Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

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Steelebird
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Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Steelebird »

I just bought a car i always wanted and finally got a 1966 tbird with 390 ... wheeeew now the fun begins restoring ..... what a mess ....
now what any suggestions .... i was thinking pu;; power train out and already talked to guy about sandblasting frame and body as a starter


my wife thinks im crazy why didnt i just buy one already done with no rust ...why would i put myself thru this grief lol
any suggestions

Scott
Peddller
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Peddller »

Listen to your wife for a lot of reasons, run like the wind your marriage may depend on it!
Bill Clark
Bel Air, Maryland
1957 F code
2005 50th anniversary
1963 Avanti R2
1956 GMC Suburban Carrier pickup
1966 Corvair Corsa Turbo
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1963 M code SR
1964 Convertable
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Rt.146
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Rt.146 »

Post some pics. I bought a 66 Town Landau last Nov., phew, a "labor of love".
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sseebart
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by sseebart »

Steelebird wrote: Sat Oct 20, 2018 8:17 pm I just bought a car i always wanted and finally got a 1966 tbird with 390 ... wheeeew now the fun begins restoring ..... what a mess ....
now what any suggestions .... i was thinking pu;; power train out and already talked to guy about sandblasting frame and body as a starter


my wife thinks im crazy why didnt i just buy one already done with no rust ...why would i put myself thru this grief lol
any suggestions

Scott
Congrats on the new bird and welcome to the forum!

Where you start depends a lot on where you want to end up. If you're looking for a driver, chances are you don't need to strip it down to the unibody. Brakes, steering, and powertrain are the critical components, followed by rust repair and other cosmetics. For a fully restored concourse car, yeah, powertrain out and sandblast are good places to start.

Let me be the first to say that a shop manual is invaluable, as are the assembly guides (all available on Amazon and other sources. For a show car, you'll want the restoration guides offered through the VCTI's store.

Post some photos for sure--we can give better advice when we know the starting point.

~Steve
Terry64HT
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Terry64HT »

I second Steve's comments and would add that it's a good idea to get as many catalogs from the suppliers as you can. Not only will it give you sources and prices for parts, but there are often photos so that you know what it should look like as opposed to what it looks like on your car.

Also remember that places like eBay and Amazon are frequented by people who often either don't know what they are talking about and will claim parts fit when they won't or are selling jobber parts from offshore. I really is a buyer beware world out there.
Terry
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paulr
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by paulr »

Terry64HT wrote: Sun Oct 21, 2018 1:05 pm
Also remember that places like eBay and Amazon are frequented by people who often either don't know what they are talking about and will claim parts fit when they won't or are selling jobber parts from offshore. I really is a buyer beware world out there.
Terry
64HT
Another common sense piece of advice today! This should be poster-sized and put inside every garage.

That said, great things like NOS can be found on CL, Amazon, etc. It's up to YOU to know your car and the part you need first, then shop around. Learn from me: Lincoln owners, anyone want an excellent NOS '64 Lincoln neutral safety switch? Bought from an ebay seller who listed 64 Tbird as a valid car for the part. Looks similar, won't work. I'm older now and know better. :shock:
Paul
VTCI 12014
Registry 45122
'64 Landau HT
"Beer, now there's a temporary solution!" ~Homer Simpson
RAVEN
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by RAVEN »

Paul, just take it all with a grain of salt and :drinking:
We have all had the same thing happen to us in the hopes of finding the Holy Grail. :eggface:

W
CDN Member since 1975 #2086
Flock: 1964 Landau Original Family Owned
1964 Sr Convertible "RAVEN"
Past: 2003 Blk Lab "RAVEN" "RIP"Nov 15/17
1964 Lincoln vin4Y86N00007
1964 Red Convertible
Steelebird
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Steelebird »

thanks for all the help and encouragement ...and warnings ..... been a ford man. backyard mechanic, doing right offs on and off for years .... so i know what im getting myself into ..... kinda, but not to this extent .... nice to know the insider / i wished i had known that info .....
btw what size do the pics need to be .....

