Projects doing some work on my 63 (pics)

Went out to the garage on a mission to get some things done.
pulled my valve covers, pulled off the original stickers(which i will be replacing), stripped em and painted them as close to the original color I could find.



I always had a ticking That I naturally thought was lifters, to my surprise when i pulled the covers, look what I found

Once I got the rods changed, I had no more ticking and the car runs perfectly smooth.
Then, I driiled some holes for my rear mount antenna, while my dad wired up all of my tail lights, and I permanantly mouted all of my caddy lenses.

So here's what i've got so far.


Next on my list, I have to do some more painting under the hood, my disk brake conversion, mount my fender skirts and drop it. (Next free saturday I get.) Eventually, I will get to the bodywork.
I will keep posting progress pics in this thread. Lots of fun stuff to do yet!

 

did you bend those in a vice?? no way that car ran from the angles they are bent.

 

you sound as surprised as i was. It was runnin. (not very well.) It was missin and spittin, so I changed all of the plugs, wires, cap, points, coil, couldn't figure it out till i opened up the covers and found this. I think it was only runnin on 5 cylinders. I drove it 5 blocks from my dad's house that way. No brakes. Just the e-brake

 

You'd be surprised. I had a roomate with a 390 FE and when he pulled the pushrods out, my jaw hit the ground. The car ran and sounded decent, but had a slight mis, and no power. I had never seen a car run with pushrods bent up like that.

Stan, I think you and him are about even in how bad they were bent up!

 

looks like ancient hierogliphics the way they are layed out. I think it say THRASHED! Did I sell you those back doors?

 

i swear i heard one of them scream in agony as i pulled them from the engine lol. No those are not the doors you sold me, those are tucked away in the garage quietly awaiting the day they are primered. sometime in the very near future.

 

ok, here's the latest. I scraped the nasty coating off and out of the inside of the trunk. I stripped as much rust as i could.(sorry no pics of this step) I then treated the area with rustoleum rust converter and sprayed with Bedliner from a can. For the decklid, I scraped, sanded, rust convertered, and shot it with rubberized undercoating/sound deadener. We will see how long it lasts. As of right now though, I think it looks well enough to get all of my air ride stuff in there.

factory coating is all gone!!


Safety first! "The Bucket Head Vac" from Home Depot is amazing by the way!! and cheap!


heres the stuff, sorry no pics of the bedliner


I actually let the the trunk and deck lid dry, then hit them again the next day. Here's after the first coat.


first coat on deck lid


i will get some pics of the final coats. I will do the inner quarters, after the body work is done!
All I got for now,
Next post will be on the rebuilt steering, already in progress!!!! woo hoo

 

Cool car. I woulds straightened them pushrods out in a vice and reused 'em .

 

Thanks! the local parts store had em for really cheap and they gave me a bunch extra for free!!!!

 

Ok, more progress... nothing too exciting, but one step closer. I only get a couple of things done here and there. I work 40-60 hrs and have a family to be part of. So the Merc is slow going. We did brake lines and valves. I also installed the high output alternator and voltage regulator to get ready for the airbags. Also, the power steering is gone ripped it all out. I would really like info on an integral power steering box conversion if anybody has any.

Heres 2 pics I took last sat.
ECI DISC BRAKESSSS!!!!!!! SWEET
(Thats my Dad, the knowledge base, bending brake lines in the pics lol....might explain why Im a little crazy)

 

Nice car indeed.
Caddy tail lights are way over used in my opinion, but not in your case.
They look really nice, as well as natural on there.
Great work and pics.
Cheers,

 

Real neat, gotta love those Mercs with the roll down backlite. If you're taking a poll, I vote with you on new pushrods.

 

Thanks guys, lol. Yeah I went all new pushrods. Crazy thing though. It has been running great all this time but now the ticking is back. It will start quiet and run fine. I will drive it for about 20 mins, then once its good and warm the ticking starts. Im pretty sure its coming from the top of the engine, which makes me think valve train or lifter. Pretty sure it is not pushrods since the noise isnt constant. any ideas?

