Projects My Fairlane after sitting 45 (48) years in the garage...

Did a double-take on the console. Yeah, any floor shifter nixes that cool piece but you should get a nice price for it to help fund the conversion, if you decide to do it. I was thinking about the shorty piece

Joe

 

Any thoughts on a T5? Not as tough as a Top loader, but one more gear to play with....

Put a 4 speed knob on it and most folks won't know the difference....

 

I looked into a 4 speed. I looked in to gathering parts.
I found it, all of it.
271897678_4891646500888208_3596274678601503204_n by Travis Brown, on Flickr
$ 3K
I can't do it.
I was so close I could taste it.
These parts would take my car from a good old car to an exceptional old car. They guy said he spent years finding all of it.
It's just not right though. It's just too much. I could have pressed the issue. We could have done it. It's best we don't, right now at least.

Part of me deep down thinks it's a little obscene spending this kind of money. I've been so, so blessed. Sometimes you have to draw the line and say, enough is enough. The C4 is enough for me at least for right now. I've put a lot of dough in the coupe the past few months, this would have been...over the top.

So....I'm keeping on...keeping on.

 

Looks like someone already did the hard work for you; finding the parts
I've been in your shoes most my entire life. Know where you're coming from on this one.
I love rowing the Hurst but the C-4 can be built to be quicker.
Besides, you'd bust the budget buying 78s for the rear

Joe

 

250239504_4970131612999674_3265844328425235113_n by Travis Brown, on Flickr

Wow! This looks really clean.
An auto shifter was off the radar because most of them,...Well, most of them look like ass.
I may not do it but I'm digging that Lokar but with a black knob.
Back to work though...

 

I always seem to regret not buying parts when they are available for a long time after

 

Yeah. I know.
Right before New Years I went to Mississippi and bought a bunch of parts from a guy parting one out. I spent a chunk of change. There're so many things I should have got but did not think about at the time. Like....trim screws. That kind of stuff.
As far as these parts, I wish I could get them but...couple of weeks ago, the Mississippi trip and all the stuff that been coming in since November.
It adds up quick. I've put some dough in it recently...lots of dough in a short time.
Hopefully I have most of the major stuff.

 

I did not get as much accomplished today as I would like.
I touched up the paint on 3 wheels. They are finished, one to go.
I did remove the hood. I did it by myself, so maybe this info will help if you remove a hood by yourself.
Some hoods, I would not attempt it. Take my 1951 Ford, something like that, you'll need some help.
IMG_0062 by Travis Brown, on Flickr

I split some pool Noodles. I used them here to protect the hood and cowl.
IMG_0063 by Travis Brown, on Flickr
I had to use a prop to support the hood. You also have to support with your off hand to steady and not stress the hood bolts. What you do not want is the hood to cantilever over and break the hood bolts. A prop..support and care...

IMG_0065 (1) by Travis Brown, on Flickr

The last time I took hood off a car like this I was 19 years old. It was a '62 Galaxie.
Anyway, my noodles worked well. I was able to gently slide the hood down to the cowl, keeping it propped. Then I lifted the hood off the hinges and then off the car.
Now, I had planned to lay the hood on the roof of the car. Holding that hood, I realized there is no way I can get it up there. I did not consider that the car is up on jacks and my arms are not 8 feet long. Too, the hood was a great deal heavier than I remember. For a moment there, it was like, do I have this hood or does this hood have me?
So, I needed to find a place to set it down. Here's where those noodles came in handy again. They stayed on when I lifted the hood off, so I could set it on the floor with no worries.

On top of the car is not a good place. I'm going to be doing a lot of work around it.
It's time to clean up the shop and find a place for the hood and the engine and transmission that's coming out.

It's getting closer. After the engine and transmission come out, those are the last big things that have to be removed.
After that, it's a matter of repairing, painting and putting stuff back on!

 

Whew!!
What a nasty job. I’m taking a break.
I had considered a rotisserie but I’m just scuffing the bottom and I’m going to brush paint it.
It’s been a couple of years....
I’m going to try and match that ruddy red primer that you can see where the gas tank goes.
I’m working from the rear bumper forward.

I’m going to blow out the rear rails out with fuel hose and a blow gun. Hopefully I’ll get most of the mud and junk out of those rails.
I’m debating whether to straighten that tail panel between the gas tank and bumper. I don’t know if it contacted the ground or was bent for pipes.
You have to really love a car to do this kind of stuff.

 

Nice Car!!

 

Hello,

Your Fairlane is rather nice. The underneath still looks good and after the whole thing is ready, a good commercial undercoating spray is just what it needs to last another 30 years. The concept for undercoating came with the factory assembly lines. But, the factory just sprayed sparingly under the car to prevent the chassis and metal parts showing not get so rusty as they do naturally. Random paint is not as good as a thick commercial undercoating.

