The plastic "chrome" part with the two little chrome tabs at the end is the only part I need (actually, I only need one of the tabs). Someone tossed some parts into the back of my wagon, caught it on the plastic part and destroyed it. Haven't been able to find another in decent condition since.... Thx! - A
It has a 352 in it... but istead of a 2bbl like it should be.. It's a 4bbl. Mike[/QUOTE] Not so fast, not sure about 63 but for several years in the sixties the 352 was only offered with a 4 barrel. I have sales catalogs from 65 and 66 and the only 352 shown is a 4 barrel.
What an amazing find. I am a Ford nut and know that the wagons were available with the Xl option well into '67. Dad knew of a wagon that was sold from Hover Ford in Denver that even had the 7 Litre engine option. My really good friend in denver knows of a factory '64 HiPo 289 powered, 4Spd, Comet Villager wagon-drrrooooooooooolllllll........................
Body (71G) = Country Squire 6 Passenger XL (Bucket Seats) If you send me the whole VIN and data tag, I will decode it for you. That is way cool! I have a similar rare beast. I picked up a '63 Mercury Monterey Custom last fall on ebay for under $800. It was local and very solid. VIN decode shows Factory 390 330 horse, 4 speed T-10, 3:50 posi rear. But Bench seats. It is a two door hardtop and an early '63 meaning Breezeway back window, not the fastback roof. Makes it very rare because almost all the 4 speed cars were Maurauders. I have been picking at it slowly, maybe this summer I will tear into it more. I am just about done with a '64 Galaxie fastback, but think I will end up selling the car, this Merc is just too cool...and odd.
Well, I must say I'm not a ford guy, but damn I love a cool and unusual car like these. I hope you choose to redo the factory 4 speed car.... I remember hearing stories of legend of odd dealership and factory carls like this.....One was a 68 chevelle 4 door post with a 472 cad made for a dealer from the factory as a special order. I recall some LTD's with 429/460's and toploaders, 4 doors too..... Anyway, good luck and send some more photos as you get it done..I for one would love to watch.
Hey there. I ran into a guy many years ago with a clone 63 XL wagon. He said they did make a few real ones (less than 200, if I recall correctly). I f they are truely that rare, you may consider a roof transplant. All the posts have stainless trim on them, so you don't really have to make it pretty! Just so long as it lines up. And if the roof is that bad, the bottom of the car is probably pretty sweet. As for the four barrel 352, my dad had an XL convert with a four barrel 352, and it did pretty well!
The whole thing a rusty... bad...I'm not sure how it stayed together for the trailer trip... really... And I'm not to keen on a "rebody"
A couple of carburetor comments - from '61-'63 the 352 was not offered in the Ford line with a 4V. The VIN engine code was -X- and that's a 2V only. Now in '64, things changed and a 4V was offered for the 352 but it still was a low compression regular fuel engine and not very snappy. Please note none of this is in reference to '58-'60. There were a number of 2V-4V combinations in those three years including the fire breathing 1960 only 352HP with 360 horsepower. That particular engine featured the first factory aluminum FE intake manifold. Now as for the tri power and various issues and some myths about the system. They work fantastic if the carbs are in good shape. They're Holleys so they have all the problems inherent with old Holleys. I had a guy in Ohio rebuild my trio, his name is Joe Bunetic and I think he's the best. If anyone cares to get his phone # just e-mail me. I followed the factory shop manual for adjusting the factory progressive linkage. Absolutely the finest carb induction system I've ever run.
re. tri-power - I agree. I've almost thrown my setup away three times, I've been so frustrated. The engine ran like crap, and I couldn't get them dialed in. Then I pulled them apart again, took a closer look, and sure enough, the old Holleys were warped and in need of work beyond just a rebuild kit. I did the middle carb first, then the front... I've still got to do the rear carb, but it runs pretty darn nice so far. I'm very impressed with the Ford tri-power setup. pictures show my motor at various stages of set-up...
Olds Mike, I am sitting here with Ford numbers for a 352 4v How do you get they were not a viabal animal....I am pretty sure from 60 to 63 Y code 352 4 V came in around 300hp as an interceptor, I could be wrong but am open to an education.....
