Slow going

As predicted, not much happened on Saturday due to the miserable freezing rain. The sad thing is that I am now addicted to messing with the Galaxie and without my fix I turn into a miserable old curmudgeon. On the happiness front my new water pump arrived and behold the pump in all its glory

I showed it, and the new valve covers to Gene and I could see that he was impressed as he started to ask about the cost and the shipping. I would not mind betting that this time next year there will be two Galaxies in chrome.
The only other thing to report is that I sprayed a small part of the clean block with the AutoZone gloss black and when it dried it looked real slick. This engine is going to look better than new when finished but it is so frustrating that the weather is slowing progress to slightly faster than bugger all.

Bring on the spring.

Not such a clean machine

I think that I am going to have to place AutoZone engine cleaner into the Haynes Manual Hall of Shame. Just like the Haynes manual the promises to clean my 390 were a tissue of lies. I really should have known better especially bearing in mind my recent successes with common or garden oven cleaner. Last night I was truly "Dans merde creek sans le paddle", as we say im Deutsch.

I was beginning to think that these short nights were becoming a pain but then I realized that next week the evenings get longer so productivity will shortly improve. What with only an hour of daylight and the worthless engine cleaner not much got done, although I did discover that most of the paint has gone from the timing chain cover and it has quite a nice aluminum look which I shall leave on the finished product. Whilst in the AutoZone I bought the Silver paint for the exhaust manifold and the black for the block (if I ever get the grease off). I also raised Gene's eyebrows by getting an aerosol of fluorescent yellow for the oil pan. As the oil pan will hardly be seen it seems like a hidden signature from me. Then Gene mentioned that a few guys paint the back of the differential in yellow with a smiley face. Again it is hardly even seen so that might be fun.

Talking of Gene he has been hard at it without me and a fair amount of sanding has been done behind my back, praise the Lord.

Tomorrow's forecast is for wintry sleet and snow with a high of 35 degrees so I don't anticipate being able to write my usual devastately witty blog, sorry yawls.

Is (engine) size important?

So here it is in all its glory, the mighty FE390 (or 6.4 litres to my army of British acolytes). Now I was chatting to Gene with regard to my earlier plans of painting the block blue and he concurred that blue was a perfectly acceptable color and indeed Ford did paint their blocks blue, on the 351 engines. What a horrid thought that people might look under the hood and assume that I had a tiny engine. So black it is, I could not bear the shame of being mistaken for a Cleveland driver.

That nasty rusty mess above the crankshaft pulley is the water pump which I pulled off last night. I was going to service it until I found out that the overhaul kit was going to be $60. So it seemed a whole lot more practical to just buy a rebuilt pump in, wait for it....... chrome. Doesn't that make your girly bits throb in anticipation?

I think that might do it for the chrome, well except for the 5 inch T bolts that I bought to hold the valve covers down, oh and the chrome vent for the crankcase ventilation.

I have to confess to a slight feeling of melancholy at the moment. Everything that I do makes the car look worse. As you can see below the engine bay looks like crap and indeed the car is just a mess. Still everyone tells me that this is the worst part of the project and things will not get to feel better until I start to spray primer.

I am not too sure how much progress will be made this weekend as the forecast is for highs in the 30's. Now I can work in the cold but I don't think that the filler will and I know that Gene won't. At the very least I shall get myself a ton of oven cleaner and clean the engine. It will doubtless be too cold to spray the block so I might just take the bell housing off. Then the clutch can come out and a replacement fitted. I suppose that I should take the flywheel off and check it for any warping, however the clutch takes up fine at the moment (or it did before I took the engine out and deprived myself of the odd illegal burn up the lane.

I will get the exhaust manifold checked for level so maybe before I do I will sandblast them off and see if I can paint them in silver. Black block, silver manifolds and a red pan, that sounds good to me.

Finally look at the poor old Galaxie, nasty filler everywhere (thank you so much Gene) and without the weight of the engine she looks like one of the hip hop things you see in LA.

When, oh when are things going to start to look better?

Nothing to Report

Well I haven't blogged lately because nothing much has happened. I didn't work last Saturday as duty called and I spent the day either in the Coffee House or restocking the Coffee House, merde!

Still I did tackle a task that I thought would be a nightmare and yet turned out to be a dream (isn't that always the way)? My good ol' boys had already told me to change the exhaust manifold gaskets while the engine was out as it was near impossible to do with the engine in. I was fully prepared to end up grinding out the bolts but in fact only two sheared off and the others came out nice and easy. As it happens one gasket was shot and the other was missing. (Once again I am forced to the conclusion that I am not the first to boldly go &etc.).

That is it, that is all I have done in a week. I have decided to paint the block Ford Blue. It is not the correct color (Galaxies had black engines) but the air cleaner and valve covers arrived last night and the badges are in blue (see the picture below) so it is going to look sweet. I shall sandblast the manifolds and spray them in silver.

This is a labor of love.

The Engine is out

Did I ever work. Good Lord I was under, over and under that car all day and what is more I forgot the damned camera again. Sorry yawls I will snap some more on my next trip. Anyway I got the transmission off first just to make the lift easier and then two bolts later the engine was swinging from the bucket of Gene's tractor. As usual the body shop was the County's social center and I was surrounded by good ol' boys with plenty of (good and welcome) advice.

So I will be back underneath to sandblast the front end and then the engine bay. Fortunately the original engine bay color was black so it should be fairly easy to make a nice job of that. Then to clean and detail the engine. It should be black with a gold pan and valve covers but the top is going to be chrome so I figure I can paint the pan anything I want. Maybe even like this in Viking Blue to match the body. The world really is my oyster.



