59-600
Daily Driver
Ok time to start the restoration thread for my 600 that I picked up at the beginning of March. After much delay I am planning to pull the engine tomorrow, since we haven’t been able to get it to turn over. The car has 1250 miles on and hasn’t been on the road since 75, I am the third owner & the previous owner put roughly 300 miles on the car over six years and sold it to me through a third person who didn’t have much knowledge about the car itself and was helping the 80+ year old women with the sale. The car was stored inside for most of the last 40 years and I was told that the engine should still turn over and we found out that an electric fuel pump was installed by a Ford mechanic in 1976. This is my first car restoration project & and my previous car experience is senor replacements on 00 VW’s and brakes and an alternator on 88-99 fords. I have one friend who just started helping out with this project that has previous experience restoring an old Chevy Impala so I need a lot of advice.
So far we have done the following
Soaked the engine in Marvel mystery oil for over a week, drained and replaced with new oil
Replaced air and oil filters
Rebuilt the carburetor
Replaced spark plugs & spark plug wires
Replaced the battery
Drained & flushed the radiator, replaced the radiator hoses & installed a new radiator shroud
Soaked gas tank with vinegar (I haven’t been able to fully drain the tank and seal it up yet, so we are by-passing the tank currently)
After that we tried to start it for the first time and got nothing from the engine, but all the lights worked, blinkers, horn, etc… are functioning.
Next we installed A112 distributor and starter along with a sport thick pipe muffler and tried to start the car again with the same results. After that failure, we took the timing chain off and attempted to manually turn the engine again without luck and that is pretty much where we are today. The electric fuel pump is still attached and functioning, but I have an original fuel pump that I would like to install due to how freaking load this electric one is.
Since we are having issues getting the engine to start, I am moving the engine upgrading up so I can take care of that all at once & moving the disc brakes and new suspension install to the end of July/early August.
I was planning on getting a 903 block bored out to work with the A112 stroker kit and have a mechanic, but I need a little bit more info on what parts I am going to need specifically for the engine. From digging around this forum, chatting with a few members here, checking out a few other forums, and reading most of the readily available publications on modifying the 600 over the past 3-4 months, I understand that in addition to what is in the stroker kit, I will need to pick up a A112 Camshaft & distributor drive, a better carburetor, manifold, oil pump & pan. Is there anything else needed specifically for the engine work?
As far as the transmission, I know a 600D is better than the 600 and that is about it, so what options do I have for upgrading the transmission? Is a transmission & transaxles out of a 70’s 850 compatible with the 600? Can I take my 600 transmission and swap out gears or is it easier and cheaper just to purchase a complete 600d transmission?
Note: I have never owned a manual car, I taught myself how to drive a stick shift while working in the Dominican Republic 10 years ago on a VW transporter van & I get to teach my fiancée how to drive and how to drive a manual transmission, so I am kind of expecting to fully replace the transmission with a 5 speed in a year or so I would prefer to do the first one on the cheap
I think after that my next big question is going to be on cooling, I like the look of the 600 without a front radiator & shroud and I don’t have much info about the auxiliary under the car radiator and other methods of cooling the engine. After that I would like to know what all from a 850’s coupe’s and convertibles are compatible with the 600, since there are a lot of 850 parts available around here on the cheap.
Pictures of the car and the progress can be found here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V7uTzAEchIA0Ubu0F3hrh57CN1CV_p9C?usp=sharing
Thanks,
Erik
So far we have done the following
Soaked the engine in Marvel mystery oil for over a week, drained and replaced with new oil
Replaced air and oil filters
Rebuilt the carburetor
Replaced spark plugs & spark plug wires
Replaced the battery
Drained & flushed the radiator, replaced the radiator hoses & installed a new radiator shroud
Soaked gas tank with vinegar (I haven’t been able to fully drain the tank and seal it up yet, so we are by-passing the tank currently)
After that we tried to start it for the first time and got nothing from the engine, but all the lights worked, blinkers, horn, etc… are functioning.
Next we installed A112 distributor and starter along with a sport thick pipe muffler and tried to start the car again with the same results. After that failure, we took the timing chain off and attempted to manually turn the engine again without luck and that is pretty much where we are today. The electric fuel pump is still attached and functioning, but I have an original fuel pump that I would like to install due to how freaking load this electric one is.
Since we are having issues getting the engine to start, I am moving the engine upgrading up so I can take care of that all at once & moving the disc brakes and new suspension install to the end of July/early August.
I was planning on getting a 903 block bored out to work with the A112 stroker kit and have a mechanic, but I need a little bit more info on what parts I am going to need specifically for the engine. From digging around this forum, chatting with a few members here, checking out a few other forums, and reading most of the readily available publications on modifying the 600 over the past 3-4 months, I understand that in addition to what is in the stroker kit, I will need to pick up a A112 Camshaft & distributor drive, a better carburetor, manifold, oil pump & pan. Is there anything else needed specifically for the engine work?
As far as the transmission, I know a 600D is better than the 600 and that is about it, so what options do I have for upgrading the transmission? Is a transmission & transaxles out of a 70’s 850 compatible with the 600? Can I take my 600 transmission and swap out gears or is it easier and cheaper just to purchase a complete 600d transmission?
Note: I have never owned a manual car, I taught myself how to drive a stick shift while working in the Dominican Republic 10 years ago on a VW transporter van & I get to teach my fiancée how to drive and how to drive a manual transmission, so I am kind of expecting to fully replace the transmission with a 5 speed in a year or so I would prefer to do the first one on the cheap
I think after that my next big question is going to be on cooling, I like the look of the 600 without a front radiator & shroud and I don’t have much info about the auxiliary under the car radiator and other methods of cooling the engine. After that I would like to know what all from a 850’s coupe’s and convertibles are compatible with the 600, since there are a lot of 850 parts available around here on the cheap.
Pictures of the car and the progress can be found here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V7uTzAEchIA0Ubu0F3hrh57CN1CV_p9C?usp=sharing
Thanks,
Erik