Hey Everyone just realized I haven't created a post on the latest project. Picked up a 1955 Lincoln Capri a little over a year ago. From what I can tell is she had been sitting 30 or so years. This one has everything Powe Steering, Brakes, Windows, Antenna, A/C, full leather interior, and Lincoln Accessory spotlight. I've been hunting down parts, sourced a rebuilt 1957 Lincoln 368 to replace the original locked up 341, welding up holes in the firewall, making panels to repair rotted sections and rebuilding the rotted battery box, rebuilt front rotted cross member and working on rebuilding front suspension. Ultimate goal is a mild custom, lowered a little, pearl white and a blue metal flake roof. For now I'm fixing the rotten metal, and getting her mechanically sound with the goal of cruising down to the Race of Gentlemen 2026 with the boys. As found After a bath and some mold remover she's a 20 footer More pics to come
Grandpa had a Cadillac around the same year, A/C in the trunk and clear plastic vent tubes that went all the way to the windshield, on humid days the A/C would turn any condensation into snow, Grandpa was miffed but us kids thought making it snow inside the car was the coolest thing ever.
Customized dash This has got to go, just discovered that's blue painted plexigl*** "Wired by Ray Charles" A full rewire will be in the works Wire nut under this mess. this was 3 or 4 lenghts of wire spliced together coming from a 80's GM alternator
One of the first things I did was see if I could get the spot light working. Moe goofyness, the ****on was for the horn I believe Popped out the bulb and it was 12 volts Being a toy train guy I had the perfect power source to test And would you look at that still works
Dad bought a 54 Capri in 55, first car I clearly remember. So I’ve always had a soft spot for those. I’ve got an acquaintance down in AZ restoring a 54, loaded, a/c like yours. There’s some folks doing those Lincoln Y blocks over on yblocksforever. Might just keep that source in mind as you get into the engine work. One ran the Carrera Pan Americana in one. Great looking start, and a very modern comfortable car in its day. The 55’s were the cream of the crop as far as I’m concerned.
Now onto trying to free the engine. With all the you tube videos out there of folks getting 100 year old cars with locked up engines to run with little more than ATF and Acetone I was sure I could have her moving under her own power in a weekend or two. Cleaned off the motor, oil bath air cleaner full of oil and brand new inside nothing down in the intake/carb, popped valve covers and everything looked clean Started wiggling rockers and found this, uh oh time to dig deeper Pulled the intake and valley pan and again nice and clean, not worried yet. Found some stuck lifters got them freed up and again not terrible Soaked the cylinders for a week or two and still got no movement, even broke the crank bolt!!! So time to pull the heads to see whats up First off the exhaust manifolds, here's the first clue - NUTZ!!!!! And here's where we get into it Valves hung up as well
Since you’ve got a 368, at least the heads might be a candidate for 6 months in a barrel of diesel. And the block if you can find a big enough barrel. Surprisingly clean inside, someone at least kept the oil changed when it was running. Unusual for any Yblock ford.
After a bunch of cleaning the cylinders didn't look too bad , at least not trashed like originally. Still hadnt lost hope yet With a bunch of heat, 2x4, BFH and some PB Blaster I did get it spinning. So I still had some hope, on to trying to free up the stuck valves this is when things started going down hill all but 1 valve was completly stuck and found 2 bent valves
At this point no sense throwing money just into the heads to bolt back on the bottom end to see if I could get it running. Time for the motor to come out. Pulled engine and transmission as one unit, that was a fun job Engine bay will need some cleaning Check out the size of that steering box, no wonder the exhaust goes out thru the fenderwell Looks like a g***er!
On to the engine teardown Had to do some quick machining of the motor plate for the engine stand to get it to fit the Lincoln Y Block, had to lengthen the slot 1/2 ". Luckily I have buddy with a Mill Bolted up and ready for dis***embly Remember that broken crank bolt I mentioned, since it was no longer under tension it came right out Dropped the oil pan, glad I never go to trying to make her run, would have had little to no oil pressure Looks like someone drove over a sign post in the past smashed up the oil pan and brazed up a big gash This pickup cleaned up nicely and I as able to hammer out the worst of the dents in the oil pan and once again had some clearance Looks like the engine had never been apart And after popping out some pistons it was apparent that we would have had zero compression Started collecting NOS parts at this point and discovered pistons would need to be custom made. This is a 1 year displacement engine.
