Projects 1958 Ford Ranch Wagon "Class Project"

This thread will document the progress of the first ever Auto Shop class at Seattle Lutheran High School in West Seattle, Washington. I've been documenting this project on another forum but would appreciate getting more help and advice, and the little advice I've gotton on the HAMB has been very valuable. I will fill in the history of the project here in a series of posts and then keep updating it as the project continues.

I’ve had this idea for a while that I’d like to build a car with a group of kids. I bought the car in September 2008 with the intention of building it as a church youth group project. That didn’t take off but I and a couple other guys started picking away at the project over the course of the next year. The first set of pictures represents that progress.

In the summer of 2009 I pitched my idea to the Seattle Lutheran High School principal and got a class formed. The students will earn elective credits for participating in the build for the full nine months of the school year. In June of 2010, we will drive the car to Billetproof and then sell it.

This is what the car looked like when we bought it:


It’s a California car (still had the black plates on it) so there’s not much rust beyond the surface rust.

Parked in its new home:

 

Here’s some shots after an afternoon of cleanup:

 

Very cool deal. Good luck with the build.

 

In the time before the class started we worked on getting the thing cleaned up.
- Wire brush and paint the floor
- Remove the old engine/trans
- Remove bent trim
- Started removing the surface rust
- Rebuilt the brakes
So here’s what it looked like when the class started:










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Our first class was September 13th, 2009. The first order of business is to put a newer motor in the wagon, so we got a ’75 Ford pickup the day before for its 390/C6.
The first class session was spent prepping to pull the motor.


The students in the "before" shot:

 

We pulled the motor from the pickup and started cleaning it up and sizing it up against the old motor.

We've got a lot of work ahead of us: In taking off the cracked exhaust manifolds we broke 7 of the 8 upper bolts on the manifolds. The 8th one stripped.

 

We had our third class on October 11th. In the two weeks in between classes, my assistant Dave and I got together for three evening work sessions to clean up and paint the motor and drill out the broken exhaust manifold bolts. I'm using cobalt bits - the most expensive drill bits at Home Depot - and I get about 2-3 holes per bit before they're too dull to do anything more than shine the metal.

This session was focussed on putting the motor back together and replacing all the tune up parts - cap, rotor, plugs, points, condensor, wires, trans filter, etc.

This is me giving orders


The finished product


When the motor assembly was almost done I got a couple of the guys working on cleaning up the outside of the gas tank so we can paint it and get it put back in place.


Before the next class I want to design the adaptor plates we need for the motor mounts, finish drilling out the exhaust manifold bolts, and construct a transmission mount using elements of the truck and the wagon mounts.

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The goal for the fourth class was to get the motor in place and get started on the adaptor plates for the motor mounts.

In our last class we identified that the mounts on the original trans are in a differnet place than the C6. I did some searching and found out that a trans mount off of an early Mustang would put the transmission in the right place.

We spent a good deal of time wrestling the motor into the engine compartment. In the process we discovered that the oil filter mount on the 390 placed the oil filter inside the frame. So we'll need to use the 90 degree down facing mount off the 352.



We're making adaptor plates to bridge the gap from the motor mounts to the holes on the block. I have some thick steel L-brackets that we're cutting down. I got out the torch to cut off the L and let the students try it out.



Here's the stock 390 oil filter mount:


Luckily I still have the old 352 around so we'll use the oil filter mount off it:


The problem we have now is the trans pan is hitting the cross member. I can't be the first person to put a C6 in a '58 Ford, so I'll have to research this before our next class.

 

Well, our fifth class wasn't super productive, but we had fun.

The top priority for the day was to get the motor and trans mounted. We made some spacers for the trans mount that put the transmission in the right place to clear the cross member.

Through my previous measuring and research I had convinced myself that we needed to fabricate motor mount plates to bridge the gap between the stock motor mounts and the holes on the block. We devoted quite a bit of time to torching, grinding and drilling plates for this purpose. After we got the motor set in place, it became clear that the distance we had to bridge wasn't nearly as far as I thought it was. Further research after the class revealed that the problem I was trying to solve is one you have when using an older FE motor in a newer car. It turns out that you can use a newer FE motor in an older car by turning the stock motor mounts around. So... a lot of wasted effort during the class.

