Hot Rods 57 FORD Build #2... Glutton for Punishment.

1957 was a banner year for Ford, but also just about all the manufacturers. I'm a Ford guy, yes, heck, I moderate a '57 Ford forum, but in fairness, I wish somebody would do a sales comparison between Ford Motor Company and General Motors. I don't want to be branded a traitor, but I can imagine the parent company overall numbers:
Ford Motor Co. had Ford, Mercury and Lincoln, but GM had Chevy, Cadilac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac

 

i found this a while back

 

This is a blessing in disguise. There was probably an internal flaw that weakened the casting. Better to find out now than when you are on the road.

 

I’ve had the same thing happen on a 170 Ford 6. The thermostat sits in a recess in the housing , the problem is it can slide down a hair when you go to install it on the intake. It doesn’t take much to crack a 60 year old brittle aluminum casting.

 

I just did the math for you.

All of Ford Motor Company's sales totaled 2,004,797, which includes Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, and I even added in Continental. General Motors sales for just Chevrolet, Buick and Oldsmobile easily topped that, at 2,295,386. If you add in Pontiac and Cadillac, total sales are 2,776,268, or over 3/4 of a million cars above what FMC sold that year.

 

Gm really was nearly a monopoly...

 

you use shellac for thermostat sealant too?

 

ive heard its also a threadlocker

 

Your doing it all wrong Jeff, you are not supposed to solve problems in the garage, it’s supposed to happen on the road miles from home!

 

What's the time frame for 1st start?

 

Indianhead gasket cement

 

If you would do a leak down before you fill all the fluids in, you would have insight into the condition of the engine. That would alleviate some of the concerns about whether there was a surprise or not.

 

Old wise Mechanic taught me Indianhead a piece of sewing thread layed into wet sealer the shape of the gasket and a Flathead will have no leaks

 

Silk thread and sealant, pretty standard for sealing the case halves of inline opposed aircraft engines.

 

Looks great, moving forward is always good!

 

I'm a little surprised that you had trouble with the nicop. I have 5/16" on my current project with no problems. Having the end cut square and lined up evenly in the flaring tool does seem to be more important as size increases. But, with that said, we all have days when nothing goes well no matter how much exp. we have. It was your day. Once again, Terry is on the job. A very good, useful friend. I'm sure your mind is way better about the project now. I'm freezing also. -8 this morning. I drove the 48 to coffee, lots of strange noises at ever bump.

 

it took me several attempts to get a 5/16 fuel line to have a decent flare for fuel, even now i need to tighten it tighter than i want it to be.

cant wait to hear about you running it out!

 

Good thing to find fuel leaks before you get into driving that thing!

 

Any test firing that results in big fuel leaks but no fire is a win. Count your blessings and press on. Everything that doesn't work right is (eventually) a lesson learned. Can't wait to see video of first drive.

 

The worst thing with a Ford is the connection from the pump to carb or in your case the filter. The fuel line has to snake around the distributor then make a hard 90 into the fuel line. I never did like the that setup.