1966 Fairlane finally about done

Well, I’m getting close to finishing the assembly on the 66 Fairlane I’ve been working on for the last couple of months.

It’s been one of those jobs from where everything seems to fight. Fitment issues, improper pervious repairs, a rebuilt engine that had a rear main leak (love pulling those Ford pans in car), and rebuilt transmission with the shift and kickdown levers installed upside down (yeah you have to pull the pan and valve body to change them). Then there was the driver’s side header that had to modified to clear the PS and on and on.

Anyway I did the first short road test Friday (to the gas station) it turned out to be real short because of bad rear axel bearings. LOL.

The longer road test yesterday proved interesting. The car would start out in second gear (C4 transmission). That one fortunately turned out to be anti-climatic. 1966 was the last year for the Dual-Range (Green Dot) transmissions. .....it just took me a minute to remember that. Put it in Drive 2 and it worked just like it should.

It will make a nice little car now that hopefully all the little problems have been solved.

With any luck it should be gone this week or next and I can get back on the 37 Dodge.

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...6Fairlane1.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...6Fairlane2.jpg


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Wow Mike. That looks great! I really like that body style.

David

X2, NICE Work!

Good looking car, Mike! My favorite year, too! Had a really nice '67 for awhile till some guy decided he liked it more then I did and parted with a big stack of dead presidents and took it home with him!!!!

Yeah, It’s a neat little car, and with the 351 it’s pretty fun to drive.

In the process of building it I had to come up with several odds and ends that were not available new. Fortunately the local wrecking yard had three 66s two were 4 doors and one of those was pretty well parted.

The third one hidden way deep in the yard is a 66 2dr hardtop. It’s pretty faded but it’s an original red car and although it’s a plain 500 with flat hood and bench seat it’s still has its factory 390. Believe me I looked the car over really really well, but unfortunately it was originally and east coast car and has major rust issues. To properly do it it would really need every panel plus the floors replaced. It’s too bad really otherwise it would already be here at my place. Oh well you can’t same em all.


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Mike,
You say it should be gone soon - does that mean it's sold, or was this one being done for an owner? Just curious - always liked that '66 body style.

Good looking Ford great era

Yup,nice looking car..always had a soft spot for those,,there are a few down here now,too..

It’s a customer’s car Roger. I semi-retired about a year ago to concentrate on my own stuff and wasn’t doing any outside work. This car belongs to the machinist I used to use. He started on the car several years ago but then had a couple of strokes and although he gets around pretty well now he was not physically able to put the car together. He asked me back in November if I would be interested in finishing the assembly and I said yes.

The car was delivered with the doors on, a couple of bolts holding on the front fenders and the interior and glass partially installed. The engine and transmission (both rebuilt) hood, deck lid, bumpers and boxes of parts were delivered separately.


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Well, ya' done good, Mike!! It's a fine looking '66!

Dang nice of you to help the guy out, Mike!!!! Not many want to take on a half-done project!

".....Not many want to take on a half-done project!....."

Normally I wouldn't either (and this one reminded why not to :LOL: )

But Bob and I go back probably 25 years (he did the machine work on a LOT of engines for me)....it was hard to say no and I'm glad I didn't.


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I know what you mean, Mike... Got to help a friend finish up his car this spring as he's unable to do the work himself anymore.----He was building me engines in the late 60's and was one of our sprint car sponsors for better then 10 years.. Can't say no to a guy like that.

Well, it looks like the Fairlane may be back here for a while. It came back with a couple of leaks, the main one being at the back of the engine. I’ve replaced the rear main seal and the chrome oil pan with an OE one. It’s better now than when it first came in but it’s definitely leaking at the rear main seal and I can’t get it to stop.

It also started losing oil pressure...... it does fine at idle.....45 PSI on a hot idle, but at 1800 RPM it drops to 25 PSI.

Then I had the valve cover off yesterday and found this. Several of the roller tip rockers are riding on the side of the rollers. There is a lot of slop in the push rods/guide plates and I suspect that either the guide plates are junk or they are designed for bigger pushrods.

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...ecustom/V2.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...ecustom/V3.jpg

http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...ecustom/V1.jpg

So it looks like I get to tell the owner that the engine needs to come back out and see what he wants to do as he was the one who built the engine. Yup another fun day :mad: kind of reminds me why I retired from doing customers cars.


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Can't see much of the guide plates, slot for sbf pushrods should be 5/16. I've ran into some poorly made guide plates, went to the adjustable ones and no more problems!!! Some heads have so dang much core shift it forces the pushrod to run at an angle, thereby kicking the rocker arm off the center of the valve.....

