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Ownership Verified: 1967 Ford Fairlane 500

well, its been a while since i last updated anything..

had a bit of an issue about a month ago, one of my tires had a broken belt or something in the tread, biig bulge in the tire. That really accelerated my plans for wheels an tires, and i had to pick up a set of 15 in rims ont he cheap (why buy tires for crappy 14 in rims, when i am planning on going to 15 in soon anyways?)
So, i got a set of crappy, cheap, steelies from an 03 ranger in a junkyard, and got tires put on them...
This is the best pic i can find, was taken on a drive a few weeks ago, this is a place called "Skyline Drive" at the top of "Fairview Canyon" in Utah, if anyone cares (elevation 10,000 ft btw, car don't run too well up there lol)...

http://img135.imageshack.**/img135/881/p1030399wg9.th.jpg


I have since put on a manual choke (no pics, its rather boring anyways) using a manual choke kit from the local checkers... ultimately, the only bit from the kit i actually used was the choke cable, and dash mount lol.. everything else had to be fabricated from scratch..

and now, the real reason for the update,,, its time to work on the exhaust!

now, since i don't have a welder, i have to have someone else do it, but i will be supplying the mufflers.
I also have to do this on the cheap, so i am using Glasspacks, also, i just love the sound of glasspacks, so don't bother trying to change my mind because "its too loud, too annoying, etc" and all the other reasons why my dad does not like them lol

i will be switching to a 2" dual system, from my current, 2" single exhaust.
http://img140.imageshack.**/img140/2830/p1030147ip0.th.jpg
and i will be exiting in front of the rear wheels, but with no turndowns, just pointing out.
the glasspacks are 30" "Smittys" from Summit

should actually be a bit more sedate then my current setup, which is a glasspack thats about 16 inches long lol, so 2, 30 inch 'packs should be quieter, and, at idle, it ought to be quieter still, because the sound wont be reverberating off the road. :cool:

Parts are already ordered, should be here either Tuesday, or Wednesday, and once i get them, i will head on down to the local exhaust shop, and have the rest of it done :mrgreen:

hopefully this will help fix the fact that over ~3,000 rpm, this car just falls flat on its face lol. Its almost tangible when i accelerate, i can feel quite well when the engine just cant breath anymore :lol:


Also,, i went up to Harbor Freight yesterday, and picked up a halfway decent Dual-Action Air Sander, and some pads,,, i plan to start making my way through the bodywork here soon :p
 
awesome stuff. when i did the exhaust on my impala the first time i used a single red hot glass pack. thing sounded sweet! its now been upgraded to a single 2.5" with a hedman baffled muffler with no fiberglass that exits out the back and it sounds great. nice and quiet until i reallly get on it. then it sounds just how i want it to for my cruiser. if you do plan on having the exhaust dump out in front of the rear axle be ready for reverberation. my dads caprice suffered from it when i had to do an emergency operation and cut everything off after the mufflers and swap the mufflers out with purple horny glass packs (which also sound awesome!) we put turn downs on it and it quieted it down alot so concider turn downs if its to much for you. are you also going to be puttig a merge pipe in line like an 'X' pipe ?
 
SOUNDS like it should turn out nice.... oh me.

Post some vids when You get it all done!
 
well, i went out and recorded a video of a 0-60 run, that's posted in the "post your launch" thread, but i guess i will post it here as well

[YOUTUBE]BMBDE1Z5E2E[/YOUTUBE]

that's still on the old exhaust as well,,, the new mufflers came in yesterday, and i will be taking it down to the shop to have the work done on it tomorrow :mrgreen:

BTW, the time on that 0-60, counting in my head,,, was 13 seconds, hard to believe an engine that big (289) goes that slow :lol:
its quite an event though,, not like a new car, where 60, 70, 80 mph is just a easy walk in the park, and almost boring to drive even, this thing is always exciting lol :rolleyes:
 
ill give it that it certainly does sound pretty good. even for the old exhaust. youll be ALOT happier with your new exhaust ;D get some headers!!!

