Dad's 62 Ford Galaxie

[Texas82GP]

Not sure what small parts you are looking for but when I did my 57 Ford and My 64 xl 500 I used a guy named Dennis Carpenter in Concord North Carolina he was great and had all the small chrome pieces I needed hope this helps Jeff from Winnipeg

Thanks Jeff. We are familiar with Dennis Carpenter.

 

[Clutch]

Sean and I got the Toploader buttoned up last night. We had to tear it pretty far down to get the main shaft and gear train out of it. My theory on the thrust washer behind first gear was wrong. The aftermarket replacement was actually 0.010" thinner. I replaced it with the original washer anyway. It turned out I made a mistake when I reassembled the 3-4 synchronizer. It turns out there are two different sized detents for the synchronizers and I forgot it. The long detents go in the 1-2 synchronizer, and I had that right, but the 3-4 synchronizer takes short detents and I had the long ones in it. This only happened because I have some extra parts from buying a small parts kit for extra lock rings. Consequently, when the tailhousing and front bearing support were bolted on, it was jamming the 4th gear blocker ring up against the 3-4 synchronizer and jamming the entire gear train against the rear bearing, putting pre-load on the whole assembly. Fortunately nothing was damaged since I had enough sense to not bear down or force anything. We corrected the assembly mistake and put it all back together. It turned out really well. Everything moves freely and it shifts like a dream. I think it might be the nicest trans I've built so far. I'm looking forward to getting it in the car and getting the Gear Vendors unit bolted on. Here are a few pics of the finished product...

View attachment 69426

View attachment 69425

I received the rivet tool we need for the wing window earlier this week. We should have the rivets and the tool we need to replace the rubber in the passenger wing window so I think that will be the focus of this Saturday/Sunday. If we can get the rubber in the vent window replaced then we can get it in the door, get the passenger roll up window back in the door and get the new door seal on the passenger door. If we decide we don't have what we need for the wing window project, we may start pulling the T-10 out to replace it with this Toploader and work to finally install the Gear Vendors. It's been about three years since I bought it for Dad. I'm looking forward to going down the road and feeling that thing go into overdrive. I'm also looking forward to getting out on the open road and getting it wound up to 80 or 85 in overdrive and see the car be able to do it relatively effortlessly. That will likely take a little more work to accomplish. We will likely tweak the combination with a taller rear tire. Right now the car has 235/60/15's on it all the way around. Previously it had 255/60/15's on it all the way around. The 255's really were too big for the front of the car, though we loved the look. I think we will likely go back to 255/60/15's on the back or possibly even taller to reduce the cruise RPM. We might even look at changing the rear gear from the current 3:56 down to like a 3:23. Now that we have a wide ratio transmission for the car the steeper first gear gives us a lot of flexibility to perfect the combination.

My brother and I recently made a quick weekend trip to Dallas to see a show up there and see some good friends of ours. We took Sean's truck (02 Sierra). He had the cruise set on 80 (75 mph speed limit) and there were plenty of cars passing us. I wouldn't say we were in the way of anyone but here in Texas you need to be able to do 80-85 out on the open road or you are in the way. It's going to be great to have the Galaxie where it can comfortably do that. That's it for now. Thanks as always for following along. I should have another update Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully I'll have some good progress to report.

You guys just don't stop lol love the build

 

[justacruzr2]

Sean and I got the Toploader buttoned up last night. We had to tear it pretty far down to get the main shaft and gear train out of it. My theory on the thrust washer behind first gear was wrong. The aftermarket replacement was actually 0.010" thinner. I replaced it with the original washer anyway. It turned out I made a mistake when I reassembled the 3-4 synchronizer. It turns out there are two different sized detents for the synchronizers and I forgot it. The long detents go in the 1-2 synchronizer, and I had that right, but the 3-4 synchronizer takes short detents and I had the long ones in it. This only happened because I have some extra parts from buying a small parts kit for extra lock rings. Consequently, when the tailhousing and front bearing support were bolted on, it was jamming the 4th gear blocker ring up against the 3-4 synchronizer and jamming the entire gear train against the rear bearing, putting pre-load on the whole assembly. Fortunately nothing was damaged since I had enough sense to not bear down or force anything. We corrected the assembly mistake and put it all back together. It turned out really well. Everything moves freely and it shifts like a dream. I think it might be the nicest trans I've built so far. I'm looking forward to getting it in the car and getting the Gear Vendors unit bolted on. Here are a few pics of the finished product...

