Wagon build

[doghows]

Very nice Jeff; I am jealous. Can't wait to see if mine looks as good. It reminds me of how much work I still have ahead of me???

[Jeff W]

Roger's request to post more fabrication pictures.

After several months of disappointing Pull-A-part searching, I bought the Jaguar Gas Cap on Ebay for about $22 with shipping.

The "Cup" assembly was also bought off of an Ebay vendor but not from an auction. I searched around for a vendor selling a cap where the photos were taken with the cap still mounted on a car (junk yard obviously). Just emailed the seller asking if they would be willing to cut the well from the fender and how much. It was $40 including shipping. I asked for about a 1" lip of the old fender.

Kenny and I did two things to this "cup assembly" before cutting the fender to weld.
1) The cup assembly is basically a "turned up" well that is spot welded to the "turned down" lip of the fender. Some careful grinding separated the spot welds that held the two together. We just used the inner cup portion.

2) Moved the drain nipple. As you can imagine, this thing would fill up with rain water. The old mounting position on the Jaguar was level, now that it is slightly slanted, the old drain nipple had to be moved to the lowest point of the well. Cut off and fill the old hole, weld nipple in new position, drill hole through the middle. I'll just stick a length of rubber hose to exit the the water.

Here are the only other pictures I took other than the items in the other post.

I have not connected the new filler to the tank yet. The Jaguar cap is 2-1/2" hose - I'll get a length then bring it to a muffler shop and have them bend the gentle "S" to make the connection. Let you know how it goes.

[Luva65wagon]

Thanks Jeff-

I bought one of these too, but can try to see if one of the dealers on ebay will hack out that piece. My guess is I'll end up fab'ing my own. And with my driveways being so steep, the original spot for the drain may be best all the way in the back for 90% of it's life.

Did you get a key with yours?

[Jeff W]

Yes, my cap came with a working key. You don't need to have the key to open and close, just to lock when it is already in the closed position.

If I was going to fab my own, I would make it slightly deeper that the original. You are welcome to come over after work and check it out in person. I wish Pull-A-Part had an online list of cars on the lot - you could just keep checking until one appears in the inventory. I can't imagine there is a big demand for this well.

Is this for your Ranchero or are you cutting into the wagon?

[Luva65wagon]

It would be for the Ranchero. This will be driven more than my wagon - and I hate filling up the wagon... but rarely do. I'm going to be hacking and welding - so may as well improve this area... while I'm at it. Ahh! There's those words again!

[Jeff W]

Remember; Ford owned Jaguar from 1989 - 2008 so you are installing an OEM part there.

OH, there was a little nipple on the neck of the Jaguar Cap... probably for some kind of Emissions Canister. I used a torch to heat and pull it right out. Used epoxy and a perfectly sized solid rivet to drive in the hole.

[Luva65wagon]

Good point! I feel so much better now.

I saw that nipple in one of the many pictures of this I looked at.

Also, the one I got was $24 on a BIN auction, so not much different than what you paid.

[doghows]

Modifications already?? You are nuts.
Jeff I will have your parts at the house so they will make it back this time. Can't wait to see your wagon in person. Looks great..

[Luva65wagon]

It's already all done... in my head. You gotta see it done there first and everything else in between are the things that drive a person nuts.

Jeff, we'll be sure to keep your parts separate from all the other parts.

[Jeff W]

You can send them home with Kenny, I see him occasionally.

[Jeff W]

I don't care for the look of the factory cloth covered wind-lace. This glue is stinky but we don't have the correct foot for our sewing machine to "stitch the ditch".

Tape it down; the drying contact adhesive causes the material to curl and stick to itself.

I made 18 feet of it.

[Jeff W]

The 1960-63 door handles are $130 for a replacement set. The 1964-65 Falcon (and I've heard Mustang which explains the lower cost) are $30 brand new.

It took about one hour to modify the newer handles to work on my '63.

1) Calculate where the new mounting hole is needed and drill. I was conservative with the initial hole and used a small file to sneak up on the correct position as I wanted to leave as much "meat" between the new and the old holes. My pencil point is touching fairly close to the correct hole placement, notice the difference in hole orientation between the two handles in that same picture.

2) The old button and guts were relocated to the new handle. I think I could make some sort of extension to the new button actuator "peg" and use the new chrome button. The chrome on my old buttons were okay so I didn't take the time.

[Jeff W]

Took the plastic window out of my best tailgate badge and repainted the colors. Thanks Steve for providing my best badge... the junk car that keeps on giving.

It was easy as all of the old paint was missing... not just faded. Where does it go?

First paint the entire back in gold and wipe off with lacquer thinner so gold only lives in the embossed area. A steady hand and a small brush gets the other colors (Black, Blue and Red) where they need to be. Wait a day and cover the entire back with silver spray paint. The silver not only gives the silver color to the last open window, but really makes the other colors POP.

[Jeff W]

My door locks were missing the flip up doors, were very temperamental about working with my worn out keys and the PO had ruined the finish when using the DA to poorly remove the old paint.

$100 bought two door locks, the ignition lock and two new keys.

I went ahead and bought a replacement tumbler for the tailgate crank as well.

Move the actuator arms to the new locks.

[Jeff W]

Wagons have a tin plate that lives behind the rear seat. This is basically an extension of the cargo bed and is removable so you can access the rear shock tower.

The top portion of my original plate was rusty, but the bottom was serviceable.

Steve gave me one with the top portion serviceable, but the bottom was rusty.

Time to put some chocolate in my peanut butter. A graft is in order.