not like they dont make any :p remember long tubes are for the higher RPM and mids are for mid range power. thats why when the time is right im going to be putting mid length headers on my impala. it lost abi of its low end grunt when i put long tubes on it. but i plan on building a 283 for it in the near future so ill wait to see what happens with that first. awesome car. get that exhaust done!
 
well, the exhaust has been done for a few days now, its alot louder now, and more grumbly then it used to be, but at cruise speeds, 30, 60+ it really quiets down, or in the case of 60+ is not really loud enough to overcome the immense wind noise, not until i get up closer to 80, 85,,, 90 :mrgreen:

has a real nice rumble at idle though, and i think i shaved at least 3 seconds off my 0-60 (it was pretty poor in the first place, from 13 sec to 10... ish) and it no longer feels restrained when i get up into the higher RPM's

I will try to get a few vids here later today, but it may be a while before I can get any action vids, going camping in a couple days, reminds me,, i prob ought to do a thread for my blazer... or mebby i will just post updates to that one in here as well... i dont do much to that one lol

and i know,
:threadnopics:

on their way hehe
 
Don't ya just love how even the smallest, most simple project on an old car like this can snowball into a massive headache?
over the last 2 weeks or so, i have been working at painting my rims a matte black.
I can only do this when i have 2 days off in a row, so its a slow process.
Last Friday, i pulled off the Drivers front to work on it (pass front is done)
so, here i am, crouched over the tire with the sand paper, and i look under the car and notice my passenger side exhaust pipe is hanging way low, :blink: wtf?
i decide to look into it while i wait for the paint to dry on the rim, right?

Turns out the clamp between the manifold and the pipe is loose, and of course, the bottom nut has been, over time, welded onto the stud by rust.. Damn.
Only thing to do is pull the entire passenger side exhaust system, from the head to tail.

Luckily, its an old car, room is not exactly lacking, and miraculously, all the manifold-head bolts come right out, easy. So here i am, i have the entire right side exhaust in my lap, and i still cant budge the nut, no matter how much PB blaster i soak it with.
Grind it down to the point where the threads of the stud are just showing through, and then through judicious use of Vice Grips and a BFH i finally manage to bust the nut off :D right?
go down to the local parts place and get a new exhaust gasket, then its off to the local CAL Ranch to get a new nut, and a few new bolts for the exhaust manifold, walk it SECONDS before they lock the doors at 8:00 PM (yeah, been working on the car all day now)get the bolts, and the nut, and go home.

Well i get home, and i am putting it all together and then i notice somthing... the nut... its not here, i cant find it... it sitting on top of the Nuts & Bolts shelf back at the now closed CAL Ranch... SonOfA...

Next day, i get up go back to CAL, get the stupid nut, go home, and put the exhaust back together... start the car up, runs good, no leaks,,, exhaust is not hanging down low anymore... Good Stuff...

Go to put the rim back on, and Lo and Behold, 2 of the studs are trashed
Not only are the studs trashed, but they are at least 20 years old (drum was last replaced in 1982, I can see the marking) and thus have 20 years of brake dust and rust caking them to the hub, which is caked to the drum.
of course when i try to bash the studs back out, i bend the drum a little bit around the studs (sunk them in a bit)
Finally manage to get the studs out, go back tot he parts house,,, out of stock,,, but the store the next town up has them.. go up there..
"Well the computer says we have them, but i cant find them" "the store in Payson (town south of where i live, and i am in the town North) has 10 though" sooo... back down to Payson,,, and they do have the studs.

Back at the house, i get the new studs into the old drum, and fix the dings i put in as best i can.
Then i find out as i am attempting to put the drum back on, that it has been tweaked so badly that its not even round anymore,, completely warped and ruined.

Of course every parts house around either doesn't have the drum, or the drum is the wrong one, and even if it was the right one, they don't have the hub either (remember my hub is not only tweaked beyond recovery, but its rusted to the old drum anyways)

'Course when i went to the ford dealer,, they just laughed at me ("We cant even look up parts that old")

So i am pretty screwed, right?

I did find the drum/hub/stud assembly online though, Ford N.O.S. part, for 170..

and that's where i am sitting now, waiting for the part to come in...


