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

Just picked up my reworked axles. It's too cold to work out in my garage tonight, but tommorrow will be warmer. Yay!!
Once I get the rotors/calipers installed, I can get the e-brake cables measured out and ordered, and work on the final brake lines while I'm waiting on those.
Hopefully won't be long before I have to make a decision on the exhaust.

 

Too cold?... about 55 here in NY but rainy as heck. Picked up my engine from the rebuilder and I got soaked... but the engine was wrapped up tight.

 

Got down in the teens last night and a high of 36 today...my garage isn't insulated and I only have electric heaters, so it takes a while to get it warmed up. Northern Texas is a bear..much harder to deal with winters here than the 23 years I spent in Colorado Springs. My old age might have some to do with that, but not all of it.

 

Been running between 55 and 60 here on LI for a few weeks now. We had a cold snap earlier, mid to late October was bitter cold, a few mornings as low as 23. Closed my pool and it was 37 in the middle of the day. We did have an indian summer though. I just turned 60 and I'm tolerant of the cold... my brother is 57 and comes over bundled up when I'm working in a t-shirt. Go figure.

I have electric heat in my machine shop area, the rest I use a kerosene heater. If it gets down around 15 to 20... I don't even bother to warm up the garage main area. I snooze on the weekends and hang out with the cat.

 

Update. I 've been running so many Christmas errands for and with my wife, I haven't got alot done lately.
Installing the disc brake kit....After spending several days trying to get the info I needed on axle bearings, I finally contacted a differential supply house and got a really helpful guy that gave me all the info and how-to I needed. Once again, I was spending alot of time resolving problems I didn't have! I thought the bearing style I had in the differential was a different height than the normal sealed bearings, but it turns out they were not, so it ended up being just a ***emble per the kit's instructions and some helpful hints from the guy I talked to. On the driver's side, I got the caliper brackets/bearing retainer mounted, the rotor put on, and the caliper shimmed to center over the rotor. I have .002 in/out play on the axle if I tug hard enough. Timken recommends .001-.007, so I'm good there. I checked the bearings for binding as I was tightening everything down, and there is no binding.
I found some Earl's adapters to connect the caliper flex hose to the junction block and got those hooked up. I'm in process of making a NiCopp brake line that runs over the differential case to the other side. From there I'll repeat all the disc brake stuff on the p***enger side.
One of the guys on the '57 forum installed basically the same disc brake kit last year. His was a different supplier, but used the same '88 T-Bird caliper. He did all the measuring, etc and had some custom e-brake cables made by an outfit in SoCal near where he lives. I knew Bob was a nut on keeping records, and I was correct...he had all the info I needed, including a copy of the invoice for the cables. Monday I called the company and told him I had an invoice number for some cables he had made for a friend of mine, and after giving him the invoice number, 30 seconds later he was telling me exactly what they were...no further info needed except my billing/shipping info. Awesome. They were shipping out yesterday!! I love forums!
BTW, the brake kit I'm installing says it will fit some 14 wheels, so before I mount my 15" aftermarkets, I'll test an oem 14" Ford wheel just to see, and I'll post that finding. Some guys in the past I know were asking about Disc brakes that would fit oem wheels.

 

Shoot...didn't happen without pics, right? This is a summit kit, btw, made by Stainless Steel Brakes.

 

What I was talking about with the different style bearings. Unlike the common sealed bearing used in most Ford differentials, the guy that rebuilt my differential used bearings that are supplied with a separate outer race. The seal is external on these. The bearings are not greased as a n ormal sealed bearing is, nor are they grease packed like an open front bearing. These get their lubrication from the differential oil. When I talked to the differential supply house, I mentioned I was thinking about changing the bearings to a more traditional sealed bearing to eliminate the preset problems I was going to have trying to install the disc brake kit with the new bearing retainers. He not only informed me my thinking the heights were different was incorrect, he strongly recommended I kept the Timken bearing style I had as they were a better set-up. Music to my ears!!

