We took a 4 day long weekend this past weekend to take advantage of the unseasonably, even for us, beautiful 70* weather to work on Gracie. This is the most time we've been able to give her since we brought her home. Tore out the rats nest wiring mess under the dash as well as the rather bizzare combination of hanging clutch pedal and thru the floor brake pedal as well as the OEM emergency brake handle that looked like it was taken off a steam engine and took two men and a boy to operate (or so my wife said). We replaced it all with a foot operated E brake pedal, and a set of hanging pedals. The two master cylinders were replaced with modern counterparts on the firewall as well as a SS dual diaphram PB booster. The throttle pedal will also be replaced with a matching one. I have added some before and after shots in my gallery. Have to weld up a dozen or so extra holes in the firewall before jumping in to the rewiring. Coming up: Lower dash extension, installation of power windows, remote doorlocks and alarm, cruise control, center console with AC controls, stereo system, CD drawers.

 

That pedal arrangement was definitely unique. Sounds like big improvements planned. What kind of PW kit did you buy?

 

Nice pics posted on your progress. Will you go with a one piece door glass when you install the power windows?
Ed

 

The power window kit is the same one Dolphin sells, contemporary gear drive cable center lift (like a sliding T square). We decided to stick with the vent windows at least for now since all the door glass and the vent window mechanism is in excellent condition. We took a lot more pix, those are the highlites (and before lowlites!). It's real interesting the different levels of craftsmanship and parts that was used. The radioshack style fuse panel and the original ? brake MC being used as the clutch MC, while replacing the brake MC with a brand new dual chambered one plus proportioning valve under the floor but no power booster for the front disk conversion?

 

Wow! A lot of effort and skill to get everything done so fast. Looks like you'll have the project done in no time. Very nice.

 

AX

Congrats on the PW kit. I bet they are universal which means they fit absolutely nothing. Unless there is something new out, there is only one true bolt in kit for Effie and I understand the motors puke (from an owner of them I met in TN.) so what good is that?

I'm having a snow day today. Would you like a PIC of my super-groovy PW mount brackets? One more tip. Get a small handful of teflon or aluminum spacers handy. About 1/4 I.D. and 1/4 to 1/2 thick. It's easier than retrieving 27 lock washers that fell off while you are figuring out the proper thickness needed. They'll work nice when you're done. That's the good news.

P.S. Keep the vents. Part of the old truck look to me. I hear the one piece windows is a whole nother set problems. Door support cutting and such.

 

I expect we will make even better progress once the wiring is done. The things that slow you down is first undoing someone else's "good idea", then the small engineering problem solving that takes time to design and do, such as the pedal bracket and pedal assembly. I had purchased and planned to use the complete Camaro pedal assembly and bracket since it included all three pedals, all the switches, and mounts for the clutch and brake MCs ( the clutch master and slave cylinder is unique for this transmission) and I had also bought the matching used brake booster and brake master cylinder as well as a brand new clutch MC/slave cylinder assembly. After I bought all that I bought the SS PB booster off ebay, not even considering that the mountings may be different. The Camaro pedal bracket just wasn't going to work without a lot of modifications after test fitting it, so I looked at the bracket from the swing pedal that had been installed since it was the right length from the firewall to the dash. the space the pedals fit in was almost the same size inside on the bracket as the outside of the Camaro assembly. Hmmm! I cut away most of the Camaro bracket and put it into the original bracket, it fit and would still retain the brake light and clutch safety switch mounts. Put it all together and found the original bracket's pedal shaft was ~ 1/32" smaller in diameter than the new pedal holes so they rocked on the shaft. That would not do! The Camaro shaft altho the right diameter was too short to use in the new bracket, so I needed to devise a shim. I had a piece of thinwalled brass tubing in my hobby supplies, but it was 1/2" inside and the shaft was closer to 5/8", so I used a thin cutoff wheel in a dremmel tool to make a spiral cut around the tube which would allow it to expand in diameter like a spring yet stay round. It was a little bit of a struggle to get it all put together, but it was now a perfect fit! Next problem was how to locate the bracket on the firewall so the pedals would be even spaced on each side of the steering column since the space between the pedals was 2 1/2" inches and the column was 2" in diameter it was critical they were exactly centered. I found the centerline of the instrument cluster and bolted the bracket to the dash first centered on that mark and tight against the firewall. One of the bracket's firewall mounting bolt holes fell within the hole that had been cut in the firewall for the clutch MC that I had removed and will fill later, so I put a plate across the hole and bolted the bracket just tight enough to hold it in place so we could test fit the collumn between the pedals. With a couple small taps on the bracket it was perfectly centered, so we tightened that bolt, removed the column and used a 12" long drill bit to drill the new brake MC mounting holes thru the firewall from under the dash. I also needed to engineer the interface between to OEM E brake cable and the new foot pedal mechanism, but that one went pretty easy once Donna was able to crawl under the truck and loosen the cable adjuster so I could slip it all together before she tightened it all back up. Her smaller size come in handy when there is a tight spot to work in! This is not all the challenges we ran into and solved, but just typical of building a hot rod as Boyd Coddington is fond of saying.

 

I'd love to see the pics! See how someone else solved their installation. Mine are so universal they didn't even come with instructions! I hear you on the spacers! I needed a thin shim to tighten up a little side to side play on the pedal assembly so I made one out of an old credit card that was just the right thickness, that's some tough plastic! I've used them for a lot of uses including an emergency window scraper so I hang on to all the dummy ones the CC cos. keep sending me as well as expired ones.

 

I have the power windows on my 56. Not sure of the brand? I know they work excellent and really take abuse. I have two 6 year old boys who love making the windows go up and down. I'm still keeping the vent windows because I like them. Looks like some replaced the windows with tinted versions. I'm replacing the door cranks/ locking mechanism this weekend. I'll see what system is in there and maybe post some pics. (The truck came with PW when I got her.)

 

This is the PW setup I bought:
ebay item # 4512551935

 

From your description it sounds like the tinted window glass isn't original, but here's something interesting. I was looking through an original 56 brochure, and Ford offered tinted glass as a factory option! Who'd a thunk it?



I think it says "I-REST TINTED GLASS. Reduces glare and heat. Available for windshield and all windows of all Cabs and Courier, windshield and side windows of F-100 Panel."

 

I believe that is the green tint glass that is still offered by most of the replacement glass suppliers. I remember our family 54 S wagon having green tinted glass.

 

I believe you are correct Chuck. I've had about 12 Effie doors in my possession these past few years. Maybe half of them had the factory green glass. From the looks of the windows, they were stock Ford.

Yes, that is the normal PW Kit. Looks just like mine. I bought the Electraglide II "Don'tfitJack" kit as I recall. I took a couple PICs of my brackets today and will get them emailed to you. Not that there is anything special about my brackets, but it will give you a good idea what it takes to hold them still for smooth operation.

 

My windows aren't the tinted green ones your talking about. They actually have a purple tone to them. I think someone replaced the windows when they did the PW kit because they don't have the tint film on them. It's actual tinted glass. The front and back window are plain glass. (I tinted the back window to match the doors and wind wing.

 

Did OEM glass back then have the LOF or Ford logo on it?
imlowr2 take a close look at your glass at a strong angle near the edge. Is the glass itself tinted or did they use a tinted plastic sheet when they laminated it? Gracie needs a new windshield but the only tinted ones I've found were green.