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

as to aligning steering wheel it should be an easy fix using tie rods in and out on either side.pretty straight forward for alignment shop.

 

Had a one step forward and 3 or 4 back today. I did get my second outside mirror installed....drivers side was much quicker than the p***enger side as where it was going to go was already determined.
The backwards steps...several years ago I installed the seal and ss trim on my windshied, then it sat on my shelves until yesterday waiting patiently to be installed. I had a friend come over this morning and we spent several hours trying to install it with no luck. Tom has done many of these over the years. The problem was when I installed the seal onto the windshield, I had somehow gotten information that lead me to believe the seal was suppose to have sealant between it and the gl***. My friend kinda frowned and mentioned he had never heard of that, but let's give it a go since it was already on there. It ain't gonna work. We didin't have enough flexibility and give with the seal being "glued" to the gl***. We quit until I could get everything pulled off and reinstalled without sealant, then we'll give it another go.

 

Update...Sometimes things just aren't as they seem. I misspoke in the above post. The seal was suppose to be installed with sealant as I had done. I had an entirely different problem going on yesterday that I just confirmed this morning. Years ago when I bought the windshield for my Custom, I apparently never checked it close enough. What I have is a windshield for a Fairlane, not a Custom. S@**!! This morning I ordered a new windshield from www.Autocitycl***ic.com. They were the ones that confirmed I didn't have the correct windshield, as did 2 guys on the '57 forum. I hadn't bought it from them, but they measured both the Custom and Fairlane windshields in their inventory and called me back with the info. I had bought my gas tank, aluminum radiator, side gl*** and back gl*** from them. He gave me a discount because of my past purchases, and even suggested if I could wait a month he could deliver it to the Pate swap meet (which I always go to) free. So the good news is this replacement will cost me about 1/2 what I paid for the first one with freight (that one was about 550) I guess 6 or 8 years is too long to call and complain to the original supplier, lol.

 

what is this world coming to NO LIFETIME RETURN POLICY what the h_ll.

 

I couldn't afford the return shipping anyways, lol. I think I may have the Fairlane gl*** sold if I can confirm which Fairlanes it fits. A '57 forum member who lives in Houston (10+ hours from Amarillo) asked if I could meet him 1/2 way. Well, the Pate swap meet at the Texas Motor Speedway where I'll be picking up my replacement is about 1/2 way!

 

Not too much going on here. I didn't have much lined up other than stuff I could do after the gl*** was installed. I did get my windshield sold. A 57 forum member from Kansas is driving down Friday to pick it up. Also, he's been planning a 4.6dohc install in his '57for a while now, so we've got lots to show/see/talk about when he gets here. Today I've got to dig out a box in the corner of the shop with my back gl*** and get the windshield put in it so it can be transported safely. Makes me nervous handling all that $ in tight spaces. I'll be picking up the new windshield in Fort Worth at the end of April.
I converted my back side windows to stationary ala business coupe, but was never happy with the way the seals fit, so I've been working on trying to get them to conform a little bit better.
I did get a replacement radio put in the car. I was never happy with the light grey color of the one I had and found another marine/bluetooth one that looks better. It's a satin silver finish.The neat thing about this new one is it has variable color on the readout and knobs, so I was able to dial it in so it matched the orangy color of my gages' lighting. Now if I could just get it to pair with my cell phone!! I had used the Radio Shack connectors when I installed the first radio, so all I had to do was add matching connectors to the new radio. Total time was about an hour. I learned that different radio manufacturers apparently use a standardized color system for the harness wiring..made it simple
I had a little chirping from the engine until it ran for a minute or so. I thought it might have been the serpentine belt (it wasn't), so got a new one put on. Much easier to do now before the sheet metal goes on.

 

Got a few things in the works. I pulled out my new backgl*** from storage and got the seal put on it. I used a 3M Butyl sealant between the seal and the gl***. Cleanup is really easy with this stuff...s****e the excess off with a plastic s****er, then wipe it with mineral spirits. I put it on Tuesday night, cleaned it up wendsday moring, and let it sit. It's a slow drying stuff and never sets up hard. Today I'll get the stainless trim installed and get a friend over sometime to help install the ***embly. Hope it works out better than the windshield! I had a friend send me a link to a You Tube video on a hot rod shop installing a windshield. They use 3mM caulking strips between the rubber and the body along the pinch weld seam. I thought that was an awesome idea, and am going to use that method. I was always worried about a wet sealant getting messy and getting on my headliner. Her's a link to that video. The car they're working on is a tri five Chevy, but the gl***/rubber/stainless configuration is almost identical.

One thing I learned yesterday..if you restore stainless and wrap it with stretch wrap to protect it, wrap it first with paper towels. The back window trim I had restored a few years ago and set it on the shelves. It get hot in Texas! The wrap had melted to the trim....took me about 4 hours to scape it off with my fingernails and get it all repolished.

