Projects 59 Custom 300 rust bucket... A journey back to the road

Thanks a million Bob! Unfortunately Owens did NOT have what I was looking for... A shame... I wanted to do business with another HAMBer... Anyways I'll check out those leads. Again thanks a bunch!

 

Give Doug at RPM a call, super good to deal with. Galaxie Performance is another one that is good.

Try Steve at the link below, he sells parts and even parts cars as well as whole ones.
http://www.64galaxie.com/

Looked at my linkage, all I have is the same rod you have, nothing else.

 

Awesome leads! Can't thank you enough Bob. Stopped by HF this morning and picked up my new MIG 180... With coupon got it for about the same price as I would've spent on the smaller 170 I was looking at. Itching to try it out... Gotta get some 240 wiring set up.

 

Keep watching eBay, I've seen them around. Set up a search so you can check every couple of days. The guys who are selling other patrs, shoot them an email to see if they have one. I've found many parts this way.

 

Did you see the black '59 Galaxie 2 door hardtop that he's parting out? It looks to be in pretty decent shape and it has A/C too. A lot of guys on this site have restored cars a LOT worse than that one. I always hate to see nice cars this complete get parted out....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/59-FORD-FAI...024715?hash=item1c4757dc8b:g:2l8AAOSw8cNUNZ7D

 

My car was nowhere as complete as that one....

 

Yes that one is certainly nice... I wonder how much the whole thing would go for...

 

Are we on the road yet?


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Sean decided to sell his, if anyone wants a nice rust free '59 Galaxy 500
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1959-ford-fairlane-500-galaxie.1026543/#post-11617325
Really wish he would keep it and follow through, but we have all bitten off more than we can chew, in our lifetime.

JT

 

I saw it and am somewhat tempted to buy it, but running low on space.

 

bobs396, you would be hard pressed to find another all original one owner low mileage Galaxy 500 like it.
For Chris' sake, will someone please do this car the justice it deserves?? Running and driving it would be so cool. Screw the nay sayers who look down on 4 doors.
I literally worked my ass off just to be able to meet with the family whom owned it. Did shit on the clock, with company vehicle, that could have gotten me in big trouble.
Old Timer Butch told me about it almost a year ago. Couldn't sleep, until I got a peek at it. Then owner would not return his calls. Finally I found it and spoke nicley to next door guy, whom gave me ladies contact info.
He knew the car from the neighborhood, for like 40yrs.???

JT

 

Very nice project car... have the space but no means... Bought a few more parts this weekend but still not on the road. Plan to be cruisin by early October. Life has been getting in the way but I will find a way! Stay tuned

 

So lately I've been working on structural components under the hood... Mainly the radiator core support as it is barely adequate to support the radiator in my opinion... At least the bottom half.i hit a small road block. While trying to remove it, I realized the hood hinges also must come off. The unfortunate thing about that is that the nuts behind the fender holding them on are freely spinning.... Either looking at grinding off or disassembling the under fender components to get to the backside to hold them. Anyone faced this before? I know I can handle this... Just frustrating as my time has been limited lately

 

Take the headlight assemblies out (watch the ground wire at the bottom, easy to break). You get a ton of access to the inner fasteners (j-nuts) that way. It may be a 2 person job to get them out. If you have a compressor and air ratchet, try to spin the bolts out. The j-nuts are toast anyway. Or hold the square nut portion with vise grips. Time consuming but they'll come out. Ace Hardware has the j-nuts, at least mine does.

How good does the hood line up? If it lines up real well, drill a hole of choice (I like 3/16") through the hinges into the bottom hood skin. For re-assembly, line it up with a drill blank or piece of 3/16" rod.

The hinge assembly is bolted into a heavy steel plate on each inner fender. Or it should have the plates. Scribe a line around each side of the hinge assembly to help line that up later.

 

Great idea... I was planning on having to remove the fresh air ducts... I like your plan much better. Too bad I was rained out yesterday... Maybe today will be better. As always thanks for the input Bob!

