Getting started for Drag Week 2018

[cjshaker]

This has been kind of a crazy year with lots of setbacks and issues that have crept up, so I'm just now getting started on the Galaxie for this years Drag Week. I was thinking it was going to be a quick and easy project, but you know how that goes. I had already replaced all the brakes, brake lines and wheel cylinders when I bought the car about 10 years ago, but the single pot master cylinder went bad one day and it got parked until I could switch it over to the safer dual pot style. I purchased that long ago but never got around to putting it on. Just when I parked it, the original tranny (an *cough* autermatic thingy) started making strange noises and didn't want to go into gear right away, so that was added to the list of things to address.

I finally got started on it yesterday. It took me over 2 hours just to remove all the junk that had somehow accumulated on top of the car.    After throwing a battery in it, I turned the engine over for about 10 seconds to get some oil flowing into the engine and to draw some gas back up to the carb. Then I gave it a shot of starting fluid and hit the key. Remarkably, after sitting for 8 years, and with the gas smelling like turpentine bad, it fired right up and ran perfect!!....for about 5 seconds. Then the foul gas hit the carb and it would barely run. No problem, at least I knew it was going to run again, and run good. It didn't even make a sound when it started. No lifter noise or anything. Sometimes you just can't beat the old points ignition!!

The bad news was the carb was peeing out every gasket and orifice. In the short time it was running, the top of the intake was full of gas, and I do mean FULL. Again, not a biggie. It's the original Autolite 4 barrel, so rebuilding it will not present any problems, I hope. I went ahead and sucked the remaining bad gas out of the tank and started preparing to pull the engine and trans. I wanted to re-gasket the engine while it was out, replace the block core plugs, clean it up a bit and probably throw some paint on it while it's out. The trans will get rebuilt by a friend of mine, and probably a get new convertor while it's out.

I don't know anything about this engine except it idled perfect and ran perfect when I was driving it. The car is about as original as you'll ever find. Never repainted, never hit or hurt, not even a single dent anywhere on it. Even the grille looks perfect and isn't stone pitted. The interior doesn't even have a ripped stitch, and it's 100% original, including the carpet. Except for a small amount of rust on the drivers rear quarter, the car is 100% rust free. The rear quarter rust is odd because even the underneath of the car is rust free with only a hint of surface rust in a few small spots, not even any pitting on the floorpans. This is the nicest 'original, untouched' car I've ever started with, or personally seen, for that matter. While the engine bay is all original and in very good shape, I could tell the valve covers and air cleaner had been repainted, so I'm not sure if the engine is untouched. Here's what I started with...





After soaking up all the gas on top of the intake, I started the removal process by taking as much off the engine as I could so I could check things over as I removed them. The heater hose that ran to the carb spacer was practically falling apart with rust and it still had the original tower clamps on it.



When I took off the original fuel pump, I found something that I was happy to see, and something that I wasn't so happy to see. The timing chain didn't have the nylon gear, so that was a relief, but I saw a little more gunk in the engine than I had hoped to see.



It appears that the engine has had at least some work done to it in the past, but I don't know how much or what was done. Since I've owned the car, I haven't even removed a valve cover because the engine ran so perfect, but I think I'm going to remove everything and give the internals a good look before I decide that it's good enough to get through Drag Week. My intentions are to just drive the car to Georgia, participate in Drag Week, then drive it back home. Hauling my truck and trailering the car that far will kill me in gas money, and I just can't really afford that at the moment.

The heat factor is going to be a big one this year. According to my Son, who lives in N. Carolina and will be meeting up with me to go on the event again this year, the temps, heat index and humidity are pretty brutal in that part of the country, even in late September. So I'm thinking about throwing an Edelbrock water pump on that I have laying around, and possibly getting a new radiator. Even though there's nothing wrong with the original one, there is a bit of calcium buildup in the tubes, and I'd just feel better with a new, more efficient radiator. It also needs a fan shroud, so I'll be getting one of those. The car never got hot when I drove it, but I think that could change down south with a fully loaded car driving through mountains and traffic.

So my plan is:
Rebuild the trans and a new torque convertor
Replace the original damper with an aftermarket one I have here (the rubber is deteriorated bad)
Check internals of engine and timing chain for looseness
Regasket the engine
Paint engine
Replace water pump and fuel pump
Rebuild the carb
Check and/or replace U-joints
Replace ALL rubber hoses on the car and flush fuel system
Replace radiator and get a fan shroud, and possibly a different fan with more blades than the original style with 4
New tires

For you guys that are used to dealing with the heat down south, I'm open to suggestions as to how to combat it. My Son suggested putting an electric fan on it. I don't want to spend the money on that, but it's something I may have to consider. The engine is stock, so extra heat buildup from a performance engine is not an issue. I am considering headers while the engine is out though, and that probably wouldn't help any. I may wait until I get back to do that, just to avoid adding more heat to the engine compartment.
I've got to get my butt in gear!

