Technical A Kid's First Project: 1957 Fairlane 500 Town Victoria.

Well thats why i couldn't get it off, its nothing like discs... and my "cotter pin" is a nail.

 

I’d suggest getting an experienced eye with you, especially when putting things back together. You don’t want that nut too tight or too loose, and you will be repacking/inspecting the bearings as well?

Give her hell!

 

14 inch pounds, right?

 

If that’s what your manual says, but it needs to be seated first, then backed off, then adjusted

 

Got the car moved.
Ford moved a Ford.

 

You know when you take a good picture of that thing on a sunny day. All cleaned up like that. It don’t look half bad, pretty nice actually. And I’m not a Ford man at all, GM and Chrysler.

 

This is what I meant by a Ford moved a Ford.

Also, now the car is up on jacks... thanks to my brothers help, I may have accidentally gotten it way too high on the first attempt, and it started to scootch forward like it was going to fall, luckily, he noticed before I got crushed.

I cant work on it anymore today, as the rain is coming down way too hard to even be outside during it.

 

You know one other thing if you had a gas can hooked up you could have moved it by itself. Just sayin.
You also might want to get a can of Sea-Foam and throw it in the gas tank with a gallon or 2 of gas. It will start loosening up any crud and varnish in it for when you pull the tank to flush it out. Cheaper to try that little trick first than to just go out and buy a tank. Unless it is rusted through already.

 

Carb is currently full of seafoam, whole can got put into the vent.
We already have the new tank, the bottom of the old one is collapsed, and its got quite a bit of rust.

 

See pup, your getting smarter already!

 

My tank was shot. I guess the OG sock filter was clogged so they put in another outlet, looked like JB Weld was used to hold it in place.

One of the 1st things I did was put it on 4 jack stands and drop the brakes, the leaky axle seal and the entire front end. The bottom was a mess, spider NESTS in every crevice and in the brake drums.

 

Its supposed to rain today, and I have a graduation to attend, (not my own, thats in a year).

I did test steering play, it seems to be healthy with no weight on them, felt really good when it was being pulled.

 

Got the rear brakes taken apart, passenger side was easy, drivers side required a mallet and flatbladed screwdriver to move the adjuster.
Also, the drums had these clips on them, not sure what exactly they do, maybe anti squeak?

this is the final picture I took for the night.

Another note, does a custom 300 use the same rear brake hardware as a Fairlane 500?

 

The little clips are to keep the drums from falling off on the assembly line. I've never seen them on an older car, mostly 1970's and up cars. Rear hardware is the same between models, yours are manual adjusters. I got all my brake parts from Rock Auto. Make sure you get brake hoses too.

 

My hose in the rear has been replaced in the past, unlike the fronts, but its getting all new lines and rubber, my manual adjusters are still good, but its getting new shoes.

I just realized this may be one of the only 57 fords to still have the drum clips on it.

 

I noticed a weird line that runs inside the car, to the outside, it drops out near the gas tank fill, and runs over to the drivers side rear quarter, any ideas?

Im thinking its something to do with accident repair, some kind of bracing.

 

Gas tank filler neck vent. Make sure you have the right gas cap.

 

The one on it is non venting and the tank collapsed

 

so, the studs for the gas tank are bent, do I have to worry about that when getting the nuts off, or not?

 

Spin them off, their probably going to break anyway. One of the restoration company’s should have new ones. May have to substitute from a different model or year. How are the straps and insulation is the important question.

 

Straps are being replaced, insulation looks okay

 

If the straps are going to be replaced, replace the insulation material also. Good heavy thick tarpaper will work great. 30# tar paper you can get from Lowe’s or so.

 

Trunk floor is also in need of work... especially around the sender

 

Popped one of the front drums out, will need to clean the bearing and spindle to see their condition, lots of grease.
The other side does not want to come out, any tips will be appreciated because i do not want to mess up the bearing.

 

Does the drum move/wiggle at all?
Have you backed off the star adjuster?

 

we got it off, the center of the bearing was completely stuck, bearing was not salvagable, when we got it off, it broke apart, seems im getting new bearings too...

Also, star adjusters were all the way in when we got it, so thats neat.

 

Replacing all the bearings on a car that old is not a bad idea. Especially if you plan on driving it a lot.

 

I have new j-hooks for my tank replacement, but my old ones were perfect. My straps seemed to be stainless steel. For the pad between the tank and trunk floor, I used a piece of that rubber-like mat used to keep cutting boards from sliding on the kitchen counter. Ace Hardware had it. I also wrapped my straps with shrink sleeve for added padding.

 

I'll see if I have the box from my gas cap replacement, believe it was a Robert Shaw item.

 

The thing is, The others are just fine, the one that was stuck was the one with no grease cap on it, and I need to pick up new grease caps.