New Guy, New Project, project " George" ( 66 Galaxie 500 Fastback) [Archive]

zombiekiller

07-28-2011, 08:17 AM

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to attempt to introduce myself and my project, in hopes of documenting the whole process. There wont be any subframing or custom chassis builds to speak of here. The large majority of my project will be completed in my dinky one car garage at my own hands ( with some help from current friends or maybe some new ones!)

My current project is a '66 Ford Galaxie Fastback. Project " George" was coined after my father in law, who worked for ford for 53 years. He was one of the senior engineers responsible for the Falcon in both the US and Australia. He passed away about 10 years ago. This car is being built with his memory in mind. Various parts of it will be re-engineered in the spirit of all of the wacky stories that my MIL has told about him tearing brand new cars apart to get them how he wanted them.

When it came to choose a car, my wife and I chose a 66 Galaxie as my father in law and mother in law had one of the first Gals off the line in 66.

I got the car about 5 months ago from a older gentleman who had owned the car for about 8 years. for the most recent 3 years that he owned it, the car sat due to medical issues. The car however is rust free ( other than surface) with a solid frame and body aside from a dime sized rust spot on the passenger door. it was never wet sanded after its repaint 10 years ago, so the paint is a little rough. The interior was baked in south carolina for almost 40 years, so its pretty crispy and needs to be redone completely.

After the initial base-lining, I've been driving it in its stock form on almost a daily basis. Its a 289/c4/3.00 open car with manual drum brakes and a single bowl . I needed to get a feeling for how it handled and what it could do before I made one change to it. After driving it for 4 months, I think I have a handle on what I want out of the car and what it can do, so my build begins.

Here's George as he sits.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

So far to keep the tired 289 running, I've done an aluminum intake, 600cfm edelbrock carb, petronix ignition, plugs, wires, wire looms, 140A alternator, new fan, new water neck, new thermostat, powermaster starter, new shoes, cut drums and wired in some cheapo guages to keep me at least a little informed. I also polished up the engine a bit by putting some valve covers and a new air cleaner on the lump.

I've just recently started ordering parts to get george on the PT path. In the coming weeks, the car will be getting:

Front discs ( leaving the rear drum until I figure out what rear end i'll be doing)
New brake lines
power brakes
Electric Vacuum pump
Proportioning valve

CSS Springs ( 2" drop, 20% stiffness increase)
RCD Shocks
Addco front and rear sway bars
Spohn Rear Control arms and Panhard

New 3/8" fuel lines
Electric fuel pump
New Fuel Filters
Cleaned and sealed gas tank

All new wiring ( still deciding on what kit to order, the PO and his mechanic butchered the harness and put a terrible car alarm in it)
Dynamat
New carpet
new headliner
new Marshall guages
new dashpad
new package tray
new dash panel

c4 is getting a performance rebuild ( by my own hands)
Lokar floor shift with LED shift indicator

Ididit steering column
Grant Wheel
Ididit rag joint
New TRES
New pitman arm
new idler arm
new balljoints
new control arm bushings ( until I either fab new arms or work with a vendor to have them made)

Headers
Dual exhaust with H pipe

18x8 front wheels
20x8.5 rear wheels
( i'm thinking of Boss 338s)
Rubber to go with them.

The maintenance items that I'll begin shortly on are:

Removing surface rust and painting frame.
Removing pitted/ dented chrome parts, doing body work on them, then painting them a bright silver to match the stainless trim.

Planning out what trim deletes that I'm going to do.

After all of this business is completed, I'll then begin:

Planning out my interior.
Planning my rear axle ( thinking a currie 9" with LS , 35 spline axleshafts and disc brakes)
Researching gas tanks ( for a baffled road racing design)
finding an appropriate body shop/painter

And the big ticket decision will be on the motor. I've not yet decided which road I'll go down. My choices are:

a very healthy small block ford stroker build

a coyote motor

a 3.5L TT Ecoboost motor out of an F-150.

The coyote and Ecoboost lumps would be contingent on my finding a good donor wreck to source out of. Right now the crate and salvage options would put me about 3 grand over budget on the motor/trans combo and my wife has already " approved" the budget that I set for the build.

I have a 2011 f-150 with the ecoboost and It would be awesome to transplant one into a car that is 2000 lbs lighter with a stout c4 behind it and some retuning. My truck hauls ass as it is. Plus maintenance on 2 of the same motor would be much easier ! ( at least thats what i keep trying to sell my wife on) .

Everything but the wheels/tires has been ordered and is on the way, so i'm starting to get really excited. Y'all should see some pretty speedy progress on this build. The remaining bits ( wheels/tires, motor, Rear axle, paint, interior) will get decisions after I get the ride height, handling and braking dialed in.

If anyone can recommend someone, or any of the sponsors can lend their hand with the front control arms, i'm happy to be a guinea pig as i'd love to run a 255/30r20 front tire with a 265/30r20 Rear tire. But that front tire is just too wide with the projected ride height to dive into corners as I'd like with stock arms.

I originally was contemplating going air ride, but decided against it as i couldn't justify the added weight and the additional expense is something that I couldn't justify before I have my powerplant, interior and paint done.

Anyway, I'm thrilled to be working on my project and hanging out amongst some of the incredible rides that I've been lurking at over the past couple months that belong to PT forum members.

I'm really hoping that next summer i'll be ready to compete in some events and maybe do the Hot rod power tour.

- Dave

any critiques, comments or otherwise are encouraged and welcomed. This will be my first full scaled PT type build. Any insight from everyone will be much appreciated

After this is done, I've told my wife that I need a use for the 289 that is coming out of George, so a follow up, custom chassis, TT 289 Falcon build should follow up the Galaxie :smoke:

RicerwannaB

07-28-2011, 08:31 AM

Awsome build man, a coyote would be killer in there!

Nessumsar

07-28-2011, 09:39 AM

Dave, great post! Sounds like George will be a great car when he is done. Have you thought about the 2.0L Eco, should be easier to find and they are dirt cheap!

zombiekiller

07-28-2011, 10:41 AM

Dave, great post! Sounds like George will be a great car when he is done. Have you thought about the 2.0L Eco, should be easier to find and they are dirt cheap!

I'd like to stick with the 3.5TT out of the trucks. So far in my research it seems like it would be the smallest headache. my decision will be made easy if i come across a 2wd f-150 ecoboost. :-)

I know I could massage about 425 hp/ 500 ft lbs out of the TT 3.5 out of the trucks. For a car this big, I feel like 400 HP is a good goal so it will get out of it's own way since i don't really plan on anything other than steel panels and bumpers. I'm going to be saving some weight going with DOM arms & Links and at very least dumping aluminum heads on.

I also think the 2.0 might sound terrible coming out of my car.

zombiekiller

07-30-2011, 12:30 PM

well i did some shopping today. I was looking for wheels to slap on the car while i save for something lighter.

Found a local shop that gave me a price of $620 (rims) and $850 ( tires, mounted, balanced ) $1470 out the door for :

Boss 338 20x8.5 rear wrapped in 265/30r20s
boss 338 18x8 fronts wrapped in 255/40r18s

What do you guys think?

I'd be going with the gray center, polished lip color.

I figure they'll look pretty good and give me brake clearance for the time being.

The wheels that I want to end up with are more each than the whole set of boss wheels!

I was hoping that I could run a 20 x 10 rear, but i think the 6.8" of backspacing just wont work.

I did some measuring today and I believe that i'll be good to run with the tire sizes i selected. I may have to mess with the sways just a tad.

OldMechanik

07-31-2011, 06:12 PM

I love it....my buddy had a bright red one in the 80s!

cheapthrillz

08-02-2011, 08:53 AM

Check out the summit legend wheels also... that's what I went with.

zombiekiller

08-02-2011, 10:52 AM

Check out the summit legend wheels also... that's what I went with.

