Customs 57 FORD GASSER BUILD

floors....
https://www.c2cfabrication.com/collections/all/ford+fairlane+1957

 

Have you actually used these? They look pretty second grade to me. Appears to be nothing but finger brake and bead roller work.

 

One small update. Axle will be here Tuesday so I wanted to get the front wheels and tires so I can locate everything for clearance. So here are my front runners. 15x5 American Racing and 26x7.50-15 M/T Sportsman Pros. Nothing special but they'll look right at home on the car.

 

That's what I thought too. Plus they're in the states and wow. The dollar and the shipping would kill me. I'd have 2 grand in floor plans! Lol

 

As a gasser these cars look better without the front bumper.
It would be a shame to mess with the Niagra front end.
Really unique.
Great project.
The 429 is a great choice.
Welcome to the HAMB.

 

Thanks! Glad to be here. Definitely going to leave the grill alone, like you said very unique. Its been painted white and the chrome is cooked underneath so it may get a very light silver paint. The bumpers are ok but I'd do them in the same treatment. I think i'll do away with the panel between the grill and bumper and tuck the bumper in tighter to the fender. May have to section and shorten it make it work.

 

Like your choice of wheels for sure. My 57 runs first gen Torque Thrust, same basic wheels.

 

That green one really "speaks-to-me"! Straight axle but...not so nose high. 'Specially like that SOHC engine.
6sally6

 

Gravel pan.
6sally6

 

That's the one.

 

11.5:1 is pretty hefty compression for todays pissy gas but...there is hope!
On the tear down you could smooth and polish the chambers....maybe unshroud the valves by opening the bores just a tad.....both of which remove metal and lower compression.
Big overlap cam (tight LSA like 108*-110*) will give it a killer/gasser idle AND bleed off some compression at lower RPM's where detonation can hurt you.
Block the heat risers in the intake...plenty big radiator with lower thermostat ...keep it cool to avoid detonation/pinging.
PLENTY of ignition timing...may need a "hot-start button" for cranking when hot.
Give the heat plenty of place to escape under the hood. Some type of cool-air induction.
Lotsa places to keep one cool and make it live on pump gas.
Aluminum heads and you would be golden!!
6sally6

 

If those are the old style trw flat tops with the single valve relief and a 90cc combustion chamber your compression shouldn't be anymore than 10.5 to 1, if that.

 

Isn't this ethanol blend shit supposed to take quite a bit of compression?..I've seen claims of making in excess of 700 horsepower on E85 ( 15% ethanol)

 

I've got to pull a head and see what i've got for a piston. The motor was built 25 years ago and never started so I'd say they probably are the pistons you're referring to. Which is hopeful.

 

If valves were adjusted & they sat for 25 years you better check spring pressure.

 

Good point. Never thought of that

 

I used one of those online compression ratio calculators.
4.39 bore
3.59 stroke
0 deck
.041 gasket thickness
90 cc combustion chamber

and come up with 9.89 to 1. Good old Chevron 94 would be perfect.

 

So shes gotta have one wild pop up to make anymore than 10:1
That's good, takes a load off wondering if this thing is gonna run decent on pump premium.

 

I have an old set of standard bore 429 SCJ pistons in my attic. When I get a chance I'll try and get trw part # as they were the supplier to Ford for those forged pistons.

The original 429 SCJ I had years ago had 11.3 to 1 , but it also had 73 cc chambers. It wasn't very happy on pump premium.

 

That would be great! I'm going to get my front end/suspension/motor mounts and engine position mocked up before I tear the motor down to find out what i'm working with. Got my Speedway kit last night. The quality of everything looks great.

 

Mine would laugh at anything but BlueGas , AV Gasoline . Luckily I had a friend that was on the tanker , samples were saved in 5 gallon cans and when pump repairs were needed , excess straight into the Torino Cobra tank . When it was right you would understand the meaning of the title Super Cobra Jet .

 

The stock-ish 429 we ran in the stock car had domed pistons, no idea what the CR was but it made great low-end power off the corners. Looked up the CR, 10.9:1, small wonder it liked AV gas....

 

Well didn't really get much done with the car this weekend but I did do some shop chores. Built a cart for my new mig, cleaned up, hooked up my little compressor. Very productive weekend getting everything ready to do some work on the car.

 

Been making small progresses. Rear end out tonight. All the old lines are removed from the car. Got the very difficult to remove steering box/column out. What a poor design for removing the box.

 

Difficult to remove the steering box? You must have removed it through the inside instead of dropping it down and out.

 

I did yes. I'll be using a 525 Vega style box so I wasn't too worried about keeping the old one intact. It was very loose anyhow and at its max adjustment. Ended up pulling it apart and removing it that way.

 

Good call on the front wheels you can’t go wrong with straight spoke torq thrusts. I’m Chevrolet til I croak but you got a neat car and some great plans for it. Big block and three pedals in a 57 Ford body gonna be a cool ride.

 

I could have helped ya out a bit with info but didn't know you were ready to pull the steering box yet.

 

The motorcycle jack is your best friend when doing axle work .

 

Did Hotroddonnie own that car at some point? Looks real familiar.