I was going to perform all the upgrades after the car was back on the road but it occurs to me that with the engine out this might be a fine time to replace the generator with an alternator, it will certainly be easier to weld new brackets with the block hanging off a chain.



I really am having way too much fun

New Toys

Well I should have worked on the Galaxie last Tuesday but you know what? It was just too damned cold and the thought of lying on a concrete floor disconnecting the transmission was more than man and boy could handle. It is going to be colder tonight but for some perverse reason I am going to go do some work, I guess I just miss it after all. (In addition I felt ashamed of myself for watching House MD on Tuesday, it really has turned into pointless drivel).


I have been feeling somewhat torn about the finished product for as you know I would like it to look basically stock but then again changes have to be made, alternator, disc brakes and so on. I was going to sandblast the rocker boxes (valve covers to you colonials) and air filter and then paint them gold to match the original. I can source the original decals and I thought that would look sweet but then I found this.



Isn't that a pretty set? Well I twatted around for a while in a tizzy of indecision and then Gene arrived. Gene is the oracle for all things Galaxie and his opinion counts. It transpires that Ford used to offer a "dress up" kit and so this chrome stuff does not break any unwritten code of Galaxie men. With Gene's approval I was set to go and now this is what the top will look like.

Rock on Baby.

Good News

Lots of good news for this post. First of all I got a break from the loathsome sanding. It's not that we are finished you understand (far from it) but there were other things to do. So this weekend we started to remove the engine. Out came the radiator and expansion box, off came the carburetor and out with the a/c compressor. On the very good news front, as I disconnected the high pressure line I heard a fairly significant hiss of R12 venting to the atmosphere. (Yes I know, no need to point out that I have irreparable damaged the ozone layer, but who would have thought that the freon would still be there)? So perhaps I am going to be saved a compressor rebuild, and a few hundred dollars. Also on the good news front, I know I can hardly bear it myself, I tested the compressions whilst I could still crank the engine. This was necessary as I needed to know if there was going to be any engine work while it was out. The cylinders ranged from 125 to 140 psi and that is plenty good enough for me. I got the hood off and then was able to get the hinges off. This then revealed the two hidden screws that enabled me to get the fender trim off. It also means that the trunk and hinges will be blue while the engine bay is sprayed black, sharp. Back underneath to get the prop shaft out (if this puzzles you please read to the end) and that was the end of my day.
Next time I hope to disconnect the overdrive cable and electric, disconnect the speedometer, the clutch cable and the gear selector rods, undo 4 bolts and lower the gearbox onto a trolley jack. Then wrap a chain around the block, undo the two engine mounts and pull the motor. Doesn't that sound easy? We will see.

Gene had a buddy down from New York and like most of Gene's buddies he knows cars. My problem was that I was outnumbered by Americans and when they were telling me what to do they spoke a language of their own. Now I will grant you hood (bonnet) and trunk (boot) as bonnet does seem to be a little twee, but I think for the rest of the car parts we should stick to the following;
The two enclosures at the top of the engine are rocker boxes as they contain the rockers. They are not valve covers as the valves are inside the cylinders. The body panels below the doors are called sills, not rocker panels (there are no rockers in there, they are on top of the engine). There are two types of transmission, automatic or manual, let's forget straight gear, stick shift and similar nonsense. Power is transmitted from the gearbox by the propshaft (I can't even remember what the Yankees called it). Power is applied to the differential, not the pumpkin or ham or whatever. We then have the half shafts, not drives shafts, drives shafts are reserved for nasty little front wheel drive cars.

I am sure that there were a few other butcheries of my Mother tongue but in the interests of cordial international relations I will let them pass. Just remember boys if we all speak the same language then the job will go a lot faster.

Anyway that is it for the week, the evenings are to damned short and cold to be working especially underneath on a cold concrete floor. Next week I shall take the camera and treat you to a picture of the engine coming out.

Toodle Pip

Happy Thanksgiving

I was expressing an opinion that the light was at the end of the tunnel apropos this sanding malarkey when Gene looked me in the eye and said "My boy used to make people sand with a paint stick"

Now I have absolutely no idea wtf that means other than (with a sinking heart) there is more sanding to be done. Still looking on the bright side it could be worse, I could be having bowel surgery in the woods with a stick.

Realizing that even I, with all my literary skills, can no longer write an interesting blog on sanding, I present for your interest and delight the picture below

Yes I know, its a 62 not a 63 and yes I realize it is a T ' bird not a Galaxie but behold, it is Viking Blue and Corinthian White and notice those fender skirts. Isn't that the greatest color scheme? Just looking at this picture makes me feel anxious down below.

Right I am off to gorge myself on turkey and then drink myself into a coma. Happy Thanksgiving Colonials

PS I nearly forgot. I bought new fender ornaments last week so I decided to sell off the old ones and perhaps reverse this dreadful money sink. So if you would like a spot of memorabilia go here and bid nice and high

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1963-Ford-Galaxie-Fender-Ornament_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33654QQihZ012QQitemZ220175388579QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Peace out,
Dave

Onwards !

I really think that we are getting close to the end of the nauseous block sanding. The rear quarters are looking very smooth and although I will be glad to see the back of the block sander I absolutely realize the importance of the preparation. There is no way that I will ever stand next to this finished product, look at a bad spot and wish that I had tried harder. So here I am having given the quarter what for, spraying a guide coat of primer on. With the primer glistening in the sun you could see just a small area that needed more attention, but how nice to find it now rather than after the top coat is applied

This shot is after the primer dried and is really just to show the fender skirt that I forgot to photograph last week. You have to admit that the skirt just makes the car, doesn't it?

