Projects 54 Ford Customline build

I did a BMW 3.0 CS back in the 80's that was the most difficult project I've ever done. Since then, anything that is rare and needs restoration gets sold to a restorer. I build my cars to drive.

 

Cool build,
Love the ‘54 Ford
I used the scarebird kit on my ‘54 Country Squire but I didn’t want to drop the front end any more. You should have a pretty low front end, should look great


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Looks like mine actually settled overnight. I spoke with Dave at Drop and Stop last night and he did tell me that will will even settle a little bit on its own, and he was right. Looks like it came down a half inch overnight. He said when you take the springs out and reinstall they tend to be a little higher when you first put them back in and then settle back down after being compressed again. He also felt that when my motor, transmission, radiator and other heavy items like the battery goes back in that I should drop another 3 inches. That should put me right where I want to be. Last night I ordered some 3 inch drop blocks in case the 4 inch are too extreme.

 

Perfect stance on your wagon.....that’s about where I hope to be.

 

I don’t even think I could enjoy a full restoration vehicle, I would feel like it should be in a museum. I just want to drive, enjoy and hope others will enjoy seeing it on the road.

 

Which Explorer rear do you have? Gears, brakes etc?

 

I had experience from helping on a few restorations, but those were American cars. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I didn't like it one bit. After that, my motto has been " I'm a creator, not a curator."

 

Got a 1999 Explorer rear end out of a salvage yard. Cut off all the brackets down to bare tubes. I’m going to weld on new perches. Narrowed the rear end 3 inches. I’m Using the stock caliper brackets, calipers and rotors. Have a few pictures of the narrowing in my album. I put a new ring and pinion (3:50) ratio, new ford Motorsport posi unit, bearings and replaced the pinion flange with a Strange engineering pinion yoke. I’ll be posting more on the rear end replacement and more pictures in the near future. I am going to do the rear end swap next. Just not sure how much I will get done as I am starting a new job and not sure when they are having me start. Waiting for all the pre-employment drug and background tests to come back, so my schedule is kinda up in the air at the moment. Going to do as much as I can while I am off.

 

Get 3 big guys to stand on the front bumper and you will get an idea of how it will sit loaded.

 

So last minute I found out that I had to start new job today. I guess I won’t be able to do anything until on the car until the weekend. Maybe Friday depending on if I have to work.

 

Did Dave mention going with Wilwood brakes? They make a duel piston caliper. I think Dave has a set up for them.

 

After an exhausting work week I finally got the ambition to get outside for a few hours. Turned the car around in the driveway and got the back up on jack stands. Pulled the rear end, springs, shocks, fuel tank, and stripped out all the old fuel lines. Not keeping the tank or old rear end if anyone is in need.

 

Cleaned up all the springs and brackets. New coat of paint. Shocks were brand new so those can be reused. Ordered and received a set of 3 inch blocks because I was worried the 4 inch might be too much. So at least I have options. The 8.8 for rear end is ready to go in minus the weld on perches. The rear end was done a few weeks ago. I narrowed it at work. My spring perches won’t make it until Monday so unfortunately I’ll have to wait to move forward until next Friday. Hopefully I’ll be off as the new job has me on a 4 twelve hour shift rotation. Can’t wait to get back on weekend shift. Much more time to work on the car. Looks like that won’t happen for a couple weeks. If I stay at the crap hole I started working at. But it pays the bills until I can land something better.

 

Whenever I get disgusted with a job, I walk around humming that old Johnny Paycheck song, with a big ol' smile on my face.

 

The kicker is, I was disgusted with the job the first day I worked there. LOL..It’s tough to lose a job after 11 years. The lay-off couldn’t have come at a worse time. I thought the new job would be ok, although I knew the conditions were not the greatest but never expected working in a sweat shop. Thursday the shop flooded from a bad morning thunderstorm and they just had us keep on working. Something about welding while standing ankle deep in water just isn’t a good idea.

 

That does not inspire confidence, not at all.

