New 63 owner

[Day 2]

Nice truck, what year.... is that a tilt wheel?

1963....yes, 77 Town Car, shortened....changed to rag joint using Galaxie box parts. Been in the truck almost 20yrs now, man time sure does fly!!
gallery/image_page.php?album_id=946&image_id=12747

[JeffinMooresville]

Anybody have a pic of the bottom end of steering column for 61-64 ?



I put a rubber grommet at the bottom end of the column when i reassembled it, and concerned that perhaps it is holding the outer sleeve too far off. I dont seem to be getting enough column on the steering wheel end. When i slide the wheel on i am not engaging the splines. The grommet wasnt an official part, i thing it was for a falcon, but seemed to fit and when i took it apart, there was a big glob of what appeared to be some sort of rubber bushing.



Found some pics of before assembly, outer sleeve definitely riding lower on column. Looks like i will have to pull and trim up the rubber bushing.



Original had more of the post at the wheel end.

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, i thing i figured it out. The galaxy bushin g at the bottom is fine, made no adjustments to that. It was the part at top that shifter lever went thru, that was not seating far enough down on center sleeve. Then the part that sits on top of thta before the actual wheel had these little square end bolts that attach to slots in the outer sleeve. Back together and i think ready to go back in.

[JeffinMooresville]

Making some small progress on the truck this weekend. Got the gas tank installed and gas line run ready to connect. previous owner had bought new tank, so i just had to replace the rubber gromets at the neck.



Also figured out the steering column issues and got that installed, well almost.

I wanted a little extra room between my belly and the wheel, so i wallered out the 3 frame holes and modified the plate at the dash mount to allow me to pivot the angle and raise a couple of inches. It did cause the pitman arm to shift back a little, but does not appear to impact overall steering radius as i was able to have full range of steering limited by the stop bolts on the wheels.



Learned more than i wanted to on steering column, such as it matters which way you mount the ushaped bracket that holds the column to the dash, there is a slot in the bottom of the column and a tab in that bracket that limits how far down the column will slide. Also, put the rubber seal on the column BEFORE you button everything up.



Yep, pull it off and reinstall ONE more time.

I also Installed new drag link for steering. Because the drag link has the “tie rod” ends built into the unit instead of threading on , had to purchase new drag link. Seems to fit perfect.

Should help moving the truck around shop with steering funtioning.

Splurged on birthday present and bought new brake booster and master cylinder from Pirate Jacks in Asheville. Mounted right up to firewall with existing mounting holes. The push-rod linkage to stock brake pedal is about 2” too long, so need to address that. I thing they a shorter unit that will work. Previous setup was out of 70’s truck and had home-made linkage rod.



And finally, i am going to have to deal with the hood hinge bolts i had to cut because there are spinning. I tried to throw a small weld to one edge, but was not able break the bolt loose to remove. I assume i am going to have to drill the bolts, but i must have wrong bits, because initial attempt was nada, was not able to drill into the bolt.



Pass side has 2 , drivers side has 1. Any suggestions?

[shipwrecked]

I had that happen on the passenger side.
I took a second nut and threaded it onto the stud left standing spun that B till it broken the spot weld then put my hand up into the cowl from the kick panel.

I welded a new nut to them before paint, but still broke one when installing,,, I’d spring for the legit nut capture tool.... I wish I did.

[JeffinMooresville]

Made a little progress this weekend.

Got lokar shifter and linkage installed. Been working on wiring . Have decided to not rewire yet, so having to figure out the stock wiring and previous owners butchering, plenty of that.

Been spending a lot of time with the magnifying light an shop manual.



I am sure this is not the final button up for the dash, but getting close. Had a litte battle with the replacement ignition swith, the new key cylinder didnt want to cooperate... so trip to Dennis Carpenters and $73 later... i did get a funtional ignition swith... but i had put the old non stock one in for testing, so still have to get that installed.



Working toward trying to start this muther up.

[JeffinMooresville]

Ok, big day today. My engine builder came over , helped me get the engine srarted and completed cam break in. No mufflers on yet, so is loud, but sounds good , cant wait to hear when finished.

We had a couple of issues, getting distributor/ timing right, the carb may need some work, not sure about the vaccum connections, and was able to get gas out of the tank. Had to put in temp hose from fuel pump to gas can. So inhave some work to do, but pretty excited.

The gas tank was basically new from previous owner, and i ran new fuel hose from bottom og steel line thru floor to the pump. My buddy stopped by and suggested that may be as simple as the non-vented gas cap. So will explore a bit tomorrow.

So looks like i am in for new electronic ingintion / distributor / coil, and need to figure out fuel and vaccum issues.

Overall good day.

[JeffinMooresville]

Looks like my friend was correct on the gas tank issue. I pulled the top of the line off tank and the line was filled with crud, looks like maybe dirt dobbers got in there while tank was out, ran a wire down thru and got it cleaned out, reconnected to pump. Did not start last night, no mufflers yet and didnt want to scare the neighbors, also wanted whatver crud to settle in tank. Will fire it back up today and see if that fixed it.