I ended up getting the Boss wheels.

They were $103 less than buying comparable summit wheels. I also got out of paying tax.

Got a great deal on Nitto nt555s.

$775 out the door, mounted, balanced, with lugs.

$1425 out the door for wheels and tires that I can get a couple years out of is good for me.

My Spohn rear control arms and panhard came yesterday.

Now i'm just waiting for my springs, shocks, rotors, calipers, fuel line, fittings, fuel pump mount and por15 gastank cleaning kit to arrive.

My Engine selection also has been made.

A friend of mine really wants the wheels, tires and hubcabs that i'll be taking off. He just so happens to own a wrecking yard.

I'm horse trading my stuff for a 2001 ford explorer 302 with 62,000 miles on it.

I'm going to tear it down, put some ARP fasteners in it, make sure everything is in spec, then run it carb'ed for a while.

I'm going to twin turbo this beast!

I have a set of shorty 302 headers that i'm going to flip, then weld t3 flanges to.

So the motor rundown will be:

2001 302. ARP head studs and a cometic head gasket.

the internals will stay the same if it checks out.

Twin t3/t4 50 trim turbos

Split subaru WRX STI intercoolers ( I have these kicking around too!)

I'll do all of the tubing/piping.

BOVs, wastegates...

Holley commander 950 ECU with the fancy LCD.

Manual boost controllers.

I'll be shooting for a very very conservative 7-8Lb of boost at first. should be good for 475-500HP. I should be able to get the motor done for 2200-3000 depending on how much of the stuff i make myself. Not bad!

I'll run it like that until i get boost addicted and need to tear down the motor and beef it up for higher boost levels.

dslwizard

08-02-2011, 02:25 PM

I love the Galaxy. It's really a beautiful car and has great lines. Twin-screw, wow! Keep us posted.

What does kind of famous mean? lol

thanks
mike

zombiekiller

08-02-2011, 05:58 PM

I love the Galaxy. It's really a beautiful car and has great lines. Twin-screw, wow! Keep us posted.

What does kind of famous mean? lol

thanks
mike

I love the galaxie lines too. I cant wait to kill some cones with it!

My wife is a singer, by kinda famous i mean, she's been written up in just about ever music mag on the planet and her last song was on an album that debuted at #15 on the billboard charts.

If you watched nfl football last season and caught any of the "red zone" commercials, that was her voice :-)

zombiekiller

08-05-2011, 10:26 AM

For a reference point for future PT Galaxie builders, as I couldnt find anything when shopping.

Boss 338 20x8.5 with 5.25" backspacing wrapped in 265/35r20 NT555s fits nicely on the rear of a 66 galaxie lowered 2".

The dimensions of the tire/wheel combo is 27.3 tall x 10.6 wide. No modifications to the wheel well were necessary.

i "Think" the 20 x 10 6" BS Boss wheels will fit with a 275 or 285 tire on them, as there is a little more than an inch or so of clearance between the framerail and the tire.

I'll snap some pics after I get my car rolling again. I have to get the fueling system buttoned up this evening so I can move it.

Greasy63

08-05-2011, 11:57 AM

WOW.........

great project!

keep the pics coming!!!

zombiekiller

08-05-2011, 06:46 PM

another wheel fitment reference.

On a stock spindle with stock brakes, the boss 338 18x8 4.5 BS wheels contact the lip on the upper control arm. My new front brake setup should push the mounting surface of the wheel out a half inch, so I shouldn't have to grind the control arm down. I may trim 1/4" off or so just to be safe. 20" front wheels would most likely clear without issue. a 20" front and 22" rear were just too visually big for me and too damn heavy. Once my ride height is finalized this setup should look nice. These cars have wheel wells that can swallow a whole lot of rim/tire combo. Anything smaller than an 18 looks damn dinky.

Tomorrow is finishing the fuel system, cleaning up the other rear wheel well and starting the tear down of the front end. I was able to fab my fuel pump/filter mount for the trunk tonight. Just have to run the Lines tomorrow.

hopefully by next weekend George will be back on the road with power disc front brakes, new bushings, new balljoints, tres, pitman arm, idler arm, rear control arms, panhard and new shocks & springs.

Once that's done, it's on to a new steering column, rag joint, steering wheel, floor shifter, soundproofing, carpet, and headliner.

Doing all of this work in a stone driveway sucks!

devwil68

08-05-2011, 06:56 PM

good luck my man...guy down the road has one of those sitting in his drive way just asking to get restored! always liked the lines of the 500!

NJSPEEDER

08-06-2011, 04:26 AM

Killer project.

As for the motor decision, if you can grab an ecoboost along with the associated OD trans that would be killer combo. You would have solid power and great drivability plus it would get all kinds of looks when you popped the hood.

-Tim

zombiekiller

08-07-2011, 08:41 AM

Well I got the fuel system done!

For now I have a Holley 7 psi carb pump in the car. Once My motor is finished, I'll swap it to a higher flow pump. I made everything easy to disconnect. It took me a while to make the mount, but it is 3/16th stainless. It has a tray on the bottom to catch any errant fuel whenever I change the filter.

I also still need to install the firewall that I made for behind the back seat. Now that the fuel filter and pump are in the trunk, I think its a good safety measure. It will also give me the chance to put dynamat on a hard barrier to enclose the trunk as the electric fuel pump is LOUD!

I painted the trunk too after scraping all of the rust out of it.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

I've had the car on jackstands for the past 3 weeks , which has both me and it a little grumpy. I love driving my gal, so i opted to go grab some 5/16th spacers, bolt the wheels on, and take "george" out for a spin and a bath before I tear the front end apart and he's under the knife for another few weeks.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

The ride height isnt finalized yet, The back should come down about 3" and the front another 1".

this week and next weekend I'll be putting the booster and dual bowl master in, installing the wilwood prop valve, converting the front to disc brakes and wiring up the vacuum pump. Thrown in there somewhere will be installing different springs, new shocks, control arm bushings, new sways, new rear control arms, new rear panhard, new TREs, pitman arm, idler arm and adjustment sleeves.

I need to make sure that when I install the rear control arms, I adjust them to center the wheels int he rear wheel well.

hopefully I'm only another month or so out from digging into the motor. Beyond the above mentioned work, I need to swap the steering column out, install my floor shifter & indicator, dynamat the floor and roof, install new carpet and headliner, install headers, run a dual exhaust with an H pipe and visit the junkyard a couple times. THEN, I can focus my attention on the motor.

I'm most likely going to grab some bucket seats from the junkyard. I'm also going to be looking for a center section with a little deeper gears and a posi.

The overall plan is to keep driving "George" during the makeover. Once I have everything situated and built out, I'll move to a tear down phase, then body, paint and reassembly.

zombiekiller

08-08-2011, 03:26 PM

Another update:

I have finally collected all of my Brake parts for my swap to a dual bowl, power brake setup with front disc and rear drum ( for the time being)

I didn't have a huge budget to get spendy on brakes with, so I opted to hodge podge a disc brake setup that I could get parts for at any major parts chain.

I test fit my set up this afternoon. I'll be running SSBC dual piston front calipers, powerslot rotors, an 8" booster and a dual bowl master with a wilwood proportioning valve.

I'll be running new lines with nicopp and doing all of my own fittings. I'm using scarebird brackets and the ssbc calipers fit great. I'll probably end up using the same on the rear axle as well.

I wish I had the coin to go all out and custom fab brackets, turn my spindles, etc etc, but I have plenty of other things to address shorter term.

Hotwhilz

08-09-2011, 12:29 AM

You project sounds cool, and the name is familiar! Hopefully it won't look as My George, 7 months old english bulldog, he is built the opposite of your galaxie!

