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Daniel Jessup
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 1 hour ago
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Well I finally had a half day off today and got a chance to get in the garage for a few hours to turn some wrenches on this old Ford. Right now my life is very busy what with school starting up (I administrate or church's academy), the new volleyball season (yep - I coach girls' volleyball... don't ask me how I got talked into that but it has to do with my daughters lol), and everything else with a family of 5 I don't know how I have time. No complaints,,,, just letting you know the reason for so much time between posts.
I removed the transmission and the crossmember along with the drive shaft. It took a little more time than I anticipated - stuff was really gunked up under there. I remember years ago that a rear main seal was dumping oil everywhere for while - guess it made the floor pans last a long time! I did find one small place on the driver's floor pan that was not solid. Everything else is good.
  
  
  If you are wondering what is going on with the photo of the vise grips... I was looking around under there and found them clamped to a nut! I think the vise grips were left under there when the seat belts were installed. That's what I get for having teenagers help me turn wrenches! I should have counted all my tools after that project was done. I took them off... they are still good after 7 years or so and all the road time. That crossmember weighs an extra 5 lbs from all the crud, grease, and road grime collected on it. Gotta get that thing cleaned up and painted. I guess the transmission mount rubber is near perfect because of being sprayed with oil so much over the years. Hopefully I can get the firewall cleaned up soon and then start prepping the firewall for paint. I would like to do that before weather sets in here.
The photos of the tail pipes are a for a member who asked for them sometime ago but I could not find his post. If you know the member or remember the post... can you direct him here?
thanks Loveland, Ohio aka "The Hot Rod Reverend" 
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com
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texasmark1
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 5 Years Ago
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reminds me of how my Daniel began helping me on my 57... he was only 5 or so, but he dug right in!
now he's driving his restored 63 Mercury back to his sophomore year of college...
best times we've had together... wrenching and getting greasy.
don't miss a minute of it... EJ may surprise you and really pick up the torch!
Mark
"God Bless Texas"location: Houston,TX
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Daniel Jessup
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 1 hour ago
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pegleg (8/17/2014)
You may have created a monster! Good for you.
Let's hope! Here comes the Hot Rod Reverend Jr. 
Daniel JessupLoveland, Ohio aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com
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pegleg
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 2 Years Ago
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You may have created a monster! Good for you.
Frank/RebopBristol, In ( by Elkhart) 
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Daniel Jessup
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 1 hour ago
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Things went really slow this week but when I look at these photos, I say to myself, "who cares?" My boy (I have 3 kids, 2 daughters and a son) came into the garage with me last night to work on one of his projects - he was making a homemade trailer to go behind one of his small Tonka type trucks. "Hey dad, can I help?" he says. "Sure thing," I tell him, and my 11 year old son Ethan (we call him EJ) grabs the air ratchet and asks what's next...  . I laughed a little and patted him on the back and we spent a couple of hours removing the front bumper, the hood hinges, various hoses and wiring, the sway bar, etc. It took me a whole lot longer because while he has his own hand tools he had never used an air ratchet before... I guess he has never really asked me to. Looking at the photos here I guess I should have made him wear a pair of safety goggles - will have to do that next time. He always knows to wear a pair when he is at the grinder or using a cut-off wheel or a Dremel tool.
  
I did take some photos of the front sway bar after removal and of a sway bar that I had on the shelf here. As I recall, it was from a 56 Station Wagon... can I mount that front sway bar with the same metal brackets? It looks like the bushings are the same but the ID of the hole is probably different. It looks like I will need new a kit for the hardware also. Those rubber washer bushings are WORE OUT lol. The bolts from the wagon sway bar look like they are a little longer. I guess there is such a thing as a kit for a wagon sway bar?
  
