Freddie comes alive!

[MacDee]

Wow, Roger! You have accomplished more in just a few weeks than I would have able to do for the rest of my life!! I am in awe...

Originally Posted by Luva65wagon

The pawl in the column and the pointer marker is for the 2-speed automatic...

On swap day... seven years ago... you were so busy with other tasks that you probably didn't realize I swapped those out for 3-speed versions.

Go, Roger, GO!

[Luva65wagon]

Prior to starting the wiring I pulled the e-brake parts out and got them repainted and redone. The handle is one I made for the wagon, but swapped it out so I could keep it. Took me a few hours to make, made out of solid steel, so decided to keep it. Freddie is the new recipient.

ebrake1.jpg ebrake2.jpg

Gene came over Friday and put in some new rear shocks for me. I had a set of new Monroe SensaTrack shocks that have overload springs, which I pulled off the Ranchero. As you may recall I wanted to swap out the leaf springs, but the ones I got from Larry were too long, so because the whole 5-lug swap is on hold, maybe these will help with Freddie's sagging underside.

sensatrac.jpg

Then onto the wiring. I'm making a hybrid 63 and 65 wiring for this. Thankfully I save, and look for, wiring harnesses to scavenge from. You need lots of bits and pieces to do this sort of thing.

wiresgalore.jpg

There are some advantages to moving up a couple years in wiring. The main one being the better fuse placement - OFF the headlight switch! I'll use the 65 headlight switch. I'm adding in a couple extra power terminals as well as another remote fuse block on switched power.

Some of the other differences are that the horn on a 63 uses a under-hood switch, which I will maintain (horn button carries ground circuit, not being the 12v switch itself). Also the 63 turn signal wires use bullet connectors and the 65 use a Molex style connector. To maintain the 63 horn and the turn signal switch, I had to change all the wires going to the column. I also removed the pink resistor wire since Freddie has aftermarket ignition (mostly) and can use full 12v there. Also the 65 harness has the internal brake light switch connector, which I prefer.

wires1.jpg wires1a.jpg

So here's the finished harness. I also reworked the under-hood harness to feed the starter solenoid, heater motor, and sending units (if I use them). Not sure on the later.

wires2.jpg

So the next wires to do are the other under-hood wires going forward to the headlights and horns. With the one-wire alternator there will not be as many wires used in this - and I am adding the headlight relays I removed from the wagon too (stuffed into a stock regulator can). More on that when I put it all in.

wiresnext.jpg

Getting closer!

[Luva65wagon]

Quick 'it's been a week' update on Freddie.

I got all the wiring reworked during the week and am awaiting some of those wire harness straps so I can route it all and snap some pics of it all wrapped up. Sadly I know I have some of those straps here, but heck if I can find 'em. So for now I wait.

In the meantime I started putting all the bits in the dash I can. I'm going to put the original radio back in the dash, so I decided to clean it up the best I can and see if it works. It works as good as a 1963 AM radio can!

radio1.jpg

Also, one of my signature "Falcon" changes is to split out the turn signals. Easy enough to do except for the high-beam indicator. Learned from doing it wrong on Steve's car to make sure to use an LED for this so the speedo pointer doesn't whack into it at 42MPH.

dash2TS1.jpg dash2TS2.jpg dash2TS3.jpg

While I wait for stuff I'm clearing out the trunk to do look-over and apply more DynaMat back there. Going to convert to a trunk-fill for the gas, but want to make sure the tank is sound as well. Gary said it was POR-15'ed, but not sure if that was external or internal. I know using a Mustang tank helps with this conversion too, so as cheap and abundant they are - that may happen.

[MacDee]

Originally Posted by Luva65wagon

Gary said it was POR-15'ed, but not sure if that was external or internal. I know using a Mustang tank helps with this conversion too, so as cheap and abundant they are - that may happen.

It was internal. I did it the first winter I had the car (2001-2002). There was a puncture from damage on the top of the tank, so it needed to be sealed.
Probably a good idea to replace the tank. No idea how long a Por-15 repair will last!

[Luva65wagon]

Thanks Gary. I'm sure a new tank makes sense after 54 years no matter what.

Got the trunk all cleaned and what minimal rust there was has been addressed. Seems the drivers side had the most, but it was worse under than outside, so I had to patch a few larger holes on the inner left-rear wheel well. DynaMat back there is next.