 

So you're out of the woods. Gorgeous setup. Congrats Texas.

 

Not a whole lot going on here with Christmas and now blizzard conditions. Amarillo so far has been spared the heavy snows that huge surrounding areas got, but 5" of light snow and 20 degree temps with 50 mph winds = wind chill around zero! didn't even try to get the garage heated up today.
I did try an oem 14" wheel on the rear disc brakes, and it unfortunatly does not fit. Some members in the past had asked about disc brakes for oem 14" wheels, but this Summit/Stainless Steel Brakes kit won't work, at least on '57 wheels.
The p***enger side brakes are installed now, and I did get the remainder of the brake lines in the rear made up and connected. I do need to pick up a weld on tab to tie down the p***enger side lines on the differential at the flex hose/solid line connection point. I also got the remaining two rubber bumpers installed. I had disconnected the rear main line at the proportioning valve and installed a temporary plug when I was testing/bleeding the front brakes. I need to get that reconnected and get the whole system bled now. Not sure if I'll still get my e-brake cables early this week with the blizzard. 270 miles of I40 was closed today from Amarillo west, that's gotta play hell with ups, fedex, etc. Just saw the weather forcast...won't be above freezing all week.

 

Cant imagine that kind of weather.
We did have howlin 70km p/h plus southwestern winds and heavy rain this past night. Its always a bit scary... or maybe it was just the spooky chills I got from the Boris Karloff collection I got this Xmas.
Get back to it Texas!

 

63 in NY yesterday and we worked on the car. Colder today, 40 right now and I'll have the heater going if I go outside. So far we're lucky with the weather, but I expect a few weeks where the garage will be too cold to try to heat up.

 

Ot, but i just read the paper. Crazy weather overthere. Hope no hurricane struck you or other guys at the affected states. Take care.

 

Hurricane season is June to November by me.... seems that Texas is tornado season at any time... or it seems that way to me.

 

I'm still waiting on my brake cables that were shipped on the 22nd. I called yesterday just to confirm they in fact were shipped and he checked the tracking number, which I should have gotten from him and didn't, they had it on a truck "out for delivery" yesterday. I still haven't seen it..look like a third fiasco with ups this year. I may not see it until Monday now. Oh, well, it never got over 32 today, too cold to work in the garage anyway, but I was sure wanting them for this weekend.

 

Finally got the brake cables in tonight. I left one of the heaters on in my garage tonight so hopefully I can get to work on it tommorrow before 1/2 the day is gone waiting for the garage to heat up. Cables look good, piddled with them for a 1/2 hour tonight, and it looks like I just need to do a minor mod to the calipers to get the cables to hook up. Haven't run them back to the adjusting bar off the ****** crossmember, but that should be good also since they are copies of cables made for a friend with the same car and disc brake setup. The mod I need to do...there is a boss on the caliper with a hole that the cable end p***es thru. That boss is about .010 too thick to allow the c-clip to go in the slot to retain the outer cable's casing , so I just need to take the caliper loose and grind the .010 off the thickness of the boss.

 

Nice new cables.... And cold here in NY, down to 10 last night. Yesterday started off at 32 but dropped all day and was 19 when I left work, so much for working on the '59 last night.

 

I got the driver's side cable hooked up. As I mentioned, I took the caliper loose so I could get in there with a 2" disc and removed some material so I could get the c-clip retainer installed in the groove. That was quick and easy. The length between the two retaining fittings was just right for enough slack to add an additional clamp on the frame to keep the cable's casing from rubbing the leaf spring. From there to the hookup at the ****** crossmember was a straight shot without the expected interference from my temporarily positioned mufflers. That was my big worry. I installed the wheel and tire and there is no interference with the caliper on the aftermarket wheel. so tommorrow on to the second side.
A side note: I may have mentioned this before, but one disc brake installation on another forum I was following was going fine until he got to the e-brake hookup. He had his exhaust system installed and there was no way of getting the cable around the exhaust. It turned into a major headache for him, and he's probably still running with no e-brakes. I took his cue and learned from his experience, and decided to install the shocks and e-brake cables before I had the exhaust run. May be a bit more work for the exhaust installer , but at least everything will be working. 2nd pic is hard to see the cables, note the 2 arrows.

