Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

I don't know what your paint plans are, but since I was going to strip and paint my car I used a torch and body hammer to roll my fender lips. That Eastwood tool is nice, but I already had the torch and hammer. Worked out OK. And don't believe those YouTube guys who say you can do it with a baseball bat...

Dale[/QUOTE]

Baseball bats on wheel wells are for the circle track crowd, in my opinion.
I discussed this with my body guy yesterday, he is going to split the lip on the inside and fold it in. Should be about 1/4 to 3/8 thick when done.
Car is going to body and paint Wednesday. Front fenders, trunck lid, hood and bumpers are already done. They look great.
I found a one in a million with this guy. He works out of a single car garage, charges $20.00 an hour for body work and $35.00 for painting. I bought all the materials so he doesn't make any money on that. Is reasonably fast, gives me a bill every Thusday for work done the previous week. I inspect the work, if im not happy I don't pay until its corrected. No money up front.
I'm pretty happy so far.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Any possibility we could clone him???

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Cool build. Good luck with it. Subscribing.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Finished getting the shifter installed on the trans. Looks cool and works like a charm on the bench.

The rest of the car went to body and paint, got the bumpers back. I wanted the bumpers to be silver originally but the painter being the creative type talked me into a candy blue over a silver base. I like the way they turned out.

Car is Wimbledon White over dark blue on the lower body line. You can see in the picture of the fender.

Now I have several weeks of nothing to do while I wait for the car to come back. Never mind I have plenty to do.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Pictures of the car while body work was being done, then in primer. The roof originally had a landau vinyl top which turned out to be a mess. Should be ready to paint by early next week.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

From past experience, (many times...) they always look the worst right before they turn beautiful. That color scheme will be a knockout!

Had to laugh seeing the car parts scattered around in a bedroom picture you posted-- that hasn't happened in my house since Feb 16, 1985. Had to remove the freshly machined 454 block from the foot of the bed, the tunnel ram and carbs off the kitchen microwave cart, and the BBC heads out of the laundry sink which at the time was doing double duty as a parts washer.
She's still here in the house, the car pieces are not and have never returned. Funny how this works, huh?

Loving the show here on this build and getting some stick car pointers for later on if it ever comes to that in my AMC world. I'd KILL for a 3.19 first gear in my 6 cyl automatic right now!!

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Had to laugh seeing the car parts scattered around in a bedroom picture you posted-- that hasn't happened in my house since Feb 16, 1985. Had to remove the freshly machined 454 block from the foot of the bed, the tunnel ram and carbs off the kitchen microwave cart, and the BBC heads out of the laundry sink which at the time was doing double duty as a parts washer.

That's funny.
I hear you on this one. I told my wife it is just temporary storage. This is the room where our grandkids stay in when they are with us. Any more parts and I'm sure I'll get a stern talking to.

I went to work at Don Kennedy's car dealership in 1980 and my first demo was a 79 or 80 AMX 258 4 speed. It was considered pretty gaudy at the time and no one wanted to drive it. I was just happy to have a new car to drive with gas! Those were the days.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

I went to work at Don Kennedy's car dealership in 1980 and my first demo was a 79 or 80 AMX 258 4 speed. It was considered pretty gaudy at the time and no one wanted to drive it. I was just happy to have a new car to drive with gas!

You lucky guy! They gave you gas??? (laugh). Hey, you ever drive your demo in an "enthusiastic" manner?
I got a true story about a local sales guy who got fired for blowing up a brand new Buick GNX that had 12 miles on it. The car was already sold too.

AMC's gaudy?? No, never noticed that...too caught up in the sight of Monza Spyders and Mirages and striped Pinto Porthole wagons roaming the streets back then to notice any silly looking AMC's. ;)

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Brought the car back from paint and body. Only took seven weeks!

I like the blue lower belt line, I didn't want a plain white car this time.

A couple of years back, my wife and I had 4 white cars and trucks at the same time, she said it reflected our personalities, so I'm living on the edge with this one!
I knew that I didn't want a dark color on top, get's too hot while waiting to race.

Once the paint gets buffed for the final time we are going with a 1/4 inch orange pinstripe between the two colors.

Now the assembly begins.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

With a little imagination, and that blue and white...you could turn back the clock to 1978 and think you were in Whiteland, Indiana.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Of course, to complete the effect you have to run undefeated for a full year...

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Doing a great job, Kelly

If you decide you don't like driving this car, you just let me know, okay?

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

No problem Mark, do you remember how to use the third pedal?

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

If I can go one round the first time out (not likely), then I could pack it up and go home undefeated.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

It's like riding a bicycle ;-)

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Mark, bicycles only have two pedals!

