My neighbor Charlie being a bit of a “car nut” has recently been casually looking for a project of his own. With the help of a friend he found a fairly nice 1964 Ford Thunderbird. The body is in great condition, but the interior and some of the mechanicals are in need of some attention. I guess that’s where I come into the project, as I have a little experience with turning a wrench.
Well after some begging and pleading with the main financial adviser (His wife Patty). The purchase of the Thunderbird was approved for a sum of 3800$. Charlie is the way he is, the first thing he set out to do is clean and polish the entire car.
The first round of motor work wasn't all that big of a deal, so we thought. The fan flange for the water pump had broken and the fan had made contact with the radiator. So the two things that were needed straight away were a water pump and a radiator. The water pump is no big deal, but 1964 thunderbird radiators are a little tougher to come by. With some contacts Charlie located a radiator. The unfortunate thing after getting it we found it wasn’t from a T-bird. But another 60’s ford car. The dimensions were ok but the brackets and bolts holes didn’t all line up. That took a little “fabrication” but nothing major. The next thing we took notice to is that at some point in the cars’ past the original 64 “Z”code 300HP 4v 390 had been replaced with a 68-9 2v 390 of unknown origin. Charlie wanting to retain the original “look” of the car decided to paint the motor the correct colors for the 64 model year. The motor and most all the accessories black and the valve covers and air cleaner Castillian Gold.
Well we some had success. The modifications to the radiator worked and that is all straightened out. We did a quick rebuild of the 2bbl carb, and pulled the intake off to resolve some oil leaks. With replacing the intake and putting the distributer back in she fired right up and with the exception of the exhaust manifold leaks, sounded nice and smooth.
Bad News... With the new water pump and freshly sealed gaskets and such the almost 40 year old "freeze plugs" just couldn't take the pressure any longer. The center plug on the Pass side was leaking. The ones on that side are fairly easy to get to despite one being behind the motor mount. We decided to do all three on that side since they were so easy to get to.
More bad news... The drivers side "freeze plugs" were worse than other side as the center one behind the motor mount was almost pushed out had it not been for the mount being there. With the exhaust being different on the driver side those were going to be much more difficult.
Good News... Charlie (who has more friends than a lottery winner) Scored a 62-63 Thunderbird 4v 390 missing only the carb, from a friend. This had both the exhaust manifolds that we could use and a 4v intake, and the correct "vent free" Thunderbird valve covers as well. This was quite a blessing as many of these parts are getting more and more rare everyday and going up in value/price as well.
Well pulling the exhaust manifolds to fix the exhaust leaks proved to be a bigger pain than originally planned. Several of the bolts that are exposed to the weather had gotten quite rusty and snapped off in the heads.
Well the decision was made to pull the motor and go through the entire thing as we had it down to the "short block" in the car. So outcomes the engine, that way the rest of the frost plugs can be replaced the block cleaned inside and out and freshen up andthing that might need attention.
Some good news! The motor is actually in pretty good condition. All the bearings were STD and will remain that way. The cylinders only needed a quick hone to break the glaze and seat the new rings. All the other “normal rebuild” parts were replaced as well. The heads went to the machine shop to be "trued" and to have the stubborn bolts removed.
The motor assembly went without a hitch and is looking pretty nice on the stand waiting to be reinstalled.