Just to follow up from what I posted last night, here are some photos of the Exhaust Manifolds. Now that I look at the casting numbers, I know that the EDB is not a 1955 number. I believe they are to be ECH if they are original to the car right? anyone know? I am not quite sure why the different numbers in the earlier years - maybe you guys can chime in here. I bought a set of the B9's, blasted them too, and have now coated both sets twice and are letting them dry out. This stuff works pretty good in my opinion.
 
 

I also cleaned up a couple of nice chrome valve covers and used some contact cement to set RUBBER valve cover gaskets to them. The gaskets work very well when you need to remove your valve covers a few times over their "life" when you are setting valve lash, etc. I know some guys will use cork and seal the cork to the valve cover, then grease the end of the gasket that mates to the head - that works too. I have done that with intake manifold gaskets before.
 
I need to find some chrome or stainless acorn nuts for the valve covers - they would look better with those. I do have new decals to put on the valve covers - I like the 1957 "Ford Interceptor" decals - kind of my favorite FoMoCo look.
I did get the Valley Pan cleaned up last night, and I have a rubber gasket for that too. As you are aware sometimes these valley pans you find can be bent up into a banana shape by the last gorilla who wrenched it down. Since there are only two bolts that hold it down to the block, they are prone to leak also so make sure there is a good seal all the way around. If you use silicone or some kind of a gasket maker, go sparingly with it.

Hopefully soon I can start installing the other bolt-on parts and get this thing fired up again, check for leaks, make sure the plumbing is good, time the engine and get it ready to reinstall in the car.
 


Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Mike, I appreciate your comments. I know I always enjoy reading the posts of others and have learned quite a bit (I still am by the way). Do you have any photos you can post about your 55?


Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Ok fellas... back at it again for the last two nights, cleaning things up, installing new gaskets and even had the chance to put the 292 on the run stand tonight before I got ready to turn in.
First of all, I thought it good to cover something that gets asked quite a bit by newbies... "How do you prime the oil pump?" I don't know if my answer is the best but I will show you what I do when I get a Y block ready to go and then after that I will take you through what I do to get the distributor ready for initial start up. Here we go:
I put an NOS oil pump (gerotor type, not the "spur gear" pump) on this Y block when I put a new gasket on the oil pan also.

Look to the left in the photo above to see what I am talking about here. The gerotor has a smooth cover, the spur gear has a sizeable "bump out" for the gear.

When you put one in, the best advice is to submerge the entire pump and prime the pump itself before installation. Well... I'm pretty lazy and did not want to have to clean it up to paint it, etc. So I did put a little oil in the pump inlet just to make sure it was not dry at all. I then installed a new gasket after I cleaned the block surface really well. It is not recommended that you put any silicone or sealer on the gasket for the oil pump. However, I must say that I always use high tack gasket compound (the red stuff) on the gasket at the oil pump to get it to seal nicely. Careful - a little goes a long way here! After the pump was installed, I cleaned it up with acetone before painting. Another word on the oil pump and the oil pan tube that feeds the pump. There is a very delicate tube seal that goes on your inlet tube as it mates to the pump inlet. Be careful to get this situated correctly and do not overtighten or crush the seal. If you have a leak here after priming or after initial startup it will be a PAIN because you will either have to remove the oil pump or oil pan and then reaffix the seal. You really don't want to have to do either, trust me.

Back to priming the pump. Make sure that you installed the oil pump drive rod (get a new one when you put in a new pump - cheap insurance!) correctly in the bore. The catch washer is used to keep the shaft from coming out of the pump when you pull the distributor, so the washer needs to go on the shaft BEFORE you place it up inside the bore of the block. Please don't leave it out - you will just be swearing like a sailor the next time you pull your distributor out and find that the shaft came right on out too... OUCH. That shaft is pretty thin but it is a hex. You can use a 1/4" socket to turn the shaft so that you can prime the pump. Get yourself a long 1/4" drive extension or two, and then a THIN-WALLED socket like the one shown. TAPE THEM TOGETHER so that you don't lose anything while you are messing around in there.
 

