I finally got around to installing the firewall cover plates that surround the steering column. This was a little more involved than I thought it would be what with the clutch rod and the seal.



First up was to align the rubber seal to the holes on the firewall.





You can see I pulled the speedometer cable through just to be sure of alignment. I also used a dental pick to align the holes on the firewall to the holes in the rubber seal. Two slits were cut for the clutch rod seal to go through and we began installing the driver's side plate first. There are 9 total screws, and the two at the very top are installed from the engine bay through the firewall while the seven other screws are installed from the interior through to the engine compartment.



The clutch rod seal was pretty pesky. It was difficult to install on the sheet metal plate so I decided to leave it on while pushing through the seal and screwing the plate to the firewall. It obviously pulled the alignment through so I had to readjust that. After it was all aligned, I installed the screws loosely so that the plate and rubber seal could slide a little bit until both sides were installed.



this photo here shows where the light coming through the firewall helped to line up the holes in the rubber seal.





That clutch rod seal was very tight. I could not get the clutch rod through the seal without it popping off of the sheet metal plate. So... it was over to the bench to pry and tug and work the end through. After that we reinstalled the clutch rod and things were made ready to go.



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Got a few things done yesterday - the best of which was a brake light switch install and test.

https://vimeo.com/221671549

Here are some details on the bracket... I used 16 gauge sheet metal reinforced a little with some welding. The switch is a generic plunger I picked up on epay.











It took just a bit to fabricate, my welder was turned up too high so I blew through the first tack pretty quickly but it dialed in nicely and I added a small triangle to the return that holds the switch.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Well what a day we had! :confused:

It all started at the post office. After being in Canada for about a week or more, we had our mail held and delivered... well we thought it was all delivered. I had to go to the post office and pick up three packages. One was a father's day present for my dad, the other was a new key/cylinder set for the 55 trunk and doors, and the other was a box of 6 cans of R134a (yep - I returned the Home Depot special - these 6 cans were much cheaper and the same brand

http://www.ebay.com/itm/282046970166?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

The guy behind the counter at the post office was having a rough day - according to the website reviews and complaints registered this fella is always having a bad day. After my request to receive the mail he slapped down a few pieces of junk mail (which we had already received paper mail so I have no idea what this was about) and the package with the key/cylinders set. He finally decides it best to go get his supervisor. 15 minutes later my other two boxes miraculously show up. Fun times.

So... we get home and it's time to fill this AC system with oil and refrigerant and... "Oil? did we get oil?" I muse to myself. Uh... and out to the parts store. So... we got the oil, we got the refrigerant, we got the can tap and we are READY.



First up was to hook up the vacuum and let that run for at least 45 minutes (I actually ran it for almost an hour while getting some other things done today like some body work on the hood.) I was surprised how quiet the pump is - it never got that loud. The gauges looked good again and we were holding a good vacuum on the line without the pump (like before when we did a test run). Here is a brief video as well:

https://vimeo.com/221109056



Ok so the compressor was turned about 20 revolutions to move the oil through the reed valve, and we got out a can and hooked it up. It only took about 10 seconds for me to hear a "hissssssssss........" :eek: What in tarnation? This thing was holding a good vacuum!



Close the valve quick and find that leak! When I found the leak I had to remove that section of line from the car and take it to the bench to re-crimp. When I got that done I reinstalled the line and fired it back up to load the refrigerant through the manifold. Hey! We got it going now - the clutch is engaging, the air is cooling, and we are on our way to...

What's that hissing sound? Yep - another leak. On the high side of course. By this time I am on my second can of R134a and I don't want to remove a section of line because of what I will lose. What can we do?



Take the crimper to the line and finagle a way to get it recrimped while still installed. Don't ask me how, but it worked and we were on our way!

I loaded up that can and started watching my gauges as we were starting to get close. We were not quite there after can number 2 and so we tapped in to can number three. Good deal - the AC is humming along, we aren't leaking anything, no squeals or what have you and the gauges are good. Successful job I'd say, let's shut this thing down. Now to get a drink! (come back a few minutes later....)

Are you kidding me?



If you want to see video, click this link:

https://vimeo.com/221109039


If you are with the EPA, I have no idea where this car and garage are located.