 

fords seem to be able to run with bent pushrods. check into a 605 ps box conversion as that might be the amswer for you but i would think any change will involve some fab work but be well worth it.

 

its an awesome looking car makes me anxious to get mine done!!!

 

If you've got some sticking valves, your new pushrods may have already bent. If you open it up and find bent new ons, be sure to note which ones, then try to move the valves using a prybay or something, you'll find the sticking ones soon enough. Sometimes you can free them up using additives, but ususally it means pulling the heads and doing a valve job.

No matter what, you need to find out why the original pushrods bent in the first place.....

 

Yeah Jagman thats what I am afraid of! I am going to put a new oil pump, screen and pan on soon (i hope) I will pull the valve covers then and assess the situation. Ill post the results...

 

with the trunk all rusted-up like that ,,, does the rear window still roll down ???

 

The trunk was all surface rust and is solid. The breezeway window is a self contained unit. You roll the window down, unplug it, and unbolt it from the car. The whole thing comes out, glass, mechanism and all. Oh and Yes the Breezeway window works perfect...

 

Yeah those 64's like the one you have are awesome. I was fiddling with the idea of swapping my front end to a 64 front, but the 63 front end has really grown on me. Also a buddy of mine has found me a 63 front bumper now so I am keeping it! Ive got some plans to customize the 63 frot a little! Thats a secret though!

 

Love the tail light idea,also love to see someone making a more overlooked car cool.
A tricked out metalic candy color paint job would look good.

Not mine but this could be a deal for someone.
http://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/1975989637.html

 

well dang if its a secret i cant very well ask then can i???

 

Ok, Well work has finally picked back up on the 63. I did the Rear main seal and a new pump/pickup screen while I was in there. You have to undo the motor mounts and jack up the motor to get the pan out on these cars. The only thing I had to unhook was the transmission cooling lines running to the radiator. Unfortunately they were also the "only" things I forgot to hook back up before I got the car running again. I was sitting in the car watching the oil pressure climb to the "H" and when I got out to check for leaks, It looked like someone had stuck a pig right there in the garage! Biggest pool of Red I have ever seen. It took 35 LBS of Cat Litter to soak it up. Im such a DORK! Oh well The trans is about half empty now so I guess I'll drop the pan and do the filter. LOL live and learn

 

That sounds exactly like something that would happen to me....finish a project, get all excited and forget to hook something up...make more work for myself.

 

Yeah boy, lol I was excited too. Oh well I already have the trans filter and a new modulator so I think it was my cars way of saying "Hey hurry up and do this too so you can drive me"
List of stuff left to do:
- Front end rebuild
- Airbag suspension
- New Horns
- New Headlights
- Exhaust
-DRIVE THE WHEELS OFF OF IT (while the body work and exterior mods are in progress of course)

 

do you have anyn idea when the trans fluid was last changed? the reason i ask is sometimes if you change the fluid on a car that hasnt had it changed in a long time the new fluid acts just like detergent and it cleans all thew friction material off the bands and clutches

i changed the fluid on an 65 belvedere i had took a car from one that went down the road just fine to a car that couldnt move in less then a week

just sayin

 

You know it most likely has been a long time. Although the rear main seal I just changed on it was a new style neoprene one (installed wrong) So someone had been tinkering with it at one point. What do you suggest I do? A majority of the old trans fluid has spilled out all on the floor. I dont think I have any choice but to put new fluid in.

 

we'll you 'll have to put new fluid back in it of course

im just saying keep an eye on it and dont be surprised if it starts slipping and stuff

or just pull the tranny and rebuild it

 

Well I was excited! Now Im nervous lol
Guess we'll find out! I aint stoppin now

 

Update! Tranny work is done! Car shifts and drives so smooth. Stops and steering is like butter. Guess I need headlights and a horn to drive it now. Got to fix a couple of oil leaks from the valve covers. The fun begins to make it look the part. Will update with custom work soon.