 

Would anyone be able to help on this?
I was looking at my rear end sitting on jack stands and went to put a wheel on to see if everything fits up. However, they don’t. My stock wheels that I planned on using do not fit over the center hub on the end of my axle. I measured the the hub on the axle at 2-3/4 and the rim is at 2-1/2”... I looked at some steel wheels online and the center openings are larger. Is it ok to run wheels if the center hole is larger? Will I have any issues with centering and staying in place? Obviously the lug nuts hold everything in place but not sure how much the center bore of the wheel comes into play. Need to know something before ordering some wheels for the back. I am using 15” x 6” wide wheel with a 5x4-1/2” bolt pattern. Otherwise I could pull the axels and see if I can get a local machine shop to cut down the O.D of the center hub on the axles. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Ideally you do want the wheel center to fit the hubs, both front and rear. That being said, I am have, and still am running wheels on a mid sixties Mercury with larger center holes without issues. I suppose I should check the runout on them some day just to see what I have.

 

I suppose if I go with a wheel with a larger center hole. I could have some spacers made to go around the axle hub to take up the difference in the diameter. That way there will be no space. Probably cheaper than having the axles turned down. And easier than pulling the axles back out to have them machined.

 

True, and that would be the most accurate way to locate them, but think of all of the wheels that Ford used over the years that didn't locate from the center. Magnum 500's being one set that comes to mind.

 

Ordered and received some new wheels for the rear to fit the larger center hub on the axle. Much to my surprise, now my moon hub caps do not fit on the new wheels. So now I had to order a set for the front and new hub cabs to fit all four new wheels. So much for using what I have as far as wheels. I didn’t notice when I bought the first two rims that the rim does not accommodate the moon style caps that fit over the ridge on the rim. So had to go with baby moons that fit inside the ridge on the wheel. So much for the budget.

 

Started this morning putting the Ford Explorer 8.8 rear end in that has been narrowed 3inches. My spring perches had a little bigger hole than the center pin on the drop blocks. Found a tension pin type sleeve at the hardware store. I slit th sleeve a little more using a .045 thick cut off wheel so I could get the sleeve to come down a little in size. Worked perfectly. I tapped it into the spring perch and cut off the excess and ground it flat. Ended up only using one sleeve as the extra I cut off was enough for the other perch. The one pic shows the sleeve I used.

 

Ford Explorer rear end is in and assembled the brakes. Still need to run lines but wanted to get everything roughly installed so I could see if I would run into any other issues. The Ford Explorer has a simple disc set up that takes about 5 minutes a side to assemble. Super simple and easy. Love it....

 

Back on all 4’s again. Pushed it out onto the street so I could see how it looks on level ground. Good thing I went with the 3 inch blocks in the back. I had a set of 4 inch but I think it would have been too much. I am looking for a rear squat rake. So if the front end comes down 3 to 4 inches with the motor and transmission installed, it will be right where I want it to sit. Next step getting the motor in. First I have to modify the pan to accommodate the center link to clear. Probably start messing around a little with that tomorrow but I’m pretty spent from putting the rear end in. Was quite a chore to do alone.

 

Coming along pretty good considering a few set backs. Not bad progress for a little less than a month.

 

Can anyone tell me if this would work to convert my wiper motor ? I don’t want to spend 250 bucks on a 12v wiper motor if I don’t have to. I am going to use an aftermarket AC system with an under dash unit. It will have heat, AC and defrost so I can’t think of anything else on the car that I would need to convert. So I’m thinking 25 amp converter should be fine for a wiper motor. Just not sure if what I found on amazon is the right converter to do what I want. Any help would be appreciated. I’m not good with electronics.

 

Had to notch the oil pan for center link clearance. First attempt. Ended up using the pan that was on the motor. I have two more in case I need to try again. But I cut the notch as high and far back as I could go. Started with a small cut to see where everything was in the pan, and then kept cutting it back a little at a time until i was as far back as I could go.

 

Used a piece of 2 x 2 square tube to fill in the cut out. Even took a little off the top of two of the bolts on top of the pump and a removed a little material off the top of the pump. There was plenty of material on the casting of the pump cover. So I just ground off a little for some extra clearance. Welded back together, checked with some dye penetrant for pin holes. This weekend when I work on the car again, I will bolt the pan back on without the gasket to see how the motor fits up in the car.

 

This is going to be one sweet ride when done. Love the rear squat look
Cheers Paul