Obviously the high pressure (about 200 psi on the Hi side) overcame the crimp job I did on that particular fitting. So... off she came and we did a recrimp on another section of line. I cannot understand why if a vacuum held like it was supposed to why there was all this issue with leaks. Of course the vacuum goes one way and the hi pressure goes the other but this was getting ridiculous!

All is well that ends well. I feel like I wasted a lot of time correcting my own errors but there you go - Ford Follies in action. I did get the heater core lines run and another coat of primer on the hood so all was not in vain I guess. And, we do have cold air in the car!





Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

I leave for Canada tomorrow, Ajax Ontario to be exact, but I did want to make one more post before "leaving the country" in the morning.

Last week I picked up this free Rack Cart - it has metal shop casters, is quite sturdy, and will be used to hold the doors once I remove them from the body. Obviously I plan to modify this unit a tick because I will need to figure out exactly how I want to mount the doors for access and stability but it looks like it should not be too difficult to figure out. Any ideas?



And then there was last night when I finally wired up the AC 100% (except for the compressor of course, but the wiring is there just disconnected) and turned on the evaporator unit to see what kind of volume of air I would get out of the thing. If it holds up it looks like it will turn out a good amount of air. Let me see if I can post a video.

Of course the last thing I would need would be refrigerant, R134a. I stopped by Autozone and it was $13 a can. Went to Home Depot to see what they had for courtesy light idea under the dash and wouldn't you know it but the refrigerant was on sale for $10 a can. Beyond that, the utility lights pictured rang up at $.01. That's no typo - look at the photo too, $.01 !!!





Sometimes it falls into place, other times... it don't lol. Hopefully I can fill the AC system when I return from Canada.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

here is a link
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/218726702" width="640" height="480" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

On with the Ford Follies!

I was reminded again tonight how much I miss "room" in the garage and work space area. I jacked up the rear then jacked up the front all on jackstands and then found that I was off by about 1" to be able to close the garage door :mad:. So...down we came and back up again. Take a look at this photo:


And more Ford Follies to grin at - as in the case of the mystery squeal. While testing my new alternator to make sure the excitor wire was acting correctly, checking our charge at idle, etc, I heard a ruckus coming from the front and it sounded like a pulley. Knowing the alternator was new, the AC compressor was new, and I had just installed the belts I thought, "Oh great, now what Jessup?"

Wouldn't you know it but 3 of the 4 water pump pulley bolts had backed out?!?!?



So we shut everything down, tightened up those bolts, and away we went.

I did wire up a makeshift warning light for the alternator so we could test it. Just a simple wire from the alternator excitor side of things at the terminal on the alternator case to the wire that goes back to the ignition switch. We turned the key and...



After firing up the engine and idling the light immediately went off and we took a multimeter to check voltage at the rear of the alternator and at the posts of the battery.



Plenty of Juice!

Now on to the Cooling Fan Relay Test. I did take some video of this one but cannot get it to upload to Photobucket quite yet. Once I do i will post again. At any rate we warmed up the engine and ran up to 190 or so on the gauge (as I recall the switch on the intake manifold is set for 195) and the fan kicked on!



She cycled off just fine after cooling down a bit and recycled back on like it should. Pretty happy with that. I guess the relays are wired correctly at least. Speaking of relays, I also put the electric fuel pump (to fill fuel bowl or just to have as a back up) on a relay with a toggle switch to boot.



It has a red LED on the end of the switch to let you know it has power to the pump. Works like a charm. For now anyway.

Here are some shots of where some of the Relays sit and where we hot wire some of the leads off of the HOT side of the Starter Relay. (some more AC plumbing pics included too)







We will keep chugging along - got to get some more body work done. I did get the OD wired up on the transmission, an aftermarket relay, and the kickdown switch as well. More of that to come at a later date when we make a test run.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

We are picking up my oldest daughter from her second year of college today so I thought I would post this morning to show a little progress. After checking my gauges this morning I am pretty happy with the AC install and that Mastercool Crimper Tool (more on that later).

First up was to locate the overdrive cable grommet I had purchased and to punch through the firewall where it is supposed to be located. No big deal here - pretty easy setup.




After the install you could hear me say... "Dag Blast It! Where did I place that cable and bracket?" (Update... I found the cable, well, one of the two I own, and the one I located does not have the bracket. Somewhere around here is the cable AND bracket together. Easter Egg hunt coming soon!)