 
I will have to say that with my son's interest here this week things have gotten a whole lot more "fun". We'll see how long he lasts. The last thing he told me before we went in for a shower last night was whether or not he would be allowed to drive it when he got his license. I laughed and said, "You are going to have to talk to your Papa about that one!" I'm sure he will.
Daniel JessupLoveland, Ohio aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com
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Daniel Jessup
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 1 hour ago
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Back to the grind here... my parents came up to see my wife and I - and their grandyoungin's - and we had a great time together. I didn't get to work as much on the 55 as I had planned but spending time with mom and dad was well worth it. Besides, ol' Pops carried up a small pickup truck load of parts for me and I was pretty pleased with what I saw. It was from a Craigslist deal down in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, and dad had agreed to bring up the whole lot for me up here to Frederick County, Virginia.
I did get the entire passenger side front end sheet metal removed. This time I had to simply remove some bolts by twisting them into two pieces but there were only two. The rest came out pretty easily. This passenger side air deflector is in excellent shape compared to the driver's side. Also, the fender lip underneath the headlight bucket is very nice. There are a couple of body work places on this fender, and I am thinking that I will have to completely remove the brace that runs the vertical length at the rear of the fender to get these repairs right, and then reinstall the brace before mounting. I had one hangup that was hard to to deal with at first - the hidden stud that goes through the body (behind the kickpanel under the dash) just spun and spun when I tried to take off the nut. There was no corrosion there so I couldn't figure out what the problem was. The stud just spun with the nut. I had to insert a long screwdriver and keep pressure under the washer as I tried to back out the nut. 5 minutes later we were ready to pull the fender and serious trouble averted. I have no idea how someone would get that fender off if that nut seized up. I don't really think you could get a grinder or cut off wheel in there. Anyone ever face that problem?   
   The parts were all degreased and I hit them with a pressure washer for a little while today. The splash pan is also in good condition and will clean up nicely. I will have to put some of these parts up in the rafters in the garage until I can get to things later on. The firewall and the frame is really what I want to attack first and get the car ready to place the transmission and engine back in there. There is definitely some body work to do. I am not going to be able to simply sand and paint, but I was expecting to have to work things over. It will be a learning experience for sure.
I have had some questions about why I left the bumper on the front of the clip while removing everything else. It "should" be easier to remove the bumper after all the other parts are removed. I am expecting some very rough hardware on those bumper brackets and being able to get at them from the TOP with the sheet metal out of the way looks to be a good thing to do.
A couple of questions:
1. What is involved in removing that brace that runs the vertical length of the fender?
2. Hardware - I have plans to degrease and blast the hardware per my ultrasonic cleaner and my glass bead cabinet. However, does anyone have some ideas on coating or finishing the hardware to keep it from rusting? I think the factory simply painted the heads of the bolts, but I am not going original here. If all of the hardware was one color that would not be a problem. This is a driver car for my father-in-law.
3. Thinking along the lines of hardware, has anyone made any updates to what Ford did to put all that sheet metal together back in 55? In other words, I am asking you guys that have disassembled and assembled front end sheet metal on 55/56 Fords with some frequency... was there any change you made to hardware use/location (fender washers, special fasteners, hidden nuts, welded hardware, etc)? Loveland, Ohio aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com
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56_Fairlane
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I doubt it came from the factory with a stack of washers like that since it looks like there's some of that white respray on them.
~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles
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brokengate
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Group: Forum Members
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Daniel the washers are a substition for the alignment shims, on my 56 they are u shaped or slotted squares. Pay attention to how many or the measurement of them for your returning fender alignment on rebuild, the slotted make it easy to add or remove, think I've seen repops on ebay. Thanks for the pics you know we love the photo journals.
Ted, Redding, CA
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lyonroad
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Daniel Jessup (8/7/2014)
One last item - you see the stack of washers there on the firewall mount for the fender at the rear. What is all of that about? Is that something Ford did? I will have to check the manual - it seemed like a Mickey Mouse setup.
Daniel, My '55 Club Sedan had a stack (two) of washers there too. I replaced them temporarily with a thick stainless washer. I suspect they are part of the process of aligning the top of the fender with the cowl and leading edge of the door.
Mark
1956 Mercury M100
1955 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan
Delta, British Columbia
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Daniel Jessup
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 1 hour ago
Posts: 1.9K,
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I am taking my time with the sheet metal removal and assessment, identifying and storing hardware and doo-dads as we go along. I figured there would be some rust out, but not in this particular area as I always believed this was the car's strong suit. I was surprised by the fender splash shield (I obviously broke off the tab) and inner fender strength and condition - not much rust at all and the parts are very, very solid. All of the bolts have backed out of their nuts and hardware fairly easily, with the exception of the one of the lower bolts near the rocker panel.
  
   
I am pretty sure that the front end sheet metal has never been off the car (but I don't know about that washer stack - read below), so the condition and minimal corrosion surprised me. The fender itself is very solid as you can see - especially around the splash shield area near the rocker panel. There is a bad spot about a foot above that - it will need attention. I think the other side has the same issue. I do not know what that is all about. You can also tell that the front lip inside the headlight housing is a little soft (the lip that attaches to the radiator deflector) - it may need some sheet metal welded in there too. So far the worst I have found is that driver's side air deflector, but the sheet metal to the left and right of the rot is very solid. I have already been banging on it with a hammer to find out how solid it is. I can cut that lip off and weld in some metal for a repair with out having to take out the whole thing, that way the measurements should be a lot easier to make and the fitment of new metal to the piece should go much easier.
If this is all the rot I find, I would be very happy and count myself blessed. However I am expecting more! 
One last item - you see the stack of washers there on the firewall mount for the fender at the rear. What is all of that about? Is that something Ford did? I will have to check the manual - it seemed like a Mickey Mouse setup.Loveland, Ohio aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com
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