BTW, i did find out it is possible to do a disk conversion,, but the only way to do it on the cheap is to pull everything from the spindle out on a disk mustang of the same year,, and while the local junkyards do have 3 mustangs between them, they are all drum brakes... and are thus worthless to me


I did get the Rim Painted though :lol: now its sitting in the trunk baking the paint and the car is sitting on an old tire...

Thank god i have a backup vehicle to drive,,, even get the same mileage lol

Now, for pictures, i was a little too... frustrated to take pictures while this was happening, so the only pictures to be had are ones i can take while she sits and waits...

Where she sits..
P1040469.jpg

The exhaust clamp from hell (fixed)
P1040471.jpg

This is the passengerside rim that i painted a few weeks ago... the driverside looks the same, its just not on the car right now...
FancyNewRimPaint.jpg

And my New, Old, Temporary, Daily Driver...
P1040472.jpg


Whew... that was a long post lol... This is why old cars both ROCK and SUCK at the same time.... easy to work on,, but hell to work on at the same time...
 
yeah, i was looking at those,, unfortunately the local yards only have one Granada, and it has already been relieved of almost the entire front suspension, so i am limited to a full on kit... and that's 6-800 bux that's not available to throw at it

Plus, i view the Granada swap as being very probable to open up a can o worms that would have my car down for a long time..

Imagine, frozen bolts on everything, and no torch, or welder? i have nothing but a small propane torch thing, and a sledge...
plus, i need several power steering parts as well, $50 pump, and a $2-300 Control Valve,, plus lines, prob find something broken on the hydro ram, uggh.. see how it all snowballs? and since i would be into the suspension,, i need new bushings,, springs would be nice, since mine are rusted to hell... shocks too... and if i am rebuilding the entire front suspension,,, then the rear prob should get some love too... and no point replacing everything with crap either, so i would use poly bushings everywhere... and high qual springs, shocks, etc... mebby a *real* sway bar

next thing ya know, i just dumped 3 grand into my suspension, and, as much as i want to, i *really* cant afford that now :lol:

i have been hoping, praying, that i can limp along with sub par suspension and power steering on the verge of dying any minute long enough to save up and do it all right the first time... and 180 bux worth of drum brake is a lot better then 6-800 of disk brake swap,, and 3 grand of suspension work...

i suppose i could half-ass it though.... :lmao: yeah right

Nothing wrong with drums anyways,,, they are just a pain to work on... and just take a bit more foot control.... and they are it bit of a lottery as to which wheel locks up first... and they dont exactly dissapate heat well... a emergency pull down from 80 mph on 4 wheel drums is Fuuun! lol and i didn't even lock them up hehe
 
Oh I know how that goes. "Well, since we're doing the paint we may as well fix the front seats, and the hole in the headliner, and it wouldn't hurt to upgrade the radio so I can play CDs, but that means I need new speakers, so I'll replace the package tray, and while I'm back there I may as well do the carpet, now that most of the stuff in here is nice and shiny all the old trim inside doesn't match so we need to replace that too. Now that we've got good paint, those old hubcaps don't match very well, we need new wheels and may as well go with tires, but we'll save money and stay with the old drums and suspension since they still work fine. Now that it looks nice it needs to perform better, so I'll upgrade a few things under the hood like the battery, alt, a couple new wiring harnesses, and now we've found the carb and intake are massive overkill so we need to downgrade but in the mean time I'll get new custom dual exhaust for that nice rumbly sound...."

Yeah, been there done that, still working on it. We're up to about $11k into mine. Next paycheck comes the new carb/intake. Next spring comes an updated A/C system, eventually I'll do modern steering and suspension. I do agree with you the drums are fun, I've got 4 manual drums all around and it is touchy.

Good luck on yours though, it is so worth it.
 
yeah, that's exactly what i have, 4 manual drums fun fun fun hehe

i think i may end up saving money in the long term and switching to manual steering too... i figure the less there is to go wrong, the better off i am lol
plus i hate the vague steering... i can move the wheel almost 1 to 2 inches before anything even thinks of happening lol

even with the things that have gone wrong,, they are the kind of things that go wrong on every car... and i think this Fairlane, even in stock, soft, mushy form, is far more fun to drive then my familys.. oh i dunno... merc sable, or astro van or something...

