'62 Unibody Still Plugging Along

[Alstoyz]

LOOK'N SWEET!!! Can't wait to see some more updates. I'm curious what brought you all the way to Wightwright 2 get the truck???

[LM14]

I made a list of around 8 or 9 trucks, mostly rust free according to the EBAY and Craigslist ads. Started in Iowa after work one day and we went thru Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and ended up in Texas looking at this truck. Really clean and the price was doable so we drug it home. Rust free unibody trucks in Iowa don't exist without a big price tag so it was worth a little gas. Oddly enough, I bought my Maverick in Oklahoma after looking at one about 50 miles South of Whiteright and picked up a Camaro for a friend a few weeks ago in almost the same place. I just seem to keep returning to that area for some reason.

SPark

[LM14]

Took the radiator support, hood, both front fenders, the left inner fender and the piece above the grill to the blaster today. It all appears to be rust free so we'll see what it looks like when it comes back! He's talking plastic media and maybe a little sand in the surface rust areas if the plastic won't remove it.

Working on getting a big truck/4x4 right inner fender and front valance to tidy up the front end.

Was totally shocked to see the shape the radiator support was in. Looks really solid, a bit of surface rust but nothing bad at all. The top lip has a little damage from engine changes thru the years but that will fix easy. Should have it all back by early next week to see how nice it really is and get it in some epoxy primer.

Also got the Maverick back from the body shop and got the rockers all pulled back down into place. Seems like I spent a few hours welding this week and several out on the road delivering/picking stuff up. Not much to look at but got some things accomplished.

Will keep you posted,
SPark

[LM14]

Still waiting on the replacement lower a-frame and rack from the local junk yard. There are 2 big yards in our little town, glad I chose to work with the "better" of the 2. Believe it or not, the "worse" yard would probably have gotten me 4x4 parts or a stub from a Cutlass, thinking it would be "good enough".

Did get the front clip media blasted last week. Got it all back Monday night and primed it Tuesday with Eastwood's Epoxy Primer. Sprayed nice and laid down well. Gotta love the look of clean metal. Did find a few surprises under the paint, but that's to be expected. The RF corner of the driver's fender had been caved in, pulled with screws, then mudded almost an inch deep very early in it's life. The paint sure looked original with a nice patina and no outward signs of the damage. Got everything hammered back into basic shape but it will need a little more love before it gets mud later. Replaced a 4" long area of damaged metal on the grill topper and filled the FORD holes (what is the real name for this piece?!?!?!) and metal finished it before priming, will still need a skim coat to finish it. Mocked everything back up after it dried to see how the "new" fenders fit the original core support/cab mounts. Pretty decent for a first guess, need to slot a lower fender mount in the rocker on the driver's side to get a bit more adjustment but other than that it fit nice. I would never have guessed that the inner support on the fenders was all galvanized steel.






Also got the lower mount made for the new aluminum radiator. It's 28x19. Sits perfectly in the original hole. Welded a simple piece of 1" x 1.5" tubing to the bottom of the inner edges of the core support. The bottom of the radiator sits 1.75" above the frame rail and fills the hole nicely from the front. Top will be a simple plate that bolts to the back of the core support. When it's done, the whole mess goes for powder coat.




The very leading edge of the hood had 4 or 5 tiny holes that will need patched. The core support has a very small area to attend to. Nicest core support I've seen yet on any of my stuff.



Hopefully get the Dakota parts Saturday morning so I can finish the IC kit install, sort out the steering and get it rolling again.

Did make a little headway on the Maverick project. Got the correct carbs and tunnel ram on it and finalized the throttle linkage and fuel line locations, made a tranny tunnel/shifter cover.







Kind of handy having 2 projects side by side. Run out of parts on one you just jump over to the other. Funding can get to be a problem. Would never have attempted it had we not sold all our race stuff and retired from racing. That and having an understanding wife....with a job.

Later!
SPark

[rickairmedic]

Ok Spark ya ready for this come on say it with me " upper valance " did ya say it ":D goood .



The toys are looking great by the way .


Rick

[LM14]

Finished up the top mount for the radiator. A little padding once it's powdercoated and all will be good. When it comes apart again, I'll trim the original flange in the mounting hole areas to make the sides straight. Will have to plug part of the holes. Should give a nice finished look to the mount with a small gap all around the aluminum radiator.




Also started the repairs to the rust in the core support. I used a little different method this time. I used a die grinder to remove the rust areas since it was so small. Then I placed a little scrap of mylar (drafting film) over the hole I made removing the rust, and traced it with a pencil. Cut out the mylar pattern with scissors and lay it on your sheetmetal patching material. Trace around the outer edge with a Sharpie, trim the metal to the inside of the trace line and you have your patch as a perfect fit. Just weld and grind.






Also got the steering shaft made. Think this is the final location but it's all tacked for now except I did weld the shaft support in for good.





After some discussion during chat Sunday night, I looked at moving the steering column to center on the speedo. Decided against it. It would move my steering column into the frame rail and make it a real pain to hook up the steering. I had to notch the top edge of the boxing plate to get it all to fit in it's current location. Will plate that area when the column comes back out.

Later!
SPark

[MadMaxetc]

Looking good!

What motor are you planning on running?

[rickairmedic]

Max I'm gonna wager a 430 with an automatic behind it .


