Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

looked at these... ouch.

this performance stuff hurts my wallet and i havent bought anything yet!

 

forgot to post the side pic

 

Don't be surprised if you find a cast iron intake. Ford had trouble with the aluminum versions, the heat crossover rotted out and Ford replaced quite a few under warranty with an iron intake. The 428CJ intake was a copy of the original PI intake only out of iron because of this. Here's a listing with pics.... 1966 ford C6AE9425-H Intake 390 428fe | eBay These are worth crazy money if you can find a good one.

Honestly, the only 100% sure way of verifying what it is would be to pull a head and measure the bore. FE casting numbers are notoriously unreliable...

 

He was told it's a '73, but with that ignition box it's more likely a '74. By that time PDB were common, and AC was a popular option.

 

it also has the bed off an 85 so idk what all id trust to determine the year. i think the truck is currently listed as a 75.

 

i think i can see that tall riser on it... if i can check the part number and it matches... would it be a dead giveaway, due to rarity alone and unliklihood of getting swapped onto a lesser fe.

 

Thanks, Steve. I got confused. Thinking 67, then 72 or 73 for the truck then the EI box.
PDB makes sense, but the add-on A/C not OE coming out along the inner fender and no P/S, it's been a while since I saw scabbed work trucks like that. Most guys would find a M-word or Torino to stuff that into.

 

it has power steering but the wrong style pump by the looks of it

 

Mystery FE in an old truck?????

I have heard this story before.
Like….Shelby 428 put into a junkyard push truck.
Cross bolt 427 out of a wrecked Galaxie lightweight replacing a 223 in gran-paws farm truck…..

At the end of the day , it’s usually a 352 or 360 that came in the truck.
Again……
352s and 360s become 390s and 427s/428s on sale day.
They’re not lying they’re just repeating what they’ve been told…..
Urban legends…..

Giant catfish at the dam…..
Vietnam casualty Corvette….
Baby at the bridge….
Race engine in an old truck…..
Mystery street racer that the cops never catch….
Brand new ‘32 Fords in a barn….
New car walled a building 90 years ago…
Prototype Caddy that got 100 miles to the gallon….
Ghost truck… (I actually saw that, maybe it was just a sickly old man in a truck)

People want to believe stuff….,
They’re not lying. At the end of the day it always…”that’s what I’ve always heard…..

The there’s the Fog Horn Leghorns factor….
“I’m not going to look in the corn crib because I just might be in there.”

Hey maybe the 428 is in there.

 

this truck has multiple people, not just people who were trying to sell it, who know it, by sheer coincidence i found out my neighbor is his brother and even he knew about it when i messaged him about it.

is it unlikely? absolutely.

is it impossible? i wouldnt say so, the fact that there are accessories missing (ie ac) goes to show its at least been swapped, the valve covers are 67-69 powered by ford valve covers, and more... points the bullshitometer needle in the "still possibly bullshit" direction over the "totally bullshit" area.

if he said it was from a shelby mustang id say bullshit... but its from a relatively obtainable car instead. im not 100% sold but im sold good enough to see it through. plus, i need a truck regardless.

 

I may get my HAMB card revoked…..

Maybe it’s time to pull back and look at the big picture.

Maybe you need to write down how much this is going to cost then multiply that times three.
I read a formula about home mechanics and time on an old car. Let’s say the job is a two hour job.

So 2hrs to do the brakes…..
Multiply this by 3 so…6hrs.
Then go up to the next unit in time…..
6 days.
I find this to be very true. The “2 hour brake job” takes a week.

OK you have had fun with the ‘57. You have been there and have quite literally got the trophy.

There are different tiers of cars. There’s heart breakers.

My old F1 was a heartbreaker. It was low tier. I really wanted more than what it was. I did not have the ability or gumption to do what I wanted to do with it and really it was not worth it to do that to that truck.
If it was rougher yes….
If it was in better shape yes….
It was in that weird tier of too good to be parts and not good enough to “restore”.
I really hate the R word.
I had 79 different plans for that truck.
I was stuck.

The best thing I did for me was bailing and upgrading to a car in a higher tier.

What put my F1 over the edge was the arrival of another F1 parts truck.

I rolled this piece of junk in front of the garage. I was going to use a lot of it for…


I had stuff stacked on top of stuff.
When I had all that stuff gathered up I said
F-this…..
I’m sick of it.
So I got this


It’s the best thing I ever did.

Junk has a way of begetting junk. That stuff multiplies.

I honestly feel you are trying to make your 57 into a Galaxie.

Consider this….,

What not just upgrade to a good FE Galaxie.

Now the blue coupe needed a lot of work but it was just a pleasure to work on something that did not fight you all the way.
Since it was a survivor it had direction. The project was/ is not a wandering zero. Sometimes that’s the worst. Which way do I go…..Which way do I go????
That project has certainly.

Maybe to sell stuff….put stuff on hold….park stuff and get something closer to what you want.

 

I this the truck without a title? Is that an issue in Ohio? No need to get into what it would take, etc.
But may be something else to consider.

Regardless, if the engine runs, and it’s either a 390 or 428, you may be time ahead with having all the needed accessories and brackets, etc.
but if it needs a full on rebuild, the JY engine might be the route to take, then you’re only into it for a 1/3rd of the price and have nothing to store/get rid of, etc.
Dang, I’m usually pretty good at spending others money, must be getting old.

