I decided to do a write up on our project car.

The Salt Shaker is a 1963 Ford Econoline, most of the changes where made by a previous owner from Texas. Looks like he build it for dragracing.
When the car was purchased it included several 1/8th mile time slips from Houston Motorsport Park. We don't know who made which changes. From a receipt we found in the car from summit racing we know the wheels, dashmeters, racing seats and belts and some other parts where purchased a year before the car came to Europe. In 2008 the car was shipped to Germany and was bought by a friend of mine in November 2009. We have no clue who applied the stickers and named it Salt Shaker.

When the car was bought the package contained:
- 1963 Ford Econoline
- Ford 460 engine
- Rebuild C6 Transmission
- B&M Shifter
- Stall Converter installed
- 9 Inch Rear Axle with locker installed and a open diff.
- NOS plate system
- Race seats and belts
- Street tires and a pair of slicks on wheels
- Brake parachute (we don't know if it ever is used on this car)
- A big box with the original heater, spare speedometer and some other parts.





After we brought the car home, the first thing we did was swapping the locker for the open differential to make it driveable for streetuse. Mostly the car will be driven on the street and maybe if we can get enough courage we will take it to the strip in the future. While under the car we noticed a home brew anti wrap bar which was made of old oilpipe or something. It looked like this part did more damage as good.
So we got rid of it and decided to make our own anti wrap bars with 2" shackles so the axle still can have some travel.

Here's a pic of the old anti wrap bar (it looks better on picture as in life)




Because of the cold weather we had the last months we haven't done much on the car. At this moment we have the new anti wrap bars on the car and a stainless exhaust on both sides. Picture's of the bars coming up.

 

Looks like a mommy carrying it's baby.

I love those full moon hubcaps, no school like old school!

 

way cool.
awesome truck

 

The previous owner advertised the car with a 462 engine. So that should be a MEL engine. We wanted to be sure and start looking for some engine numbers. We found them and the engine is a 460 Ford. This is a good thing because it's a lot easier to become parts for the engine.

Here's a pic of the new anti wrap bars (still need some paint):


This is the holley carburator with the plate system nos:


And just a pic of the engine bay:

 

FWIW:

In the 1960s, drag racing was going nuts here, and exhibition cars were part of it. Some links to the type of vehicle you have here:

The Little Red Wagon wheelstander car

All Ford here:

Ford Wheelstanders album | VincePutt | Fotki.com

With the slicks on it, I would be very careful with the throttle....

 

Sure don't hope it's build as a wheelstander, but the links you've posted are real cool.

Yesterday we changed the pinion seal, installed the new exhaust, fixed the fuel gauge, checked fluids and went for the first real TESTDRIVE
Here's a vid (quality is crap but what the heck)

YouTube - 1963econoline.mpg

 

No tire smoke?

Seems like it drives pretty good though.

Any full throttle action there?

Your next step?

http://www.dyersblowers.com/1694.html

 

Am I the only one who thinks that rear suspension looks a little suspect? The welds are horrid and the front spring mount is as scary a piece of "engineering" as I've ever seen. Neat truck, but I wouldn't ride in it...

 

I don't know what you make of the pic but it isn't the front spring mount, it's the 2" shackle of the anti wrap bar. The welding isn't as clean as I wanted it to be but it will definitely hold. It all will look a lot nicer when the welds are cleaned up and everything is painted.

@ 85e150six4mtod:
we thought there was some full throttle action and hoped for smoke but it didn't. We're gonna run through the ignition system, throttle cable, carburator and kickdown cable to see if we can find some lost horsepower.

 

It may just be a stock pillow-barge smog motor--not even 300 horse. Plenty of power lurking in there, so maybe you'll need the wheelie bars later....

 

After a little searching we found cylinder #1 didn't spark, checked the wires. Wires were all good so we replaced all spark plugs.
This made already a big difference, we also noticed the second stage of the 4-barrel holley carb doesn't open as far as it should.
Things left to do now are redirecting the throttle cable so both stages open completely and check timing.

 

The warp bar looks like it won't pivot with the drive shaft angle. That may add to later rear end problems ! But it is a great looking rig ! Sure would be fun to drive around ! And I'd bet its had its front wheels in the air a few times !

Good luck and great ride !

 

Last week we checked the timing. It was set 0 degrees (maybe for the NOS) so we set it back to 10 degrees BTC. The car is much stronger now in low rpm. We tried to find out the top speed of the car but at 95 mph we chickened out.
Came across another problem, the car is using coolant. Looks like the problem is on the right side of the engine. After starting the engine the right-side exhaust will smoke for about a minute. Could be a head problem or gasket.

@mrsixpack:
we use a little shackle on the wrap bar so the axle can move up and down without stress. I found the idea on pirate4x4 and used it for this ride. When driving the suspension seems just fine.