Dad's 62 Ford Galaxie

[lilbowtie]

Thought we would see the GP this summer But I know all to well when it's not on the priority list.

 

[DRIVEN]

I was just wondering about this car a few days ago. Hopefully I didn't jinx you guys. Man, what a bunch of hassle getting all that real world experience. It'll all be worth it in the end.

 

[clean8485]

Nice work Jared! Glad to see all of the perserverance on this car. Looking forward to seeing it running.

 

[Texas82GP]

Stuff like that happens all the time. At least you can walk away from it and come back to it when you are ready. Don't let it get to you. It happens to me all the time. I can already smell the rubber burning! You got 80 psi of oil pressure out of a FE engine? That is unheard of.

I totally know what you mean Zach but appreciate you reminding me. We've had more than our fair share of lumps over the years on these projects. It just reinforces that you have to really savor and enjoy the good car days to help you get through the bad ones. On the 80 psi, that's cold idle. I think it was down to around 45 at 'hot' idle. Still, great for an FE. To be honest, the new gauge reads a bit higher than the last one. The oiling system was modified when the engine was built. It has a high volume oil pump. It has that Milodon pickup, which has a HUGE feed tube. The main passage in the block where the oil pup attaches was enlarged, as was the passage through the side of the block to the oil filter adapter. The oil filter adapter is for a 427. We went with new rocker shafts and rockers so they aren't hemorrhaging oil pressure. Also, we have a pair of Holley primary jets in the oil passage in each head, right below where the rocker shaft attaches which restricts the oil flow to the top end. Before then, oil was running down the exhaust valve stem and burning up in the exhaust.

Still following along Jared. Keep killing all those bugs Christine keeps throwing at ya. It will be nice to see your Dad at cruise nights this Summer, in HIS car.

Thanks James. I'm really looking forward to and hope that we'll be bringing Christine to some of the car shows this Spring and summer. More importantly I hope the car will get painted this year.

I feel your pain Jared, I sincerely do. I’m just glad to see that you guys are refusing to admit defeat and are persevering through it all.

A quick note on the Teflon tape debacle, whenever I have to use a sealant on something like a pressure gauge where contamination is a concern, I opt to use Loctite 567.

View attachment 102546

It has kind of a thin paste like consistency, but a little goes a long way and it works extremely effectively. I’ve used it in both industrial applications at work, as well as at home for many many years now with rarely ever a leak. Best of all, there’s no solids in it to cause a blockage.
Might be worth picking some up to have around the shop.

Keep up the great work, I’m tuned in for sure as always. Good luck on the next maiden voyage attempt!

Thanks Donovan. I appreciate the tip on the thread sealant and appreciate the encouragement. I've pretty much sworn off Teflon tape at this point. I have a tube of a similar product (thread sealant) that I got to put the transmission back together. The guru recommends sealant on several of the bolts. I think it must be about the same product because it's the same as what you describe.

Thought we would see the GP this summer But I know all to well when it's not on the priority list.

Believe me, I wish the GP was going to run this year. I never thought it would sit over there for four years and counting when I pulled the 400 out of it. Dad's project is more important to me. I want him to get to enjoy this thing before he is too old to do so. I feel like we are close. I hope Christine isn't listening/reading.

I was just wondering about this car a few days ago. Hopefully I didn't jinx you guys. Man, what a bunch of hassle getting all that real world experience. It'll all be worth it in the end.

Glad to see you are still following along. For such a simple car, it is surprisingly hard to work on sometimes. Thankfully, it's pretty easy to pull the transmission out of it, even with the GearVendors unit. Making the GearVendors fit wasn't that easy but now that it does, it's not bad to work on. Would much rather pull the transmission again than do something like pull the HVAC box.

Nice work Jared! Glad to see all of the perseverance on this car. Looking forward to seeing it running.

Thanks Jeff. Us too my friend. Us too.

Thanks everyone for the replies, likes and encouragement. It means a lot to us all. The holiday appears to have slowed down the shipping on the gear oil. My guess is it will be Saturday before we fill the transmission and attempt the next test drive. Take care eveyone.