During the winter I toyed around with the idea of swapping in another drive train. I planned on keeping it Ford. Another buddy came to the rescue and offered up his 460 that came out of a 70's Lincoln. After a bunch of research unless I changed out the steering box and made some big changes the 460 would fit. So I went back to planning the rebuild of the 341. While search for parts I met an older gentleman that was a retired antique engine rebuilder. He had a crank for a 368 Lincoln Y block which I purchased and while talking he mentioned he rebuilt a 57 Lincoln Engine year ago that was never picked up but was buried in the garage out back. Purchased the crank and told him I would be interested in the engine when he was ready to let it go. After a few months keeping in touch we agreed on a very reasonable price. Checked it out with a bore scope and never had been run, all new .040 over pistons still had the ink stamping on them. We primed the motor, cranked it over and it had good compression and oil pressure up to the heads Started cleaning it up and sourced the paint to freshen up the outside and said now I need to clean up and paint the engine bay .
This past spring we started pulling the front sheet metal, the front crossmember had some rot and needed some work. These control arm bolts took some persuading, bunch of PB Blaster, and impact gun back and forth After all that hammering the crossmember disintegrated Frame cleaned up and some Eastwood Rust encapsulator going on
Just like every other part the front cross memeber is Lincoln specific, Ford and Mercury are not he same. So I'll just have to repair it. Cut out the old rot Fab up a new piece Made up some new stiffeners as well Start Welding
Now on to the firewall. Previous owner thought it was a good idea to screw house carpet down to the floor and firewall to fix holes in the floor, creating a bunch of holes now needing to be welded up. Here's some of that carpet and more of Ray Charles wiring handy work Need a ground, just screw it down. fuse panel outta there. It was screwed down on top of the carpet, can you say fire! Screw holes welded up, looks like the Holley Teapot/Towering Inferno lived up to its name in the past.
Found more rot where the fenderwells attach to the firewall. Unfortunately all kinds of wet debri had been trapped in that area over the years. Now lucky for me I was in the right place at the right time and found a super deal on Facebook Market place. Eastwood bead roller, shrinker stretcher, brake and throatless shear for $100!!!!!! Guy had just sold his house and was having a moving sale. Removed hood hinge The deeper we dig the worse it gets Made a pattern More rot underneath Welded in a patch Treated inner layer with some rust encapsulator Putting the bead roller to work - Learning as I go Wasnt happy with this one so I started over Version 2 Getting it tacked in still needs a little more work, not perfect but this will never be seen once front sheet metal is bolted back up. For my first time doing something like this I'll take it
this is outstanding. I'm a bit inspired by your tackling of the sheet metal repair. I need to come across a deal like that for the bead roller, etc and learn to use them. -rick
Now onto the battery box. The battery on the 52-55 Lincolns are in the p***enger footwell. The original had rotted out and was poorly patched with braze, tin and roofing tar. This has also rotted out. Floor innner and outer rockers need replacing as well but thats a spring 2026 job. Cutting out the old Looking up from the bottom You can see where the old patch was just brazed in. Wiped up a new side panel and welded her in. Tried patching the rear wall but the metal was too thin and kept blowing out. Took less time to rough out a new one then to try and fix the old one I was able to remove the bead/flange for the battery box cover, this should clean up and be able to be welded onto the new patch Need to make a louver punch to make the vents still And this is where I am as the Holidays near, the days shorten and the temp drops. I'm doing this all outside so progress has slowed a bit.
One last post to get things caught up with the progress. Made a BIG score at this past Fall Hershey. Picked up a pair of NOS quarter panels. Original part numbers are still printed on them. Yes they are for a 4 door but they will fix the areas I need to replace. I saw these on FBMP in upstate NY near Niagra and said if I dont find anything at Hershey I will make the trip. less than 30 minutes into the first day I saw them in the next row and made a beeline to them. Paid less than asking seller and myself were both happy !
The Jalopy Journal
