57 Ranchero build

[jvo]

My lines with the tipping wheel were not perfectly symmetrical to the original panel, so I made another pattern from the paper pattern to some scrap 20 gauge sheet metal. ( Only reason I keep 20 gauge around is to make profile gauges and such.)

Once I got a perfect pattern sheet metal gauge, I transferred the better lines to my roughed out patch. Then I hand hammered the lines over another post dolly, (sorry didn't take a pic of the sharp edged dolly, but I probably should have) and the lines were much nicer, and in the right places.
After the patch panel was made to my satisfaction, I proceeded to clamp it to the original so as to scribe it and cut the old piece out. I marked the front and rear, and left a little of the old panel on the rear end, just so I could match the body lines up in the proper place. That piece will be cut off afterwards.
Also, in some of these pics, you might notice that after I did an initial marking, I cut the fender flange out so I could match the new flange with the old flange front and rear. With the old flange in place, you can't get the patch to move up high enough to properly scribe it in the proper place. Hope that makes sense.

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[jvo]

I don't normally have to put this many clamps on, but the shape of this patch necessitated that, as it wouldn't sit down on the old panel without a bunch of clamps. Hard shape to make so it fits perfectly without any clamps.
I guess I didn't take any pics of cutting the old stuff out, but that's pretty straightforward. I use a combination of .045 cutting discs on my 4 1/2 angle grinder to get rid of most of it, then use aviation snips to get really close, then I sand with a 3 inch sanding disc, to get an almost perfect zero gap for tig welding.
The spots you see here are mig. I always spot weld panels in with mig, as I can use one hand to help fit, and its much easier.

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[jvo]

After its spot welded in place, its time to grind the tops off the mig spot welds. I used to tig weld right over top of them and melt them in, but found it was a bad idea, as I had to stop at each spot weld a little longer, to melt in the extra metal of the spot weld. That caused a big lump of material on the backside of the panel as well as much more warpage.
So now I do it like I was taught. Yeah, I got lazy. Grind the tops off the mig spots, then tig weld the whole thing in one pass, then deal with whatever warpage I get.
This particular panel was almost zero warpage, as its on a high crown area. It turned out very nice.
Patch fully tig welded in place, a little grinding of the weld bead, down to flush with the rest of the panel. I use those 3M green wheels that are 3/16 inch wide. They don't cut into the parent metal if you get off the weld bead like the skinny little ones do.
Then the backside of the panel gets the weld ground flush so I can metal finish it.

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Still a bunch of hammer and dolly work to do before we are done. So far I haven't had to use a shrinking disc to take down any highs yet. Because the weld is on a fairly high crown area, it held its shape quite nicely. The last couple pics show it done. It is about 95 per cent metal finished, and shouldn't need any bondo, if the rest of the repair goes this good.
I did run a vixen file over the weld to cut any remaining highs off the weld bead.
Then had to run orbital sander over the panel so it would photograph nicely.

That's all folks. I need to do the other side, but there isn't any need to document that unless I run into some unforeseen issue that someone might find of interest.
As I stated earlier, I'm not sure if I will replace the weld flange on the bottom of the panel yet. Its not really that rusty, just ugly as sin from drilling out all the spot welds. But its an easy repair, and I probably won't be happy till I do it.

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[PG409]

Terrific work, John....I wish I had those skills. Keep it up

 

[teejay99]

Hey , what's all this "rust-free Western car " stuff I always read about ...the only think holding the Ranchero together was the brown paint ..........kidding !

I get tired just reading this post, what a ton of work you have done . I certainly don't have that fabricating skill so it's amazing to see this project slowly come together . Great work and thanks for taking the time to post progress pics .

T

 

[John in Oz]

Great to see, I haven't been on for a while and come to see what you are doing, a great job you are doing there, thanks for the progress photos.

 

[Sheldon]

Very nice workmanship.

Sheldon

 

[jvo]

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[/URL][/IMG]Haven't gotten much done over the winter, but I did kinda get a rear ends swap done, as well as a rear disc brake swap. My brother gave me a 12 bolt GM van rear end for free with 3.42 ratio, and an almost brand new Auburn posi, so rather than narrow the stock 57 rear end that I can use in my 40 Ford pickup project, I am using this 12 bolt unit. I am narrowing it 3/4 inch each side to facilitate tire and wheel swaps, so I might not have to undo the shocks and spring shackles to change out wheel and tire combos. The disc brake swap helps this out as well, from what I have read.
So……I did a bunch of research on google and ebay ( sorry ebay haters, I do a lot of research on ebay).
I originally had leaned towards a Mustang GT rear disc swap, and after reading a LOT, I found that Sable and Merkur "varga" rear calipers were good candidates for the swap. These were found, apparently, in early 90's cars. That led me to the Merkur site, where I read that these varga calipers were also used in 2000's Lincoln LS cars, but the Lincolns had the e brake cables go straight forward instead of sideways, like the mustang e brake cables and such.