There really isn't a great deal to log about last Saturday because once again it was all about the

sanding. Here is a shot of the Kim (as in kimscar.blogspot) discovering the dignity of honest labor. It took her all of 15 minutes to realize that it is impossible to exaggerate the tedium of sanding, and retire to toast her ass on the shop fire with Gene.

Repairs

The Galaxie has a crank handle which opens the vent window (yes it really is over-engineered but whatever). To convert the lateral action to vertical there is a small gearbox inside each door. Both of these were broken allowing the vent window to be simply pushed open. Apparently this is a common problem but I figured that I had nothing to lose by taking them out and trying to repair them. And so it comes that under the guise of education I present my gearbox repair 101 course.

First remove the inside door trim (I didn't have to do this so if it is a bitch, sorry). Now locate the two screws that hold the gearbox to the door and the one that couples the shaft to the window and undo them. Once you have the screws undone you can wriggle the gearbox out of the door. Now reach into the bottom of the door and pluck out the end cap that will have fallen off.

This would be a good time to re grease the gears so go ahead and push on the shaft and drive the worm out. Whilst the worm is out, drill out the rivets that held the cap on. Now all that you need to do is reassemble the worm and twist it counterclockwise to seat it. Then bolt the end cap on and you are done.

If, however, you can't find the end cap, which is the piece lower right, then you can always just make up anything to stop the worm disengaging as shown to the left. Either way the vent will now crank and you are Captain Bigpeen.

Excitement !!

I did something exciting today. I drilled out the rear wheel arch and screwed in the locating pins for the fender skirts. That's it. After what seems like weeks of sanding, drilling and pining was like a breath of fresh air. Now the Galaxie sports a very handsome pair of skirts and when you see a Galaxie in skirts you can't imagine why anyone would drive one with naked wheel arches. Of course to mark such an important step I forgot the camera, Merde! OK photos to follow.

In fact the sanding is going well (even though I now have a repetitive stress injury). The rear quarters are very nearly there and the nasty behind the driver's door is down to the final coats. In order to break the monotony I have been grinding down the stone chips in the paint and filling those up.

The only thing that keeps me going is the certain knowledge that this is going to be the finest Galaxie in four counties.

Sand and Spray

Once again I have to report that progress was the same old, yes indeedy, sand, sand and more sand. Still if progress can be measured by the grade of the grit (and of course it can) then I am flying because we are now using 220 (as opposed to 80 and 150). It seems like most of the big stuff is nearly done and I am now looking at the small chips and imperfections. Each of these will now be flattened, filled and sanded. The end result will be a car that looks like new. At the end of my day I ran a coat of cheap primer over some of the bigger areas to act as a tell tale. It is interesting (or should that be depressing) to look at what appeared to be a perfect repair and see lots of little bubbles and scratches pop up as the paint dries. Naturally it is better to catch them now, when they can be taken care of, rather than after the top coat is spayed on. I can also report that my skills as a sprayer are marginally better than as a welder.

What I don't understand is why some areas looks smooth as glass and some like the surface of the moon. Oh well at least is is only a tell tale coat which will be sanded. When it comes to the final coat I shall stick to plan A and pay the sprayer.

Still, as predicted, my fire worked beautifully and I was toasty all day.

The manual

Warning: This entry is off subject and not worth reading

Many years, nay decades, ago when I used to tinker with vehicles they were pretty straightforward and you could look at an engine and see what was supposed to happen. These days things are packed in so tightly that in general you need some sort of guide and so it came to pass that I read a Haynes manual.

As you know Gene has been working on the much reviled block sanding during the week when I am not available. I return I help him out on things that his ancient old frame can't handle. Last night I replaced the radiator in his Mazda 323. I have no idea what Mr Haynes is thinking off when he writes his manuals but I could have saved myself some serious time by tossing it on the fire (at least my ass would have got a warm). Haynes manuals are simply a tissue of lies. They are to auto mechanics as Dish network is to telecommunications, utter crap.

BTW of course it goes without saying that I am now King of the Mazda radiators

The fun never ends

Another very full day for team Galaxie (albeit that the invisible man seems to have gone forever, with my $20, the git). As it happens this is not slowing us down at all as there is still a veritable cornucopia of body work to be done. Gene has been very kindly working on the Galaxie during the week so I offered to trade a few hours on projects for him, which has the added bonus of keeping the damned block sander out of my hands.

So I started my day by installing a nice word burning stove in the Galaxie garage. Check it out, my ass is going to be toasty all winter!
OK so the flue is a touch Jed Clampett-esque but I testing it with some cardboard and kindling and is draws just fine and that is all the matters.

Gene decided that it was about time I learned how to use the torches, so we set about cutting the centers out of wheels (I would tell you why but it was a bit complicated). So he starts off with a perfect circle cut freehand and passed the torch to me. Let me tell you people that when it comes to cutting and welding, I am complete and utter crap. I don't know how I did it but the wheel went super nova and fell apart. I am sure that Gene had never seen anything like it as he just looked at this puddle of molten steel and quietly turned off the gas bottles.

On another miserable note here is why I hate sanding. Below is the left fender (or wing, to my European readers). Gene had previously welded up the holes where the remote control mirror was (and where the spotlight will be). You can see in the center the green filler, and around the edges the white finishing filler. Notice how beautifully I have feathered it all in. Now look at the four corners and you can see bare metal. This means that the metal is too high, so I will have to beat it down with a pecking hammer, fill it all again and start sanding again. You see why I hate this sanding nonsense, just like those Aegean stables, it never ends, call me Hercules

Below is a picture of the replacement drivers door. The image does not do justice to my skill as a sander as I think that it is almost done and thus ready to be installed.

