In my Fairlane that has not driven in 49 years. I’m going to go for it…. This week…. The 3.1 is out. Tip if it’s stuck and all the nuts and copper washers are removed, knock it loose with a 2x4. You are not going to hurt it. It came down easy and was fairly easy to manage coming out. This was the easy part. Ok I prepped my housing and here I am working on the center section just cleaning it up. Unfortunately O’Reillys gave me a special order 9” gasket. I should have checked, that was last year. I’m just going to use RTV gear oil rated permatex. I had already coated the housing for the gasket. Anyway I used a razor and file for any burs on the housing. Thais was flipping job by myself. I actually thought I could hoss that joker in place off the floor. Are you kidding, I’m not He-Man. I ended up balancing it a giant floor Jack and got it up. I got the chunk in there’s the trick of balancing the joker and lining it up with the studs. I bet I made 50 trips to the Jack handle…. Back and forth, back and forth…. You got to be careful by yourself with stuff like this. It’s not worth a trip to the ER. Paint was in the bolt holes so it bid not just slide in. I had to use some wood clamps to get to mate. Of course the studs probably scratched off some of the sealer. Hopefully it will seal. Next day…. I had to get some instant gratification so I had my tires mounted. I was so tired and sore from the day before. All I could do was mount one wheel on the front for a look see. The car is up right now. I don’t know where these rollers came from but Blah!!!! They gotta go….. Much better. Yesterday I cut gr***. Next up is axle shafts, gas tank and brakes. Oh…..I think a sander and a can of red Krylon is in the near future for that fender.
I just got off the phone my girlfriend. She was adamant that if the Ford is ready, we’re both riding in it. If the Ford is not ready, we’ll come on anyway.
It’s not going as fast as I would like. I always overestimate what I can do. I got the axles in. I had to work on one of the axle studs. It needed to be dressed up to take the nut perfectly. Little nick nac stuff like that takes time. I had to get the axles and mating surface on the differential clean. It slid in like ****er. The G78 is close, especially on the driver side. I spun that tire and it came to an abrupt stop when my finger jammed it up on the wheel well lip. That hurt. Cleaning parts in diesel made it feel better. The nighttime garage beckons. I want get those axles in and a quart of lube in to see if I have any leaks. I cleaned up the p***enger axle and differential surfaces. It slid in rooty-tooty. I’m just amazed at turning the wheel and the other wheel turns the same direction. I got it all ****oned up. I put a quart of dope in, no leaks. I laid down a sheet of cardboard down under the pumpkin to see if it leaks overnight.
Awesome @F-ONE, Looking forward to seeing you both roll into the park for Lloydfest IV! God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
OK… There’s kind of lull in the action today. Today I’m going to gather some parts I know I need. Two rear wheel cylinders and a master. ‘M going to see my sweetie this weekend and I’m cooking some steaks this afternoon for my son’s birthday. Next week, brakes. This is the punch list. Install 3rd member & axles… check Mount and balance tires…check Check for leaks on 3 rd member…check Upcoming Mount rear brakes…. Mount new E brake cable and have working emergency brake… Make new hard brake lines on the differential housing… Install all new rubber brake hoses… Repair backing plates if necessary…. Unhook fuel pump and blow out fuel line… If the fuel line is clear, mount gas tank, connect gas line and hook up gauge… This should complete major ch***is stuff… Remember to spray control arms with penetrating oil…. Remove transmission… Get it on the ground and pull old engine block… With the engine out, clean up engine compartment… Remove Power steering ram and convert to manual steering… Inspect front suspension and maybe do a rough alignment ( the reason for lubing control arms) Replace Idler arm bushings (I know I need these)… Inspect and overhaul transmission… Replace oil pan and water pump and get the new engine ready to install…. Build bracket for shift linkage… Convert to Gen1 Ford alternator with external regulator… Mate engine to transmission and install… Figure out exhaust ( for now it looks like 289 logs for now)… Start putting stuff back on, radiator ect ect ect Wiring repair (I have an extra original harness)… Hang mirrors that kind of stuff… New battery… Hopefully run the car That’s a big list.
It’s already been a short and productive day in the garage. I had to go though all my stash. I had a master cylinder brand new in the box. I would have been pissed if I bought a new one today and found this. I found the stainless lines for the differential. I need to get the wheel cylinders. I pretty much have everything else. I got most the stuff, I just have to put it together.