Cool ride, the TT as always bugged me for a couple years now!

racedaddy

08-09-2011, 06:50 PM

great looking car

jfreakofkorn

08-09-2011, 07:09 PM

The wheels make the difference.....

NJSPEEDER

08-09-2011, 07:34 PM

The stance with those wheels is fantastic.

Keep the updates coming!

-Tim

zombiekiller

08-10-2011, 04:00 AM

thanks guys! I'm pretty happy with the look of the car with the new wheels. The tires themselves are a huge upgrade over the bfg radial t/as that were on the car.

I'm now starting to shop for gauges and a wiring harness for george.

The wiring harness was massacred by the previous PO. Junky ghetto car alarm, kickin stereo system that made the headlights literally go out when the bass hit ( and the PO was in his 60s, go figure!) .

That being said i'm debating between american autowire, painless and keep it clean. does anyone have any experience using any of those three? have a favorite? no one makes a replacement harness for a galaxie, so I'm relegated to a hot rod kit.

I'm also trying to decide on gauges. I'm really liking the classic instruments v8 speedster 6 gauge setup, but damn is it pricey! I'm going to run one of the skydrive gps speedometer senders. It'll just make everything easier for me.

My plan is to take the entire cluster out in one piece, and wrap it and put it away. It's actually in really good shape and the am radio works.

That will give me a nice 4" x 22" space to put a speedo, tach, volt, water temp, oil pressure and gas gauge in a flat stainless or brushed aluminum panel. all i'll need is a hole saw a drill to fab the panel.

I'll be fabbing my own center console once i find front buckets that I like. I plan to mount the stereo, Holley EFI LCD and an auxiliary cigarette lighter in my console ( plus the ever elusive cup holder! ). I'll most likely make the console out of aluminum, and potentially wrap in it the same black leather that I have planned for the door panels.

This is going to be my first foray into doing my own interior work. I don't think it'll be that hard, as i'm not going for anything fancy. The only things that I may have to sub out are the re-covering of the rear seat and the dashpad if i don't just use an ABS cap for it.

I hope to be able to give you guys at least a weekly update with pics.

- Dave

zombiekiller

08-10-2011, 04:10 AM

great looking car

Thanks!

The wife and I will be down in alabama visiting our friend dan penn and watching him play a show the first weekend of sept. I can't remember what town it's in, but i guess it's 4 hours or so from nashville. If George is to a point where i'm comfortable driving him down, he'll be there!

zombiekiller

08-11-2011, 12:06 PM

Well I called coil spring specialties to check on my order today. They had initially quoted me 2-3 weeks turnaround for my springs.

This afternoon they told me that it'd be an additional 3-4 weeks. What boneheads. They stated it was because I wanted a 2 inch drop instead of a 1.8, that meant thicker wire and heat treating and blah blah blah. It sounded more to me like they just needed to farm the springs out for whatever reason. Regardless it was very poor form. I wouldnt have even been notified if I hadnt called to check.

Soooooooooo, I cancelled my order with them and called up Eaton Detroit. They had the Springs that I needed in stock and couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. They'll be at my door on Tuesday.

If anyone is looking for spring for their 65 or 66 galaxie, I have the part numbers. Cost was $40 less than CSS was.

So this weekend will be dynamat, new carpet, floor shifter , led shift indicator, rag joint, steering column and steering wheel install.

Hopefully I can start teardown of the suspension and brakes on wednesday, get my control arms over to my machinist to have the bushings pressed out and riveted in balljoints removed and by next weekend be reassembling the entire suspension and brakes!

1tuff68

08-11-2011, 02:35 PM

Zombiekiller, awesome project! Love those Galaxies. Keep the updates coming. Would it be out of bounds to ask who your wife is? :D

dusterbd13

08-11-2011, 03:07 PM

ive used all 3 harnesses. really only liked painless. ron francis i also really likr, but theyre fuse panel is really huge. so go painless fir this one, unless youre going to try to hide all the wires like a street rod. if thats the case, go ron francis.

as far as seats, i LOVE ny kincoln mark 8 seats. sooooo comfy.

if i can be any more help on the wiring, let me know

zombiekiller

08-14-2011, 05:35 PM

well i got more done this weekend.

I started off the weekend by tearing out the tank to pump and pump to rear junction hard line that i had made. The hard line in that spot made the fuel pump so ungodly loud that I had to do something else. I ended up running braided stainess lines with compression fittings. I then used some of the dynamat that i'd bought to line the the back side of my fuel pump tray mount. i'm happy to say that its probably 10% as loud as it was.

Next up was a bit more work than I had anticipated. I removed my seats and tore up the old carpet, then proceeded to scrape the floor and treat any rusty areas, then paint the the floors to prevent new rust. Picklex is a god send!

Then i dynamatted the the floorboards and firewall.

Then I installed a lokar nostaglia cable shifter. let me just say, who ever at lokar that thinks this cable shifter is "bolt in" is out of their cotton picking mind. I ended up using the oem form selecter arm and Neutral safety switch. Then i moved on to having to heavily modify the lokar cable brackets. In order to use their brackets and cable as they came, i would have had to modify my trans cross member beyond the point of structural integrity. The i had to literally cut the bracket for the rear in half so it wasnt contacting my driveshaft. I still wasnt happy with how close it was, so i ended up making my own bracket anyway.

I still have to adjust the cable so I can shift into 2 and 1, but for now it shifts into everything but those two positions.

Then I installed some new black carpet and installed a few of the interior pieces that I test painted black ( from red) so I can see how well the vinyl die/paint holds up.

I had planned on also swapping my column shift steering column this weekend, but that'll have to wait, as i ran out of energy and daylight.

I'll snap some pics tomorrow, and then a few more once I get the column swapped and the shift linkage adjusted properly.

zombiekiller

08-22-2011, 06:44 AM

Got more done this weekend.

Shifter linkage is adjusted properly. Shifter mount is squared and reinforced so it doesn't move so much.

Ididit steering column is in. I used the universal 28" 36 spline column. I put a grant wood challenger wheel on.

The ididit column is a GM wiring pattern, it takes some wire figuring out to get it to work with the ford harness.

some things future column swappers need to know.

1. the galaxie body wiring colors are the same as mustangs from 66.
2. GM horns are a ground circuit , Ford horns have 12v passed up through the column to the horn button. There is an switched wire that is also connected to the horn button. When the button is pressed, it energized the relay and thus, the horn blows. there really isnt a way to wire this in using the ididit wiring without changing out your horn relay. I opted to just move the horn off of the wheel and use a momentary switch mounted on the dash. I may change this when I rewire the whole car, but for now, it is what it is.

3. there is a black with blue stripe wire that feeds into the column as well. This is for your dash lights. You'll probably want to run this off of a new relay and run the switch wire to your headlight switch, or if you've wired in a relay, to your relay.

4. If the ididit hazard button is in the "in" or "off" position, your ford turn signals and brake light will NOT function PERIOD. The hazard switch MUST be pulled out for your signals and brake lights to work.

I also replaced all of the Tie Rod ends, the pitman arm, adjustment collars, and idler arm.

My steering was MEGA sloppy. I came to find out that the nut-serts inside the frame had broken and the idler arm bracket was not as tight as it should have been against the frame.

After i got the old idler arm off, I opted to modify the way the idler arm mounts to the frame. I drilled through the frame, made an outside plate, then drilled out the idler arm bracket bolt holes to fit larger carriage bolts.

I then used sleeves for inside the frame and bolted everything back on. It came out WAY beefier that I had originally planned, but MAN it made a HUGE difference. My steering is now tight and crisp.