Now for some drilling up front - you can see from the following holes made that wiring and plumbing for the AC has to go to the front (AC condenser fan, receiver/drier, number 8 hi pressure line for condenser). We got out the drill and appropriate size grommets. The large grommet is especially made for AC hoses and will fit sizes 6-10 through sheet metal.







That number 8 hose was connected to the top of the condenser, put through the air deflector, and snaked around the side of the battery. Surprisingly there was plenty of room for this and with the idea of using looped brackets to hold the ported fitting in place I really think this will work.



The spacing up front is extra close as you can see:



Several weeks ago I tried to get the condenser in a position where we could exit out with a 180 degree fitting and it looks like we hit the jackpot there with no interference. I am happy about that of course.

The final fitting being crimped!



This little tool has been well worth the investment. Again, I cannot imagine having to go back and forth with a shop on trying to get all of this crimped. In a full custom job like this one where you measure 3 or 4 times, take it out, examine it, check the routing of lines so that you have no other interference, sit there and look at it with a tall glass of iced tea, (well you get the idea!) having the crimper on hand made it extremely satisfying. The ports to the rear of the compressor look like this:





Would you believe I actually considered the 90 degree fittings exiting at the bottom instead of facing up as installed? I was a little off in thinking that would have worked but I guess it was because I had that side of the car jacked up and the lower A arm was completely extended giving so much room. I came to myself for some reason - glad I did. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to crimp it all up, drop the car and see my AC lines riding on the control arm. :eek: You can tell from the photos how tight it all is. The number 10 hose fitting is almost at the very top of the compressor and comes as close as possible to the block but there is just enough room to turn the nut.

Now for the big reveal - time to put a vacuum on this thing and see how we did on these lines! Everything was pretty straight forward. I have never dealt with AC before in my life and I am a complete novice but here we go.





We hooked up the lines correctly, filled the new vacuum pump with oil, turned on the pump, and opened the valves and the lines at the ports. The vacuum held steady and while I did not want to do a full evacuation (30-45 minutes, but that will come later when I am ready to install refrigerant) I did want to check to see if my lines were sealed up well. After all, we have a novice here with a vise mounted crimping tool, with 16 places where we had to make a crimp to the hoses. The pump was run for about 5 minutes and then the valves were closed at the gauges to seal off the pressure from the pump but show the pressure from the AC lines in the car. I checked on the gauge about 30 minutes later - no needle movement! This morning I checked on it again. We had moved a whole 1 psi but since the temperature had dropped dramatically in the garage from last night to this morning I was not alarmed at all. I believe we are sealed up and ready to go.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Some other things that got accomplished were wiring up the ignition switch so the Ford would fire and run... (nice to get that going)



And 3 coats of clear on both of the fenders - the gloss is really looking good on these. It is almost time to purchase the clips I need for the stainless and to buff the stainless (remember how those clips just disintegrated when I pulled the stainless off the fenders last year? :confused





And another satisfying project to get finished was gluing down the trunk seal. I purchased what looked to almost 10 feet of the stuff shown here:



I checked and rechecked on how it should be oriented to the lip of the trunk (I would imagine this is pretty important) and I looked up some good information on the Steele Rubber website. They have pretty good instructions about installation tips and suggestions. I also picked up a tube of this handy 3M weatherstrip sealant:



Ok, so first was take the roll out of the bag. Tried as I could, I was never able to the ends to "unroll" - they kept springing back to a "C" position like this.



Since I had so much to begin with, I just snipped off the offending end of the seal and began with a fresh, straight end. The plan - place the seal on the lip of the trunk correctly, beginning at the point where the lock mechanism is installed. Then tape the seal to the trunk lip as it should be installed, going all the way back around to meet the beginning at the trunk lock section. The remaining length was snipped off and we grabbed the 3M sealant.

You can see the way the seal was oriented to the lip of the trunk:



The tape kept the seal in position until I was ready to work on each section at a time.



At times I needed a bit more tape...



But it was worth it. The seal looks very nice around the edges and the ends met up well.



It is going to be down to almost freezing here tomorrow morning. With a day at church and cold weather besides, I am not sure how much more I am going to get done tomorrow night but you never know. There is always some project that needs to be completed on this old Ford!

