September 14, '25 - UPDATE

Well had a somewhat productive day on Saturday. Got the Pertronix ignition coil relay kit about 90% installed on the Wagon. I need to find a male bullet connector that will plug into the female coil wire connector so I don't have to cut into the factory harness. After all she has survived this long without any major modifications so why start now??

I then jumped over onto the Tomato a bit. The new hardware arrived last week so I set about reinstalling the headlight bucket support bracketry onto the core support. I believe the headlight buckets have already been painted but if they haven't, I may rehang them as well to insure everything is where they need to be. With the core support up off the ground, at eye level it's a bit easier to see how things line up.

One thing I did notice is the transmission cooler isn't setting level so I'll remedy that another weekend.

Felt good to work on the 'Mater a bit and see some progress, even though it may be tiny in comparison to all that still remains to get done!!

BABY STEPS ARE BETTER THAN NO STEPS 👍

ZEBRA 3 OUT

September 7, '25 - UPDATE

Hey all..... yeah I'm still kicking but just not as high as I once did! 😖

I've not made as much progress on the Tomato this summer as I had hoped to due to physical limitations, extreme temperatures at the dealership, other pressing commitments and trying to locate the hardware I once had to mount parts that have now gone missing after being in two unrelated shops! 😡

A fellow Torinoite sent me a set of AC condenser mounting brackets (I have since found mine!) to use in mocking up the core support assembly and that's when I discovered the missing hardware to mount the headlight bucket support pieces. Guess I'll spend a few hours going thru the MPC to cull the hardware component numbers and then see what AMK has to offer that's close to what Ford used during her assembly.

Sh*t like this is what really infuriates me about turning my project over to others to perform the work I'm unable to perform because they aren't as anal as I am about using the correct bits during reassembly!

Anyway, with cooler temps at hand, I hope I can get in there and kick ass on getting her cleaned up and ready for another round of BODYSHOP ROULETTE!

Fingers crossed!

ZEBRA 3 OUT

May 2025 UPDATE

Well there was some actual progress made on the Torino in May. I got my chassis stand modified to allow my core support to be mounted to it so I can work on it setting on my roll around shop stool and got it positioned so I can easily access both sides...

then started breaking it down so I can install the AC condenser to verify everything fits together like it should and there's no interferences or vibration contact points.

Got the condenser assembly set out but then couldn't find the mounting brackets! Have run across them countless times over the course of the past several weeks but now that I'm ready for them, they've become the needle in the haystack... 😡 Always something!!!

I got the sandblast cabinet operational again so I blasted the valve covers for the 460...

So next weekend I'll have another look for the condenser brackets as well as blasting a bunch of pieces I have setting on the blast cabinet that need shot.

HANG IN THERE

ZEBRA 3 OUT

April 27, '25 UPDATE.... kinda

Well I think the cosmos is trying my patience because I made NO progress on the Torino...AGAIN!

First went to remove the sandblasting cabinet lens protector only to discover I had made a bone headed mistake and laid down two strips of double sided tape that had glued the lens to the cabinet too!While the protectors may have been junk, the tape adhered VERY WELL, so I postponed changing out the protector to the new style I received last week until I can find a windshield knife or some other tool to get the new lens out without busting it!

So next task on the agenda was to fill/burp my engine hoist jack to see if that would fix the rapid leak down of the cylinder when I was trying to use it. Filled it up with fresh oil (man I was surprised how much oil it took!), burped it and it seemed to be holding pressure like it should, so I pumped it up to about 3/4 of the travel and going to see if it leaks off any this week.

Final task planned was to modify my chassis stand to also accept the core support so I can assemble everything to verify they all fit together nicely and come apart easily for any future repairs that may arise. Well there was supposed to be 2x4s in the old parts cage that I could utilize for the modification but the material was actually part of the old shelves/racks parts were once stored on. I wasn't in the mood to try and disassemble lumber that had been put together decades ago, so I put away my stuff and called it a day.

Fingers crossed that next weekend will be a bit more productive!!!

April 3, '25 Update... and it's not an April Fool's Day joke!!

Kinda been jumping around working on as much as I can in my current physical condition but I am making a little progress getting her ready for another attempt to get her into a new bodyshop for final bodywork and paint.

Towards the end of February, I removed the remaining hoses from the water pump and masked it off for blasting again. The Dupli-Color engine enamel didn't adhere correctly to the aluminum and is flaking off in spots, so I'll blast it and try again... 

