1957 Ford Fairlane - slowly slowly...

Oh yeah, and I removed a kink from the heater valve cable and oiled it while it was disconnected. Can now adjust the previously freed off valve from inside the car which is nice!

The heater matrix also seems dry and was generating heated air in the car during the last outing

ah, where was I?

I've been working my way through various Weekender prep jobs. The list felt short, but it's turned into a bit of a slog...

I had mounted the rear speakers in my little DIY shelf so needed to implement my plan to hide them. Here's a pic of an infill piece to level with the seatbelt mount plates



Then I trimmed the original (yes, 65 year old fibreboard) parcel shelf to help it fit a bit more easily



I skipped a step here, where I cut out holes for the speakers and also slots for the belts. I then glued the same vinyl as the dash over it;- while digging out the roll of material I stumbled across the piece I cut for it several months ago when I cut the dash piece - winner!!

I had planned to punch holes above the speakers, I decided to attempt a custom/kustom shape rather than a plain circle. I chose a fleur-de-lys which gives a nod to the French origins too



Yep - I'm pleased with that!



Both shapes punched out and fitted



And also with the ebay special seat belt guides.



I needed to remove the rear seat to fit this properly, this is now done and I need to fit the guides properly.

A bunch of stuff got delivered to my company's US office and then carried here by a colleague, including new speedo cable, gears and clips!



I used an online calculator to pick the 17t gear, that's now fitted but I've yet to drive it! I've got 15, 16, 18 & 19 to try if it's off, but I need to experiment



This turned into a fairly loooong job, removing the cluster, unbolting the floor pass through plate and considerable swearing & sweating. However, the added bonus was it allowed me to re-attach the heater control panel to the dash, and fit a couple of AWOL dash bulbs while I was in there.

I had booked it in to a garage next to my work for a rear wheel bearing, which they didn't get round to , and it rained all day so I got to find out how leaky it is.



The other side was the same... Could be coming in from a number of places really, but it's not that bad - the car lives in the garage normally so I'll try and deal with that another time. I didn't check the boot either

I also found out on the drive home that my wipers definitely do not work after all, I think an electric motor conversion is in my imminent future.



The next item on the list was "refit trim" - couple of hours in my head, oh how wrong I was!!

This piece alone took me several hours of jiggery, pokery, clip trimming and basically working out how to access the stud on the top edge.



Extra long extension, routed up through the window mechanism, while lying on the floor and squinting to spot the nut. Loads of bruises, scratches and a good dose of 60yr old grease all over my arms...

The good news is the other side went on a lot quicker once I knew what I was doing. All 4 pieces are now fitted, the rear screen trim is still to be fitted. Even better, my wife is pleased!! She's been bugging me to fit the trims for AGES

I've also replaced the OG front belts with some modern ones.



I plumped for green ones for a laugh - they're a bit obnoxious tbh, but should offer a tiny bit more safety than the frayed friction buckle ones.





I needed to nip up the heater valve as it was bubbling after a long drive, but it seems to be water tight (except the various bits of rain water that keep leaking out! )

Jobs for this evening include - Fitting boot badge, fitting rear screen trim, fitting and testing the stereo. It needs a damn good clean, including removing some overspray. I doubt I'll have time for anything more than that though...

Come say hi on the weekend!

Blimey! What a weekend!!

After a rather hectic week attaching trim and general finding bits I'd carefully stored in the garage it was Friday. It proper chucked it down all morning so I was holding off until the afternoon. Some rushed packing ensued and finally after finding my crash helmet in the loft, I was off - filling her up and meeting EmDee and Krimbo en route for a convoy.

First time on the motorway, everything was gravy. Happy cruising at 65mph, rear bearing noise and a growing wheel vibration made anything faster a bit uncomfortable, but 70-75mph wouldn't be a problem. After a largely uneventful drive we were there.

I had intended to fit door cards and switch headlights in the campsite, but ended up chatting and consuming various alcoholic beverages instead...

I had to be up early to get over to the paddock



Looking out of place!! To quote my wife "Your car looks way older than the rest"...



Noise test (88db) and drivers' briefing done, stickers applied, nervous constitutional complete and I was all set







It was flipping awesome!! The car performed great, felt quick, although I'm certain didn't look it. I only clipped (/smashed) one cone on the extra chicane and was definitely testing the tyres and handling, as well as EmDee 's passenger tolerance.

Even better, the family arrived at the Shell building corner and I was the 4th car to come past on my first lap - perfect!

I discovered I had a bit of axle float which resulted in a scrubbed white band on my right rear tyre, but otherwise no nasty after effects.

Parked up for the afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the day & evening



Huge thanks to bstardchild for accommodating my request to run later so my boys could watch

Sunday morning I shuffled over to our club stand next to the gate



Ended up leaving around lunchtime as I was knackered and wanted to get back to the family. On my way it started to misbehave, particularly pulling away from a stand-still... This got progressively worse, so I found somewhere to pull over and check the fluid. The dipstick is basically useless, and wasn't showing anything so I poured in about 500ml extra.

This didn't seem to help much so I pulled over again and added a further litre or so



I managed to limp home but it doesn't seem very good. It did reverse onto the drive and get in the garage but I've not touched it since...
Most info I can find suggests that a strong reverse but slipping drive points to a worn out clutch/band which means a rebuild - for a couple of grand... If that's the case I may not be able to afford it this year

Awesome weekend man. Hope the autobox can be serviced back to life!

Hi Paul

Thanks for the kind words, it's fitted with a 351W and AOD (non-ecu version)

I am enquiring after 'good' 2nd hand boxes too, but this was a 'very good' one!! Although cheap enough to take a punt on, which I did and I've enjoyed it so far

Thanks for looking though - all options are on the table! I've even looked at a manual swap, but it wouldn't really suit the car...

Saw this at the weekend
Wonderful motor , a thing of dreams for me

Love the speakers in the parcel shelf there. Great looking car

Out of the country until Friday so will have a look when I get back.

P.

Yeah, I was super nervous about taking it on track - but it was so worthwhile! On one of the laps, one of the WW11 planes took off as we were coming up on the tower, such an incredible moment!


I've not tried manually shifting it yet, I only have one position below OD due to the column shift, but I'll try it today, planning a test drive up and down the road to see how it behaves today.