 

I've got both sides done and the back end is sitting on the wheels. Before I finished up the right side, I noticed the left side e-brake cable was rubbing against the tire, so I did it a little different on the right side and it clears everything. I need to go back and fix the problem on the left side. Also, I do in fact have some interference between the exhaust and the e-brake cable. The clearance issue popped up once I got the 2nd cable hooked up and the pivot bracket was pulled to the correct position. It's not bad though, I think when I have the exhaust finalized, they can eliminate the interference.
So, the final back end stats for interested '57 owners...housing narrowed 3/4 per side, 15x 7 wheels with a 4.25 backspace, 235/70-15 tires, '55 ford shocks (for additional axel drop when changing tires), 6 leaf wagon springs. I have 3/4 clearance tires to leaf springs. I have 1 3/8 clearanc tires to closest wheel well lip point, I have no issues whatsoever with tire changing with the car jacked up by the frame. The 1 3/8 dim. is the same on both sides,confirming the body is centered on the frame. The wheel well lip has not been shortened or rolled, btw.
When time comes for a tire replacement, I think I can move up to 255's (10 inch). posibly may need to use 1/4 wheel spacers if I do that.

 

Looking good man!

I was scoping craigslist for engine swaps yesterday and found a salvage ***le 96 Mustang Cobra with 45k miles on it still with body damage on the left side from s****ing a wall and they guy is asking $2k for the complete car. If I had an extra 2k laying around I would totally buy the car for the entire drivetrain and swap it over using some of your info! Plus parting out the rest of that car would earn some of the money back.

 

Thanks Papa!! 2 grand for a 45K Cobra setup is a hell of a deal, imho. Being a '96 I do believe it does not have the pats system(p***ive anti-theft), which is good. The Lincoln Mark VIII's with basically the same engine went to the pats in '97, not sure about the Mustangs. Lots more computer work if it does in fact have the pats. The easy way to tell is if the key has a chip...oops..cancel that...It does not have the PATS...I just remembered my steering column/wheel is out of a '96 Mustang with no chip in the ignition key.
The down side for you, and it's a biggie unfortunatly, (of course depending on your experience with these kind of builds)......the '56's frame/suspension is totally different from the '57's. All the '55-56 owners I have talked to that have done the 4.6 dohc swap have had to start with a new fatman front clip!. The 4.6 is a tight fit for '57's, will not fit the front structure of '56 or older without modification. Also, I suspect that Mustang is equipt with a 5 speed manual, really cool, but you're gonna end up with all that clutch fabrication to do.
I did talk to a '54 Merc owner at the pavillion cruise in Scottsdale(I'm headed there again mid feb.... yahoo!!) about his 4.6 dohc swap, and he used a front clip from a dodge pickup. I will say I have had guys tell me it can be done with no major hacking up of the '56 frame, but I have yet to find anything online that would substantiate that. I did at one time have a link to a article on the 4.6 dohc in a '56, but imho he butchered his frame to do it. I'll see if I can find that link.
The fit problem, btw, is due to the 4.6's width at the bottom. The engine is unique in that it is wider than it is long....both at the bottom end and particularly in the case of the DOHC vs SOHC, much wider up top. A dohc is somewhere around 7-8" wider than a big block 460 up top. They do a hell of a job filling an engine bay.

 

Wow, excellent information to know! Thank you! Glad I did not waste my time to go look at that car and potentially buy it! I had everything figured out how to get the money together and heavily considered it. I guess I will keep on with the standard SBF swap plans.