I also took a cartload of tires off rims and sorted some scrap from good stuff. I ended up with these

Now I know that the purists will whinge on about them not being the right wheels but ;

I need 15" wheels to accommodate the disc brakes that will eventually be fitted. The car must have discs, not just because of the greater stopping power but also because a single line braking system is about as sensible as assuming that the parking brake is a good emergency backup. The only Galaxie that had 15" wheels was the 427 so whatever I do will be wrong. In any case only the most tiny penised of pedants is going to care. I think that with the accents painted in Viking Blue they are going to look sweet. In addition I got them for the scrap value of the metal, not of course that that affected my decision.

Winter draws on

We had a cold snap here in southern Virginia on Monday night and that rang alarm bells that I should have drained the Galaxie engine, oops. So Tuesday night I was at the shop discovering that in 1963 Ford did not put drain plugs on radiators. The alternative is to wrestle the bottom hose off which took all of 30 minutes. I probably should have checked first to see if the radiator was full of antifreeze or water because it was indeed full of antifreeze. Now I had to wash it all away to stop the shop cat drinking it. Poisoning Gene's cat would probably poison our working relationship as well. I tell you nothing is ever easy. As the French say "Tout a bloody lours"

In preparation for winter I started to install a wood burning stove and it looks like I should be nice and toasty all winter, the pictures will follow. Sadly I realize that the clocks go back this Sunday and that will curtail my two evening work a week. Of course we gain an hour in the morning but I am dreadfully not a morning person so that is not going to help at all.

What else did I do? Oh yes that's it I block sanded the driver's door! I think another five coats of filler and ten hours of sanding and we might be close. (To finishing the door, that is, the end of sanding the car seems like decades away).

Onwards and Upwards

Filling in Time

Well, there is not too much to report this week. No matter how hard you dress it up, block sanding is block sanding and although it is necessary, damn is it ever tedious. The good ol’ boys now joke that I walk around the shop glaring at the blocks like they are Copperheads. I spent all day sanding and at the end of it all (just when the car was, imho, looking sweet) Gene covered it all in a layer of, guess what?, more filler.

Talking of the boys, we had quite a delegation on Saturday. It seems to be the thing that if we are in the shop and the boys are passing by, they call in. It used to disturb me that a lot of talk and not much work got done but then I realized that this is a hobby not a business and I am in no heaving rush to get this job done. Such is life in the south and where good company is concerned I would rather be at a country wake than a Yankee wedding.

Miracle of miracles, the invisible man turned up on Saturday! Well at 6:00, so he hadn’t come to do any work. Still he said that he would show on Saturday and he did.

No pictures this time as I think that we are all sick of shots body panels and filler (I know that I am). So my day concluded with a quick thrash up and down the road. One of the boys did mention that it would go a lot quicker if I connected the vacuum advance but I might leave that until I have a drivers door and a seat that doesn’t skitter around the car like a hippo in an ice rink.

Finally one of the boys has the spotlight bracket that I need for the drivers light, he also knows where I can buy a new spotlight and that makes me happy. It seems like the spotlight option was only a southern thing as the boys needed to be able to turn their rear lights off in order to avoid the attention of the ATF bureau.

Way cool.

Onwards and Upwards

It is a strange paradox that as we make more progress the car looks crappier and crappier. It is now covered in dust from all the block sanding as well as masking tape and pieces of newspaper. Still it is clear that we are making astounding progress and that makes me happy. I decided that I definitely do not want the remote control mirror on the drivers fender as it will get in the way of the spotlight (if I ever find one). So Gene welded up the three holes and that took him all of two minutes. It is impressive what you can do with the right tools. My task is to block sand and as jobs go it isn't too hard. The tough part will be when we decide it is right, then the car gets primed and we wet and dry it with 320 grit. Apparently this will show all the imperfections and we start all over again, be still my beating heart.

On the (very) good news front, Gene found a bucket seat to replace my milk crate. This meant that it is now very much easier to drive the car, the end result being that I could not resist taking it down the lane. On reflection, considering that I had ;

no lights
hell, no front end
no exhaust system
no drivers door
a seat held on by gravity
no tags
4 bald tires with a combined pressure of 20 psi
newspaper flapping everywhere,

it probably wasn't my most sensible idea, but let me tell you it was so worth it. That 390 pulls like a freight train, 40 mph in first gear, way cool. Now I can't wait to get this thing onto a test track to see what she can do.

Plans for the next few weeks? I think I might do me some more block sanding.

Plugs and Points

Whilst Gene continued to block sand I offered to change the plugs on his 78 Mercury (anything to avoid the dreaded sanding). As usual I got the crap end of the deal. The Mercury was clearly designed by Ford's retard son as after they build the engine they discovered that they had forgotten the air filter, air conditioning and the vacuum advance device. As a result 5 out of the 8 plugs are very well hidden and my fingers still hurt, bastards. Now back in 1963 Ford knew to keep the plugs at the top and in clear view, in those days cars weren't choked with this emission control nonsense.

Still we made sterling progress on the Galaxie and I even had a go at sanding (under Gene's very watchful eye). Then (shock) Marco turned up! He even offered to refund my $20 but I thought that I would keep him on the hook as the engine is due to be pulled on Saturday week and I may need him. Of course I may never see him again, time will tell.

At the end of the day we both sat back and just stared at the car. It could be that we were mesmerised by its intrinsic beauty or it could be that we were two worn out farts.

