J.e.d.’s 1963 Galaxie 500 hardtop

[j.e.d.]

Well, here is my new old car.. so stoked!!

I've had my eye on Mikes car for a couple of years now when he started to look at selling it, but never been in a position to pick it up off him.. until now!

When he chucked up another post trying to sell it last year I knew I needed to make something happen.. so after a few back & forth conversations, I flicked off the Commodore and it all fell into place.

To say I’m happy with it is an understatement.. it ticks all the boxes I had for what I wanted a car: US LHD, 50’s-60’s, bench seats, big block, 2 door... now this is more my kind of car.

Here is a link to Mikes old thread, but I’ve decided to start my own to document my Galaxie journey..

 

[j.e.d.]

Back track to day 1 of official Galaxie ownership.. Mike got her going for a trip around the block the day before, but unfortunately on the morning of picking up she decided not to play ball.. thankfully my trailer has an electric winch, and with I bit of finesse we managed to squeeze her onto the trailer.. damn this thing is big!

Here is where she stayed for a day or two while I cleared the garage out enough for her to (hopefully) fit.. decided to give her a wash at the same time and she came up nice.. a buff of the paint I reckon would make a huge difference but I’ve never done that before so that’ll have to wait for some other things to be done first.

So I was worried (not worried) about how long my garage was and whether the Galaxie would fit. The garage measured 5315mm long, and google told me prior to picking the car up that the Galaxie was 5330mm long. Hmmm. I fully expected to have to cut in a “shelf” for the bumper to sit in (still might do this), but thankfully real world Galaxie length was about 5290mm so she juuust squeezed in. I touch park her against the back wall, apply the handbrake and it clears the garage door by about 5mm as it comes down and the bracket stops above the front bumper. Perfect fit!

 

[j.e.d.]

Back track to Day 2 & 3 of Galaxie ownership.. getting her running.. 

My best mate is a Ford know it all (knows more than me anyway) so he helped me out  a lot with getting her running.. we went through all the basics.. Pertonics was fitted but I read that they can get stuffed if you bugger around with them so I erred on the side of caution and took it out and went back to points.. bought all the stuff for a full service including new points, plugs, oil, and all the stop leak options I could find cos she leaks a little here and there.

I discovered the earth cable from the back of the engine to the firewall was quite loose so re-crimped that, replaced the points, got a newer battery, replaced the plugs, put in the new solenoid and she was all go!

Took a couple of hours all up but was really enjoyable to get to know the car.. so much more fun to work on than the Commodore.

Didn’t take many pics and I was having way to much fun, but here’s a pic of a new solenoid

While she was outside I took a couple of pics of the interior.. front seat is pretty worn but the back is tidy

Some pics of her on the ground and free of the trailer 

 

[j.e.d.]

That week (the week before Kumeu) I decided to get my mechanic mate to run it through for a WOF.. he managed to score the least sympathetic old car guy at the workshop, but that was all good as it meant the car got a good going over (sorta).

He failed it on a worn LF steering ball joint, LF wheel bearing play, and LR axle seal leak.

Bit bummed to say the least but my mechanic mate said “she’ll be right” so I took the car to Kumeu and had a blast!

This was the first time I was able to take an old car to the show and drive through all the crowds and park up on the field, and went with my best mate as well.. it’s the little things that make me happy.

No pics on the Saturday as I was enjoying myself too much, but had a bit of an adventure on the way there with the LF wheel nearly falling off.

Was coming up to Lincoln Rd and started hearing a weird noise from the left front.. turned off at the next off ramp as it was getting worse and worse.. pulled over and noticed all the wheel nuts had nearly worked themselves off. Wonderful.

Limped to the Repco at Westgate, bought a trolley Jack, axle stands and a wheel brace (none of that stuff in the car to start with so good to have the boot stocked up now with useable roadside assistance tools), jacked her up and tightened them all up again along with some of the other wheel nuts and we were off again. No more noises.. yay.

Took the Mrs to the show on the Sunday (any excuse to drive my car), and she got all dressed up for the occasion.

Bought the obligatory Mexican blanket for the front seat which capped off a pretty cool weekend.

[j.e.d.]

Not much has happened since Kumeu.. took the Mrs down to Christchurch the following weekend to have some time out, and wouldn’t ya know it, that was the same weekend as MCM.. honestly totally unaware I was when planning the trip but managed to convince the Mrs that we should go check it out... first time there for me and it was pretty cool.. well worth the visit and would definitely go again (with the Galaxie preferably).