While Jake and I were wasting our time with the motor mounts, Dylan got the idea that he wanted to get artistic with the gas tank. Everything we take off has to be cleaned and painted before going back on and I told Dylan he could paint the tank whatever color he wanted. He spent a good deal of time designing and masking off a spider web shape on the tank and painting it red and black. It's obviously not a critical piece of the project, but it was fun to see him be creative and really get into it.

Jake works on the ill-fated motor mounts:


Dylan gets artistic


I want to start wiring and plumbing the motor in the next class, so Dave and I spent a few hours this week getting the motor mounted and taking care of a few miscellaneous tasks.

The goal of this class has always been to get the car running and take it to a car show next summer. The show I like to go to is Billetproof which is in late June. This week I registered the car for the show, so I thought I should work on a timeline to get us there successfully. I've told the class that I want to hear the motor run before Christmas and I want to drive the car by the middle of February.

 

We had a full house for the sixth class with all three students and two helpers besides myself.

This week we tackled the fuel system, engine wiring, and patching rust holes in the rear cargo area.

Here John Paul and Derek work on wiring the motor while I teach them how to read a wiring diagram and Dylan works on the fuel line:


Dave and Jake work on the rear cargo area. The spare tire well had a bunch of little rust holes, so we chose the fiberglass and POR15 patch method.

 

Our seventh class was certainly the coldest one so far. Our immediate goal is to get the motor started before Christmas break, so we spent most of our time working through our pre-flight checklist. We won't have any coolant, exhaust, or charging systems in place for the first firing.

We got the exhaust manifolds installed (after overcoming a little issue with the cleverly reversed motor mounts), installed the trans cooler, finished up the patch in the spare tire well, and finished up some odds and ends on the motor.

We spent a while trying to design some throttle linkage since the stock gas pedal arm moves up and down instead of front to back (I think we'll just replace that arm with something straighter that will gives us the front to back movement).

Toward the end of the class I hooked up a temporary starter switch to the solenoid to turn the motor over. It worked fine, but wouldn't stop turning over after I let off the switch and even after I unhooked the switch, so I think we'll be buying a new solenoid this week.

We had a little extra time at the end of the class so we started planning for the next milestone which is to get it road worthy by the end of February. The boys decided that we should clean up the stock steel wheels to save money, so I need to find someone who will take the old crusty tires off for free so we can sandblast and paint the wheels.

Here's the gang hard at work:


The temperature was in the low 30's this weekend. Even with the wood stove going, the garage was a little cold.

 

Our eighth class brought us down to the deadline I had set of getting the motor started by the end of the year. We were short handed this week and had a short class due to other holiday and sporting activities going on.

Before trying to start the motor we replaced the solenoid that got stuck in the last class. We also finished up our long battle with the exhaust manifolds. Between the broken bolts, broken taps, and interference with the motor mount we've got a lot of time into getting those manifolds on the motor.

After getting the manifolds on, we rigged up a temporary starter switch on the solenoid and successfully fired the motor! It fired up fine and was sort of anticlimatic - but I'm happy that we met our goal.

Here's Jake finding the shortest path to the hard-to-reach manifold bolts:



We also put the rear cargo area back together:


Dylan didn't want to work on fabricating throttle linkage, so I told him to grind rust (something we'll be doing a lot more of before we're done)

 

(From february)

Our next goal is to scrounge the parts we need to get the car driving by March.

The big items on the list are:
Radiator - I just bought one on Craigslist out of '66 Fairlane that looks like it'll work - we just need to figure out how to mount it.

Wheels and tires - the plan is to restore the stock steel wheels and run white wall tires. I need to find a tire shop that'll give us a break on the labor.

Driveshaft - the length is right on the stock driveshaft, but the slip yoke needs to be changed. I'm trying to get a local driveline shop to give us a tour and a discount on the labor to get this done.

Brakes - We rebuilt the brakes before this was an official class and just have a few details to finish up.

That should be enough to get us driving up and down the alley. Then we'll have to work on lights, exhaust, etc so we can take it out on the road.
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(some of my thoughts)

I'm still trying to figure out the best mix of information and lessons to impart on the students. There's not enough time in the class to do all the work that needs to be done on the car, so my helper Dave and I get together almost every Friday night and work for 2-3 hours to keep things moving. But I try to involve the students in any major decisions.

