10/19/20 Bonus Content - Snow!
In my excitement over the bellflower tips I decided to drive the car to work on Monday. In hindsight it was still the right day because we got like 4+ inches of snow on Tuesday, but I was a little bummed because it did get snowed on.
Oh well, no salt on the roads yet and the car I'm sure is no worse for the wear. Just hard to put a bunch of time and effort into aesthetic upgrades only to have them attacked by the weather the very next day.
In reply to Gunchsta :
Paint up as far as the back door maybe? Looking good, nice mild custom.
I have been a long time grassroots lurker but this is my first post. I have been following this thread and for some reason this car out of all the crazy builds on here is the one that has driven me to want to post. I think it is because of what the car is, it is just a "normal" car that you are documenting the enjoyment it is bringing you. Right now that is probably just something a lot of people need to hear about, how something is bringing someone joy. So I guess I am just posting to say thanks for documenting all this and the car looks amazing. I will continue to be following along.
In reply to Boredom :
You're welcome, and thank you for the kind words! I'm humbled that my barge and subsequent documentation have had enough of an impact to bring your voice to the forum.
Man, that paint line really is visible once you see it, isn't it? Its like one of those magic eye things, you can't un-see it.
I'd try and wet sand to blend, then buff it to bring the shine back?
In reply to Mr_Asa :
You know honestly it turned out so much better than any previous paint/body work I've done I don't even see it.
The real answer though is to tape off the entire section front to back and spray some kind of cool candy color or lace in there.
This is really turning into a Kool Kustom! I would keep a set of spun moon eyes around for that change up look.
In reply to OjaiM5 :
Thank you!
I have a few different full wheel cover options rolling around in my mind, which is interesting to me because I've never been much for full wheel covers, but on customs they seem appropriate.
10/23/20 Backdated update - Bellflower tip installation
When I got my Bellflower tips from Speedway I did some quick searches and found very little about how people had put them on. With that in mind, below is what I did to get mine cobbled onto the car. I didn't feel like putting in the effort to go full dual exhaust, so I just split the exhaust after the axle and connected it to the stock muffler.
Looking from the rear bumper, the crossover pipe goes from the original location on the drivers side straight across behind the gas tank to the passenger frame rail. That rusty piece is from the original exhaust because my local Oreilly didn't have enough straight sections and I'm impatient. The black paint is just a quick coat to hopefully prevent the welds from rusting immediately.
This is the passenger side from under the car, one clamp is for the hanger and the other clamps the bellflower tip onto the crossover tube. That clamp ended up not being quite enough to support the full weight of the 3' chrome tube so I welded it as well. The exhaust hanger is welded to the frame and bolted to the exhaust.
Looking in from the passenger quarter panel. There is more room between the hanger/clamps and the tire than it looks like.
Here's my functional yet ugly junction between the stock exhaust and the large U I created with the bellflower tips and crossover pipe. Original exhaust was cut off about a foot behind the tire to allow room to position the new bend and tack it to the crossover.
Looking in under the drivers quarter panel. Same mount/hanger installation as the passenger side.
Here's behind the rear tire looking up at the whole shebang.
Not a step by step, but hopefully if someone else is curious how to run a stock type single exhaust with Bellflower tips this will help.
This is one of those rare instances when the finished product turned out very similar to how I pictured it in my head. I had some concerns about the 3' chrome tips drooping, but so far they seem very sold and there shouldn't be much opportunity for them to droop. They're supported basically as close as they can be without having the hangers show too obviously. They're also rubber mounted and have a fair amount of movement before they contact anything. I think they'll be solid for years to come.
Woo Hoo!
11/7/20 - Update: Quick cruise before more snow flies
Went to a little parking lot cruise in a couple Saturdays ago with my dad. Car ran well, weather was great, and the bellflowers sounded good. Pictured is a random Chevelle, the Merc, and my dads 64 Cutlass. Fun times. Now the car is basically put away until spring, and I am fine with it.
11/30/20 Update - surprise fuel pump replacement!
I took the Monday after Thanksgiving off and the weather was good (25ish and sunny) so I planned on taking the car for a ride to get some nice coffee. Woke up, went out to the garage and cranked the car to life. Naturally in the cold it took a while to start, and when I finally got it running and idling I noticed a pretty consistent dribble under the front right of the car. Opening the hood revealed a fuel pump that was leaking at the seams, quite constantly. I shut the car down and walked to the parts store. O'reilly had one at another shop, so I called my local Advance (my preferred local auto parts store) and they had one on the shelf. I geared up and hopped on the bicycle to go retrieve it. Seven miles and $43 later I had a nice bike ride under my belt and a new fuel pump in my backpack.
Fuel pump off. Remove PS pump and large bracket (pictured below), then remove fuel pump. Simple stuff, all very easily accessible.
I hosed this off with Simple Green and brake cleaner, it removed some of the gunk but I didn't get too carried away. This was a quick repair to get the car back rolling so I could enjoy the sun and sounds of a 390 v8 while having my coffee.
