1952-59 Ford my 4.6 dohc powered 57 Custom, aka, doing it the easy way

It's still got a pretty good rake, Rui. I'll post a pic soon as I get one!
Bob........I haven't played with tire pressure much. To be honest, I rarely get the '57 on rough roads....mostly main streets in town and highway, the occasional frost heaves and potholes are actually taken pretty well. Seems like I was hitting alot of rough roads on one of my Oklahoma trips, but nothing enough to move the car around.
Funny about the tire pressure discusion though....I had a half dozen pencil type tire gages in my cars/tool box. They all read different!!!. Just a few days ago I bought a digital one the parts store guy recommended....gonna bring my '57 to discount tire, have them check the air (I think they put my Hankooks at 34 lbs) and then I'll use my new digital one to see how it compares.

 

I'll check my pressure again soon. I have a couple of gauges so I'll compare them. At 34 the back of the car was real skittish, even on smaller bumps. The roads by me are ****py in some places. One service road was so bad it made the paper a few times. One stretch for a 1/2 mile each was a wash board. If I was hard on the gas the car jumped sideways. On a hard shift I can feel the leaf springs wrap up.

 

Hey go easy on our rough roads in OK, our politicians need the money they don't spend on roads to maintain their lifestyle. LOL. I am kind of obsessive about tire pressure and have developed a way of determining correct pressures. At least they work for me. I read several years ago a piece by a Michelin tech who said that a properly inflated tire will gain 4 lbs of pressure once driven at speed a few miles. So if you check a tire cold then drive it it should gain 4 lbs, if it only gains 2lbs then it is 2 lbs over inflated. Conversely, if it gains 6lbs then it is 2lbs under inflated. That is my first check, secondly I do the old chalk across the tread then drive it. If the chalk is worn off across the tread evenly then pressure is correct. This works for me and my ****.

 

And you keep what on front Bob, 2.5bar (some 36 psi)? BTW how are you recovering?

 

The front is 30 or 32 and it seems to ride fine. I will try that chalk test that okiedokie mentioned. I'm back to work, came back after Xmas. Feeling pretty good and started cardiac rehab this week. I missed 4 days last week with the flu, knocked me on my **** pretty good. But doing better than I was... loving the winter. Anyone seen the ground hog yet?

 

Forgot to post pics of my antenae install. Jimmy was inquiring on his build, so I'll do it now. Also in the pic is the new vent tube (copper) I had to run up thru the trunk.
Also posting a pic of my new s.s. trunk popper. The antennae is a little further back than I would have liked, but I had to clear the fender well. I had just enough room to mount it ahead of the rear power distribution box and the inertia fuel pump switch. I made the bronze bracket at the bottom of the antennae to secure it.

 

Got my replacement for the replacement speedometer installed Monday. Lol...of course, I had to takethe car out for a 40 mile run just to check it out to make sure it was working ok, and it is. The night lighting is really close to my old gages now, so I can keep my "old" small gages. When I have the $, I will order a Speedhut tachometer so the big gages match. Pics are really hard to take of the lighting, but this one is pretty close. The first pic is what is like without mods, the second is what they changed it to for me. Speedhut is great...highly recommended.

 

That looks awesome Texas! I light the back light in your gauges!

 

Great news Rich, good to know you are pleased with Speedhut.

 

Looks good.

 

Nice work on the lighting. The dash looks great!

 

The post office denied my appeal on the claim for the lost speedometer. Not much of a surprise. If anybody is mailing anything of value, I strongly recommend requesting a signature at the other end. Otherwise the insurance you pay for is totally useless. X#@$##@!!!

 

Shoot...