I also replaced the rag joint in the car. The old rag joint literally disintegrated when i removed it. As an FYI, multiple companies sell a 68-69 36 spline camaro rag. This works on galaxies ( whether aftermarket or factory columns.

Even without an alignment George handles awesome.

I started on replacing the ball joints and front control arm bushings too.

This weekend I'll be swapping out my springs and shocks and bolting on a thicker new front sway bar. Then measuring for a rear bar , which i'll have to make on my own. I need to get my exhaust done before I can put a rear sway in the design that I want on the car. The current exhaust routing is in the way. I figure i'll dump the exhaust ahead of the rear axle and save myself some headaches.

zombiekiller

08-30-2011, 01:21 PM

Well i've been steadily working on George.

I got the rear arms all swapped out. The new rear springs are in. The new rear shocks are in, Just need to hit the top bolts with an air rachet.

I started on the front suspension and ran out of time. So this weekend i'll hopefully get the new balljoints, bushings, springs and shocks done.

Then i'll move onto getting my disc brake conversion done and my new master, booster and prop valve in.

The difference in the front sway bar is kind of ridiculous. Can you guess which one is the stock one?

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

I've also got to get a new power steering pump. The current one is dying a slow leaky death. I think i'll be upgrading to a borgeson universal pump.

The original c4 has decided that it likes to leak and doesnt want to stop, so now i'll be placing an order with TCI for a replacement.

The wife has decided to OK me buying a crate motor to work my turbo magic on. I'm in a toss up between the ford racing 306, the blueprint 347 and the blueprint 408.

Regardless of which i go with, i'll be installing EFI and most likely a single turbo setup.

I was over a buddies house last weekend and took a ride in his twin turbo foxbody. Its far too much for my performance goals. He's at 7 lbs of boost and just under 800 horse. It literally felt like if we welded wings onto the car, it'd take off. I think 450-500 horse is going to be plenty.

irregal83

08-30-2011, 01:42 PM

i love your car man. way to take a boat and make it handle..progress is awesome so far. i will be checkin back for updates

zombiekiller

08-31-2011, 05:15 AM

i love your car man. way to take a boat and make it handle..progress is awesome so far. i will be checkin back for updates

Thanks!

My Progress may stall for a few weeks, then pick back up. We're moving into a new house at the end of september.

The good news is, after we move , my progress will most likely speed up. I'll finally have a garage to work in and air tools! I'll also have 220v ( finally!) so I'll be able to fab some parts and mke some plates to box in the rear frame rails.

the goal is to still be finished with the car (outside of paint) in time for power tour next year.

zombiekiller

09-18-2011, 04:32 PM

well another quick update.

Progress!

the past few weeks have been hectic, but i've been pushing forward.

SO far i've gotten installed:

new rear springs
new front springs
RCD shocks front and rear
Addco front sway
new booster
dual bowl master
willwood prop valve
disc brake conversion ( 2 pot ssbc calipers, powerslot rotors)
Joe's upper control arms ( circle track type)
New ball joints
rebuilt the lower control arms
new trans pan and dipstick
all new bearings and seals front and rear
rebuilt the rear drums
spohn upper and lower control arms + panhard in the rear

i'll keep the updates coming and get some pics when its nice out.

overall the car should handle better than it ever has. I can't wait to get it aligned . It'll have to wait a few days though as I lost a spindle nut and had to order some. Then its button it up, bleed the brakes and do some "spirited driving" as eaton detroit has told me that my springs need it in order to break in and settle.

kmdracer

09-19-2011, 07:03 AM

Subbing in. Love the old 500s.

zombiekiller

09-26-2011, 06:24 AM

Well, Old george is kicking and screaming.

I broke one of the pad clips for my front calipers, So I'm waiting for SBC to send me some, as the clips are apparently unique and manufactured by SBC.

The booster/master that i'm using has been a pain in the ass. The pedal linkage still needs some massaging.

I was hoping that I could stretch the tired, worn 289 through the winter and take my time ( and my bonus) and build something fun. The wife even approved the allocation of my bonus to a new motor.

My Weekend went like this:

well, I hadnt really ran the car for about 3-4 weeks. I have to get it together because we're moving this upcoming weekend.

Fired the motor up, Power steering fluid all over the under side of the hood.

Ok, I need a new PS pump. Ordered a KRC setup. It'll be here tuesday.

Then I get in the car with it running to play with the brake pedal throw.

All of the sudden the motor backfires, then bogs and the oil pressure dumps to 5 psi.

Great. Maybe my gauge or my gauge line is screwed up, this can't be right.

Went and got another gauge, got new line.

Nope!

I'd poking around under the hood trying to figure this out. then I head massive amounts of valve and lifter noise.

great.

Then I start getting hit the face with some sort of fluid. Sprinkled really. So I grab a white sheet and canopy it over the engine compartment to identify what the fluid it and where it is coming from.

It's oil. Crap.

I go and get some 20-50 and a new filter. plus some oil stop leak in hopes that a " hail mary" will work here. Change the oil. start the car.

5 psi. ugh. Now the car is also idling like crap and sounds like its missing.

Check all the connections, play with the timing and idle mixture. Nothing helps.

So it looks like I'll put george back together enough to drive him over to our new house. Then I guess its on to finding a swap in 302 for as cheap as possible that will give me 6 months.

anyone got one they wanna lend me?

zombiekiller

09-28-2011, 06:57 AM

Well I got the tired 289 patched up so I at least get 30 Lbs of oil pressure.

I scored a longblock Roller 306 with an x303 cam and 1.7 rockers with underdrive pulleys, a new high flow oil pump and new high flow water pump. Unfortunately it still has e7 heads on it, but for the price I got it for, i'll swap the heads out. It should be on its way to me by the end of the week, so I can get it on a stand and start prepping it to go in.

I got the car on the ground last night finally! So I need to install the new brake linkage that I made and replace the rear upper coil isolators with poly ones, bolt the shocks back in, then adjust the brake bias.

I'm getting there!

csouth

09-28-2011, 10:18 AM

Nice project. I'm not a Ford guy, but always loved the Galaxy. I'm definitely checking your build. Good Luck

zombiekiller

09-29-2011, 04:04 PM

well, this happened last night.

I swear Tennessee has it in for me. 2 weeks after we moved here, someone rearended me in our brand new truck that i hadnt even made the first payment on.

This time, i'm going to the corner store to get a 6 pack, to finally take a back road that has a few turns to try out all of the work i've been doing for the past few weeks. I pull out of my driveway and get to the stop sign at the end of the street and WHAM!, a 13 year old girl was joyriding in mom's pickup truck and slammed right into me.

So now, not only do I need to swap the motor ( which is en route), but the car also has to go and get body work. Rear bumper is trashed, trunk lid is trashed and not repairable , the rear of the body is bent under where the trunklid stops and the rear crossmember is bent. The rear cross member will have to be cut out and a new one put in, as it had some scaling on it and I'm sure it'll be super brittle if its pulled back out.

So hopefully I can find a rear bumper and trunk lid. The rear bumper isnt such a huge deal, as I guess I could get a fiberglass one. The trunklid with my trim option is going to be a pain to find.

Pics:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

shortrack

09-29-2011, 08:12 PM

Faaaaaaack!.......sue the kids parents

who is your wife?

Motorcitydak

09-29-2011, 10:29 PM

Faaaaaaack!.......sue the kids parents

who is your wife?

x2 on both of those

zombiekiller

09-30-2011, 08:27 AM

Faaaaaaack!.......sue the kids parents

who is your wife?

x2 on both of those

Insurance should cover it. I'll get my deductible back .

Now the problem could be that the adjuster tries to total the car as the rear crossmember is bent. if that happens I highly doubt that the payout would be what I value the car at. In that case I will be going after them.