Nice build Kelly, what you are building was my first choice but just couldn' t find anything decent and reasonable to start with. But a stick, waaaaay cool!

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Thanks Mike.
I thought I was starting with a decent car but it was missing a lot of key parts which are difficult to find. The body while being a rust free Arizona car had dozens of large and small dents and dings which required a lot of body work. The roof was the worst, it's made out of a very thin gage material making it difficult to work. We had to reinforce the structure just to sand and prep it.
The late 70's were not Fords best built cars...at least the Fairmonts
anyway.

I believed going the 4 speed route would cost about the same as a top of the line C-4 and convertor. Boy was I wrong.
I bought a used DR4, used flywheel, new clutch, new shifter, used bellhousing (turns out I can't use it, my mistake). Now I'm looking at having to buy a bellhousing for a grand. Not even close to a 50 cent rocket so far.
Having fun though!


Kelly

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Kelly,
Another way of looking at it is you do not have to try multiple converters to get it dialed in!! All that's needed is a turn of base and adjustment of counterweight! With the right bellhousing that's a piece of cake on those adjustments. You will be much happier with the good bellhousing as figment and alignment will be spot on.

On my 83 the only original sheetmetal left is the hood, I guess that's why the fox bodies are so light they are made of recycled metal!

Once you get it going the investment in the stick parts will last a long time, that trans behind your engine will be bullet proof too. Even better will be the fun factor of rowing gears.

Sean

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Progressed a little bit this week.

The car had a tilt column so I decided to replace it with a non-tilt version I had stripped out of another car.Turns out the non-tilt is 4 lbs lighter than the tilt. Nice weight savings.

Installed the shifter as a mock up to see how everything fit. Didn't have to butcher the floor too bad. I'll weld in some patches and fab up something to cover the rest.

A buddy dropped by to look at my car and I commented I would like to clean up the fuel cell where I welded the mounting tabs on. He ran home and returned with several polishing/buffing wheels and compounds. I dug out my super dupper Harbor Freight bench grinder that had been mothballed because it vibrated too much to use. Removed the grinding disk and wire wheel and installed two buffing wheels. Works pretty good.
Polishing is labor intensive but the results are worth it. So far I have about 3 hours tied up in it, doing about half of it.

Next I decided to tackle installing the electrical control panel I picked up from a friend a few months back.
My buddy that had the polishing stuff and I designed and built a bracket to bolt to the dash. Got it all bent up, pop riveted and I painted it with a rattle can of spray in bed liner from Lowes. I like the texture better than crinkle paint and it's tougher. I like having the switches close at hand.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Nice progree, on both my 78 Fairmont and 85 Mustang, both with Jerico DR4s and Long V gate shifters, I had to do similar mods, sliced the floor for shifter rod clearance, bent the piece back, and welded in a strip to fill the gap. As for the bellhousing you don`t NEED to spend a grand. I have a McLeod scattershield, with the deeper FOX body depth,it works fine, offered a bit better clearance for the headers than my previous Lakewood, its a bit heavier than a Quicktimes, but unlike many Quicktimes, the McLeod works with a Long style Soft Lok and 164 tooth flywheel. The Quicktime will only work with a 157 tooth flywheel, and on some Ford applications, require stacking block plates to get adequate room to get everything in there. May or may not be an issue if you are using a small diameter dual disc clutch.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

If you want to know about clutches dont call guys that sell them, get a hold of somebody who races in the NMRA, they use diaghram style clutches by rule and they work just fine.
and regardless what clutch sales men tell you, youll need a heavier flywheel.
my 2 cents

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

This>

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

I already committed to a clutch setup 4 months ago. Long style 7 inch single disc to start...we will see.

Sent my Quicktime bell off to get a window and recertified. At this time I really can't justify the cost of a Browell.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

"I also found a pretty complete std bore 302 roller engine also on Craigslist"

How are you going to run a roller cammed engine in that car?

Tom

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

[QUOTE=PROSTOCKTOM;

How are you going to run a roller cammed engine in that car?

Tom[/QUOTE]

Going to run a flat tappet cam in a roller block.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

When we raced V/S years ago the block numbers had to be correct. Has NHRA now allowed any block to be ran regardless of cating numbers?

Tom

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Yes...for decades.
Block numbers haven't been listed for as long as I can remember.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Made some small progress since my last post. I have 80% of the wiring completed. When I bought the car the wiring harness was in a cardboard box, so I made a decision to use the harness as a template and use the wire from the switch panel. I used Painless PowerBraid for bundling the wires, keeps things looking neat and tidy. The problem I have is planning everything out. I would get a bundle of wires run through the firewall and a couple days later find another wire I needed to run with them..plan ahead!

