Norma 1966 Galaxie

Long time lurker first time poster. I have been quietly following both mazdeuce threads and the corvette cage car madness. Figured it was about time to tell the story of the car I'm building.

The car I have been building for the last two years is a 1966 Ford galaxie 500.

I purchased the car through a mutual friend out of Arizona. The friend has a side business where he flies down to Arizona and buys a truck, trailer and some form of project and brings them all back to Iowa (pays his vacation expenses to see family). After a week of looking we found and he purchased her from the original owners son.

I will try and get picture hosting figured out so I can get photos up tomorrow

On the edge of my seat for pics!! If you've been building for the last two years, I hope you've got lots! I tend to live vicariously through build threads.

If no pics, at least describe what you've been doing to the car. I'm imagining a 7 liter, four speed car like Jay Leno's.

Stuart you are right in the ballpark. What is everyone using for picture hosting?

Here's a picture of my mutual friend towing the car the 1261 miles back to Iowa. Overall at this point the car had already gotten a new tire, battery and thermostate switch. Car runs and drives but was definitely struggling to stay cool.

Mutual friend found a hitchhiker in the back of the truck on the way back. I would have burned the truck to the ground at that point

Pictures don't work for me but I'm excited to see what's in store for Norma.

I use imgur for my photo hosting after photobucket kicked the bucket.

I'm able to right click on the little squares and open up the pictures in a new window, but they aren't appearing here on the page. That's one hell of a hitch hiker.

Norma66 wrote: Here's a picture of my mutual friend towing the car the 1261 miles back to Iowa. Overall at this point the car had already gotten a new tire, battery and thermostate switch. Car runs and drives but was definitely struggling to stay cool. Mutual friend found a hitchhiker in the back of the truck on the way back. I would have burned the truck to the ground at that point

You have to use the actual image address, right click the picture, "copy image address", that's what you're after.

Did you keep it! (The Snake ) Dad had a 66, Dark blue bottom and a sky blue roof,really looked good. the 7 liter came in 67. a neighbor had a Red One.

I could do without the giant snake of death, but the car looks sweet. Pictures are showing up for me now.

The car finally arrived after about a week wait. Initial impressions. Motor is definitely cammed. Brakes at the slightest touch want to throw you through the windshield. With no seatbelts that definitely is not a good recipe. Whole list of stuff needs done.

Overall body is good. Been hit at least twice. Hopefully the paint buffs out so we can concentrate on mechanical

https://i.imgur.com/MC27EXl.jpg

Overall very happy with the price and overall condition for a 50 year old vehicle

One thing I have learned about car projects is they are a lot like houses. Over the years cars/houses accumulate work from their owners, some better than others. Overall for 50 this cars frame and overall body isn't bad but there is definitely some wtf moments when you look under the hood.

Once I got the car I had to decode the vin plate to see just how much the car had been modified over the years

Tom over at the 66 galaxie registry hooked me up with this decode.

Hello , prior to October, 2016 when your Galaxie was added to the registry as Registry Number 5884, I had no history of the car. So whatever you may have found out prior to your ownership is the best. From the dataplate codes shown, this is the car's as-built description: The vehicle model is the Galaxie 500 2-door hardtop (198,532 produced). It was Ford number 19968 built at the Dallas, Texas assembly plant during the 1966 model year (first VIN was 100001). As built, the engine was a 289-2V Challenger V-8 (200 hp@4400 rpm, 282 ft-lbs@2400 rpm, 9.3:1 compression ratio), backed by the Toploader 3-speed manual transmission with column shift, and driving through a 3.00:1 non-locking differential. It was finished with the Wimbledon White exterior color, and the interior trim was bench seat with parchment "Olympia" pattern cloth cushions, parchment stripe vinyl capping on back rests, and parchment "Crinkle" pattern vinyl bolsters and back. It had a scheduled build date of November 11, 1965, and the order was processed through the Phoenix, Arizona district sales office, which covered Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas.

Very cool! Welcome aboard!

After decoding the vin it was time to start figuring out how much the previous owners had changed. The original 289 pictured was the matching numbers correct motor for the car.

The rear end has definitely been swapped. Appears to be a nine inch. Cool part is it has a mechanical locker. Bad part is it really starts growling at 55.

The trans will need to be addressed its a three speed auto on the column (fmx) where the original was a three on the tree manual.

At this point its time to start diving in system by system

Three speed manual floor shift would be awsome.

And bullitt wheels.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Someone had put a floor shift in at at one point, there's a old patched hole welded back up on the tunnel. You will see the wheels soon

Drove the car to get it up on the lift.

Figured out the hard braking issue. Previous owner put front shoes on the back. Car also received master cylinder replacement. Stops like a champ for four drums now. Also upgraded to all new masterflow exhaust. Video incoming!

what a great car, nothing wrong with four wheel drums in good shape for a cruiser. Also, down the road: Scarebird has modern disc conversions for not too much money

In reply to Norma66:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UMXqdFMTk5E

(The share button below the video and the embed option is all you need to do to make it show up here!) Sounds nice.

In reply to RossD: Well that was much simpler than I thought. Thanks!

October is here, so what do I do? Top end rebuild. Start by draining the fluid and what do I find? A whole lot of rust in the coolant.

But on the bright side looks like the previous owner sunk some money into it at some point

Roller rockers was a plesent surprise. But she is filthy inside.

The wiring on this thing is atrocious. Does anyone have a good book or reference material they use. I want to do a full rewire on this one

Let me check on a wiring diagram...I have a 1966 Ford factory wiring diagram book at home I got when I was restoring my '66 F-100 pickup; I haven't looked at it for a long time and think it only has truck diagrams but it may have cars as well.

If not, reprints of the factory wiring diagram book should be available on eBay and from old Ford part suppliers, either in hard copy or electronic version.

In the meantime, there's an aftermarket 1965 Ford wiring diagram available online here: http://www.oldcarmanualproject.com/tOCMP/wiring/5765wiring%20diagrams/fordindex.htm It may be similar enough to 1966 to help.

Cool car. I have had a '66 Galaxie convertible for years. It has been down for brake work for a long time though. Like it was taken off the road to fix the brakes, I then decided to do a full disk swap, then I realized how worn the suspension was, then I had a kid and here we are two years later...

Sparing the details the heads came off and got new gaskets and resembled. Looking pretty sharp.

Ended up putting on aluminium intake and speed demon carb.

Link to to mustang 360 article that made me do it.

http://www.mustangandfords.com/how-to/engine/1407-289ci-four-barrel-intake-and-carb-swap-breathe-in-ride-out/