1959 Ford Retractable Restoration Chassis Details
1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Frame Removed
The original hope was to do a partial restoration of this classic Ford. But as the work got under way a frame-off restoration was discussed with the customer and the job moved into that mode. It’s always satisfying to take a car car all the way and make sure everything is just right.
1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Chassis Parts complete
Each suspension component has been blasted to bare steel and treated with Eastwood chassis coatings during the restoration. The leaf springs were disassembled, blasted, re-banded and re-bushed.
1959 Vintage Ford Retractable Restoration Control Arm Completed
A lot of work goes into restoring a classic car that you can’t really cover in photos and text like this. For instance, the best parts supplier in the industry provided ball joints for this job. The ball joints are top quality, and they almost fit. The holes had to be modified, though, as did the outside dimensions of the ball joint housing in order to fit perfectly. I suppose Ford made slightly different ball joints to fit things, and they evolved over the years, and it’s now not economically feasible for suppliers to carry all the possible variations. So for the last few decades I’ve been buying parts that almost fit and modifying them to suit!
1959 Vintage Ford Retractable Restoration Spindle Completed
1959 Vintage Ford Retractable Restoration Third Member Completed
The ’59 Ford axle housing was completely restored as shown in the last post. The third member was completely restored as well with new bearings, gears, and seal. The ring and pinion were as badly pitted as I’ve ever seen just from years of sitting and allowing water to condense on the exposed gear areas.
1959 Vintage Ford Retractable Restoration Third Member Painted
Classic 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Axles Completed
The old bearing were removed from the Ford’s axles, and new bearings and seals installed as part of the frame-off restoration.
Classic 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Suspension Components Blasted
Each suspension component of the Ford Skyliner is completely sand blasted and repaired before treating with the correct Eastwood chassis coatings during the restoration.
Classic 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Frame Blasted
The frame is first cleaned with harsh chemicals and any remaining undercoating, grease, tar, or other goop is removed by hand. Sand blasting isn’t efficient at removing soft stuff, so that all gets cleaned up beforehand so that the frame is ready for coating when the blasting is finished.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Frame Repairs
There are a few rough spots on the frame that need to be corrected before coating. This bracket was damaged at some point in the car’s history and the time to correct it is during the frame-off restoration being done here. This guy has some nasty welding that we’ll clean up.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Bracket Repairs
There was some material missing from the bracket. A pattern was made, left, and a new piece cut, right.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Frame Mount Repairs
Finally the pieces are welded up and the bracket is restored.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Damaged Front Crossmember
The front crossmember is removable on this frame. You can see that there is damaged caused by the front of the car contacting the ground.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Repaired Front Crossmember
Some heat, some persuasion, some filling and some grinding and the front crossmember is restored.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Damaged Rear Crossmember
It looks like the Ford’s frame took a little hit in the rear at some point in its life.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Repaired Rear Crossmember
A few cuts are made in the steel, some heat, a hydraulic jack intelligently employed and the rear crossmember is restored as well.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Rear Crossmember
This is an example of one of the cuts that was made to the rear crossmember to facilitate straightening it. When steel gets badly bent it stretches so we make cuts to relieve the stress and give the excess steel a place to go to prevent buckling.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Access Panel Cut Into Frame
This classic Ford had a lot of dirt and rust inside the frame rails. Chunks, gravel, that sort of thing. It’s seems like somebody got good and stuck in a soft road at some point. This car wasn’t in a flood, that gives you fine silt inside the frame. This stuff was road mix, so we cut a couple of pieces out of the frame so we could completely clean it out the places we couldn’t reach through the factory holes during the frame restoration.
Vintage 1959 Ford Skyliner Restoration Access Panel Welded Up
After cleaning out the frame the hole is welded up and ground smooth. It won’t show at all after the frame is coated.
Classic '59 Skyliner Carburetor Restoration
Carburetor is completely restored to original condition.
Classic '59 Skyliner Completed Rear Axle Restoration
Done! New brakes, hardware, cylinders, brake lines, hose, the works. Now the car needs to be finished so it can have something to bolt up to.
Classic '59 Skyliner Completed Rear Brake Restoration
Classic '59 Skyliner Completed Rear Brake Restoration New Lines
Classic '59 Skyliner Completed Rear Axle Restoration Rear View
Classic '59 Skyliner Completed Front Spindle Restoration
The front spindles/backing plates/brakes got the same complete restoration as the rear: new brake hoses, cylinders, hardware, shoes. Some of the fasteners were restored because new ones aren’t available.
Classic '59 Skyliner Completed Front Spindle Restoration Rear View
