Projects The Adventure of a Boy and His Edsel

Red

 

I have some extra Olds caps that I can send your way... Just let me know.

 

Thanks Mick! I had 7 of the Olds caps which is why I had him try those first.

 

Olds caps rule.

 

I'm late to the party here but can still say congrats! Looks like more fun than should be allowed.

 

Well, Silas found the Olds cap that went AWOL yesterday on his way home from vo-tech, so we still have 7 of those. Hoping to go pick up some springs and get the front lowered in the next couple days now. And, I am curious if he will go ahead and put the wheels off his car back on this morning before vo-tech or not without me there helping. Sort of plays into the whole "running with the ball" comment @Joe Travers made above.

 

Paint them red, do not paint them black.

 

I’m pretty sure they will end up red since that is what he has wanted since I asked him in the first place. I do find it interesting that the comments lean toward red from kustom guys and black from hot rod guys in general. I should have guessed that would be the case.

 

Very solid parenting sir. Enjoying this thread a lot!

 

Still just more driving the car daily, but did make it over to Tulsa yesterday to pick up some springs from Joe Gaddy @okiedokie to lower the front this week. Joe was kind enough to donate some springs to help a young guy get some of the things done he wants to but can't really afford yet. We should get that done, check out everything in the front end, and get it aligned if everything goes as planned. After getting the flat fixed, he put his wheels and tires back on the driver side of the car, so it looks the same both sides again. We also put it on the lift this past week and figured out what is clunking when it bottoms out hitting bumps. Seems the exhaust will need some work to better clear the rear axle after installing the blocks. They sort of missed getting the center of the kick up over the axle. He also wants to put bellflowers on it at some point. So, thinking now might be a good time to move the Smithy's to a different location since they won't work where they are once he gets bellflowers.

Also, kind of funny when I talk to folks in town that have started seeing this car parked at our local Walmart wondering if it might be one of my kids driving it. Not sure why they would think that...

 

Ended up home today after a court appearance over my daughters custody of my soon-to-be first grandson. So, what better way to clear a head than to do this... Normally, I wouldn’t work on this stuff without my kids help. But, I needed this today.

 

Well, after lots of distractions including taking my daughter to the doctor for a prenatal checkup, a haircut, showing Silas how to run a stump grinder at my folks, and a tough ball joint to pop loose on the drivers side, I finally got to put it back on the ground a few minutes ago to see how much it went down.

After rolling it back and forth a few times to get the tires sitting right, seems it went down right at 2” so far. It is actually just barely lower in the front than the back, but pretty sure it may be ok for now. Ended up going with Moog CC851 springs which are for an early 90’s Thunderbird rear but happen to be about the same spring rate and diameter as the originals, just a little shorter. We also had CC850’s which are the Aerostar springs many use in mid 50’s Ford’s, but I understand those lower one of these too much. Pic of all three springs for reference. The rusty ones are obviously the originals, the shortest are the Aerostars, and the middle are the Thunderbird that ended up in the car.



Still have a few things to do like install the shorter shocks and tighten everything up good, but decided to call it a night since 4 am comes early. Will try to get my buddy that does alignments to do it tomorrow evening. Getting there...

 

Lookin' good Jeff.

 

I was thinking of the 851 springs for my car.. if I ever take it apart again. You should be fine if nothing scrapes on turns or on bumps. My car has 15" tires which made the 850 springs not work for me.

 

This car also has 15 inch wheels and 215/75/15 tires. We haven't tried driving it yet to see if anything rubs when turning. It does appear everything clears well with the wheels straight forward. I'll update how it does after we get it finished up and aligned.

 

That looks great, and I didn't even realize there was a viable middle-ground option aside from the aerostars

 

What about copper for the wheels?

 

This is the first that I have heard of this, didn't Edsel's have the same chassis/suspension as the Fords?

 

Yes, they are the same. But, I believe it has more to do with the difference in suspension of the 59’s vs. the mid-50’s.

 

Interesting

 

An overall pic since I had to put it up in the air and could stand back and look at it. I did drive it outside the shop and back in and nothing seemed to rub or anything. The real test will be driving to get it aligned which I found out likely can’t happen until Monday. Haven’t told Silas that yet and how he is stuck driving my normal boring daily until then.

 

That car is coming along nicely !
Has Silas considered fender skirts for the rear, or is that out of the question ?
This cool mercury has some nice fender skirts, this might help to give an idea of what they would look like.

 

If your interested skirts, I have an extra set from a 63 Ford. If they will fit, they're yours.

 

Hmm...I’m kinda liking the skirt idea and will run it past him.

 

I drove a 4 door 54 ford customline all through highschool. Was extremely reliable daily

 

I'm no expert, but eyeballing the wheel opening on the Edsel, I'd say the skirts are Edsel specific, unless you go with a huge cruiser skirt.

 

I would assume you are right about that Dan. I was trying to eyeball them as well based on the 63 pic above. My guess is they are pretty specific (rare)...

 

It looks better without them any way.

<------ (Not into fender skirts)

 

Buttoned it up and drove it around the neighborhood nearby. Nothing seems to bottom out or rub. After we get an alignment, I figure it is good to go. Camber is off so far I can just see it...