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

new plug wires, new carb, new intake.

needs more fine tuning but it runs great.


it looks like its not gonna fit, right?

it fits but just.

 

I ***ume this shot was taken mid work, since the dist wires are half off and a coolant hoce is not connected. However, the Red circles are a ported vacuum leak that should be plugged. The Yellow circles are the bowl vent that should have the flapper cover it. Hope you got these sorted.

 

the ported vacuum line goes to the distributor, runs the vacuum advance, someone at holley was asleep at the tap when threading it, the hole is crooked!

the flapper moves freely, i knocked it off its spot by mistake.

 

cooling system complete, no more heater core leaks for now.

now for the fun part, test n tune.


it is not idling as low as id like for some reason. something is pushing the idle up, choke maybe?
runs like a dream minus a noticeable part throttle stumble, its fine if you mash it or let off, any in-between is hiccupy and upset with your choice to cruise instead of max it out.

and max it out it does, the 2 barrel was "running out of air" around 3800-4000 rpm the 4 barrel opens up and it takes off, it wants to rev to 5k!

new top speed in this hunk of junk, 96 mph on a downhill... thats all it has in it, im amazed it even goes that fast.

 

Is the choke fully open? I was under the impression a two wire choke needs the ground hooked up to it to work properly. But I have nothing to back that up with.

 

i hadnt transfered my ground wire from the 2v yet, i had just clocked it to be wide open for initial.
its fully functional now

 

forgot to mention, the high idle screw was so far in it had no way to ever reach low idle... just realized i forgot the choke cotter pin before driving it a bit. least i have spares if it flew off.
idles like a dream

 

Hey, you are movin' and learnin' fast.
Glad you are getting it sorted and have a handle on the carb. Lots of guys don't even after years, so it's not just that you are young and doing your first car, it's a stumbling block for many. Sorry if it sounds like we are second guessing you.
Keep tuning it, It will continue to respond and 'find the groove'.

 

previous owner of this carb seemingly knew what he was doing. its jetted 54 primaries and 62 secondaries, and whatever that is, its perfect.

edit: apparently... thats stock jetting, could be why lol

the secondaries hit and it takes off so nicely. i dont think the "350cfm" 2300 was actually 350 cfm, gotta be like 225 or something. the 485 cfm 4 barrel is a m***ive improvement... should measure my 0-60 again. its hitting felony speeds by the end of the street now!

 

its acting up again, thinking the backfiring from first attempts at starting it killed the power valve, guess thats why i got 3 lol.

the next thing on my to do list is to finish what i started with the suspension.

im happy with the bushings, but these monroe blues are lackluster at BEST, i swear the tigerrides dampened more than these. so KYB gas-a-just for a t bird it is.

doing some HAMB research, i discovered some drop in drop springs for the front, 2.5 inch drop, from a '90s ford aerostar.

the rear leaves need replaced aswell with blocks to do it right, in the 18 months since reinstalling them theyve sagged another couple inches on the drivers side. i could re-arch them but for 150 a piece i can get brand new ones.

im slowly sourcing the 15s, im up to 2 now, 2 left to grab.

 

Aerostars lowered my car too much. I run 215/75-15 tires up front and they s****ed on the inner fenders quite a bit. I took 1 coil out of the OG ones and am happy with the ride.

I got new leafs from McVeighs, they sell on eBay too. Just the 4 leaf ones. They make them with 6 leafs.

 

this about how i want mine to sit. i think if i run 215/65r15s they should clear, maybe, i'll have to grab a used bald tire to check clearance.

eventually i might swap in a "modern" style swaybar if im still not happy with its cornering ability.

for leaves, whats better, custom springs or lowering blocks? i believe i need 4 leaves aswell since its not a wagon,

 

(59 olds sedan pictured, teal and pink... odd color combo)
Hit up the junkyard yesterday with a buddy, he needed a hood for his marquis, i needed an alternator for my 57. scored a g1 off a rotting 1966 390 thunderbird, dual belt pulley, may come in handy later if i do ever get around to installing something that needs one.

3 wire plug, weird right?