[jayb]

What a nice, clean car!  You didn't mention the engine size, I assume its a 390?  Got a spare 427 to throw in there?  You'd have "The Velvet Brute"!

[64bird410]

Doug,

Looks like a fun project. 3 years ago i installed an electric fan in my 64 tbird. After installing the electric fan i was able to comfortably idle in Las Vegas rush hr traffic sitting at stop lights when it was 112-115 ambient. Like you i was on a budget. So i pulled a fan from a late 90's early 2000's vic or mercury (cant remember which) from the local pic-n-pull. I used a $50 probe style temp switch and wired it in using a parts store relay. The "late model" electric fan pulls "alot" of cfm. Best upgrade ive done to the car for driveability and didnt cost much.  Best of luck.

[cjshaker]

What a nice, clean car!  You didn't mention the engine size, I assume its a 390?  Got a spare 427 to throw in there?  You'd have "The Velvet Brute"!

Yes, it's an original 390 car. If the engine didn't look sound, 2 plans came to mind; One, pull the 390 out of my F350 and throw it in, or 2, yank the 427 out of my Mach and throw it in. Both of those engines will be coming out in the near future anyway, so they are both viable options, although I don't think the stock drivetrain would hold up to well with the 427 in my Mach. I have the parts to build another 427, and I'm considering building it and putting it in the car for future use, but not enough time to do that now. I'd keep it mild to keep the car a cruiser.

Thanks for the input, 64bird. I may make some calls to local yards and see what they have on hand. I have everything but the fan. I've got lots of other things going on, so time may be a detriment to that though.

[AlanCasida]

Looks good Doug! I have a stock 3 row side flow radiator from a '68 Galaxie using an OEM clutch fan in my '66 with the 521 in it and I haven't had any real issues cooling it. The first year I went on Dragweek it got up to 105 one day and it didn't over heat. The transmission got a little warm though.
Hope to see you in September.

[Bolted to Floor]

Wow Doug, That thing is a rolling time capsule.

Will you remove the valves from the heads for cleaning / inspection? I drove Pops old truck 30 minutes to work pulling gas from a saddle tank that was way too old. Ran fine that morning, needless to say, it didn't start that afternoon. The old gas had the valves stuck. The machine shop had to drive them out with a hammer they said, the old gas stunk up the shop too. Food for thought.

The next summer, I swapped the 2 core radiator for a three core and added a 7 blade fan, no clutch. The 360 had no power, but it didn't overheat either!!

Good Luck with Drag week.

[cjshaker]

John, I have no intentions of pulling the heads and/or intake and going that far into the engine. At the most, I'll check the valve seals and possibly replace with new umbrella types if they are brittle or look bad. Just not enough time for me to dig in that far. You know how it goes; once you pull an engine apart, things get out of hand quick and you end up with a stroker and having to upgrade the entire drivetrain..lol  And I learned long ago, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! As far as I know, this is the original engine to the car, and it really did run perfect. It didn't smoke a bit, didn't use any oil and no noises at all. I'd like to keep it intact.

[machoneman]

John, I have no intentions of pulling the heads and/or intake and going that far into the engine. At the most, I'll check the valve seals and possibly replace with new umbrella types if they are brittle or look bad. Just not enough time for me to dig in that far. You know how it goes; once you pull an engine apart, things get out of hand quick and you end up with a stroker and having to upgrade the entire drivetrain..lol  And I learned long ago, if it ain't broke, don't fix it! As far as I know, this is the original engine to the car, and it really did run perfect. It didn't smoke a bit, didn't use any oil and no noises at all. I'd like to keep it intact.

Yes, by all means do the valve seals! With the intake off (if you dare!) check the backsides of the intakes for crud. After buttoning it up, I'd add some old school Rislone engine treatment and take a drive. Then, you may need to change the oil again to remove crud.

[thatdarncat]

Cool Galaxie Doug, it will be fun to watch your Drag Week story this year, keep us all updated. If you decide to do an electric fan conversion you might want to check the post I did a while back on the Ford Contour set-up, I still get these for $35 at my local U-Pull-R-Parts. As mentioned, there are fan sets used on other cars that also look like they would work well. I have also spotted small electric fans used on some small cars that would be perfect to use with a transmission cooler or oil cooler. I will add though, keeping things simple can be a good idea for Drag Week, if the car stays cool with a stock fan that may be best. Here's a link to the post:

http://fepower.net/simplemachinesforum/index.php?topic=4807.msg50389#msg50389

The other thing I would suggest is looking at insulating your fuel lines, especially anywhere near the engine or exhaust ( especially if you add headers ). It's always hard on Drag Week to know what you're going to get for gas, and it may be different regionally than what you test with at home. In 2016 when I took my '78 Mark V on Drag Week I had an issue on the last day with fuel vapor lock. I had never experienced an issue in the 15 years I had owned the car and had often used it as my summer daily driver, and I didn't have an issue on the first five days of Drag Week, but on the final day the run order at the track changes and Street Machine Eliminator was first out, and sure enough after driving to the track from the hotel and right to the staging lanes I had issues with fuel starvation going down the track. I cooled the engine compartment and sprayed the fuel line with water and made a second pass that was better, but still had an issue. Anyway, just something to think about.

