Well, after 5 years and alot of "its almost time" comments walking past my gal in the garage, it's time to start the restoration.
Intend to post some pics along the way.
Adding some pics of my initial teardown to start but have already made some progress and will update as I go.
Will need some help along the way. Any help will be appreciated.
Here are some pics of the car shortly after my purchase.
I told my wife before I was going to buy it that if the body was in decent shape and it ran that I wanted to buy it.
I actually drove 4 hours to pick up the car with a car hauler. The body was not too bad and it actually ran and ran well.
Somehow, I talked myself out of the purchase and drove back home. I seem to be fairly good at doing that.
When I got home my wife had several questions why the car wasn't on the hauler.
She asked me if the body was decent and if it ran. I simply told her yes and she told me to go back and get it.
I called the owner and rescheduled for a pick up the following weekend and send him a deposit.
Drove another 4 hours the next weekend to pick it up. When I got there I paid him the other half on the car and went to start it up to put it on the hauler. Once I fired it up it made a hell of a knocking noise. The owner told me his grandson had went out and cold started it with very little oil. Now I simply couldn't leave without it again. Wasn't going to hear it again from my wife so I put it on the hauler anyway and brought it home.
Two owner car with 72,000 original miles. Was able to verify that later speaking to the original owner.
Hate to admit what I paid for it. Got a pretty good deal.
The first year I owned it I actually simply wanted to drive it around so I worked on getting the motor running good again. Found out the knocking was a pushrod that had been bent pretty bad. To describe the bend is like holding the push rod straight up and down at 12 and 6 p.m. direction but the top of the push rod was more at 2 p.m. instead of 12.
Removed and replaced all the pushrods, worked on some of the brake system and got it on the road. Actually was able to get it inspected and drove it 2 to 3 days a week.
I had heard about and later met a local Restorer that I wanted to do the work on the car. He came over and looked at the car and gave me a quote to do the frame off. It was time to start saving up money after that conversation.
So now we're current today and I decided to get it started and the Restorer was able to put me on a schedule.
The teardown begins.
Had some big ideas for this car over the years while waiting to get it restored.
Although I originally thought of restoring this car back to original, I decided to change some things up. The one thing I knew I was changing in this car was the interior. I really never did like the look of the dash in this car. So before I sent it to the restorer, I decided to make my own. The dash will have all new custom autometer gauges installed when it's finished (already designed and ready....added a pic), of course a new marine bluetooth radio to work with a new 10.5" Samsung tablet along with Vintage Air controls and unit installed in place of the original. The firewall will be cleaned up as well.
It will have bucket seats (out of a 67 thunderbird) and a custom center console to go along with the new dash that will end up looking like one piece when finished.
Before sending it to the restorer, I started by making a wooden template of the new dash and installing it to the original dash frame.
Then using the wooden template to fabricate and fiberglass my new dash pad for the new dash.
Good to see another 66 being restored. Keep the pics. coming! Finished mine 4 years ago and try to get it out each weekend when the weather is nice. here is a recent pic.
I owned the same year and style in high school and then joined the military. Come home after training and my father had sold it.
Always said I would get one back and the restore was a wish.
Lovin the process.
After hauling the car to the restorer, I started blasting and etch priming loose parts and hardware to simply give myself something to do (just a few).
Due to work of course, my car visits are first thing each and every Saturday morning.
Found and bought a floor shift column and decided to keep/use the original steering wheel and horn ring. Found a really nice ring on ebay and am currently still restoring the steering wheel. Even though it's eventually going to be leather wrapped, I'm still carving, filling and sanding to repair.
Im not 100% what these plastic trim pieces are called but have been looking for replacements since mine were pretty brittle and were falling apart coming off. Not sure if i'll be able to find some good ones out there but if anyone has a good set they are willing to get rid of, I'd sure appreciate it.
Will have to fabricate something farther down the road if I don't have any luck
After the car was completely blasted, I went over to see how she (yep, have named her ethel) came out. It came out really well. Areas needing additional attention outside the obvious repairs we knew needed to be done before blasting were some rear quarter repairs, roof and the core support frame mounts. This car was built in Dallas, sold out of Dallas and lived in Fredricksburg pretty much it's entire life so I luckily had no repairs needed on any floor/trunk pans. BUT, I did have an @#$hole decide to hit my drivers rear corner sitting in front of my house just before taking it over to the restorers. Just my luck and the driver hit and run, adding to my repair bill. dumb@#$.
