Dad's 62 Ford Galaxie

[Texas82GP]

Wow Jared,
This thing fought you guys every inch of the way. But knowing you, you persevered and got it done. 👍 Good work, my friend.

Jared,
As always, thank you for the updates on Dad's Galaxie. I'm really enjoying the progress. Love the interior with the console. Adding sound deadening is always a good idea....especially in these older cars.
Keep up the great work my friend. I'm anxious to hear how it drives and how the Gear Vendors overdrive works out.

Thanks Jack! The Gear Vendors install has been a challenge but hopefully it will really be worth it. I'm hoping for a transformative experience when we get the car running again. I'm hoping it will be much smoother and much quieter. I just want Dad to enjoy the car. Thanks as always for the interest and the kind words.

I'm curious to see how you like the GV unit on a 4 speed. It's been a passing thought/pipedream of mine for many years.

I'll definitely chime in once we get the car going. I'm hoping for a transformative experience, as I said before. The car needed overdrive badly. We don't enjoy turning 3,000+ RPM going down the highway. Hopefully if you do decide to go that way, you have an easier time with finding a 'kit' that will fit your car. Dad's has been basically a totally custom install and it has been some work but hopefully we will be rewarded. Thanks for following along.

I hate to date myself .But I remember when those car were new. I have help my who at the time had a 1963 1/2 Galaxy "R" car 4 speed .When put a bored and stroked 427 engine with the original caste iron manifolds .The engine barely lifted it. But we surprised a lot of people with it ;It ran 10`s in the 1/4 mile.

Michael,

Sounds like you are one of Dad's peers. Dad was born in 49 so he wasn't driving these cars when they were new but they were some of his first cars. He had a 61 Starliner and a 63 notch back. The 63-1/2 is a pretty car. Those long iron headers that came on the 427 are pretty cool. We had them on Dad's car at one time but they don't play well with power steering or a street clutch setup so we nixed them in favor of the short iron headers that would come on an HP 390 or 406. Those cars are pretty heavy aren't they? Dad says they were fat compared to the Chevrolets and Mopars back then. It's not hard to see why. Iron heads, Iron headers, iron bellhousing, iron transmission. Need to engineer a solution to a problem? Throw more iron at it! Thanks for the interest.

Jared, thanks for the updates!

I’ve been craving me some Galaxie greatness lately, and I was very happy to see these ones. Your dad’s car is looking great. I’m excited for you guys to finally get it back to running and driving status again!

Looking forward to the update following the test drive (I know it’s still a ways off yet) but still!!

D.

Donovan, thanks for following along and the nice reply. I don't know how you work in the garage late and then go inside and catch up your thread. You have discipline my friend. I'm glad to have the thread caught up and I'm really happy that some of you guys are enjoying this project. I know it isn't a G Body, but it's what I'm working on right now. I've never really been a Ford guy but you have to admit, it's a pretty cool car. Big block, four speed, dual exhaust, bucket seats, console, and the pizazz that American cars of the 50's and early 60's had. Very little plastic. Steel and chrome. It's definitely a different animal. Thanks again buddy.

Love these cars. Recently I helped a nearby car guy install a manual choke in his 64 Galaxie convertible.

Ed, it's good to have you in here. Thanks for the interest. I like the 64. It is the end of the 60-64 'platform' so I guess you could consider it the most refined model. I think styling wise I like the 61 Starliner the best but I love the 62 hardtop, probably because this one has been in the family since about 1990. The 63-1/2 is quite a looker too. These cars have their quirks and irritating design flaws like any other but they definitely don't lack on styling.

Thanks to everyone who is following along. We appreciate the likes and the interest.

Best,

Jared

 

[Michael Watts]

I was born in 1956 .So your dad is close to my brothers age .He was born 1946. That why I tend to use "old school"ways because they worked.My parents a,friends and siblings have had some interest cars while I was growing up.Some would make car collectors drool.And I did start learning how to drive in my mom`s1964 Mustang.So.I am some what multi. But I prefer Chevrolets. Good luck on your dad`s and yours project.

 

[Longroof79]

Jared,
I'm just curious what the rear axle gear ratio is. You mentioned that it cruises at like 3000 rpm. The GV overdrive would give you the best of both worlds. Low gearing to get it up to speed quickly, and the overdrive to allow you to cruise at a comfortable safe rpm.
I'm guessing the GV unit would also enable you to split gears. Is the 4-spd a close ratio box?

 

[fleming442]

On the other hand, cruising at 32-3400 puts me in the cam powerband in 4th, so terminal velocity romps are just a mash of the gas away.😎

 

[Texas82GP]

Jared,
I'm just curious what the rear axle gear ratio is. You mentioned that it cruises at like 3000 rpm. The GV overdrive would give you the best of both worlds. Low gearing to get it up to speed quickly, and the overdrive to allow you to cruise at a comfortable safe rpm.
I'm guessing the GV unit would also enable you to split gears. Is the 4-spd a close ratio box?

