Projects 54 Ford Customline daily driver

when you are ready to reinstall column if you loosen clamp at bottom of shaft sleeve you can move it up to fit closer to your new wheel.while it will not fit perfectly it will give you a smaller gap to deal with.

 

The bottom end of my column where it meets the box isnt stock. It has had some mods done to it with the power steering conversion. Im planning on eliminating the 3 speed shifter tube and smoothing out the column anyway so no worries.

Those 12 pin connectors look like there just what i need. I need to look up how to wire up connectors like that, im a rookie when it comes to electrical work haha


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Nice Job. You might not want that big cover on your door. It's a great place to keep shit, Like a can of beer

 

Quick pic of the crossmember welded in and i threw some paint over the welds untill i can get under there and paint everything

 

Bunch of progress pics

Small classic instruments tach went into the dash between the radio and lighter




Fixed the dents in the dash speaker cover and drilled a hole for a traffic light guide i had



Also slapped a coat of paint on the bellhousing

 

Sprayed the heater box and parts satin black



Engine torn down



Felpro gasket kit



Swapped the front seal in the timing cover



Few pics of the pistons after we scrubbed some carbon off. Motor was in great shape. Cylinder walls looked great too

 

Intake manifold sprayed



Engine reassembled. Everything went smooth except i put one if the head gaskets on backwards the first time around hahah



Engine sprayed. Couldnt resist slapping the valve covers and a pulley on for a quick look

 

Nice engine & kool tachometer!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Well the vht paint i used is flaking off all over the engine. I cleaned the hell out of it too. Pretty pissed off right now. Had no issues on the bellhousing and intake manifold


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It's hard to get all of the oil out of the cast iron even if you have all the parts hot tanked and disassembled. Just resolve yourself to touching up the pealed places every so often. The Eastwood cast iron paint for exhaust manifolds stays on very well with minimal prep. It can be used on headers too but only comes in gray

 

I think im going to wire wheel all the flaking stuff off, wire wheel the engine clean, hit it with brake clean and then acetone. I cleaned the engine by hand with degreaser and brake cleaner and then wiped it down with clean rags, but i didnt wire wheel it or acetone it.


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Man, I'm loving this whole build so far. Nice work!

 

Where can a guy get a 10" pressure plate ? I can only seem to find 9 1/2 and 11" ? Got a clutch disc on the way and need get my flywheel resurfaced as well


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Heres my 54 that is being rewired with Rebel Wiring kit also. And a new 292 with a T5 Trans.

 

Here the 292 !

 

The engine bay got cleaned up and painted also

 

Now as for my dash I made a replica speedo housing to install a tach and speedo. And also retrofit gauges in the dash which will get an engine turned treatment !

 

Martino any tips or any gliches youve come across with the rebel harness?


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So far so good with the harness ! It installed well and has enough wire length to reach any point of the car from where you mount the fuse block. I'm ready to install the engine and trans so I can finish up the wiring installation.
I also wrapped the exposed wires in an expandable casing in the engine compartment.

 

Progress pics

My dash was rusting out from the backside, im assuming from the leaking windshield gasket. Heres a few pics of the damge



So i whipped up some patches and did some tig work. Also made a new lower glovebox flange as that was rusted completely away





Also shaved the v8 badge above the glovebox




Some areas were somewhat thin to go crazy with metalfinishing so i got it close enough that a real light coat of filler would take care of any issues. Primed and sanded....

 

Started working on the valance panel. Paint was cracking and chipping horribly. Surface rust underneath.....



Sanded it all down with 80 grit, worked my way back up and started some coats of filler primer



Threw on some paint this is just a quick rattle bomb fix. The first color sprayed WAYYYY lighter than the cap indicated and also turned a marroonish red after it tried. Ughhhh



Second color i tried turned out much better. Still not a dead match but close enough for a panel thats hidden beneath the grill

 

Can someone give me some help on lower control arm studs. I need 2 of the big bolts that ran through the stock front crossmember. Question, early ford store has a kit for a pair of bolts that will do one control arm. Are the front and rear bolts on the lower control arm the same size ? If so ill just buy one kit and use both bolts to replace the ones in the front crossmember. I already have a front end rebuild kit with all the bushings so no worries there


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We used the retrosound in mom's 58 impala. I know it is spendy, but it fits perfect, sounds badass, runs everything with enough power to start with plus still has rca outs. Definitely a nice unit. was wort the 549.00

 

My '54 Ford Customline Coupe is a conversion from a Mainline! Hated the body with no chrome side trim...
Taking some lessons from your extremely thorough rebuild...(car, not engine) Mine has a nice 406, with a heavy duty close ratio 3 speed. That just may change, as I also have a Mustang 5 speed.
Great thread here, thanks for all the inclusion of pics and operations. Inspiring, (I've done it before, but years back...I've had 11 of these cars, all '54 Coupes.) not enough of these great Fords are being done.
They handle like Nascar, (early!) and can run and perform excellent.
And they're NOT Chevies.

 

Enjoying the progress you're making. There is a '52-'54 Ford in my future for sure, these cars are great, not too big, not too small.

 

Your 54 is coming along really good !!!!

 

Thanks guys


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Good looking car and you're doing some nice work! Perfect driver, especially with the T5 swap.

 

Thanks man


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Started work on a custom stainless grille. Heres the stocker



Got rid of the bumperettes and went to work on the new grill. Mockup of the main bar



Angle matches the hood edge well



Didnt get too many good pics of the hidden mounts but heres a few screenshots from a video. Made these from stainless and welded them to the back side of the main bar. They bolt down through the valance. Heres the bracket cut...........



Bent and tig welded



Made a mount for the middle of the bar that mounts to the stock center valance brace. Here it is cut.......



Bent a tig welded



The bracket is upside down in this pic. The front edge is welded to the bar and the boxed section bolts to the brace. Heres a look with everything bolted up




Grill turned out nice and clean. This will be buffed out and all the mounting brackets painted black on the backside even though there not visible anyway.

I got rid of the 3 speed shift tube, filled the hole in the back of the cup on the column, filled the hole in the column drop and started metal finishing it. Still have some more work to do on this tomorrow but heres some pics