Mounted the 6AL-2 on an aluminum panel under the glove box with a hinge on the firewall so I can drop it down for access. I put the relays on the other side of the panel. There is a slot at the front and a tab that I put a pin in for easy removal. Turned out pretty good.

Installed the really heavy taillight panel. I guess if your going to have something heavy that's the place to have it. Fairmont Futura tailights are massive, got to love the 70's.

I have a set of 1 1/2 primary Hedman headers that had a very short 3 inch collector so I cut them off and welded on 10 inch X 2 1/2 collectors. May need a longer collector but it's a start.

One of my mentors (Sean) mentioned I needed to look into using plastic headlights. I decided to check out the wrecking yards to see if they had any. One of our local yards has about a 800 cars so I took a bottle of water and started looking. Scored 8 of them, all working. 7 low beams and one high beam. I took them home thinking how much weight can you really save with these things (my car uses 4 of them)?
Well it turns out the glass versions weigh 19 ounces each and the plastic ones weigh 7 ounces each. Glass 4.75 pounds and plastic 1.75 pounds each. 3 pounds off the nose of the car is pretty good and I only paid $20 for all of them and walked about 4 miles in the process.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

It looks like you are making progress. Good score on the headlights. Don't stop there with your weight savings, any non critical fastener replaced with aluminum all adds up. Any updates on when you plan on being on the track? How is the engine coming along?

Sean

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

At the risk of sounding really dumb are you saying aluminum bolts and screws?

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Yep either alum or ti fasteners any bolt or screw like fenders bumper ettc etc

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Thanks

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

I'm hoping to have it out by early spring, I'm kind of slow but steady.

Engine should be on the dyno by the end of the month. Anxious to see how it does, no killer heads or intake yet. I need to get my feet under me with the car. I hate to admit I haven't made a pass in 35 years. Kind of rusty.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

That's the last thing that you should be worried about. The small carb is your restriction at this point.
It's really impressive to me the time and effort that you're putting into the car! Great job! I don't have that kind of patience.

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

There's a lot to be learned from the dyno in my opinion. With my new engine combo the dyno showed me where to get the clutch setup and shift points so keep that in mind. It will get you honed in a lot faster. I would not say your slow on progress at all, it's a huge undertaking and you can say with pride I built my car. You will know every wire, nut and bolt and not everyone can say that.

As for 35 years since racing, it will be a fresh start and you will be just fine. Plan on test and tune at your local track and get all the bugs worked out before spending money on divisionals. There will be things you want to change or redo, that's the name of the game.

All I can say with the stick car is drive and shift it like you stole it!! Keep up the great progress and the updates.

Sean

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Thanks for the positive comments from all of you!

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

This is a very nice read, keep up the good work!

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

Really enjoying your build..hope by the time you hit the strip your combo isn't factored out of existence..

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

If it does I have 3 more options. 1979 Fairmont, same engine, 4 more hp.
Turn it into a Mercury Zephyr, I have already gathered all the parts to convert to different years and to a Zephyr.

So far it is the only one I know of being built but that could change at anytime.

I need to hurry!!!

Re: Fairmont U/S Build AKA Craigslist Racer
 

I finally made some progress on the Fairmont. Seems like I take two steps forward and one back on this car.

Picked up the engine from Gary McGlasson in late November, Gary did a great job I was pleased with the dyno results. Had to wait on some machine work for the bellhousing plus ordering the correct throwout bearing so I could make the clutch work.

I was trying to come up with a idea to be able to check all my bellhousing clearances and make adjustments before the transmission was installed. I removed the bearing retainer from the transmission made a strap out of 3/8 steel and bolted it across the transmission side of the bell, checked all my clearances and adjusted the fork ball which can't be changed with the trans on. Worked pretty good. The throwout bearing is a McLeod with the spacers so you can change the length, nice piece.

Nothing like zeroing out the alignment on a bellhousing to humble oneself! At one point I thought, it sure would be nice to bolt on a flexplate and convert to a C-4.
Once the bellhousing was installed I built a tool to allow adjusting the pressure plate, this worked out well also.

Lastly I installed the engine and trans but had problems with the passenger header and starter...normal fitment crap.
I'm feeling good now that the engine and trans are more or less permanently install. Now onto the rear gear installation, driveline and body assembly.

Oh yea Santa brought me some new Aerospace front brakes, he's a nice guy.

And by the way, this project has not been anywhere near a Dime Rocket but that's mostly my fault as this will probably be my last car and I wanted to try and build it to a decent standard.

Kelly