Projects 1955 Ford Customline 2 door sedan

I am finally getting around to posting pics of this build. As all projects, it will probably never be finished. The drive train is not traditional at all, but you can just scan past those pics. It is easier for me to just give you all a link to my photobucket page with around 200 pics of the build. You can also feel free to look at a couple of my other cars including my 41 Ford which has a thread on this site also and 2 OT cars.

I bought this car off a fellow hamber in July of 2011. It started as a car for my wife, but she doesn't care for it that much and would prefer a truck. Fine by me, thats an excuse to buy another vehicle!! We wanted a low cost car that would be good on fuel, dependable and easy to find parts for. I put the 41 aside because that is a more traditional build with a lotta time going into. Plus, the oldest thing I had was too new for most car shows, which is a 74 pinto.

Before the car arrived to my shop on October 2 2011, I had already found a donor car, engine and trans. The brakes and rear axle are out of a donor 78 Granada. Spindles, master cylinder, proportioning valve, booster and rear axle were used off it. All new parts for brakes were installed too. At the time, I was searching craigslist for an HO EFI 5.0 and AOD trans. I stumbled upon a, aluminum DOHC 4.6 with a 4r70w trans for $400. At that price, I jumped on it pretty quick and hoped I could make it fit. Minimal mods to the frame were needed for the swap and it went a lot smoother than I expected. While the motor was being swapped in I fully rebuilt the stock 55 Ford front end and added the Granada spindles and Aerostar coil springs. The rear springs were de-arched before installing the Granada 8 inch rear. Some holes in the firewall were filled and modifications were made for a nice clean fit of the Granada booster. I wanted to keep the interior looking stock. All the sheetmetal inside was painted the factory, or atleast as close as we could match it, bronze/tan color. I used parts off a scrap Ford Excursion steering column to modify the factory 55 column to run an automatic shift cable. A Rebel wire harness was used to move the 12v around the car.

As you can see from the pics, I didn't touch the body. Some call it crap, some call it a rat rod, some call it cool and some know its a project. I was able to have the car driving and dependable this past July, and we had a blast with it. around 2000 miles were racked up and it averages 26mpg. I am no professional to EFI tuning but I have played around with it in my Pinto. My goal is closer to 30 mpg after I get to work on a fuel saver tune.

During the winters, we will be doing more to it. This winter it is getting an interior so its comfy to drive. Let me tell you, driving on bare seat springs with a blanket over them is not the most comfortable. Right now, my total out of pocket is $4500. That includes the price of the car, shipping, new parts, donor car and all the profits from selling off parts not used and scrap. that price does not include interior.

If the mods think my build is too far off topic with the EFI, feel free to delete.

http://s307.photobucket.com/albums/nn294/ford371/1955 Ford Customline 2 door sedan/#!cpZZ1QQtppZZ24

P.S. The pics arent in the best order, but the last page has the oldest pics

 

You have a nice start there. Please post more pic's but maybe
not in Photo Bucket.

 

hopefully you will keep the car build looking traditional, just keep the hood closed. overll looks pretty good, don't stop now.

 

Very nice car

 

When you first talked about doing this swap you had me shaking my head,because of the width of the 4.6 I expected clearance issues with the A-arms and steering box.Were there issues with the steering? it looks like the exhaust was a non-issue from the pictures they look to exit below the A-arms.

 

Looking good there, I honestly wish my paint looked like that, I love it.

 

The engine is kinda out there but overall the car looks good. HRP

 

I had one of your photobucket pictures set as my desktop for awhile to serve as motivation on my 55 Customline build.

Stay after it man it's looking good!

 

Hell of a job lookin good,I have a maverick rear in the barn been keeping for mine.still running stock gear in mine not to expressway friendly but is pretty quick.LOOKs good

 

Thank you all for the compliments. My main reason for the fuel injection is its what I know. Although it is far from traditional under the hood, it will remain traditional on the outside for the most part. To be honest when the hood was open at a couple shows, it started conversations with people that were traditional hot rodders. Opening the hood at a show is half the fun, no one expect to see that under the sheet metal of this car. But, I understand this sites rules which is why I have talked very little of this build.

jeffb2, it was tight....REAL fuckin tight. The pics don't show much to be honest. The only way you can really see the exhaust manifolds is from underneath or from the front with the front clip off. Some of my pics show the frame modification where I had to notch the frame a little by where the frame rolls around the spring perch on the inside. They are tucked in that gap between the frame and the upper A arm mounts. The drivers side manifold needed some messaging to clear the steering box and the steering box itself needed a little rounding of one of the corners of the top cover. The exhaust pipe itself was a treat. The drivers side has to take an instant turn towards the trans and up a little to clear the pitman arm. 2 inch pipe runs true duel to the rear through the vents in the 56 Ford bumper.

venturesomerite, your pinstriped beer bottles look a lot better than my cars paint!!! If your ever in the Cleveland OH area with your pinstriping stuff, let me know!

carlos, The rear in this car is a 3.00. That with the overdrive is what is letting it loaf around at any speed you want. I have no tach and have never hooked my scanner up while driving to document rpm but, they are low. No funny down shifting on the freeway what so ever. Id guess im around 1600-1700 rpm at 65. Im sure I could calculate it but I haven't.