I am no auto mechanic expert, so I have no hope of teaching a comprehensive auto shop course. I've always done these projects by just feeling my way through and learning as I go. I do feel like I've made enough mistakes over the years that I have some lessons to share and I hope that nine months on a car project will de-mystify cars a little bit for these guys so that they feel empowered to dig into their own projects in the future.

Regarding problem solving strategies, I've taken a couple approaches. Some things I solve offline and then walk them through the process that I followed - the broken exhaust bolts fall in this category. Some things we address during class and I guide them through the process - "here's a radiator I got, how do you think we should mount this?" On other things I just hand them a problem, let them go at it for a while, and then have them show me how they want to solve it - "figure out the throttle linkage." (this one is still ongoing)

With virtually no experience working on cars, the students aren't going to be able to figure these things out on their own - but I really don't want to spoon feed them everything.

When I first envisioned this class, it was all about the car. As the actual start date approached, I started to feel like I really want it to be more about project management and problem solving. I have a whiteboard in the garage where I've drawn a timeline of the school year and put milestones for "start engine", "running and driving", etc. In each class I reference the milestones and we discuss what tasks still need to be completed in order to meet them.

I hope to make a "career" out of this autoshop concept, so I'm sure I'll be revisiting my goals, objectives, and tactics many more times...

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My dad donated some money to the cause, so I've been on a little shopping spree lately.

'66 Fairlane radiator off Craigslist:


Replacement grill off ebay:


Four almost-new tires off Craigslist:

 

What a great alternative to the "bare bones" budgets of the public school system! I don't
imagine there are many electives for the kids to choose from today.

Congrats and good luck with your endeavor!

 

Very cool! You're doing a great thing.

 

We met our deadline of getting the car started before Christmas, so now we're focussed on getting it drivable before March.

The last thing we needed to do on the brakes was bleed them, so Derek and Jake took care of that:


Dylan and Dave spent some time figuring out what it's going to take to mount the radiator (you can see it in the above "shopping spree" post), Derek worked on the shift linkage and Jake started wiring up some switches to replace the broken ignition switch.

Our class has a dedicated page in the yearbook and the pictures are due next week, so we posed for a group shot.

 

Short update this week.

This week we got the shift linkage and throttle linkage figured out, the ignition switch wired, driveline rebuilt and a coat of paint on the wheels (I finished sand blasting the wheels the day before).

 

We were supposed to have class last week, but since all three of my students are football players I thought I better postpone class in favor of the Superbowl.

This week my helper was on a plane to the Philippines, we had an extra student observing class to see if he wants to take it next year, a couple parents dropped in, and an elderly neighbor stopped in to chat. Despite all this, we got a lot done and had a good time (the unseasonably warm Seattle weather helped, too).

Jake has proven to be pretty handy with the wiring. He replaced the broken stock ignition switch (for which we have no key) with a couple toggle switches and a push button start. This week we tested them out. It was fun to hear static on the stock radio and see the dash lights come on. Unfortunately, the motor wouldn't fire. He ended up replacing several wires on the engine and got it to start up. It was fun to just turn him loose on that and see it turn out so well.



Dylan got the drive shaft rebuilt (though I made everyone take turns pressing a U-Joint in place) and got it installed.



Derek finished up the throttle linkage and got the front seat cleaned up. The back was in pretty bad shape so we decided to strip it and we'll work on padding it and making a new cover for it in an upcoming class.





I just like this shot with the clean, painted wheels and all the boys working on the car


In addition to the above, they also got the radiator hoses, pulleys, fan, and belt installed. We are now VERY close to getting this thing moving under its own power.
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Today was the day I had hoped to drive the wagon for the first time. Unfortunately, I don't have tires on it yet and that turned out to be our undoing. I wasn't too worried about the tires because I knew we could just use the cragars off my wagon if we needed - but it turns out the lug nuts don't fit the Ford studs.

The other problem we're having is that we're not getting gas out of the gas tank. I originally dropped the tank assuming it would be full of crud, but it was remarkably clean. I put five gallons of gas in it, but nothing's getting into the fuel line. Not sure what to do about that...

We rigged up a tank in the engine compartment for today so we could let the engine run and warm up. We got some video of it running. I can't figure out how to embed it here...



After we gave up on driving it today, we worked on cleaning up the interior and body. The boys decided they didn't like the bits of insulation hanging from the ceiling, so they got to work cleaning it.



They also worked a little on the cleaning up the body. I don't think Jake has cut his hair since this project started.





