Project: Cruise, a 1960 T-bird.

[eaglescout526]

Just now, jdog said:

good hobby to get into, very interesting how its all done, glad to hear it works with the key. the new key might have to be filed on the sides to round it up a little to work the door

 

Yeah its really simple but tedious. 

[eaglescout526]

Well good news! The T-bird fires and almost catches! It was a combo of the battery being the wrong cranking amps and dirty connections. Now I need it to catch and run for a little bit. Then it will be the gas tank and then the brakes. Then hopefully in driving shape she will be in. 

[jdog]

almost time for a dancing banana

[eaglescout526]

Almost! Just need it to fire for a few seconds and ill be good to proceed further. 

[eaglescout526]

Well I have no idea when I will get back to this poor car. I did something(some know what I did, please don't say) and all I can say is it was an accident which resulted in me(self punishment) to not go to my grandparents house unless someone else is there to accompany me. But they will be home soon!

 

Anyways moving on from the negativity, I found a really cool piece from the 50's for this car. It is a micro flare kit. Its pretty cool, the reflectors come in a little red box that stores 3 of them. Pretty neat. Its a Micro-Flare Model No. 18BF. Not sure if i want to restore the box or not. I can get a pic later if anyone would like or simply look up the kit. 

[jdog]

Googleing is hard lol, hope for progress soon

[89 MJ]

Have you worked on this anymore since September?

[eaglescout526]

11 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Have you worked on this anymore since September?

Have not. Grandparents will be returning from their stay in TN so I’ll be able to go spend some weekends with them and work on it. 

[89 MJ]

Just now, eaglescout526 said:

Have not. Grandparents will be returning from their stay in TN so I’ll be able to go spend some weekends with them and work on it. 

Nice! It is so close. I'll be it is killing you to not have it driveable yet.

[eaglescout526]

13 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Nice! It is so close. I'll be it is killing you to not have it driveable yet.

It really is! With them being home it will be alot easier to stay there and not have to worry about spending a little bit of time and waiting for it to cool off. Just gotta get the engine to run for a split second, wire up the new ignition switch and drop the gas tank and hopefully clean it, then try to actually just run it for a minute. After that, its committing blasphemy with the brakes by using an XJ master and proportion block.

[eaglescout526]

Soon I will be back at this car. Grandparents will be home this week and I’ll be able to spend a weekend over there just wrenching away at that car. 

 

Anyone have any tips with the Ford 352’s that I should know? 

[Ωhm]

11 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

Anyone have any tips with the Ford 352’s that I should know?

Local group around here. Maybe they can help ya out.

http://www.michigantbirds.org/index.html

[eaglescout526]

Just now, Ωhm said:

Local group around here. Maybe they can help ya out.

http://www.michigantbirds.org/index.html

Neat!! I’ll take a look there too. Already been browsing squarebirds or something like that for a bit. 

[eaglescout526]

Back at it. Did some work but now I know I need a new starter, starter relay, battery cables as I melted the negative while trying to get the car to run and I probably should do an oil change. I finally got the ignition switch wired up. I think I got it wired up right, blower comes on in the run position, didn’t test ACC because I’m a dork and forgot it has that, radio kinda works. No sound comes out but the speaker does static when adjusting the volume. But it’s wired, it cranks when it should and that’s good enough for me. 

[eaglescout526]

Took out the radio and brought it home. There’s something about vacuum tube radios that I just understand. Might be just the old soul. But the tuner clutch plate has disintegrated and it needs a new one in order to tune to other stations. 

[eaglescout526]

Alright, I replaced the clutch plate for the tuner with two discs of sand paper and it works as it should which is fantastic. Now to get a new fuse and see if the radio works. 

[Pete M]

[eaglescout526]

Ok so my makeshift clutch idea kinda failed so I am doing the way another T-bird owner did it with gasket paper. Otherwise it kinda worked but it would stop catching when you would use the favorites buttons. 

[eaglescout526]

Welp, I yanked the gas tank out today and took it home. It has some small holes on the top after cleaning and the sending unit looks like a relic with rust. I think gas sat in the tank for 20+ years as it smells bad and kinda like paint remover. Ill clean out the tank later but it might be worth my while to buy a new tank and sending unit. 

[Pete M]

I would just buy new if they are available. 

 

also

 

[eaglescout526]

here's the tank:

 

Its holes:

 

Inside:

 

Sending unit which I am pretty sure is toast but I have it sitting in vinegar so we will see anyways:

 

And what came out of the tank:

 

Anyone need paint remover?

[jdog]

[eaglescout526]

Tank also has a dent on the bottom too.  Shame because the tank looks really really nice and very useable still. Whole car is practically rust free. 

[neohic]

You could try a product called Red Kote to bring that tank back. It’s a thick film that you dump in and then roll around to seal up the interior of the tank. Not sure if it’ll cover holes that big but I’ve seen it do miracles on what most would think is an unusable fuel tank. 

[eaglescout526]

I might goof around with the tank for a little while longer. I just flushed it with some water and some stuff came out but not all, still looks pretty brown and dark inside. Id try to weld the holes on the tank but I kinda am more to the point of utilizing my employment at the dealership to order a new tank and sending unit and maybe putting the tank on the back burner. Something tells me the tank is original as it has an undercoating. But that doesnt mean it wasnt replaced and then undercoated.