Thread: 57 galaxy is to slow

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I have a friend who has a 57 galaxy that he bought a barrett jackson. It was an obvious flip car but runs good. 428 with unknown cam and compression, edelbrock intake and 750 eddy carb. I put in a posi with 3.70 gears and a new pertronix distributer and had the c6 rebuilt. His complaint is off the line its doggy. And i agree. It has a stock converter and was thinking about putti g in a 2600 stall? Any thought about this? Short of pulling the motor and spending lots of money i think rhe stall would help tremendously

With an unknown cam and heads, it's all guess work,
How do you know it's a 428? could be a 332 , 352 or 390 and you'd never tell with out measuring the cylinders and stroke.

I'd say verify what you have before tossin' money at it!

Well that is a good point and forgot to mention ive been a chevy guy my whole life. Iv heard of the 390 but not the other two. Any way to tell off a casting number? I can tell you im not going to pull a head to find out. The car does run good and seems to make good power after 20/25. Its just the inital stomp of the gas from a dead stop and the rpm's just dont come up real fast

A 3000 stall, 10" converter is very streetable.

Just so you don't embarrass yourselves, Ford didn't make a Galaxy until 1959. If it's a '57, it's a Fairlane 500 or a Custom 300 and likely has a Y-block motor in it unless there has been a swap. FE motors showed up in '58. Try to nail down what he has so we can help you do the right thing. Ford is notoriously mystical with their numbers, so good luck.
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Lets go with a custom 300. I really dont know the old ford's. Its not the original engine and it is a fe block

Originally Posted by 70chevybb

Lets go with a custom 300. I really dont know the old ford's. Its not the original engine and it is a fe block

Freakshow
325-701-7830
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Got it i just looked them up. My first thought was a 3k stall. The guy has only put 900 miles on it in two years. So not driven much

Aw Tech, ("Just so you don't embarrass yourselves, Ford didn't make a Galaxy until 1959. If it's a '57, it's a Fairlane 500 or a Custom 300 and likely has a Y-block motor in it unless there has been a swap. FE motors showed up in '58.") I wanted to tell him.

Being a Chevy guy perhaps he would smile if we asked if he had worked on a 55 Impala.
(just trying to get a smile, not rough any feathers.

The obvious question, what gears does it have in the rear end? Easy to tell if it's an FE, if it is the intake manifold forms part of the head, the top valve cover bolts install into the intake manifold.

You can check out this website, they used to be the best in FE questions. 332-428 Ford FE Engine Forum

You can do a crude stroke measurement through the spark plug hole but it might only get you close.
You can also search the block for the date codes cast into the block, then knowing the year of the casting can rule out some of the blocks.
Also removing a valve cover and installing a degree wheel with pointer and dial indicator, you could pull measurements and get a good idea as to what the cam might be.

Originally Posted by Dave Severson

The obvious question, what gears does it have in the rear end? Easy to tell if it's an FE, if it is the intake manifold forms part of the head, the top valve cover bolts install into the intake manifold.

From the initial post...

Originally Posted by 70chevybb

I put in a posi with 3.70 gears and a new pertronix distributer and had the c6 rebuilt.

JMHO, a 1957 fairlane curb weight approx 3500 lbs, with a 428 and 390 gears it should launch.
Back in 1969 a buddy of mine bought a new Mustang 428, it had 390 gears and guess what its curb weight is within a few pounds of your 57, and that 428 mustang from the factory would SMOKE!
Again JMHO, Check your motor to make sure it is in good condition, tuned and timed properly before spending any more on it. That motor if running right, should rocket that car with 390 gears.

I did mention i put in a 3.70 gear. It has a cam of unknown specs and idles with 16inchs of vac. So i would guess its not a real big cam. The owner is a older guy and does not drive it a whole lot ( 4-5 local car shows a year) 900 miles in the last two years. Timing is right on and carb is tuned, with new electronic dist.

No offense meant,
16” of vac suggests a fair sized cam and a stock timing setting is going to kill its low end, it will probably benefit from more initial timing. What is your total timing set at? What is your distributor advance curve set at?
And, again no offense intended, but there is a lot more to tuning the carb than setting idle speed and idle mixture screws. Have you adjusted the accelerator pump? Set the cruise and power metering rod stages? Have you adjusted jets for WOT?
JMHO, but a lot of power can be left behind in the tuning.

Well i am getting the car back next week so i will recheck carb and timing but im sure borh are good. Ive already changwd and tuned borh. I will post a update later. Thanks