Projects Just picked up a family project

Just the stock replacement Aerostar coils. The part number is listed in the FAQ section of the 52-59 Social Group as well as shock recommendations. I just did it last month and am still working on the finishing details so I have not had it aligned yet. But i'm betting the camber shim kit will be needed to get it correct.

 

The Aerostar coils are Moog part number CC850. I have not ever needed a camber kit, but also never done a 52-54, so not sure how that differs from the mid and late 50’s suspensions.

 

Thanks, I just gathered up the part numbers for the springs and shocks for the front.

 

I believe front suspension wise the 52-53 are similar to the shoeboxes. They changed it in '54 to the same design the '55-'57s have.

 

I also needed 4 stabilizer bar bushings. Mine fell apart when I removed the bar to install the springs. Eckler's part # 49-25204-1

If you decide to add blocks to the rear you will probably need new upper rubber pads Eckler's part # 49-31485-1

 

Thanks a bunch, I have the eckler part number for the coil spring insulators but I was trying to find an exploded diagram.of the front end to see what else. I appreciate this a bunch!

 

Couple updates. Ive got some 56 olds tailights on the way and I have a solid lead on some olds hub caps like I pictured. I also Picked up trans oil, diff fluid, engine oil, and a filter. This weekend my plan is to get the brakes working and change the fluids and plugs. The kids going to be helping with this one.

 

It sure is coming along nicely in such a short amount of time. Awesome car, thanks for letting us come along for the ride.

 

Today me and the kid were cleaning the chrome up and I was putting stuff away under the bench and I forgot I had gotten these books from my wife's great uncle. Lots of cool notes he put in the book and a pretty solid hotrod and custom history as well.




The cool thing is the story behind her uncle and her grandpa. When her grandpa bought the 53 Ford he was with Jerry, my wife's great uncle. The bought it at the auction and drove it home without permission from the wife. It didn't go over well but the car did stay lol. The grandma always was trying to get him to sell it. She said it at every Xmas breakfast we ever had together.
The guy I got these books from many years ago was hot rod buddies with my wife's grandpa. They did all sorts of stuff together like swap meets and shows. It's just cool to have the books and his notes and clippings of stuff for sale and I also have her grandpa's car.

I also scooped these up from the basement of here grandpa. 62-68 popular mechanix and popular science magazines. Lots of cool stuff in here as well.

 

Also here is my technique for cleaning chrome and our latest video of our progress. If you've been following you'll notice the videos are about a week or so behind.



I've never tried this technique so I figured it was worth a shot. I removed the bumperettes and tested it on those first. I tried a 15 minute wait and an hour. I found no difference so I just went with 15 minutes.
Step one is soak some quality shop towels in evaporust and stick them to the chrome and work the bubbles out.

After 15 minutes or so of soaking peel it off and scrub it down with the towels you took off. Now take some crumpled up tin foil and lightly rub in circles to scrub the rust away. In my experience the tin foil didn't scratch the chrome, my chrome also isn't in great shape so beware. After you do that wipe it clean and.polish with chrome cleaner if choice.
Here is a before and after on the bumper


Also stuck the kid to cleaning up some bits like these fog lights.




I'm trying to think of a cool way to use the fog lights. If I can find a plymouth bumper I might try to stick them behind it.

 

Great looking car. You're doing it right go thru all systems, after sitting that long you'll find some gremlins.
Brakes may just need seals in the wheel cylinders and a lube - hopefully.

Get that out on the road and hit some local shows - the other 50s ford owners in the area will find you. You'll be able to round up parts.

I like the bumper clean up, I do the same with oxalic and/ or citric acid, use them both. soak towels, stick them, keep them wet with a spray bottle or redip.

 

Did not know a coupe was made after 51,while walking through the local old junkyard found a 52 coupe that was probably very nice when parked but not now.

 

We have found some gremlins alright. The wiring issues are crazy lol. Open "splices" all over. Alligator clip fixes lol.

