Back to the Galaxie

Right no more messing with stuff that isn't Galaxie from now on the only work will be undertaken to get the Galaxie on the road as soon as possible. (The smoker is finished and at home, the test run is this Saturday and the gray truck sold on Ebay for $1525 which was a tad disappointing but whatever).

So I got the bell housing off and then the clutch and the flywheel. Finally it is off the dolly and chain and mounted onto a real engine cradle. I have drained the fluids and tossed the oil filter. The next step is to wheel it out of the barn and pressure wash it. For the sake of removing 8 more bolts I can take off the inlet manifold and replace the gaskets. Whilst it is off I will spray the block blue and the manifold silver. It should look sharp. The sump will be yellow (and the answer to the question why? is because I can). The bell housing and transmission will be black as most of it will be out of sight.

I also gave the body another block sanding and then sprayed the rear quarters and wings in primer. The bad news was that it showed the defectsin the filler the good news was that there weren't too many of them. In fact I was very encouraged to see how close we are. Of course it goes without saying that I would much rather see the nasties now than after the final coat of Viking Blue.

Onwards and Upwards

Time to Modernize

Look people you are seriously going to have to get with the program here, let me explain. This weekend was to be a major Galaxie push and in preparation I went off to the EroticZone or AutoZone or whatever it is called to buy a new oil pump and clutch. I did not really expect AutoErotica to carry parts for a 1963 Galaxie and I was prepared to order them. What I was not prepared for was to be asked if the car had a 10, 10.5 or 11 inch clutch. Good grief why would Ford do that, the bastards? Now I have to take the old one off first and make two trips. (And I am going to bet that no one knows where to measure to determine the size).

Similarly I had to buy a new towball for the barbque trailer because my one is 2 inches and I needed 1 7/8. A short while ago I borrowed a trailer and purely by chance the owner let it slip that it needed a 2 1/8 ball. Apparently he put it on a 2 inch ball and it fell off and hit the back of his truck. If you ever see my truck, which is the greatest in the world and entirely not a penis substitute, you understand why I had such a narrow escape.

So,far be it from me to hold up the metric system as a paragon of professionalism but the metric system is actually a paragon of professionalism. In Europe a tow ball is 50mm. The end, that's it we are done. Don't you people think that is a sensible system?

As I said get with the program colonials

The Smoker

Now I am getting seriously guilty about the lack of work being done on the Galaxie. Not only have I not worked on it forever, I didn't even work on the trucks. As soon as the clocks go forward I am absolutely going to concentrate entirely on the Galaxie.

In the meantime I have always wanted to build a real bar-b-que and this weekend I made a huge start on that. This is the plan which is based on two 50 gallon drums and a kit originally designed for a shop wood stove. Anyhow I spent most of Saturday with cutting torches and angle grinders and ended up with my hands cut to ribbons.

I also decided to mount it on a small trailer. I have this idea of a "Have bar-b-que will party" business. Well we will see. I also got me a little trailer, with any luck this should be my passport to a few parties.I am thinking that you keep feeding me beer and I keep cooking. Hopefully I can get this trivia out of the way and start back on the Galaxie real soon.