Thought i would post a few photos of the 57 I am doing a mechanical rebuild on for my Dad. This car has sat in one of his shops for years and was no longer drivable. The fuel lines had gummed up, the transmission was out, and the engine would p*** oil to the floor almost as fast as it was poured in the top. This car has a reasonably solid body and ch***is - but everything on the car is flat worn out. Plans are for a full mechanical rebuild while keeping the original aged paint and chrome. It may be painted one day (maybe). The last two cars i have rebuilt and left the paint alone, and it turns out that they are much more enjoyable to own without worrying about weather and bugs. They also are more interesting to me with some wear on the cosmetics. Anyway, the build started with the rear suspension. The rear was noisy so it has been rebuilt. Stock open rear, case powdercoated and early 90s Tbird discs added. This photo gives an idea on how bad the engine leak was. The majority of time spent so far has been with cleaning and degreasing. Cleaned up: A little surprise under the carpet. The car had this patch over some pinholes in the floor. This trapped water and rotted out the floor. Intersting note here - I tracked down the owner from the 60s here in Austin from a transmission rebuild warranty book. He said he put a patch in the floor in 1968. The rest of the floors are solid. I think it rotted due to water getting in around the accelerator rod, and this ****ty repair made it much worse. He sold the car when he went to Vietnam. All good now :
The front has stock suspension rebuild with a few minor changes. I added a 1.25" sway bar and the coils are 2" lower. Brakes are GM discs. Getting started. The car was hard to push. Found that the upper ball joints on the control arms were rubbing the tires. Not sure why - suspension is stock and wheels are original. After. All original metal components are powdercoated
Engine bay repainted. Had to fill a large hole in the cowl. At some point ac was installed and apparently the holes were "drilled" - by using a pick axe. The result was a hole that i could put my fist through. You can see the hole covered in grey putty in the top left photo. Ac is going back, using an updated system from Cl***ic Auto Air. Since these photos Ihave cleaned and repainted the frame and rebuilt the suspension. The mess under the car isnt from me spilling oil and transmission fluid while removing the engine - it was leaking that bad after sitting a few weeks. I am adding a power brake booster and relocating the battery to the trunk. This isnt a purist TBird or really a traditional car. My goal is for it to appear like a stock survivor but be a comfortable and reliable driver.
great thread .. on our 57 bird we had tire rubs too turns out that 15 inch wheels are not usable we swapped them withsome from our 58 bird thiking the newer tires and better condition wheels would be a good thing it cut a good groove in the backs of the tires we switched back and still added a wheel spacer as the stock were still close too... dunno why ours did this it has unaltered non lowered susp. could be when stock spring wear out ? or a tire wider in dimension that a "brand" switch may have added just a little to that section width...use narrow 78"s instead of 70 series?
looking good i love the 57 t-birds and i like the original color are you going to rebuild the y-block ? or you gonna go with something else? just hope it aint a sbc
I have the stock Y block and transmission rebuilt to stock specs. Right now I am sealing the seams underneath and painting before putting the engine and transmission back in. Its hot, dirty work and my garage is not cooled. In hindsight I should have pulled the body off the frame.
hey I like the way your doing things. IMHO you are probably ok not doing a frame off. Sometime creates so much extra work and definitely keeps you from using the car for several more years. This way it'll be back on the road. Did mine about the same way glad your keeping the Y.
Its tough looking back at a 3 year old project and then realizing how little I have progressed .... Anyways, dropped the rebuilt engine and transmission in today, the underside is clean and detailed, new suspension, steering, brakes, etc - starting to see some light at the end of this tunnel. The car was flat worn out and much worse than I expected. Will go into the body shop for a full repaint in the new year. Hopefully some quicker progress soon.
This is my parents car - so building it per my Dads wishes. He wants it to be a nice driver and steer/stop like a more modern car. The steering is a Flaming River R&P.
I am not sure how old (or agile) your dad is but sure he is comfortable getting in and out of the car. I remember when I was driving one on a regular basis a lot of people complained about how difficult it was to get in and out of the car. It would be terrible to get it finished and have him not able to enjoy driving it. I know this is one thing I am going to revisit before I start working on mine. Time sure flies when you are having fun. Charlie Stephens
He is pretty nimble for an old guy. This is him climbing into the bay to guide past the transmission tunnnel. Even for me the car is very hard to get out of with the top on and visibility is poor. The side view for me is through those little portholes. I expect that it will go without a top as long as he owns it. I did put in a tilt column to help with access.
Finally painted - (damn, it's been 5 years). My Dad is doing final ***embly. Car needed rockers and lower body repair - was really a mess. It's all metal now - they did a good save on a trash body. It had been hit on every angle and had a lot of lead and bondo sculpting. Only body mod is 56 Ford headlight bezels because he wants the accessory "eyebrow" chrome trim. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
What a great car! Great to see it being restored. I think most of us are envious of the condition that the car was in & the little body repairs to bring it back to original condition. Congratulations.
Who did the paint and bodywork? Presumably in the Austin area Sent from my SM-G550T using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The car had several pounds of filler (lead and bondo). In fact, one front fender was .5" shorter and the rockers and quarter bottoms were gone. Lots of poor repairs and it had been hit on every side. They did a great job of fixing it all and it's all metal now. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
One of my Dad's friends did the body work and paint. It came out really good - I was surprised. They did the paintwork in an open shop (no booth) and the paint came out great without any flaws in the finish.
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