Thus, I found a really cheap set of rear calipers from a Lincoln LS, 2003, if I remember correctly, but when they came, I ended up with one aluminum bodied caliper, and one cast iron caliper. I did a bunch more reading on google and ebay, and found that the mid 2000's Jaguar had the aluminum varga calipers.
I bought a cheap set of rear calipers from a 2004 Jaguar X300 if I remember correctly ( several months back), and adapted them to my rear. I did use Ford 9 inch axle ends when I narrowed the 12 bolt rear, and eliminated the c clip axles.
Also in my research, I found the Mustang GT used what they call " anti moan brackets" and I picked up a pair cheap on ebay cause I figured they would work very well in setting up the bolt spacing for the caliper brackets. Worked like a breeze. The anti moan brackets bolt to the rear end housing. I made up some 3/8 thick plate steel caliper brackets that bolted to the 9 inch axle ends. Then I transfer punched the caliper mounting bolt pattern to those brackets and traced the outline of the anti moan brackets to the plate steel brackets.
Very very easy way to make the caliper brackets without major measuring and experimentation.
The e brake cables from the Jaguar, just happened to be the exact length that I needed to hook up to the original 57 Ford frame brackets. 26 inches if I remember correctly also, from the ebay description. I love ebay, ( sorry to the ebay haters again), as the description for the length of the e brake cables in the ebay ad, was the key to the good fit. I bought a set of e brake cables cheap, and they fit perfectly. Really easy rear disc brakes, and cheap as well. I don't have the disposable cash to buy one of the ready made kits.

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[PG409]

John....thanks for the post and the photos.
I read it twice to try and absorb all the details. Good workmanship and planning and thinking. Thanks

 

[jvo]

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[/URL][/IMG]I also "engineered" a rear sway bar from a 2004 Tahoe. I bought one brand new last year ( when our dollar was par) for 29 bucks and local auto wrecker wanted a hundred bucks for a rusty one. I used energy suspension bushings, and lubed them real well with their lube, so hopefully they won't squeak.

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[Sheldon]

Great addition.

Sheldon

 

[bgbdlinc]

... hot rodding at it's best and you are absolutely right about amount of research material that the famous auction site provides. I use it constantly.....

 

[The Big M]

Looking good, thanks for the update!

I used energy suspension bushings, and lubed them real well with their lube, so hopefully they won't squeak.

If they do start to squeak, try a synthetic water-resistant grease. I put black Energy Suspension bushings on a daily driver and used a generous amount of AMSOIL synthetic grease (I think I found it at Peavey Mart) rather than the stuff supplied in the kit. I drove it for 2 or 3 years after that with no squeaks.

 

[teejay99]

This is an amazing build to follow ....I'm a Ranchero fan too . I don't have your fabricating skills but even if I did I would have your patience for dealing with this rust bucket .

T

 

[jvo]

Forgive me father for I have sinned.

[/URL][/IMG] I have a confession to make. I was troubled by the 79 Tbird spindles that I installed, with both castor and camber problems. I installed the Cavalier rack, and was okay with the idea that I would lose some turning radius, but the other problems were not okay. I couldn't find any Granada spindles so I took a look in the corner of my toy box, and lo and behold was a complete IFS from a 1985 Jaguar XJ6, that I got from a friend that I was planning for a different project.

Couldn't help it. So, I took the frame stub that I kept from the rusty Ranchero, and put it on my work table. Did some exploratory surgery on it to see how it would work, and decided that was the way to go. I made some cardboard templates of the pieces I would need to make to fill in the voids once I cut out the coil spring towers from the 57 frame. I decided to cut just the outside of the frame rails, so as to keep the integrity and structure in place. I also welded up a small jig that sat on the floor that was tacked to the underside of the frame rails to keep it all in place.

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[jvo]

I didn't take a lot of pics during the process after the initial butchery. Tried to blend it all in to look decent.

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Nice wide open engine bay now, with proper castor, camber and steering. And now, the steering should have as much bump steer as a stock Jag XJ6, and I will have no reduced turning radius either. Everything is encompassed into this crossmember. I still have to make up the mounts for the sway bar, but that's a minor issue.