 

Another project I working on.....hood hinge modification. The '57 Fords have the front opening hoods. The hood hinge brackets are quite large and take up most of the room on the sides of the core support. When the hood is closed, the spring retaining strip extends down below that bracket another 4 inches. That extension below the bracket is a problem if you are installing A/C...there is no place left to neatly run the coolant lines to the condenser. The hood hinges are also horibly screetchy, and due to the design, almost imposible to quiet down.
One of the '57 fordsforever forum members modified his hinges to replace the springs with modern style hydraulic lifts. Another awesome idea! gotta love the internet.
This solved the problem of the noisy springs, and also eliminated the spring retainer strip, so it leaves the area under the bracket usable for the A/C condenser lines. Looking at the hinges earlier this week, I realized replacing those lifts down the road a few years would be a problem without removing the hood or grille to access the lower mounting point. I came up with an idea to make a more easily accessible attachment. I picked up some materials at the local steel house and ordered all the hydraulic lifts and hardware yesterday. I'll post pics as this project moves along. It'll be done asap, because it's one of the few things left holding up my front end sheet metal from going on.

 

BTW, if you need special size lifts for a project, McMaster-Carr is a huge industrial supply company..I used them frequently back in the 60's and 70's for machine shop/sheetmetal shop hardware and supplies. They have a huge selection of hydlaulic lifts in a wide range of dias., lengths, and lift strengths. They also have a wide variety of mounting options. This is a link to the #9416K24 lifts we are using. If you use the page locator at the top of the page, you can scoll back and forth a few pages in each direction to get an idea of their selctions. Note the power ranges listed for each size...pretty cool!
http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/121/1238/=wksklu

 

glad you did not put pics saves my keyboard from slobber.still trying to locate whale condoms.

 

I got my back window put in tonight all by myself in less than an hour. Everything fit like a glove except for one end of the stainless along the roof post. It's actually closer than it was because the original hole where it screwed on is even further away. I can probably m***age it a bit, but judging from the oem location it was off when it left the factory. Aside from that, nice to see something finally filling that hole. The caulking strips worked great...easy and absolutly no mess. The headliner at the back window where the seal pulls over it is spotless. That was a big worry. The non hardening butyl caulking I was recommended for the rubber to gl*** also worked great. The non hardening of it let me move the seal around for a better fit. I don't know how they use that stuff as a "paintable" seam sealer though, it's almost as gooyey two days after applying, but for windshields, that's good imo.

 

I got the outside of the window cleaned up of excess caulking..then my hardware came in for the hood spring conversion to hydraulic lifts so I got distracted. I'll have more on that project in the next few days. Here's a pic of the back window. I was able to move the stainless to line up better with the roof post. Also a pic of my replacement radio. I like the lighting with my gage lighting. I've still got to remove the A/C switch and figure out something to change their light color.

 

Hood hinge conversion. There are two problems with the '57-'59 front opening hood hinges. First being Ford engineered a god awful screetch into them, and the second is they take up alot of room on either side of the core support. The guide/containment rod for the spring extends down below the hinge bracket 4 or 5 inches when the hood is closed. If you are adding stuff like an A/C condenser and PS cooler to the front, you run out of places to run the lines. This neat little conversion was posted on the '57fordsforever forum a year or so ago. I went a bit further with it, making the lift easily replaceable from the top without having to dis***emble the hood or grille to get to the bottom mount. It is silent, but more importantly, lets you use the area below the hinge brackets for plumbing. First pic shows the deleted spring components on the right. The rectangular tube, top rt. pic, is attached to the oem bracket at the top only, allowing for easier removal. The bottom of the lift is attached to the 2" tube at the bottom.

 

That's pretty slick. Nice work.

 

Wow..

 

Been working on a lot of odds and ends. I had been undecided on wheter or not to install the inner fender rubber splash guards. When I intalled the inner fenders "temporarily", my plan was to put the rubber pieces on when I pulled the inner fenders back off. One thing lead to another, and they ended up staying permanently. Originally I was going to attach the rubber doing the staple thing with drilling and pliers, but that would be a MAJOR pain with the inner fenders in place. Anyway, I ended up installing one side yesterday using pop rivets. I had a kit meant to do both sides, but it would only do certain areas, so I ended up using that kit for the one side along with some added pieces from rubber sheeting.
I also got my fixed rear side windows reinstalled, this time with the caulking. The seals are not made real well (Dennis Carpenter), and I'm not real happy with the fit and finish, but I'm going to leave them and add that project to my list of things to redo after the car is complete. I will either go back to the roll-up windows, or have some tempered gl*** made 3/8" thick to fit the gl*** groove in the seal.
I got my rear package shelf reinstalled now that the rear window is in, and I'm working on a third brake light, and installing the rear window garnish rails. I'll post some pics later.

 

Where are they Texas?
My rubber splash guards are gone. I guess that at this point i the cars life they only keep moisture trapped. You took your car to another level so I guess they make sense.
Regards.