 

Or you could put one of these in there

 

To reiterate....."I will say I have had guys tell me it can be done with no major hacking up of the '56 frame, but I have yet to find anything online that would substantiate that. I did at one time have a link to a article on the 4.6 dohc in a '56, but imho he butchered his frame to do it. I'll see if I can find that link."
Do some research...maybe you can find something I couldn't, and I no longer have the link to the intall in a '56...sorry.
Also...in the above post, evrywhere I said "it will not...." I should have said...."I've been told by'55, '56 owners who did the swap it will not...."

 

I googled 4.6dohc into a 1956 Ford a came up with some hits, including this HAMB thread...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1955-ford-customline-2-door-sedan.770708/
Check it ot...you may want that Mustang.

 

Had a great day yesterday. Got the car out on the road after finally getting all the brakes bled. First time out since I changed the fluid in the rear end from the synthetic to conventional with an additive. What a difference, all the noise is completly gone. Also first time out with shocks on the car. The ride was much better than I had hoped for. Driving around the neighborhood felt so good, I figured it was time for a longer drive a a bit more testing. I brought it up on the loop that runs around Amarillo...guessing about 35-40 miles around the loop. Man, the grin on my face was ear to ear. smooth, quiet, ****** seemed to be shifting well, held the road good, the rack and pinion was feeling very responsive, but not overly so. By quiet, I was refering to squeaks and rattles, not the unfinished exhaust. Even the p***enger door which hasn't had the door seal installed wasn't noisy at all. I do not have the electronic speedometer set yet, so I'm only guessing at the speeds and mileage, but I probably put 60 miles on it yesterday, and a few times I got it up to approx. 65 or 70. I've got NO vibrations at that speed, so I'm pretty sure I don't have any issues with pinion angles I had discussed in another thread. So far, almost everything is working like it's suppose to. After the car warmed up, the oil pressure ran at 70-75, the temp never got over 180, voltage ran about 13+,
Today I'm going to remember my GPS, and also give another shot at getting the speedometer set up.
Never got on it really hard yesterday..maybe today a little, lol.

 

Today was even better. Feeling a little more at ease with it, I took it out on the highways for a few hours, and this time had my gps. Ran at 65-75 most the time. At one point when I was doing 70 in a 75 zone, a big rig p***ed me out honking his horn. I looked up when he got beside me, and it was a friend of mine....waving, thumbs-ups and OK signals. I followed him at 75 for 10 or 15 minutes, then p***ed him out doing 85. We were both enjoying the heck out of that! The good news is still no vibrations whatsoever at 60 all the way to 85. engine is running smooth, car still feels "right" with the ride and handling. Yahoo!! Gotta get the exhaust finished up before I lose a muffler on the hiway! My tach is still acting up though, and the check engine light is on after she warms up (it's throwing 1/2 dozen codes, all air flow related.)
Never really got on it hard, when I p***ed the truck at 85, it felt like I was hardly pushing down on the accelerator. Now I'm getting the itches for a long trip!

 

I can't wait for that feeling, I'm only 2 years into my first project and getting it on the road can't come fast enough, congrats on a safe and fun test drive

 

Congrats. I am dieing to get mine back on the road with the new engine. I'm glad it went unhitched. Nothing better than seeing all your efforts come to fruition.

 

"congrats on a safe and fun test drive"....thanks, but reminded me of something. So, I had a hell of a time getting the brakes bled after installing the rear discs and replacing a line on the front brakes. Carefully tested the brakes when I first pulled it out doing some testing with harder than normal stopping, etc. They seemed ok.
Today I was in heavy traffic for a while at about 35 mph. I looked down at my gages (been doing that alot on these test runs) and when I looked up the car in front of me quickly moved into the next lane and right where he was, was a stopped car! I hit the brakes hard....locked those back brakes right up. Fortunatly nothing close behind me. Anyway, I now know for sure the brakes work well, but I do need to back off the proportioning valve. The backs shouldn't have locked up before the fronts. A high speed rear lock up can't be good, as the rear was wanting to come around even at 35 mph.

 

Hard work pays off Texas, congratulations.