Jack, the Galaxie has its factory set of 3.56 gears. As delivered, the car was a Galaxie 500 (not an XL). It was white with primarily red interior if I remember correctly. Bench seat. It had a 352 2V, with a column shifted T85 3 speed transmission with auxiliary overdrive. It was single exhaust, manual steering and manual brake. It did come equipped with the Select Air A/C from the factory. It was built in Dallas.

With the 255/60/15 rear tires and the .78 overdrive, it should turn 2937 RPM at 85 mph whereas with the 235/60/15 rear tires and no overdrive, it would turn 2990 RPM at 65. The taller rear tires and overdrive basically buy us 20 MPH. We are going to try the setup out and maybe swap in a 3.23 for a little more effortless high speed cruising. With 3.23 it would tun 2665 RPM at 85. We'll see.

The transmission is wide ratio, which is a bit friendlier for the street. I mentioned earlier in the thread that we had a rare narrow case, close ratio Toploader that would only have come behind a 427 in a 63 or 64 Galaxie, but we restored it and sold it in favor of this wide ratio box. The 2.32 first gear in the close ratio box is a little tall compared to the 2.78 first gear in the wide ratio. 2.78x3.56=9.9 which is right in the sweet spot to get that beast rolling.

I'm not sure if you can split all four gears with a manual transmission (its been years since I read the manual) but I think there is a minimum speed to shift into overdrive. I'll do my homework and report back. I expect dad will kick in overdrive in either 3rd or 4th, depending on the situation.

On the other hand, cruising at 32-3400 puts me in the cam powerband in 4th, so terminal velocity romps are just a mash of the gas away.😎

I know what you mean. With the LS Hot Cam, my 5.3 in my DD truck is really asleep until about 2500 RPM. Driving down the road in 2nd or D instead of overdrive can be pretty fun.

 

[Clutch]

I was reading about the gearvender for my truck I think it's something that I'd like to do in the distant future if I understand correctly witch I may not they fuction differently for different applications in my application th400 with 205 transfer case it splits every gear and goes on the back of the 205. So it wires in to the 4X4 light on the dash so it's disabled when I'm locked in for traction. It also has a stand alone module. I was wondering if your dad's dose to?

 

[Texas82GP]

I was reading about the gearvender for my truck I think it's something that I'd like to do in the distant future if I understand correctly witch I may not they fuction differently for different applications in my application th400 with 205 transfer case it splits every gear and goes on the back of the 205. So it wires in to the 4X4 light on the dash so it's disabled when I'm locked in for traction. It also has a stand alone module. I was wondering if your dad's dose to?

It has a little computer box that we mounted to the tunnel in the console. It reads the speed sensor (in line on the speedo cable) and controls the shift solenoid on the GV unit. On dad's, it also reads the switch on the shift knob and sends signals to the red and green LED's that we put in the triple gauge bracket under the dash. With an automatic, I think it will automatically split the gears and I'm sure you can lock it out when you are in 4wd. The controller box has quite a few inputs we aren't using.

 

[pontiacgp]

I'm tagging along enjoying all the posts and the work you are doing but I won't be commenting too much. You take the time to answer all the posts and I think you have more than enough to handle with the cars and the pr. .....🙂

 

[Wraith]

Great updates!

 

[Longroof79]

Jack, the Galaxie has its factory set of 3.56 gears. As delivered, the car was a Galaxie 500 (not an XL). It was white with primarily red interior if I remember correctly. Bench seat. It had a 352 2V, with a column shifted T85 3 speed transmission with auxiliary overdrive. It was single exhaust, manual steering and manual brake. It did come equipped with the Select Air A/C from the factory. It was built in Dallas.

With the 255/60/15 rear tires and the .78 overdrive, it should turn 2937 RPM at 85 mph whereas with the 235/60/15 rear tires and no overdrive, it would turn 2990 RPM at 65. The taller rear tires and overdrive basically buy us 20 MPH. We are going to try the setup out and maybe swap in a 3.23 for a little more effortless high speed cruising. With 3.23 it would tun 2665 RPM at 85. We'll see.

The transmission is wide ratio, which is a bit friendlier for the street. I mentioned earlier in the thread that we had a rare narrow case, close ratio Toploader that would only have come behind a 427 in a 63 or 64 Galaxie, but we restored it and sold it in favor of this wide ratio box. The 2.32 first gear in the close ratio box is a little tall compared to the 2.78 first gear in the wide ratio. 2.78x3.56=9.9 which is right in the sweet spot to get that beast rolling.

I'm not sure if you can split all four gears with a manual transmission (its been years since I read the manual) but I think there is a minimum speed to shift into overdrive. I'll do my homework and report back. I expect dad will kick in overdrive in either 3rd or 4th, depending on the situation.
.

Jared,
Thank you for your explanation and detailed description. So the car actually started out as a relatively plainjane Galaxie 500, 3-spd column shifted 352/ 2-bbl. You guys later added the 390 and 4-spd. Gotcha!
I do recall you mentioning about the top loader close ratio 4-spd that you later sold...I forgot about that.
I think the 3.23 should be a good all around gear ratio, and running the taller tires.
Giving it some more thought, it would be senseless splitting 1st and 2nd gears. It makes more sense splitting 3rd and 4th.
Keep up the great work as always.