Originally I had wiped it down with lacquer thinner, mounted it to the engine, shot the assembled engine with Dupli-Color engine primer before applying the Dupli-Color Ford Dark Blue. Evidently I missed a step someplace during the initial painting of the engine so hopefully blasting the pump will give it some tooth for the paint to stick to!

I also started working on the door template for an LE style stripe. Looking at a photo of my original LE, it appears the upper edge of the stripe changes angle just past the middle of the door.

A friend has two untouched LE's that he's working on that are still original paint so he sent me dimensions of those stripes to help me nail down the correct door shape of the factory stripe...

I also recently picked up a remote oil cooler adapter for my 460 so I broke it down so I could blast it as well once I get the blast cabinet back on line....

I also got several of the engine brackets repainted satin black and ready to be rehung on the engine....

I also got a replacement mini shop vac for the sandblasting cabinet and got it hung and hopefully the replacement blast window will arrive this week so I can get the cabinet back up and running and get several parts shot so they can get refinished and ready to put back onto the 460!

So I'm finally getting back at it and pray the next outing to a bodyshop will find her coming home with her final colors, glasswork and trim installed and ready for final assembly...

FINGERS CROSSED

ZEBRA 3 OUT

February 9, '25 Update

WELCOME TO 2025!!

My build posts from the last year (when my back ordeal began) have been very lame and unproductive. If you're like me, you're getting tired of seeing NO PROGRESS and are looking forward to some REAL PROGRESS on this build!

I was actually back over at the dealership Saturday morning looking at where things stood and planning out my next courses of action...

Noticed I have several pieces that I will need to reblast and reshoot and a few areas and parts on the engine that I'll need to refinish as well. These should be easily accomplished in my current state but I do see I have a few other tasks that will be a bit of a challenge to address.

While I haven't fully recovered, I did start PT for my balance problems this past week so praying my balance will recover to some degree that will allow me to stand and bend over for extended periods without bobbing and weaving around or falling on my face... kinda like a little kid with a 25 pound noggin!!!

Fingers crossed and wish me luck....

THANKS ALL

ZEBRA 3 OUT

October 7, '24 - FINALLY AN UPDATE

 Yes, I am still alive! It has been months since my last update but I am slowly recovering from my back surgery in April and have started doing a few things to get the project back on track….

First light duty project I undertook was to clean up the sandblasting cabinet. The cabinet got flooded back when the sprinkler system froze and we just never got around to bringing it back on line. Dumped the old sand out and removed the LED lights so I could clean and remount them with Velcro to make them easier service in the future.

With the cabinet reassembled, I pulled apart the cyclone dust separator and mini shop vac so they could be cleaned up as well. Got them cleaned, reassembled and remounted only to find the on/off switch of the shop vac was stuck in the on position, so I pulled the motor housing apart to access and remove the old switch. With the switch out, I tried blowing it out, tried toggling it to try and get it to click over to the off position, knocking it about to dislodge whatever might be keeping it from changing state but nothing worked so I bit the bullet and bought a new one. Tried it again a few hours later and the friggen thing started working!!! 😡

Another little project I worked on was to create a dash radio opening repair plate. While my dash in fully intact, I know there have been several guys who’s Torinos have had the dash hacked up to allow a modern DIN style radio to be installed. I drew it up on the computer then printed out and stapled it to a piece of cardboard so I could cut it out and dry fit it to my dash to confirm it fit. I freehand trimmed it shape and dropped it onto my dash and it fit pretty well, so I’ll post the pattern for the repair plate onto the HOW-TO section for others to use as needed.

Sunday I went out to the garage to clean some stuff off the workbench and once I had most of the junk cleared away, I saw my Bernzomatic FirePoint torch kit on the shelf. 

I bought this tourch and some alumiweld solder to play around with to see how I can attach my reshaped aluminum fuel tank burp tube to the OEM tube steel mounting bracket and then the burp tube assembly into my new fuel tank. Initial test was sticking a couple pieces of the aluminum tubing I used together and it did a fairly nice (and strong) job. Will also try attaching the tube to a thin piece of sheetmetal. Fingers crossed!

Well feels good to again be doing something project related and hope things begin to move forward again!!!

MORE TO COME

ZEBRA 3 OUT