Interior parts Questions

[2erobrd]

Hi Guys,

its been a while since I have written ask my 64 convertible is almost done (Whew!) Full rotisserie restoration included a doner car, a lot of fabrication and tons of patience and a few bucks, but she is almost done. I'll post pictures before and after as soon as I get her all buttoned up.

#1
So, here is the question, I ordered the chrome escuchetsons for each door. Since these parts are made of hard plastic there is no "give" to them, and i am unable to insert the inside door handle far enough so that the retainer clip can catch on the shaft.

I realize that perhaps if I sand (shave) the escutcheons it might work, but maybe there is a trick that I am just not seeing in being able to install these inside door handles......any suggestions ?

#2
I ordered the scuff plates from Mac's Antique Auto Parts and when I received them they are too wide for my car by about 1/2 inch. According to Mac's they are the correct ones, but that just can't be.....any suggestions ?

#3
I had my steering column rebuilt by a shop new San Diego. By all means take my advice and NEVER give these folks any business (Hilltop Classics). They managed to hack up my steering column and have refused to make things right. Now I am stuck with a steering column that has too much play in it. So, who would you guys recommend I get a replacement unit from and how much should I expect to pay for a simple replacement?

As Always Tons of Thanks for all your posts and advise cause I learn something new every day from here.

Erick

[Luva65wagon]

Erick - Looks really nice.

So, #1: Did you replace the shaft parts? The come in different lengths.

#2 Are you talking over their length or depth? Can you offer up some measurements of what they sent?

#3 Sort of the same deal... what part did they mangle? The shaft/column? Four-speed car (floor shift) or a column shift? Tranny used?

Maybe we can go from there.

[2erobrd]

Hi Roger,

I guess in my frustration I left out the details, sorry.

#1
The shafts on the doors are the stock units and were not replaced, they are the stock lengths. The escutcheon for starters is not round, it's oval shaped sort of, with a slight lip. After looking again it looks like I ordered the wrong part, as it seems to only be for a 1963, here is the link http://macsautoparts.com/ford-falcon-mercury-comet-inside-front-door-handle-escutcheon-chrome-falcon-futura-sprint-c3dz-6322620-c/camid/FAL/cp/JS0R3CHL1093805/
So thanks for making me look one more time, this one is definitely on me. Well one down 2 to go.

#2
On the scuff plates the new ones that i received are 4 4/16" wide (depth) opposed to the original units that are 3 1/2" wide. They are just too wide for the door sill.

#3
The steering column has too much internal play, in other words if you can hod the wheel and put pressure on it as if you are pushung the wheel up or to the sides and there is about a good 1/4" play. It does not feel solid at all, it's almost as if it's missing a couple of center bushings. The car drives fine but the play is totally unacceptable. I've been looking at the Ididit kits but after Hiltop took me for a ride, I am Leary on donating any more money.

Thanks for your help

[2erobrd]

Some Pics of my project...Just drove it for a full 15 miles since its been back together.....now need to work on the interior details...

[SmithKid]

Very pretty car!

[Luva65wagon]

#1
The shafts on the doors are the stock units and were not replaced, they are the stock lengths. The escutcheon for starters is not round, it's oval shaped sort of, with a slight lip. After looking again it looks like I ordered the wrong part, as it seems to only be for a 1963, here is the link http://macsautoparts.com/ford-falcon-mercury-comet-inside-front-door-handle-escutcheon-chrome-falcon-futura-sprint-c3dz-6322620-c/camid/FAL/cp/JS0R3CHL1093805/
So thanks for making me look one more time, this one is definitely on me. Well one down 2 to go.


OK - For the 64/65 cars they only use a thin plastic disc behind the handle (you don't really see it) and the handle shape is the "cover" for the screws, etc. In 63 and earlier cars they used these plastic escutcheons and they were color coded or chrome depending on the trim level. I did a pretty in-depth interior redo on my wagon a few years ago. You can see pictures of what I'm talking about there - as compared to the interior I just did on the Ranchero, in my "Crazy" thread.



#2
On the scuff plates the new ones that i received are 4 4/16" wide (depth) opposed to the original units that are 3 1/2" wide. They are just too wide for the door sill.

I don't have a hard-top, but any of you guys with hardtops (Larry perhaps, if you're in-town) can you measure yours? Maybe it would be worth contacting Ron or Rosie at FalconParts.com or any other Falcon vendor. I've bought very few items, if any, from Mac's. They are one of the bigger "we sell parts for 20 makes of cars" and may not have the specialized knowledge you need when something don't fit.



#3
The steering column has too much internal play, in other words if you can hod the wheel and put pressure on it as if you are pushung the wheel up or to the sides and there is about a good 1/4" play. It does not feel solid at all, it's almost as if it's missing a couple of center bushings. The car drives fine but the play is totally unacceptable. I've been looking at the Ididit kits but after Hiltop took me for a ride, I am Leary on donating any more money.

