1952-59 Ford 56 Ranch Wagon refresh

Been meaning to do this for a while. I bought my wagon via the Internet from a POS used car salesman a little over a year ago. After a lot of thought I decided to pull the poor running 6 cylinder and put in a 292 that I had earmarked for my 61 Unibody. Well, what was supposed to be a quick engine swap evolved into a lot more. After I pulled the engine I found this. So I cut out the offending area Weld in new and paint More to come......

 

The front suspension on my wagon was also in need of some love. I could move the steering wheel back and forth 2-3" while driving and the car would not move. I decided to pull everything and either rebuild it or replace it. After I pulled everything I decided I might as well clean everything up and paint it. This was probably the worst part of the whole project. For 3 weekends I laid under the car s****ing and cleaning from front to back. After 3 weeks of cleaning I started to paint
And paint I pulled the rear springs also and put new bushings and anti squeak pads in. Put everything back in with a rebuilt steering box by Redhead Steering Gears. I also upgraded the front with Aerostar coils with a .750 spacer and Versailles spindles/disc brakes and self adjusting rears. Put 2" blocks in the rear also. Replaced all the brake lines with a stainless kit from Cl***ic Tube.

 

Got some new Firestones and painted the wheels. Picked up a nice set of 54 Chrysler wheel covers too.

 

Damn, your on the move!!!

 

Looking good!

 

I've been working on it every weekend. I wanted to have it done by Easter for family pictures but ran into a couple set backs. Thanks for the complements.

 

Looking great, what kind of paint are you using?

 

looks good.HRP

 

I used Rustolem on the whole project. It laid out surprisingly well. Even the paint on the wheels is Rustolem. I decided to use that so it would be easy to touch up.

 

Looks awesome. Those are THE tires for that car. Ive gotta get myself some firestones. Such a good look.

 

Thanks. I think the Firestone Deluxe Champion is probably the best looking bias out there. I think any 50's car would benefit from them.

 

Great job...that's gonna be a sweet ride.

 

Looks really nice. A lot of work, but it's worth it.

 

This is how it sits now. Going to put some time in today on it. The T85 od I put in it is a lot longer than the T86 od that it had. I'm not sure how the Trans mount was from the factory but the cross member in my car is about 4-5 inches too far forward. So I'm going to fab one up. I also need to relocate the radiator. I have no clearance for the fan. Other than that I should have it ready for its first run by next weekend.

 

Great job, looking very nice.

 

Looking good.

 

Man, that's amazing work! Now come do mine.........

 

Great Job MR LR!

 

Bring it on down!

 

Didn't get much done today. Seems like every step on this project produces a problem. I put the shift linkage on today and the ends on the rods that go through the shift arms were too short. The bushings that are in the shift arms are thicker than on the T86. So I had to cut the bushings down until I could get the cotter pin in. Got the Trans mount about half done and the clutch linkage all together. That's about it. Had to cut it short so the wife could go to work and I took my daughter to the local Community Center for an Easter egg hunt. All in all a good day. Will get pics up soon.

 

Great Eric.

 

I am trying to get my front suspension rebuilt but am having a lot of trouble getting the idler arm out of the frame bracket and the center link. Any help on how to do this would be appreciated.

 

You will have to take it all out as a unit. Once it's out screw the idler arm itself out of the "nut" in the bracket and the same for the center link. Then you can take the nuts off the center link and the idler arm bracket. When you put it all back together the nuts go on first and then screw the ldler arm on each end. It's a little awkward but not too bad. Do you have a copy of the article on how to rebuild the front ends on these cars? It was a big help for me.

 

I am trying to locate the article, but have had no luck.

 

It is a left handed thread. Now it is coming apart.
Thanks to 56longroof point me in the right ( or left in this case ) direction.

 

I have a copy you can have if you want. I don't think I'll need it anymore.

 

So much for the "quick engine swap". Yikes! Hope you make it by Easter! Dress everybody up in period-correct clothing! Looks good so far!

 

Yeah,it snowballed pretty quickly into a lot more. Alot of work and pain in the *** sometimes but worth it I think.

 

Yeah, the idler arm is fun on these. I forget all the torture I endured with mine. Locked the center link in a bench vise to make it easier. I also took out anything and everything. Rusty parts went into my citric acid bath after I s****ed 1/2" of grease off them. Your black paint looks great. I used VHT rollcage & ch***is satin black, went on nicely and easy to touch up. The ch***is is painted forward from the trans cross member.

 

Got a little more done today. Got the carbs and choke cable done. Several little things that are not visible but needed hooked up like the starter cable,engine grounds,etc.are finished. Radiator is in place but just sitting there. Still need to drill new holes to mount it. Pretty productive day all in all.