The kind of economical crapbox i could have gotten for the kind of money i spent on the Fairlane

somthing my dad says all the time,, its not what the world thinks its worth, its what its worth to You. that is all that matters.

To me, this old ford is nearly priceless.... only thing i would give it up for is a 70 or 71 340 or 383 'Cuda in similar condition... with the 4 speed manual :wicked:
 
Oh I whole-heartedly agree. These old cars are just fun to drive. Just earlier I went out, cleaned up my exhaust tips, fit a piece of rubber under the rear valence to stop it sounding like a cricket from the vibration of the dual exhaust and cut a gasket to put in the gas cap then went for a drive around town to be sure that valence stopped making that noise. Yes, my steering is vague, my brakes take surgical precision and thighs of steel to operate correctly, but I'll be damned if driving that car doesn't make me happier than anything else.

I know all the little intricacies of it and I have no problems driving it. When I went down to Steamboat for the Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup and met up with some other Limers for a little cruise up a windy road with a speed limit of 45 I kept right up with the modern supercharged cars, the one leading the line said he kept looking back to make sure I was keeping up and I never missed a beat; on the way back to town I went ahead and drove comfortably, had one of them in a super'ed cobra following me and when we got back he said I was doing 60 most of the road (my speedo isn't exactly accurate) :shock:

The technology may be old, but it works just fine and performs oodles better than most people claim it too. There's also the bonus styling they can't get away with today. All in all these old cars are just fantastic. I've got a supercharged Grand Prix as my alternate driver for when the roads aren't good enough for the mustang, got that car second hand, but between all the money I've spent on the pony and the grand prix and the changes to that I could have bought a nice brand new car, but I'm glad I have what I have. Sure I'd love a slightly better mustang, but this one has family history which makes it just as valuable. Next car will be a cobra kit when I have the garage space to accommodate it :woot:
 
yup that sounds EXACTLY like working on an old car. rock auto

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1435664

has alot of parts for alot of cars. if your ever in need for something you cant find anywhere else there the place. for the most part. and see. if you had listened to me afew posts earlier you would have headers and wouldnt have to worry about that gasket :p lol the rim looks awesome tho! keep us posted
 
hehe, yeah, rock auto is my favorite site for parts,, the local checkers even used to price match them, so i could get Rock prices without the shipping :mrgreen: not anymore though :(
i wish i could have afforded headers when i did the exhaust... actually, i wish i could afford a good set now come to think of it :p...

few weeks ago i went on a local road called "Mt. Nebo Loop"

40 some-odd miles or who knows how many corners, winding their way up from about 4,500 ft to 9,500 ft and back down again... i think my average speed was prob around 40 mph :wicked: ....

most people are scared to go that fast on that road period lol...
Oddly enough,, i started to smoke my brakes the last 5 miles lol..
Don'tchya love the smell of cooked brakes?

The suspension on these old cars is not incompetent... it just exactly fails to inspire confidence hehe

and on the styling... for a late 60's run of the mill ford 4 door family sedan... the Fairlane sure beats the crap out of the run of the mill family sedan nowadays in the looks department...
edgy, unique, and awesome sounding car... or generic aero blob.... i will take the former any day of the week hehe

even my blazer is more fun to drive then some of these newer cars and such... for a truck the feeling of driving it is just so much more visceral then modern cars and trucks

and when i have the money and space.. one of these WILL find a home in my garage... http://kirkhammotorsports.com/

i don't know which model... but i don't care, they are all awesome lol :woot:
 
NotLaw said:
hehe, yeah, rock auto is my favorite site for parts,, the local checkers even used to price match them, so i could get Rock prices without the shipping :mrgreen: not anymore though :(
i wish i could have afforded headers when i did the exhaust... actually, i wish i could afford a good set now come to think of it :p...

few weeks ago i went on a local road called "Mt. Nebo Loop"

40 some-odd miles or who knows how many corners, winding their way up from about 4,500 ft to 9,500 ft and back down again... i think my average speed was prob around 40 mph :wicked: ....

most people are scared to go that fast on that road period lol...
Oddly enough,, i started to smoke my brakes the last 5 miles lol..
Don'tchya love the smell of cooked brakes?

