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Easy does it… Almost there… Touchdown! The rebuilt C6 transmission was brought up from below, and the accessories were hung on the engine piece by piece.

Integrating the steps of a complete restoration takes some thought. At this point, we elected to install the engine and transmission so that we’re not risking scratching up painted fenders in the future. The fresh 428 awaits on the stand, the aluminum foil is a cheap & easy mask film to keep our stand from being painted all different colors. The big Galaxie makes the big FE look like a 289 by comparison!

Absolutely, just trying to work in the time to share the story! Thanks! As you can imagine, there is a lot of time and resources in this car. However, it is our policy not to discuss the financials of our customers projects, as we consider that to be personal info. However, the customer is free to share as much as he would like. I hope you understand... call it "restorer / client privilege!" Thanks, that is the stock seat for these cars, and it is a very cool design!

We were very fortunate that the original seats actually cleaned up without the need for recovering. Sure, the oxblood center strip is not as fresh as new, but the seats have a nicely worn appearance, and will look great after reinstallation in the car.

Our painter Jeff mixed a blend of satin finish Emberglo for the interior parts that required it and re-sprayed them to look new.

Next, the attention was turned to the interior parts on the car. This interior shares the color as the exterior, but the original color was worn and faded. As the car arrived in our shop: Stripping and refinishing the plastic and steel interior parts…

We sent the crank out to be machined down .001, and the machine shop had a “whoopsie” and the crank slipped in the fixture and damaged the crank, cutting it over .100”. Crank = done. After some searching, our good friend Eric Vanberkum came through with a fresh crankshaft. Once balanced, we re-assembled the engine with the pistons facing the proper direction, new gaskets, and a new bearing set. The block and heads were prepped and painted with Eastwood ceramic engine paint in proper Ford blue.

Thank you for the kind words. There's more on the engine, and we will post some video of the completed car.

All good questions. The owner had the engine rebuilt and stored before the car arrived in our shop and we started the restoration, so it had not yet been run after the rebuild. I'm not sure about the cam lobe chip, perhaps it is a casting flaw, as this would be pretty hard to do. The cam bearing marks may have come from installation of the cam and the installer bumping the cam on the bearing. The lifters are all new, no marks on them. We always check engines before running them, new, rebuilt, or otherwise... for these very reasons.

There was a little debris in the pan as well. We pulled the bearing caps to measure the clearance, and noticed some scuffing. It was enough to make us want to pull the crank and check everything. With all the rubbing on the bearings, as well as the tightness of the rotating assembly, we determined that perhaps the crank should be measured and possibly recut. We found some nicks on the cam bearings, possibly due to the nick on the cam. Time for some machine work!

While the paint department was doing their thing, the mechanical side of the shop turned their attention to the 428 V8 that powers the 7-Litre. The 7-Litre was a special car, used to launch the 428 in the 1966 passenger car line. It was intended to be quiet and quick, and this one has served it’s purpose well. The factory rating was 345 HP and 463 lb. ft. of torque at 10.5:1 compression. The engine underwent a mechanical rebuild when it was removed from the car many years ago, but we wanted to check everything before putting it back in service. We’re glad we took the time. First off, we noticed that the new pistons were not all installed properly, with the forward-pointing arrow pointing rearward on at least one piston. We also noted that the bore size was + .060” over, which is a big cut on any street engine. We’re not 100% sure why the block required a .060” cut, but here we are. We also noted some corrosion in the bores and passages from being stored improperly.

Once the car is masked, Jeff sprays the 1966 Ford Emberglo Axalta Chromax basecoat on the jambs. Soon, Axalta clear is applied to protect the color and to bring out the shine!

The panels and the body shell are all unmasked and cleaned, and the primer is sanded again in preparation for Axalta Chromax basecoat and then clear. Everything was sanded to 600 grit, and then everything is cleaned with wax & grease remover. 3M sandpaper is used in a “wet” fashion to minimize scratching and potential damage. Wet sanding also reduces paper clogging and increases its lifespan. Once wetsanded and cleaned, the body shell is rolled into the paint booth. The next step is to mask it and add color to the door and under hood jambs. A few exterior areas will be spot-primed before color, but the jambs are ready.

Interesting to see the dual fuel filter cans on this one!

Vaca... vaycay... I'm sorry, I don't know that word! We've had a busy summer here at the shop and traveling to events, etc., I apologize for being delinquent on the updates! More to come soon!

More block sanding is done on the individual body panels to make them straight. Once the panels are sanded, they are cleaned and brought back into the booth for another round of Axalta primer to be wet sanded.

This is a great thread... see this stuff all the time and re-assured that some people just don't think!

…..aaaand, bring on more sanding! In this round, Craig blocks the primer down to eliminate the guide coat and ensure that the car has been completely sanded to the next grit. Big cars need long blocks! Details like fender edges and jamb areas are all sanded with the same level of detail as the exterior body panels.

Thank you Gary!

Once masked, Jeff sprays an Axalta high-solids 2k primer to fill any sanding scratches in the body filler or grinder marks left in the steel panels. Then, the car is sprayed with an aerosol guide coat to help reveal the high & low spots in the sanding process and is moved back to the body shop area for more block sanding.

Once the initial filler and blocking work are done, the car is vacuumed / blown out and cleaned, then it heads into the paint booth for masking and priming.

That is a great question. The panels are relatively straight, but they suffer from many imperfections... hammer dings, grinder marks, welding warpage or other little items that will become big imperfections once shiny paint is applied. We produced a 3-part mini series on myths and benefits and how-to's of body filler... you can see it here: http://v8tvshow.com/V8TV_2/index.php/tech/body-paint/9-body-filler-magic-bullet-or-easy-way-out-3-part-video-series Filler is not your enemy, but it's not the magic bullet, either. We make sure the panels fit properly in bare steel, then refine the surfaces with filler.

Spread filler and sand filler… the life of a bodyman. Every panel on the car will be massaged. Craig spreads the filler and “roughs it in” with 80 grit with an air file board, then hand block-sands with 180 grit, reapplying filler where needed. Once the car is in a uniform 180 grit finish, he moves to 320 grit on a Dual Action sander to prep the panels for several coats of high-solids primer. Then the car is hand-dressed with 320 right before primer. Much of the filler left on the car is paper-thin.. Or less. A variety of tools in play… sanding blocks in various shapes, different grits of 3M sand paper, a steel spreader, and Evercoat body filler. The 3M tape keeps the filler out of holes and seams.

Thank you for the kind words, a top-notch crew makes all the difference!

The factory quarter seams were filled with lead like the original installation, then body filler was applied to refine the shape. More sanding… (there’s a lot of sanding on a car this big!)