Giant Steps

Another milestone. I got the second rear shock on and then connected the fuel lines and the gas gauge sender unit. With the wheels back on I primed the carb and fired this bad boy up, and yes she started first time.

Sadly I discovered that my lightweight racing seat just didn't cut it. Ever resourceful I fashioned a new, and this time working, drivers seat. I think that you will agree it has a certain southern charm.

Anyhoo I reversed her out of the garage under her own power and parked her under the trees. As you can imagine after all the sandblasting that went on the garage was two inches deep in sand and all of that had to be swept out before I could reverse her back in so that we can work on the front end. I also took the opportunity to clean out the garage so that the car fits completely in.

Here is a shot of the now working gas gauge. I know that it is a small thing but I got such a buzz out of seeing something work that was previously crap. High five me.

I have always thought that I could never be a gardener or an interior decorator because I can't see the finished product in my mind's eye. However with this project how could anyone not see the potential? I can just see me cruising down the Rue de Elegance with Britney, Paris and Lindsay all telling me how big and blue it is.

By the way the real reason that I could never be a gardener or an interior decorator is that I am not a gayboy.

Finally, a gratuitous and pointless picture of the engine. 6.4 liters of Ford's finest, vrooom.

Swinging the Lead

So I arrived a little late to find sparks flying. As I mentioned some time ago Gene had decided that we he should remove the original lead seams and replace them with modern filler. This will ensure that the seams do not crack up and damage the new paint in 10 years time. The man really is a pro.

By the time I arrived he had already done one side and was working on the other. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but I am already looking for ways to get out of block sanding this stuff. Actually the point may be moot as Gene tells me that once we think it is perfect then we will prime it and spend hours using wet and dry paper to make it really perfect. Tout Alors!

There were also some nasty ulcers around the hood so Gene decided to grind them down. Whilst doing so he explained that for some reason people found the need to slam the hood with the palm of their hand and this could cause the hood to dent in. Sure enough as he ground away he found a patch exactly where he predicted. Although it was an invisible mend, he dug it all out so that he could replace it with our top quality filler. The man is nothing if not professional. While all this was happening I was underneath changing out the rear shocks. Not difficult, not exciting, just necessary. Sadly the twilight beat me and I have one more to do on Saturday.

I decided that as costs are ramping up I need to economize a tad. Behold the new drivers seat. Notice the correct color match and the auto recline feature (floor the car and you topple over backwards). The astute reader will also note the manual cruise control already installed and sitting on the floor.


On a less flippant note, I really am excited at where we are going with this project and the next one is taking shape, if only in my mind.

Paint paint and paint

Well we have good news, bad news and bad news. The good news is that I got a break from block sanding, and let me tell you that is good news. The bad news is that the invisible man failed to show once again. I tell you people, what ever happened to work ethic? Actually I don't care as there is nothing I need him for at the moment other that to do the jobs that are too grubby for my little pink ass. Which brings me to the second bad news, I had to get underneath and spray, and spray and spray. Still on the bright side there is nothing like doing it yourself to ensure that the quality control is performed properly. Now all the patches have been sealed and the underside primed, tarred up and painted black, as has the trunk floor.

The gas tank is back in and it is a nice feeling to be putting things back in as opposed to be pulling parts out.

Sadly time ran out as I was hoping to replace the rear shocks and get the fuel lines connect so I could get her back on her feet and turned around. After that the engine comes out and the inside and engine bay gets sandblasted and painted up.

For a while I had a fantasy of finding a 427 engine for the Galaxie. Then I discovered that it returns just 4 mpg! Of course you can burn rubber in any gear but it is a hell of a price to pay.

The Death Car?

For the want of something better to do I decided to disassemble the seat belts and clean the webbing and buckles. It seems like the buckle has rusted into the webbing as I can’t shift it. Something will have to be done, as this is the adjusting point. Anyhoo it is probably moot as these belts are simple lap straps like you find on aircraft. As far as I can see in the event of an accident the belt will hold your hips in position whilst inertia will pivot your body into the steering wheel or, in the case of the passenger, smash your face into the unpadded metal dashboard.

When one gets used to the safety that is now designed into modern cars it feels strange to be in a car designed in the 50’s. Still on the bright side this car is built like a tank. Should it hit a modern vehicle then I expect that it will fully utilize that vehicle’s crumple zone. So as long as we don’t hit Jimmy Juggernaut in his 18-wheeler, or horror of horrors, another Galaxie we should get away without denting a fender.

Beep beep.

Block Sanding

I have come to the sad realization that I am just not cut out for this block sanding malarkey. I know, it’s dreadfully important and the finished job is only as good as the preparation but nevertheless what a performance it all is. I suppose the problem is that I am more suited to instant gratification, you know the sort of thing, hit the bong and hey presto, you’re there. Pop three bottles of Milwaukee’s finest down your neck on an empty stomach and woohoo. Block sanding, on the other hand, comprises of wrapping a sheet of 80 grade around a rubber former and bashing away for 30 minutes. At the end of it you have simply transferred the filler from the car to your eyes, nostrils and other assorted orifices. Then (and get this) you smear more filler into the area you have just sanded down and you start again. Jesus what a life. This is the sort of work clearly suited to Marco except for the fact that the invisible man is still doing his impersonation of the Scarlet Pimpernel, they seek him here, they seek him there and so on. As soon as the itinerant lead swinger turns up I shall be able to get back to scouring the four corners of Gene’s beer fridge, and that my friends is where I am a Viking.

