Projects 54 Ford Customline build

Just got back from the garage down the street, I had to help to make sure everything went back the way it was....but he was nice enough to not even charge me...they were slow and his mechanic was just sitting around. So when I went to pay up, he told me to just give the mechanic a little beer money for doing it...the only bad thing is I was going to sandblast the parts if I would have done them at work. But I’m sure I can get them cleaned up decently with a wire wheel on a grinder.....it’s not a trailer queen show car anyways...it will look good enough for a daily cruiser....I can always spray them with some spray on undercoating to hide everything...doubt of anybody will slither under my car and complain that my lower control arms are not perfect....at least I can start getting it back together and off the jack stands before my HOA starts complaining and sending me letters....home owners associations are a pan in the azz.

 

If you mean the 215 on my firewall, my car didn’t have a 215....I think in 54 the inline 6 was bigger...I thought about that, I also thought maybe early in 54 they were still using some 215 motor early in production.

 

You are so right about HOA, I received letter from association telling me my 57 Chevy was an eye sore. It had just arrived a few days earlier by truck/trailer from out of state. It was in driveway neatly wrapped tite with new tarp and straps, while I was getting garage straight .

 

what I meant was that there is a possibility the 223 was pulled and a 215 put in for what ever reason availability etc..the answer is lost in time

 

I see. It was just one of those things that would be nice to know. For history purposes I guess. Probably only would come into play if I was doing a full resto, and the factory markings have a value to the restoration. Always cool though to know what the significance of the markings are.

 

Anyone wanting the 1949-1959 Ford Shop Manual plus some more goodies contact this member he has a deal for H.A.M.B. members ebay can't touch. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/conversations/add?to=danman55

 

I had pressed one of my lowers in from the wrong side, I had the arms all apart, acid dipped to get the rust off. I was looking at it, looked at the manual and saw my mistake. I believe the flange on mine was on the inside of the arm. They press in easily with a bench vise and big socket.

After they were together, I de-greased everything and shot them with VHT matte black, rollcage & chassis black. I got a great deal on a box of 6 cans on Amazon. This is a real nice paint.

 

I use to be in to perfect restorations, but I gave it up to keep my sanity Custom is the only way to go, you get to drive the car of your imagination. Good luck, I enjoy the updates.

 

Got the uppers and lowers painted, the lowers didn’t clean up as well as I wanted. I had to use a wire wheel on a grinder. But gave them a coating of rubberized undercoating to hide some of the imperfections. The lowers and the entire frame and underbody was covered with undercoating. It was on so thick that it looked like a spray in bed liner. The crossmember was at least an eighth inch thick with coating. Got it all off, painted and gave it a new, thin coat or rubberized undercoating from a can. So at least the areas of the frame that are near the front suspension are done.

 

The front end rebuild kit that was bought on eBay, the seller was Anderson Restorations. Looks to be a nice kit. Couple of complaints but nothing major. I wish they would have labeled the bushings. It’s like a damn puzzle to figure out what goes where. The ball joints have to be fit. They do not just slip right in. I know the a-arms can be compressed on the ends but these needed significant grinding to fit. The other thing is the bolts provided are larger than stock. I liked that the replacement bolts were a little beefier, but it would have been nice to know that you have to drill out the ball joint bolt holes on the uppers. Sucked to find out after I had the uppers bolted on. I kept the ball joint off to make it easier to fish the uppers through the inner fender well. Found out after that modification was needed. Should have test fit first but I assumed it was all good to go. So be prepared if you buy a rebuild kit, check all fits first. Save some time and some scratches in you paint...good thing I wasn’t going for show quality paint on the parts.

 

According to Dave at Drop and Stop, cutting a half a coil along with his 2-1/2” drop spindles will give me the front ride height I’m looking for. I don’t want to go too low in the front because I’m going for a squatted rear rake to the car. Hopefully with the 4 inch blocks in the back, I’ll get the look I want...Springs cut, cleaned up and painted. Ready to go back in. Plan on getting the front end back together over the next few days. I’ll post more when I get a little more done.

 

I’ll have to check out the VHT paint. I used a satin black on the frame in the engine compartment along with a little undercoating on the bottom of the frame rails and the outsides of the frame in the fender wells. I just did the frame in the engine bay. I wanted to do everything in the engine bay from the frame up with a matte black so I’ll check it out. It will probably look good on the firewall, core support and inner fender wells.

 

Thanks, I could never do full resto’s....I just wouldn’t be able to do it. I like to wing it too much. Like today, painted my springs blue..why? Because that was what I had. I would hate to have to search for the correct paint code to paint a spring...