The difference between a new car without undercoating versus one that got a good commercial thick coat of spray undercoating is like night and day. In our old Long Beach neighborhood, our neighbor just bought a new 1964 El Camino. It was nice looking and had the cool air shocks in the back. That was a great selling point. Now, at least the car/truck version of the Chevelle line would stay level when loaded with work stuff or supplies. And not be a low in the back truck with the heavy loads.

But, within a week of usage, when he raised the rear with the air shocks, the factory metal surfaces were now rusty and looked awful. He was not a hot rod guy, but just a guy that liked cars and trucks. So, when we talked about the rust showing up so soon after being new. He just shrugged his shoulders and that was the “what can we do about it, it is a natural thing…” type of answer. Yes, in looking around at the regular home owner sedans in the driveways, they all had rusty bottoms.

He asked what I did to our 58 Impala. He looked underneath and it was all black and covered with a thick commercial spray on, undercoating compound that would slow down the rust and keep it nice for a lot longer. We were in the surf mode, as well as the beach mode and continually had salt water underneath our cars. When we had to go across flooded parking lots due to high tides and city streets with water that came from the ocean during high tides and large surf that rolled across the highways, we knew it was salty water and played rust-fast games with bare metal.

Jnaki

So, a week or so after my brother bought his Impala, we were sent to a place in Los Angeles to get the commercial undercoating spray on the metal underneath parts. In other words, everything one can see underneath the car. It not only looked good, being all black, but it covered and protected any metal exposed. Yes, the factory offered undercoating, but the results were minimal at best. This application was a thick spray shot out of a hose onto the clean surface prepped underneath portion of any car.

It not only covered all metal parts, but it silenced the road noise coming through the floor. Anything that popped up and hit the bottom coating was a dull thud and not a hard knock rock scratch. When we went through the same flooded streets, it was nothing and a normal garden hose did the job of washing everything underneath. Previously, we had to use the commercial spray booths and the high power spray handles to clean everything off.

The Impala did not get jacked up in the rear, but the neighbor’s El Camino was a rusty show piece every time he raised the bed with his factory air shocks for the ingress of heavy packages and stuff for the rear location. In 4 years, he got a new El Camino for his new business. Even with the factory spray on undercoating… not the heavy duty spray from commercial dealers.

With that in mind, in the fall of 1965, I, too bought a new El Camino from the local chevy dealer. But, this time as soon as I got it home, off I went to Los Angeles to the same shop for a full spray on coating of black undercoating to protect the untreated underneath metal surfaces.

For 125k miles of salt water incursions and flooded coastal salt water highways, it was never a problem about salt water speeding up the rust incursions. So, when the rear bed was raised for our loading of one/two desert racing motorcycles, the bottom showed a pristine all black protected surface, ready for any type of external road hazards. YRMV

Note:

When I sold the Red El Camino 12 years later to a young surfer/sailor from Dana Point, he had his own uses for the purchase. Not only was he going to go to the surf spots along the coastlines, but he also had one other use. He was going to tow a small sailboat and launch it at the harbor ramp. Now, the whole rear end would be covered with salt water during the launch and retrieval. So, as he looked underneath, he smiled and said thank you for the thick application of the undercoating spray. He knew it was not the cans people buy at auto parts stores, but a full commercial protective coating to help prevent rust.

As we all know: “Rust Never Sleeps”

 

Thanks Jnaki
As always your posts are a pleasure and I appreciate it.
I have found that the factory undercoating primarily in the rear wheel houses and drive shaft tunnel/hump.
There is some on the floors of the passenger compartment but it diminishes as you go to the rear of the car.
There is no undercoating in the differential hump and under the trunk.
I believe this was more for sound than it was for rust protection.
There’s plenty of areas under the passenger compartment where there is no undercoating and primer is showing.

As I’m working to the front, the greasier it gets.

Thanks again Jnaki.

 

Right now the next big thing is removing the old and installing the new third member.

I dread it.
Those jokers are heavy.

I’ve looked at the options, there’s only one way. That way is to “hoss” the old one off and “hoss “
the new one on. By hoss I mean grab that joker, pull it off, pick up the new one and slide it on.

Jacks and all that stuff......? That seems like more trouble that puts more junk in a tight place, thus complicating the issue with more avenues of injury.

I gotta eat my wheaties.

 

OK....
Today is a slow Fairlane day.

Last night I wire brushed all the nuts and studs on the old third member. Then I gave them a shot of penetrating oil. They were coated in dirt and rust. It’s best to clean this stuff up as best you can, if you can. They would probably zip right off but I feel it’s best to clean them and oil them to prevent a stud breaking.
I’m going to break them with a hand wrench and if any are stubborn I may use heat or soak them some more.
It would suck to break a stud on that housing.

It’s slow.

Getting it to roll....

This is the stage I’m in now.

I’ll get the rear squared away. Then I’ll do the rear brakes and mount the new gas tank.
Once the drums are on, rear brakes done, emergency brake I’ll mount my rear wheels.