[JeffinMooresville]

Moving on to Brakes, dry mounted the master cylinder to run lines. Made a bracket for the distribution box and started making runs. First time making double flares, so will be interesting to see if any leaks. I giving myself about 50% odds. Putting on mew master and booster from pirate brakes in asheville. Pictures are a little dark.





Set the seat in to get out of the way. Looks pretty good. Doing a little work tidying up the dash, got the glove box funtioning, installed tach to use for break-in, might as well leave it in.

[JeffinMooresville]

did some work on the doors this weekend, not going for full door window rebuild, yet, but i am going to replace the door seals before i put back on. Old seals are basically gone, rotted out.



Took opportunity to sand off the horrible paint job from previous owner, trying to expose some of the original patina. Used same model as dash and just shot with some clear for the old truck look.




Truck was missing the lower panels, will get upholstery guy to make some panels to match the seat. Anyone have a pdf with dimensions of the lower door panel?

I plan to run over to Dennis Carpenters for the door seals. Any tips on install, door is type with the pins accross th bottom. Is the 5oz, black 3m glue enough for both doors?

Also cleaned up the exhaust, and reinstalled. I had to swap out the long headers with stock exhaust, so i will have to get local muffler shop to made some new connects from exhaust manifold to exhaust. Stainless cleaned really we,, so i only painted the muffler.

[My wife's nightmare]

It is amazing how good your truck is turning out! Really like the door treatment.
I’ve got door panels you can use for a pattern.
That is plenty of adhesive also, but if you’re like me you’ll have about 4 ounces on you and half an ounce on the weatherstrip!!

[JeffinMooresville]

Alright, got mufflers hooked up. Had local shop run exhaust from the new exhaust manifolds to the old exhaust / mufflers. Sounds pretty good. Now i can move it around at the shop. I still have a a couple of leaks in my brake lines... i guess my flares failed ther, so going to pull and see if i can fix.

Check out the utube video with the test run with mufflers hooked up.

https://youtu.be/XbVWdG2KBcQ

[My wife's nightmare]

I stopped by to see Jeff's progress yesterday and am totally impressed!! He has learned to weld, flare brake lines, rebuilt front and rear suspensions, and remembers where everything came from and goes back too. He is helping keep the pressure on me to get things done on my 63.
Great job and looking forward to hitting some shows with y'all this year!!

[JeffinMooresville]

Made some progress in last couple of weeks. Decided to break down and buy new inner fenders as mine were cut up, and had some rot. Quick trip to NPD and fresh sheet metal ! Dad came over today and we started to put the front end back together.







Hung on the radiator mount and no clearance issue, i wasnt sure about new brake line runs, but all was good.

Also finally got the front clip disassembled.









The stoneguard - chin piece looks like may need to be replaced, pretty ruff.



With very few exceptions every bolt was a rusted out and a pain. Had to cut probably 75% of the bolts to get it apart.

So now clean up the parts and hang some fenders for temporary mock up. It looked like there was liberal use of seam sealer at the inner and outer fender seams, so will need to pick up a couple of tubes, any suggestions for what to use?

[JeffinMooresville]

Dad came over today did some dry-fit work with the fenders.



Lined up pretty good, right ride has about 1/2 gap between fender and cowl, both sides look like will need shimming out, but overall, wemt on pretty well. Picked up stone deflector today, so will put it on tomorrow.



Have the grill out for blasting, i think i am going to paint it gunmetal, or something other than black. After dry-fit, i plan to take everything off, clean it up , paint etc for final assembly.

[Day 2]

Jeff, just curious, what size tires are on your truck?

Robert

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi Robert, i will look at size tomorrow. They are 15” x 10” wheels. Tires are 12” wide. I like the wide but the overall lok is a little squatty for me. And it is a bitch to steer in close quarters. I am going to put 17” x 8” wheels on it with a taller tire to fill in the wheel wells a bit.

Still doing dry fit on front end, got new stone guard on and put bumper on, just to check fit.





I think i am going to give the radiator a light coat of flat black so it wont be visible thru grill.

Everything mocked up ok, seems to be some refinement needed on final panel fit and i still have not put the hood or doors on. Having some issues with the hood bolts to cab. Looks like some fine thread and some more course thread 3/8 -24 fine thread and maybe 3/8 -18 on the more coarse thread? Of course previous ownet may have just butchered and used what he had. I have new hinges, because old ones were toast.

[Day 2]

Thanks Jeff, they are wide. Its coming along real nice. I wouldn't put to much work on alignment of the fenders till you get the doors on, cause everything works off of them.

Robert

[JeffinMooresville]

Hi Robert.

P295/50R15 Cooper Cobra, radial G/T
12” wide 26 1/2” tall
Wheels are 15 x 10

Hope that helps.

Jeff

[Day 2]

Yeah, those are wide, bet it was tough to drive. Thanks