'56 Ford Club Sedan Mild Custom

[bob w]

Looks like you're almost ready to put part back on. Yipee!

 

[animal]

Looks like you're almost ready to put part back on. Yipee!

Yeah, Bob, I'm real close! But now I need to spend the entire month of November doing nothing but writing. I have a goal of 50k words in thirty days. That should give me a good start on the new novel.

I did get all the parts I ordered, so starting on December 1 I can start reassembling the front suspension. I'm looking for a running vehicle with a good 302/Aod to put in the car so I can drive it while building the other engine and trans as I get the $ and time.

Thanks for your interest and encouragement, guys!! It means a lot.

 

[animal]

I spent all day today getting the engine/trans assembly set into the frame to make sure it would fit. I didn't know if the oil pan I had would work with the Camaro subframe, but I finally got everything centered, leveled, and measured for motor and trans mounts. Now that I know everything will fit, I'll pull everything back out and clean everything up and start acquiring parts to make everything complete.

 

[animal]

I got the motor mounts and trans mount fabbed up and in their final positions.... it only took a few hundred trips under the car and back out. The steering, starter, and oil filter all clear everything with room to spare. Now I need to find pulleys and brackets for the front of the 302. I tried finding used stock stuff around here, but the scrappers have hauled off anything not nailed down. I don't want to spend the money for billet stuff, and don't really want that look anyhow. If I found some for cheap, I'd paint them black and deal with it. I've also been writing a lot, so will add pics when I remember to take some.

 

[mitchs66]

Looks great![P[P[P

 

[earthman]

Thanks for the update bud. Make your next book science fiction for me Animal.

 

[animal]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! Sorry, earthman, but the second novel is over half-way done and the only spacey parts are about some of the characters.

 

[animal]

Finally... an update!

I forgot all about this thread....was posting updates to the weekend thread. Here is some of the progress I've made since finishing the book and handing the manuscript over for editing.

After mounting the Camaro front sub-frame, I rebuilt the front suspension completely. I discovered some problems with the 302 I was going to use, so found a roller-cam 5.0 to replace it. It's used, but hopefully will live long enough to allow me some time to save some funds for a rebuild. It has stainless shorty headers, an old Edelbrock Performer 289 intake manifold, and a Holley 600.

I took an old aluminum scoop I had and turned it into a carb hat that I hooked 4" tubing and a filter to for a poor man's cold air setup. I bought a HEI distributor, E3 plugs, and MSD wires. The front pulleys and brackets were all for a serpentine setup, so I got a Gilmer-style belt and pulley set and a set of brackets for the alternator that I had to modify and mount in "alternate" locations to accept the Ford alternator and allow for enough contact area on all three pulleys for the belt.

I bolted a'84 AOD to the 5.0. I'll probably use an old Mustang floor shifter and a cheap GPS speedo to make things easy. A Marston bracket kit will allow the TV cable to hook up to the Holley without problems (I hope).

I mounted the front fenders and hood to the front of the body and made brackets to attach the fenders to the Camaro sub-frame, along with a modified stock radiator support to provide the hood latch and a place to attach the 31" aluminum radiator.

I bought and mounted a universal heater and need to figure out ducting and such for defrosters and floor vents.

I found Camaro front rotors with studs on a 4.5 bolt circle, installing them with new bearings and races so I can have wheels on all for corners with the same bolt pattern.

I sold the old Cragars I had with the tires on them for enough to buy a set of 235/60/15 tires and a few more parts, like lug nuts, dust covers, radiator hoses and clamps, etc. I have a set of turbine-spoke aluminum wheels from an old Lincoln Town Car that I'm going to use, deciding not the radius the rear wheelwells after all. I bought new rotors and pads for the 8.8 in the rear, as well.

I need to stop again for awhile, to make trophies, design and hang posters, make sure everything is ready for the Steel Stampede show in July. I hope to have the car done by Spring, at least to where it will run and move. I'll need to find someone to align the front end and set up the TV cable on the AOD.

That's about all for now. I'll try to update this thread when I get more done.

 

[animal]

a little off-topic...

The new novel is nearly ready to print! Here's the cover I designed. As soon as this is off to the printers and the Steel Stampede is over, the '56 will be my only project!

