Projects Custom 1959 Edsel Ranger build - Finally back at it

OK, so last year my girl Ryann picked up this 59 Edsel Ranger 2 door hardtop. I started the thread here: http://jalopyjournal.com/forum/thre...-and-a-new-build-for-my-girl-59-edsel.970434/ . Well, in the year since, we finished a major home renovation, sold the house, bought another house, and got ourselves situated in our new digs and shop, all while we both work full time and she's in school for her LLM degree. Needless to say, we've been a bit sidetracked, but we're back at it.

The Plan:
This will be a late 50s/Early 60s style build (duh), candy paint, a Watson panel style, subtle custom body mods and tricks. I don't want this car to look "overly custom", I want it to look like a smoothed out stocker despite many changes and then a sick paint job.

Mechanicals are where we will divert a bit from the traditional style, but not totally abandoning it. Ryann has driven my car often, and with unrebuilt manual steering, manual drum brakes, chopped coils and huge lowering blocks, it doesn't stop/steer/handle or ride well. It's also hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's a bare bones custom car, and she isn't about that. This will have to handle well and stop accurately. I'm also insist on an OD trans and enough horsepower to make it interesting. That will likely be a 355 Chevy and 700R4. The hood will stay shut anyway. Sorry if that turns some people off, but it's her call (and her money), so the warrantied crate engine it is.

Again, here's what we started with.



This turned out to be an extraordinarily solid car, so it's a great platform to start building.

First things first, we need to start tearing this thing down.
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Ryann getting her hands dirty and taking out the rest of the wiring



The next step was getting this front end situated. Like I said, this car needs to stop/steer/handle/ride well. It will be built for show and to be driven far and often. After weighing the pros and cons, we decided the best path to achieve this would be to use a MII front end. There are a few reasons for this. The main reason being that by the time I clean up, paint, and rebuild the existing suspension components, add a disc brake kit, modify the control arms for air bags, replace the leaky, stock slave cylinder-style power steering with the Borgeson box, I've spent 2/3 of what the MII unit cost but with much more work to do it. Also, by using the power rack over the box, I'm moving the steering apparatus under the engine as opposed to the side of it. For those who are unfamiliar with these chassis (1957-1959 Ford), they are very narrow in the front, and have the upper spring cups integrated into rail. The upper control arm comes in real tight to engine, which makes it difficult to swap wide engines into these cars. By eliminating the steering box, it will free up an abundance of space for exhaust and engine fitment.

I called up Alex Gambino, and he recommended the Fatman Stage IV front frame stub. But first, we had to take some measurements so we knew we were gonna be on the money.



We shimmed the car on the lift so it was level in all directions


Measure, measure, measure, measure...




And after a few weeks, here's the finished product that arrived with a whole slew of other goodies.


That's all I have for tonight. I'll be sure to post more pics up as we move along with the project.

 

Looking good so far, i will definitly follow along

 

I have had my Ford down to the bare chassis as well, and the whole interior out of it. I'll be following as well, I have a SBC in my '59 and it will fit yours more betterer with the new front stub.

 

You're really cranking along on it now! Keep it up!

 

Should be a fun build to watch. Just finishing up a major redo on the 59 that's in my avatar.

 

heh...my bone stock 59 ranger is one of the best driving cars I have! I think it's low miles, even though it looks like crap (stored outside for decades)

 

ya doing good

 

I followed that thread closely where you freshened that car up. I bet is does drive well, but I can personally say that once these are lowered, at least with stock coils cut, they drive terribly. I've also never been a fan of the slave cylinder power steering setup, which seem to leak constantly. The MII can run with the GM pump with the pressure adjusted appropriately. I may throw a set of Aerostar coils in my '57 to see if they help.

 

I got lucky, mine doesn't have power steering, and also I don't see any need to lower it....since I'm not making it a custom (yet, anyways). Looks like you have a good plan to make yours into a nice driver, should be fun!

 

My '59 drives pretty well with manual steering and 15" radials. I did have the Aerostars in (Moog CC850) but the tires hit the inner wheel wells on tight turns. There is a Moog CC851 spring that is a little taller and has a spring rate around 440 lbs. The CC850 has a spring rate over 600 lbs. Stock Ford-Edsel springs are around 415 lbs.

I took the stock springs, tossed them in my acid bath to get the rust off them. I cut 1 coil out of them. It took a little while for them to settle, but I like the height. I may lop another 1/2 coil out of them.

 

This has 2 1/4 coils cut out of the stock springs, and has a reversed shackle and 3" blocks in the rear. The driveshaft came through the floor under the rear seat many years ago. It looks good at this height, but empty I can barely get the toe of my boot under the lake pipe. I'm about 180 lbs, my girl is 5'3" and tiny, so we're not weighing this car down, but even then, turns have to be real easy or it scrapes. Because of that same reason, the rear seat and trunk are virtually useless. I've literally worn out 4-5 sets of lake pipes and probably 5 more sets of caps in the time I've owned it. It also steers about as accurately as the Santa Maria.



So with this car, the idea that we could drive at a lowered but reasonable height, but park and show with the right stance is tremendously appealing. I'm not looking to go mini-trucking or "lay frame", I really just want to be able to enjoy the look of the car at an appropriate stance, but also have the flexibility to utilize the car as a car.

 

I have two inch lowering blocks in the rear of mine and started with a set of Aerostar springs in the front. With the Aerostar springs I had less than 3/4" between the bump stop and lower control arm without any front sheet metal. Test driving it showed it was going to be not real pleasant to drive on anything other than smooth roads.