Even without the master and front brakes done I can get the car on wheels and make it a roller that will stay put.

 

OK this photo was after the fact but here I am holding the bracket that holds the rear brake hose. The upper part of the bracket bolts into the floor and holds the fuel line. The bolt head is where this bracket bolts up.

It has rust undercoating and dirt all over it. These parts are rusted together.

Here is the assembly on the shop floor. A trip to the vise and I was able to remove the clip. The bracket and old hose end required a torch to separate.
On my 51 Coupe this bracket was permanently fixed. It sure was a nice feature to be able to unbolt this from the Fairlane.


Here the bracket and clip is being pickled in a jar of vinegar and water mix.
It should be real easy to clean these parts when I take them out.

All the differential nuts are off next is separating it from the housing.

 

I took the bracket and brake clip out of the vinegar jar and scrubbed and washed them off.







I think it did pretty good.

 

Write me down as one more former owner. Sport coupe in a light metallic blue- silver with black top. K code and 4 speed. I think I bought it in the early fall of 69. I have no pics of it. Fenton dark spoke mags and glass packs were the only mods that I remember. I did try a hairy cam for about 2 weeks. That proved to be a mistake in many ways. Good luck in continuing. You've invested quite a bit of time.

 

For the fairlane lovers:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1...e=dm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2025-04-19

 

Hello,

When I was given the afterschool job of replacing the complete third member of my brother’s 58 Impala, it was a strength building job. I was under the rear section of my brother’s Impala jacked up after our dad got home from work. I had a limit on time, so I had to be finished by 11 p.pm. This was a Thursday night after school.

I would have started it sooner, and I did several times, but our dad could not get his big Buick into the garage like he had all of these driving to work days. So, he did not like parking it on the driveway and walking into the house. Those were few and far between. I ate a fast dinner and as soon as he got home from work around 5:30 pm, I had the 58 jacked up on stands and the axles out. In the spring and summer, it was warm, so it was fine, as it was t-shirt weather. But as soon as it started getting cooler, it became jacket weather. It was also cold laying on my back on the cold concrete pad.

I learned to pile flat blocks of wood to get the heavy third member down and up. Tilt, get the old wood sheet out and so on until the heavy center section was now on the towel to be dragged out to the side of the jacked up/supported Impala. Then the reverse was done with the same towel put the new unit on it and drag it in place. Then add sheets/blocks of wood to raise it up slowly until it was high enough to lift it in place to put on the zillion nuts to hold it in place.

The best thing was a new Walker Floor Jack was given to us by our dad’s friend in Los Angeles. It was a heavy duty version and served its intended purpose well. After unbolting the whole set of nuts, and draining the oil out, the axles came out. Then the whole center section could be pulled out and placed on the raised floor jack. That made it so much easier than pulling the third member out and letting it fall to the pile of wood + towels and an old patio cushion under the landing spot.

Now, the floor jack was almost even with the bottom of the third member and it easily slid out to sit on the jack pad. Now, it was a simple way to roll it out to replace it with the new 4:56 Positraction center section that was sitting nearby and ready.

Jnaki

Now, most folks would think, why is that teenager under the car at night changing the third member of an Impala? The one unit I took out was a 4:11 Positraction . It was always replaced with a new 4:56 Positraction gear unit. It was easier than replacing the actual gears. My brother bought the whole unit new and now it was my turn to do the removal and install. Also, the question was brought up years ago.

Since the ratio from 4:11 to 4:56 is not much, why go through that trouble to go faster if at all? The first runs with the 4:11 gearing in our stock 280 hp Impala were in the mid 15’s. After installing the 4:56 Positraction, the overall average dropped to high 14’s and winning some trophies. 15:20 to 14.80 is a drop, but not earth shattering. But, it did win us some pride and trophies we gladly displayed on our bookcase at home. The best time before we started our 40 Willys Coupe build was 14.68 e.t. my brother was the quickest and I got the top speed at 98 mph in the Impala. All done with 4:56 Positraction gears.

So, was the time spent under the Impala worth the effort? Yes, definitely. I learned how to do manual labor stuff that none of my friends learned. I knew the ins and outs of axle removal and third member removal and replacement. I was doing a nifty job while wearing everything from a simple t-shirt to a heavy hooded jacket to keep warm.

By the way, where was my brother? He was inside of the den, listening to music and playing his guitar. He knew I would not make a mistake and left me alone. He did show me how to do the replacement and the steps. So, there is that. But, as he was warm inside of the house, I was outside sometimes freezing without using gloves. Besides, no one used gloves back in those days. Real mechanics, including teenagers, cleaned their fingernails and skin with Lava soap and Brillo pads… YRMV

On several long nights, he did come out to see me sleeping after I had put back in place, the third member, oiled up everything and was so tired, I fell asleep with the bright hanging extension light shining right in my face. Ha! What I did to be able to be a part of the drag racing components and race prep. It served me well into my own teenage high school endeavors later on.