Hot Rods Questions about a 1963 Galaxie

I don't know about that. My Uncle had a 63 Galaxie 2 door hardtop, red inside and out, 390 with a 3 speed on the column. In about 1972, he bought a black inside and outside 63 Galaxie 2 door hardtop with a 428, 4 speed, and bucket seats that had been rear ended hard. He put the 428 two 4 bbl engine in his bench seat red Galaxie, pulled a few trim parts off the black 63 and sold the rest, 4 speed included. I asked him why he didn't put the 4 speed and black bucket interior in his red car, he said he liked his bench seat, my Aunt could sit closer to him! So his car ended up being a bit of a sleeper, he left the 390 badges on the fenders, no one was the wiser that he actually had a 428 with two 4 bbls!

 

So I have another question regarding the galaxie. My dad is wanting to raise the suspension back to stock. Does the galaxie have spindles? I’m guessing the ones on there now are “drop spindles”. The car also has been converted to front disc brakes. Where do we find stock height spindles? Will those spindles accept the disc brakes? Should we be looking for a different year spindles to raise it and transfer the brakes? Thanks guys.


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No way of telling without a pic of what's there with the wheel off. Could be dropped spindles, could be cut/lowering springs, could be altered lower control arms.

I wouldn't bet on it being lowered as it doesn't look that low. May be the tire/wheel combo that makes it look low. The 'stock' one you show is raised a bit, so it's not stock either.

 

My dad is picking it up on Thursday so I’ll have him get me a picture. Let’s just say it is drop spindles where would you go to get stock spindles?


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Dropped spindles can complicate things... Many are 'fabricated' and many as such use non-stock parts that may or may not transfer to OEM spindles. As to where you can get them, you'll probably have to do some boneyard scrounging as I don't think anyone is reproducing them (and if they are and they're not forged, you don't want them anyway...). If you want to stick with OEM parts, '68-72 full-size Ford disc brake spindles should fit, although I'd look for later full-size caliper brackets that use the 'sliding' type caliper as it's a superior design. But it may be possible to re-use the existing brakes if they can be identified with a different adaptor for stock spindles.

 

That’s cool. That is the info that I need. If I can’t get aftermarket then the years that are compatible is the next best. I appreciate the knowledge and I’ll be posting a couple of pics soon. Thanks again.


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Oh and I read in a few posts before that they thought the non- lowered picture was “raised”. How does one do that?


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Just swapping to an aluminum intake will raise the car 6 feet (estimated)

The iron ones are HEAVY

Hard to beat an FE for cruising

 

You might contact Kanter Auto.
Many years ago a friend of mine was rebuilding the frontend of his 64 Mercury Comet Calente Convertible, seems these cars had some front suspension parts that were not the same as the standard Comet, he wasn't having any luck with the usual suppliers but was able to source his parts from Kanter.

https://www.kanter.com/index.aspx

 

Cool "guardians of the galaxie" vibe hear and truly bitchin car but the issue I'm having is how can you trust a guy with a yard this nice and garage that clean? At least photo shop some weeds in the expansion joints and an oil stain on the concrete.

 

Good looking Galaxie. I just dusted off a black 63 XL from a 20 year long nap. Going to take both to tomorrow night's cruise night. My black one doesn't look as sweet as your Dad's Daron, but it's got plenty of potential. I'll try to remember and take some pictures of them together tomorrow night.

 

Cool. I look forward to seeing your pictures. The yard is at the sellers house. It's in Tomball, TX. Super nice guy. My dad was looking at this car last year and decided to hold off. Seller was asking $28k for it. I was browsing craigslist last week and saw it again. Now it was listed for $19k. I sent it to my dad and we were there a couple of days later making the deal. The seller only put a couple of hundred miles on it since he owned it.

 

I got a couple of pictures tonight.
The second picture is 5 of the 10 cars from our group that were there tonight.

 

I just noticed, no '390' emblems on the front fenders. Are you sure it'd a 390? The 352 cars didn't have emblems (and that would make more sense with the three-on-the-tree), only the 390 and larger motors got them. It's not easy to tell them apart when stock, if the motor's been messed with (new paint, valve covers) it can be impossible.

 

Yeah it is a 390. My dad has the emblems and a few other things that were taken off the car when it was painted a few years ago.

 

Nice! I'm a Chevelle guy, but these galaxies are really cool.

 

I was going to ask you guys about the rear view mirror that is mounted on top of the fender. All the pictures I've seen they are in a similar location to where mine is on my chevelle. First the strange trim behind the rear wheel and then that. Any ideas?

 

A lot of those Galaxies had mirrors mounted on the fenders. My black one had one on each side in a similar position to the one on your Dad's car. I took them off as I didn't care to have them there. I think a lot of mirrors back then were dealer installed so the location varied. The Galaxie in my avatar has the mirror mounted on the door with the rear face alongside the upright for the vent window.

 

Unless the mirror had remote adjustment, they were always installed by the dealer to prevent theft in transit. So it really depended on who put them on.

 

My Uncle's 63 had the mirrors mounted on the rear edge of the fenders too.

 

The spindles could be Granada spindles. A cheap disc brake conversion used the disc setup from a Granada-you could have the ball joint openings reamed out by a spring shop or machine shop to fit the stock Galaxie ball joints. Granada spindles also lowered the front end about an inch. This is what I'm running on my '63.

 

Ok guys. My dad got the front wheel off today and sent me these pictures. We are looking for any input you can provide. Drop spindles? Stock spindles? I’m thinking dropped coil springs. Thanks in advance guys.


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As nasty as it looks under there a complete rebuild could be on my list of things to do.
New ball joints and all bushings and clean and repaint .
Then replace the springs with stock springs .

 

I bet on it having stock spindles. The sway bar bushings are fossilized, haven't been off in a long time.

 

I love these cars but let’s face it , it’s a barge . It can be made to look bad azz and run nicely and still be very drivable .A gear change is in order , 3.70 if it were me . As suggested a lighter weight intake , and a lighter weight water pump are in order . One of the easiest ways to inmprove to performance is lighten up the load . Factory FE headers will add the weight back to the load that you removed from intake , tube headers are a must . A DuraSpark with GM HEI brain is as good ignition as you will ever need . I suspect the spindles are of later model than a63 from a later Galaxie but not for sure . maybe someone else can help out with this fact or not .

 

One of the best looking Fords, IMHO. Big cars, though. Your light Chevelle with a 427 BBC probably does feel spirited compared to it!

 

Here is a 62-64 stock spindle I'd say yours are the same. https://www.ebay.com/itm/62-63-64-F...925159?hash=item1cb5c8e0e7:g:kIMAAOSwTi1bcYr8 Check the front inner control arm bushings they were not one of Fords better ideas.

 

So you think it’s a stock spindle? That’s good. We are planning on pulling the ball joints and replacing the parts along with the coil springs and paint the a-arms.


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I think they look stock. Someone may have cut the springs in the past. A lot can happen to a car in 55 years.

 

need to steam clean the whole frontend and replace every rubber bushing too