On a more reverent note, there is a design issue with the Galaxie. Apparently there are six spot where the panels are lead soldered together and seamed with lead. Over the years this sets up problems with the lead cracking and damaging the paintwork. In addition the lead has some sort of acid effect on the paint. In fact you can clearly see on the top of the rear wing what can only be described as acne. According to my mentor we shall be running the torch over these areas and melting out the lead to replace it with modern filler. Did I mention how great this Galaxie is going to be?

Patches and Paint

Another day of big steps forward. During the week Gene had filled the many tiny dents in the rear quarters and I set to sanding them down. The more I work on this car the more I am convinced that it is going to look better than new. It is hard to see from the picture but those white areas of filler are feathered in like you can't believe.


I pulled the paint code from the door plate and although I suspected that the car was Viking blue it was good to get it confirmed. We bought a quart for the door jams and blew $67. Sooner or later I am going to have to buy 2 gallons, ouch.

I am going to leave the big fill to Gene. This requires more skill and a better eye for the line than I have but as you can see already it is coming together. The vertical edges are now straight and mainly metal. Another day of mainly filling and sanding and we will be looking real good.

The big patches are welded in and to improve the look I have now bondo-ed them in and covered them in tar. Here is a shot of the patch that I should have taken last week

This is under the rear seat and you can see the surface rust clearly here. There are no holes in there but as far as I can see the rust is caused by the fact that there was a sticky rubber padding in the floor. This must have trapped moisture and here is the result. Next week I shall tickle this with the sandblaster and once it is bare metal, prime, paint, tar and then put new sound deadening down. Did I mention how solid this car is going to be? Seriously, this is going to be a 100 year car, 2063 my great grandchildren will be riding this thing. OK back to the point.

Here is a shot of the front. Note the lack of a gear shifter, it's on the column which was one of the main reasons for buying this one, a bench front seat. Incidentally a four speed transmission is called "four on the floor". What we have here is known as "three on the tree". Just to the left of the air conditioner (yes we have air) is the overdrive lever. That should get us up to 17mpg on a long run using supreme grade fuel. BTW look at the dashboard to get an idea of what a great color Viking Blue is. It is hard to see from the body as the 46 year old paint is sun faded. Additionally I have almost decided to make it a two tone by painting the roof off white. The upside is that I am sure it will look cool. The downside is that the paint will then not match the ID plate which kinda devalues the car. Decisions decisions.

Talking of fuel, as we were, I got the gas gauge sender installed and the tank will go back in as soon as I have painted and undersealed the underside of the trunk floor. I was going to do the paint until Gene explained that he would cover me in baby oil so that the paint would clean off afterwards. This sounded a touch homo to me so I decided to leave that until my itinerant tinker decides to turn up, if ever.

Instead I ambled off to do something more manly like drink beer.

Money spent; $67 on Viking Blue metallic.

Money to Burn

Part I

You will recall that Marco didn't show last Saturday and I assumed that he was flush and didn't need my wedge. Well he turned up last Thursday, not to work but to negotiate an interest free payday loan. Promising to work down the debt on Saturday, he extracted $20 from me. Did he show Saturday? Did he buggery! Too busy blowing his my wad on shine and weed I'll be bound.

Part II

Several of the auto restoration companies ply their wares on Ebay and I like to keep an eye out for a bargain. Last week I managed to pick up two vent window winders for $20. During breakfast with Gene I let him know about my financial acumen when he asked how much I had paid. When I told him he gave me that knowing smile which prompts the retort "What!". "Well", he says "I picked up a box of those at the Carlisle show for $1 each. Let me know if you need any other parts"

Bon bloody jour as we say in German

Money spent; $20 on winders (bah humbug)

Fun in the Sun

Bloody hell, I forgot to take the camera again. Quelle tragadaire (as we say in German) for yesterday we took some huge leaps forward. We put a welded bead down the driver’s door post, for strength, and Gene started to Bondo up the panel. I vacuumed out the trunk and the car and removed 100 lbs of sand, I also cleared out 17 Falls worth of leaves and twigs. The big old rust holes in the rear wheel arches and under the rear seat are sealed with plates and weld. (I now have body shop hands, covered in tiny nicks from the jagged edges of the tin and I can’t unclench my fingers after hours using the tin snips). I also closed up the gaping holes in the trunk and the next step will be to Bondo, prime, paint and then seal with tar, damn this car is going to be solid.

In true Appalachian manner Marco failed to show. Apparently he had a good week and earned enough beer and nicotine money so he didn’t need my largesse or me. I suspect that he realized that he had an appointment with the chassis and the sandblaster again and that may have been the reason that he simply drove up and down the road all day on his decrepit ATV. He drinks about a gallon of soda a day so I bought a couple of cases of Walmart’s finest (cheapest) first thing and put them in the shop fridge. Haha your loss Marco.

We also reached a big miles stone today inasmuch as we are starting to put things back. The gas tank is ready to go back in, having been primed and sprayed. I just need to get a new fuel gauge sender, which I ordered today. With the tank in I can then disconnect the bleach bottle by the radiator, which is currently my 2-quart tank.

I will get some pictures of my patches and post them during the week so that you can fall prostrate in front of my bodyshop manliness.
Money spent; $8 on sodas (git) $76.99 Gas tank sender.

The 100 year car?

Another fulfilling evening for Team Galaxie. The major achievement was getting the damaged door pillar straightened. We could have saved hours by just Bondo-ing it but the greater the Bondo the less the strength. In addition the fill would be right behind the drivers door and I am sure that 20 years of door slamming would eventually crack it out. So Gene sat outside and heated the pillar with a torch and I lay inside and gently tapped the panel out. Success!! (of course the car was like a sauna when I finished but it was a small price to pay).

