mazdeuce wrote: I won't really get to work on Fergus until fall, and that means I probably won't have him back on the road until this time next year. Today I suspended his insurance. I'm sad.
mazdeuce wrote: I won't really get to work on Fergus until fall, and that means I probably won't have him back on the road until this time next year. Today I suspended his insurance. I'm sad.
Will keep watching your other projects unfold in the meantime. I showed a picture of Fergus to the wife and said I've been getting the itch for a big American something. She just looked back at me. 
My 10 year old and I have been talking about working on Fergus together. He's recently become really interested in muscle cars. Fergus isn't quite a muscle car, but he's a big block and shares the basic mechanicals with pretty much all cars of that era. He's excited about rebuilding the front end and the steering column and getting it back on the road. Loud exhaust. He wants to bag it, I'm not so sure. It's fun to talk to him about the possibilities.
mazdeuce wrote: My 10 year old and I have been talking about working on Fergus together. He's recently become really interested in muscle cars. Fergus isn't quite a muscle car, but he's a big block and shares the basic mechanicals with pretty much all cars of that era. He's excited about rebuilding the front end and the steering column and getting it back on the road. Loud exhaust. He wants to bag it, I'm not so sure. It's fun to talk to him about the possibilities.
Listen to the 10 year old!
Definitely needs bags. And big steelies.
OK, SilverFleet has his CSX running and mndsm is working on his wagon in the snow and I'm just sitting here owning a fantastic old wagon and letting it molder in the driveway.
Or am I?
I'm almost embarrassed at how eager Fergus was to fire up. Mechanical fuel pump and old carb and points and the whole nine yards. Pulled the battery from Lloyd, cranked it over for 30 seconds and it fired right up. A minute or so of working the throttle and it settled right into a nice idle. I pulled it forward and washed it. This is how dirty it got sitting for a year. I'm publicly shaming myself in the hopes I won't let it happen again.
First things first. The reason (one reason) it was parked a year ago is because one of these heater hoses developed a leak. They go around the corner and disappear presumably going to the heater core which is hidden under the dash somewhere. The problem is I can't figure out how to get to them. Anyone know? Do I have to come at it from the dash side or do I have to pull the fender or what?
Short term solution is to bypass the core and fix it when I get to the rest of the HVAC, but I really like having defrost that works.
I was wondering what happened to this. Glad to see you back at it.
YAY FERGUS!
On my Galaxie, the core is hidden under the fender. Guess whos core is currently bypassed because I don't look forward to removing a large body panel to replace that silly thing. I am guessing that you are in a similar situation. Sorry buddy.
In reply to singleslammer:
Looking at the pic above, do you have to pull the hood off to remove the fender? 
Maybe you can get there by just pulling out the inner fender?
The hood has to come off first, and I'm 99% sure pulling the inner fender won't work, though I'll check. This is functionally a Galaxie from the same period so I suspect I'll be bypassing the core for a bit.
Looks Amazing. Keep it going!
You have no idea how relieved I am to see Fergus isn't dead! Keep working on him; I need someone through which to live vicariously while living in Germany!
mazdeuce wrote: The hood has to come off first, and I'm 99% sure pulling the inner fender won't work, though I'll check. This is functionally a Galaxie from the same period so I suspect I'll be bypassing the core for a bit.
Yuck. Cut an access hole in the back of the fender liner?
Ian F wrote:mazdeuce wrote: The hood has to come off first, and I'm 99% sure pulling the inner fender won't work, though I'll check. This is functionally a Galaxie from the same period so I suspect I'll be bypassing the core for a bit.Yuck. Cut an access hole in the back of the fender liner?
Nut sure if it applies to this vehicle in particular but I know this is a common tactic to get access to hidden HVAC stuff on cars of the era.
IIRC I recently saw a Panther with the Fender off for either a heater core or condenser replacement. Must be a Ford thing. Aside from having help to remove the hood what's the big deal about removing the fender? A few bolts and you have tons of room. Way better than sprawling over the engine to shove your hands into some dark hole and remove clamps by feel IMHO.
As far as difficulty it's all in your head, just go and do it already!
most cars of this era you had to remove the inner fender for heater core or blower motor replacement. they'll usually come right out without having to pull the outer fender, assuming the j-nuts don't snap. its really not as bad as youre thinking.
and please, for the love of god, do NOT just chop an access hole in. you have the grosh. you have jackstands. take the extra time and do it right.
I need to finish getting the RX7 track ready and then Fergus is going into the Grosh. Hoses and steering column rebuild on the top of the list. Then ball joints and the rest of the wiggly bits in front. I 'think' I've tracked down the parts I need for the column, but I need to take it apart first. Three speed columns have lots of bits and pieces. 
ummm....
you know its not a 4x4 truck, right?
As cool as 3 on the tree is, four on the floor with a bench seat is cooler. Delete the column shift and add a stick. You can then go four (or Five!) speed later on.
Three on the tree is unique enough that I'd argue it's worth keeping just for the cool factor.
Really glad this old wagon is getting worked on again. Did you ever find whatever mouse ate your glovebox contents?
Junkyard_Dog wrote: As cool as 3 on the tree is, four on the floor with a bench seat is cooler. Delete the column shift and add a stick. You can then go four (or Five!) speed later on.
Cant do 3 across up front with a shift lever through the floor. And I'm 99% sure you could totally hack a 3 speed column shifter to run a modern single rail 5 or 6 speed trans without much diffuclty. There was discussion on here not long ago about how to go about it.
Edit: found it https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/classic-cars/i-want-the-overdrives/90699/page2/
Dusterbd13 wrote: ummm.... you know its not a 4x4 truck, right?
Well, yes, but most of the bits and pieces are the same. I also feel that the three on the tree is cool enough to keep. It's a factory manual wagon. This is the only way you could get this wagon in a manual, someone bought it like this on purpose. It's cool.
Wonder if you can have a column shifted T56
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