 

I set the timing last night using the vacuum method. It wasn't exactly scientific but sounds like it runs better. Vacuum was about 20", I rotated up until it was about 23 or so and backed it oof a touch. I hooked the timing like up for shits and giggles and the bump on the crank pulley is about 2.5" advanced from the pointer at idle. Idk if the mark is TDC or the advance setting , it runs though.
Did a compression check and put new plugs in.
#1- 92 psi
#2- 102 psi-
#3- 95 psi
#4- 90 psi
#5 100 psi
#6- 90 psi
#7- 92 psi
#8- 90 psi.
Ceramic looks dark brown so it's fairly good, but a few of them were oily and I believe they are oil fouled. After changing the plugs and starting it smoked pretty good which tells me one of the cylinders were not firing. It also idles smoother now. I set my gap to .030 as I read it was the spec.
Next I'll change the points.
I tried to get some brake drums off again and I was able to get the backs off pretty easy but the fronts are kicking my ass. I'll keep at it.
Another interesting thing was I was unable to get the back tires off without deflating them. They wouldn't fit between the drum and wheel well. The tires are g78-15s. Maybe they are fatter than stock. I don't like that for the simple fact of not being able to replace the tire on the side of the road without an inflator of some sort.

 

Turns out the g78 isn't the correct size. It's I've am inch wider and designed for a wider rim. Slightly lower profile though. I don't know what the reason for the switch was. The spare to tire is the factory 670-15. If I put lowering block on it there is no way in hell these g78s will come off. I'm not sure if I'll go with the OEM size or a 205-75-15 because I had only planned to replace the two rear tires for the time being.
Also I found a solid but of info on setting the timing and although the vacuum method was close I used this method and it worked great.
I assume this only works on the 8ba flattys but there is a bump on the crank pulley and a pointer on the front cover. I marked both with a white pen. Stuck the timing light on plug 1 and unhooked and plugged the venturi advance on the carb. At idle I set the distributor so the bump and the pointer lined up. This is where the factory setting should be. There is some question on whether that is 2° BTDC or 4° BTDC but it runs smooth there and wasn't very far off from the vacuum method.
I also attempted to remove the drums again and the backs came easy but the fronts are not budging. I did all the careful methods of heating and beating the center of the drum, air hammer in the center, tons of PB blaster. Since I had 0 hope and bits of the shoe were falling out of the drum I decided F it and I was going to beat the piss out of it because it's broke anyways and I have to get it apart to fix it. After a week of blaster and playing nice I'm ready to move forward with it. I sledge hammered the shit out of it and still had no progress. I'm to the point where I might just go straight to disk just to save myself the hassle. I was expecting the big expense to be the tires but maybe I'll skip lowering it for now and put that money towards getting the front brakes swapped over.
Only thing I'd like to try is seeing if there is a way I can put my own kit together and save some money.

Oh and just for sharing purposes I used rotella 15w40 for oil, and a wix cartridge filter. It took 4 quarts. I put Valvoline Synchromesh in the trans which is a yellow metal specific oil. It took about 1.5 quarts to get it just below the hole. I used a small peice of tig welding wiring to make a little tool to not over fill and make a mess.

 

So this is what I've put together.
Auto city classics disk brakes conversion and a 70 mustang master cylinder. The 70 from what I can figure wasn't power brakes but has rear drums and front disk. This will all the system to work without extra added bits to control pressure and mount to the firewall. Also the conversion comes in under 500 with shipping. Fast math if I replace the front drums and rebuild the brakes I'm at around 300. Seems like a no brainer.

 

Did you back the front brake adjusters all the way off?

 

Yeah, that's the first thing I did when I got it home because they were all sticking.

 

Just curious on the tire thing (not getting it off because of clearance) di you lift the car by the bumper? That might let the wheel/tire drop enough to get the tire out. You probably already thought of that though...seems like you really know your car stuff. You're getting a ton of stuff done in a short time. And those old magazines and other books, very cool!

