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I've been a Ford man since I could read the name, had a bunch of great cars and just took delivery of a barn find 1966 Galaxie 500 hardtop, 390 2v, cruiseomatic... It needs a good bit of attention but it's better than most you'd find here on the Carolina coast. First car I've EVER bought sight unseen over Craigslist.
Last edited by Raccoonman (February 23, 2017 12:38 pm)
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So, two hours of cleaning out the trunk and checking it over shows me a few of the issues I'm familiar with; trunk lower lip rustout; package shelf cut up for speakers; instrument panel cut up for aftermarket radio; headliner intact but seams split in two places; dash pad over instrument panel BADLY warped (so common it's not funny). Passenger side has some creases and is missing the wheel well trim. Still; the main body is solid, the chassis is solid, and there's no obvious contamination of the engine oil. I'll try to spin the engine over this evening after work (by hand, in case there IS something stuck that starter torque might make worlds worse)... will be needing a radiator and a fuel tank at least. Side note: my thirty year collection of Ford keys did yield ONE key that operates the door locks, but not the ignition. Never throw keys away...
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Pulled the plugs, shot some atf in the cylinders, gave it a good yank with socket wrench..... Couple of swings and she's turning over, no thunks, no thuds, no squeaks...
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Sounds like a great car, but we need pictures! Good luck firing the motor!
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Had to go back and edit my post title; auto correct pluralized "Galaxie" on me. Posting pics depends, I'll have to see how it works. I think this car led a pretty good life up until 2001 when it was taken off the road, maybe not the BEST life but not a wreck.The engine oil on the dipstick looked almost new, and the plugs had a coat of soot, not a caking of oil, when I removed them. Running a little rich when last run. Previous owner took the radiator out, looks like it might have fell apart on them as the side supports for the core were in the car. Hopefully no blown head gaskets... gonna pull the heads and replace them anyway to install 4v intake and carb sooner or later. Gotta love these old FE's....
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Pulled the distributor, gunked up tight with sludge. Pulled the driver side valve cover, lots of gunk but not as bad as some I've seen. Good thing this isn't a time critical project. Still very happy with my new car.
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glad you're getting it sorted. Use tinypic.com site to help you upload pics.
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Having trouble locating a part, even rockauto doesn't list it; the coolant temp sender. the original is gone, It's the two pin style that operates the "cold" light, then if it overheats it shows "hot". Dearborn classics doesn't list one either. Also can't seem to locate a steering wheel horn ring emblem for Galaxie. I know, niggling things, but I would like to have sources when I get around to these issues. It turns out that Mac's has the temp sender, still need to find the center emblem.
Last edited by Raccoonman (February 27, 2017 7:41 am)
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my vote would be to forget about the idiot lights and stock temp gauge and get a triple gauge with oil/temp/voltage and mount under the lower dash. Better readings, comes with the sender probes, prob get the whole thing for less than 40.00 but just depends on what type of resto you are doing. If you do go this way get a 1/4 inch copper line to replace the cheap plastic oil sender line.
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While I'm not doing a "proper" restoration, I'm going to keep the factory setup. If I were building a high performance engine, I would upgrade to gauges. FE engines can tolerate a wide range of conditions, they seem to thrive on abuse...
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