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I need some help with a car


grassi

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We need a second car and I'm always been into classic cars and bikes.

So happens that Jamie's grandma has a '68 Ford Galaxie Convertible sitting in the barn in Cave Junction. The car is nice looking and rust free but has been sitting there for a few years.

I need some advices about how to start it and bring it home. I worked as a motorbike mechanic at college, but I don't know american cars at all and I need some inputs :D

 

First of all I need a new battery, what kind to get and where?

Second, Jamie's uncle told me that last time he tried to start it he found out that the distributor cap was rusted and looked like broken. Where to get spares for old Fords? Online or locally?

Any other advices?

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Battery wise I would suggest the one that Dee77 had for sale. Cold crank amps on those Optima batteries are awesome and he had it for a good price too.

 

Parts you should be able to get just about anywhere I would imagine. The cool thing about old cars is that they are simple to work on for the most part.

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ROAD TRIP TO RESURECT AN OLD CAR!!! WHoo Hooo, I'm in!! Alex, lemme know when you want to go get it. I'm always up for classic car resurection. Grab that battery from Dee77, its a smokin deal. Not really designed for everyday use, but will work fine. You should be able to get a cap and other parts locally from Napa, Car Quest etc. Feel free to pass along my # to your uncle and I can get a good idea of what you migh need i.e. parts, tools, ramps etc.

 

P.s. if you do decide to get it, bring Dillan and we will leave him at my place with the dogs.

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It is likely a 390 with a slushbox. If it is a 427 great! How long has it been before firing it up?

If has been a year or more I would not fire it up until I pulled the plugs and squirted a bit of oil in the cylinders. Might as will change the plugs at the same time. Some oil on the heads would not hurt either.

 

Put on a low pressure rad cap and check water circulation.

 

Be really careful driving. These old Furds drive and handle like a boat. Get an anchor to help ya stop.

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Deka makes a top notch battery. Optima did at one time before their QC slipped however they are more of a deep cycle battery which is applicable to a 4wd, RV, or boat where they get a deep discharge and are then recharged. For this you will want a 24F I believe with about 850 cca. If you can't find a Deka dealer I can go directly to the distributor (near the airport) and get one there. (Probably be around $100)

 

Being a 68 and a convertible I'm guessing this probably has a big block V8 motor (Either the 390 or the 428). There is a slight chance it's a small block but it's doubtful. If by chance it is then an EFI conversion would be a snap to do. (I've done about half a dozen small block Fords) At any rate before you get a distributor cap you will need to know what it currently has. Electronic ignition swaps are pretty common on those old cars so it may not be original. If it is then you will need the cap, rotor, points, and condensor. Might want to take an extra coil too. Other items your going to want to take will be a fuel pump and fuel filter. (If't it's been sitting for several years any fuel is bad and the diaghram in the pump is probably dry) The carburetor may be plugged up as well. Take a can of carb cleaner and starting fluid.

 

Personally I would try to avoid driving it from Cave Junction to PDX and would instead put it on a trailer. Once you have it here you can spend some time to get it running right and stay close to home making short trips initially to see what all needs to be repaired/replaced. If you decide to do that instead I might be able to help to get it.

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i gust got done with my motor on my 68 mustang and the cap and rotor is around 30 ish at any locall part place, i would drain the gas from the tank and put new gas, if it has points i would do but not being there it hard. It mite be safer to tow it home on a trailer first then go throw it. I have seen it where cars are going then just die and your dead on the side of the road. you can put a new battery in it and need a new altenater and not know it till it's to late. I hope you have Triple A for that road trip.

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+1 on the trailer idea. Too many things can go wrong on a road trip in a perfectly running car.

 

You'll get the motor running and the tires will blow, fix the tires and the lights will stop working. Plus its Winter.DOH!

 

I'm not being a naysayer, thats just from experience(laugh)

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As a car trailer owner and old car enthusiast I 100% recommend towing it. However, I drove 10 hours with a trunk load of parts and tools to get a 72 Swinger back on the road that hadn't been ran/drove for 6 years and recently purchased a 70 Ford truck from Garrett that hadn't ran for 10 years. After a few trips to the parts store and 8 hours of "in the driveway" rebuilding, I was able to drive it away. I did blow both front tires on the way home, had a lug wrench but wrong size, one spare not 2 etc. but that is part of the fun in my book.

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Looks like we are going to need another forum called Grassi's car build!;) Seriously I am always proud of this forum and how many people offer to step up and help with short notice.

 

I'm waiting for " Grassi's Trighton build " or the address of the one he has in Italy so I can ride it when i'm over there.

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First of all, thank to all the detailed infos!

Seems like you guys need more details about the car.

I decoded the vin and this is the result:

 

1968 Ford Galaxie 500 Convertible

 

8 Year 1968

 

N Assembly Norfolk, VA

 

57 Body Galaxie 500 2-Door Convertible

 

F Engine 8 Cyl. 302 CID

Horsepower: 210

Carbs: 1-2BBL

Compression: 9.0:1

 

Grandpa was an airplane mechanic and this car was one of his projects. He bought it used and it was and still a low mileage car (about 40k for a '68 car!).

The trunk is filled with parts he bought for this car: missed trims, some valves covers (edelbrock or something like that is written on it) a sporty air filter an some other stuff, even a couple of cylinder heads (who knows if they belong to that car or not...)

The car is sitting near his garage which is full of tools... even a lathe.. so a full rebuild there is possible :)

 

The idea of towing sounds good, but here in pdx I don't have a lot of tools and I don't have a garage, so fixing it in Cave Junction it is probably the best in this situation. We go down there often anyway.

I agree with what most of you said, so I was thinking to also get a set of new tires and take the time needed, even if I have to work on it in different sessions.

 

The car has been sitting there since september 2007 at least.

John, the rescue trip seems as cool as it sounds! I'm gonna drive there for xmas holidays, so I will do all the papers, insurance and so on and then maybe in january we can drive that old lady home.

 

Another question. What's the best book around for a car like that? Haynes?

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There MIGHT be seatbelts back there

 

There are some aspect of this project that I still have to explain to Jamie...

This is supposed to be the car I'm gonna use to drive with the newborn on a daily basis lol

But.... can you imagine Julian driving it when he will be old enough? (this is an excuse I'm trying to use... it seems to work)

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You will get better information through Internet searches than the car manuals you will find in the parts stores. You might be able to find an old set of shop manuals for it on Ebay which will give better information. Kind of surprised to find a small block in it. Most of those old convertibles had big blocks. That's a good thing though since they were building the same basic engine up until 2001. Personally I would find an Explorer V8 (97-01) and drop it in there (They had the GT40 Heads and intakes) along with a Mustang (89-92) EFI system. That's a project for later though. Note though that I would only do this if it will be a daily driver that can't easily be returned to completely stock condition as a show car. (For a daily driver there are actually a bunch of things I would do)

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I have a few pics of the engine that I still have to download from the camera. I will post them later. I wouldn't be surprised if grandpa did the transplant already. He was towing an airstream with that they told me.

Thanks for the infos about the engine Rick. I need to study a little bit more about Ford engines...

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