The War Wagon... decaring wars on the grocery store since 1966

[Stewzer55]

Nice wagon!

[Shelty]

thanks! I did not think of that. I know for a fact that the run channel seals are bad, cuz at least two of the windows leak. I now know why everyone said dont add up the price, cuz the more I think about the interior, the more money it is lol.

not much got done tonight, I hit the surface rust and such with por 15, and i got the 2nd patch panel formed up, I might need to adjust it more, possibly cut it into a couple different pieces, its not a big area but its got several bends to it.

[DanStokes]

Also check the windshield seal and the windshield track. On almost any car they are known to fail and the water can run down into the foot well, depending on the configuration of the car. Worth a good look. The best check is to give a buddy a hose and have him/her hose it down while you observe from the inside. You should see pretty quickly where the water comes from.

Dan

[Shelty]

been a while since I updated this. not much happened with the wagon over the last month or so. I put in a new glovebox liner, still have to adjust the latch, the replacemnt lock I got is too long, so the glovebox wont wont shut all the way, put in a new air cleaner as well. I know riveting stuff haha.

speaking of riveting, there were two small spots in the back, under where the tailgate floor folds up that had some rust, cut it out, made some patch panels out of some thin steel and riveted them into place.

then, then I bought myself a welder. I got tired of relying on other people so I took matters into my own hands, I need to redo one patch that I screwed up on, but the main rust in the pass floor has been cut out and a new patch was burned in by your's truly. I got a few good beads, and moved around and the patch went in well without any noticeable warping. I have also cut out the other area of rust, I need to go get some more sheetmetal to patch that area. it seems that the floor rusted out on the pass side due to bad door seals, the floor rusted from the top down, since it was undercoated and thats held up well. I think that the door seal went bad and water just got in and settled in the low spots and just corroding.I should have it all put back together by tuesday ( have to work tomorrow.

pics to come soon.

[Shelty]

thanks guys. yeah the old lot could have been repurposed. it butts up against the civic center parking lot, but that place already has enough of its own overflow parking lot. This town used to have a lot more cools stuff back in the day. in an area where there is now a nice community used to be dammed up and was a large lake,

the next thing on the list is to fix the floorpan, which will probably be later this month need to make some calls to ppl I know with welders.
but, suspension work doesnt scare me, Ive upgraded the entire suspension on my mustang. it wasnt that bad, only pain in the butt was the front control arms cuz you had to loosen the steering rack, and the bolts were nearly impossible to reach. but just this time around id be dealing with bolts that havnt moved in nearly 50 years. its all just needing attention, though it does have new ball joints. I did just notice that the nose is a bit high, probably need to air up the air shocks in the back, cuz the rear is sitting low. I'll have to see what options are out there, I do want to replace the rear control arms at the very least, the stamped steel arms are flimsy.

[Deaf Bob]

Consider new body mounts.. Not sure if you wanna go solid or urethane.. We remove our body pucks on derby cars and go up to 3/4" bolts.. Makes the cars so much stronger.. In that vein, new mounts and bolts will stiffen up your frame.. I'd also check the frame welds looking for bad ones..

[RustyRodder]

haha, big ugly.

I agree on dropping the nose a bit! And get that 12 bolt (350 is a good deal!!!)

[68scott385]

....and I saved that picture as part of my screen-saver but I changed the name.

[68scott385]

I LOVE those wheels on that car. It just looks right, imo.

Sway bars along with the right spring / shock combo will help body roll a lot. I'm a big fan of polyurethane bushings too but there are other options. Bushing won't necessarily help body roll but they will improve the feel & handling of the car. Suspension work can get involved especially if it's your first time, may want to drive it for what warm weather remains.

That's kinda cool & sad about the mall. Cool that y'all have a new mall but sad that the old parking lot has been let go to waste.

[Scott Liggett]

The nose high stance isn't helping the car's cornering at all. A bigger sway bar and stiffer shocks will help with that. Lastly, an alignment with better angles than the stock numbers say. It helped my nose heavy Caprice.

[Shelty]

here is a pic of said mall.. circa mid 70s. the mall is long gone, just a field now, but the parking lot has very few light poles. if the surface wasnt so degraded, it would be perfect for an autocross track.

http://salisburymallarchve.blogspot.com/

little history of the old mall, some retro pics its kind of cool. like I said, they tore it all down a few years back, when they opened the new mall on the north edge of town. center of the city used to be pretty bustling as well as quite nice. now its just a good place to buy heroin, get mugged or get a flat

[Shelty]

not much has happened recently with the wagon, took her out today to recycle the 6 months worth of boxes that have accumulated in my garage from parts and etc. ran ok, always seems to be cranky when I use the car for actual utility. was surging a bit on the main road, but didnt have time to diagnose it today. I do however think that the TV cable is in the right spot finally. I am always leery driving it, not cuz its old, but cuz I built it, afraid its going to explode.

pic at the old abandoned and slightly overgrown parking lot from the old mall they tore down about a decade ago. blasted around it for a few mins before rolling out, afraid the cops were going to show up. All I can say is.... Holy body roll Batman. going to have to address that one of these days.

pic

[Shelty]

I'll have to grab some pics, been running around the last few days.

but yeah, I was really impressed with the work they did. it has old school pencil tips on it, and the mufflers are a 2 chamber design. I was told that they are a flowmaster knockoff, but the car sound really good so I cant complain one bit.


I have a feeling the car has 2:73s in the rear, which would have been the base option. the speedo possibly being off doesnt bother me too much, there are two speed camera spots in town i have to keep my eye out for. the city in its infinite wisdom put them by the school, but they are on from 6am to 10pm monday-friday YEAR ROUND. been popped twice in the mustang so far. now I crawl through there lol

[68scott385]

Rpm v speed could be right if........

Here's a formula to check mph using known gear ratio...not that it helps at the moment, but for the cost of a gasket, gear oil, and 1 - 2 hours you would know for sure without a doubt.

mph = (tire radius / 168) x (rpm / gear ratio) figuring these things is very easy if you have & use a spreadsheet.


Four hundred for a complete dual exhaust installed sounds VERY good to me. My Flowmaster pipe kit cost nearly that much. I already had the mufflers...hoarding paid off again...those puppies had been waiting for a dozen years for something to do. Then I had to provide the labor...you did GOOD!!

[74NovaMan]

Very Cool. Any pics of the new exhaust?