56 Ford Fairlane hardtop.

[MercuryMac]

LB. my heart is already in this car so I have to keep tinkering it up.
Bama, you said a mouthful there. Lots of people put their passenger side mirror on to line up with their driverside one and then realize they can't see out of it. The holes are already made in their new paint so they can only curse and fume.
Orr, one of my high-school cars was a fifty-six so this brings back memories for me too.
Adjusting door windows is a pain in the $$$. I got them pretty good, but I was hoping for nearly perfect. Oh well.
Pic one is my mirror extension painted and put back on.
Pic two is putting the door back together again.
Pic three is the finished door.

 

[MercuryMac]

Today I checked out why my hood latch was getting harder and harder to unlatch; sometimes impossible. The pivot rivet was worn loose and the latching arm was bent so it would not slide into its notch properly to pry back the secondary hood latch. Here is the gismo out of the car and then fixed and back in the car.

 

[Flipper_1938]

Little victories.

 

[offroadrolls]

Little victories.

Especially when it's better than original.

 

[MercuryMac]

And speaking of original; this car should be kept fairly original, I think. I'm changing a few things back the way they came from the factory.
pic one; Out with the new.
pic two; In with the old.
Not as easily done as said. There is a new Edlebrock carb under the aircleaner, so the old oil bath didn't quite fit on there quickly. With a little massaging the bottom tin now fits onto the new carb. Oh ya, the new carb is staying because it's hidden, and it is so much better than the old teapot four barrel.

 

[dutch]

much better!

 

[Old Iron]

Much better

 

[bob w]

Much better II.

 

[soltz]

Very nice, more fitting to the theme of the car. [cl

Is there oil inside or a more efferent filter [S

 

[Bamamav]

I agree, mo better! I have never like being a free advertiser for anyone other than the car maker. I prefer no name valve covers and air cleaners unless they are marked with the car's name. Mine are smooth chrome, with a factory style "Powered by FORD" decal on them. Air cleaner is smooth, with louvered sides like some early Corvettes and I think maybe GTO's. I could have as easily went with painted valve covers and air cleaner, but bought the cheapest I could find which turned out to be chrome ones.

 

[MercuryMac]

Soltz, this grey air-cleaner is still oil bath but I may change my old high school car one to paper filter. It will require a bunch of internal cutting. There is an internal mesh in a can about five inches deep molded onto the bottom of the top cap. If that was to go away then you could put a paper filter in there, I think. Anyhow, I'm not going to try that on this nice air-cleaner.

 

[Flipper_1938]

It's funny how some details are almost religious and other things are fair game to be changed.

I will cut the hell out of most anything, do chassis swaps, swap odors, but if I ever had the chance t own a split window bug, I would want it to be stock.

 

[MercuryMac]

I agree Flipper, when I'm building a hotrod I'll swap lots of things out, but on a classic that has enough power to stay with the traffic, I like to keep it stock.

 

[Couper]

Hey Merc! Looking great! I like the mirror extension and the stock air cleaner looks so much cooler!

 

[MercuryMac]

Thanks for the vote of confidence.
I dropped into the machinists the other day to see how things were going on my 312, and nothing has happened yet, so zero report.

 

[MercuryMac]

Again today I dropped into my machinists place to keep a fire under him and see if there was any news on my Y-blocks. Well, yes, bad news. The 312 that I had high hopes for, that was complete, turned out to have been shoveled together and left outside many decades too long. I could put two fingers through the cylinder wall above the piston, in one hole. I didn't want to look below the piston. There were hand-fulls of rust in every hole.
The other 312 was only partly there but it might be savable.

 

[dutch]

well,shoot... that`s sad news
I hope the next one will be good enough to save.
If it isn`t, you may find an old hemi looks nice in there as well... [P

 

[Old Iron]

With the 312"s being rather hard to come by, that is sad news.

 

[Bamamav]

Hate to repeat it, but that 351W is looking more like it wants to go in there.[ddd[ddd[ddd

Too bad the 312 block was toast, maybe the other one will work out for you. Any Y block is hard to find anymore, at least around here.

 

[MercuryMac]

Guys, you've guessed right. The reason I'm really pushing for a 312 is its rarity. I am not beating a dead horse just yet though, as the 312 stroker crankshafts are the golden egg and they both might be good. These two old 312's were 'plan B and C', but I have plan 'D, E and F', that's three more 292's that could become 312's with one of those cranks. Oh, and there's plan 'G', balance the rotating assembly in the cobbled up 272 that was in the car.

Oh ya, Bama, I went to the shed with the 351 in it and looked it over, but I turned away quickly.