Auto Restoration 101

The frame is completely apart now. When I was taking it apart I noticed several stress cracks. A couple of them were on the old welds. One was on the left front frame rail right in front of the spring tower. The rear spring mount brackets were also bent inward causing the bottoms of the [...]

[Read more →]

The next step in our restoration was to disassemble the chassis and prepare it to get sandblasted.
We removed all of the front suspension and the rear axle. I also removed the pedal assembly, brake lines, master cylinder, and the steering column assembly.
I used a spring compressor that compresses the front coil springs and keeps [...]

[Read more →]

If you have never replaced brake shoes on a car with drum brakes you might be a little overwhelmed when you remove the hub and see all of the springs. It’s really not that hard if you take your time. It’s best to do only one side at a time. That way you can look [...]

[Read more →]

Rebuiding a heater box is fairly easy to do. The box on the inside of the firewall holds the heater core and has threaded studs that pass through the firewall to attach the outer fan box. The nuts on the outer firewall box are hard to get to if the fender is on the [...]

[Read more →]

I really like old Mercs. This car was parked in a barn in 1961 and wasn’t moved out until just recently. The car was delivered to me partially disassembled as it is pictured. We spent at least four hours washing the car out with a power washer. It smelled like a farm and fertilizer. It [...]

[Read more →]

Here is a fairly simple way to repair the worn out factory hood hinges on the old Fords. Basically most hinges from about 1937 and up to the fifties. You can purchase the correct rivets at several places or you can make them yourself like I did. I used 5/16 bolts with a shank and [...]

[Read more →]