1955 Ranch Wagon Cruiser

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DJ3100 said:
Here's the grille with the headlight bezels and the upper grille trim. Didn't put the lights in because I think I'm going to need to move the passenger side up a little.

The hood to fender gaps aren't very good, but maybe if I quit looking at them, they'll quit bothering me.
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Your hood to fender gaps are better then they were brand new dj. I spent a lot of time on my custom welding rod to the door edges to get the gaps all the same.
As I have said before. The fit and finish on these cars was no where near what we have come to expect. People like to bitch about how things "aren't made like they used to be" but in the case of cars, they are much better now.JMHO:)
It's looking great. Keep pushing ahead.......[cl[cl
Torchie
 
Torchie said:
Your hood to fender gaps are better then they were brand new dj. I spent a lot of time on my custom welding rod to the door edges to get the gaps all the same.
As I have said before. The fit and finish on these cars was no where near what we have come to expect. People like to bitch about how things "aren't made like they used to be" but in the case of cars, they are much better now.JMHO:)
It's looking great. Keep pushing ahead.......[cl[cl
Torchie
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Thanks Torchie. I'm not one to stress over gaps, but I had the fender to hood gap better than it is now. Not sure when or why it changed. I'll leave it alone for now.

You're right, it's a good thing cars aren't made like they used to be. The only thing on '50's cars that is better (sometimes) is the styling.
 
Took it for a ride around the neighborhood today.

The engine is strong, good oil pressure, ran cool, exhaust sounds good. Check engine light didn't come on, but it doesn't come on during start up either (don't know what that means).

Brakes stop the car, but they seem vague. That's pretty much what everyone who has this set-up says. Clutch and shifter work OK. Third gear seems to howl or maybe it's a harmonic vibration from somewhere else.

Chased down and fixed one major rattle/ vibration, but have a bunch more to find. I'm thinking the urethane motor mounts are causing a lot of that.

Dome light doesn't work. [S

Power windows go up and down! Stereo is alive, but don't have speakers installed. Back up camera says no signal, which means it is seeing reverse but the camera isn't working. Gotta get the instructions out for that one.

Doesn't turn very sharp. I'm used to the Ram. The Wagon is more like the Silverado I had. I'll have to get used to 2 point turns again.

The ride is boat like - ala of '60's Buick. Good for the speed bumps.

All-in-all I'm stoked that it drove and ran so well.
 
It's always good when you make it home without any major issues with a project.

One thing at a time and you'll have the little things worked out of it.
Keep beating on it.
 
Congratulations, DJ, on making your first run. That's called a screaming success if you get back from the maiden voyage and only have a few little bugs to beat out of the car. Don't dwell on the small amount of changes to be made,---- think of the many thousands of things that you fixed, derusted, tweaked, built, invented, straightened, smoothed, or revitalized, that all worked as you dreamed they would,---- and then grin a lot :D:D:D.
 
Yeah, it has been Thousands of things. The few little issues are pretty minor, so far.

Figured out the dome light - there's a switch on the light, it was off.

Finished up the front end trim and park lights. The bulbs are LED's and they are pretty bright. The parking lights aren't as yellow as they look in the photo. The turns (there's 4 bulbs) are yellow.
 

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Ron from Toad's Hot Rods (he's the guy I have been swapping Ford parts with) came by and we went for a ride.

Ron pronounced the noise I thought was the trans, as typical Ford 9" gear noise that will probably not be heard once the carpet and upholstery is in. He also pinpointed the source of most of the rattles. It's the link that goes from the door latch to the inside door handle.

It needs better shocks on the front and an alignment.

The limited turning radius is the tires hitting the sway bar. I will either heat and bend the bar to get more clearance or get a different one.

I really need to learn where the gears are - keep hitting the wrong one.

I really need some outside mirrors. Dragged out every mirror and peep that I have and none of them work.

All little things. Fun to drive.
 
We've all been waiting for that successful first ride but probably not as much as you...cong rats on the maiden voyage...[cl[cl[cl
 
Torchie said:
That's why they are called shake down drives.
Good to see that you are working thru all the little issues.:cool:
Torchie
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Every time I can track down a rattle or shake I feel more confident about driving it. The biggest rattle turned out to be the power window track. Got that quieted down. Now the door closes with a dull thud like a refrigerator.


soltz said:
Well that is just shocking :p
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Yes shocking :rolleyes: Well, it does make me wonder if anything else is loose. I put the shocks on when the car was jacked up and tightened the nuts as much as I could. Should have checked them when it got back on the ground. I have to take back the bad things I was saying about the Monroe shocks - they actually work pretty well.

The front suspension has settled quite a bit, but the frame still needs to go down another 1" to get to ride height. I want to wait for an alignment until I get the ride height correct. I keep thinking I may need softer springs - not looking forward to wrestling those in.
 
Went to SoCal yesterday and got a "period correct" mirror.

Mounted it on the fender instead of the door. It's easier to see there. I haven't seen any Ford promotional images that show any outside mirrors and it seems that about 50% of them are mounted on the fender.

Only problem is, I can't reach it to adjust it unless the door is open.

Used threaded nut-serts, 10-24 stainless screws and locktight to mount it.

The front tires hit the sway bar (have to make a 2 point turn in the cul-de-sac). You can see the witness mark in the photo. Tightening the shocks helped, but there is still something weird happening going over the speed bumps. I'm thinking it might be the sway bar. So it's off for now, haven't had a chance to drive it since I got it off.
 

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Gauges

Tach was reading about 25% of the RPM's. The Speedhut tach was easy to reprogram, so I got the tach reading correctly. The signal comes from the ECM and I think I was confused when I originally programmed it.

The programmable fuel gauge reads empty or full depending on how it's programmed. Basically it is seeing zero resistance. Bad sending unit, wiring problem or it's stuck. Didn't chase that down yet.

Speedometer hasn't been calibrated, yet. Lost momentum before I got there.

Drove it some more today. Most of the rattles are gone. The howling has diminished significantly (diff just needed some use?). With the tach working I was a little less hesitant to get on it a bit. It's quick!

Weird thing about the power windows - they always work in the accessory position, but are intermittent in the run position. Not sure where to look for that one.
 

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