I've been plugging away at my car and I figured it was time to share with everyone the progress or (in some cases) the lack thereof. I'll give you a breakdown by parts. Engine: I decided to stick with the 215 and hop it up a bit. I talked to Larry at Clifford and he seemed to know a hell of a lot about these motors. So, I decided to go with his cam grind since he had dyno numbers and race experience to back it up. I got their cam grind with their springs and chromoly push rods, new lifter, etc. The head is being ported and milled (taking .060" off), the chambers cc'd, porting the head, clifford intake (possibly the truck headers if they'll work), a weber 38 carb, lightened/balance rotating ***embly, 223 std bore pistons, rebuilt rods and ARP hardware in the rods and mains. The block is also being decked so the pistons are .060" down the hole. I'm shooting for 9.5:1 - 10:1 compression. For now I'm going to retain the stock 3 speed but I will be looking at my options of putting in a t5 shortly as I'm sure my cruising rpms will be much too high for my liking. The front part of the frame, suspension and lower part of the firewall have been painted with semigloss POR-15. Body: The whole car was soda/sand blasted then hogged with 40 and da'd with 80. I will be putting it in etching primer and then painting it a two toned color scheme that I'm keeping under wraps for right now. I'd like to do a fade but I know my painting skills aren't up to par and I'm not sure that I have that much faith in my painter either. I am in the process of fixing a lot of the bad bodywork and frenching the headlights and tails and it will get new repro 54 Oldsmobile tail lights. The hood has been shaved and I will finish the trunk up shortly as well as shaving the door handles. A mechanical engineer/machinist buddy of mine and I have been taking about the possibility of producing a limited run of mercury style push ****on door handles except we're going to try to make them locking. I haven't decided on a grille yet. I was thinking of doing a custom grille with door knobs or something and a cal custom style grille bar. Suspension: I just got my 3" lowering blocks from Jamco and I took the springs to a spring shop to get dearched about an inch. I am planning on doing a Gambino notch in it as well. The front has aerostar springs and I'm planning on blocking the lower control arms, I just have to get the rear back under the car and the motor and sheetmetal back on it to see how the car sits. Trans/Rear/etc It has the stock rear but it has been removed, dis***embled, cleaned, inspected, painted with POR-15 and re***embled. I just got the rest of the gaskets from Mac's today so it will be going back together and get put back under the car this weekend when I get the springs back. The trans is stock 3spd on the column. I will be wiring the car with a rebel wiring harness kit and it will be 12 volt. I will be painting the wheels to match the color scheme. The wheels will be frosted with the two colors I've chosen and they will get spider caps. Here's a link to the album because it's late and I'm way too tired and way too lazy to post all the pictures. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v418/Pavement27/53 Ford Club Coupe/ I'm still looking for a set of horns, side gl*** and some other odds and ends if anyone has parts cars out there.
Your car is coming along very nicely! Lots of work accomplished over the winter. Just one point: Be sure to research soda blasting for info on neutralizing the metal before laying down the etching primer. Even though you've scuffed up the surface, the low spots need to be neutralized or the paint will eventually lift. There hasn't been much said about this, but most soda blasters are hip to the problem and neutralize their jobs as a matter of course. Then there are the ones who don't... Nice work!
Thanks for the heads up. I did the soda blasting myself. I'm a bit of a nerd. I research everything to the Nth degree (I'm sure you noticed with all of the incessant questions I ask on here). I'd rather ask a dumb question than do something wrong and have to do it over again. So I talked to a few people that do it for a living and they haven't had any problems, but like you I'm still nervous. I'm going blow the car out really well and be extra vigilant when I use the wax and grease remover on the car. It max just get a bath in wax and grease. Haha I'm hoping to have it ready for primer in 2-3 weeks. I've got my fingers crossed and my schedule cleared so we'll see.
Just in case, here's a link that might be of interest: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3470001 I don't want to be a downer, but I'd hate to see all your hard work spoiled for lack of doing your homework. Good luck!
Hmmmm....thanks man. That's some good info to consider. I've soda blasted and painted things before but I get where there coming from with the pH of the acid not being high enough to neutralize the pH of the baking soda (I do teach Chemistry one period a day after all, so that must make me an expert, right? Haha). Anyway, I don't know why none of them are doing this but vinegar will neutralize the baking soda without a problem. Not only that...you will know exactly where the baking soda residue is left because it will react. I'm definitely going to wash the car. It has already been hogged with 40 and DA's w/ 80 so the next step before it gets primed is to wash it. I also forgot to mention that a lot of the car was sandblasted to remove some of the surface rust that had formed. I'm sure the abrasiveness and pressure of the sandblasting will remove that film as well but sandblasting a car kind of defeats the purpose of soda blasting it. On a better note, I got a lot done today. I'm too tired to post any pics up tonight. It's 11:30 here now and I got to my shop at 9am. One thing that may be a little thorn in my side when trying to get the rear back in the car tomorrow is that my shackles are in pretty sad shape (one of them is broken) so I need a new set. Unfortunately I can't seem to find anyone that sells spring shackles locally. I am going to try the NAPA by my shop tomorrow but it seems that spring shackles for anything but pickups and SUV's are damn near impossible to find at local auto parts stores.
Frenched the headlights and tail lights, dearched the rear springs, painted them, plus more. New pics up in my album: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v418/Pavement27/53 Ford Club Coupe/
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