The suspension on these old cars is not incompetent... it just exactly fails to inspire confidence hehe

and on the styling... for a late 60's run of the mill ford 4 door family sedan... the Fairlane sure beats the crap out of the run of the mill family sedan nowadays in the looks department...
edgy, unique, and awesome sounding car... or generic aero blob.... i will take the former any day of the week hehe

even my blazer is more fun to drive then some of these newer cars and such... for a truck the feeling of driving it is just so much more visceral then modern cars and trucks

and when i have the money and space.. one of these WILL find a home in my garage... http://kirkhammotorsports.com/

i don't know which model... but i don't care, they are all awesome lol :woot:
Click to expand...

haha and agreed! im not a ford fan. but i love the cobras. and i love your fairlane. its a shame you dont live in NY id do the entire exhaust for you for the price of the parts. id even install headers for you lol. and that road... i wish i had that here :\ lucky basdid!
 
w00t for old cars...

So, i was out driving right? (I drive for work), and i noticed something odd... thoughts were going along the lines of "WTF? Why is my brake pedal going almost to the floor? Why am i slowing down so.. slowly? shit.. Shit, SHIT!!!"


turns out, the rear section of my dual reservoir master cylinder was empty, and as such, i no longer have any front brakes.

(toneless) woot. (/toneless)

I get to figure out why i am loosing fluids tomorrow,, and fix it Saturday.

Also, on a side note, my power steering finally died, and since i cant afford a new control valve and pump, i get to drive with manual steering for a while. (i actually like it better with manual, so its not really that bad)
I thought it was my power steering that was screeching and screaming every now and then, turns out, the PS was just screeching, the screaming is the Alternator.
...
...
which is dieing.
...
Figures...
<_<
 
NotLaw said:
w00t for old cars...

So, i was out driving right? (I drive for work), and i noticed something odd... thoughts were going along the lines of "WTF? Why is my brake pedal going almost to the floor? Why am i slowing down so.. slowly? shit.. Shit, SHIT!!!"


turns out, the rear section of my dual reservoir master cylinder was empty, and as such, i no longer have any front brakes.

(toneless) woot. (/toneless)

I get to figure out why i am loosing fluids tomorrow,, and fix it Saturday.

Also, on a side note, my power steering finally died, and since i cant afford a new control valve and pump, i get to drive with manual steering for a while. (i actually like it better with manual, so its not really that bad)
I thought it was my power steering that was screeching and screaming every now and then, turns out, the PS was just screeching, the screaming is the Alternator.
...
...
which is dieing.
...
Figures...
<_<
Click to expand...


shit man that sucks. sounds like every other old car thats out there haha that all sucks tho. hopefully you can fix the brakes without much effort. maybe just reseal it.
 
yeah, it sounds worse then it is though,, I knew about the power steering, and the alternator,, only real surprise is the brakes, and that ought to be easy to fix.
by the way, I pulled the alt today to have it tested at napa, it failed, as expected...
what was not expected was for it to completely stop working when i put it back together :lol:

with a possible move to Grand Junction, Co soon, I will prob leave the Fairlane in a semi broken state, as i will only be able to afford to take one vehicle,,, and the K5 Blazer is a better one to take (winter coming, slightly better mileage, can haul stuff, etc)
 
NotLaw said:
yeah, it sounds worse then it is though,, I knew about the power steering, and the alternator,, only real surprise is the brakes, and that ought to be easy to fix.
by the way, I pulled the alt today to have it tested at napa, it failed, as expected...
what was not expected was for it to completely stop working when i put it back together :lol:

with a possible move to Grand Junction, Co soon, I will prob leave the Fairlane in a semi broken state, as i will only be able to afford to take one vehicle,,, and the K5 Blazer is a better one to take (winter coming, slightly better mileage, can haul stuff, etc)
Click to expand...


ahh yeah. its nearing the time where i want to lay my camaro and impala up and take my 93 bonneville for the winter season. in NY it can be baaaaddddd. i wanna save up for my camaro and i want my impala to be looking alittle more like a show car then an old neglected car
 
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