I then added a 1" spacer to the springs and cut about half the thickness off the bump stops. Also I swapped the shocks for a pair that fit a Mid 80's Monte Carlo. Now with the car fully assembled I have about 1 1/2" at the bump stop and driveability is nice.

 

Are you related to Leroy Walker? I was up in ND in 1995 and spent half a day walking around his property taking hundreds of pics of the 200 plus (?) Edsels he owned....

 

It's funny to hear this. I sold the Cruise-O-Matic to a nice guy on Long Island who had 38 Edsels. He was showing me the factory grease markings on the firewall and I was like, "Yeah, we're gonna sand all that shit off and paint it some crazy kandy color". You Edsel people are like a cult haha

 

Who has the Edsels on the Island? I bought a donor Edsel door for the guts from a guy up in Woodbury. He told me he had more cars elsewhere.

 

He's my Dad! He crushed a majority of the cars a couple of years ago but kept most of the Edsels.

 

Ahh yes, the never ending battle between the purists and the hot rodders/customizers...

 

That's pretty cool. Would you happen to have 4 red tail light lenses for a '60 Edsel? If so how much are they? Feel free to post a few pics of some Edsels. How many are left? Thanks....

 

Keep the pics coming! Edsels are so cool.....

 

OK, here's some more progress. We've been working on installing this front frame stub. I was hoping that this would take a weekend, but that was wishful thinking.

After releveling the car on the lift, we got back to measuring. The tape on the floor has marks on it from the plumb bob dropped from strategic locations. Once the necessary points were triple measured and marked, we cut the original suspension off.




To make adjustments easier and for ease of maneuverability, we took some eye-bolts and some threaded rods and made the stub able to stand on its own. This way we could level the stub independent of the chassis and simply slide it in place when the mock-up is acceptable.




The measurements supplied with the frame stub are not particularly helpful and frankly caused more confusion when my measurements did not match theirs. This car is a 120" wheelbase. 1959 Fords are a 118" wheelbase. But using the supplied measurements would have yielded anywhere between 119" and 119.5" wheelbase... not correct. Also, though the supplied diagram shows the axle centerline being measured through the spring cup, a call to Fatman's tech line uncovered that the actual correct location of axle centerline is the midpoint of the crossmember. With my old measurements being made off the spring cup, my frame was now 1/2" too long. Tonight I trimmed it to size and remeasured... on the money.




Tomorrow I hope to double-check a couple more measurements, get the internal gussets welded in, and at least get a few tacks on the clip so I can mock up a wheel with a fender to check the visual appearance of the wheel in the fender arch. Slow and steady wins the race

 

My heart skipped a beat with the old front stub on the floor... but the MII looks a ton cleaner in comparison.

 

Joe, a centerline running front to back is also a good reference to have, for double checking the frame, but also to put the engine back in.

 

Totally agree on all parts. The moment the stub hit the floor was the point-of-no-return. From a fabrication standpoint, this is a fairly simple exercise, Fatman did all the more complicated work already. The measuring and placement is far more labor and thought intensive.


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That's a great point. Out of curiosity, have you offset the engine when you've installed them? I've offset the engines I've swapped about 1/2" to the passenger side, but I'm thinking I may want to stab this one in there symmetrically.


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Offset engines usually go with steering box clearance issues. I did the SBC in my Ford and ran it right up the middle since I had the room. You can never go wrong with having too many center lines. This is great if you suspect the car has shifted, a good double check.

My decision to keep the stock stub was not over $$. I wanted to get the car rolling ASAP and not tie up my help and time. If the Edsel is like the Ford, the splash pan ties into the inner fenders (down low) and into the radiator support. The inner fenders may need some trimming and bumper locating is in your future.

 

The Edsel frame is virtually identical to the Ford frame but for the wheelbase. I'm not so concerned about sheet metal issues because I'm going to be messing around a lot with that (there will be posts about that later). I'm not decided on what front bumper I will be using just yet, either, though I have a few decent ideas.

I had considered swapping the steering box and swapping in disc brakes, but the MII seemed like a cleaner, more all-encompassing way of achieving my desired goals. Yes, cutting the whole front off of the car sucks and doing loads of measuring, but once it's on, all I have to do is assemble it.

 

Your not related to JERRY JEFF WALKER are you?

 

Minimal progress from last night. I felt the clip was where it needed to be, but to absolutely sure, I wanted to test fit the sheetmetal to make sure it all lines up. It's easier to cut 4 tack welds and move the clip now if needed than to weld it solid and realize i'm either short or long. I also wanted to mock up the wheel with some of the suspension in pace to see where it's all lining up. There's nothing worse than a car with a bad subframe install where the wheels are either sticking out of the fenders or the wheel isn't properly located in the arch.


Thankfully, all of the sheetmetal is dead on, and basically fell together.





This photo shows clearly how much smaller and more compact the MII suspension is over the factory equipment. Notice the relief in the sheetmetal of the inner fender for the original upper control arm, where that space is now vacant. That will all eventually get filled to look proper.



I'm also satisfied with where the wheel is located in the arch. I know Fatman told me where the axle centerline would end up, but I just had to see it for myself. I don't trust anyone.



With this confirmation on the location of the stub, the next step is to do the final install and complete welding.

 

Before I take a car apart to sub-frame it, I'll clearly mark the center line of the spindle on the fender itself.

 

Looks good so far,Joe!What brand of two post lift do you have in your shop,Joe?I just finished building a two bay shop on my 1 acre property and I'm looking for a two post lift.