Spark lookin good you gonna make it up here for the Street Rod Nats with that thing so We can cruise 2 62's around the grounds .



Rick

[LM14]

Finally got the daughter married off, grandson babysit for, honey-do list whittled down to nothing and got a few hours to play! Got the Dakota stub stripped for a test fit and locate the rear mounts for the lower control arms.





Also got it sitting on the correct wheels and tires for the first time with the IC kit under it. The rear still needs to come down a couple inches and the front is about1" above final ride height in these pics. Going to try to get it out of the shop for a better look, kind of cramped inside.






Now it's on the trying the engine in place, checking oil pan clearance and exhaust issues, and just making sure the Lincoln engine can be used without major problems. The front sump oil pan may be an issue, we'll see!

SPark

[LM14]

Been working on the engine install. It sits 3" higher in the frame than my '66 with a 352 does (measured at the top of the carb vs the fender height). Been asking around and can't really find any concrete issues with the higher placement. Raised the radiator an inch after these pics were taken so the fan sits in the radiator better.







Anyone see any potential problems with the placement? Top of tranny is an inch under the floor. With the lower ride height, it may actually work better for angles in the driveline.

SPark

[kstones63]

The only concern that I see is that the motor looks high in the front. It sounds like you are already checking the driveline angles and that would be my concern that it will match the rear end.

Kevin

[LM14]

Looking at the valve covers is deceptive. The carb pad is 0.4 degrees from level with the rear being lower. I think it will be perfectly level once I'm done with mounts and I'm also going to raise the tail of the tranny just a touch more after the rearend is sitting at the correct height, setting the rake of the truck (hopefully establish final rear ride height tomorrow).

That is part of my concerns so I've been messing with angles from the start. It's actually sitting at the correct angle for the carb on the stock intake as it sat in the Lincoln. Will just have to be careful with the rearend angles to keep things in sync.

One advantage is that the tranny pan is level with the bottom of the frame rails. Nothing will hang below the frame and that will clean up the profile.

SPark

[kstones63]

I see what you are saying about the carb, it looks like it sits more level than the valve covers are.

Kevin

[longcabjohn]

Ford had some carb spacers in the 60s that had a wedge shape to them. I think one of my friends still has one.


Johnny

[LM14]

Got the rack lines re-bent and sat the engine in the final location. Have 1/2" clearance over the rack, good clearance for steering, starter, exhaust, oil filter, etc. Carb is level, valve covers run almost 5* downhill. Same way it sat in the 1958 Lincoln Premier it came from. Once I got everything in place, angles right, the tranny was against the floor pan in 1 little spot. Removed a small section of floor pan just above the tranny/in front of the seats to gain a bit more clearance. Think this will work.

Mocked the inner fenders in to get started cutting the clearance for upper a-frames. Engine location looks better with all the sheetmetal around it. Hood clears everything.









You see anything glaringly wrong, yell out! Still scheming on front motor mounts.

Later,
SPark

[rickairmedic]

Spark I still say start cutting up some steel and burning some wire and get it mounted . I dont see any problems with it myself.


Rick

[Bill W]

Awesome Project Spark!

[69supercj]

Looks really good spark.

[LM14]

Well, things change when you don't expect them to. Work on the unibody ( and the Maverick) has stalled while I put an addition on my shop at home.

Got a call last night from a good friend looking for a 430 Lincoln engine to build. When I asked what he needed with a 430, he explained he was re-creating a local legend pulling tractor and it was originally powered by a 430 with a Hilborn injector. We both know that original injector set never left the area and he also has a bunch of parts off of this historic tractor and 2 stock tractors to take parts from for a family authorized re-creation. This friend is also my landlord at the race shop (the one I have to move out of). One of the other vehicles (he has over a dozen special interest vehicles and his own local history museum) I share shop space with is the 1969 State of Iowa pulling champion tractor, totally restored with a 409 dual quad Chevy under the Farmall hood. I helped with the restoration of that tractor by doing the lettering like it was done in 1967, when it was originally built. This re-creation will share space with the 1969 champion in his new building/museum. The tractor with the 430 was nationally known and pulled all over the country.

The guy that owned the original pulling tractor ended his career with Allison aircraft engines in his tractors. Before that he ran 427 SOHC and before that he ran the 430 Lincolns. The 1969 championship 409 tractor is what forced him to go from 430 Lincoln to the 427 SOHC engines. These tractors competed against each other many times. Now they will sit side by side in a museum.

I had to do it. I sold him the 430 this morning. He's so excited he called me 4 times today. He's already making appointments to get pieces re-built, finding parts, etc. Just like a big kid with a new toy.

After making sure he really, really, truly needed it, I got on the phone and placed a few calls to track down a rumor I heard a couple years ago. It ended up being a friend of a friend of a friend but after a quick 720 mile round trip, we have a new engine and tranny for the unibody sitting at home tonight. It's supposed to have some unique history and features, but we'll leave it at that for tonight. Need a few days to take some parts off and research a few other parts to make sure it's what they claimed it is, or if it's just a lied about engine and I have a common core.

Hint: It gives me a place to use this mint Ford C3AE-9425-K dual quad intake I have lying around.



Later,
SPark

[LM14]

Sorry, double post!

SPark