at idle, without a shroud. And again, this car barely runs at 180 going down the road, so it's not a question of whether the radiator can cool the engine. It can. But only provided it has sufficient air flow. I think in this instance, an electric fan (with a shroud, not just stuck on the radiator) may be a better choice for moving air while stopped than a mechanical fan would with a shroud. It seems to work for all of the late-model OEMs.

Wipers have definitely been changed, which is great. I have a Newport kit on my 57 Ford and 56 Olds, and they work great, but no idea what these are. I'd just love a way to delay them since even on the slow setting, it's still often more wiping action than is necessary.

 

55-56 fords are great cars. My high school car was a 55 mainline with stock 272/3 speed O.D. in the photo. I have never seen any engine leak as much oil as that 272 did. [look at the street where I parked it]
The black one was also a 272/3 speed but no O.D. I didn't know about the midwest problem of rust in the front crossmember 'till I bought this car.

 

Joe if you don’t want to add a shroud it’s ok but Summit and Speedway have an aluminum shroud in their Circle Track section they are solid and you cut the hole and it has a round extension you add to the fan if needed. Its pretty ez to do. We have one on my sons dirt car mounted horizontal and one on his 40 Chev mounted vertical. You just need the core size. His engine is 311”, 10-1, cammed, multi carb, stock sized 40 radiator and 4 blade 15” fan .

 

I modified a GM plastic shroud (from Summit) to fit my radiator. It helped a little, I added a Spal fan and no more cooling issues while stopped or moving slow.

 

To control heating up when idling the y-block fix is a smaller water pump pulley from a 67-68 302 Mustang. Everything was a bandaid.

 

Are you saying the stock cooling system was a bit inadequate?

 

Hmm...not sure I knew this. Thanks for the information!

 

That is likely the same kit I used to do the exhaust on my Fargo, I used thrush welded mufflers as well, they are cheap compared to others, I’m thrilled with the sound, I have gotten lots of compliments on it as well.

People get hung up on the cost of this stuff, can still be done on a budget if you are determined.

 

Makes total sense, just overdrives the fan and water pump.

 

The Thrush Turbo mufflers were $37 each on Amazon with free Prime delivery in 2 days. What was especially helpful was that they are reversible, with one side offset and the other side centered. That feature gave me some flexibility in where they got mounted to help clear the frame rail. If you notice the way it all mounted, one muffler is mounted reversed to the other.

 

Absolutely not, my dad bought a new 55 Sunliner with a 3 blade fan and a new 56 Victoria and neither ever had a cooling problem. I believe the fuel is the only difference.
But if today you idle your Y engine with the radiator 1” low and the cap off and wait until the thermostat is open you will not see any coolant movement. If you slightly raise the idle maybe 50-100 rpm you do. That means there is no coolant flowing thru the radiator at idle. The water pump pulley on a Y is normally 7” on a Mustang 5+” ……. Problem solved.
Parade and Southwest Desert TBird owners came up with this. Technically/probably no shroud is necessary. I have both because I was trying everything I could until told about speeding up the water pump.
With the fix, I added AC and can idle at any long light in 95*+ weather in So Cal and never give it a thought.

 

The scavenger pipes are defiantly old school us farm boys used grease holders as quick release holders for the pipes so you could drop the pipes in back to change a tire. https://www.zoro.com/legacy-grease-...erm=4586131722563170&utm_content=All Products

 

As to whether replace or repair the old tank, I actually did both.

I wanted to try my hand at repairing the old tank, so I broke out the solder and had at it. It looks like doo doo but it actually sealed up fine. I then summarily dropped the tank filled with about 10 gallons of water on the ground hahaha. What a bitch.

It actually didn't do any real damage to the tank, but I had already ordered a new one.

Still astonished at how solid this car is.



New tank came in. Want to thank @evintho for smacking me in the head with some common sense. For $240 with tax and free shipping, it's a really nice new tank that should serve me well for years.



And up into the car.



I was also able to install some seatbelts so the whole family can join.

Another couple tasks off of the agenda.

 

Well, that was going a little too well.

The weather has been dry and nice, so we took the '55 to my buddy's kid's 2nd birthday party this weekend. About a 250 mile round trip. Car was running great, having a nice drive. On the way home, I pulled into a Wawa for gas, backed up the pump, put the car in (what I thought was neutral), let off the clutch and..chirp and stall. Huh. Car still in gear. Somehow the shift rod came disconnected, which was nothing I could fix in 26 degree weather with no tool, a screw jack, and a tired 4 year old. So tow home it was.



All of the hardware for that rod went MIA, so when I got the car home and up on the lift, I whipped up a new nylon bushing, and put a good washer and cotter pin on the rod. But strangely, the transmission is still stuck in reverse. This is a new one for me. I guess I'll have to do some investigation to see what I can do to reset this operation. If I have to yank the trans, a T5 is going to go back in its place.

 

Nice when a 25¢ part puts you on the flat bed....