I try not to put my wife out there, she's a singer. Her band is from detroit.

csouth

10-01-2011, 04:35 AM

Dave, I know someone here in MI that is BIG into Galaxies. pm me the particulars on the parts you need trim level etc. and we can see if he has them.

Atomic 67

10-01-2011, 05:30 AM

Welcome aboard....very cool car. I'm sure you will make George proud.

zombiekiller

10-01-2011, 05:42 AM

Dave, I know someone here in MI that is BIG into Galaxies. pm me the particulars on the parts you need trim level etc. and we can see if he has them.
sent you a pm with pics. Thanks!

Welcome aboard....very cool car. I'm sure you will make George proud.

Thanks! I really wasnt prepared for this hiccup, but it is what it is. The car has already come so far from where it was when I think back, so at least there's that.

zombiekiller

10-07-2011, 05:59 AM

well I picked up my new motor yesterday. I also started to receive My body parts. I also picked up a new miller welder ( one of the fancy millermatics ) . Just got done moving and am still organizing the new house and garage.

I'd dare to guess that I'll be able to pick back up with george this week. Its awesome having tons of garage space now ( and a real garage).

I got the new motor just in time. I drove george about 10 miles from our old house to our new house. While in Transit, The rings really went south. The tired old 289 has a BAD rod knock now and is burning more oil than gas.

zombiekiller

10-13-2011, 07:39 AM

A little bit of an update:

Roughed out the rear valance after the damage. Got my new trunk. Got my new trim. Old trunk is off the car.

I got a little bored one night and ripped out the old headliner. I scraped and painted the inside of the roof, then dynamatted it.

I refinished a few interior trim pieces that were looking a little rough too.

I'm deleting the sail panel interior lights. They'ro ugly and not worth much to me. replacements are mega bucks. I've got to go pick up some MDF to make new sail panels, as the old ones were literally just cardboard. I have the new headliner and sail panel pieces already.

The big news is that I've been working feverishly on the new motor. The entire longblock is done. new roller lifters, x303 cam, hedman headers, scorpion roller rockers, new pushrods, valves adjusted, new water pump, melling high volume oil pump, petronix distributor and flamethrower coil, KRC power steering pump, trickflow aluminum pulleys ( i'm going to run serpentine instead of v-belt) ford racing valve covers and breather, fancy ano valve cover fasteners, champion plugs, msd wires, powermater alternator, deep aluminum trans pan, b&M flexplate.

I'm waiting on a parts delivery to finish the motor. It'll be getting:

Canton road race oil pan, pickup, dipstick
a stealth intake
600cfm performer carb ( for now, FI will come when I get my turbo setup parts)
Electric fan
aluminum rad
alternator bracket
radiator brackets & pads
thermal fan switch
motor mounts

I still need to order PS hoses, Rad hoses and exhaust tubing. the exhaust bits will wait until the motor is in and I can measure. I'll be running duals with an H pipe into magnaflow mufflers with a side exit. The side exit will allow me to figure out my rear sway solution without having to worry about snaking around exhaust pipes. The old exhaust is rusty as anything and actually rubs the PS rear tire ( now that I went wider and taller) just a smidge under side load.

I have most of the old motor stripped down, with the parts i'll be reusing set aside.

This weekend I should get the old motor out, clean and paint the engine compartment and If I am really lucky, the new motor in.

Big Steps!

joeko23

10-13-2011, 07:42 AM

Looks bad!

csouth

10-14-2011, 10:41 AM

Cant wait to see the motor come together....

zombiekiller

10-15-2011, 08:24 PM

more progress.

old motor is out, trans is out. i made room for the larger radiator. i have all of my parts except j bends , exhaust tubing, and i need to get the motor and radiator into the car before i buy a new water neck as the 45 degree one would route one of the rad hoses directly through the march alternator bracket.

I finally took the time to snap some pics. The only thing changed from these pics is that The engine bay is now in primer.

Motor isnt done yet... I still have to slap the canton road race pan on it. I'm also leaving the stock heads on for now, or at least until I figure out exactl what turbo or turbos that i'll be running so I know what my flow characteristics need to be.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

zombiekiller

10-16-2011, 05:16 PM

well canton pan is on. Engine bay is painted. I've started to clean up my wiring and hose routing too.

I ordered the wrong flex plate, and low and behold when i took a look at the motor mounts closely, they were the originals!

Being that the motor is out, and a decent set of mounts is $60, I ordered some with the correct flex plate. I'm hoping that I have the parts tuesday and the motor and trans in the car by the beginning of next weekend. that would give me next weekend to get the motor buttoned up and hopefully start the car.

zombiekiller

10-24-2011, 07:32 AM

Well, more Progress!

I decided to go with a canton oil pan. Little did I know when I made this decision that the pan was so effing huge and that my crossmember would not want to play nice with it.

sooooooo, I had to notch my crossmember. I pretty much cut out the top front half of the crossmember, then I used 3x2 3/16" box cut into an uneven "c" shape and boxed in the ends. It's welded from the top side and the bottom side. I have about 1/2" of clearance around the pan on all sides now, which I think should be enough.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

I also got the new much larger, crossflow aluminum radiator in. Its almost 3 1/2" wider and 1 1/2" taller than the stock radiator. I'll be using a 16" zirgo electric fan with a thermal switch with it.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

Next up is sorting the trans crossmember out and installing my new motor mounts. The motor is in, but mocked up on modified stock mounts. I wanted to make sure off the shelf non-stock mounts would work before I bought them. They will, I just need to flip the frame-side brackets to accommodate.

I will say that dropping this motor into a galaxie would be a breeze ( and would probably be in and running already) if I had went with the standard sbf front sump pan. I guess i'm not willing to make anything easy for myself!

cheapthrillz

10-24-2011, 11:24 AM

zombiekiller

10-24-2011, 11:39 AM

What did you end up doing for control arms? I know you said earlier that you were either going to replace the bushings or get someone to fab them for you... I see that one of your front uppers says JOES or something on it. Just wondering....

I rebuilt the lowers with poly bushings.

the uppers are 9 3/4" Joe's circle track control arms with screw in chrysler taper balljoints. The spindles have been reamed to work with them. The caster isn't where i'd like it to be with these. Its not quite 3 and i will eventually have to make arms to get my caster to about 5 if i'm ever going to install the rack and pinion setup that I scored at the pull-a-part.

cheapthrillz

10-24-2011, 12:03 PM

We like making stuff hard on ourselves don't we..... damn galaxie owners!

zombiekiller

10-24-2011, 12:41 PM

We like making stuff hard on ourselves don't we..... damn galaxie owners!

its never easy! thats for sure.

how are you making out with yours? I'm still jealous of your brakes.

zombiekiller

11-20-2011, 10:16 AM

Well, a quick update. motor is in and running! the idle sounds a lot like van halen's " hot for teacher. "

I still need to finish up the trans mount, hook up the shifter linkage, cut a hole for the cold air intake, fix a coolant leak, fab the exhaust and finish welding the floor in ( had to raise the tunnel), then I can start reassembling the interior.

The good news is, the end is finally in sight for this stage. Hopefully Ol' george will be back ont he road by christmas!

zombiekiller

11-20-2011, 03:52 PM

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

Intake is done! I tried resealing the water neck, but its still leaking. I guess i have to take it off again and figure out whats going on. i never had this much trouble with edlebrock intakes. this weiland stealth intake is proving to be a bit of a pain.

All i can say is this motor is a night and day difference from the tired ass 289 that was in the car. i'd dare to guess that its easily a 300 hp bump as it stands and will be even more ridiculous when i go forced induction.

cheapthrillz

11-28-2011, 11:30 AM

.....how are you making out with yours? I'm still jealous of your brakes.