You can see the distributor boss pictured above. That is what we are shooting for here. If you look down in that hole you can see the top of the oil pump drive rod. Take your drill, set it to REVERSE (remember that counterclockwise is the way the distributor and that hex shaft will rotate when the engine is running). Now take your 1/4" extension setup and place it on the shaft... HOLD IT! Did you fill the block with 4 or 5 quarts of oil? Thought so. You did - but I almost forgot. By the way, another thing you should do... ahem, is uh, to walk around your block and make sure you are BUTTONED UP! (see Y block follies post for explanation here lol) You don't need to go at super fast rate of speed, just touch it off and let it rotate a little bit. You can actually do this with a speed handle for a socket but this certainly takes the sweat out of it. While you are spinning the drill it will be about 10-15 seconds or so and you will feel a load... yep, we struck oil. "Drill baby drill" Keep going and watching your rocker arms to make sure you are getting oil up there. If you have a new build, it is going to take some time. The rockers are the furthest point away from the pump that the oil has to travel, so every other orifice and what have you will fill up first. If you have an early cam that is "cross-drilled" then rotate your cam so that you can mate up the feed holes.

Now on setting that distributor. With your valve cover off the passenger side head, take a look at the # 1 cylinder and the corresponding valves. You want to get TDC at the compression stroke so that you can give that ignition initial time. Go back to your crank dampener/timing pointer and bring up the TDC mark just as the intake valve has closed (exhaust will be closed as well... double check this by checking valve lash on both rocker arms for #1). Most guys like to set their initial time to exact TDC on the timing pointer. I guess this is good practice, but since Y blocks like a lot of advance I usually bring the timing pointer to 4 degrees or so and then get ready to install the distributor. You will note my timing mark on the crank dampener. I have removed the black paint where the timing marks are located and I have sprayed it with Clear Engine Paint to highlight the difference from the rest of the dampener.
 
Next, I take the distributor and mark the location of #1 Cylinder/Plug Wire by fitting the cap to the distributor and making a sharpie line right underneath the center of where #1 is located.
 
Something else I like to do is get some anti-seize on both lips of the distributor boss on the block and a little on the distributor itself where it will mate to the block. How many times have you tried to pull a seized Y block distributor? I don't know why particularly, but the Y block is NOTORIOUS for seized distributors. In my lifetime of probably dealing with 15 different Y blocks I have never owned, seen, or worked on one that had the top end oiling problems. But about half of the ones I have dealt with had a seized distributor. You may also note the ACCEL pointless ignition. While everyone and their grandmother go the Pertronix route I have used the ACCEL kit with 100% success and no ignition failures over the past 10 years or so. (lol I say that now, wait until I crank this thing up or take the father-in-law out for the initial ride after all the work is done! Seriously though, I do like the kit and with an ACCEL super coil there is no resistor needed. You can leave the key on with no problems, etc.
That's all for tonight - I'm beat. I did get more done in the shop but until next time, here is the engine finally back on the run stand...

You guys out here late at night can take over for me...




Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

You're doing a great job on this, what with the comments, pictures, and advice.  I'm getting ready to do the same with my '55 Townsedan, so I'm watching this with great interest.  What your doing is almost exactly what I have planned for mine, to the letter so far.  Keep up the good work.
 
Mike,
Lanett, Alabama

Let me check on that... they are from energy suspension. The sway bar I put in is a 7/8" from a 56 Ranchwagon. The part number from energy suspension is: 9.5158G (it comes as a kit)



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

Do you have a part number for the sway bar bushing sets? Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Wow, it has been a long time since my last post... I have been busy getting my house ready to sell, making a transition to Ohio, and all that comes with a move. Half of my shop has already been cleared out and many things put into storage or sold. By the way, the most recent contract did fall through. The buyer wanted me to change a window's location, complained about code, went after documentation/permits on my shop, etc, etc, etc. I think he just had a simple case of buyer's remorse.

At any rate, this has left me some time in the shop and the last few nights I have been a little busy. I reinstalled the tie rods, idler arm, and drag link after a serious cleaning and installation of new seals and grease.
 
 
The front brake drums and hubs were cleaned up and painted, and the bearings and seals cleaned, greased up well, and reinstalled. Nothing too exciting to show concerning installation, I guess this is all pretty boring material. I did not put in the steering gear just yet because I want to finish up that firewall. Hopefully the rain will stop coming, but it is April after all.

