Hi All, Thank you for letting me join. I just bought a 57 Country Sedan and will trailer her home on the 20th of the month. She is coming from Vegas and only has two cancer spots that I could see (one I didn't see until looked at a pic). She was a 292 with auto, engine is gone and ****** is toast. So I have a 390 to drop in and will need to source a ****** (either AOD for O/D or a FMX/C-6). She came with P/S but that is all as far as options go. Lots of dust/dirt and mice poop to clean out and then I will see what I am up against. But I am thinking that it will go something like this: 1) brakes 2) fuel 3) wiring 4) steering/suspension 5) engine/****** 6) cancer repair As for the engine I may stick with a y block if I can find a good runner. I don't need 350 HP and 8 MPG. This will be a cruiser/family car for retirement vacations. I will post pics in a reply. I have a 110 TIG that should be good for the cancer so I get to learn new skills. I have two years for my daughter and I to get the car on the road. Mike
Hey Mike congrats. I’m in this forum also. Check out the recent UK Fairlane post. It got very cool images of some work being done in common rust spots. Good luck and remember to do***ent stuff.
Mike, If you want overdrive,better think 302-351, The only ****** that bo Let’s up to the fe block is a c6( unless you use an adaptor)
Yeah, the engine/****** combo will probably be last to decide. Like I said, not in it for the race capabilities. Just cruising and the occasional punch it to p*** a truck. mike
Hey Mike, awesome find. Looks like a really dry car with minimum rust, I had a black 57 wagon in high school and remember how surprised my friends were at how well that thing handled. Mine was a 312 auto and my family used it to pull a travel trailer all the time, got handed down to me. Had horizontal lines embossed into the vinyl seats and one of the trips we took was from Oregon to California to go to Disneyland. Black car, no air, August in Calif with vinyl upholstery. I still have lines in the back of my legs from sitting on those hot seats! Later had a 57 Del Rio wagon, wish I had either one of them back. I would put a 351W in mine if I had one now.
Before you just yank those roof bows out, if someone hasn't already (can't quite figure the pic out, lol),..........get them numbered!
Good advice and this is why https://transmissioncenter.net/shop/fo1000202-ford-fe-410-428-motor-to-ford-aod-transmission/ For the price of an adapter you can probably get close to finding a good used 351/5.8 and AOD transmission and that swap has been done by many here using over the counter mounts shown here. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/albums/289-302-351w-swap-mounts.41498/
Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am starting to get really antsy about getting my car home! Then I can go to town cleaning her up. I will even start a thread about it if people are interested. mike
Looks like maybe you could need the one on top in the picture, only $5 https://www.facebook.com/marketplac.../?ref=search&referral_code=marketplace_search Sorry, looks like that link doesn't work. There is a guy in Lebanon Oregon that has several old ford radios for $5 each on facebook marketplace, one is a 57 unit with the faceplate and knobs that looks like it would clean up well. In the past I have paid way more than that just for the faceplate.
Welcome from Oklahoma and congrats on the 57! Looks like a pretty good solid start. I will be following along once you get it and start a build thread.
Nosford, thanks for the tip. We will see if he responds. If nothing else it will be good to have when I get to the interior down the road. Mike
Just in case it doesn’t come with them, which exhaust manifolds should I look for for a 390? The car came with a 292 exhaust system which I hope is still solid. Do I need to modify it to accept the new manifolds? thanks, mike
You'll need FE exhaust manifolds, they are unique to that engine. Check the manifold bolt holes as some 390's have a 14 bolt design which need a different exhaust again. There will be someone here who has done this before, mine is a RHD 1954 so has different exhaust challenges
I need to lift an engine out of a uhaul box truck and position on a stand. It is a 390 so what I need to know where to place a chain and what bolts to use. I have read about using bolts that are on the front and rear of the heads but I don?t know what size they are. Any ideas? Maybe a head bolt? This is just to get it out of the truck and onto the stand/ground for now. She won’t go into the car for a while yet. Thanks, Mike
UPDATE: I found a core 360/390 to pull parts from and another set of bare heads. So one will go in and then I will sell off the short block spare. I GOT PLATES!!!! an hour and a half at DMV and I was out. Now onto cleaning more concrete off the suspension and opening up the rear brakes to prep them for rebuild. Mike
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