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All the air is out of the airbags at in this last photo. And now, I won't have to worry about ride height, as it is easily adjustable.

AND, here is where I have to atone for my sins. Lots of room for this LS engine. I know, I know, I am now going to lose any Ford friends that I ever had, or might have had in the future till the end of time. I have had too many lunches with Lloyd Dyck and Jason Morrison and too many discussions about how easy the LS engine is to buy cheap, modify for good horsepower, and get good mileage.
I looked at the Ford alternatives, believe me. But the reprogramming of the computer to get rid of the anti theft system seemed expensive and problematic. I considered how wide they are, and there isn't nearly as much aftermarket support for them either so I am told. And then, I read about some of them spitting spark plugs out intermittently. That pretty much did it for me. I would really have liked to install a Mustang Coyote engine, but I don't have a spare ten grand laying around to buy one, and I picked up this 5.3 LS engine for 325 bucks. Yeah, 325 bucks, and it runs and it was complete from top to bottom with wiring, computer and all accessories.
And, I am able to use the stock LS truck oil pan, which is quite deep. Fits into the 57 confines really nice, and clears the rack and pinion nicely as well, as you can see in this photo.

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And Lloyd just happened to have an extra set of 2010 Camaro headers that I tried out for the hell of it. Turns out, I just have to slice the underside of each tube from the bottom not quite all the way to the top where it comes out of the port on the driver's side so as to move the header slightly inboard to clear the steering u joint. After cutting the width of the abrasive wheel, I'll bend the header inboard, then weld them up again. Might have to do that twice, but it will definitely tilt the header inboard towards the engine block. I ordered a new set of these right after trying this out. Too good to be true. The other side clears the frame rail by about an eighth of an inch so I will cut that side as well, and move it in a little as well. Lots of room between the headers and the engine block. Thanks to Lloyd for that tip.

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I should mention that I moved the engine centre line to the passenger side 7/8 of an inch in order to help clear the steering u joint. Other than that, there is more than enough room for everything. Should be plenty of room at the front end for the stock fan that came with the 2004 Tahoe engine. All the rest of the accessories have plenty of room as well.
I am going to run a hydro vac brake system, and I have done the mounting of the unit, just have to mount the hydraulic clutch slave cylinder beside it. I've never used a hydro vac unit before, but everything I have read about them and heard is pretty positive, and they sure take up less space.

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I am installing a T56 Magnum transmission now. I traded the Ford top loader 4 speed and shifter along with some cash to a friend of a friend, who got it from a friend. It was supposed to be from a 2002 Camaro, which would have made it a bolt in for the LS engine. When I got it, it turned out to be for an LT1 engine. Different bell housing, and I would have had to change the input shaft and mid plate, which was going to cost me 500 bucks US, so I did a little research and found a brand spanking new T56 Magnum from Summit for 3150 US, shipped to the border. I loaded up my credit card and ordered it, after the first T56 sold on Kijiji. I figured it was just as easy to sell the first one, rather than take it apart and modify it. The new T56 Magnum as a little more money, but it seemed like the right thing to do, even though I'm a low buck kind of guy. I also got to choose the close ratio 2.66 first gear, with .63 overdrive instead of 2.97 first, and .50 overdrive. Happy as a clam, till the wife gets the Visa bill. Then I'll have to atone for some more sin.


So, I guess, everyone can flame away at me for doing the Chevy into a Ford thing, but that's okay, as I have grown up to be a big boy and I can take it.

And now that I have the engine mounts made, I can remove the mock up block and transmission, and make all the mounts pretty with a grinder, etc.
Then, I get to start doing the body mods that I am dying to get going on. Bolting the doors on next, then the back wall of the cab, and filling in the quarter panels.

 

[Rusty Olds]

Ah you've been busy. Keep us up to date

 

[teejay99]

Your skills are most admirable , but I knew something was up when you were hanging the Chevy rear end .......a Chevy in a 57 Ford ? Blasphemy ! .................I'm done .

T

 

[351CFalcon]

Your skills are most admirable , but I knew something was up when you were hanging the Chevy rear end .......a Chevy in a 57 Ford ? Blasphemy ! .................I'm done .

T

Thinking about that.

Looking good.
Hopefully I will have a good look at all the projects in the Shop in June when I'm at the Roadman's show.

 

[bgbdlinc]

....impressive surgery and an entertaining update. It's all about trade-offs, possibilities, and unintended consequences, this car building process and each change/re-do makes it better.....
BTW, that Tin Woody gives me wood.....