Well, I picked up this gem back in Febuary because we kinda out grew my ol' '65 Chevy truck. Kinda got old stuffing a family of 4,with 2 teenage girls, into the truck when goin' to a show. So, I sacrificed the truck and luckily the following weekend I sold the truck, I drove this baby home. So far, I've replaced the valve cover and push rod cover gaskets, new fuel pump,tune-up and did the 12v conversion. The seats are toast but it's all there. Next up, is some patch work on the p***enger side floor and fenders. Plans are to do give this baby a shave and lower it. I'm gonna keep the I6 and split the manifold & run straight pipes to piss off the neighbors.
Wow; Look at all those delete plates--heater, radio, and clock!! And three-on -the-tree to boot! Neat car. Syl
Yeah. I had to buy all of mine for my 56. I'm making a mainline out of a Customline. You can buy pressed pleat seat covers from J.C. Whitney for small money and install them yourself. Mine came with them already installed by the PO. Yours is looking better already!
Thanks guys!! Yeah, it's "bare bones". It's okay though, I'll work with what I got. Hey tommy, thanks for the info on the seat covers!! I'll check that out.
After a few cups of coffee, I got an idea to make the tail light lenses look a little better till I buy new ones. I had a can of metallic paint on the shelf an gave it a whirl. Here's how they turned out.... Lookin' a little rough.... Before & after some paint..... What I used....
There are a lot of later model truck 6 cyl parts that are relatively cheap ways to add power to that little 223. Good motors.
Thanks Tiki. Gonna a fun project... Gonna take a look in the Tech section to see if anyone has split the brake lines on this type of car. I split the lines on my '65 Chevy truck using a 70's master cylinder for an Impala/Caprice. Worked out sweet... Plus, a little safer... kinda like this... during installation...
Adding a dual master to your Ford is EZ to do and EZ on your wallet,I sent you an invitation to join the 1952-56 Ford owners group here on the HAMB,watch "your notifications" in the upper right side click on it,do a "new guy" intro first and then post the master cyl question and I'll hook you up with all the part numbers you'll need.You will find a wealth of info at the group with almost 400 members and lots of pics too.
Sweet '55 Mainline. Ozelle the '55 Ford (a Fairlane Town Sedan) and Henrietta the '38 Ford pickup are both impressed and send friendly horn honks. These are good driving cars, only thing you need to really watch for is that the front crossmember directly under the radiator that the front legs of the lower control arms attach to is bad to rust out on these cars. Good idea to crawl under it and poke around on that crossmember with a big Phillips screwdriver to find any spots that are weakened by rust. One of my cousins wrecked a '55 Fairlane Club Sedan because one of the control arm bolts pulled through a rust-weakened crossmember. As long as that crossmember is solid and front end parts are not worn out, these cars drive really good. I worked in a body shop when I was in high school, and our parts chaser was an old white '56 Ranch Wagon that had the same 223 six and 3 on the tree setup as your '55. That thing would haul, could easily bark the tires when you shifted from low to second. Those engines are simple, reliable, easy to work on, and as others here have noted, they take very kindly to some inexpensive performance upgrades. It's easy to upgrade to disc brakes. I used spindles, rotors, and calipers from a '76 Mercury Montego, a straight bolt-on swap.
Rather than trying to split the manifold, I would just look for a header from like Clifford Performance in Temecula CA. That would be a lot easier and less BS than the split. Espesiclly since 3&4 portsd are simeased togther. Great little motor and good on gas when you take it easy on it. Just wish it had overdrive since your gears are like 3:92's. 55-60 about as fast as you want to go even with taller tires. Michael
THanks for the "horn honks"!! Yes, they're good driving cars and simple to work on. Yes, I did look underneath for signs of cancer in tose areas and looks like I'm good to go. thanks for the heads up... And thanks for disc brake conversion info!! I was wondering about that..
Yeah, those Clifford Performance parts are nice but a little outta my price range for now. But I will revisit them later down the line... I've done a few manifold splits and I don't mind doin' it just to make little noise around the neighborhood. Yes, she tops out @ 60mph but it's cool for now.
The Jalopy Journal
