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Saving a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 LTD...
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My 76 year old neighbor(pictured above with his brother) was very ill last year, and was afraid his daughter would end up 'stuck' trying to get rid of the old Galaxie that had been stored most of the time since '78...hadnt been moved in a couple years.
He said he wanted me to have it as he "knew I would take good care of it". Well, I had hoped to just re-do brakes and Carb/fuel tank to get it roadworthy, then give it back, but when doing the brakes, noticed nasty looking rust on one of the front torque boxes: Oh-No, another Ohio ford with a rotted frame...jacking the car several ways without breaking anything told me it was suprisingly still fairly strong, figured good enough to at least let him take it for a short spin- but knew some ugly work was ahead.
Got the car running, drove the 200 feet from my house to his, got him to come outside to take it for a spin- a quick trip around the block brought a smile to his face(hadn't been out of the house more than a couple times in as many months), was good to see him smiling.
Well after driving the car the 200 feet back home, went ahead and took the garden hose out and started rinsing off the underside- rinsed out about 30 pounds of "shale" looking steel- the entire frame was so shot you could easily remove a handful from just about anywhere without much effort. Didn't mention to my neighbor for fear of upsetting him- this car was his pride and joy, bought it new, neighbors said he washed it EVERY TIME he drove it. 38 years old, not a single door ding. Everything was 100% original except for in the early 70's a friend of his had a 65 Mercury break a frame- as a precaution he took his and had the side rails reinforced- good thing, as there wasnt anything else there...also he had some rust starting on the lower quarters, he took it to a body shop to have the lower cut out and repaired- bad idea as the body shop did what 'they' wanted- not what he wanted...they put a half quarter OVER the rusting original, and did a poor job of painting it. Other than the quarters, the car still has original paint, and it looks a mile deep. To him this car was like my old mustang is to me- I know it wasn't easy for him to give it away, he just didnt want to see it get torn up by someone that wouldnt take care of it.
The car went in my garage where it sat covered until this summer- My neighbor was doing much better, and I had been dropping hints that I needed to do some patching underneath for safety reasons...by summer I had worked up to telling him the frame was really bad and the body had to come off to do what was needed. Heres some pictures of what it looked like when the body was off to check it out...and the fun begins...
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As you can see, this car was toast. Had it not been a gift, from someone that it really meant a lot to, I would have scrapped it long ago...as it was though, I felt obligated to at least do my best to try to save it. Calling around, found a frame in Arizona, but cost of transporting was very high, with no guarantees it wasnt rotting from the inside out(as they just about all did), so decided to make new sections as needed...my boss is also a good friend of mine, and let me to use the plasma/welding equipment at work after hours to put the heavy stuff together- thank goodness, as I had no idea how much work was going to be put into this thing- and what a mess it makes...150 bucks for some sheet/tubing from contractors steel, and that was the end of my free time this summer- rear rails and torque boxes fabbed from 3/16 plate, side rails from 2x4x1/4 tubing(yeah- a bit heavy) new control arms picked up when on vacation in Colorado to replace the holey ones, a few weeks later, it was finally a roller again. Part of original frame from torque box forward, and rear crossmember were all that was solid(plasma cut front little by little until full thickness metal was found).New front torque boxes have one piece bottom that extends from rear of spring hole to end of transmission mount extension, also plated outer frame, but didnt fully weld perimeter for fear of causing cracks in corners- instead cut several round holes, and welded around inside of holes- filled with seam sealer, and seam sealed perimeter to keep moisture out. POR-15 painted everything inside and out, repainted inside torque boxes after welding before top went on, so only thing not coated is welds around top/inside- hope to spray up in later. Heres some pics of the frame:
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Well today is 9-7-2003, got 3/4 finished today (second day) stripping off undercoating-by far the filthiest job I have ever done...using knotted wire wheels on a 4 1/2 inch grinder...disposable tyvek clothes and shoe covers, stocking hat, face shield, earplugs, tarps under/taped around car to catch tar and wires flying off wheels...hot, noisy, tar everywhere...no biggie, only takes about 15 hours, two grinders, and half a dozen wire wheels at 20 bucks a pop...
Never undercoat a car if you intend to keep it more than 5 or 6 years- paint it and touch up any rust bubbles annually. Undercoating gets rust underneath, and looks same until it rots and falls out, at least paint will bubble up if it starts to rust underneath...
One fairly large, half dozen small patches to floorpans are all done, now looking at cutting out outer trunk/inner wheelhouse portions- hoping to be able to carefully remove a foot or so from the original lower quarters which have now disintegrated and clogged everything with rust. Poor "repair" still causing trouble- suprisingly the new/outer quarter patch panels have no rust (dug out 2" of dirt/rust, found only very light surface rust, no pitting even?). If the rust can be removed, the inner sheetmetal should be easy to fix and seal correctly, If not, bodywork nightmare- cut patch panel, cut quarter, replace panel with same patch panel(full quarters not available)...would be one warped up panel to straighten out...Will try to update when time permits
9/12/2003: got the old inner quarters out without damaging outer sheetmetal...drivers side outer had minor pitting, but other than that, good shape. POR-15 painted inside outer panel, cut some bad areas from inner/outer wheelhouses- gave good access to inner rockers- excellent shape, but going to flush/clean/etch/POR-15 paint inside to keep them that way...lots of welding to do in wheelhouses/trunk extensions, and trying to keep access to paint after welding will be interesting- probably couple weeks at least before body gets bolted on for the last time. Still need to seam seal and
POR-15 the underside, clean-up the motor/trans/driveshaft/core support/front sheetmetal...
Auto-Krafters first shipment of parts came today-parking brake cables,stainless brakelines, heater core, correct radiator hoses/clamps, dual circuit master cylinder, etc...hopefully can start assembling soon- HAVE to get my other car (69 mustang fastback) back inside before winter! This thing is taking forever...still hoping to give back to my neighbor when its done...maybe for christmas.
If it ever gets back together, still need to repaint the roof...bad checking from age. Might fill/block/paint quarters to try to get rid of the 'bondo bucket' looking seam at the trim line...more later
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