[cjshaker]

Kevin, you brought up an important thing that I forgot to mention. Fuel heating. I have plans of eliminating the factory spacer and using the tallest insulated spacer that I can get under the hood. I also have decided on waiting on the headers for the very reason I mentioned before. I had not considered insulating the fuel line, but that's a good idea also. I probably will also raise the back of the hood, just for Drag Week, to give an exit for excess underhood heat to escape.

When I was driving the car, it ran fine on regular pump gas, which is 89 octane in my parts. So I don't see that being an issue, but I may carry a few gallons of race gas just to mix in a couple gallons if I develop an issue in worst-case driving scenarios. I'd like to clean up the chambers and tops of the pistons of carbon buildup, but again, I don't want to have to tear into the engine at this point.

And yes, I really prefer to keep things as simple as can be, especially for Drag Week. Everything you add is something that can go wrong. The mechanical fan is foolproof, so I'm thinking with the upgrades that I'm planning on, overheating shouldn't be an issue. At least that's what I think..lol

[cattleFEeder]

Doug here is a 7 blade clutch fan that they repoped from 428 cj cars. Real nice quality and they look like they belong there. Just a thought I have a couple of these on my cars.
https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/c909fan.html?attribs=79

[Heo]

On my Fairlane i had what we call the Ford meatcleaver
It pushed a lot of air
No clutch, big stainless paddles that suposed to flatten out
on higher rpm
Its a Ford Fan. I have it somewhere if i find it i can give you the partnr

[cjshaker]

Yes, by all means do the valve seals! With the intake off (if you dare!) check the backsides of the intakes for crud. After buttoning it up, I'd add some old school Rislone engine treatment and take a drive. Then, you may need to change the oil again to remove crud.

Bob, at this point, I think trying to clean the insides of the engine may cause more issues than it would solve. I've learned over the years that leaving well enough alone is sometimes the best course of action, at least until a full rebuild takes place. Sometimes, removing all that 'crud' loosens stuff up and you can develop issues, and sometimes lose oil pressure in the process. It can also cause contaminants to come loose later down the road and get into the oiling system, creating issues with bearings and such.

Doug here is a 7 blade clutch fan that they repoped from 428 cj cars. Real nice quality and they look like they belong there. Just a thought I have a couple of these on my cars.
https://secure.cougarpartscatalog.com/c909fan.html?attribs=79

I have a couple of those fans laying around. I was going to see if they would fit the stock type fan shroud. If so, that would be a good route to take, although for this event, I may like a solid mount better. That would eliminate any chance of slippage on the clutch. I'm obviously not going to break any records here, although I may come close to breaking Kevin's land yacht record for slowest Drag Week participant  , so losing a few HP in the name of reliability is fine by me.

Heo, like I mentioned above, I have a couple of that style of fan laying around. They do work good! Never heard them called meatcleavers before, but that seems a pretty apt description of them...lol  I have a healthy dose of self preservation when working around ANY fan!

[mbrunson427]

Let me look for these headers for you....our '65 used to have a set of FPP headers on the 390. They'd have less than 1000 miles on them. Not using them on the tunnelport engine. I have other '65 parts sitting in the basement but looks like that car is in real good shape and the stuff I have wouldn't make for much improvement. I do have a factory radiator for it sitting in the garage, real good shape.

[cjshaker]

Mr. Brunson, I have a complete spare rust free front end for the car, including 3 fenders, 2 grilles, a hood, headlight buckets etc. The guy I bought it from is an old friend, and he thinks like I do, spare parts are a must have if you plan on keeping a car. I even got 2 rear replacement quarter panels with it. Except for a paint job, because the original paint is showing it's age and has some bad flaws in spots, the car needs almost nothing. Even the side trim is perfect. The front bumper chrome is near perfect, and the rear is decent. The headlight and tail light housing chrome isn't perfect, but in the interest of originality, I think I'll keep them. Only 2 things I would consider replacing are the dash, which I think would have to be recovered by Just Dashes because they're not available in reproduction, and the lower rear window trim....because a friend stepped on the one I had and bent it pretty bad. I would be interested in those headers though. PM me if you come across them.

Just an FYI, I have another '65 Galaxie that is an original 390 4 spd car, at least that's my understanding, I haven't ran the numbers on it. While it's in almost as good of shape as far as rust is concerned (actually the quarters are super solid), the car looks absolutely horrible, and the interior is as shot as an interior can get. It makes Jay's Torino interior look like a concours car   It's more your typical 53 year old car that has had lots done to it over the years, including some local drag racing by the guy who owned it before. I had considered making it into a full on drag car so I don't have to cut on the Mach 1, or I may just sell it. The jury is still out on that one.