Wow that was fun! I just typed up a big ass response to your good question regarding the viability of the 352-4V and the H.A.M.B. said I didn't have authorization to post since I wasn't logged in.....but I was! This has happened a couple of other times lately. Oh well, what the hell, here goes once again and I'll try to be real short this time. All my resources which include FoMoCo published shop manuals indicate there was only one 352 offered to the full size Ford buyer from '61-'63 and that was the -X- code 220 horse with a 2 barrel Autolite. There were no -Y- code 352s from '61-'63. I don't remember what the VIN code was the low compression 250 horse 352-4V offered from '64 through '66. Now here's what's really interesting about the -Y- code for 1960 - there were two 352-4V "Interceptor" engines. The first and common was the low performance, mundane over rated 300 horse engine. It featured a cast iron intake, an Autolite 4V carb, restrictive exhaust manifolds, and a whole lot more mundane equipment. However, there was a special order package, and it had to be special ordered with the understanding it would take more time to build and arrive at the dealer, that was a true High Performance engine with matching powertrain. This engine was not available with an automatic, power steering/brakes or A.C. It was a factory hot rodded mill featuring a higher nodular block, HP solid lifter camshaft with 276/500 specs, aluminum intake topped with a Holley 540, dual point distributor, cast iron shorty header style exhaust manifolds, 58cc heads, all backed by a heavy duty powertrain and chassis. This same confusing issue continued into 1961 with the 390HP, either 375 or 401 horsepower, a car with this special order package also had the same VIN engine code as the standard 390-4V - Z.
Hey Versicat, once you get all those carbs "fixed", you'll enjoy the feeling you'll get when you depress that accelerator to the floor. I've run dual quads and they don't feel/sound the same as the tri power. Do you have the factory '63 Galaxie shop manual supplement? It has all the details on how the adjust the linkage - very high tech - you measure with a ruler! It's so easy an induction bozo like myself did it without any problems. I'll post one more pic. This is how the set up looked when I had it on a 427 in a '61 Starliner. It'll look more "correct" with my current installation on my '60 Sunliner as I've got the original HP fuel filter and correct tubing for the tri power. And I know the tri power wasn't offered, etc. for '60 but that doesn't matter to me because I'm not entering any concours car shows.
the old rochester carbs had warping problems and they used to put them in the oven at 300 degrees on a cookie sheet with brick on top for 20 minutes. those temp and times could be off. if you go to www.stovebolt.com and do a search "rochester,carb" you will find all the info. their is a member called carbking there comes highly recomended. or maybe someone on one of the ford sites can help. good luck
Olds Mike, First of all, that's a handsome lookin motor. I'm jealous - I can't get a tall filter under my uncut hood with the factory air cleaner setup... I don't have the manual supplement - didn't even know there was one! I did a google search for tri-power carbs and found http://www.hptrends.com/ - they've got a $20 download re tuning tri-power carbs that I've been using. Would like to get my hands on one of those manual supplements - and a factory manual too, for that matter. And I agree - that feeling when the front and rear carbs kick in is fantastic. Peace, Adam (versicat)
re. fixing the warped carbs - the tri-power tuning manual that I bought from Ken Jr. at http://www.hptrends.com/ told me to expect that the carbs would be warped. I blew off that advice as alarmist, until I couldn't get my car to run right and looked into it more carefully. His advice in the manual is to use a fine file to "plane" it, so that's what I did (after Daytona parts - a carb restoration company - refused to mill them). if I had access to a milling machine that'd probably be even better, except for one thing - Ken Jr. gave a strong warning not to take too much off. Using the file lets you watch the warpage disappear as you file so you can remove just the necessary amount and no more... Dunno how it would be on a mill. Anyway, the file seems to work just fine (assuming you're careful I guess).
Thanks Adam, or Versicat, for the compliment. I was able to fit a tall K&N on that '61 because I was using a Crites Reproduction fiberglass "Thunderbolt" style hood. The bubble allowed lots of room. If you want a faxed copy of that page from the '63 Shop Supplement I might be able to do that highly technical procedure with the assistance of my tech savy 18 year old son. Or I can just copy it and drop it in the snail mail to you. Either way, if you'd like a copy, just e-mail me with your fax # or address. Mike
It was just a local plating shop here in Spokane. There out of business now. That was done way back in the late 80's when it was very cheap to do. I had the inner fender panels, core support, rad. shroud/retainer and a bunch of stuff done for around $200!! It'd cost a bunch more now.
Growing up, we had one with the bench seat. Glacier blue. Beautiful car. Too bad the IA and MN salt got to it.
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