A good story about the purchase of this car and what will end up being a good conversation piece after its completion will be the decklid spear emblem inlay I'm having made for the car.
After driving over the second time to meet with the 2nd owner to finally pick up this car, the gentleman was standing close to me as the car was being driven onto the hauler. I had glanced at him and noticed he was getting a little emotional. He wasn't crying or nothing like that but I could tell he was upset. I simply walked up beside him and told him I could just as easily remove it from the hauler if he wanted me too. He nodded no and mentioned he simply had a lot of good memories of the car and that he used to take it to the track and race sometimes on the weekends. Said his friends used to call the car "white lighting". That moment has always stuck with me and I wanted to do something special so when it was done, I intended to drive it back over so he could see it finished and see if he will catch the addition inlay I'm putting on the car.
It's nothing elaborate per say but the inlay will fit inside this 1965 Galaxie trunk spear and simply read "lightning". I have a friend in the sign business that is going to cut it out 3D style in the shape of the emblem. I attached one of the first CAD drawing ideas of this inlay to give you an idea of what I had in mind. Its changed quite a bit since this drawing looks, font and size wise but at least gives you an idea.
Looking forward to that ride back to Fredricksburg.
very cool- seeing that car redone will make his day for sure, and the custom emblem paying homage to it will be a nice touch.
excellent work so far, gonna be a beauty. like your airhose setups along the wall behind the car too. I still havent finished inside our 'new' garage thats going on 10 yrs old now, always looking for ideas
tim
I did the complete disassembly and will be reassembling as well.
I also have been blasting and priming all loose parts, ordering new and using them to assemble once the body work, frame and painting has been completed.
I'm a fairly hands on guy and like to do as much as I can during the process.
The restorer I am using primarily restores older cars. He is known for his paint and body and is the main reason why its there with him. I have been on his "waiting list" per say for about 3 years. I understand there may be others out there that may/may not be able to do the same work but with his experience and the recommendations I received from others and actually seeing some of their final projects, the wait was worth it.
Concerning other modifications? Several. Come back often and see. I will posting more real soon.
I am converting my 1966 Galaxie from manual to power steering and already have found a power steering gearbox and pump.
My question is, is there a difference between the pitman arm used by a power steering gearbox versus a manual gearbox? Anyone have the part number(s) for it if so?
Do I have to change out any other steering components if there is a power steering pitman arm?
Great job on the resto so far!!
Yes, there are different part numbers for the manual vs power steering pitman arm. I had a tough time finding a reasonably priced arm for mines. I can get you part #s later when I get to my computer.
Since I removed the column shifter and bought the floor shifting column, I decided to install a B&M Z gate shifter that will work with my C6 trans. I wasn't impressed with the ratcheting shifters they offered even though they are very popular. Simply felt it wasn't needed for my application. I liked the way the Z gate operated and the look. I wont be using any of the surrounding bases due to this being enclosed in a custom center console but will be using the backup light and neutral safety switches that come with this shifter. Simply installed a matching chrome T-handle to finish the look off.
The handles and locks have been shaved from the doors and trunk. They'll all open via wireless keypad from now on. Bought this shave kit about 4 years ago after doing some research. Seems to be a pretty good kit with heavy duty (35 pound) solenoids.
Have seen many cars with shaved handles using the same type of solenoids I'm using but I didn't like how the bolts holding the mount plates could be seen inside their door jams/etc. I didn't want to see any of that on my ride. I had a mount plate made and welded in on both the jam side and the window rail for added support. Then the solenoid mount plate was adapted on one side as a tongue (per say) to side into the mount plate we made closest to the door jam once installed. This way there is only two mounting bolts needing to secure and not have to fight trying to get to the other two bolts in that tight space. I didn't really want to use cables to attach the solenoids to the latches and the original linkage that attached from the latch to the door handle was too long to use so we made our own similar to fit. I really like the outcome.
when i use to do them on mini's I would attach them to the dore panel side. or if you have that option put it in a lower part of the door that will clear the glass and just run a new line or cable to get your pull? Did you get any poppers for it. i know with 35lbs on a s10 will kick the door out about 4 inches.
They fit nicely and clear the glass where shown. I wanted to use the door handle mechanism to open and tested the range and clearance before fabricating the mounting plates. I did buy poppers for this install but am concerned about the doors opening too far. Will have to test that at a later date.
When you used the poppers, how far where you able to get the doors to open? Far enough to make them stay open?
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