Theyre not yoo bad, really, 3770 lb curb weight, 260 Galaxie. New Toy0ta Camr*y's are 3400-3500, to put it into perspective. I daily drove a 65 imala 4 door with straight 6 p/g, wasnt going to win races but it got around well in traffic, got good mileage. OP, aplogies for the sidebar, Back to regularly scheduled thread.
62 rebel, I like how youre going after this, 1 step at a time, keep it together and driveable. Hows the body - bodywork, that chalky paint should come back to life with some buffing. Lets hear if the windshield seal takes care of the leak, or if the channel has rusted away. Ive seen southern cars that had no rust but had the window channels eaten out due to pine needles sitting in there.
Well, I'm not a body man, so my patches are rough but they are steel. The channel seems to be solid but without a new gasket or a new windshield, I'm not going to take it apart. Filled the gaps with urethane and then did the joint between the trim and body. Hack job but it has to stop leaking so I can drive it. I agree with the pine needles observation, the things are cancer to sheet metal.
Most tree leaves & needles contain some type of acid. Oak trees have tannic acid. When we bought this corner. There where huge trees here. I took a D8 cat and pushed them all down except for three trees. Some of the stumps where so big one stump filled a 6 yard dump truck bed. I hauled the stump & rootwads down to the river and dumped them where the bank was eroding away.Folks where upset. They demanded Why did you kill those beautiful trees? I told folks I didn't want then falling on and dropping leaves and limbs on my vehicles. Im certain they thought I was nuts.
I always liked the way those big Fords went down the road. They had a smooth but tight feel, not much bump steer. Back in 1973 I remember getting my 62 Galaxy aligned and the older tech said those Fords have a good front end..
Nice to be able to lock the doors again!! Don't have to worry about pieces going missing so much now. Maybe a couple of new tires this weekend.....
Damn. Got four rear quarter trim pieces and all of them are bottoms. That's the problem with buying loose parts and not being able to verify fit. Crap shoot. Gonna have to run naked for a while.
Got the idler arm bushings in, but can't finish the job because the center link is bent and the holes won't line up. I would normally be pissed but I saw this issue a while back. Wasn't sure it was bad enough to be a problem but it is. Don't like the idea of dropping another 200 bucks but it needs what it needs.
Could you straighten the center link in a press? Or even bolt it in partly (upside down if necessary), and put a hydraulic jack under it to straighten?
I thought about those options and I might try to jack it up but getting the angle correct might never happen that way. Still might have a go at it.
In 63 and 64 Ford had a off set lower control arm bolt that is a problem when the bushing gets old. Luckly there is a fix. https://video.search.yahoo.com/sear...=0368de98de3844a797912a78eacdbfd2&action=view
Okay, after replacing the center link, I have been examining the damaged part, and I don't think it's from accident damage. The tie rods are still straight, so I believe that the center link was bent by a tow truck driver hooking the cable over it to pull the car. It was right up against the cross member, and the new one has plenty of clearance. Not the first time I've had expensive parts ruined by ham fisted drivers. $240 to replace it this time.
Just thought I'd add a pic of my 63 boxtop. It's a daily driver/work in progress. I have been collecting all of the goodies for it. One piece rain guards, hood ornament trim, bumper guards, rocker trim, stainless skirts, power steering and under dash factory ford a/c. It was an original 260/ 3speed car
I think white with turquoise interior is a good choice. My 63 box top XL was white with the metalic turquoise interior. In my opinion 63 XLs have one of the best looking interiors to ever leave Detroit. Oh, it was a 406/405 HP . Loved hearing those three carbs sucking under WOT. I swear that hood bowed in !
The vent window is a weak point. My 63 was broken into twice. The shaft is pot metal and by pressing on the front of the vent, you can snap the shaft and then access the inside.
Yep, would love to see any update. I recently went and looked at a 63 convertible that is for sale pretty reasonable. I keep considering...
I traded it off a couple of years back. One of my worst habits. Get into a car and get tired of it. It was a real rust bucket to be honest. I pieced together as much as I could manage to keep the fenders from flopping around in the wind but in the end the next guy has to deal with that now. Did love the sound that 289 made, though.
Understood. We can’t keep them all and the rusty ones sometimes aren’t worth what it takes to fix them.
The Jalopy Journal
