Well I finally got my wagon! She is a 1957 Country Sedan. She is bone dry as far as rust goes except one little area. Is this something that I can cut out the ‘face’ and leave a little lip and then weld? Or do you think I have to cut out the whole dog leg and recreate the section? I have a tig welder but I only have 110 capability with it right now. Do you think that will work? she doesn’t have an engine or tranny but the owner had a hopped up 390 so that will probably go in. Bit more than I really need though. So just need a tranny and rad now. thanks, mike
Cant comment on the best way for you to proceed with repairing it, but your welder should be plenty for panel work.
I would cut out all of the rust . Before I cut it out I would make a pattern and then take a piece of wood and make a buck. That way you can make it out of one piece of metal. Form it and weld it in. A 110 welder will be fine for that repair. I built the frame for the Morris Minor that is my avatar with a 140 amp 110 welder.
South cross thank you for the reply. Now I get to test my welder out!!!!!!!!! Ok you asked. Note the factory PS as an option. Now the wife will drive her-bonus! Mike
Pretty much all of those old Ford's with the power steering ram leak, but they are easy to repack the ram. They are just marking their territory when you park them somewhere. Kind of like an old Harley. Just letting you know they still have oil in them. I really like the 57 Ford's . I had a real nice Fairlane 4 door hardtop with a 312 ,automatic and a continental kit. My ex wife is enjoying it now unless she sold it.
I feel like you can leave the lip that turns into the door no problem, but the outer roll, into the wheelwell and down under the rocker, I feel like once you start grinding on that, those areas are going to be trash. In the closeup pic you posted, I can actually see where the spotwelds are that hold the wheel opening to the inner wheelwell, because rust is jacking out between the spotwelds, making it lumpy there. I mean, you could just cut the face out and weld in relatively flat repair panels and leave that crappy lip around the edge, it wouldn't really be a permanent repair though. If I was doing that, I'd cut out the rusty part right at the edge where it turns into the door opening (that part seems good, at least from what I can see) and I'd make a panel for the upright part and one for the bottom part, that way (other than the bottom corner) you only have to fold the new sheetmetal on one direction for each panel.
Very cool ride! Thanks for the photos. When I was a kid, my parents had a yellow and white '58 Country Sedan. Lots of good family vacation memories in that car!
Looks like a good solid wagon. In this neck of the woods 57 Fords (and most other cars) were rusted all to hell by the early 60's!
Thanks for all of the ideas. I get the car in about three weeks. Then I can look her over more closely. After I clean about 20 years of dust off of her. mike
I just noticed another cancer spot. My idea on fixing it is to clean, grind to good metal and then make several passes to weld it up. Is this the right idea? It is hard to see, but it right under the drip rail at the curve. thanks, mike
You’ll know what you need to do once you get in there and clean it out. Every notice that a “few rust bubbles” can require a 4 inch wide piece of metal to fill? I suggest a low speed wire wheel in the are. Sorta creep up on it. Then see what’s needed.