Galaxie pics for Galaxie thread:

So I finally decided to drop my car round to my mechanic the other week as I was struggling to find the time to get those things done for the WOF before the 28 days ran out (still didn’t make it on time dammit).. did a rockauto order last month and got in new bearings, tie rod ends and 3 different sets of axle seals as I wasn’t sure which one fit (and they were so cheap). In the end all the tie rod needed was to be re-greased thru the grease nipple as it had water in it which was creating the play, replaced the leaking axle seal, and the reason for the play in the front bearing was because the bearing race was a fraction smaller than the housing so it was moving a little bit.. got a fitter turner guy to tack weld it in neatly and she was all good!.. 

I’ve been slowly accumulating the bits needed for a full front end rebuild as she’s a bit floaty, so that will or will not happen over winter, but in the meantime I’m just enjoying old car ownership and taking her on the odd trip into work.

Mexican blanket pic for thread..

[j.e.d.]

Long time no update!

Not a lot has happened car-wise.. lots of personal stuff going on, but I’m happy I managed to find some time to spend on the old girl today.

The leaking was getting worse and worse under the car so back in August I decided to investigate.. initially I thought it was the power steering ram, but after cleaning up the built up crud around the control valve I found out that was the culprit.. it was getting that bad, that I might as well have been pouring the power steering fluid straight into the drip tray under the car.

So, took the control valve and the ram out and decided to drop both off to PG Hydraulics as I had a rebuild kit for both, and they could determine what was the best thing to do.

Two days later lockdown happened, so nothing happened. For weeks.

Finally when we hit level 3 I got a call a week after with the bad news that the control valve housing was on its last legs, so gave the go ahead for a new housing to be made, so they rebuilt that and the ram just to be on the safe side. A week later and it’s all done!

Well that was back at the beginning of October.. life got in the way again til today when I decided to put it all back in..

Not too much drama putting it all in.. had to grind a mm off the rubber mount where the ram attaches to the body bracket as I couldn’t compress it enough to start the nut, then dramas getting the hydraulic lines screwed in.. Time between removal and reassembly is never a good thing I tell ya.. got there in the end though and she all works perfectly.. lock to lock feels so much smoother. Took her for a drive to the gas station and had a heart attack at the current price per litre, then drove up and down the motorway feeling damn happy with myself.. now on to the next thing to fix!

[j.e.d.]

Another long and drawn out mini project completed on the car yesterday.. fitting mags!

I’m normally arse about face when it comes to wheel selection and this car is no different.. I saw a pair of 15x10 Weld dragstar copies with 295’s back in January which I liked the look of so proceeded to buy them in the hope they’d fit the car. Little did I know the hassle involved in trying to find a matching pair for the front.

Test fit showed me they fit with about 10mm clearance to the leaf and the guard lip.

After no joy sourcing something local, I managed to stumble across a company in the States that sold something close to what I had. 2 months later these turned up.

At the same time I ordered another pair of centre caps as the ones I got had the brand “eight” and the new ones were different. Even though I ordered chrome centre caps, the two extras I got were grey.. too hard to send back, I got creative and swapped the centre of the caps over to my chrome ones to make a matching set.

Next job, fit tyres as big as I could get on the new 15x7’s (only managed 205’s as the top arm ball joint got in the way) and get them all fitted up to the car. 

Looked good, but big problem number one came up when I drove out of the tyres shop with the rears rubbing on the inner guard constantly. 8 months go by, and a chance conversation with a guy about the leafs brought about the suggestion of using helper springs to raise it up.. picked up some Load Hog spring helpers and got to work. I’d previously flipped the shackles to try and gain some height but I felt that made it worse so I flipped them back. Flipped shackle in the background, proper setup in the foreground..

One side installed..

Gave the inner guard a little massage while the wheels were off. To fit these rims is a process as well, I need to loosen off the bottom nuts of the shocks to the end of the thread so I can angle them up into place.. not ideal.. but they’re on! The Load Hogs lifted the rear about 30mm and that’s all it took for no more rubbing for the most part. Sharp uphill corners rub on the outer wheel still, so I’ll need to massage the inner guards a bit more. Also I’ll get a pair of HD shocks or maybe even some HD air shocks to jack it up a little higher and stiffen it up as well as it still rolls somewhat.

I consider this a win for me though, and I love the look.. always been a fan of 15’s and 295’s. Funny thing is a couple of weeks ago I came across a full set of these style mags for sale so I snapped them up as they were 15x8 & 15x7 with the 8’s having 265’s so that’s an option, otherwise they’ll go on another project I just picked up. 295’s are the way to go for me though

 

[j.e.d.]

Discussion, compliments or complaints here:

 

[j.e.d.]

Splashed out on a pair of air shocks to remedy my minor rubbing issues. Removed the KYB’s and took them into Chris at Suspension Tech and requested some HD air shocks with about a 2 inch extra stroke to make it easier for me to change the tyres if I got a flat.. 

Bolted them in and ran the air lines into the boot..

Put 90 PSI in to test out the lines and it’s all good.. sits a bit high but with some trial and error and time I’ll work out the optimum pressures for the different loads it’ll take.