[Luva65wagon]

Man... crawling into a trunk is not fun! That's where I've been the past few days. But it is all fixed-up and ready to go. Still going to swap the filler when the original gas cap arrives to use as a mock cap. The original trunk mat sort of didn't survive being pulled out this time, so it got replaced. It's in there relaxing, but may come out one last time when I do the filler neck change. I'm torn about changing the tank right now.

Though DynaMat does wonders to deaden a car, it's not the prettiest stuff; so I made some wheel tub covers out of some sound insulation I had. Needed to make a template to get the shape right...

trunkwrap1.jpg

Also made some to go up against the rear quarters. Just cleaned it all up.

trunkwrap2.jpg

Here's the trunk mat. Summit racing of all places was the cheapest and it got here in 2 days.

trunkwrap3.jpg

I got all the stuff I need to do the engine compartment wiring install, so that is next in line after I make a new back seat bulk-head panel, which will be out of masonite and sealed off a bit better. Keep those trunk fumes in the trunk.

[pbrown]

Working in the trunk is a lot easier without the tank... just sayin'

It's coming together nicely.

[Luva65wagon]

Originally Posted by pbrown

Working in the trunk is a lot easier without the tank... just sayin'

Don't think I didn't contemplate that...

I'm reaching that milestone where things have mostly all been reworked now and stuff is going in at a faster pace. Gene was over at about 5PM today helping.

Last night I pulled the radiator up onto the rack to begin the process of straitening all the fins. It was a mess. I guess this happens when you have to pull the motor out a few times.

RadUgly.jpg

Nearly 3 hours to get them all straight, but looks gooder now.

RadDone.jpg

I am relocating the battery to the trunk and that left a hole in the front I thought would look good, but it dawned on me that there were slots in the core support to, I guess, cool the battery, and thought that would be a great cold-air feed source. So I changed to the long plenum and snorkel air filter. Still have a lot to do, but the lions-share of the engine bay is in-place.

enginebay3.jpg enginebay4.jpg enginebay5.jpg

Anyway, I'm trying to do it justice and make it live up to the vision Gary may have originally had for it. And Gary, I hope you'll be up for going for a ride in it when I'm done.

[dhbfaster]

Holy cow Roger...that is looking good.

[Luva65wagon]

Originally Posted by dhbfaster

Holy cow Roger...that is looking good.

Says the guy who set the bar!

Like you were, I'm looking forward to being done. And hoping I've fixed something along the way. Fingers crossed.

[ew1usnr]

Cool! It even has your famous heater hose strap!

[MacDee]

Originally Posted by Luva65wagon

And Gary, I hope you'll be up for going for a ride in it when I'm done.

YES, PLEASE!!
Deb wants to come, too. She'd always hoped to ride in her and not say "What's that noise... are we going to get there?"

[Luva65wagon]

Originally Posted by ew1usnr

Cool! It even has your famous heater hose strap!

Well of course. In this case, it, along with the bracket I made, keeps the heater hose out of the throttle cable.

The strap is a Ford thing, in case anyone cares; I just choose to make my own. These have even been sent across the country!

[Luva65wagon]

Originally Posted by MacDee

YES, PLEASE!!
Deb wants to come, too. She'd always hoped to ride in her and not say "What's that noise... are we going to get there?"

OK Gary, you're on. And I guess I better really shake it out beforehand if Debra is coming!: Needless to say I don't think, at this point, a bolt or nut will be left untouched. I know of a few that are loose I need to get to.

Next I will be reworking the transmission cooling lines and measuring for some exhaust work. Plan to have true 2" dual to the rear. It had dual exhaust but whoever made the x-pipe actually made the passage smaller, or as small, as a single pipe.

I was shut down at the first exhaust place I went to to make me something to replace that. They'd only make something if they had the car there. Hope I can get a couple S-shapes made to get something good enough to run it and get it to a shop to make a final setup. I noted, also, both the rear brake line and hose and the axle-tube vent were disconnected, and dangling, to install the last exhaust. Both of those have been put back into place and any new work will have to route correctly though that maze.

The fun continues.

[Jeff W]

I have to take credit for the dangly vent tube. My apologies