I did get in a brand new fuel line (tank to fuel pump) from Tee Bird Products. The shipping was outrageous - I will leave it at that. I also got a set of bushings in that shipment so that I can rebuild the shifter arms on the column. While I was at it, I ordered a set of brake lines (specific lengths all ready to go) from Jacksons' Auto Parts - the box showed up today, CRUSHED, and all of the lines in the box were bent at a 35 degree angle. They were all supposed to arrive straight. Now what? I guess I will contact them tomorrow and see what we can do. I guess I can bend them back but you know once a line is bent, it's bent.

While the front end has continued to receive treatment, I have also been attacking the 292. I degreased it, removed quite a few bolt on's down to make the engine a "long block" so I could clean it up easier. The timing cover and water pump I just left on the block. I did put on another oil pan that was in much better shape, and I added a NEW gerotor oil pump. There are not many miles on the engine (just several hundred) so cleanup was not too bad and the parts are all in great shape.
 
 
 
The whole "wire wheel" episode was long, messy, and just downright tedious, but that metal was clean by jove! I am not going to reuse the pitted valve covers, so I Ieft them on. I have rubber valve cover gaskets and chrome valve covers to install anyway. When I paint an engine like this, I like to put clean rags in the lifter valley just to keep out the crap. The engine paint is a simple Duplicolor Engine Red. I don't think it is 55/56 Ford correct but it looks good and it was available. The car is not  a show car so what's the difference. My father-in-law came over tonight and likes the look of it so on we go.

I have some of the bracketry and other parts on my paint rack so hopefully I can get to install those soon. I also have two good sets of exhaust manifolds that I just brought out of the blast cabinet, cleaned up, and then coated with the Eastwood Hi-temp coating. I have two sets because one is original to the 55 and the other is a 57 set. I will most probably use the 57 set depending on what I do with the power brakes situation. I have not decided what to do about that yet, but will most probably get an aftermarket set up instead of the original master cylinder and Ford's way of doing it in 1955. We want to put a dual master cylinder on it anyway.

Once I get the engine running again I will have to post a video. Hopefully I can figure out how to do that.


Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

A good buffer and rubbing compound and you can buff those clear again. I had a roll of mylar and would just tape a new one on but its always a pain in the ass keeping them clean. I learned a long time ago to never let the richochet head towards the window and it last much much longer. The other problem is people keep blasting through the left index finger of my gloves because they blast right into it while holding small parts. I can make stuff last because I know how to use the thing without damaging the window or gloves. Its when you let other people use it that its common nature to keep getting the part closer to the glass, getting more richocheting material at it and before you know it you cant see. I hate that every time I repair it so things are clear as a bell, somebody else has messed it up and I have to gop through it again to get my own work done.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

I bought one of those cheapo florescent lights in a tube. Mounted it to the cabinet so it under the front edge at the top of the face. Adds a new angle light for ridding yourself of shadows. I late added a 100 watt safety enclosed fixture in place of the original light. Nice and bright. My window is exactly 12" X 24" so I just keep a couple on hand. I probably buy two of them a year to replace the damaged ones. Cheaper than the tearoffs. I use a lot of glass bead but for super dirty/rusty parts I switch to black beauty. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

My lens protector on my TP Tools Skat Blast Cabinet was getting kind of fuzzy. I have to replace it about twice a year. I have owned the cabinet for about 8 years, and it works very well. I have only had to replace the nozzle 3 times, and I would imagine I use this cabinet about 4-5 hours a week on average. I have had to replace/refill media also on 3 different occasions. I have tried all kinds of brands from TP's glass bead media (the best I have used in my opinion), to Harbor Freight, to Tractor Supply Company. I have only ever used glass beads in the cabinet. I would like to find a way to put another light in the cabinet because of the "shadow" effect with just one light bulb in there. Sometimes it is difficult to see what you are doing in there.Whenever I replace the lens protector, I always get off all of the old adhesive. Goo Gone works the best for that job, and the new protector sheet always stick to the lens very well. It takes more work, but I never have my lens protector falling down on my gloves and I have never had to replace my lens!

The cabinet is the grey unit along the wall to the right of the engine run stand.
   

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com