 That hangdog, bumperless look... |
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A couple more parts orders go out, this time for NOS stuff from a couple firms. We'll see how these come through.
More disassembly. The front bumper and grille come off. Bumper is very good, was a rechrome replacement in 1977. Upper bar of grille is shot, though the rest is in great shape. The left front fender comes off; it's repairable but I've got a better spare so it goes into the side yard (anyone want it?). The cowl vent cover comes off. Lots of loose crud underneath but - hallelujah! - no rust. And now I know how to get the slightly dented lower windshield steel trim off.
| That hangdog, bumperless look... |
Idle thoughts, again, this time on exhaust plumbing. Every time I turn the key I'm reminded that everything behind the exhaust manifolds is iron oxide held together by little more than entropy. I need to consider what I eventually want on there. I could keep the OEM manifolds but they are an impediment if I ever want more HP. I most definitely don't want big, bulky four-tube headers. A 4-2-1 Tri-Y header design would be a nice '60s period touch but does anyone have one off-the-shelf? 406/427-type iron 'header' manifolds would be a nice touch but aren't cheap these days, and I've never really seen one in person.
Interesting thought on the idea of Dove aluminum heads with 406/427 'header' manifolds: the majority of modern production cars today have aluminum heads but iron exhaust manifolds.
The rack at the local Safeway yields an issue of Mustang and Fords magazine (never heard of it before), containing an ad from Vintage Wheel Works in Southern California. Something they call the Vintage 45; it's a Torq-Thrust look-alike but in a 16x8-inch size. Sounds good, but at a thousand bucks a set it's somewhat more than 15-inch Torq-Thrusts. We're up to three 16-inch wheel options now: Boyds has a cast retro wheel that looks sharp though I don't know that I want a polished finish.
Random fiddling with a calculator yields the perfect tire size: 245/55ZR-16. Never heard of one. Back to the Tire Rack web site - they exist. A Pirelli P6000 (nice tire) at something like $235 each. Oops.
The interior is largely cleaned out now, except for the dash pad and front seat. What to do about the rust? The extent of the problem: surface rust above the headliner and under the dash, and in one of the front floorpan seams. In Hemmings and elsewhere you've got ads for rust-killer paints: POR-15, Bill Hirsch Miracle Paint, Eastwood Rust Stabilizer, etc. For all I know they may all be basically the same goop. They're supposedly effective, if costly; they're also reputed to be as environmentally friendly as asbestos deodorant and as easy to work with as a Congressional subcommittee. Suggestions?
The NOS parts orders are arriving: Miller Obsolete Parts (no relation) - assorted trim and etc. all as advertised. Sam's Vintage Ford Parts - three NOS trim bits, three separate boxes, well-packed. Once again everything's as promised. Yee-hah! (Yee-hah?)
Between the arriving stuff and the parts stripped off the car, I'm falling a little behind on inventorying the bits and schlepping them off to the spare bedroom. Spouse ignores pile of parts building up on dining-room table - for NOW, anyway.
I did it; drove the hundred miles and emptied my stuff out of the ol' storage unit. So I now have my engine hoist, hydraulic press, etc. back, as well as two table saws, a bunch of parts from a long-since-scrapped '66 Falcon including a Lincoln Versailles disc-brake 9" rear axle; a bunch of 14x7-inch slot mags and steel Mach 1 wheels I'll never use again, and a pile of old Saab parts (soon to be a Saab Network classified ad).
This is going to be a mess for a good long time.
Meanwhile, hopefully by mid-January the wagon will be ready for the bodyshop. So I've got to find one to do the work; any suggestions on the mid-San Francisco Peninsula would be appreciated.
