Wow, love the progress so far. The coolest part about the car is your history with it and all the memories you have had in it.
Thanks Ray. I've heard that a lot about the AODs. Do you have any tips or suggestions about what to do? I'm assuming you're talking about the kickdown cable....correct?
Sold my 66 F100. Now, for the first time in several months, I have some $$ to pour into the 54. The wife and kids are heading out of town for 4 days next week while I'm on Thanksgiving break, and I'll be "stuck" at home with a pile of new parts and my 54. Yep....a little slice of heaven.
Sorry about the Honda but good news on the $$ and time! I'm not familiar with Ford AOD but on a Chevy the "kickdown" cable actually controls the shift pressure and has a very critical adjustment and placement. A 700R4 can burn up 3rd and 4th gear in only 7 miles. (ask me how I know...)
I have new early Mustang, block hugger manifolds on order (should arrive today or Monday) and a big pile of DC rubber. I also have an eBay gas pedal/throttle cable assembly headed my way and a few other things. Tomorrow I'll be thrashing on the 54 for the first time in months. I'll grab some photos while I'm at it. Of course, the first hour of my "thrash" will be cleaning all the crap out of my garage that my wife and kids have been throwing in there while my project has been on hiatus. Lately, it's been...."dad hasn't used the garage for a while, so I'll just sit this box of stuff in there" X 10. Now there's a small mountain of useless junk that's in immediate danger of getting tossed in the dumpster.
This is copied right off of Speedway's site for one of the balancers they sell. 28 oz. Balancer (S/B Ford V8 1963-80) Matches O.D. and thickness of the stock early (1963-69) dampers Counterbalance weight matches the stock 28 ounce inches Overall balance specifications are held tighter than the original O.E. tolerances Dual Bolt Pattern - both the "early" 3-bolt and the "late" 4-bolt patterns Removeable Counterweight - if building a neutral balance engine simply remove the bolt-in counterweight on the back of the damper 50 oz. Balancer (S/B Ford V8 1981-95) Made to the early short length of 3" - allows the use of a late 5.0L engine with a 50 oz. in. damper to be used in an early chassis where front clearance is at a minimum To fit in late vehicles, use spacers to provide the correct front pulley alignment Dual Bolt Pattern - both the "early" 3-bolt and the "late" 4-bolt patterns Plastic insert shown in photos can be used to center 3-bolt pulleys with a female pilot, or it can be removed to accept 3-bolt pulleys with a male pilot Very versatile and can be used on many different Ford engines
I've had two AODs in T-Birds. It's critical that they be set-up correctly, not only to keep from burnin' up but to get the best shifts. I'd personally say get a shift kit, in stock form they can sometimes be a little sluggish and/or shift up or down at inappropriate times. Real nice work and a good thread. Hope ya' had a good Thanksgiving and got some work done too ( with pics ). W.E.
Subscribed, you do great work and I love the 54 "stepchild". I'm building a 292 for mine just to keep a Y-block in it, but the AOD is a great idea for highway cruising. I'll bug you for details about the dual brake setup later. Thanks for posting this!
I was actually running brake lines last night. I'll get some photos posted if my daughter will let me borrow her iPhone. Most of the things I've been up to over the last week have been pretty non-glamorous....like, running transmission lines, brake lines, fuel lines, etc. I also installed my fuel sender. So, not too much that makes for great photos, but it's all stuff that has to be done to get the 54 on the road.
My new early Mustang exhaust manifolds showed up a couple days ago....bought them from Mustangs Unlimited. They hug the block pretty tightly and should provide a lot more clearance to the steering box....which is always an issue with a 302 swap into a 54 Ford.
Good job on the 54!. My wife and I are buying a 54 coupe off of her brother with all the parts to finish it up (freshly rebuilt 302 and aod) new breaks, suspension etc.... Did you figure out the steering column shift linkage? My brother in law was able to fab up something to use the stock column if you want I can find out how he did it.
Thanks for the compliment. I found a stock steering column for an automatic transmission and restored it. I used a coat hanger to make a template for a shift linkage rod. Come check out the gang at 1954Ford.com when you get a chance.
Did a trial fit of my new manifolds....here's the all-important shot of the steering box clearance. The way the contour of the manifold matches the steering box, it looks like they were made specifically for this application.
Using a Mountain Dew bottle in your build.. Bad Ass! Haha Cant wait to see this come together, are you going with a bias ply whitewall? Those would look best IMO
The dash looks great Don,,when I did the turn signal indicators in the Ranch Wagon I never thought of using a green soda bottle,,my solution was inspired by a plastic sandwich meat container lid. HRP
I agree....the bias ply whites do look best, but I think I'm gonna go with a skinny radial wide white for the sheer driveability factor. I've put a lot of miles on old cars with bias plys and if I was building something fenderless, I think I'd suck it up and go that route, but these big heavy 50's cars just do soooo much better on radials.
The Jalopy Journal