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Between projects such as powerwashing the deck, repairing a water hose, hanging a window for the wife, painting hardware for the wife, and other Saturday busyness I did have a chance to get a few things done

I installed the heater core and box since my new gaskets arrived yesterday. Even though they are Made in the USA, they leave much to be desired and are not the same thickness as the FoMoCo versions.



Take these three photos for instance. Notice the gap in each one as it gets a little tighter each time I adjust the levers on the Heater Core boss.




We are sealed up but I don't think these are going to last near as long as Ford's original equipment.

I decided to work on the Heater parts because the AC lines I am running are weaving in and around the units and I wanted to get an idea of where to put the Hi and Lo ports for access. I settled on the Lo port (which is a size 10 hose in this setup) to be just forward of where the squirrel cage boss sits. This should be accessible pretty easily and it is tucked out of the way.



When the special AC grommets I ordered arrive, I will take some photos of how I plan to orient and install the final line from the compressor to the condenser (will also show the ports at the rear of the compressor - it is tight in there!)

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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

Thought I would post some pictures of what I did to route the lines and how I situated the bulkhead fitting where the lines pass through the firewall. At this point I am not finished with the plumbing since I want to get my heater sheet metal installed first and I am not 100% sure how I want to route in the engine bay itself, I am HAPPY that I bought a number of various fittings ahead of time. This is definitely a custom install and different bends/sizes are needed all over the place - especially with that bulkhead fitting.

First up, the receiver/drier line... used one 180 and one 90 to put this together. This install was pretty straight forward. The size 6 line goes behind the horn on the passenger side.



Next up was to determine where the bulkhead fitting was going to go. I decided the best place would be on the same plane with the evaporator and the fortunate thing for me was that this placed the pass through point directly below the heater duct that attaches to the firewall. If you are thinking, "Great, he is burying the fitting where he cannot reach it later on..." Just remember that the sheet metal plenum at the firewall is easily removed with the two levers on the heater core boss and the clamp that attaches the square duct.

I placed the fitting plate on the engine side of the firewall and made a mark, then used a punch to give me a locating point. Next up was a step drill to give me the first hole (size 6 fitting).





Then I attached the plate/fitting to give me a reference point for the larger hole on the bottom - this one needed a 1 1/4" hole saw. :eek:



after a little clean up...



Once I checked the fitment of the bulkhead fitting I used some 3M weatherstrip sealant on the back of the plate so we wouldn't get any leaks later on.



and we attached the two fittings, plate, and the nut and voila!



Back to the inside of the car now. I played around with various fittings - 90 degree, 45 degree, and 180 degree - to find out which orientation would work best.



If you are paying attention you can see that the lines will criss cross as they pass through the firewall. This is "by design" - this time I actually thought about this ahead of time since I knew where we were headed with the size 6 line and the size 10 line moving up front. I also had to orient the fitting in "portrait" and not "landscape" on the firewall so this configuration worked best. It really was not a big deal. However, if you look at the photo above you will see that the size 10 fittings are just not lining up. I did have work them a little with some judicious, altered, bends so that they would line up to each other.





Since I was not dealing with any 180's on this evaporator hook up, the first fitting was crimped to the hose after a general measurement was taken. Then that fitting and the hose was installed. I then took the other fitting that the hose was connecting to and installed that with the hose in the final fitting "uncrimped". This made the jockeying around very easy and I just marked the fitting to the hose, pulled everything out, crimped, and reinstalled. I am not sure if that is the way it is supposed to be done but it worked for me and I am happy with the way it all went together. I am also very PLEASED I bought this Mastercool crimper. I could not imagine the multiple trips to a shop to have the ends crimped without being able to tell what I was doing. Some guys may be good enough to handle that but I am not.

Next up was the size 6 hose for the evaporator and by this time it was getting to be standard operating procedure.



Next up is to install these parts...



and then get the lines from the bulkhead to the compressor, condenser, and receiver/drier up front. If I can get as much installed as possible it should be easier to figure out where the ports need to go. With a rear exit compressor and the Vintage Air bracket that puts the compressor almost out of reach, I am planning to bring both the Hi and Lo ports over between the starter solenoid and the heater box somewhere.



Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

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