Lol. I'm jealous of your progress! My big shiny new rotors look great with a nice coat of surface rust on them. Atleast your car moves.... I wish I had the funds available to do my frame off resto and upgrade, but it's just not there. It will be a good day when I do drive it down the road again though....

zombiekiller

02-29-2012, 07:54 AM

Well I haven't updated this in a few months, so here goes... ( sorry no pictures right now) . I slowed down getting george back on the road. I figured while I had the car down, I might as well do everything that I wanted to while it was disassembled, rather than having to take it apart 3-4 times.

So in the past few months I've done the following:

Finished trans tunnel.
installed sound deadener ( fatmat ) on the floor, roof, trunk and firewall.
Installed new carpet
Did the body work on the trunk lip
Finished the trans mount
installed a new trans cooler
Dyed the new to me door panels black
dyed the rear seat black
dyed the sunvisors black
removed the dash
removed all of the wiring
Recovered dashpads
Installed new headliner
Filled antenna hole on fender

Things I'm currently doing:

Painting dash, glovebox and ashtray door to match the exterior ( they were a very faded original paint red)
Rewiring car with AAW highway 22 harness
Fabbing custom dash panel and center console
Installing autometer "prestige black diamond" guages
Finish welding new rear cross member & boxing the rear of the frame.

After that's done:
finally fabbing the exhaust
seam tape the exterior side of the trans tunnel, & cleaning up the underside of the body.
Re-flare one of the brake hardlines
fab a rear sway bar setup
replace the wiper motor with a new one and set up a multi-speed switch
Install stereo
have the driveshaft lengthened & rebuilt
Upgrading head & tail lights to 4x H1 (55w low/100w high)
Swapping my plug wires to ceramic boots ( the plug ends are just too close to the headers for comfort)

Parts I'm shopping for:

trunk lid ( i got misled into buying one that is from a post car which is not even close to fitting)
Rear bumper ( still deciding on whether to buy a steel one or go with f/r fiberglass bumpers)
Front bucket seats & belts ( whatever I find a good deal on. one of 3 choices: bmw e46 convertible seats w/ integrated belts, mercedes sl500 seats ( again with belts) or procar rally 1000s with schroth belts.

After I zip through all of that, I'm going to try my hand at doing all of the body work ( its actually minimal) and painting the car myself. If i screw it up, a friend of mine offered to paint the car for a really great price. he said he didn't car if I tried it on my own first. ( he may actually come over and help) .

yeah, so thats the update. As I get to different points that prompt pictures, I'll post them up. Right now george is covered in 1/4" of dust and looks like the interior threw up.

cheapthrillz

02-29-2012, 02:49 PM

:postpics:

zombiekiller

05-04-2012, 05:36 AM

so I'm still bad at taking pictures, but i'm still making progress.

I took this past week off in hopes that I'd be able to finish up enough to make the good guys show in nashville in a few weeks.

As with everything on this project, it aint gonna happen.

I found a deck lid last week and bought it from the seller. It had one dent in it, so I knew I'd have to strip it and repair the dent. I stripped it, it had WAY more damage and rust pinholes than the seller identified.

I started the week by removing all of the trim, with the intention of sanding the car, getting it into primer and paint, then re-assembling, wiring and firing.

Once I removed the trim, I found some rust pin holes, so out came my stripping discs and much to my dismay I found TONS of bondo on the passenger rear quarter. Looks like at some point in the car's history, It got a nice crease down the passenger side.

i stripped the entire passenger side of the car from the rear of the door frame back. The wheel lip and two of the bondo lines had been recreated using bondo. The metal work was piss poor at best. The metal was pretty stretched. I'd venture to guess that the repairs were made when drilling into the body and slide hammering out dents was en vogue.

That being said, i decided that if i was going to do metal work, that i was going to re-flare the rear wheel well to make room for the rubber that i want. So I made a new flare, cut out the too damaged to work with areas, made patches and got my tin done .

I skim coated and started sanding. This was the first time that I've used the evercoat filler that requires no additional glaze . I have a lot more sanding to do, because i wasnt used to the more liquid viscosity and it got messy.

I did some measuring and i'll have no problem running an 11 inch wide rear wheel now with at least a 315 wrapped around it. I'm going to ditch the 20" rear 18" front setup and opt for 17" front and rear shelby cobra 427 replica wheels.

I'm going to do a 315 rear and a 275 front tire. Probably a 35 series. that will get me to 1" taller than factory rubber and drop my ride height more than an inch. ( so if anyone reading wants a set of boss 338s let me know ) . I also came to the conclusion ( my wife actually brought it up), that the 18/20 combo makes the car look a little too " donk" like. Even with the lowered suspension, the wheels dont speak to me. They add weight and limit my tire choice. 17s with give me that agressive muscle look that a car this big needs so it doesnt look and act like a cruiser with a bumpin system. :)

I also started on the exhaust. I had to hand fab everything from the header back because I pushed the motor back 2 inches plus up 3/4" in order to clear the crossmember with the canton pan that I used. I was also making space for the eventual turbo setup.

I needed to do side exit exhaust. Galaxies always came with bind-style rear sway bars tied to the rear lower arms. I opted for rear adjustables that have no provisions for this type of sway. I have a heidt's mid 60s chevelle sway that I got a good deal on, so I'll be adapting it to fit ( the measurements are close enough) as soon as I get u bolts that fit my axle tubes.

I got one side of the exhaust complete. I'm using Jeg's slash cut flat tips. I'm exiting about 3 inches behind the doors. I'm pretty happy with what I came up with. There is literally no bends from the down pipe back to the magnaflow mufflers that have in and out on the same side. The exit pipe has a nice soft complex curve in it. I've seen some side exit exhausts hand pretty low. I was able to tuck mine up nice and high while still having at least 1/2" clearance everywhere save for the tip to body clearance.

I painted my front bumper, grill and headlight buckets gunmetal. I have to say the car is going to look pissed off. It will be very street fighter-esque. I dig that.

I also decided after I was rol;ling around under the car for a bit that I'm going to cut the trans tunnel out again and re-do it. since I'm doing all of this tin work, I've opted to make the tunnel tall enough to accept the 4r70W that I'm planning to replace the c4 with now. I also want to change my shifter mount and fill the hole for the speedo cable since I'll be going to an electronic sender.

Speaking of which, I'll be using the autometer prestige black diamond guages. I love the looks of them and summit did a great price match on them. Between the price match and my additional coupons, I got them for damn near half price.

I got my headlight parts, my AAW harness, LED tails and turn signal bulbs, stereo, mustang retro-fit intermittent switch ( 66 mustang and galaxy wiper wiring is almost dead on aside from wire colors in some cases). so I have most of what I need to finish up.

I also FINALLY found appropriate foam to use for my dash. SEM makes a 2 part urethance foam that has the perfect consistency and is very easy to work with. I've already made my dash bezel, mounted my guages and done the foam for the dash pod cover.

Once my tin work is complete, I've also already got my paint, weatherstripping and all new hardware, So I'll be in final assembly mode.

Whew. This was all only suppossed to be a simple freshen up and motor swap, but I've gotten carried away. I have the time now to tear down and do this stuff, so I'm just going to go for it. I still need to figure out whether I'm going to re-connect the factory HVAC or buy and aftermarket unit. I'm leaning towards just replacing everything and getting myself A/C at the same time. I think i need it.

Oh i also found my BMW seats. I got the 3 series vert seats with the integrated belts so I can have 3points. I've got my mounts tacked together. Just need to finish weld them.

