1958 Ford Ranch Wagon build "Class Project"

There's three students in the class. I put a cap of five on the class, but I think a smaller group will work good for my first try at this (my goal is to do this every year with a different car).

The car had a 352 in it originally. The little bit of research I've done seems to indicate that the FE motor mounts moved somewhere between 1958 and 1975. I think we can build a plate to adapt the new motor mount location to the old cross member.

-Dan

 

Session 3

We had our third class on October 11th. In the two weeks in between classes, Dave and I got together for three evening work sessions to clean up and paint the motor and drill out the broken exhaust manifold bolts. I'm using cobalt bits - the most expensive drill bits at Home Depot - and I get about 2-3 holes per bit before they're too dull to do anything more than shine the metal.

This session was focussed on putting the motor back together and replacing all the tune up parts - cap, rotor, plugs, points, condensor, wires, trans filter, etc.

This is me giving orders


The finished product


When the motor assembly was almost done I got a couple of the guys working on cleaning up the outside of the gas tank so we can paint it and get it put back in place.


Before the next class I want to design the adaptor plates we need for the motor mounts, finish drilling out the exhaust manifold bolts, and construct a transmission mount using elements of the truck and the wagon mounts.

 

Great work! Nice to see the attention to detail and ingenuity at work.

 

Thats a great idea. Two of my kids are almost at the age where I can bring them into the garage to help me out.

 

I get my drill bits from an Industrial tools supplier. The consumer stuff just can't take the pace. They seem to take a better sharpening too on the grinding wheel jig (Lee Valley Tools) about $20.

So who keeps the car after the class is finished? Or does the school sell it off to cover the next class?

 

I'll have to look into the industrial bits. Any supplier suggestions would be appreciated.

The plan is to sell the car after we take it to a car show in June. Hopefully the market for classic cars will be better by then. The students joke about how I'm using them as free labor like I'm going to make a bunch of money on this when I sell it. Frankly, I'll be happy to break even, but the plan is to use the money to buy another project for next year.

 

Ace, Dormer Tools, or Butterfield drillbits offer different grades. Jobber bits aren't bad, but find a grade with a higher alloy content, nickel or carballoy.

Here's a few links:
http://www.dormertools.com/sandvik/2531/internet/s003591.nsf

Dormer is a division of Sandvik:
http://www.manta.com/company/mmc1977

http://www.sandvik.com/

These guys sell online too. Your school's purchasing agent should help you get 'educational discounts'.
http://www.psmicorp.com/products/cutting-tools.html

Butterfield's site seems to be down, but there's some phone numbers here:
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/merc-compint-0000128549-Union-Butterfield-Corp.html

 

Dan...im impressed...for a bunch of reasons!!

congrats on the idea...and kudos to you!

(ps;...i luv those wagons)

 

Thanks, Rev.

Sometimes I think I've gotten myself in way over my head, but the students are still having fun, so I guess I'm doing something right.

 

Session 4 - putting the motor in

Today was our fourth class. The goal for today was to get the motor in place and get started on the adaptor plates for the motor mounts.

In our last class we identified that the mounts on the original trans are in a differnet place than the C6. I did some searching and found out that a trans mount off of an early Mustang would put the transmission in the right place.

We spent a good deal of time wrestling the motor into the engine compartment. In the process we discovered that the oil filter mount on the 390 placed the oil filter inside the frame. So we'll need to use the 90 degree down facing mount off the 352.



We're making adaptor plates to bridge the gap from the motor mounts to the holes on the block. I have some thick steel L-brackets that we're cutting down. I got out the torch to cut off the L and let the students try it out.



Here's the stock 390 oil filter mount:


Luckily I still have the old 352 around so we'll use the oil filter mount off it:


The problem we have now is the trans pan is hitting the cross member. I can't be the first person to put a C6 in a '58 Ford, so I'll have to research this before our next class.

 

a friend of mine has been doing the same kinda deal with lo income inner city kids...they are just finishing a frame off resto on a 65 Impala...air ride...the whole enchilada

have fun!!

 

Olive pick you can get 390 front engine mounts out of Ford one tons up to 1966 which should fit your engine. Use to have a friend that was bad about swapping FE motors.

 

Session 5

Well, our fifth class wasn't super productive, but we had fun.

The top priority for the day was to get the motor and trans mounted. We made some spacers for the trans mount that put the transmission in the right place to clear the cross member.

Through my previous measuring and research I had convinced myself that we needed to fabricate motor mount plates to bridge the gap between the stock motor mounts and the holes on the block. We devoted quite a bit of time to torching, grinding and drilling plates for this purpose. After we got the motor set in place, it became clear that the distance we had to bridge wasn't nearly as far as I thought it was. Further research after the class revealed that the problem I was trying to solve is one you have when using an older FE motor in a newer car. It turns out that you can use a newer FE motor in an older car by turning the stock motor mounts around. So... a lot of wasted effort during the class.

While Jake and I were wasting our time with the motor mounts, Dylan got the idea that he wanted to get artistic with the gas tank. Everything we take off has to be cleaned and painted before going back on and I told Dylan he could paint the tank whatever color he wanted. He spent a good deal of time designing and masking off a spider web shape on the tank and painting it red and black. It's obviously not a critical piece of the project, but it was fun to see him be creative and really get into it.

Jake works on the ill-fated motor mounts:


Dylan gets artistic


I want to start wiring and plumbing the motor in the next class, so Dave and I spent a few hours this week getting the motor mounted and taking care of a few miscellaneous tasks.

The goal of this class has always been to get the car running and take it to a car show next summer. The show I like to go to is Billetproof which is in late June. This week I registered the car for the show, so I thought I should work on a timeline to get us there successfully. I've told the class that I want to hear the motor run before Christmas and I want to drive the car by the middle of February.

 

Good break on the engine mount adventure. Faiemonts have a similar solution. The V8 and I4 use a common crossmember, whereas the I6 has its own. Of course the rubber mounts are different too.

I hope the guys don't spit-polish the exhaust pipes!

 

Session 6

We had a full house for the sixth class with all three students and two helpers besides myself.

This week we tackled the fuel system, engine wiring, and patching rust holes in the rear cargo area.

Here John Paul and Derek work on wiring the motor while I teach them how to read a wiring diagram and Dylan works on the fuel line:


Dave and Jake work on the rear cargo area. The spare tire well had a bunch of little rust holes, so we chose the fiberglass and POR15 patch method.