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

Sound advice. If the battery is even a few years old, sitting around in cold weather will kill it. It is possibly deader than dead. A fresh battery may be in your near future.

 

well...its a lawn mower battery... im just trying to turn the motor over with the starter.

 

Just because it's a 12-V battery don't mean it has enough Amps to do the job.

 

my brother has a spare good one... it should work, though, i'll have to check if its a top post.

 

With the lawnmower battery all your going to do is burn up the starter. Use a real battery.

 

You need something like at least 500+ cold cranking amps. I run a series 24F Exide in my car, which is 6 years old... ready to replace it soon. Look for sales, Pep Boys just had a 25% off sale on batteries.

 

My stock cars had no charging systems on them. I'd swap the battery back and forth between that and the tow vehicle.

 

its not a top post, and its junk, i think i'll have to pull a battery out of a car we aren't actively using temporarily

 

I don't think I ever sent this, the car looks really nice from below, only a few spots that are a bit sketchy, all in the rear floors.

 

Hmmmm-----Never heard of a '57 Town Victoria.

 

Alright I'm gonna do it CROWN VIC !

 

A "town" means its a 4 door, at least that's what the brochures said.

thats a 55-56 thing, then 79-11.

 

Never posted a full interior shot, so here we go.

Its pretty rough, and it seems i cannot buy the stock fabric, somehow the seats are still more comfortable than my moms modern car.

 

Yea, but how’s she cranking and running?

 

im working on that, one of the starter bolts seems to be stuck

 

Your interior is better than mine was.

Mike

 

My interior was missing many pieces, the seats were usable but the covers were largely shot. Mine came with the rubber instead of carpeting which may have saved the floors.

The headliner bows had factory color-coding, but I bet yours all that is gone. When you take them down, tag them in order so they go back in the right places, I have to go the jigsaw puzzle route with mine.

 

Cool project and car. Really not in bad shape to-be-honest.
I'd eventually get a new driveshaft, those tapered ones will wobble. We learned that while ours was getting balanced.
I am a bit north of you in Ohio and have some spare pieces if needed. Nice inner front fenders, one lower rear quarter, cruiser skirts and a 58 hood that needs just a little work.
Hit me up if ya need something.

 

i will use paint pens to mark the roof and bars where they need to go.

I think i need a passenger side front fender, mine has the optional "battery tray delete"

I may try to patch this one though.

 

Mine was a little crusty but I was able to clean it up and paint the whole engine compartment. Try Owens Salvage in Texas, he's a HAMB vendor, forget his handle. I installed a stock car battery tray in the same spot.

 

sorry for the lack of updates, all the valves and points are now adjusted, but my daily has taken a crap and ive been working on fixing it, while using my dads car as a loaner.

 

You may not want to hear this but trying to start an engine that hasnt run is many years is a BAD idea and can damage things. Plus all your gaskets and seals are going to leak. The smart thing to do is pull the engine, disassemble it, examine all of the parts. Clean all the engine parts clean enough to eat off of, then hone the cylinders, get new rings and bearings, pay someone if you have to but freshen the valves and seats, get all new gaskets and seals, then rebuild the starter and carburetor. This is an overhaul, not a rebuilt engine but can serve you well for many years.
That is exactly what I did with the 292 in my 59 in this picture 22 years ago ! You will learn a lot and will KNOW for a fact that everything is good inside. Its not as expensive as a real rebuild with a bore and turning the crank. Why do that stuff if it doesnt need it? My 292 came out of a 52000 mile car but was stuck so bad I had to break one of the pistons out so I got new pistons. The rings were incredibly stuck in the old pistons and no way anyone could get them out.
I also have another Ford that sat a long time and someone forced it to start like you are trying to do... It runs but very low compression in every cylinder. Not really driveable.
Do it right the first time and enjoy it for many years.
I can guide you thru the starter rebuild if you need instruction. Theres not much to it. You probably only need to clean it and replace the bushings and brushes. They dont cost much. The 57 Fairlane is one of my favorite cars and I want to see you succeed.

 

I thought it was stuck before, I'm going to do compression check soon enough to see the numbers, I have a feeling it has 60-90 or right now, which will get better as it runs. we've gotten plenty of engines that have sat for longer than this one has get them running without a tear down. there's one (off topic) truck that has 48k, was bought new in 83, parked in 87, and was a oil pump truck. it had an issue with one of the valves, but they just smacked it with a rubber mallet until it was free. it drove itself home, the sketchiest mile and a half my father has ever driven. very little brakes, clutch was almost gone, and the shift fork for 2nd wasn't working right. I've made sure the cylinder walls are healthy, the cylinders hold the oil i put in them (minus one or two that slowly drained into the pan). if I pull the motor, I'll need to replace the motor mounts, etc, I want to drive it to a couple events this summer, then see where to go from there.

 

I had a friend that years ago resurrected a dormant '61 Ford that sat for years. Well, it ran but smoked and the valve train was noisy. It was eventually junked. That was a manual with a tired 292.

 

ive made 100% sure that the camshaft/rocker oil passages arent clogged, (i took an oil can, and pumped the hole where the rocker shaft connects with it, with the oil plug off, i pumped it until oil flowed out of the bottom of the pan.
and its got 95k, (94k of which were from 1957-1983, then another 1000 or so was put on it from 87-95 on and around a farm) so its gonna be a little tired. which is why im going to change the valve seals, after its running.

 

You don''t have much to lose getting it to run, that's what I would probably do. At the worst you may bend some push rods.

 

the pushrods already were bent by the first owner, I've gone through, unstuck all the valves, and insured all of them open and close, then replaced all 16, and set tolerance to .20 (since its cold).

 

I want to stick rubber floors in it, rather than carpet, or keeping it steel floor like how its been for longer than I've been alive.
also, my cowl drain seals arent just cracked or dry rotted, they are missing, so those will need replaced... I have an idea of how to do it.

 

For your cowl drains, I just went down to the hardware store and got the supplies to run PVC hoses out and down the fenders to dump right onto the ground. I don't remember the size-I think it is 1.25 and a 90 degree elbow then some vinyl tubing down the fender. All my floor pans are shot (some literally), so there will be some welding in my future.