1970 Ford Ranch Wagon
June, 2022 - 1970 Ford Ranch Wagon - Been sitting in the garage since 2010 - Became the 2nd owner in June, 2022
June, 2022 - My son see's the car for the first time in person - He is 18, the car is 52.
June, 2022 - He is eager to drive it, yet we know lot's of work needs to be done. Also the car needed to move from California to Arizona.
July, 2022 - As expected, the car did not pass emissions testing. Cleaned and adjusted he carb, Passed emissions the second time.
Went to the MVD with all necessary paperwork, car is now an AZ Car registered
July, 2022 - Next up, front and rear shocks.
July, 2022 - Quick bath, then back home.
July, 2022 - Holy heck, it fits in the garage. My wood working tools are going to suffer a a bit.
July, 2022 - Dropped the gas tank, since the car has sat so long. Found the fuel sending unit has seen better days. Missing the float and filter. And rusted.
Fuel sending unit has been re-done and is waiting to be installed
Aug. 2022 - Fuel sending unit and grommet to seal the fuel filler neck have been installed. Gas gauge is now functional and my garage no longer smells of gas.
Many thanks to Bill at Desert Classics Parts for rebuilding the sending unit to such a high standard.
Sept. 2022 - It has been over 100 degrees almost everyday, making it almost impossible to work on the car. Hopefully will get back at it soon.
Nov. 2022 - Got around to pulling the Valve Covers off to check the seals. Seals were cracked and worn (Engine was rebuilt in 1989 and I would venture a guess that was the last time they were removed.) Cleaned, sanded and de-greased them and decided to recoat them with High Temp Engine Paint, in Ford Blue of course.) While at it I also did the top and sides of the air cleaner. Sticker for the Air Cleaner has been ordered.
Aug. 2023 - Well, a lot has happened and a lot of time has passed since the last update. We have been working on the car again for the past week or so and made some interesting progress. While it has been 100+ degrees and even hotter in the garage, we have 3 different fans circulating the warm air. There was a dash cover glued down to the dash due to what we thought was damage done by one of the dogs. well once the cover was removed, we didn't find dog damage, we found sun damage and big cracks in the dash pad. Fixing that will be a project for another day. Since the car only had an AM Radio (That's all they needed / had back in 1970, there was only 1 speaker in the car attached to the dash pad.) We have speakers from other projects laying around that we plan on using in the wagon. We also will be installing a new radio, hopefully something period correct looking and want to add a clock to the open spot in the dash. We have replace all the lights in the dash with LED lights, what a difference that made. You can now see the dash at night.
Dash Pad removed
Underside of Dash Pad
Dash Pad removed
Replacing lights with LED bulbs
Nov. 2023 - Plugged the plugs and found a bit of oil on them. Going to start tearing down and rebuilding as much of the engine/transmission we can. Drained all fluids (Oil, Transmission, Coolant, etc.) No water in the oil that we can see. :)