Well, it’s not going as fast as I had hoped. There’s been a lot of “recon” and parts gathering. I could do the parts store fuss but everybody knows and has heard it before. With that said, Autozone has come through with the correct idler arm bushings. I even went to the junkyard….. It was pitiful. I did find an exhaust manifold. It was easy to ******, so I did. A poor man’s hi-po???(It turns out I can’t use it) It looks like the linkage will not allow it. It’s just another piece for the stash, I guess. It’s kind of like going to the swap meet….you have to leave with something. It was kind of nostalgic to walk a yard although nothing was older than 1974 or so. There was an FE though. I had to hear how the old owner regretted for the rest of his life, s****ing out the old stuff when s**** got high. I’m going to replace all the hard lines, brake and fuel. I have them so I need to get that done. I have a set of nearly new brake shoes when I bought a bunch of parts. Those shoes were pretty much brand new. As I laid them out to install, the friction was bulging where it had turned loose from the shoe. So that whole set is junk. Maybe the set I’m picking up today from Napa will be better. It looks like I’m putting a double chamber master on the Fairlane. Next is install brake, fuel lines and tank. Pull the old engine and transmission. Finish up the brakes. Convert to manual steering. Front end stuff, idler bushings and adjustment and alignment. Figure out the transmission stuff. Then engine stuff.
Just reading your list of stuff still to be done makes me tired. Whatever you're taking, I want some.
I think I have figured out the idler arm bushings. I thought they were worn and slipped out of idler arm, not so. That stuff is still “tight” it’s not right but it’s tight. 1964 is a tough year to work on. The C4 was new. Ford realized there was a vibration issue and redesigned the Small Block Ford (5 bolt bell to 6 bolt bell). Ford made some internal improvements to the C-4 (Cruisomatic Green Dot). This is why most transmission kits specify 65-69 or 65-66. Ford changed the intermediate band so some C4 stuff is unique for ‘64 although the case will take the guts up to ‘69….maybe. Also there’s a lot of misinformation online and in AI where the big changes in 1970 get thrown into the mix too. My point is, you really have to know your stuff when you fool mid 60s Fords. OK idler arm….. Ford made a running change to a bigger bushing and bigger idler arm in March 1964. Somebody, maybe even a shop has tried to cram these larger bushings into the smaller size idler arm. I bet that was an interesting conversation at the parts counter. “These Aint right”…..” That’s what the book says.” We’ll see if it’s damaged. If so I’ll have to find a new idler arm. Ford abandoned this whole platform in 1965.
Well…… What I did yesterday was pretty much get my coveralls on, put the Dell Shannon channel on my little phone speaker thing “ music ball” crawl up under that joker and lay there and look at for an hour. I had to pay for getting that 3rd member in by myself. It couple of days to recover from that. At one point I ended up with my chin on top of the center of the differential with both arms over the top moving it in that way for a bit. The engine (old 289, heads and pistons already out) has to come out with the transmission. I need a wedge (probably wood) to jam the flex plate so I can remove the converter nuts. I’m planning how this transmission is going to come out. The trans cross member will drop out. The engine….Since it’s just the block and crank I’m figuring…,do I chain it with head bolts or do I use heavy straps through the cylinders? Floor Jack or do I borrow the trans Jack from my brother Saturday? GF is coming down this weekend so I’ll somebody to run the Jack. Anyway this has to come out so I can do the steering stuff and run the new fuel and brake lines, basically finish up the ch***is stuff.
My phone told me this car is very rare. 1964 Fairlane Sports Coupe ( bucket seats , console, column shift) 289 Cruisomatic Rangoon Red October 1963 DSO 41 That’s dealership special order… This explains the factory vinyl top (apparently very rare in ‘64) It is factory. There was a FoMoCo booklet on top care in the glove box. AI says that perhaps 100 to maybe 400 Fairlane Sports Coupes were DSO out of Chicago. Really it’s unknown. Going by survivor rate….100-400 Produced how many had vinyl tops? Mine may be the only one left as all cars out of Chicago have a poor survival rate. Landau/Vinyl top cars especially have a poor survival rate. Oddly enough the car has hardly any rust. It still has the factory paint drips on the floorboards. It’s undercoated too. It still has a 1966 Chicago Richard P. Daly parking decal on the windshield. That top is long gone, it was taken off in the 70s. I really wanted Lloyds input on the top. I’m thinking about putting a top back on it. You know it may be the only one left in this configuration but…., Aren’t they all, all survivors one of a kind?