 

Oh and only to find out you used the wrong assembly line repo tag or put it upside down! Lol. That is exactly why my avatar ‘64 Goat looks just like it does. Everything underneath is gloss Por-15. Why, because I like it! I’m sure the resto guys would go nuts! Glad to see you are gettin it done even with a few setbacks! Regards, Randy


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Thanks, set-backs only make me more motivated to overcome....even if it means using blue rustolium on my springs...

 

Or use incorrect wheel weights...

 

So both spring ends are full coils? On my '59 the top is ground flat. Look up into the frame pocket and see if the end of the coil has to register into a notch. I've seen it on some GM cars. If the lower end that goes onto the arm doesn't have a hard stop for the coil end, you're ok. What I'm getting at is sometimes a 1/2 coil cut off makes it hard to locate the spring at the top and bottom. So the car can sit cockeyed when all assembled.

 

The one end is flat. The end I cut is the pig tail end that fits into the lower control arm. There is a slot in the lower that the end of the spring fits into. You can see the little relief for the end of the spring in the pictures of my lower control arm.

 

Everything, well almost everything ready to go back in. Ran into a snag with the center link. A little more help from Dave at Drop and Stop and it was figured out. I had to put in a quick order to Mac’s and get the correct bushings for the idler arm. Ended up just getting the kit for 41 bucks. Included the arm, bushings and grease fittings. I had the bushing kit for a power steering idler arm. Guess that is why it didn’t make sense how the bushings went in...
Also had to spend a little time fixing the stud on the center link. Damaged the threads a little when I had to split the nut with a cut off wheel. I nicked it with the cutting wheel. A little grinding and some work with a thread file and an hour later, success...nut threads on great.

 

ready to go back together. Hopefully tomorrow if the weather hold out. Supposed to storm and I’m still working in the driveway until it’s back on its wheels and I can get it in the garage.

 

Does anyone know where the correct place to slit the sway bar bushings?
The kit I bought has sway bar bushings that are one piece solid with no slit to slip around the sway bar. I doubt if they will fit over the large eye at the end of the sway bar. The original ones were split but for some reason I must have tossed them and have nothing to compare them to. I usually hang onto everything until I’m done and don’t need. If anyone remembers how they go, it would be appreciated. Obviously the split needs to go where there is the least amount of force, but im not sure what that would be....

 

Was thinking the sides ? Figured the pressure has to be top and bottom?

 

You might try heating them up in a pan of water, and using some silicone type lube to get them over the end eyes.

 

I'll give it a try...figured they would be stronger if left intact...I know most are usually slit to slip over

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Good memories of my brothers 52 ford, only we didn't have a rolling hoist, just a chain hoist on a strong oak limb. 307 Chevy is close to 312 Ford. Paint the valve covers Blue.


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Tried the VHT epoxy in the matte black. Really nice paint. Did all the rest of my front end parts. Got it online at Advanced Auto Parts. The have a 25% off code if you order online, so it came out to 28 bucks for 4 cans after tax. Ordered online and picked up at the store.

 

Worked great. Had my wife boil some water, once she got it to a boil I took the pot outside and tossed them in for a about 5 minutes. Sprayed some WD40 on the eye of the sway bar and with a little shove they slipped right on...probably much more sturdy than slicing them open.

 

Weather was hit and miss all day. Made much progress until god looked down and said “I hate you” and dumped a deluge upon me. So quickly covered any bare metal and headed in.

 

The disc brake setup worked nice. Minimal fitting. As I mentioned before, Dave from Drop em and Stop em set me up with a bracket for the Granada spindles that will allow me to run GM metric calipers. Only had two little issues. The calipers had some casting flash that rubbed on the caliper brackets. It wasn’t much but probably enough that it could hang up the caliper and interfere with it floating. You can see in the picture how close it is and the grind marks where I had to clearance the fit. One caliper was way worse than the other. Just a couple swipes of the grinder with an 80 grit disc and it was gone. The other issue was when I installed the caliper the mounting bolt protruded through the bracket and hit the back of my rotors. Had to shorten the bolt between 3/32 and and 1/8 inch. All that took less than 5 minutes of fitting. But I am totally happy that I went with the GM setup. The Granada brakes were way to hokey for me. The GM calipers that go on the brackets were nice size and should provide plenty stopping power. Dave’s kit came to me with the brackets already installed on to his Granada drop spindles.

 

So once the downpour ended, it cleared up and I was able to get the brakes on and the sway bar installed and she was back on all fours before dark....everything is super tight and difficult to even move the a-arms. With no motor and transmission and everything in the engine bay stripped down, there’s no weight at all to the front end. I’m hoping that it will drop at least 3 more when I get the drivetrain in.