As with many things, quality control seems to be lacking on parts!!!!!!

Mike, oil pressure dropping as rpm increase would make me wonder if it's dumping over a relief, either the filter or in the oil system. Could it be the filter is marginal and can't take the increased rate of flow when rpms increase?

Very nice!

".....I've ran into some poorly made guide plates, went to the adjustable ones and no more problems!!! ....."

Dave, I took a closer look at the guide plates/pushrods today, 5/16" pushrods and 3/8" guide plates, so one or the other needs replaced. After looking at the guide plates there are at least a couple that don't look like they will center both pushrods properly at the same time, so the recommendation is going to be using adjustable guide plates.

"....Mike, oil pressure dropping as rpm increase would make me wonder if it's dumping over a relief, either the filter or in the oil system. Could it be the filter is marginal and can't take the increased rate of flow when rpms increase?...."

Bob, that was my first thoughts yesterday when I did the road test and discovered the problem. I have read it particularity possible when using Fram filters (which is what the owner had me put on when we dropped the initial break-in oil out of it). I didn’t mention it in the previous post, but I put on a new WIX filter yesterday (with no improvement).

I also pulled the distributor out to make sure the base where the oil pump drive shaft goes hadn’t started to split and slip on the oil pump drive (a problem I’ve seen in the past).

Pulling the valve cover was to verify that I didn’t have plugged drain back holes and that was when I discovered the problem with the pushrod/guide plates.

All of this is combined with the oil leak I haven’t been able to fix. I think I’ve really pretty much exhausted the simple checks and it’s down to R&R the engine.

Mike--couple thingies---

Didn't some of those 351 engines use rockers that centered/guided on the valve tips???

Also--looks like some valves have longer tips than others(sorta like those for the tip centered rockers)

And, it appears that it is those valves that are the farthest off center???

Anyway---I think the valve spring/retainers are about to(or do) touch the rockers on some of the valves and the others are way up in the air---

Jerry, as far as I know there were 3 types of stock rockers used on these over the years; a stamped steel rocker (similar to the stock SBC), a fulcrum style and the cast rail type that as you say centers on the valve tip. These valves would normally use the rail type, which if it were my engine is what it would have. I don’t really trust the no name roller tip rockers like these appear to be as I have seen the results of loosing a roller and dropping a valve.

As far as the length of the valve tip and how close the rockers are to the retainers, I just walked over and looked at them that is mostly the angle of the picture. The valve stems all look to be the same length with adequate retainer clearance. It really looks like a good set of guide plates will fix this problem.

With what I’m seeing so far in this motor, I really am wondering what other surprises I’m going to find inside (provided the customers lets me take it apart like I feel it should be).

beginning May 2, 1966, Ford went to rocker arms that centered on the valve tips------------

Your engine has mis matched components

Oil pressure--be sure to check for galleu plug behind the distributor

Thought I’d add an update.

I talked to the customer and made my recommendation. He elected to just put in guide plates (a used set he brought over) and oil pump.

I got the “new” guide plates in and although there were a couple I wasn’t real happy with I got them close enough I think they’ll live.

The oil pump was interesting. What was in the car was a Melling high volume standard pressure unit. The gasket stayed on the pump when I pulled it and this is the first thing I noticed.


http://i450.photobucket.com/albums/q...mpMismatch.jpg

I pulled the gasket off and put it on the block and it matches perfectly with the oil port in the block, so basically the output port in the pump was mis-drilled off center and set up a pretty good restriction where the ports are supposed to match up at the mating surface. It really kind of surprises me as I have used a lot of Melling pumps over the years and never had a problem with them, but this one should never have gotten thru quality control.

Anyway I pulled the pump apart and other than a little light scoring on the valve there was nothing else obvious wrong I could see.

I put a new standard volume/standard pressure pump back in it. The oil pressure now stays steady and actually is about 5-10 pounds higher than it was with the HV pump.

The biggest thing is the oil leak at the rear of the engine now appears to be fixed. I still think the seal area on the crank is probably marginal, as it should not have leaked with a HV standard pressure pump.

Anyway it should be out of my shop again this week.


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Strange deal Mike.... Maybe it's not a Melling, but a knock-off?? Might be interesting to put it in a box along with a note and send it to Melling. There stuff is usually a lot better then that! Was there any sort of mis-match on the pickup tube where it bolts to the pump? Lifters should work a whole lot better with the correct size guide plates!!!!!

Dave I like your idea about sending it to Melling. The pickup tube mated up fine.

In the long run this pump starting to fail was probably the best thing that could have happened to the engine, otherwise I don't think the valve train probelm would have been discovered until parts started breaking.