Slick 60's

I have been watching your posts. Great work. Keep the post coming.

Thanks for the posts gents.

I'm going to spend some quality time working on it this weekend. I can see the finish line, but there are still quite a few things to do.

I gotta tell you you are doing great work. Been busy working on various projects so just skimming posts these days. You will find guys posting on your stuff weeks and months from now
John

I commend you for such a GREAT wheel choice for such a beautiful truck, beside's BLUE is my favorite color.

You bringing all that great looking work in here might START SOMETHING if you're not careful. I love it, well done.

Thanks for the kind words gents! I'm getting close to finding out how much fun it will be to drive.

I got the Classic Instruments gauge(s) hooked up this weekend. It was tough to bite the bullet and buy it, but I really like how clean it looks with just the one gauge in the dash. It came with fuel, temperature and oil pressure sending units, pulse generator(speedo cable) and straightforward instructions on how hook it up. I found a wiring diagram for the truck on the interwebs and was good to go. I haven't got a chance to use these features yet, because there is still work to be done, but it has a couple of neat things that I didn't realize until I was hooking it up. To set the speedometer, you can get it right on by driving exactly a mile and hitting a button on the switch that hooks up to the gauge. I live right off I-70, which is marked every 1/10th of a mile, so this will be pretty easy to do. Also, you can set up the unit to use the built in leds(turn signals, high beams, etc.) as shift indicators. I typically just use my ears, but I thought that was pretty neat, as it doesn't require a separate light.



I also got the Ididit tilt column installed. I'm on the hunt for a smaller(14-15") OEM style steering wheel that will allow me to reuse the horn ring. I may fab 2 wheels together to make this work. This will likely be a winter project, as I'm just itching to get this on the road.

I haven't checked to see if the lower panel plate is going to fit..... but it is going to fit. If necessary, I'll cut a semi-circle in it and put a little rubber ring above the column.

I noticed that I had a passenger light out last night. I know I could simply buy another bulb for around $10 to replace it, but I'd been kicking around the idea of led headlights anyways. I did some looking around to see what the best options were and ended up ordering some from Truck-Lite. They aren't exactly the same look as original, but they also don't look completely ridiculous like the JW speaker lights. Once I get them installed, I'll post a few pictures and see what everyone thinks.

I've been getting a few small things knocked out tonight. Cowl lacing, hood bumpers, and headlights.



They have to be at least 10x brighter than the old ones. If you are on the fence about switching to LEDs, do it.

Quick question, Did you replace the CV emergency brake cables? how did you get it hooked up to the original brake bell?

unibody madness wrote:Quick question, Did you replace the CV emergency brake cables? how did you get it hooked up to the original brake bell?

Yes. It's a work in progress, that I'm going to finish tomorrow. The Crown Vic cables that I bought are completely different lengths. The longer one had a bracket with a spring on it. I cut all of this off and just clipped this cable into the crossmember. The shorter one is too short to clip into the second hole on the crossmember, so I'm going to make a bracket spaced slightly farther back and run the bare cable through the hole where it would normally clip in. The original balancer was on an adjustable rod that was to short, so I'll just use a piece of all thread to make a new one and move it back.

This is way harder to explain than a photo would do.

I'll post a picture tomorrow that hopefully makes more sense.

This is the whole rear end with the brakes hooked up.



Brake lines and emergency brake connected to same bracket, made from a small piece of angle iron.



This is how I attached the crown vic emergency brake cables to the original splitter. I added a spring to keep the cable running to the cab from laying on my exhaust.

Awsome thredad, keep posting

Cool thanks for the pics

It's been a long time coming. I still have a bunch of small stuff to tweak, finish, etc. but the truck is back on the road.

Looks great, what are you going to do with all the extra time once the little things are ironed out?

Ryan

Turned out beautiful!

Jon

bruceandersson wrote:Looks great, what are you going to do with all the extra time once the little things are ironed out?

I'm sure I'll find something to tinker with.

Blanger wrote:Ryan

Turned out beautiful!

Jon

Thanks!

You find out what works and what doesn't pretty quick as soon as you put some miles on.

I've put about 50 miles on it so far. We had some awesome weather today, so I drove it to work and got out on the highway to see how it did at higher speeds. Not surprising, but it is really fast. I was surprised at how nice and straight it rides. It just feels like you are driving a car.

The power steering pump puked fluid all out the top, and it seems like the entire rack is leaking. The pump was from '71 and the rack was from a Crown Vic Police Interceptor, which likely saw hard times. Rather than trying to piece meal it back to work, I'm just going to order the whole new rack and pump.

Shifting is a little rough, so I'm going to extend the input shaft for the clutch master cylinder. I'm planning to do a short throw modification to it, but I want it to be smooth beforehand.

It's hard to tell depending on the angle you are looking at it, but it has a reverse rake of about 1/2". I'm going to adjust the coilovers to give it just a little bit of a forward rake.

I still need to fine tune the brakes a bit with the proportioning valve, get the carb tuned, adjust the mechanical advance on the Pertronix Distributor, set the speedometer, replace the door and window seals, and hook up the reverse and sequential tail light wires.

Then there is the list of other things I'd like to get done eventually: replace the windshield/back glass seals, put a mustang tank in the rear with fill under the license plate, Fitech fuel injection, stiffen the seat springs, find a snug top tonneau that fits, stiffer springs in the front, get some new tires, bluetooth/fm radio conversion, hidden speakers, possibly switch to 3.08 gears, maybe install vintage air...

Just because I got it on the road doesn't mean I'm going away. I plan to do some SCCA with it in the spring, and have it at SlickStock in August.

I figured out this weekend that the vacuum secondaries weren't even kicking in. I put in a lighter spring and now it feels like I have a nitrous shot when I mash the pedal. It's pretty impressive.

I also did some tweaking to the timing. I put limiters on the mechanical advance and got the total timing with vacuum back down to reasonable levels. I'm at 10 degrees during idle and around 35 at 2600+.

I moved the rear shocks up to the next notch on the bracket, which gave me a forward rake of around 3/8-1/2". It looks much better.

It's starting to get cold out, and I'd still like to drive it occasionally, so I'm going to make sure the heater is good to go, put in antifreeze, replace the door and window seals, block off the old shifter hole, and all holes in the firewall.

The work at this point isn't nearly as glamorous, but it sure makes it nicer to drive.

Nice job Ryan, the truck looks great. Sorry no one comments, I haven't been on here in awhile. Your truck should drive real nice with that setup. I like the fact that you do it yourself. Keep up the good work!

You did a great job in a short time frame. Sounds like it is a riot to drive. There will be good dry days that you'll be able to stretch its legs through the winter, it'll just give you time to take care of those little things.

ryanjay11 wrote:Just because I got it on the road doesn't mean I'm going away. I plan to do some SCCA with it in the spring, and have it at SlickStock in August.

SCCA, man that brings back memories, I use to do a little autocross in a 280z I owned back in the '80s, I'll be curious to hear how the truck handles, keep us posted.

I have another project that I'll post about tomorrow, and I'm going to have a few questions to ask, so you arn't going anywhere....lol

Jon