 

ive figured it out, its not running rich so it cant be the power valve, nor is it the accelerator pump.

i can close one of the primary needles completely without the engine dying, but if i close the other it dies.

gonna try to rev it up and cover it and see if i missed anything, if that doesnt fix it, im swapping the metering block with one of my many many spares.

 

I run a 1.125" sway bar on my Ford. It made a big handling difference.

 

got lucky today, picked this up for 85 bucks. as "non working"
motor worked fine, transmission needed some m***aging back to function.

who even needs vacuum lines when electric exists.

 

and its in... wow, it just works, no vacuum line headaches, or atf in the vacuum motor... it just works. period correct upgrade too, also, im deleting the road draft and swapping in a pcv valley pan instead, might as well use the vacuum port on the intake for something. also need to replace the oil cap since i need a good working filter for pcv.

i made a headache for myself later by directly wiring it instead of wiring it with a plug in before the harness (whoops) problem for future me lol.

loaded it full of nice new lithium soap grease. testing it with the car off killed the battery in like 10 minutes flat. definitely wiring it to ignition only, not auxiliary aswell.

 

gotten the carb a little bit better sorted, the high idle screw is now too far out, need to tighten it up some. one of the needles still isnt working, thinking maybe theres a clog in the metering block. what i dont get is why it runs better when you mash it, but worse when youre light on it, usually its the other way around.

 

I always tune carbs using a vacuum gauge. With it running, turn in the screw and watch the needle drop, crank it out until the needle peaks.

I agree with something being blocked in one or more of your circuits. Some parts would hot-tank our carb parts for a small fee.

There used to be a kit called "Dip It" for carb cleaning. It was a can of solvent with a basket in it. Put the smaller parts in it and let them soak, blow everything out with an air hose.

 

yeah i have a can, guess i need to use it and a piece of 20 gauge thhn to clean em out.

currently hunting for a 62-64 valley pan for that pcv swap. hard to find

 

driving car to work god have mercy on me

 

my daily driver wouldn't start this morning. cranking only. the 57 made it.

 

apparently the people managing the parking lot do NOT like the 57 plates. theyre saying its an unregistered car.

its fully registered lol. the tag is in the rear window

 

thinking about it, this is the first time this car has been driven to its owners place of employment since 1983 or earlier

 

Managing the parking lot!?! Why is there a job to enforce public roadway requirements on private property? Next they are going to fine you for parking backwards?
First, what value do they bring to the profit margin? Next, what training have they gone through to professionally manage a paved lot with personal property coming and going? Do they know that prior to 1980, VINs were less than 17 digits? Ask if they waste other people's on the clock time with this foolishness and if AI could do the job cheaper.


Write this all out and then run it through an AI editor to make it sound business professional. Someone up the chain will get a bonus for saving the company money cutting this waste.

 

My daily driver to work had similar patina. Lot manager got a complaint from another employee that my car was parked too close to his brandy new Camry. I was then told to park at least 3 feet away from any other car in the lot. Or park outside the gate on the street.

 

Please show me on an overhead view of the lot which space provides this criteria so I can comply.
Barring that, this is a benefit the company offers as part of the compensation package. If I am unable to use this due to the opinions of other employees and must forfeit, how will the company compensate me for the loss of this benefit? Is there a formal path to express my feelings of other employees' vehicles, clothing, habits, and anything else I have an opinion about?

 

LOL. Well stated. You're my kind of guy.

 

theyre all from below the border mostly, only like 3 are americans.

im not the only one that has issues with them.

 

Where they are from isn't the issue, the company having a need for this IS.

If the company did their diligence and decided to 1. have this, 2. pay for it (poorly, if it doesn't attract the best and brightest) and 3. have their workers pulled away from their core tasks to answer concerns, they must have solid reasons why.
Is this a high crime area and have other employees had break-ins or cars stolen? Were you made aware of this? Have other employees sued or had their insurance sue for recovery?
Is there a significant number of non-employees taking advantage of this private property parking? Would having a decal or hanger tag allow better policing?
Explain that your car standing out offers more engagement, discouraging lax policing. If they are concerned about keeping up appearances IN THE LOT, better pay would certainly help, but a company car would ***ure uniformity.
BTW, all of this is probably bad for long term success. In Australia the saying is "The tall gr*** gets cut". Being visible is usually a bad thing.