I’ll have some help today so I’m fixing to get the garage ready for a guest and pulling the old 289 and Cruisomatic. Afterwards I can run all my lines, brake and fuel, I now have a pattern for my transmission lines, and start the power steering to manual conversion. Hopefully my steering gear is good. Yesterday I learned more about mirrors than I ever wanted to know. OK….. I ordered a set of brake shoes from NAPA and had to go pick them up and while I was out I visited my Dad. I had a nearly new set of brake shoes from a parts car, I bought all that stuff. Anyway one of jokers had deteriorated in the freaking box! It had a bulge in friction material. So I ordered a new set. Deteriorating in the box???!! What are they gonna do on the car? So… New set. Since I did not want to get super nasty before the visit and parts run, I thought Hey, I’ll mount the driver’s door mirror. I cleaned up the one from the parts Fairlane and after some Flitz, it looked like a million dollars. So I go to try it. I have the gasket and I’m ready to put it on. The holes do not match. So dig out the original…… original to the car mirror. Tuns out it’s a Joma. A Joma 772-2 whatever that means. The parts car mirror is likely a generic Ford type replacement and it could be a repro or cheap aftermarket replacement. It’s much smaller than the Joma mirror. Both mirrors have a strange resemblance to…… The Starship Enterprise. It seems Joma and another company, Yankee Manufacturing, made mirrors for the aftermarket. These were featured in the JC Whitney catalogs. Probably a good portion of Joma mirrors were bought by dealers. In 1964, the exterior door mirrors were “dealer options”. The cars did not come with exterior mirrors, you got those at the dealer. Of course dealers would up sale the factory mirrors. Since they dealers were independent, they could get aftermarket mirrors from somebody like Joma or Yankee and up sale those. “ Cheaper” than the Ford mirrors but probably 3x the price of the JC Whitney catalog. Also it’s possible factory mirrors may have been in shortage at times so the dealership always had back up…. So the Joma is original to the car from the dealer. Since my car is a DSO dealer Special Order, I gotta fix the Joma. Also, I don’t want have 4 holes in the door. Unfortunately the Joma’s mirror gl*** is missing. After looking at all kinds of mirrors from make up mirrors, to bicycle mirrors, to truck mirrors, to mirrors on chicken toys, to clamp on mirrors, I found that Cl***ic Industries has replacement gl***. So I’ll be rebuilding a crusty but still kind of shiny Joma Mirror. Also….my idler arm bushings showed up from Autozone/rare parts. That’s exciting.
I wish you luck to make the drive to LF, but if you come up short, you have a good jump on finally getting it back on the road.
Engine is out. Transmission is on the floor. It’s still under the car but it’s on the floor. I had a great helper. Angie. She helped more today than she could ever know. She was so excited after I got the engine free when I let her work the crane. These are what she took today. Uhhh. I made the mistake of putting on my one and only ‘64 flipper. I gotta get a whole set. It’s not really in the budget but….. I just gotta. I mean it’s got to have them. The 289 is out and has already been put to the side on tires. Who is that Old guy? Angie snapped this. No joke, in my mind I have black hair slicked back, a little slimmer, no beard and definitely not as many years. That’s how I see myself working on the car in my mind, just like I was 21 under my ‘62 Galaxie. I see that especially when I have Del Shannon and all the gang on. Who does not like Runaway? It’s an anthem. With that said I really dig……. Keep Searching. It’s funny about these cars and music….. I keep getting older and they stay the same age.
I have a lot to do. We’re trying to make it even without the car. It’s tall order and there’s always….. Something. It’s fun to try to make it, to shoot for it. Like you say if it’s not done by the end of the month, I’m that much further ahead.
Having goals are the reason things get done. The difference between "Someday I would like to get this one thing done." and "I got it done!' was the last guy set goals (how many goals got done on time doesn't really matter, setting them then working towards them is what does the job) and the first guy only wished it got done.
Here’s the 289 out on tires. I have to clean the carnage, gather up all the bolts and stuff. We were blessed because I did something stupid. I had a heavy duty cable, a sure enough heavy duty cable. Well I could not find it. So there was this other cable hanging in the shop. I knew better than that. It popped loose. Luckily it was only up an inch or so off the mounts. Tip #1. Don’t do stupid stuff. Tip #2 Converter nuts….If using wrenches and ratchets, sometimes you cannot get a good pull. What happens is you wind up spinning the converter. This was especially true in this case because the pistons were out of the block. I simply found a piece of wood and wedged the piece between the flex plate and bell housing. I stuck through the starter opening. Not hard at all. The nuts come off, easy peasy. The wood was not even dented. I’ll have to get the transmission out from under the car. I have to keep up with all the parts and pieces. Some bags and tags would be a good idea. I’m going to get the 289 up on a stand. It’s not out of the question. I’m going to clean up #1 and # 5, if these cylinders are in spec…this may change the plan. Next is new fuel and brake lines, brakes and the steering. Angie insisted on getting me a creeper today. She is so sweet and she is so encouraging and excited about this little car. She said, “It may not be possible but I would like to be there at the first start.” I thought….. Be there? Your going to be the one turning the key. Here we are after the pull.
How's the Fairlane coming? Time sure wants to speed-up on you when you have a deadline. I was hoping to leave today, but still working on my '40. And had to get the Motor Home ready, oil change, wash it, etc. Worked all day today on MH. Tomorrow will spend day on '40, oil change, tighten a few things, then wash both MH and '40 and check all tire pressures, 16 in all. After Lloydfest, I'll be putting close to a thousand miles on the '40 doing the Moonshine Trail. See you at Lloydfest. Safe travels. Ron
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