 

The rear wheel removal is a super common problem on the 52-54 Fords when they are lowered. Once you install the lowering blocks you will either have to remove the shackle or the lowering blocks to get the tire back off. You will have the best luck with the 6.70 tire. Hey it’s a small price to pay to look cool! If you can do it keep bias ply tires on it, the radials will change the whole look.

 

On the rear tire size issue and removal: I drive a 57’ 300 with 235x75 radials on the rear. I carry two small jacks. The first raises the car under the chassis just ahead of the rear wheel. The second (bottle jack) goes between the rear end and chassis in the area of the snubber. Just about an extra inch or so of spreading allows the wheel/tire to come out with no deflating. It’s a little extra work but it works.

 

Yep, I have always struggled to get tires off the rear of my car especially when it had the wider 205/75/15's. Now that I have 670-15's, I can leave the tires inflated and get them on and off just letting the rearend as far down as it can go with the shocks still on. Before, I had to let the air out of the tires to get them off. I never tried a bottle jack as Sam mentions to push the rearend down.

 

Well that helps answer my question. I'm probably going to go with the hias plus just because they are cheaper and look cooler. There is a lot of talk about saftey but I. Ridden and driven a lot of crazy stuff that isn't safe, I think the bias play thing is more just paying attention while driving.
Also I am lifting it by the frame so I get max droop. I'll probably go with the 670-15 because I don't want to have a bigger issue getting the tires off once I do lower it.

 

I had the tire clearance issue with my '49 Ford sedan... I used 6.70's and 3" blocks to get it to sit right. I used a hydraulic floor jack, in front of the wheel under the frame, and had to disconnect the lower end of the shock to get enough clearance when removing the rear wheel... if I turned the tire a little in the wheel well it would come off. I practiced in the driveway to make sure I had everything I needed to do a change out on the road; floor jack, chocks, wrenches, etc.. Luckily I never had to, but I was prepared if I did.
Very cool car you have there and your enthusiasm will get it where it needs to be. It doesn't need much... Clean 'er up and enjoy!

 

Okay well sometimes you have to admit you're an idiot, but before I do I just want to say it wouldn't be any fun if it was easy and I didn't learn a lesson.
So the front drums would have come off the whole time if I would have pulled the entire bearing and slid the outer race and everything off. This would have saved me a bunch of messing around.

But after matching it out and realizing that without shipping it's about 300 bucks to rebuild the entire front brake assemblies or 380 to go to disks from auto city classics and a 1" bore mustang master is a good upgrade regardless of drums or disk because you gain dual circuits just in case. So the disk conversion and master cylinder are in the way.


Again...it wouldn't be any fun if it was easy and there wasn't some unexpected surprises.

Additionally I had an epiphany yesterday while at work. The electric fan that was hacked in in in the front of the rad which I knew was blocking the air flow through the rad. This wasnt helping the overheating issue but rather hurting it. But the thought I had was that 99% of OEM.electeic fans are draw through or pull through. If it's on the front it's working against the mechanical fan. So when I got home I checked this and sure enough it is. So removing this fan is going to help with that before I even have the problem.

 

An electric fan often is not the solution to over heating issues. A healthy radiator and water pump(s) along with spot-on tuning/timing will usually do the trick.
As an example, my coupe is running the steel 4 blade fan that was on it when I got it and has never gone over 180... it's got a copper/brass Dodge truck radiator and an aluminum high flow water pump.

 

I've not had overheating issues with it idling in the shop or the small drive we took but it's also 40 degrees out. I'm certain the giant plastic shroud in front of the rad isn't helping though haha.

 

Brings back miles and smiles , my dad gave me a 53 convertible for graduation cause NOBODY thought i would graduate….. Have fun !

 

Just don't let it slide off of the ramps. Don't ask.

 

Don't worry, we used the Brute force method and winched it off