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A 64 project with pictures.

28K views 192 replies 33 participants last post by  northerndave 
#1 ·
Hi everybody, I'm in the middle of a 64 galaxie project and I thought I'd post some pictures up as I go along and lean on you experienced Galaxie enthusiasts for some of the questions that are bound to pop up during this job.

It's a South Dakota car, Z code VIN born with a 3 spd column shifted OD trans.

Well, the Z code has been plucked, as well as the OD trans. I measured stroke in the current engine and it's a 3.5" stroke so I'm thinking 352. Standard 3 spd trans, bubba shifted through a black lab sized hole that was gas axed in the floor.

Interior was also a mess, missing it's correct 500 split bench front and also missing the 500 rear seat set.

I had a way too rusty 500 XL laying around that I designated as a parts car a while back..... So, that's the direction we have gone with it.

My parts car was a 4 spd car, so we decided to use it's interior and transmission along with exterior trim and some other do-dads.





Between old collision damage and rust, I decided to go with a repair panel on LH side.









Patching a hole that was cut in the door for a spotlight.







trunk floor braces were bad in areas.



 
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#2 ·
I fabbed support ends for rear support, cut out the old support ends and replaced.





Now I imagine you guys will tell me someone is reproducing these braces? That would be my luck, lol. I searched and couldn't find any.

The mid trunk support that the fuel tank hangs from had issues as well.







Rounding this corner of the trunk floor I noticed the flange metal was decent, so I decided to try to make the arched "U" channel and attach to original finch weld flange.



Poor photos here, but I had removed some swiss cheese floor skin metal and then I did the can opener trick... at least that's what I call it when I partially cut and fold open a piece of metal so I can work under it then fold it back into place and weld it shut like a surgeon.



Well, it's not beautiful but it's structurally sound. lol.



LH side



Freshly fabbed brace end installed, and again if you look close you can see some more can opener technique, lol.



Under side



Top side ready for some all metal filler (aluminum filler)

 
#3 ·
RH side cut open for repair.





This is a Ford site right? Well my shop is starting to look like the Ford garage, maybe I need a blue oval out front? lol.



Ok, back on topic...

Taking the plasma torch to the brace, cutting back to solid metal to build outward from.





Brace repaired (yes the rubber mount is back in it's place)



can opener flaps tacked back down.





 
#7 ·
Here's a look at some of the donor car goods for interior.
Someone re covered these seats in the 70's.



One of the buckets with new covers from distinctive industries.



The 4 speed trans cleaned up and ready for paint, but I can't bring myself to painting over the factory paint markings, lol. Maybe I will clean a little better and just shoot some matte clear on it.



Here's what I'm working on today. Someone hung side pipes or lake pipes on this car at some point, and they pulled out there fav tool, el gas axe....



That's the rocker from under the car. They torched the inner and outer rocker to make more clearance for side pipe mounts. All 4 corners, meaning torched front and back ends of both rockers.
 
#20 ·
Greetings from a '612er' !

Nice progress on your Gal! I'm enjoying all the pics too. :)

I just wanted to chime in about reproducing tranny markings. I redid the T10 in my Gal this past summer, and made my own stencil (see pic below), just putzing around. Mine is no show queen, but I like all that stuff since I came from Ford dealer's parts & service background.

Best of luck to you on your new career! Norm


The 4 speed trans cleaned up and ready for paint, but I can't bring myself to painting over the factory paint markings, lol. Maybe I will clean a little better and just shoot some matte clear on it.
 
#10 ·
I know, breaks my heart to part with my top loader. Gotta pay the bills and keep the lights on though. I like the idea of just cleaning it and retaining the original markings.

The oil that come out of it was super clean, red in color though. Any idea why red? It was fairly light oil too, not 90 wt. What should I put back in it when it goes into the project car?
 
#21 ·
Back in my service dept days, some of the techs leaned towards using Type F automatic trans fluid in cast-iron cased manual trannies -especially in colder climates. Not advocating it's use (I put good ole 90 back in mine), but that might be what is in yours.