I will post a few pics on here in various stages outside of photobucket. If anyone wants more pics, click on the link above or let me know and I'll add.

 

Here are some shots right after I got it.

 

A few of the tear down, initial mock up and parts car Granada.

 

Some of the frame mods.

 

firewall

 

frame and trunk floor. For some reason some pics aren't uploading like the interior floor. That coating is bed liner. The under side of the car is coated the same.

 

Got them to work! Floors and underside.

 

This is a finished pic of the frame and firewall pre engine install, misc engine pics, my nephew helping with the engine install and my shop rott helping with the firewall

 

I keep getting a notice for a missing security token or something and it wont allow me to upload more pics. Looks like thats it for now, I'll try again tomorrow.

 

try to set your camera for a lower resolution i used to get the scurity token message until i reset my camera

 

Nice job!!!!

 

Very impressive. I almost bought that same drivetrain combo for my '54 Customline but changed my mind at the last minute because I didn't think it would fit. I'm glad to see that I was wrong. Thanks for sharing and good luck with the interior.

 

Diggin it!

 

What did you end up taking off the granada ?

 

You might want to go with a lower geared rear end. I had a '96 Mustang with the SOHC 4.6 and I installed 3.73 gears in the rear end. Acceleration was greatly improved and I got an honest 27 MPG at 70 MPH on the highway. It turned about 2200 RPM at that speed, and it seemed to be at the most efficient part of the power band. It still felt like it was loafing along, but responded instantly when I stepped on the gas. Before I felt like I should shift down to pass. It was still smooth and quiet at that speed too.

Some people even recommended 4.10s for the DOHC cars. It seems like a very low gear for a daily-driven car but with overdrive you'll still have the advantage of a higher gear on the highway.

There are articles on this subject online:

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0208_gear_ratio_calculating/viewall.html

You might have to get an 8.8 rear end from a Ranger or Explorer for the lower gears. I think most of the Explorers had rear disc brakes too.

Looks like a great car!

 

cool

 

Thanks for posting this thread, this is what i want to do to my dads 56 crown vic and i was thinkin of puttin a 4.6 in my dads car and i had some thoughts of all t he stuff it would take to put it in there but after seeing you do it on this car of yours now i know i can do it. if you dont mind can you please describe more in detail the exhaust manifold modifications to the frame and what kind of motor mounts did you use for this, they look like the original mounts for this year model of this car. what did you do about the wiring for the motor? did you order a ford motor sport wiring harness for the engine? thanks i hope to hear back on this and i appreciate your time. can you also give me details on the disc brake conversion

 

Thanks again for the complaments!

Venturesomerite. I used the front spindles, brake booster, proportioning valve and rear axle. I replaced with new the rotors, calipers, pads, rotors, front brake hoses, master cylinder and all rear brakes off the same car/78 Granada. I sold the OD manual trans, pedal box, hvac controls, heater box rims and tires. The complete header panel and front bumper will be used to light up our bar in the basement. the rest was scrapped.

1956fordcv. Ill send you a PM about the engine swap. The brake swap was basically the front spindles and complete brake set up straight off the parts car, 78 Ford Granada. One mounting hole needed to be opened up with a 7 degree reamer. Im not 100% sure which one off the top of my head, but i think it was the lower ball joint. Master, booster, proportioning valve, rear brakes were all off the Granada. It stops VERY well and has a great pedal feel.

 

Steve Ray. My pinto has an 8 inch with 3.40 gears and an axle out of a 67 Fairlane with unknown gears. I was thinking about trying out a couple things this summer. Most likely there will be 8 inch Ford parts flying all over the shop this summer.

 

flathead, do you attend any shows on the weekend? I am actually from mentor and would like to check this thing out as i have a 55 myself and will be doing this swap.

 

Thanks sharing your cool project! I'm working on a 55 customline for my daughter to use when she's old enough to drive. She just turned 12 so I'm hoping I have enough time to get the project finished. She's helping when she can and as she grows up, I hope she can take more and more of the load (good luck with that!). So far I have a 302 engine and AOD transmission mounted. Have to take care of the steering gearbox because it is shot. Looking at either replacing it with a Borgeson unit or going the donor car route. Not sure what kind of donor to look for but was glad to hear that the Granada is a good candidate. Want to end up with a safe worry free car for my daughter that is still cool and that she actually had a hand in building. Feedback indicates that I have more horsepower than the stock differential can handle. Any helpful suggestions would be appreciated! The photo shows the car up on cribbing blocks which are great for working under the car as I try to sort out the driveline.