1958 Ford Ranch Wagon build "Class Project"

Nice before and after shots. If I'm not mistaken, the wheels in '58 were the body color if it had the little hubcaps. If it had the full wheel cover, they were black.

 

Shopping spree

My dad donated some money to the cause, so I've been on a little shopping spree lately.

'66 Fairlane radiator off Craigslist:


Replacement grill off ebay:


Four almost-new tires off Craigslist:

 

Session Nine

We met our deadline of getting the car started before Christmas, so now we're focussed on getting it drivable before March.

The last thing we needed to do on the brakes was bleed them, so Derek and Jake took care of that:


Dylan and Dave spent some time figuring out what it's going to take to mount the radiator (you can see it in the above "shopping spree" post), Derek worked on the shift linkage and Jake started wiring up some switches to replace the broken ignition switch.

Our class has a dedicated page in the yearbook and the pictures are due next week, so we posed for a group shot.

 

Yeah, that off white was one of the body colors. We need to paint the wheels real soon, so this is going to force us to make some color decisions. Whenever I bring up paint colors with the students I get crazy answers - so I think I'll just pick a color myself

 

Great finds on the parts!

I agree, colors are so personal, that you can chose by committee. Going through that in our home renos right now, and there's only two of us! We divided the room picks.

I would freak out if I had bare metal exposed to humidity like in Seattle. How's it doing?

 

Session Ten

Short update this week.

This week we got the shift linkage and throttle linkage figured out, the ignition switch wired, driveline rebuilt and a coat of paint on the wheels (I finished sand blasting the wheels the day before).

 

Powder coating only needs 160 F for 15 to 20 minutes. You'd think that some heat lamps and reflecting material in a frame would do the trick. A solar BBQ goes way over that. hmmm...

Spray and Bake! Operators are standing by!

 

There was a news item about some volunteer medics in Haiti using heatlamps in a makeshift incubator for 2 newborns. They used the normal white spot lights, but I think the red food-warmer lights that the fastfood restaurants use might be hotter. I'll bet ya that its workable. I'll have to build one this spring, when the home-renos ease off.

Porta-Hottie!

 

Session 11

We were supposed to have class last week, but since all three of my students are football players I thought I better postpone class in favor of the Superbowl.

This week my helper was on a plane to the Philippines, we had an extra student observing class to see if he wants to take it next year, a couple parents dropped in, and an elderly neighbor stopped in to chat. Despite all this, we got a lot done and had a good time (the unseasonably warm Seattle weather helped, too).

Jake has proven to be pretty handy with the wiring. He replaced the broken stock ignition switch (for which we have no key) with a couple toggle switches and a push button start. This week we tested them out. It was fun to hear static on the stock radio and see the dash lights come on. Unfortunately, the motor wouldn't fire. He ended up replacing several wires on the engine and got it to start up. It was fun to just turn him loose on that and see it turn out so well.



Dylan got the drive shaft rebuilt (though I made everyone take turns pressing a U-Joint in place) and got it installed.



Derek finished up the throttle linkage and got the front seat cleaned up. The back was in pretty bad shape so we decided to strip it and we'll work on padding it and making a new cover for it in an upcoming class.





I just like this shot with the clean, painted wheels and all the boys working on the car


In addition to the above, they also got the radiator hoses, pulleys, fan, and belt installed. We are now VERY close to getting this thing moving under its own power.

 

Nice work guys!

Where'd you get the transparent tires on the white rims? I watching Shrek 3 this weekend and decided to look at all the graphics tech on the DVD. Lots of transparency tricks.

 

Session 12

Today was the day I had hoped to drive the wagon for the first time. Unfortunately, I don't have tires on it yet and that turned out to be our undoing. I wasn't too worried about the tires because I knew we could just use the cragars off my wagon if we needed - but it turns out the lug nuts don't fit the Ford studs.

The other problem we're having is that we're not getting gas out of the gas tank. I originally dropped the tank assuming it would be full of crud, but it was remarkably clean. I put five gallons of gas in it, but nothing's getting into the fuel line. Not sure what to do about that...

We rigged up a tank in the engine compartment for today so we could let the engine run and warm up. We got some video of it running. I can't figure out how to embed it here...



After we gave up on driving it today, we worked on cleaning up the interior and body. The boys decided they didn't like the bits of insulation hanging from the ceiling, so they got to work cleaning it.



They also worked a little on the cleaning up the body. I don't think Jake has cut his hair since this project started.

 

Pull a Mel Gibson and siphon off some fuel, ahead of the pump. If you pulled the tank off, you might have some dust in the line?

Have you guys done a project plan on a spreadsheet or something? I saw one small software firm was offering one for like $20 or something, but it was a standalone application.

It makes a lot of sense on a major restoration. That plan also had a parts can labelling feature. I used eggcrates for screws and clips, and tobacco containers for nuts and bolts. I kept switches and relays with the harnesses, but forgot to label the harnesses from my car and the donor Fairmont. I had to merge a few circuits for options that mine didn't have and the color coding was a bit different between 1978 and 1979.

Oh, yeah. You might be just the guy to ask, too. Sometime in the 1990's, Ford at least went to using what they call voltage amplifiers, which allowed them to use thinner gauge wiring under the dash. Any idea what a voltage amplifier does?

In the same vein, I've read that some new upcoming cars are coming out with 42 volt circuits, again to save on copper. Have you read much about that?

 

Session 13

We were down a student this week and both of the remaining two had short days with one leaving early and the other arriving late. So not a tremendous amount of work done this week.

We dropped the gas tank to try and figure out why no gas is coming out, but the fuel pickup is impossible to get at and all attempts to clear it have failed. We're either going to have to find something else to use as a tank (and somewhere else to mount it, as the wagon tank is quite unique in shape) or forceably remove the pickup tube and fashion a replacement.

While I messed around with the gas tank, Derek worked on the seat. We bought a foam toddler bed mattress from Ikea and cut it down to size to pad the back of the front seat, then wrapped it in canvas and applied the classic Mexican blanket.

The boys have talked about leaving their mark on a hidden part of the car, so they signed the seat foam.




The end result is quite comfortable. Now I'm thinking we should refinish the bottom of the seat as well.

While that was going on, Jake put the wheels and tires on the car and got to work wiring up the voltage regulator.



We are almost ready to drive this thing. Unfortunately, the master cylinder that we rebuilt last year (before this was an official class) is now leaking. I think I'm just going to buy a new one so we can drive it during the next class - though I hate to spend the money.

 

We don't use a spread sheet or anything to manage the project. Early on, Dave and I got together and brainstormed all the big tasks and put together a rough timeline. That's where I got my goals of running by Christmas, driving by March, etc.

I have a white board in the garage where we write down check lists and any tasks that we think of that we don't want to forget. I try to involve the boys in the planning, but they have slightly different priorities than I do.

We put small parts and screws in zip lock bags by component and put a piece of paper in the bag with info on where they came from. It's worked pretty good for us so far, though it's still easy to just set something down on the bench and then wonder what it goes to the next week.

To your other questions - I really don't know much about modern wiring, which is why I don't work on cars made after 1975.

 

I found this inspirational photo the other day. Maybe for next year's class will make this wagon into a gasser.