In another minor step forward we primed and painted the gas tank and the bumper brackets. None of this will show when the car is rebuilt but I have the satisfaction of knowing that the job was done right and will last forever. I have also decided to extend the projected life of the Galaxie. The car is now 44 years old and will be in its prime at 50. So is it too much to anticipate it lasting for 100 years? Nah, Kimberley, I predict that in 60 years your grandchildren will be ingratiating themselves in the hope of being bequeathed the car.

The DMV (part II)

This might be a wild guess but I am thinking that the DMV rotate their staff according to a psychological evaluation

Thursday is the day for miserable old crones whose life ambition is to destroy ones faith in the American dream. Tuesday, on the other hand, is the day for happy smiley people who only want to fill you with a childlike sense of wonder at the beauty of the bureaucracy of local government in all of its majesty.

You may have already guessed that I got the Galaxie titled today.

More fun with Gene

For a brief moment I started to feel a touch dissatisfied with the progress that we are making. It seems like we put in a huge day and when I look at the car I can’t see what we did. Then it struck me that I had probably overdosed on car shows, you know, Pimp my Ride, Wrecks to Riches, Trick my Truck. Now I know that they don’t actually get a full restoration done in 30 minutes (duh) but they claim it takes a week. Still they have a huge team and work 24/7. Team Galaxie comprises of Gene, Marco and myself and now the evenings are drawing in we will shortly be down to just one day a week. The good news is that time is not of the essence and the real problem is that I am excited about getting this proud and haughty beauty back on the road.
So progress this weekend; I get the gas tank slosh and spend hours getting the rust out of

Me with a tank full of stones

the tank. Marco came up with the ultimate solution, which was to fill the tank with rocks and shake rattle and roll for 30 minutes. After that we sandblasted the tank and found several small pinholes that the slosh is supposed to seal. Gene (the professional that he is) decided that we should Bondo the outside first and get this, he also sanded the Bondo down. This is the top of tank, which is not only out of sight but pressed up against the body. This is the quality of his work


Gene gives a master class

Marco sandblasted the underside of the chassis and body and then sprayed on the primer. The smell of the paint made me retch at 20 feet but Marco is spraying happily with no mask and a cigarette in the other hand.

Marco proving that he can live without oxygen


I got the hardware off the bumpers so that we can get them sent away for re-chroming. Damn there is a huge amount of metal and brackets, these bumpers are build like a box girder bridge. One of the great things about working in a professional shop is having the right tools. The air powered impact wrench made short work of 43 years of rust and I would still be there if I was using a socket wrench.


The last time she was on the road


I am going to have to replace the wheels with 15” in order to accommodate the front disks which means that I have a set of 14”alloys surplus to requirements. One of Gene’s buddies turned up on Saturday and in conversation it transpired that he has a set of skirts for the Galaxie (skirts are the panels that shroud the rear wheels and I think that they make the car look even cooler). It may be that a straight swap is going to happen here and that works fine for me.

Finally, between writing this entry and publishing it, Gene arrived for a coffee and a chat. He thinks that he may have a set of 15" wire wheels and that would be so sweet. Watch this space.

The (wretched) DMV

I have this feeling that the DMV is staffed exclusively by withered old crones whose life regret is that they were born too late to have served in the Hitler Youth (although judging by their appearance some of them probably served under the Kaiser).

Today I went to title the Galaxie and I may just have well talked to the outside wall for all the help I got. It appears that the car value charts that are used to assess the fees payable, do not go back to 1963 so they need a bill of sale. In addition the hill billy that I purchased the car from did not bother to title it (in the trade this is known as title jumping, I am learning so much). Now the DMV want me to explain why it was not titled in 2002 which is the last date show, but how would I know?

So the best that they can suggest is that I need to get a bill of sale from the last person shown on the title and I think that we can all agree that is no help at all, especially as the DMV bill of sale form states "under penalty of perjury". Jesus I fake that and it is 6 months in the slammer followed by a slow boat back to frigging Blighty.

So the conversation ended with

"I am sorry but do you actually have a helpful suggestion?"
"No, next!! "

God bless the DMV

Repairs

I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours on the Galaxie last night, between the end of my working day and the end of the daylight. Gene has been doing this stuff for the last 60 years but last night we did something that he had never done before. We glued a metal patch onto the rear quarter. Apparently glues have advanced to the stage where they are stronger than weld and of course it is cleaner, easier and no danger of overheating and warping the metal. That was the sum of our labors but it was good to see the rust holes disappear.

Saturday will be another full day and if Marco does not show I will be underneath sandblasting the chassis and underside. I can't pretend to be looking forward to it but getting the underside really clean, painted and tarred up is going to be a priority especially as the plan is that the car will stay in the family for the next 20 years.

I have scoured the four quarters of the Internet for information on converting the Galaxie to front discs. There are some rumors that the parts from a Mustang will bolt on but no real definitive statements. It looks like I will bite the bullet and just buy the kit, it probably makes sense to buy new brake parts. This is what it looks like https://dfbrakes.com/products.asp?id=32 .

This Saturday I will remember the camera so the next post will include plenty of progress type pictures.

Money spent: Thinners $50, Tank Slosh $35

And on we go,

Well we made huge progress this weekend, sadly I forgot the camera so no pictures this time. Sorry y'awl.

In fact we made more progress that should have been possible as Marco set to work on Friday and got the brakes working. Gene loaned me a master cylinder (which will be returned next year when I convert to front disks) and with the two new slaves Marco did a complete brake job in 3.5 hours for which he charged me $28, is that a deal or what?