Best,

Jared

 

[Turbo Zach]

When I get back to my 390 project I will hit you up on oiling mods to do. When I first put it together and ran it I had like 17 psi cold oil pressure. I got scared and asked the old boys about it. They told me that was about right. I found later my oil pump was not a high pressure pump but actually a stock replacement pump. That engine did not run long. My cam ate my lifters and the metal trashed everything in side. I had all the engine machine work redone and it is waiting for me now. That was seven years ago and I am still not ready to go back to it yet. The hard lesson I learned was, whatch who you buy parts from. If you guys need some oddend parts for that engine? I have some stuff laying around.

 

[Texas82GP]

When I get back to my 390 project I will hit you up on oiling mods to do. When I first put it together and ran it I had like 17 psi cold oil pressure. I got scared and asked the old boys about it. They told me that was about right. I found later my oil pump was not a high pressure pump but actually a stock replacement pump. That engine did not run long. My cam ate my lifters and the metal trashed everything in side. I had all the engine machine work redone and it is waiting for me now. That was seven years ago and I am still not ready to go back to it yet. The hard lesson I learned was, whatch who you buy parts from. If you guys need some oddend parts for that engine? I have some stuff laying around.

Dad has an old book on performance Ford engine builds. It covers more than just the FE. I think it covers the small blocks and the big blocks. I did a google search and didn't see it so it may be out of print. When you're ready, we'll be happy to tell you exactly what was done to Dad's engine. One drawback to all that oil pressure is it is hard to keep it in the engine.

 

[Texas82GP]

Friends, it was a good weekend. We got a late start Saturday since we worked on an unrelated project for the first few hours. Then I got under the car and had Dad shift through the gears to see how everything was moving and how it felt. Everything was back together, we were just waiting on the GL-4 gear oil when we left off last weekend. Dad reported that the shifter felt fine and everything looked good to me under the car. I went ahead and filled the transmission. I'm glad I ordered three quarts of the gear oil. The guru had said it should take "about two quarts." It took closer to three and I didn't waste much. I would have had an upside down U on my face if I had only ordered two and had to wait again for one to come from Summit.

With the transmission filled, we put Christine back on the ground and dad cranked her up. Off we went on the test drive. I have to admit, a good part of the test drive I was just waiting for something to go wrong. It didn't. We stayed in neighborhoods and on low speed roads and put 24 miles on this latest build of the transmission. Towards the end of the cruise Dad got out on a higher speed road and kicked the car into overdrive a few times. Everything was great. The registration sticker on the car had expired at the end of December. Here in Texas you have to get the car inspected before you can renew the registration. We went by the inspection place but they were busy. We didn't want to press our luck so we took the car home with the plan of Dad getting it inspected first thing in the morning. Impressions from that ride: The car seemed really smooth. Dad was really happy with how the transmission shifted. The brakes are great. The engine ran great. The inside of the car is remarkably quiet with all of the Dynamat and sound deadening that Dad has put in. There are some rattles and wind noise associated with the front and rear door panels being off but the car is much nicer on NVH than before. The oil pressure was great. The temperature gauge was great. The speedometer appears to be dead on as checked with the GPS speedometer on my phone. It was an encouraging ride.

First thing Sunday morning Dad got the car inspected. He then went to Kroger and renewed the registration. I went over later that morning and we took the car out to get it on the freeway. Before I knew it, we were effortlessly doing 65 MPH in the second to right most lane. Dad slowly increased speed. Before long, we were up to 80, the fastest we'd ever been in the car. We were headed towards town and by then, the freeway was narrowing and traffic was slowing so Dad got off to U-turn. The GearVendors kicks itself down automatically when you get below 15 MPH, which is pretty cool. Dad got back on the freeway. Halfway home we were in the left lane up to 86MPH! We were the fastest car on the road. It looked like it was turning a little better than 3,000 RPM at that speed but it didn't seem to be roaring. In the past, before all this work, the car was no fun at 65 and was miserable at 70. 70 is now effortless and 85 is tolerable. The car has long had a vibration problem somewhere in the rear. That's gone. I don't know if it was the new driveshaft, the new pinion yoke, or the balancing I did on the rear drums that cured it but the car is so much smoother. The new clutch and flywheel are superb. The car has truly been transformed.

