55 Customline help!

[farfromthesouth]

Hello, my name is Geronimo and i`m from a Uruguay, a country where cars are expensive and classic cars are kinda hard to find, specialy v8 because gas isn`t precisely cheap and the all been swaped to use diesels. Searching in the web I came across with a guy who has a 55 Customline 2 door with it`s original 272 running. I post some pictures of he car. It needs work on the electrics, the brakes and some rust.

The deal works for me because the guy wants to trade it for a vw bug, wich is what I currently own. My cuestion is, wich things I need to look for specificaly? I pretend to fix it myself mostly because i want to learn. I have a little experience and i want to make this a proyect and have fun with it.

Thanks for reading ,
any help is apreciated.

 

[JeffB2]

You might want to join up here we have a large section file put together by members for tech help: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/social-forums/1952-59-ford-social-group.282/

 

[Motorhead6]

The first and most difficult thing to address is going to be the front cross member. This is the one that crosses frame rail to frame rail pretty much directly under the radiator. These always rust out from the inside out because there was no drain hole from the factory to allow water to drain out. The correct way to replace this cross member is to disassemble the front end and weld braces accross the frame rails to assure that they do not move. Then cut out the old cross member and weld in a new one. New ones are readily available on line.

Some people just repair a rusted unit by welding plates to it without cutting it out and replacing it. This is not a good alternative although it can be done. The problem is that this is what the lower A frames are attached to and the integrity of the front end suspension and steering is suspect.

Beyond this point, enjoy your new project for years to come. All of the wiring and mechanical parts are available at reasonable cost.

A decent 272 with 3 speed transmission can give you upwards of 20 MPG.