My 1971 Ford Country Sedan Thread

Figured I would start a thread to share the progress on my car

1971 Ford Galaxie 500 Country Sedan

Starting point:





Will post new pictures and updates as work slowly progresses

 

Vision I have rolling around in my head right now:

Sporty Plain Jane

1971 Green Met Paint/Roof Black (Vinyl or Paint)
Lowered 2in
16in 5 Spoke Chrome/Painted Wheels (Spokes Painted To Match Car)
70's Bucket Seats Upholstered to Match (No Console, Just Carpet Hump)
Newer 3 Point Belts
New Ford Radio (Maybe mid 90's)
5spd or 6spd Manual Trans
Load Level Bags in Rear And Tow Hitch
Beefier Sport Steering Wheel (Something That Doesn't Look Out Of Place)
Etc...

 

It just looks awesome as is! Just drop in something blown and away you go

 

Nice wagon can't wait to see the progress. I have a 65 country sedan Iam in the process of rebuilding the motor right now. It is a 390. I have pictures on my page if you wanna look.

 

looking forward to what happens

 

Not much to update.. Ordered some parts: Wheel bearings, idler pulley

Bought a tail light cause mine is cracked and they can be pricks about inspections here

Oh and snagged a Mark VIII cluster to see about grafting the gauges in so it'll show temp, oil pressure and volts.. dunno if it'll work yet but we'll see

Hoping to be on the road by next Friday

 

That would be cool

 

That
That's ambitious , have done it before on a Mustang. I'm with you if you can pull that off !

 

A buddy of mine had an LTD with that front end on it. Used to go everywhere in that thing. Nice car!

 

For the radio, I would go with something like Classic Autosound. I'm doing that with Nora. That way you don't have to cut into the dash, and more importantly, into the cross dash brace. The are available in the Ford DIN and a half, and fit through the factory holes. For the gauges, you need ones that are directly driven, not run through the computer of the donor car. That means earlier rather than later model donor car. I am hoping to have a full gauge package from a donor 78 Thunderbird soon. It is either that or a complete set of aftermarket gauges set into a custom panel. She looks like a real beauty, too. You'll have fun with that wagon.

 

Thanks for the radio idea.. will look into it for sure

The cluster i found is from a 71-72 Mark III so the font and look should be the same.. Have to wait till it comes to see if the 2 square Mark gauges are the same size as my fuel gauge/clock delete panel Hoping its do-able with not too much work

 

Well went to pick her up from storage. Put in a new fuel pump (gotta love e-85 cut fuel) tail light lens and idler pulley.

5 miles into the drive home got some chirping, squeaking and clunking. So she got to be a flatbed queen the rest of the 30 miles home. Turns out the rear u-joint had no needles left and one cup was cracking. The other 3 were dry.. front u-joint was all dry too. So I finally put together the press I bought a few years back and installed new u-joints. Almost went too easy and the driveshaft is practically rust free. In laying under the car it is clear it was never driven in the winter.. everything is clean and very little rust. The worst is the drivers trunk extension which is totally gone.. part of the pass one at the wheel hump and small holes in front of both rear wheels

While she was up in the air she got new rear springs, new shocks front and rear, new front wheel bearings, full grease job and a home made idle arm bushing

Brakes are practically new and the real shocker is the parking brake works and the adjuster rod is functional!

Looks like this year is going to be about safety stuff. Will need to replace the dry rotted brake flex lines next and have a horn switch on order.

Thats it so far. Did get a new valve for the ac.. gonna put that in and evac the system and see how healthy it is

 

Ditto,Good luck and patience.

 

Went and got my safety inspection.. passed with no issues so legal now.

Car rode and drove nice around town.. decided to do a highway cruise and got up to 60-65 and the rear end started shaking all over the place.. no clue what it is.

with the bad universal it had a light vibration.. strange that all new parts and it feels like its gonna shake apart.. ideas?

 

Could be but not for sure... but one or both rear tire(s) out of balance or tread separation on one tire. Look for a lost wheel weight or a bulge in the sidewall near the tread on the inside. (You'd have noticed a bulge on the outside by now) Regardless it will take a trip to the tire store and hope for a simple balance thing.