 

OK, ok...geez, someone is actually reading my stuff!
driver's side fender well. Not to oem. The oem is only the long lower front one, plus one short one in the back. I added the ones above the control arm and the second longer one in the back.
The closeup is of the back side window stationary window conversion. I'm having a really difficult time getting them to fit right. Last pic is of the rear package shelf. Now that the back window is in, I can finally start to do the final fitting. I just finished making some adjustments to my center console, so the rear package tray is next.

 

Texas I'll be honest with you, cant imagine participating here otherwise: eventough I dont like the route you went with the interior on your ride (only the interior), I really like reading your posts because there is always so much to learn. Keep us updated.
Why doesnt the rubber fit the window properly (or vice-versa)? Lots of water will go in. Only on that side?
Keep it up.
Regards.

 

The seals were made with a 3/8" wide groove for the gl***. The gl*** , typical for all vehicles, is 1/4" thick. Dennis Carpenter insists it is an exact reproduction of the Ford OEM seal. I highly doubt Ford used 3/8 thick gl*** for the business coupe back side windows. I fit the gl*** with a gl*** edging made for shower door gl***, so it fits ok at the bottom of the groove, and I used butly sealant on all the contact surfaces, so I don't think I'll have a leakage problem, just a visual problem. The seal fits well to the body as you can see in the pics. The gl*** shop here in town that made those windows could not get matching gray tinted gl*** 3/8 thick, so I went with the 1/4" hoping to get it to work a little better than I actually did. I'll spend some time when I have the time and money down the road to find a gl*** shop in a larger city that can supply the 3/8 tempered gray smoked gl***. If not, I may just go back to the roll up windows the car originally had. I've already got that gl***, just need to make some window channels and pick up another electric window kit.
Your comments on my interior are just fine, Rui. It's one of those love it or hate it things, and as much as I like hearing positive comments on my build, I didn't build it to please anyone but me. I do plan on changing or altering the front seats to eliminate the high back. I can live with them til the car is complete, but my tastes have changed on those.

 

This car still continues to blow my mind... don't stop now...

 

All good Texas. Cant it be a bad seal out of the box? Some sort of defect? If all the remaning portions of gl*** are a snug fit with the seal, then I, an ocean way, am led to think about the seal only, not the gl***. Either that or the rail where the seal is placed. You've solved things many times more challenging than that. I'm sure you'll figure it out.
Keep us posted.
Regards

 

It's definetly the way the seal is made. The seal's gl*** channel is moulded for 3/8" gl***. Everything else is fine.

 

Odds and ends...seems like they're never ending. I got the side windows cleaned up for now, and the back garnish rails installed. That ended up being a chore because I had covered them with vinyl. They were a snug fit to begin with even without the layer of vinyl wrapped around the edges. Anyway, got them on after a few hours of t******* and coaxing with a rubber mallet.
I had a 3rd brake light from a Caddy that I wasn't too happy with spent a day fiddling with making a base for a '41 Chev bullet tailight to replace it. I liked that even less than the caddy, so the Caddy one is going back in for now. $75 and a day wasted. I'll probably end up with an aftermarket billet one.
I made a panel for the p***enger side kick panel. Just 1/4" plywood, padding and vinyl....pretty simple. The driver's side is another story, and that's my current project. I've got to make a panel that will fit around the ch***is wiring harness. This one I want to be fairly rugged to hold up being taken off and on, so I'm making a welded steel frame that will be covered with chicken wire, fleece and resin before upholstered. The inside will be rubber coated to hopefully minimize chance of the metal shorting a wire.

 

Post a pic.

 

Holy wiring nightmare!!!! Great job. I hate wiring.... I am doing the same engine in my 54 Victoria, but distributor and carb..... Simple like me.

 

Ron Francis makes the wiring easy.
I'm behind on updates, so here's some pics. first, the 3rd brake light and the finally installed covered garnish rails. The boxy looking Caddy light will stay for a while...that's my failed attempt sitting on the folded down seat back. The last pic is the side kick panel cover, the next series of photos is how I made it.

 

These pics should be self explainatory, but just ask if any questions

 

The wire mesh was covered with fleece material (spray glued), then the backside was sprayed with liquid rubber and allowed to set overnight before coating the front side with por-15, which I ran out of and used por-patch for the final coat. I let everything set up for a few days and disc sanded the outside surface to get rid of the main lumps, and trimed the edges. The wires holding the wire mesh to the frame were also gound off since the por-15 is adhering everything together. That was followed with 1/4 foam and the vinyl.

 

Continued.....
My projects going on now..getting my replacement windshield that I picked up at the Pate Swap Meet ready to go in, and working on an electric trunk release.
I also got the A/C evaporator drain line put in and an electronic hidden antenae installed under the dash. (I've got two new rear deck '56 Fairlane antenaes I'm just not sure about installing).