Hopefully I wont be too far off from completion. I miss driving the car really bad and I'd love to have my spare time free again to do something else. I'm a bit weary of playing master fabricator :)

zombiekiller

05-26-2012, 04:54 PM

Well I figured that I'd update since i remembered to snap a few pics while I Was cleaning my garage. :)

i apologize for the poor quality. I've been playing with the rear ride height and spring rate. I also finished the side exit exhaust. dont mind the unfinished body work. I have to slap some primer on it to beep it from rusting, as I will be traveling for the next few weeks for work and won't have the time to work on it. I'm pretty happy with the way my flare/lip came out. I tried to keep as many of the factory lines as possible. in these pics, the axle is pushed over 1.5 inches so I would see how a 315 would fit with a lowered height. the car is dropped 5.75 inches in the pic. I'll be raising it back up about 1.5-2 inches. If I don't raise it back up, I'm going to have to cut the floor out and fab an entirely new tunnel as the driveshaft clearance is way too close for comfort this far down. I'd also have to make rear swaybar endlinks that were 1.5" long, plus tuck the exhaust up farther and/or channel the floor to get a little bit more exhaust clearance ( or ditch the mufflers completely, which i don't want to do) .

At this stage in the game, I want to get it done and back together. Being this low may be in the cards for the second evolution.

These boss wheels are also coming off soon. I'd going to go with brakes from Kore3 and will be getting some old scholl artillery looking billet wheels made for me in 18x 11 rear and 18x9.5 front.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

Daron

05-30-2012, 02:26 PM

hey man !!!! just joined the site. because of people like you . taking a old grandma car and turning it into a true pro touring machine!. car is looking great. cant wait to see how it turns out. I just read the entire post from page 1. awesome build and hard work. it will pay off!

ill be checking to see progress sir!

zombiekiller

06-08-2012, 12:14 PM

Another update:

I thought all hope was lost, but I was able to snag the last 2 shift knobs of this kind as the guy who was making them decided to close his business.

That being said, this is the shift knob for this project. it is a baby octopus suspended in lucite. this one is just under 3" in diameter. The other one that I got is MUCH larger and I'm going to save it for when i finally get to do a 60s pickup.

60442

Yeah I know, its bizarre and looks a bit phallic in pictures, but I have a huge octopus tattooed on me because I like them so much.

I also was looking at just how high the motor and trans are sitting in the frame. i think that I'm going to redo the motor and trans mounts and I think that I left a bit too much room. Right now I have 1.95" of clearance between the bottom of the oil pan and the notched cross member. The trans mount had to be raised a little over 2 full inches to minimize the angle. I figure I can drop it an inch and a half safely, which should allow me to set my ride height where I want it without re-doing the tunnel again.

I built mock up wheels out of plywood and scrap steel so I was 100% sure of the clearance before I ordered them. I ordered them but the lead time is 3 months. ( ugh).

tires will be a 275/35r18 front and a 305/35R18 rear.

once i get to be home for more than 2 days in a row, I'm going to do the mount work, then tuck the exhaust up more.

I also got a start on my dash. I was going to use the factory panels that i had severely modified, then got a creative streak and decided that i was just going to make it from scratch so it was cleaner. This way I can mount my ipod controls right in the dash and get the gauges perfect.

Goatman86

06-24-2012, 06:14 PM

wow I just got me a 66 for 300 today.

48prerunner

07-05-2012, 07:51 AM

Looks great so far, read where you have to get it together for another move I hate deadlines, but hey maybe can get discovery channel to film it and pay for the build they always like that drama stuff.

zombiekiller

08-08-2012, 09:10 AM

Well, I'm currently stuck in new orleans for work, but I've been doing some suspension research in my downtime. ( as you can only drink boredom away so much down here).

I had a very interesting exchange with one of the engineers from holman moody. They were the company that designed and prepped most of the ford galaxie chassis based nascar vehicles from 64-70.

i did not know that they also helped ford field European road race cars!

apparently their road race cars used stock style components. The only thing that they modified was the strut rods (to heim joint types) and modified the mounting points of the upper and lower arms and/or added spacers to get the toe curve to be flat.

This gives me some hope that a little further down the line i can follow this same line of thinking to improve the front end behavior of my car.

otherwise, it seems like in order to get the geometry that I'd like another way, I'd have to build some tubular lower arms, modify the upper arm's mounting points, chop out the top of the coil bucket and convert to coilovers. I'd love to do that now, but i'm very quickly running out of time before i need to have the car movable under its own power.

Otherwise I'm counting days until I can get home to have a look at my rear axle. I'm finally ready to order my rear disk setup from Kore3, however after doing a fair amount of reading, there was no constant rear 9" configuration in 66 on galaxies. some were old style big beearing, some small bearing, some 28 spline and some 31 spline, with not real rhyme or reason to the specific configuration.

nicke

08-08-2012, 10:46 AM

Looking great Dave! When you get a chance, I would like to see more pics of your exhaust and how you have it routed. I really like the look of the side exits you have. They work perfectly with the long profile of the car...

-Nick

cheapthrillz

08-08-2012, 02:23 PM

zombiekiller

08-08-2012, 06:45 PM

Oh I know how to tell, just never looked real close. :-)

Btw, 295/45r18s fit pretty nicely on 18x10s with 5" bs. Found that out before I got sent away for work.

cheapthrillz

08-08-2012, 07:01 PM

Oh I know how to tell, just never looked real close. :-)

Btw, 295/45r18s fit pretty nicely on 18x10s with 5" bs. Found that out before I got sent away for work.

Sweet!

I was hoping for 275s out back and 255s up front....

zombiekiller

08-09-2012, 03:14 AM

cheapthrillz

08-11-2012, 06:03 AM

255s also fit on an 18x8 with 5" of BS on the front but its REAL close. I've got 255/45r18s on the front and 295/45r18s on the back. As soon as I get back home, I'll push george out of the garage and take a picture. The body work is still a mess, but I'll get there after I get the drivetrain all ironed out and finish the interior fabrication.

I kind of didnt have a choice with the tire sizes they're TALL, but otherwise the wheel wells just didn't fill out right when i looked at it without slamming the suspension to the point that it had like 2 inches of travel. if you're out for a ride height like your sig pic, i really believe you'll either be getting a whole new chassis, or doing a TON of suspension fab.

I have no desire for my car to be slammed like the pic in my signature lol.... I'll probably just be shooting for a good sporty stance though. I haven't done anything to my car recently (house hunting right now), but something is screwed up with my fuel delivery. Not sure if I picked up some trash from the tank or my fuel pump went out.... haven't really had a whole lot of time to play with it

zombiekiller

09-03-2012, 03:10 PM

Well, I'm attempting to power through the next few months to get my car running and driving before my wife and I move. I got a bit of a reprieve by having my " gotta be relocated " date to Nov 1st from Oct 1st.

So far in the past week I made new motor mounts, dropped the motor and trans in, built radiator mounts, made a fan shroud, pulled the entire dash, patched the firewall, finished my cable shifter mount, installed my new steering box ( got a redhead quick ratio box ) and todays HUGE chore was doing the exhaust.

i had done it before I set final ride height and well, it hung down WAY too low. Like, " i will be torn off by a pebble" low.

So I ordered the flowmaster "s-Bend" kit. It comes with 6 s bends that are 3 different rise/drop ratios.

I was able to tuck the exhaust up even with the bottom of the frame rails , save a 3.5" section where the exits come out of the side. I think that I'll actually be able to adjust my rear suspension to be another inch lower in the back so the car is totally flat, which is pretty awesome.