View attachment 69426

View attachment 69425

I received the rivet tool we need for the wing window earlier this week. We should have the rivets and the tool we need to replace the rubber in the passenger wing window so I think that will be the focus of this Saturday/Sunday. If we can get the rubber in the vent window replaced then we can get it in the door, get the passenger roll up window back in the door and get the new door seal on the passenger door. If we decide we don't have what we need for the wing window project, we may start pulling the T-10 out to replace it with this Toploader and work to finally install the Gear Vendors. It's been about three years since I bought it for Dad. I'm looking forward to going down the road and feeling that thing go into overdrive. I'm also looking forward to getting out on the open road and getting it wound up to 80 or 85 in overdrive and see the car be able to do it relatively effortlessly. That will likely take a little more work to accomplish. We will likely tweak the combination with a taller rear tire. Right now the car has 235/60/15's on it all the way around. Previously it had 255/60/15's on it all the way around. The 255's really were too big for the front of the car, though we loved the look. I think we will likely go back to 255/60/15's on the back or possibly even taller to reduce the cruise RPM. We might even look at changing the rear gear from the current 3:56 down to like a 3:23. Now that we have a wide ratio transmission for the car the steeper first gear gives us a lot of flexibility to perfect the combination.

My brother and I recently made a quick weekend trip to Dallas to see a show up there and see some good friends of ours. We took Sean's truck (02 Sierra). He had the cruise set on 80 (75 mph speed limit) and there were plenty of cars passing us. I wouldn't say we were in the way of anyone but here in Texas you need to be able to do 80-85 out on the open road or you are in the way. It's going to be great to have the Galaxie where it can comfortably do that. That's it for now. Thanks as always for following along. I should have another update Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully I'll have some good progress to report.

That's a really nice job on the trans. I'm impressed. Keep up the good work.

 

[Texas82GP]

You guys just don't stop lol love the build

Thanks Eric. I appreciate it. We're pushing hard to take 2 of the 3 on the Power Tour next year.

That's a really nice job on the trans. I'm impressed. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the kind words. After seeing the rust repair you've done on that Belvedere, the fact that you're impressed means something to me.

 

[Texas82GP]

So we worked on the vent window today. It's quite a project. Here's the patient. The window has been sealed shut with strip caulk for about 20 years. I started with digging out the strip caulk.....

The next step was to get the window open so we could pull the screws at the upper pivot and pull the nut off the stud at the bottom...

Unfortunately, the nut was frozen to the stud. I used penetrating oil and tried to work it back and forth but I ended up twisting the stud off of the window glass frame 😡😡😡😡..........

Moving on, it was some work drilling rivets to remove the rear vertical bar from the vent window and then remove the weatherstrip from the rear 'divider'. The whole thing is put together with tubular rivets like these....

Then we drilled the rivets and removed the main weatherstrip, followed up by cleaning up the frame....

Next we fitted the main weatherstrip. This is the first time there's been good rubber in the frame since probably the 70's. Kudos to Steele rubber products for putting this into production. So far I'm pretty impressed with the fit....

Unfortunately, we don't have the right rivets to fasten the weatherstrip in the frame. Part of my day tomorrow is to go to dad's with my digital caliper micrometer and try to determine the rivets we need and get them ordered. I think we need 3 or 4 different sizes. Nobody seems to sell a kit.

We did get the rear vent window seal fastened to the rear divider using the rivets that I posted earlier (they were correct) along with this tool....

Here's a look at the rear wetherstrip riveted in. This took some time to accomplish, rolling those tube rivets with that tool....

We also got the window frame off the vent window glass and removed the remains of the damaged stud from the frame (two more rivets). We bought a vent window off of a 4-door, on eBay to get a good pivot stud. Plan B is to repair the original stud with the welder. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Texas82GP]

Meanwhile, Sean worked on blocking the car all day. He had ambition to get all the way around the car. He didn't, but got the passenger side, hood, deck, and roof done. He worked hard....

The payoff...

As you can see, there is some more fine tuning needed before we are ready to paint this beast black but it's close. It was a good day.

We're all going to Galveston next week for family vacation so we're going to take a break. Stay tuned. More to come....

 

[malibujustin]

Looking great. Those vent windows can be a bear sometimes. Doing a good job on them so far though. Can't wait to see her with paint and chrome!!!

 

[Longroof79]

Enjoy your vacation/ family reunion. We'll be looking forward to the continuation of this thread when you return. Have fun!

 

[Texas82GP]

Looking great. Those vent windows can be a bear sometimes. Doing a good job on them so far though. Can't wait to see her with paint and chrome!!!

Thanks David. The vent window has definitely been a learning process. I've never owned a vehicle with a vent window. Isn't that funny? My oldest vehicle before I bought the GP was an 84 S10 Blazer and it didn't have vent windows. I like vent windows though. I think they are old school cool. I can't wait to see the Galaxie wearing slick black paint and its trim.

Enjoy your vacation/ family reunion. We'll be looking forward to the continuation of this thread when you return. Have fun!

Thanks Jack. The vacation was a blast. It really helped recharge the batteries. Here comes another update......

 

[Longroof79]

Thanks Jack. The vacation was a blast. It really helped recharge the batteries. Here comes another update......

Jared,
I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed a restful weekend retreat with the family...you certainly deserve it.
Lookin' forward to further updates...😉
It's good to see Dad's car getting much needed love and attention..