 

[animal]

heater mount

This is where the heater fit...it should be plenty big enough!

 

[soltz]

Thinks are coming along nicely [cl
Good deal on the book, I need some reading material for my spare time [S

 

[animal]

Thanks, Soltz!

 

[animal]

Finally get to work on the car!

This summer flew by... got fed up with the nonsense and retired from the government, got a new job welding (much more fun), got the new novel finished up and edited, designed the cover, announced a couple roller derby bouts, went through some drama with one of my sons, successfully put on the third annual car show I do for a local veterans memorial, and secretly stashed some parts and pieces for my '56 Ford Fairlane.

So now the book has been sent to the printer, I'm done with the car show, my kid has straightened up and is hopefully on a better track, and I'm ordering more parts.

Last weekend I started on the dash, figuring out switches, etc. I have a whole new deal going for instrumentation, and think it will be pretty cool. I've stepped out of some long-held opinions about "traditional" flavor and am using a digital dash, LED headlights and taillights, and a digital stereo without a cd player but with a usb, aux, and sd card slot.

I've never been afraid to cut stuff up, so there are quite a few things on this car that will make purists and traditional rodders cringe. That's okay with me... I build stuff to suit me, then drive it. This is turning into much more of a project than I originally planned, but I've really taken a shine to this car and hope to be able to use it as my daily driver.

Here are a few pics and I'll post more... I had taken a bunch and my phone ate them somehow. I will definitely post more progress pics soon... I promise.

 

[animal]

It's alive!

I finally got caught up with all the family and health issues, so I decided to see if the junkyard engine I put in the Ford would actually run without knocking and spewing smoke. (Hey, the guy said it ran fine, but...) I'm not really an engine guy, usually need help to do much more than maintenance.

I wired the engine up with temporary switches so I could try to start it.

I originally used the wrong firing order so that didn't work. I changed the firing order, and it still wouldn't start... 180 off. Started over, got it to sputter with gas in the carb, but no joy with making it run. Carb was dry, had sat for years. Checked for fuel flow... nope.

Crawled under the car, saw I'd left the ball valve in front of the electric pump in the 'off" position. Fixed that, took fuel line off carb and ran pump until I was sure there was fuel, hooked it back up, ran the pump for a few seconds and tried again.

Hooray! It runs, and doesn't knock. the little smoke that showed at the original start went away pretty quickly, and it looks like I lucked out. Now I'm excited to get to work and get the car moving, since I know the engine is good.

Now, if the transmission is good...

I tried to post a video of it running, but was told the mp4 is an "invalid file" Any ideas?

 

[animal]

Here's a low-quality video from my phone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5xpx5oYy-c

 

[animal]

This car was a Texas car... didn't have a heater. I made a block-off plate to cover the hole in the firewall and installed a bulkhead fitting to route heater hoses to the heater I installed under the dash. I'll probably mount the heater valve to a bracket bolted to this plate.

I spent today figuring out the throttle cable placement, brackets, and attachment. I got brackets built for the cable mount and spring attachment, shortened the cable, got the little ferrule gizmo installed back on it, and re-positioned the gas pedal a couple times until I got it where I'm satisfied with it.
I need to re-configure the top of the throttle to match up with the hole in the firewall the cable goes through, then attack the TV cable bracket. I bought a couple different pre-fab units, but didn't really like how they lined up, so I'm going to fabricate one to attach the stock TV cable to.

 

[soltz]

motor sounds good [cl
Firewall looks good [cl
How do we order the new book [S I need to know what "Hammer" is up to [P

 

[animal]

motor sounds good [cl
Firewall looks good [cl
How do we order the new book [S I need to know what "Hammer" is up to [P

Thanks! Didn't I send you the new book?

 

[soltz]

Thanks! Didn't I send you the new book?

Sorry Larry, I got over excited about a new book thinking another chapter in the series, didn't think about the time it takes to get every thing done. Unless there is a third book out there some where [P
I really like the way the 56 is going. I did all the digital thing with my 56 F-100.
Take care and enjoy your time.

 

[animal]

Soltz, I need to get this car on the road before writing the next book. I do appreciate the encouragement, though!