65 T-BIRD PROJECT

The original plan was to get the car running and make all the different systems work. The first one was the fuel system. After removing the fuel gauge sender and fuel line from the tank I was able to clear the gas line but the tank was so bad I decided to replace it.

 Below is the sending unit out of the tank, rusted and plugged, the inside of the tank looked just as bad.
 The old tank and sending unit next to the new tank and sending unit with the straps blasted and painted.
 I like the flow though air vent system that takes air in at the cowl and exhaust through the grill under the rear window. When the rear grill was removed the air box was full of dirt and mud.
 The back seat, package shelf and the vacuum operated vent doors were removed and cleaned.
 Vent doors were blasted, painted and the vacuum lines replaced.
 All clean and ready for the grill to go back in. The drain hoses were also plugged with mud, I saved one but the other cracked and fell apart.
 While I had the back of the car apart all the wiring was check and repaired as necessary. The lighting system worked except the turn signals and one head light. I could not fix the turn signal sequencer for the tail lights (another feather I really like) so a new electronic one was bought and installed. New one shown in front.
 The head lights were full of dirt and mud that caused one of the terminals to rot off so all the head light buckets had to be cleaned and the dimmer switch had to be replaced.
 The swing a-way steering wheel linkage was taken apart, cleaned and lubed to make it work, The rest of the dash was taken apart, cleaned, chrome polished, clock and dash lights fixed. I wont know if all the gauges work until I get the engine running.

 All the trunk lining and padding was taken out that reviled rust on both sides of the upper trunk floor. Above is the passenger side rusted area above the exhaust muffler and below shows the repair. Note the original bumper jack is still in place.

 Above is the driver side rusted area and below the repair.
 All the electric windows (front & rear) were so badly gummed up with old grease, dirt and some rust they all had to taken apart, cleaned and new grease. Found one bad motor but there was a good one in the spare door and one of the rear window switches is missing. The replacement door was removed, striped and the dent popped out with more work to do on it.















After inspecting the engine and doing a compression test (that found #1 cylinder with only 70 lbs. of compression), the radiator core is leaking, 3 of the 6 freeze plugs in the side of the block are rotted out, the oil in the pan look like it had never been changed, the oil filter had been cross threaded and all the water & vacuum lines in the engine compartment are shot. So it looks like the car will come apart for a rebuild.

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