 

I took a couple weeks of evenings to knock off the rest of my immediate punch list on this 55. The project got a little deeper than I expected, but that seems par for the course.

My main list of stuff to do was to:
-Install a stereo
-remove the mechanical fan and install an electric fan.
-Install a tach

A couple tasks that are basic enough, but you know how that goes.

I bought a 48" box and pan brake for myself because I'm tired of welding the entire perimeter of fan shrouds when I make them. I took advantage of a Black Friday deal and hooked myself up. Long overdue.

Then I got to work on my shroud. I would love to have put dual fans on, but with this size radiator it seems the best bet was to go with one big fan.


I wound up using a Flexalite fan with some ribbed blades, which allegedly make it flow some more air, and was advertised for 3000 cfm.
You can also see the expert installation of the fan relay from the previous, previous owner. There was a toggle switch on the dash that did nothing and the wires to it weren't even powered, so I put the fan relay on that switch and cleaned up the wiring.

While I was under the dash going through the wiring for the fan switch, it was obvious that some cleaning up was much needed. The 55 was factory 6 volt, and someone along the way "installed" an EZ Wire harness. By "installed" I mean zip-tied the fuse block to the emergency brake assembly. There were also tons of wires throughout the dash, which was confounding since there are no real electrical accessories. I started tracing wires, and cutting out wires that went nowhere. There were a bunch. I also bought a $10 bus bar from Amazon that really helped clean up grounds.

I bought a universal under-dash kit to hold my new headunit, but I wanted to center it under the dash. That would mean that the fuel gauge (mounted in a single pod) would need to be relocated. There was an open hole in the dash to the right of the wheel, so I thought maybe I could use that real estate.

I grabbed my trusty Harbor Freight knockout punch, and opened the hole up for the fuel gauge


The spacing isn't exactly as I'd like, but it beats having a dumb gauge mounted under the dash and having a hole to nowhere.

Also, as an FYI, the knockout punch that comes with the kit is 2" (among others). The gauge size is 2 1/8". A quick couple passes with a die grinder and carbide burr made quick work of the additional .125" and made for a very clean install. MUCH better than a holesaw.

I mounted my speakers in the package tray. The holes in the tray weren't quite large enough for 6x9s, so I went with a regular 6.5" speaker, and made some plates to adapt to the speaker size, which were welded in place and painted. Nothing fancy here, but it allowed the speakers to mount very close to flush with the surface of the package tray so I can cover them with upholstery later. And they don't rattle.


I had to run new speaker wires from the back to the front, and while I was there cleaned up some more wiring under the dash. I even got both fan settings on the blower motor to work. I remounted the 3 gauge pod closer to the driver, and even got all of the lights to work. Since these are some cheapo gauges from Amazon, they're plastic and need a dedicated ground for both the gauge and the bulb. The original installer neglected this detail.

Since many new headunits don't come with a CD player, they're much shallower than they used to be. This freed up some space in the back of the mounting tray, that I used to mount a 12v port in the side for a charger or other device.
You can also see the tach I mounted on the column. I went with a Stewart Warner "Heavy Duty" series tach and mounted it in a chrome cup. Mounting the tach in the cup was a bit tricky since the mounting poles had to be shortened to fit in the cup, which wasn't quite deep enough. The wiring was easy though with a tach output on the MSD box. If I wind up keeping this car, I'll swap those cheap gauges under the dash for matching SWs.

That pretty much wraps this up for now.

 

Well, that actually IS the end of this project. My father in law has always seemed to like this car more than I do and asked me if I'd sell it to him. He's a dyed-in-the-wool Ford guy who has been building a 65 Falcon Sprint from the ground up. A disabled veteran, he's the type of guy who buys the perennial project that is usually more off the road than on. So while I really like this car, I wasn't married to it, and figure he can use it more than I can, especially to get involved in the local car meets and whatnot. I sold it to him for what I had in it.

And since that was the proof of concept, to have a HAMB-friendly car that could be utilized in real duty, for a reasonable price, I should probably outline what that is.

Initial purchase price was $10,000. I gave myself a $1000 budget to do ancillary stuff and I basically adhered to that.
-Complete exhaust system was $257
-Fan was $155
-Gas tank was $200
-Fuel sender - $26
-Speakers - $40
-Radio headunit, mounting tray and antenna - $120
-Brake pressure switch - $16
-Tach and tach cup - $219

So $1,033. That makes for a grand total of basically $11,000 from soup to nuts.

On to the next project!

 

Just as a quick follow up to this one, and in keeping with the "proof of concept" idea, I figured I'd post an update.

My Father in Law doesn't log the kinds of miles I do with the old cars, but he's not scared to get it out. He recently drove the Lemons Rally from his house in NJ, to Boston, to Bangor, Maine, and then back again, in 3 days. 1200+ miles completely trouble free.



So the concept works. You CAN have a 2 door, 1950s era car that is safe, comfortable, capable, and reliable to drive often and far. Driving your car is traditional.

 

Looks like a great driver! I like the improvements you made and the fact the car stayed in the family.