Now I have to start getting on finalizing the fuel system, running new brake lines, mounting the ignition boxes, plumbing my remote trans filter, etc etc etc. My biggest project except for the body work is going to be getting the dash all figured out and put back together.

i really wish that I had a lift to snap some pics of the exhaust system, that s bend kit is just about perfect for running dual exhaust pipes from the trans crossmember back in these cars. I honests only had to add 4 inches to one of the pipes, everything else was ideal.

i think I'll have another 2-3 weeks before I'm ready to start wiring. Then , hopefully, i can start the beast again. I've actually never heard the motor with an exhaust & mufflers, so It'll be a big day when I can start it again.

zombiekiller

09-03-2012, 03:10 PM

oh I forgot to mention, I also borked my gas pedal at some point . i think I bent it ruthlessly when I was flush mounting the brake booster to the firewall. ( got tired or the corky looking enormous "adapter" bracket that made EVERYTHING more difficult because it stuck out to freaking far.

I ordered a lokar firewall mount pedal, so I'm hoping that I can get it to work.

cheapthrillz

09-03-2012, 03:22 PM

:postpics:

zombiekiller

09-03-2012, 03:43 PM

:postpics:

it's raining of I actually would have pushed it out of the garage and snapped a few.

All of the weatherstripping and trim is off , so it aint exactly waterproof.

Btw if you want those rear springs that I'm not using to get rid of your saggy ass. $20 plus whatever it costs to ship em to you. They have zero miles on them . I cut like 1/2 inch off the ends to widen the seat so they'd clear the poly coil isolators but otherwise they are brand new. It'll cost me more than $20 to move them, so if you want em, they're yours.

zombiekiller

09-03-2012, 03:44 PM

:postpics:

oh yeah and if there is anything else that you need that I might have, now is the time to get a sweetheart deal. I need to unload a ton of crap.

cheapthrillz

09-03-2012, 04:01 PM

I think I'll just put up with my saggy ass for now lol. I'm getting ready to move next month, so I'm just biding my time. Once I get the car over to the new house, I'm gonna begin disassembly.... thanks for the offer though!

zombiekiller

09-17-2012, 02:16 AM

Ok So, I have been working on the motor and engine compartment. It obviously is not finished yet. I wanted to post up a side by side of where i was, and what it is looking like now. I still have a ways to go, but i'm interested in hearing opinions. I was able to get the engine 1.5" lower and almost 3 full inches farther back in the bay. I also moved the trans cooler, fabbed a new radiator bracket setup, made my own shroud and top cover for the rad too.

Motor mounts I fabbed, went to an on pump PS resevoir, added an external trans filter, removed the heater box, went to a different coil and ignition box, painted the motor/pan and trans. amongst a whole slew of other things to do it better.

don't mind the dirt. obviously i'm still under construction.

Before:
64491

After:

64490

My Employer seems to keep thinking that I really don't like being home and dont have a ton of stuff to get done before I'm ready to move, so I'll be away from home again. I need to teach my dog how to turn a wrench or something.

Daron

09-22-2012, 09:37 AM

hows the car coming?

zombiekiller

09-29-2012, 03:38 PM

Well, these are for you JC. This is where the car sits now. I found more awesomeness in shotty old body work. It appears the passenger side of the car took a decent hit at some point based on the sheer number of holes drilled for a slide hammer. I'm thinking it was a more recent backyard job based on the type of filler. So looks like that entire rear quarter from the body line down is getting replaced.

The driver's side rear flare also had work done. you can see in the pic that I've barely started on it. I got as far as seperating the inner and outer fender. I ran a magnet over it and it doesnt appear to have more than a skim coat on it. Just hoping i dont find more holes like the passenger side.

65427
65435

65428

The rear tires are 295/45zr18s. They fit no sweat.

65429

i think i did a pretty good job of tucking the exhaust up as high as I could while still being able to keep 1/2" clearance. If it turns out the interior gets too toasty even with the dynamat and interior heat shield, I'll get some external heat shielding. i still need to take it back down anyway to finish welding. I ended up lucking out and being able to use the old seat belt mount bolt holes ( from the old front seat belts) to attach my exhaust hangers.

65430

65431
65432

This is the lowest point of the entire exhaust.

65433

And the engine bay without all of the blankets, etc around it.

65434

I still managed to chip the paint on the top of the rad support though. :)

Anywho. This weekend i'm pretty much resolved to cleaning my garage and getting all of the parts organized for the final push.

Still undecided as to whether i'm going to attempt to paint it myself ( never painted a whole car before) or if I'm going to just do the tin work and drop it off at a friend's shop.

I did finally finished the floor reinforcement and driver's side seat bracket too. Finally have a seat to sit in, a steering wheel, shifter and brake pedal again. Haven't installed the gas pedal yet though.

speedfreak68

09-30-2012, 05:47 AM

Everything you are doing looks pretty slick, but.....is your car flipping me the "bird"? lol

zombiekiller

09-30-2012, 08:22 AM

sure is. it is my f u to the chick who tagged the rear end of the car. the gussets that i am using for various bits have middle fingers cut out on em. I'd be finished already if not for hunting down body parts and having to do all of the body work. while the paint that was on the car had tons of orange peel, I could have simply wetsanded to get rid of it.

i'll also say that if anyone should ever rear end this car again, That rear cross member ain't bendin unless its a semi truck!

topher303

03-14-2013, 08:42 PM

Call text me im interested if you still have them
720-496-9644

it's raining of i actually would have pushed it out of the garage and snapped a few.

All of the weatherstripping and trim is off , so it aint exactly waterproof.

Btw if you want those rear springs that i'm not using to get rid of your saggy ass. $20 plus whatever it costs to ship em to you. They have zero miles on them . I cut like 1/2 inch off the ends to widen the seat so they'd clear the poly coil isolators but otherwise they are brand new. It'll cost me more than $20 to move them, so if you want em, they're yours.

topher303

03-14-2013, 08:49 PM

NICE "The rear tires are 295/45zr18s. They fit no sweat." WHAT IS THE WIDTH ? I HAVE BOSS 338 18X9.5 REAR LOOKING FOR TIRES I LIKE THE WAY THIS LOOKS. ALSO WHAT IS YOUR BS ? IM THINKING OF RUNNING 255/40/R/18X8 FRONT,AND POSSIBLY 295/45ZR18X9.5 IF IT FITS AS FAR AS BACK SPACING GOES . ALSO WHAT IS THIS CURRENT STANCE IN THE PHOTO ? CATCH ME HERE [email protected] OR 720-496-9644

Well, these are for you JC. This is where the car sits now. I found more awesomeness in shotty old body work. It appears the passenger side of the car took a decent hit at some point based on the sheer number of holes drilled for a slide hammer. I'm thinking it was a more recent backyard job based on the type of filler. So looks like that entire rear quarter from the body line down is getting replaced.

The driver's side rear flare also had work done. you can see in the pic that I've barely started on it. I got as far as seperating the inner and outer fender. I ran a magnet over it and it doesnt appear to have more than a skim coat on it. Just hoping i dont find more holes like the passenger side.

65427
65435

65428

The rear tires are 295/45zr18s. They fit no sweat.

65429

i think i did a pretty good job of tucking the exhaust up as high as I could while still being able to keep 1/2" clearance. If it turns out the interior gets too toasty even with the dynamat and interior heat shield, I'll get some external heat shielding. i still need to take it back down anyway to finish welding. I ended up lucking out and being able to use the old seat belt mount bolt holes ( from the old front seat belts) to attach my exhaust hangers.

65430

65431
65432

This is the lowest point of the entire exhaust.

65433

And the engine bay without all of the blankets, etc around it.

65434

I still managed to chip the paint on the top of the rad support though. :)

Anywho. This weekend i'm pretty much resolved to cleaning my garage and getting all of the parts organized for the final push.

Still undecided as to whether i'm going to attempt to paint it myself ( never painted a whole car before) or if I'm going to just do the tin work and drop it off at a friend's shop.

I did finally finished the floor reinforcement and driver's side seat bracket too. Finally have a seat to sit in, a steering wheel, shifter and brake pedal again. Haven't installed the gas pedal yet though.