So on Saturday Gene and Marco attacked the underside of the car and the inside of the trunk. They uncovered what I thought were vast rust holes but Gene says that they aint nuttin, she's rusted out exactly were I expect her to be and I'll have um done better than she ever was.

The driver's door has to be replaced and we got a spare with the car. I set to work sanding it down and discovered that this door was white, then black, then primer followed by red. Eventually someone spilled blue all over the glass and let it run down the door. The trick, so I was told, is to hold the sander flat to the panel, in this way you uncover any low spots. When I was finished Gene pointed out two minuscule imperfections that will be filled before we paint. I have this happy feeling that the Galaxie is going to end up looking better than the day it left the line in 63.

The sides, underside and inside of the door were all tickled with the sandblaster and let me tell you people that is a brutal summbitch. We found some rust along the seam but nothing the maestro can't handle and again better than new.

And that was about my day apart from getting the damaged door off and set to one side, which was about as heavy as I could carry. I wonder if they are called muscle cars because you need muscles to repair them. I also discovered that the sand from the blaster gets everywhere and even after a 30 minute shower I was still picking grains from some very recessed nooks and crannies.

Money spent ; $24 on paint stripper, wire brushes and assorted odds and ends.

More Prep

Well it might not appear that we made too much progress but things are moving on. The big issue is the panel behind the driver's door. (I don't care about the door, as I have a replacement). We got the porta power in behind and pressed out most of the damage but the line of the seam is not right. Gene (who knows about these things) reckons that we can put a torch on it and get the seam straight with an air chisel, and who am I to argue? So it looks like that will be the big job for Saturday. Anyway here is where we are today.


The driver's side panel after we tickled it with the presses. If you think that this looks bad, it was infinitely worse before we beat it up!

We also had a look at the rear quarters and discovered that we are not the first to boldly go..... As you can see from the photo someone has beaten us to it. Even though this is quite a nice repair the other side has already rusted through (see previous pics). As the plan is that this proud and haughty beauty will stay in the family for the next 20 years it is all going to be redone in metal courtesy of Gene.

You can clearly see that pop rivets and bondo in this repair. It is all coming out to be replaced with a nice welded panel.



Finally one of Gene's buddies turned up and with the benefit of a pint of White Lightning proceeded to give us some advice. Here's to you JP


Tomorrow is Saturday and I shall be putting in a full day on the Princess. Call me sad if you will but I am so looking forward to it. Watch this space.

Progress

Well just as I was finishing the blog below Gene arrived. I told him my story and he offered to make it alright. So he wandered off into the 92 degree heat and got all the parts that I needed and arranged for me to pick them up the same day. So now I have brakes and shocks and paraphernalia and something to fix on Thursday night.

I laid out all the brightwork and trim tonight and my goodness there is a lot of it. There must be at least 50 pieces of aluminum and chrome whose sole purpose is to make the Galaxie look pretty. There was no superglue in those days so each piece is held on with myriad of screws. I guess you could not afford the labor these days to build such a thing.

By the way I have suddenly realized that I paid (far) more for this project than the original owner did back in 1963.

Money spent; $204

Shopping

How I hate shopping. That is unless I can walk into a store pick up what I need and be home in 15 minutes. Monday all I wanted was 4 slave brake cylinders, a set of rear brake shoes, a set of shock absorbers and some brake fluid.

Now I accept that out here in the backwoods some obscure parts might be hard to find but come on people this is that land of the Ford here. Anyhow, Autozone could only provide a set of rear cylinders and wanted me to identify the type of shocks fitted. In a fit of pique I told them to poke it and took my business to Advance Auto. Now these folks were as useful as a chocolate fireguard. They could only supply the rear cylinders but only if I told them what size I needed. Now I am in a high dudgeon so I just stomped off home ignoring the pleas of the clerk who assured me that everything could be ordered.

Of course I will have to go back cap in hand and order the parts otherwise I will have nothing to do this weekend.

On a happier note I was able to find a complete set of exterior and interior trim screws on Ebay so at least I got something.

Money spent; $39.50

The Adventure Starts

The Galaxie is home. Here she is finally out of the rain. The last safety sticker shows 1994 so I am guessing that was the last time she was run. Sifting through all the parts I found the original owner's details so it might be fun to call him up (if he is still alive) when this project is finished and as his address was just 60 miles away, show him his beautifully restored car.

This is the only rust that we could find and in
the scheme of things it is pretty trivial

So what have we done? Well I drove her into the garage and discovered the no brakes syndrome. It was more like an "oh crap how do I stop this thing syndrome." This is not an issue as the complete brake system will be replaced anyway, but getting the brakes to work will be a priority. In the fullness of time the front brakes will be converted to power assisted disks so I don't want to spend a huge amount of wedge on the drums. Fortunately my mentor, Gene, has a spare master cylinder to loan me so I just need to get 4 slaves at $12 each and a set of rear shoes and that should do me.

All the bright work loaded onto my truck for
the journey home and polishing

And now for a story from the "Irony Department". We needed to change the wheels for some old ones that we don't care if they get covered in primer. Gene gave me the big old jack and suggested that I jacked it on the frame. I pointed out that if I jacked it on the differential I could get both wheels in the air at once. Having got it in the air and the lug nuts off I found that the tires would not clear the wheel arches, because the suspension was driven up into the body. Gene looked down, smiled and said "Now how do feel about jacking it on the frame?"

Money spent; $312 on primer, grit and assorted preparation stuff. It all fitted into a small cardboard box, still at least I got two free rolls of towels.

Next step to repair the brakes and replace the shocks.

Gene and I cleaned up and enjoying a well-earned beer