 

the guy actually got a lost title doc and got a new title before he sold it, so its no longer scrap on wheels.

i have no idea why it was parked though. thats part of my concern.

part of the reason im sticking to the 57 is that i love how the 57 looks, the 60s cars dont click with me as well. i have a buddy down in texas with a 352 powered 65 galaxie, he got lucky on his, rust free two door hardtop for only 3500 bucks. but personally, i wouldnt want to own that car, i dont like the interior as much or the sheer complexity of it, there is so much more going on in his car.

my previous latest investment is this fancy thing, still running a circuit to use it, i got it for use on the various cars i have, its a tig, stick, mig welder. i'll use it quite a bit this winter.


it was expensive.

 

Looking at this pic I do see a very possible indicator. The 428 PI was a parts bin motor, used to replace the high-maintenance race-tuned 427 Ford was using in police cars up to '65, with Ford using bits from the 390GT and 427MR on a 428 short block to create it. But one unique part on those was the front crank damper. This PI-only damper is considerably larger than the 'normal' 428 damper used on the 'standard' 428 or any other non-427 motor and is similar to the one used on the 428 SCJ. It appears that damper is present. The valve covers would be correct for a '67, the pent roof covers were '65-66. You may have lucked out....

As to what the rest of the truck is worth, the 'dentside' '73-79 trucks are getting popular and going up in value so if it's not beat all to hell or a rust bucket, there may be a lot of valuable parts on it... or worth fixing up. I'll note that Ford offered a 390 4V in those up to '76.

And a quick story about those aluminum PI intakes... In early '68 I was at the local wrecking yard after another part. We went into his 'back room' and while he was searching for the part I wanted, I spied three FE 4V intakes lying in a pile. I go over, pick one up... it's aluminum!! I ask the guy if they're for sale and he says $15 each (scrap price) but you don't want one, they're bad. He then proceeds to flip them over and shows me each one was rotted out in the crossover. Acids from the exhaust would pool in there and eat right through the thin floor casting. Having flaming hot exhaust venting into the lifter galley is bad... As all three were painted black indicating they were off a '66 motor and less than three years old, that will give you an idea of how quickly they failed. Now if I had known then what I know now, I would have bought them anyway. Easy fix... block off the heat risers at the heads! Even easier these days as the aftermarket aluminum heads don't even have the heat risers! So if by some miracle the aluminum intake is actually present, DO block off the heat risers.

 

@F-ONE The only one I think you missed was

 

is that a crated willys jeep?

 

Yeah.
https://wwiijeepparts.com/Archives/WW2JeepsInCrates.html

Since you are younger, I'll give you another. Sea Monkeys are tiny shrimp. The pet store doesn't have tiny shrimp food.

 

yeah the corvair is a mess, im still going to hold onto it for now. the truck might get the t birds 390 and driven as is, fix whatever breaks along the way.

 

wait sea monkeys couldnt be fed??? thats terrible!

 

https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/642405/sea-monkeys-history

 

I think you already are convinced that it’s absolutely a 428 and will pay for it, hopefully it actually is.

 

Yes, you can spend lots of money and time on trying to make something out of what someone else deems scrap. When stationed in England, I bought, worked on and then scrapped more classic Minis than you can imagine. I did actually finish some of them.

Now, consider someone who loves to hunt or fish. How much money do they spend on equipment, fuel to get there and time doing what they enjoy? Only to return home enpty handed. But, still, wasn't that a better time than being at work?
We enjoy working on and learning about our cars. To me that is time well spent.

Cat is very enthusiastic about what he is doing and thoroughly enjoying his car. He is enjoying every step of the way. I met him at Lloydfest and was impressed. Reminds me of myself when I was his age. He is learning by doing, the same way I did. I made mistakes, but I learned from them. And when someone thinks I am wasting my time or should go a different route, it just makes me try harder.

Cat, keep up the good work, enjoy your car and build it the way you want to.

Ron

 

truck is real, ford part number aluminum intake, large balancer, valve cover says 390... concerning

 

the weird thing is, the ac compressor is in the tool box, there is no way to even use it on this engine, wrong pulleys and more point to it not being possible.

the truck is a factory 390 truck (H vin), but the crank balancer and intake are off a 428.

at this point? id say its a gamble.

the powered by ford valve covers were used on trucks until 75. unlike in pass cars. i could not locate the vin on the block near the oil filter adapter, too much filth, it might not even be there.

 

im not convinced, im just, optimistic

 

So you got a closer look. Awesome.
Will he late you pull the intake and one head to (as mentioned before) check the bore size?
Doesn’t hurt to ask.

 

I'd say it's neither good or bad.
If a fella was to go stuff a hot FE in his truck and go out trolling, he'd put the old factory valve covers on the new hot motor.
Or it's all tall tales and it is some plain jane with the old factory covers.

The breakerless and plug gap on the sticker point to later. Many but not all of those tags have the model year on them. Only dates the sheetmetal it's stuck on.

 

he said no.

if he mangled a valve cover when pulling the engine it wouldnt be too crazy to swap them would it?

the distributor is an aftermarket accel distributor from what i can tell. not points, very 90s, gonna get a dual points unit maybe.