Black Gold 380R's 1957 Thunderbird Thread

[Black Gold 380R]

Hello Everyone,

Well as most of you know my Dad gave me his 1957 Thunderbird. So, I wanted to start a thread to document my journey with this car. Similar to what I did on my 1965 Mustang, but on a much lesser scale.

My Dad and I actually drove to northern Alabama in 2009 to pick up this car. That was an adventure in itself as my Dad rented a trailer from someone and it was used to haul stuff, not cars. So, we got to Alabama with no issues. Once we loaded the T-Bird and headed home we had all kinds of problems.

Come to find out the trailer had regular tires on it, so we were losing tires. We had to stop and have the tires upgraded to trailer tires. Then the wheel bearing went out. We drove on it so far that once we got to the trailer repair shop that when they jacked up the trailer the wheel feel off .

My Dad ended up having to buy a whole new axle for the trailer. Then we finally made it home. The guy that my Dad rented the trailer from ended up refunding my Dad all his money LOL. So, although I was with my Dad and it was his lead, it was a lesson learned for me on how to properly trailer a car.

My Dad ended up doing a lot of work to the T-Bird once he got it home and he also took it to Hot August Nights in Reno NV. Then he took it to several local car shows and ended up parking it and only bringing it out on limited occasions.

He said he was not interested in doing car shows anymore and wanted to give me the car so he could see me enjoy the car.

I finished my 1965 Mustang in May of 2022. So, I took possession of the T-Bird in June of 2022. Since my Dad let it sit it developed a couple problems, which I'll illustrate in this thread.

I was able to get it running, but barely.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

After I got the car running I realized it needed some improvements. So, I rebuilt the carburetor and fuel pump. The fuel pump turned out great, but the carburetor was just too worn out. The accelerator pump would keep drying out and becoming hard like a rock. So, I figured something was leaking and causing fuel to get in there. So, I just decided to buy a new carburetor and be done with it.

I had to remove the PS pump to get in there.

Here you can see how crappy the old carburetor looks. Unacceptable LOL.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

So, after I installed the rebuilt fuel pump and new carburetor I decided to do a tune up on it. I replaced the spark plugs, spark plug wires, rotor and cap and adjusted the valve lash.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

After I did all that the car was running great! So, it was time to give it a good cleaning. As mentioned above I took the side skirts off to get full access to the rear wheels.

 

[COOL COBRA]

Always liked the tri-5 Thunderbird. In 2002 when Ford made a nod to the original two seater, never was a fan of those.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

I ended up putting the side skirts back on and putting some tire dressing on the tires. I couldn't get the rear whitewalls as nice as the fronts, but did buy something that I'll be trying soon.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

After I got everything done I decided to take it for a drive to my Dad's house and show him all the work I did. I stopped at my brothers house on the way to my Dad's.

Car ran great all the way to my brother's house (about 20 miles). I was at his house about 30 minuets and fired it back up and it was running like S#!T! My Dad lives like 2 miles away. So, I got it to his house and my brother came over as well.

My bro suggested we remove the valve covers and we found that 3 pushrods were bent. Now, for those of you who say I screwed up when I adjusted the valve lash believe me, I did not.

I do not know exactly what happened, but doing research on the internet come to find out that the Ford 312 Y block is known for bending pushrods. Apparently they are just too thin and tend to bend over time.

I left the car at my Dad's house and ordered some upgraded pushrods. Once they arrived I went back to my Dad's house to install them. During installation I realized that some of the valves were sticking.

I asked my Dad if he ever had the heads or engine rebuilt and he said no.

So, I decided it was time to pull the heads and just have them completely rebuilt.

I have a lot more tools at my house to get this type of work accomplished. So, I had the car towed from my Dad's house to mine and got to work.

 

[2003RedfireVert]

Gorgeous car. Any big plans other than maintenance and driving it?

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Once the T-Bird was back at my house I started the tear down process. When doing this I noticed the valves that were stuck open had closed again. At first I thought I might of had bent valves, but it looks more like it may be just a lot of carbon build up.

After lifting the heads some water got into the cylinder area. I cleaned it all out immediately. Used my air hose to blow the cylinders out and then sprayed WD-40 all on the cylinder walls (that's what you see sitting in the cylinders). I got the WD-40 puddles out and just left a light coat of WD-40 so nothing rusts while I'm waiting for my heads to be rebuilt.

It's hard to see in the photos, but the cylinder walls still have a very faint crosshatch pattern. There is absolutely "NO" lip on the cylinder walls from the rings. I ran my fingernail in there and no lip at all. Now, it does have a light carbon ring at the top of the cylinder walls, but I can remove that. Therefore, at this point I am "NOT" dealing with the bottom end at this time.

After I got it all cleaned up and a light coat of WD-40 on everything I put a plastic trash bag over the exposed area to protect it and help keep it clean.

When I took a closer look at the heads I did notice it looked like a couple water passages were blocked. Now, one issue this car did have was run on or Dieseling (i.e. the car kept trying to run when the ignition was shut off). I could never figure it out. I tried adjusting the timing when I did the new carburetor and tune up, but it still did it.

