1958 Ford Ranch Wagon build "Class Project"

Discussion in 'Station Wagon Projects' started by olivepick, Sep 25, 2009.

  1. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Boy oh boy that body is in nice shape in the cargo area! Are you sticking with the generator or upgrading to an alternator?
     
  2. olivepick

    olivepick New Member

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    Yeah, the body's in good shape. I don't have the original generator, so we plan to use the alternator. I still need to figure out how that's going to impact the wiring.
     
  3. olivepick

    olivepick New Member

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    Session 7

    Our seventh class was certainly the coldest one so far. Our immediate goal is to get the motor started before Christmas break, so we spent most of our time working through our pre-flight checklist. We won't have any coolant, exhaust, or charging systems in place for the first firing.

    We got the exhaust manifolds installed (after overcoming a little issue with the cleverly reversed motor mounts), installed the trans cooler, finished up the patch in the spare tire well, and finished up some odds and ends on the motor.

    We spent a while trying to design some throttle linkage since the stock gas pedal arm moves up and down instead of front to back (I think we'll just replace that arm with something straighter that will gives us the front to back movement).

    Toward the end of the class I hooked up a temporary starter switch to the solenoid to turn the motor over. It worked fine, but wouldn't stop turning over after I let off the switch and even after I unhooked the switch, so I think we'll be buying a new solenoid this week.

    We had a little extra time at the end of the class so we started planning for the next milestone which is to get it road worthy by the end of February. The boys decided that we should clean up the stock steel wheels to save money, so I need to find someone who will take the old crusty tires off for free so we can sandblast and paint the wheels.

    Here's the gang hard at work:
    [​IMG]

    The temperature was in the low 30's this weekend. Even with the wood stove going, the garage was a little cold.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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  5. the Rev

    the Rev senior junior Charter Member

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    good to see your still pluggin away..(y)
     
  6. olivepick

    olivepick New Member

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    Session 8

    Our eighth class brought us down to the deadline I had set of getting the motor started by the end of the year. We were short handed this week and had a short class due to other holiday and sporting activities going on.

    Before trying to start the motor we replaced the solenoid that got stuck in the last class. We also finished up our long battle with the exhaust manifolds. Between the broken bolts, broken taps, and interference with the motor mount we've got a lot of time into getting those manifolds on the motor.

    After getting the manifolds on, we rigged up a temporary starter switch on the solenoid and successfully fired the motor! It fired up fine and was sort of anticlimatic - but I'm happy that we met our goal.

    Here's Jake finding the shortest path to the hard-to-reach manifold bolts:
    [​IMG]


    We also put the rear cargo area back together:
    [​IMG]

    Dylan didn't want to work on fabricating throttle linkage, so I told him to grind rust (something we'll be doing a lot more of before we're done)
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2009
  7. olivepick

    olivepick New Member

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    Our next goal is to scrounge the parts we need to get the car driving by March.

    The big items on the list are:
    Radiator - I just bought one on Craigslist out of '66 Fairlane that looks like it'll work - we just need to figure out how to mount it.

    Wheels and tires - the plan is to restore the stock steel wheels and run white wall tires. I need to find a tire shop that'll give us a break on the labor.

    Driveshaft - the length is right on the stock driveshaft, but the slip yoke needs to be changed. I'm trying to get a local driveline shop to give us a tour and a discount on the labor to get this done.

    Brakes - We rebuilt the brakes before this was an official class and just have a few details to finish up.

    That should be enough to get us driving up and down the alley. Then we'll have to work on lights, exhaust, etc so we can take it out on the road.
     
  8. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    So in actual class time, do you discuss problem-solving strategies? Looks like you'd have to, to get all that you did do in this latest real-time session. Good for you and your guys.
     
  9. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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  10. silverfox

    silverfox New Member

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    The thing that impresses me about this project is that the kids seem to be really into it and are working hard at it and not just slacking. It does my heart good to see young guys take a serious interest in this project and stay at it for nothing more than a couple of school credits. I'm certainly not taking anything away from you, OP, for starting this project and for helping to energize an interest for those kids. At the same time, I admire what looks to be tenacity and good work ethic from your young students.
    Kudos to those kids! :thumbs2:
     
  11. olivepick

    olivepick New Member

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    I'm still trying to figure out the best mix of information and lessons to impart on the students. There's not enough time in the class to do all the work that needs to be done on the car, so my helper Dave and I get together almost every Friday night and work for 2-3 hours to keep things moving. But I try to involve the students in any major decisions.

    I am no auto mechanic expert, so I have no hope of teaching a comprehensive auto shop course. I've always done these projects by just feeling my way through and learning as I go. I do feel like I've made enough mistakes over the years that I have some lessons to share and I hope that nine months on a car project will de-mystify cars a little bit for these guys so that they feel empowered to dig into their own projects in the future.

    Regarding problem solving strategies, I've taken a couple approaches. Some things I solve offline and then walk them through the process that I followed - the broken exhaust bolts fall in this category. Some things we address during class and I guide them through the process - "here's a radiator I got, how do you think we should mount this?" On other things I just hand them a problem, let them go at it for a while, and then have them show me how they want to solve it - "figure out the throttle linkage." (this one is still ongoing)

    With virtually no experience working on cars, the students aren't going to be able to figure these things out on their own - but I really don't want to spoon feed them everything.

    When I first envisioned this class, it was all about the car. As the actual start date approached, I started to feel like I really want it to be more about project management and problem solving. I have a whiteboard in the garage where I've drawn a timeline of the school year and put milestones for "start engine", "running and driving", etc. In each class I reference the milestones and we discuss what tasks still need to be completed in order to meet them.

    I hope to make a "career" out of this autoshop concept, so I'm sure I'll be revisiting my goals, objectives, and tactics many more times...

    -Dan
     
  12. dotcentral

    dotcentral Active Member

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    I missed this thread before. Wish my school had something like this when I was a teenager.

    Is your donor motor really a 390? People are bad about passing off 360's as 390s. You may already know this trick, but if you pull a sparkplug and put a pencil or piece of stiff wire in the hole, turn it over by hand, then measure the stroke, a 360 or 352 is about 3.5", and a 390 is about 3.75".

    I have read that sometime aroun 1964 was when the engine mounts were changed on the FE's. Didn't realize flipping the old mounts would work.

    If it is still available, your donor truck has a good, simple throttle linkage. People with the 65-72 trucks replace their complicated stock linkage with the 73-79 truck type.

    Good luck with the class and project.
     
  13. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Dan, your guys are lucky to have a guy who thinks things through. There's too many R&R mechanics around (Remove and Replace). Used to be Repair, one 'R'. Here, its Restore.

    Now that is great info. Thanks.
     
  14. olivepick

    olivepick New Member

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    Fun with a sandblaster

    We didn't have class over the holiday break, but I put in a little time on the project. My dad recently got a sandblaster and I wanted to try it out so I took a couple of the old wheels to the corner Chevron station and got the crusty old tires popped off. Then I took one of the wheels to my parent's place and spent several hours sand blasting (some of this time was spent fixing the air compressor, fixing the sand blaster, etc). Now we need to figure out what color to paint them - after I invest a bunch more time to blast the remaining four wheels. I wish I had a big enough compressor to run the blaster at my place so I could put the students to work on this.:)

    Wheel with crusty old tire:
    [​IMG]

    Naked wheel
    [​IMG]

    After sandblasting - it looks so pretty:
    [​IMG]
     
  15. Stormin' Norman

    Stormin' Norman Well-Known Member

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    Nicely done. HandyAndy had his powdercoated locally after sandblasting for something like $15 for each wheel. Does a 'like new' job too.
     

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