Update-good and bad. GOOD, she now home with us in a garage. We towed her home from Vegas this weekend and she was so happy she rolled right off the dolly and didn’t stop. We even put blocks of wood to stop her-nope. Bounced right over them u til her flat tires compelled her to stop. Then we pushed her into the garage. BAD, the rust patch has expanded to inside the the rear door jamb. So when I get around to that part I will be asking all sorts of metal questions. And she has no drive shaft either-no big deal really just wasn’t planning to buy one. I have started a build thread in the 52-59 Ford social group. Is there a way to have that thread show up in the main bird as well? Or do I have to double post it? thanks, mike
Cool car! There is always more rust than you can see, Do your best to get it all cut out and replaced with new metal. If you don’t get all the rust you will be doing the repair again. For ford power steering, I pour in a bottle of Lucas power steering stop leak at the beginning of the driving season and it stops the leaks for the summer, but the seals dry up and leak over the winter. This works on my ‘54 and ‘65. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I thought that since I see a lot of build threads here vs. the 52-59 Ford (no disrespect intended) I will post things here so that I get more views (ok, that is for my ego). So here is an update: I am working on the front suspension and steering right now, and brakes. I will have to get a new tank as well, plus a lot of sheet metal. I will fibergalss of the bullet holes in the back if I can-for now. The goal right now is to get everything up front and rear brakes done so that I can get her down on wheel in July. Then roll her out and hose her out on a nice hot day. After that, I will probably hit the floor pans and quarter panels. Thais is the plan for now, and here is what Happened today. Today's update-not much. I dropped the outer tie rods as I could not get a decent whack at the inners. So I am going to take the whole thing down and separate them out of the car. I have decided to just replace the left spindle at this point as that bearing race and washer are frozen to it. Tried to get the shocks out and the stud started to just spin so I will just cut the nut off of both of them and then remove them. Got in some front hubs and drums from a yard, I am hopeful they can be turned. If not then it is off to China for new ones. I poured a gallon of laquer thinner in the tank as an experiment. But I think I will just buy a new one as the shellac and/or rust go all of the way up the sides. Hey it's only money right? On the springs, do I need a compressor to remove them if I break both ball joints loos and then lower the lower arm on a jack? Will that take all of the energy out of it? How do I get the PS control valve out? I pulled the pin and loosened the nut and was hitting it up, but the valve won't budge. Thanks, Mike
Congratulations on saving another cool Ford wagon ! You might want to get in touch with Danny, @HOTRODPRIMER and pick his brain about how to deal with rust issues. If you look on his profile page and go to the section that covers the restoration, of his wife's ranch wagon, which had a ton of rust in it everywhere, there is an extensive set of photos, that is great visual information and inspiration, that I am sure you will appreciate !
Cool find! I will be following along on the progress. I already learned something above about the ease of rebuilding the power steering cylinder that I need to do on two cars now.
Well I got a few things done today and got stymied by a few things. First off, I got the shocks and sway bar out. I poured about a 1/4 cup of red tranny fluid out of the PS pump reservoir so I am hoping that means the internals will all be good still. The bad, how the bloody hell do you get the PS valve off? It is only held on by the pitman arm but I can't seem to get her to budge, short of a BFH and I can't get a decent whack at the ball stud. I am also trying to get the idler arm bracket off the frame. I got the two bolts off but the last bolt that goes through the frame got torqed on by someone, so hard it mashed in the frame under the bolt head :icon_scratch:. Next up is get the springs out in two weeks and then lube the snot out of the upper and lower A arm bushings. Mike
I will have to make up my mind as which engine to go with soon as I need to order springs. My hope is to get a Y block and tranny from a guy in Sac., but I also have a FE 390 if that falls through. Are the front springs the same or do I need a slightly beefier spring for the FE? Mike
Y block and FE are both heavy mills so I’d expect you could use the same springs with either engine Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've got a drive shaft out of my '54 Ranch Wagon that had a stick and a Dana 44. Replaced the rear end with an 8 inch so the drive shaft is just taking up space in the corner the shop. Don't know if it would work in your '57 or not. If you think you can use it you can have it. PM me if interested.
Well, tomorrow is remove the springs day and the control arms and the rest of the steering parts. I have a compressor and some tools that will hopefully push the stuck steering stud out of the pitman arm. Shocks are on the way, I now have all NOS tie rods-all with good flexible rubber cups-and NOS ball joints. I just need springs (later this month) and then upper and lower bushings. Mike
The sleeves/bushings in the lower A arms can be a bear to remove. I got lucky with mine but I have heard horror stories. I would start soaking them with Creep, PB Blaster or something similar now while you are working in other areas. Good luck with your wagon. Following.
FINALLY!!!!! I got the springs and PS unit out of the car. I now have one more ball joint on each side to take out and I hope the fork holds up. I had to reform it once already, bloody Chinese made tools. I had to destroy one nut on a lower ball joint (probably my fault) and the nut holding the PS ball stud on. So on Sat. I will try and break the other ball joints loose and remove the control arms. I fully expect there to be problems on the lower A arm bushings. SO, what is the best way to get rusted/corroded/dirty bolts and bushings out of the lower arms? Mike
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