Hope that helps Norm
 
#11 ·
I figure the best I can do with these rockers is to square up the torch cuts and start patching.



By the way, I'm on the hunt for a steering wheel if anyone has one they could sell. Its likely I may have some parts for trade too.
 
#13 ·
Meanwhile... I recently blasted the belly of the beast, belw out all the crud, dirt etc from the frame rails and black epoxy coated the underside. this is after the trunk floor work and after grafting in donor metal from my parts car to correct the butcher job to the trans hump and drivers side front floor pan.

The car now has the correct 4 speed factory shifter cut out.

 
#15 · (Edited)
This is my job, so I'm invested pretty deeply in the shop/tools dept. Lol!

Old cars have been a hobby interest for me since I was a teenager (30 yrs ago, lol).

This year I hung it all out there, made the leap. I built my shop for restoration and hot rod work, laid it out as per my ever evolving 20+ yr dream.

I quit my job and now I'm doing this full time.

This galaxie is the first car to go through my new shop.

This is HARD work, its dirty work too.

But I'm my own boss now and I get to work with customers that are excited and passionate about their projects.

That's fun for me, its fulfilling to work with happy people, to make people happy and excited. Plus all these cars throw new challenges at a person, the creativity and inventiveness is tested daily.

I do love this car, lol! She's gonna be a beauty. I'm partial to the fords. There's a 69 mach 1 lined up, 2 projects after this galaxie. That one is a big job, gonna be fun though.
 
#16 ·
These rocker repairs are going to work out alright I think.
Here I have an outer piece formed, fit and might welded into place. I'm joining the inner and outer with spot welds spaced like the factory ones are.







Trying to match up with the "natural curl" of the rest of the rocker interface.
 
#17 · (Edited)
"Natural curl" was a joke, dry humor... Lol.

"Natural curb dents" would have been more accurate.

But the drivers side spot welds had a dimple under each weld like the factory spot welder was bottoming out and dimpling the rocker lip with each hit. So, I tried duplicating that effect.

 
#18 ·
your doing great work...:tup:

enjoying watching , the resurrection of the 64..

seen in one of the posts that your looking for a rear bumper...

these guys only have 2 left... (so jump on it..)

rear bumper:

1964 Ford Galaxie Chrome Rear Bumper Brand New Tooling | eBay

inner bumper + brackets :

1964 Ford Galaxie 5 Piece Rear Bumper Bracket Set Brand New Tooling | eBay

they get them from this company, who currently is out of stock...

Rear Bumpers | AMD 990-8964


I replaced front and rear bumpers on mine.....
quality and fit is just like OEM
 
#19 · (Edited)
Thank you. I actually grabbed a rear bumper already. And I would agree, the AMD bumper looks just fine. I like the AMD stuff, I use it when I can.

The real issue with the out of stock status with these has to do with a chrome plater in China that got their ass in a sling for contaminating a stream, river, lake or some damn thing. The China version of EPA shut them down, shut down a bunch if not all plating if I understand correctly. Which halted production of this bumper along with many other chi-com chrome products.

Here's why the 64 bumpers rust out....





I had my son pull the brackets off the old bumper for clean up/blasting an repaint. I couldn't believe how much crap was trapped between the center brace and the bumper skin. Damn!

So if you have a survivor 64, get the garden hose up in there or something and make sure you don't have a dirt cake back there like this.
 
#28 ·
Thanks. I have a few 64's laying around right now but the only one that remains untouched paint wise is a 4 door box top. That one is as you describe but the face of the firewall is black. (Green car).

I just didn't know if they were all that way or?
 
#29 ·
Cutting more patches...





Here's something handy to pass along. For welding in dark areas where you usually have to use your arc to light your weld area..



Clip a headlight to your helmet, because its awesome to be able to see where your weld is going, lol.
 
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