1952-59 Ford Working on the '59

I have a heel injury, so I'm going slow for a bit.

Friday night, I won the battle of getting the front e-brake cable out of the car. With nothing holding it, it was still a fight to get out of the cabin. I think the ratty insulation was caught on something. It was also a ***** to get out of the slot on the crossmember, which I'm going to take out tonight to clean up.

Saturday, I pressure washed everything towards the front of the car. Blew out spider nests, possible mice hideaways, loose crud and made a dent on the grease and grime. I used a driveway cleaner which I let sit on everything for a day. I spent a couple of hours with a s****er and wire brush too. The firewall is a ton cleaner.

Tonight I will install the rear tires (P235/75-15) which my buddy mounted up for me yesterday. Also putting in the new gas tank and sender. I settled on an Ace Hardware cushion material for the padding. This is something used under carpets to keep them from sliding. It looks like it won't break down even if it gets wet.

 

We need pics.

 

I have to charge up the camera battery and I'll get some going soon.

 

Here's a few pics of my '57 e brake after refurbishing. I used a Dennis Carpenter cable. I have other closeups in case your trying to figure out ***embly or missing parts (***uming it's similar to your '59). I'm curious if your '59 still had the ebrake pulley cover intact. They are almost nonexistant..most guys have never even seen them.They were made from a paper machete type material and deteriorated very quickly.

 

The cover I was asking about would have been held in place with this clip.

 

The '59 is different. The pulley was used on the Mustangs for years. Mine is a semi-elliptical ratchet. Looks like a 1/4 circle of gear teeth and I guess a pawl that locks it. It gets unlocked by releasing the lever which actuates a clock spring to let it loose.

My problem seemed to be related with the plastic sheathing over the conduit that got caught on everything on the way out under the car. And the floorboard end is in the most inaccessible corner of the car.

Just another way that the '59 is a totally different animal, but thanks for the pictures.

 

A ****py picture with the rear tires on. It looked good once I dropped it on the ground, plenty of clearance.

 

Stuck one on the front for a test fit, but will be going with a P215 with a 6" wheel. I was concerned with the edge of the wheel contacting the upper arm.

 

Looking good.

 

Thanks. I have to get the fronts mounted up soon. Great incentive to forge ahead when progress becomes visual.

I talked last night with someone that has possibly all of the interior pieces I need. He's busy but I'm not in a major rush.

I have the new door gl***, waiting on a raft of parts for the doors, anti-rattlers, gaskets, handles, etc. I may have my gl*** guy install the gl*** in the tracks and maybe the vent windows. I'm also waiting on door guts to finish up the p***enger door.

 

Here's a shot of the rear brake. I think the blue spring on the equalizer bar is 180* out, gotta fix that. The drums were virgin, only took .030 to clean up. New wheel bearings, axle seals, wheel cylinders, shoes, rear axle flex hose, all hardware.

 

How not to install a gas tank...

My new tank came with this blue plastic plug in the filler opening. I figured I'd leave it there and remove it once I got the tank socked down. So, last thing, I go to grab hold of the lip of the plug with my pliers... right down and into the tank.

I realized there was one option... out comes the tank. I got my son to come out and hold a flash light, took out the sender. After 20 minutes, I had it out. I used a piece of wire and some balled up duct tape. I must have dropped it 6 times, finally was able to grab it with needle nose pliers.

 

HAHAHA....Next time you're at Harbor Freight, pick up a pair of the foot long needle nose pliers...makes getting those blue plugs out of the tank alot easier from the sending unit hole...lol... ask me how I know.
You made my day...now I gotta get back to house painting.

 

I'll look for the pliers, thanks. The problem was that the plug material was so greasy that the duct tape wouldn't hold long enough for me to grab it. At one point, it was flipped over and I did pop a hole in it with a screw driver but it kept sliding off.

 

Did you put sealer in your new gas tank? I just bought a new tank for my '55 from Rock Auto last week, and wondered if was necessary......

 

Just my opinion, but I sure wouldn't put sealer in a new tank. An old rusty tank, definetly, the sealer has something to stick to. I didn't, even though I modified my new tank to add an in-tank fuel pump.

 

No sealer, just put it in.. twice...

With the cork gasket for the sender, that goes in dry too.

 

Thanks! That'll certainly speed up the process of putting the fuel system back together....

 

Got the cross member out, cleaned up and painted. I should have weighed it before and after, it was that bad. Used CLR and a s****er to get most of it off. Wiped it down with lacquer thinner so it was clean, gave it a shot of Rustoleum satin black.

 

Like your 59 , dad has a 59 vert. and a ruff 2dr htp for parts. I p***ed on a very solid, low mileage original 59 2dr sedan earlier in the spring. decided I would hold out for a 57 but I sure liked the 59.

 

Dropped the whole front end out tonite.. car is down to the bare frame. I started in on it at 6, my brother showed up at 7, we were done by 9:15. I'll take some pictures tomorrow in better light. Even with no engine, the springs came out with very little fight. The car still amazes me, I have yet to fight with anything that I've taken off of it.

 

I pulled apart a Mark viii last year that, as yours, was no trouble whatsoever, even for an old man with weakening hand/arm strength...except for the ****** mounting bolts and the driveshaft. I later found out the car had a rebuilt ****** with probably less than a thousand miles....explained the problem with those bolts...damn mechanics with their impact wrenches. my pet peeve.

 

Me and my brother are pretty big guys and I'm the stronger one. We did break out the impact gun, air ratchet and 1/2" drive gun though. It was hot out too, we were both drenched in sweat. The lower ball joint tapers were tough to break.. pickle fork... nah. Ran a flat punch in the impact gun along the knuckles, which may have helped. In the end it was me and a 6 lb hammer that won.

 

This is how the upper arms looked when they came out of the citric acid dip. They were in for around 30 hours. All they needed was some light wire brushing by hand. I neutralized the acid with a dip in baking soda and water. Used 1 lb of baking soda to 6 gallons. For the acid dip, 2 lbs of citric acid to about 12 gallons of water.

 

Got the upper a-arm bushings and ball joints in last night.

 

A ****py picture, but I got the bearing adapters on my spindles last night. The kit was from hotrod428 (hotrodsand brakes.com) and I had to heat the adapters with a torch, then they dropped right over with zero effort.

 

Got the engine compartment and frame cleaned up on Saturday.

 

Painting complete, VHT ch***is & roll bar satin black. Some ***embly completed as well.

 

Thanks for the great pics,are they in your album for future reference?

 

There doesn't seem to be that much interest in the car, I was going to get an album going on another forum, still undecided if I want to do one here.