 

If you take enough stuff out in front of the ducts like the screens and all the hardware, they will fall out. The broken j-nuts are tough to get out, they straddle the inner fender and are blind from under the hood. Once the bolts are out, try a big screwdriver and a hammer to force them up and out.

Had to laugh with mine... my son was helping strip the front of the car, removing the moustache chrome pieces and he had the intake screen off the drivers side... out falls a NEW heater hose bracket that must have been in there from the factory. A little humor from the San Jose assembly line in July of 1959... I wonder if the OG owners heard it rattle. I still have the piece, it was never installed.

Ran into this on eBay, shows the location of those nasty fasteners.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/59-FORD-FAI...ash=item1ea7532d41:g:cF0AAOSwkZhWTgvO&vxp=mtr

 

Thanks again Bob. I saw the inner fender... My left one is pristine... I need a right one. (And a battery tray for that matter) Sent an email to the seller... Unfortunately they don't have the other side... Definitely a great find for someone needing one.

 

The inner fenders are around. My battery box was gone and the inner fender was etched by acid, but not eaten through. I used an AFCO stock car battery box from Speedway. I don't think anyone makes a '59 battery box, a '57 may be close.

 

Well I guess now is as good a time as any to update... Had my hands full with an unexpected kitchen renovation that had one thing lead to another... Therefore most of my spare time was under the microscope by the wife to make sure getting the kitchen back in shape was priority one... And I have to keep her happy I'm sure some of you have to feel me there... Anyway, I've made enough headway to get back on the car without too much surveillance. Got a good radiator support on the way as well as a cluster housing that was too perfect to pass on. As for the car I've got the carpet back down and have decided to get her on the road within the next month or so. My main issue right now is with my clutch. It has no feedback. I was thinking maybe the spring is worn out... But I can't be sure. I adjusted the one under the dash but found out that is just a helper spring of sorts to keep your leg from wearing out. I'm beginning to wonder if my pressure plate is bad or maybe the throw out bearing is binding.... I just don't know. Has anyone with this car had this issue before?

 

Time for a late night session...

 

So after plenty of fun and soul searching... I have finally decided what this car needs, what I need, and what we are both going to get. I think the first real problem was that I started this thing without a good roadmap to get to my goal. So I put one together... Goes a little somethin like this

So for the record this is not a show car, this is not a purebred, this is not a trailer queen... This car will be driven, regularly, for enjoyment. Therefore....

1. Parts necessary to get the engine running smoothly and solid are on the way, including a new radiator support. Rebuilt carb in house...Once everything is in place, I should be able to turn the key and exercise at my leisure. I am also relocating the battery to the trunk.
2. I have already begun working on the brakes. I should have those sorted out soon. New master cylinder to be ordered.
3. Clutch is not operating normally. Gotta go through the mechanism and figure out where the binding is happening.
4. New tires after the first three and she will be ready for the road. Oh how glorious!

Then the bodywork begins.

5. Starting with the rockers and door a pillars, all structural issues will be cut out and replaced.
6. Working from outside in, she will get new floor pans and toe boards.
7. New windshield gaskets and channel rust cleanup
8. Roof replacement/roof repair depending on the damage I find
9. Fender patching/door skin patching
10. Full body strip, fill, and paint.

All repairs to interchangeable parts would be done well, so that when the day comes.... And it will... That I select my next 59... I will have a good amount of quality parts to use on a better, more permanent build.

Can't wait to get this thing rolling.... I can almost taste satisfaction.... One element at a time. Plenty of pics and progress to come. Thanks to all of you encouraging me!

SP

 

Glad to hear you are making good progress!

 

Thanks steinauge! My new instrument glass and housing came in today. Amazed I could find someone selling just that without wanting to sell working gauges with it. Had to snatch it up. (My gauges are fine but my glass is shattered) also been looking at the front end of this thing... Wondering if anyone ever tried welding in the grille surround and maybe doing a recessed billet type or tubular grille? I'm thinkin that could be neat and different... Not trying to get ahead of myself at all but every now and then I have an idea...