Now that I seen the water passages blocked in the heads I'm thinking the heads created hot spots that caused the run on. Hopefully the heads being completely rebuilt will fix this issue.

I asked my engine builder (the one who built my 427 stroker for my 65) to completely rebuilt the heads. He said he would and do things such as magna fluxing the heads to check for cracks. He said he's really back logged and to rebuild my heads will take approximately 4 weeks to get them back. No problem for me. Car's not going anywhere LOL. So, this is where I'm at currently.

Once I get my heads back or any information from my engine builder I'll post up.

Anyone need some T-Bird parts? LOL J/K. I'm going to get these all cleaned up, some new hardware and some stuff re-powder coated. Should look like new when I'm done.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Always liked the tri-5 Thunderbird. In 2002 when Ford made a nod to the original two seater, never was a fan of those.

Hello Doug! Yeah, when the tow truck driver was loading the car my Dad and I were just admiring the design and body lines on the car LOL.

Funny you mention 2002. Before my Dad bought this 57 he owned one of those 2002 T-Birds. He loved it, but it didn't scratch his itch. So, he ended up buying this 57 T-Bird LOL.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Gorgeous car. Any big plans other than maintenance and driving it?

Hello Redfire! Thank you sir! Yes, I feel very fortunate to go inside my garage and see this T-Bird sitting on one side and my 65 Mustang on the other. While the T-Bird was at my Dad's house I told him the world just didn't seem right without the T-Bird in my garage LMAO!!!!

As of right now I will only be doing maintenance, driving it and keeping it original. That was one of the stipulations my Dad made when he gave it to me. He said once he is gone I can do whatever I want.

If I can get this car to run right as it sits I will probably always keep it this way. However, after driving my 65 with the EFI set up I "have" considered installing EFI on the T-Bird just for reliability and drive ability.

With the air cleaner in place it would be a little more difficult for folks to see it's EFI. I've seen a few 57 T-Birds with a coyote swap. Not sure I would go that far, but parts for these Y blocks are getting harder to find.

Right now it's all about getting it to run and look like it did in 1957.

 

[CobraBob]

Good looking T-Bird and a great project to boot. Only thing missing is.....Suzanne Somers.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Good looking T-Bird and a great project to boot. Only thing missing is.....Suzanne Somers.

Thank you Bob! Very true on SS.....lol.

Sent from my SM-G950U using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Hello Everyone,

Been a few weeks since I posted. Been waiting for the heads to come back from the machine shop. While I was waiting I did some cleaning of the block to get ready for reassembly.

Here's what the block looked like after removing the heads.

Driver's side.

Valley.

Passenger side.

Got my shop towels laid out to try and keep parts as clean as possible.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

I then got started on the cleaning. I was going to use a wire wheel on a drill, but did not know if that would be too harsh.

So, I ordered some scuffing pads (i.e. scotch brite type discs) for my air tools. Glad I did as they worked great. I used medium grit to get all the heavy carbon off then finished it off with fine for polishing.

Passenger side.

Driver's side. You can see in this picture the #7 piston is pitted pretty bad (this is the only one like that). Not sure if this is from detonation or something else. This engine did "Run On" when the ignition was shut off and I could never get it to stop doing that even after a tune up and timing adjustments. The engine water passages were blocked some. So, the heads may have been hot spotting. Now that the heads have been completed and the block cleaned up a bit I hope it goes away and cools properly. Either way I will give the block a through flushing once it's all back together.

You can see the center of pistons are inscribed with the number 30. Not sure if that means this engine was rebuilt at one point and is now 30 over.

This picture shows the cylinder walls still have some decent crosshatching.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Got the heads back today. They look great. Everything is brand new, except for the core, of course. Now I should be able to run unleaded fuel no problem.

I'll need to get them painted up before I can start reassembly. SWEET!!!

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Okay Everyone,

It's been a while since I posted up, but I have been working on the car.

Got my heads painted.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Then I unmasked the heads. They came out looking pretty good.

I put them in place. Damn, these old ass iron heads are heavy as hell. My engine builder let me know these are the worst heads ever made LMAO!!! I'm not worried about it. This is not a performance vehicle. I just need to be able to cruise around without any issues.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Then I started the reassembly process.

Got the valley pan installed.

Got the pushrods and rocker arm assembly installed. I put assembly lube on everything so nothing is dry on initial start up.

Got the carb, throttle linkage, hoses, vacuum lines, coil and some other items re-installed.

I hooked up my bump starter switch and then adjusted the valves to .020 valve lash.

Then it was time to change the oil and filter. While I was under the car I re-attached the exhaust manifolds to the exhaust pipes.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

After all that I filled the radiator and it was time to see if she fired up. She did fire.

Passenger Side:


Driver's Side:


I noticed the block itself had a lot of crud in it while the heads were being rebuilt. So, a radiator/engine flush was in order.

I have flushed the system around 6 times so far. I will need to flush it probably 2 more times and then I'll drain it and put 50/50 mix of anti-freeze in it.

And this is why it needed to be flushed. Nothing like rusty/muddy water coming out of your cooling system.

It was really good to back it out of the garage again. I sent my valve covers and air filter hat out to be polished. So, I can run it, but not drive it yet. She's getting there.