They may have left one of maybe three parts out. If the gap between the shift housing and the turn-signal housing and the steering wheel are all "seemingly OK" but the wheel wobbles forth and back and up and down (but not in and out towards and away from the steering box under the hood), then the things you have are:

1) bearing just below the turn-signal switch;
http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falcon-auto-parts/pc/1960-1965-STEERING-COLUMN-UPPER-BEARINGS-193p528.htm

2) a cone-shaped wedge that acts like the inner race of this bearing;
http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falcon-auto-parts/pc/1960-1965-STEERING-COLUMN-BEARING-SLEEVES-193p176.htm

3) a spring that goes behind the steering wheel as it gets installed which forces the cone (item #2) into the bearing (item #1) and takes up all the slop of the shaft coming up from 30 inches below up to the steering wheel.
http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falcon-auto-parts/pc/1960-1965-STEERING-SHAFT-SPRINGS-193p529.htm

The most likely parts to be missing, which are easy to remove and misplace are items #2 and #3. Pretty simple task to repair with a $10 steering wheel puller and a 1/2" ratchet and a 15/16" socket to loosen the nut and tighten it again. A shame the shop won't look at this - but maybe if you print this out and hand it to them, they will.

Just read the descriptions on the parts pages I linked which will show the purpose/use of each of these parts. Really is a basic setup, but lacking any of these parts, it's a mess. I think you could have a go of it.

Hope this helps!

[cmefly]

The scuff plates on my 65 Sprint are 3 3/8" wide.

[2erobrd]

Thanks for all the details, I will embark on the disassembly of the steering wheel this weekend. As far as the scuff plates, I knew they sent me the wrong items, just does not seem possible that they would be that

I'll post what comes of this steering wheel once it's been cracked open.

Once again, thanks for all your advice guys !

[2erobrd]

Hey Roger,

I took some time to pull the tearing wheel off and I noticed a couple of bolts inside the hub of the wheel were not as tight as they should have been.

I tightened them and I took your advice and replaced the cone shaped bearing (as I already had it) and the one that was in there was split!.

Put everything back together and ALL the play excess play was gone !!! I plan on taking her out for a spin tomorrow and see if I aligned the wheel properly.

Back to the other 2 items I also noted on, I returned the Escutcheons as they were apparently for a 63, so i exchanged them for the correct ones, now they fit !

And Lastly, after measuring the scuff plates it seems that the ones i received were mis-labeled and were actually for a hardtop. So now i wait for the replacements.

One more Question....is there a big difference between the replacement Headlight switches and the NOS units? Mine, while it's new, seems I have to play with it to get the instrument lights to come on. Just wandering if it might be worth to get an NOS unit....what do you guy think ?

Thanks a bunch for everyones help...

Erick

[Jeff W]

In my experience flaky instrument lights had more to do with an old and dirty ceramic-like dimmer disk. This is the round white thing that slides into the front of the light switch when the actuator rod with knob is removed. I imagine there is some sort of wiper that rides on the wire wound disk that could be dirty or tension is not pushing hard enough on the instrument light dimmer. I think this same disk is the mechanism that turns on your dome light.

[SmithKid]

I would agree with the above. The ones I have seen were a ceramic housing with a wire wound resistor laid in a groove with a metal wiper arm that moves along its coils to change the resistance. They could often be made to work more reliably by spraying with a contact cleaner (like a tuner cleaner available at Radio Shack) and turning the knob back and forth several times to "clean off" the oxidation. Don't use anything oil-based as the resistor may get hot and you may get smoke from it (though only temporarily). A more drastic step would be to dis-assemble the cover and use a VERY fine abrasive (like emory cloth) to gently clean both the resistor and wiper arm. I have done both procedures successfully in the past. Good Luck!

[Luva65wagon]

Erick,

Glad you were able to resolve the steering column issue.

FWIW the cone is split normally (from the narrow end to the wide end) so it will compress as it is being pushed on by the spring.

The nuts and the bolts that cinch up the turn-signal housing is an assembly that I have seen installed wrong more than right anytime I've had to dig into someone's column. You can tighten them and still not have the bolt-part "hooked" into the column. You generally know they are hooked correctly when there is only a couple threads extending beyond the edge of the nut. It's not like it's going to go anywhere or anything, so you're probably OK as long as it's not sloppy.

Jeff and Gene are right. Personally I think most of the aftermarket parts are not all that good. Some are, but most are not. If you can even find a NOS part, you may still have 50 years of oxidation on the rotary rheostat. Getting these polished up helps. Tuner cleaner is great for keeping them clean and conductive, but I've had to polish them with some abrasive too. Also, the shaft goes into this part to rotate it, and I've seen new ones that are pretty sloppy around this shaft causing it to ride unevenly as you rotate it. Welcome to 50 year old technology!

:(

[falcon cobra]

Last fall I was working on that problem with a LM-317 adjustable voltage regulator that looks like a transistor, it works good but gets quite hot with all the bulbs it controls, I quess if it was heat sinked to the unibody it would work, they are only good for 1.5 amps, but dim the dash lights with one knob....jh:rocker:

[2erobrd]

I did a little digging in my falcon box of parts and it looks like I still have the original light switch so I'll clean it out and give it a try and see if it works better than this $26 model. I also just noticed my horn is now acting up so it looks like I may get a second pass at removing the steering wheel one more time (ugh). Oh well I guess same rule applies as when cutting wood.....check everything twice before you button everything up..