The new fuel pump came with all the necessary fittings and gaskets to make it a direct bolt in to my application. Original hard line fit with the included fittings and everything bolted up very nicely. Once I had it installed and before I reattached the PS pump and bracket I fired the car up to verify no leaks. It roared to life almost immediately and ran quite nice. I think the diaphragm in the previous pump had been going bad for a while because the car performs better now with the new pump.
And here it is idling calmly in the driveway awaiting a cruise.
Drive was nice - car ran well, coffee was good, heat was hot. It actually felt really luxurious to take it for a cruise and just enjoy it. This week looks pretty dry as well it might get out yet again. December in Minnesota cruising? I'll take it!
FYI: Those older style diaphragm pumps don't seem to be made with material that protects against ethanol. I went through one or two in a very short time with Susie and ended up switching to ethanol free gasoline exclusively as I couldn't find one that had a diaphragm that would resist the effects. Carb kits can also be hit bad by ethanol, the more popular carbs usually have a kit that protects them, talk to Mike at Mike's Carburetor Parts if you end up with that problem
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Thanks for the insight! I try to run the non-oxy premium in the old girl so hopefully I don't run into too much trouble, but I appreciate the heads up.
In reply to Gunchsta :
25* is nice weather for a bike ride? I hope that was Celsius! 
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Fahrenheit! Living in Minnesota you gotta take what you can get. I also got into winter riding a bit last year so I have some quality layers that help. If the temps are in double digits I can be pretty comfortable riding. Anything below 10 gets a little too chilly for me.
In reply to Gunchsta :
You have to get out in the cold to survive winter, my wife had a much better winter last year mainly due to us getting out for a walk no matter how cold it was. Out little dogs may only make it for a short one, then we drop them off and keep going.
Love the car, keep it up!
In reply to akylekoz :
Absolutely. Winter can honestly be quite beautiful, but you have to come prepared. Good quality layers make such a big difference. Also I bought a fatbike last year which was great impetus to get outside and pedal.
But anyways, cars and stuff.
12/6/20 Update - December hot rodding in Minnesota?
My wife and I took the car over to my mom's for a socially distant walk. Sun was shining, roads were dry, I figured why not. Having the car out in December is always an unexpected treat here in the cold north. I think it was about 25 degrees when we set off in the morning, you can see there is still frost on the grass.
Then on Sunday I ran some stuff out to the garage and smelled gas. More than leftover exhaust fumes from driving the car the day before. Look under the car and sure enough there's a puddle and corresponding drip coming from the fuel pump I just replaced. The pump itself looked dry but I know that when I changed it I had to cut a couple inches off the existing rubber line as it was pretty hard and cracked. I should have taken that as a sign to change out that rubber hose as well, but I didn't.
Well, until Sunday that is.
Old vs. New. I've never seen so much rubber hose in an OEM application. There's 6' of the stuff running from the frame rail, up over the inner fender, and to the fuel pump inlet.
I was able to reuse the factory hold downs, and was also interested to learn that despite being a 390 cubic inch V8, this car has 5/16" line. Usually V8 cars got 3/8" lines in my experience.
Anyhow, the old crusty line is replaced, and as of yesterday had no leaks. I'm going to keep tabs on it for a couple days just to make sure, but we should be good. This line was on my list of 'things that should be done' but I was putting it off because it looked like a pain due to it running blindly down the inner fender well.
GAS - I'm guessing this rubber hose is original from 1965, although I also have doubts that it would last that long. No matter, it's replaced now! It feels good to pick away at little things.
If you're looking for a teaser, I have my eye on some potential wheel treatment options, probably not until after the holidays though.
Baby Moons?
In reply to Gunchsta :
TBH I used to MTB in winter a bit too when we lived in IL, but I don't miss any part of winter now.
Love this sympathetic resto - didn't expect to like the bellflower exhaust but absolutely looks right on it! Would some headers, cam, and carb wake up the old girl?
In reply to 84FSP :
Thank you! I think an aluminum intake, 4 barrel carb, and cam would absolutely wake it up. At this point in the journey I'm interested in working with what I have and continuing to replace components as necessary. A few personal touches here and there, but leave it mostly stock for ease of service and drivability.
In reply to Gunchsta :
More carb and cam will make that 3/8 fuel line a requirement....
Are you sure that the rubber line was factory? Every Ford of that era I've seen has steel up till the last 6-ish inches or so.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Absolutely not. But it looks far too purposeful to be somebodies hack solution. There were specific clamps along the inner fender for it, including an impossible to see one down by the bottom of the firewall. There were yellow marks on the hose that corresponded to the P-clip type clamps on the fender. The hard line along the frame rail had a nice hose barb on the end of it and an OE style crimp connector, not a screwy hose clamp. The installation looked very OEM.
I agree though, I've never seen more than a short run of rubber line on anything either. One 6 or so chunk from the sending unit to the frame, and a similar chunk from the hard line to the pump.
Edit: A quick Google search turns up a few others with the same fuel line situation.
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