 

I'm waiting on the results of my final(3rd) appeal from the insurance claim. BUT......
yesterday I got a call from Speedhut, and the post office actually delivered the missing package yesterday!!!! over 2 months late.
I talked about the great Speedhut service before, but how's this.......I told William just to return the stuff to me unaltered (FedEx), and I'd pay for shipping. He said, shipping is not a problem, but you don't need 2 speedometers do you? They are going to issue a refund !! Especially since I never even asked, that's customer service above and beyond imo.
All of my 57 projects are on hold for at least another few months. After spending 10+ years remodelling/rebuilding the small house we're in, my wife decided she was going to buy a bigger house in a better neighborhood. We've spent months looking actually got into making offers on two only to have to back out after inspections revealed termites. I don't have a regular garage now, but I told my wife whatever she bought needed at least a 2 car garage for the '57 only, and not need rebuilding!!
The one we're hoping to close on in 2 weeks has an oversize drive-thru garage with a large backyard (for a city), and a front double wide circular driveway I could park 18-20 cars on. The house has been inspected, appraised, loans and VA approved, just waiting on VA paperwork and small details. it's 2 1/2X the size of the house we're in now. Yay....hopefully an end to the inevitable clutter in a small house.
I've been packing my garage and sorting thru a packed 18x 36 storage shed trying to thin out lots of years collecting. My '57 is going over to a friends speed shop tomorrow for inside parking/storage for a month or so so I can use my "garage" area for staging. The speed shop is only 2 blocks from the house, so I can take the '57 out anytime he's open.
LOL........This house was meant to be....it was built in 1957.
I think the previous owner has some commercial stuff going on in the garage. It has 3 220 3 phase outlets. 3 phase is almost non-existent in residential neighborhoods.

 

Hey Texas, my project is on hold for the same reason as yours: we moved across the neighborhood in late 2015 and I've been working on the house and garage since then. My car hasn't been touched the whole time. I hope to get back to her later this year.

 

Good to hear from you. "Moved across the neighborhood"....lol....I lived in Socal for 18 years.....across the neighborhood can be a 2 hour drive.

 

We're suppose to close on the new house somewhere between the 1st and the 7th. Here's a pic I took of the garage/new home for the '57. It actually has concrete floors, regular walls and a ceiling my taller friends won't have to duck under, lol!! .I'm so excited. It won't take but a week or so to get it cleaned up, painted, new LED lighting, benches,etc

 

Nice improvement Rich. No telling how nice the next project will turn out after your accomplishments in the old place.

 

I was kind of homesick when we moved from our last home of 23 years. Don't see you having that problem!

 

Enough room in there to park the 57 and build another Ford,lol.

 

Very nice! Congrats on the new home and garage.

 

I'm looking at houses locally myself. Since I have a big mortgage already, I may as well try to find a place with a bigger garage and keep the payment close to what I have.

 

I've been homesick for 14 years now over the house we had in the mountains overlooking Colorado Springs.
It looks like closing may get pushed up to next week. As soon as we know for sure, we'll be on our way to Phoenix to load up a couple UHauls. I'm getting anxious to get pics of the '57 at the 1957 house! Tha't not me in the above pic, btw. house inspector. I'm better looking.
Bob.......single guys don't need to be looking for houses. You need to be looking for garages/industrial buildings that could have a living area added, lol.

 

Very cool Texas.

 

Hah... the satelite view of the house. It's the red roofed one. The layout makes for a great car guy's place. One '57 forumn member said I had the makin's of a road course in my front yard. That's a cl*** A motor home in my neighbor's yard.....for a sense of proportion as to how many cars I could park in the circular drive. Also note the garage drive thru / back drive goes all the way thru to the alley.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/4...20f4afa6b66d92!8m2!3d35.159567!4d-101.8722049

 

Nice looking house you will like that drive thru garage looks like you have lots of room

 

Thanks. Neat feature with the drive thru, but I'm not sure I'd ever use it. There is also a gate and drive thru carport attached to the garage, so getting in back wouldn't be much of an issue. I figure I need the wall space for rollaways/shelving/benches more than I need the p***thru. My plans are to put the door up, and close the opening off with a wall built in screwed on sections that could be removed at a later date if I change my mind. That way I could put a walk thru door in the back of the garage.

 

And you have a round about for fun. Neat place.

 

Congrats on the new home!


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I had sort of a drive through in my last shop, yes you lose wall space but having that ventilation was nice