Scott
Steelebird
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Steelebird »

tried postings pics but would not let me ...says too big ...what size they need to be ... then you guys can tell me what u think of my find :) i also got another parts car thrown in on the deal tooo for free ..... but its pretty rough ...

Scott
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paulr
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by paulr »

Good pics. I love the 66TL. Hell of a blind spot but, worth it. That look is phenomenal the way it stands.
Paul
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Registry 45122
'64 Landau HT
"Beer, now there's a temporary solution!" ~Homer Simpson
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RedBird64
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by RedBird64 »

Lots of great possibility there!
I look forward to hearing about your progress.

Scott
1964 Coupe Wimbledon white/Rangoon Red w/black int. Owned for 42 years. It was my folks car before that (second owners). VTCI # 12013.
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sseebart
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by sseebart »

Steelebird wrote: Sun Oct 21, 2018 4:16 pm thanks for all the help and encouragement ...and warnings ..... been a ford man. backyard mechanic, doing right offs on and off for years .... so i know what im getting myself into ..... kinda, but not to this extent .... nice to know the insider / i wished i had known that info .....
btw what size do the pics need to be .....

Scott
Sounds like you know the basics since you've been at least partly down this road before. In that case, I can think of at least three quirks about these cars you'll want to watch out for:
  • The shifter and steering column are a notorious weak spot. The column's upper bearing and lower bushing in all these cars either have recently been replaced or need to be. The same goes for the shifter and shift detente plate. Symptoms include a loose steering wheel and/or a car that won't stay in park.
  • There's about a mile and a half of vacuum hoses under the hood, behind the dash and back to the rear package tray. (Double that for an a/c car.) Chances are they are old, stiff and in need of replacement. In many cases, a previous owner has disconnected them (sometimes for a good reason) resulting in vacuum leaks that can be tough to track down.
  • There's nothing special about the single-stage master cylinder and booster, but it seems like most new owners experience a failure of some sort in the booster, which is unique to this car and unexpectedly expensive to repair.
When I bought mine, I was attracted by all the space-age gadgets and didn't fully understand the complexity behind them. Honestly, there's a lot of Rube Goldberg under the surface and the Ford engineers of the day gave no thought whatsoever to repairs. (I think you were supposed to trade them in for a new model when the tires wore out.) Worth it though--once on the road, you'll turn a lot of heads.

Looks like you've got a decent platform to work with. Got questions? We're here to help.

~Steve

P.S. I don't know for sure, but I think the max upload size is somewhere around 4MB.
Steelebird
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Steelebird »

thanks for all the feedback i will keep you informed about my progress , my first step is too pull the power train and have talked to a shop about sand blasting the whole frame and some body too ... then will weld all the rust holes etc .....

i got a " parts car " in the package and found out it has a 351 windsor motor that guy obviously replaced the original with ...... and was trying to get it started but no spark .... other than the obvious ( dead coil dooooooh :) i assumed both cars would have same wiring go figure huh lol ..... but for some reason it has only 1 wire coming out of the distributor to the coil whereas the other 66 tbird with the 390 has the standard distributor with 2 wires and runs fine ..... i'm stumped ...any ideas .....

thanks

Scott
RAVEN
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by RAVEN »

One wire from dizzy on one car and 2 on the other.
One car has standard ignition with one wire (factory style) and the other has an electronic system installed (NON ORIGINAL). Even the Factory Electronic system was a ONE wire distributor system.
Looks like someone added a Pertronix system to the 2 wire configured car.
I only know of single wire distributors used on these Birds.
CDN Member since 1975 #2086
Flock: 1964 Landau Original Family Owned
1964 Sr Convertible "RAVEN"
Past: 2003 Blk Lab "RAVEN" "RIP"Nov 15/17
1964 Lincoln vin4Y86N00007
1964 Red Convertible
Rt.146
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Re: Just bought 1966 tbird for restore

Post by Rt.146 »

I believe in the movie "Dick Tracy" a line from one of the characters was. "So many questions, so few answers" I just think of that line when I look at the "repairs" I'm making on my car, so many. One of many as I look at your pics. the front bumper comes to mind, the inside of the front bumper had a bad case of rust, I took it off and coated the inside with POR15 going by their 3 step method, that should help it last a while longer.
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