The ride is nice and firm in the back now though and I like it. (Don’t mind the jacked up look either)

[j.e.d.]

Another 6 month WOF 12 months after the last one.. thanks Wuhan clan for the gift that keeps on giving

[j.e.d.]

Not much happening, but a scenery change for the car.. been sitting up at the parents since my breakup early last year, been a year since I moved into my rental and finally have a garage secure and dry enough for it to park.

Firstly it involved moving the existing garage around the back as it’s current position didn’t allow good access for all my other stuff I needed to move from the parents place.. the old man and I braced and jacked it up to put on the car trailer and back it into its new spot..

Next required some GAP65 to be laid to reduce the mess. I love my grass, but I love my toys more

Then some rough and ready concrete laid

I’m sure the old girl was not happy going from relative space and luxury of my parents garage..

to this..

so much so, she decided to shit the bed and start leaking out of the PS pump..

So that’s my first fix now she’s back home (wasn’t supposed to be).. PG Hydraulics have already rebuilt the control valve and PS ram so they might as well do this for me as well.. then I’ll get the leaking manifold sorted before taking it in for a WOF

[j.e.d.]

Guess I should try getting this thing road worthy if I’m to take it to drag day..

Finally managed to install the rebuilt PS pump.. had a bent pin I believe. 
When I went to install I noticed how far out of alignment it was so that may have had something to do with it failing, so I’ve shimmed it out and it’s pretty much bang on  in line now.. was about 4-5mm out originally and I noticed the pulley on the pump wobbling prior to the rebuild, hopefully this will help it all last a long time to come.

 

Last thing to do was to put in the new filter, unfortunately I ordered the new one off the code of the old one without realising the old one wasn’t correct.. needs to be 2.5” diameter to fit in the cup in the base of the reservoir, but this one is 3” so sits on top.. probably not a big deal as the spring holds it down, but I’d prefer the correct filter so I’ve got it ordered and should turn up next week.

Getting there..

[j.e.d.]

Got the correct filter the other week and chucked it in.. jacked the car up to bleed the air out of the system and the steering feel is so smooth now with no apparent shuddering at full lock. Took her for a test drive into Puke and also see a guy about the exhaust, so that’s booked in for tomorrow along with a WOF when the work is done hopefully..

Pic of wet Galaxie for post

[j.e.d.]

Costly update time..

Took all week prior to drag day for the exhaust to be sorted out, didn’t pick the car up til 4:45pm on the Friday with a new WOF so was cutting it fine to say the least.

I bought these headers on the understanding they’d bolt right up… weeeell, nothing works out how you think. Wes at E&H Motors was tasked with the install and he came across a bit of an issue where the drivers side header was running right into the column change linkages. The fix was to get an Aeroflow column change cable kit to replace the rod linkages.. took a lot of mucking around, but the result is a much firmer feel the the gear change which is nice.

The body mount on the right required some trimming, there’s about 2-3mm of clearance now. 

 

Got Wes to weld in an H pipe while he was under there. Will continue from that next year.

Unfortunately this hasn’t solved the chuffing noise like I hoped it would. I was hoping the noise was a cracked factory manifold, but there was no sign of any cracks and the noise is still there.. perhaps a bent rod preventing a valve from completely sealing is my next thought. I did remove all the rods to inspect about a year ago and noticed a very slight bend on some of them but didn’t think that would be enough.. anyone with ideas or feedback welcome.. looks like another costly fix?

Had a nice photo taken of the car at the drags though, and managed a 17.441 quarter which I was happy with for a first time.

 

[j.e.d.]

 

[j.e.d.]

Couple more pics at drag day.

Found a plate I felt suited my car.. and a piss-take on me

On @piazzanoob’s advice, I took the car back to E&H as he wasn’t able to hear anything in the engine through the badly leaking headers. 
Well I finally dropped the car back there last week and picked it up today. I feel like they’ve done a great job with this, as they took the time to run the car through a number of heat cycles and tightened up the header bolts in a better order.. replacing the exhaust gaskets as well. Funnily enough now that it’s been done right, the engine is actually running quietly, and the only noise is the exhaust reverberating through the H pipe and coming out the back.

I’m calling it a win for now, so I treated the car to a new battery.

[j.e.d.]

Been a while. Update coming soon on the latest update/fix being done to the car. Took a photo anyway of WIP to show proof of doing things.

 

[j.e.d.]

discussion thread.

 

[j.e.d.]

Turns out the mechanical fan does a better job with the new water pump.

[j.e.d.]

Took it in for a WOF, needed to replace an axle seal, front left brake line and repair a tear in the sill that looked like it’d been there for the last 20 years. Giving a rap to Tuakau Panelbeaters for doing the job on such short notice.

Car is sold, I’m happy/sad..  time to focus on building my shed now.