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We were down a student this week and both of the remaining two had short days with one leaving early and the other arriving late. So not a tremendous amount of work done this week.

We dropped the gas tank to try and figure out why no gas is coming out, but the fuel pickup is impossible to get at and all attempts to clear it have failed. We're either going to have to find something else to use as a tank (and somewhere else to mount it, as the wagon tank is quite unique in shape) or forceably remove the pickup tube and fashion a replacement.

While I messed around with the gas tank, Derek worked on the seat. We bought a foam toddler bed mattress from Ikea and cut it down to size to pad the back of the front seat, then wrapped it in canvas and applied the classic Mexican blanket.

The boys have talked about leaving their mark on a hidden part of the car, so they signed the seat foam.




The end result is quite comfortable. Now I'm thinking we should refinish the bottom of the seat as well.

While that was going on, Jake put the wheels and tires on the car and got to work wiring up the voltage regulator.



We are almost ready to drive this thing. Unfortunately, the master cylinder that we rebuilt last year (before this was an official class) is now leaking. I think I'm just going to buy a new one so we can drive it during the next class - though I hate to spend the money.

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I found this inspirational photo the other day. Maybe for next year's class will make this wagon into a gasser.

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It's hard to believe we're already seven months into this project. This week Jake was away at some kind of elite basketball invitational, but the guys brought a substitute student to take his place and the new guy was quite an eager participant. It's too bad he's a senior this year so I can't recruit him for next year's class.

The goal for this week was to get the car moving under itts own power. While we still had it up in the air the boys installed a set of six retro seat belts that I bought this week. I bought them from SeatBeltPros http://www.gotbelts.com/ and I felt like the price was pretty reasonable. And they are located in Washington state so I got the belts real quick.

Here's Derek drilling holes for the rear seat (this car never had seatbelts, so we had to drill all the holes). I had to show off Derek's new mohawk, too.


Once the seat belts were in, we lowered it down onto the wheels.


Then we topped up the ATF level and took it for a drive!


We drove it during the 4 minutes that it rained on Sunday. It started pouring just as we were ready to take it out of the garage, but we couldn't stand to wait. By the time we backed it back into the garage, it was sunny. Since the car is about 50% bare metal, we had to do some drying.

 

This week was our smallest class yet, with only one student. But we still got some good work done.

During the week we were able to bash the pickup tube out of the gas tank without doing too much damage and then got it cleaned out and reattached. In class we got the tank put back together, installed, connected, and functional. No more red gas can strapped to the radiator support!

Dave wired up the voltage regulator and alternator according to this diagram:


The motor will now run with the battery disconnected, but the generator light on the dash is still on. I'm not sure if I need to worry about that or not.

The only real bad rust on the car is on the front floor. Since we don't have welder in the garage or on the team, we used the license plates that came on car as patch panels and rivetted them in place. (Before anyone gets too upset, the plates were in pretty bad shape already).


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Hey nice wagon!
I'm a biased Ford guy, though....cool to help these kids learn, and work together.
I wish someone gave a crap about that in my school days.

Just curious, are you doing this without ANY school backing whatsoever? If you are, very good on you, you are going above and beyond.

Question: Why the liscence plate on the d-side floor? covering the rust hole? ( Ahhh...just re-read that above^^^)
Do you have access to a welder? It would be pretty cool to add welding to their list of exposures/understanding....
If you don't, I imagine someone on here nearby would be glad to help you out with theirs, and contribute. It would be a lot nicer to cut it out and do the metal work, aesthetically ( I know...you can't really see it, but...) and from a learning standpoint, add a lot of good exposure to skills that are the norm in the industry.
I'd bring my welder over if I was nearby!
Good luck...enjoy the Ford!

 

This is entirely volunteer taught and funded. If it goes well I hope to get the school to pitch in money for future classes and I might charge a per student materials fee at some point.

I do not have a welder and the last time I successfully welded something was in high school. I would LOVE to expose these students to as many different skills as possible. If anyone in the Seattle area wants to join us on a Sunday afternoon I'd love help with welding, body work, and painting.

 

You are doing a great job. Maybe some on here will step up for a wire welder. I had a similiar wagon in 61 only a 2 dr lt blue and white. 332 with a std trans. wish I had it back. keep up the good work.

 

lots of good karma here. kudos to you for your time. this will stay with them there whole lives and be that smile that everyone wonders what he,s thinking.