High Adventure, salvaging FC remnants

So I've got 3 or 4 days now into "prepping" this big space on the main wall of the Shop, to mount "The Face."

And as ALWAYS happens to me, one thing kinda led to another.... So just a fast re-cap here. As previously, I had picked out this very, very FULL area of wall, as being the "right spot."

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And started moving stuff. Shelf, dresser attached to the wall - and as above, the very firmly anchored drill press.

Ok, that left the wall cleared off and pretty bare, but with plumbing for the air lines to the compressor - and the 220 electrical conduit piping to the A/C. Running right across where The Face will be, naturally.

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So, I gotta move those lines.... PVC plumbing, new metal conduit, more wire, check for air leaks (none!). That was a full day. Because I'm kinda slow.

And that in turn left all kinds of holes, stains, scrapes etc from 10 years of being treated like - well, like a wall in a shop. So I had to fill the holes and kinda body work the wall some, naturally.

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So of course then I had no choice but to paint that area. And yes, The Face will cover up 90% of it. But I had to do it....

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So now I've got a nice, fresh clean section of wall, big enough to mount The Face. Time to work on The Face itself - figure out just exactly how I'm going to reinforce and support around 200 lbs of FC, and attach it....
 
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Do you still have the front few inches of your doors?
You could use that material to hide your subframe.

If not, you could could probably fake something up reasonably easily outa sheet metal.
 
Do you still have the front few inches of your doors?
You could use that material to hide your subframe.

If not, you could could probably fake something up reasonably easily outa sheet metal.

We did save the door skins, yes, to have some material that "matches up" for the various things like the door openings and below the bumper, maybe.

Are you going to pretty it up or leave as is ?

I'm not gonna do too much to it, certainly no paint work. Leave it in patina, but obviously get the mouse nests and loose rust and debris out of the nooks and crannies, that kind of thing.

The cracks across the windshield keep getting steadily worse, so I'll probably end up finding a better used one.

I did flip it over today and get some stuff detached. The rusted out heater, old Ford radio, hanging and dangling junk...

Couple photos of that exercise -

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And so it begins! Haha
 
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Thanks for sharing the pictures, Don.

That capped hose sticking out of the dashboard is the stock arrangement for adding brake fluid to the master cylinder. Be careful not to spill any brake fluid on the dash or on the floorboard when you are topping it off.

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Thanks for sharing the pictures, Don.

That capped hose sticking out of the dashboard is the stock arrangement for adding brake fluid to the master cylinder. Be careful not to spill any brake fluid on the dash or on the floorboard when you are topping it off.

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Really! Wow. We were studying that brake system arrangement, and decided it must have been a huge PITA to fill the Master Cylinder.... we saw that hose sticking up there, and thought it was somebody's homemade solution to that problem - since obviously it was too Mickey Mouse to be factory! haha

Did it at least have a nice grommet around it when it was new? Jeeeze...
 
I'm pretty sure they did not have a grommet.

This is controversial as heck -- and I don't want to get the gang going off on this side subject here too much -- but Carl Walck, in his tech videos, encourages folks to consider going full synthetic when completely rebuilding all our various models brake hydraulic systems.

I've read that folks who are having problems running synthetic may have tried to clean out a system, or portions of a system, that ran conventional brake fluid previously. It's best to replace the entire hydraulic side of the system with clean components. Just like I did. And then I became aware of Carl's video a few weeks after I filled it with conventional brake fluid. (Do'uh!)

I still haven't wrecked the Rustoleum on my FC-170's dash plate with a brake fluid spill, but it's just a matter of time. Ask my floorboard. Wish I tried synthetic.

(Synthetic Brake Fluid is much, much easier on paint. It also isn't hygroscopic.)



 
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Did you grab the badge showing on the drivers side behind the door?
 
I expected it would be very hard to find an FC windshield.... A funny story about that. When I drug this thing home, it only had one headlight bezel with it. So, poking around on ebay recently, I found one listed for sale for 10 bucks, used. Perfect, so I clicked on it. I noticed it was from a town only 70 miles from here. Then I got thinking - just maybe that guy had the whole truck to part out... So I called him yesterday, and asked if he did - and if he might have a windshield. He said yes, and yes - but he wouldn't ship it. (I don't blame him). So I said I'll be there tomorrow morning, and I was. Fifty bucks.
 
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