Now, this is Christine we are talking about so there are still a few bugs:

• The drain plug on the GearVendors unit is leaking. It has a sealing washer on it and I didn't replace it (didn't plan ahead and didn't have one). I've gotten as tight as I care to with that 1/4"-20 bolt into aluminum. I ordered an assortment of copper washers that should have what I need to fix that. I'll have to drain/refill the unit but I plan to catch the fluid in a paint mixing cup (it's between 1-2 quarts) and re-use it. EZ fix.
• There appears to still be an engine oil leak. It wouldn't be Christine without one. There is oil on the outside of the clutch inspection cover. There was one drop of oil on the garage floor when I left Dad's Sunday, about a half hour after we parked the car. Not terrible. This will take some inspection. Both valve covers have been glued down so I don't think they are leaking. The intake has been resealed so it better not be leaking. The oil pan gasket is new, and as everyone knows, I've gotten pretty good at that job so I don't think it is leaking. We'll see. The next move is to get the car up on the stands and start looking. I had everything under there clean so it shouldn't be too hard to track down.
• The exhaust is rattling on something on the passenger side. Not sure what, but shouldn't be a big deal to adjust.
• I have the emergency brake adjusted a bit too tight for Dad's liking. It's hard for him to get more than a click out of it. EZ fix.
• We are going to lengthen one of the A/C hoses so it isn't so tight to the Driver's side valve cover. We haven't gotten to that yet and have yet to recharge the system.
• I felt some air coming in on the passenger side under the dash. I may not have gotten the duct on the top of the HVAC case right. That sucks because it is hard to get to but it will take further investigation.

I forgot to mention we are very happy with how the front end turned out. The new springs are firm but not harsh. No squeaking. Nothing to complain about with the front end. We also enjoyed being able to open the wing windows.

To recap what's been done since April:

• New flywheel
• New clutch
• Switch from T10 to Toploader transmission
• Installation of Gear Vendors overdrive
• New driveshaft
• New pinion yoke and seal
• Balancing of rear drums
• New rear tires from 235/60/15 to 255/60/15
• Resealed intake manifold
• New valve cover gaskets
• New oil pump pickup
• New oil pan gasket
• New oil pressure gauge
• Flushed brakes
• New coolant
• New heater core and heater control valve
• Oil change
• New power steering pump and belt
• Front end rebuild with new ball joints, control arm bushings, upper shafts, upper and lower bumpers, springs, sway bar bushings, sway bar end links
• New dust caps for the front wheel bearings
• Installation of the sound deadening in the interior and trunk
• New carpet
• New seat belts

I'm probably forgetting something but the point is the car has come a long way. It has taken longer than we thought it would but it feels great to be here. I feel like the car is really close to being 'done' mechanically. The interior is very close to being done. It just needs a headliner and for the door panels to be installed. The car needs to be painted and the trim installed before that happens. I think the car is pretty close to being ready to go out for paint. Dad wants the guy who painted Sean's Camaro to paint it. I'm hoping it will go to paint by the Summer. We're going to keep plugging away at the bugs until we get it just how we want it. After the car is painted and the interior is together we might entertain thoughts of dropping the rear gear from the 3.56 that's in it to 3.23. It has a 2.72 first gear in it so the 3.23 would yield a final drive ratio of 9:1 in first gear. First gear feels a little steep now. Still, the car was not obnoxious at 86 so that might not happen. If we do go to 3.23, that would drop the RPM to about 2600 at 85, by my estimation.

Now, just because we all like pics, here are a few...

This was taken going down the highway at about 70 MPH. The green LED on the triple gauge shows that overdrive was engaged....

Notice how it almost has 80 psi of oil pressure going down the highway. This one is for Zach....

This one is also for Zach. 'Hot' idle (the car never got much above 170°) at nearly 40 p.s.i. ….

That's it for now gents. We might not work on it next weekend due to other plans but we are going to chip away at that list. I'll update when there is progress to report. Until then, thanks for following along. I hope everyone else had as good a weekend as we did.

Best,

Jared

 

[DRIVEN]

Great to see you guys are on the home stretch.

 

[1evilregal]

I agree with Driven, after all the hard work and setbacks, it's nice to see it all starting to come together! congrats on the re-maiden voyage!

 

[ItsnotaGN]

Awesome! Glad things finally swung in your favor. If I posted about all my automotive setbacks on this forum, there would be no room on the internet for anyone else.