1955 Customline Revival 223ci

G

G. Anastopoulos

New member
Hi everyone,
after reading a lot on this forum in the last couple of years I am finally ready to get this project going.
My grandfather bought this 1955 customline second hand in the early 60s and drove it until the mid 80s when it got parked in their garage. I first laid eyes on the car about 10 years ago and started thinking of getting it back on the road one day.
Now that I'm a bit older (21) and after 4 years of on and off research I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
I had a look at the car this Christmas and i have to say that it looked pretty clean (I'll add some photos but it was getting dark so they're not the best quality). Probably because the garage where it's been stored is very dry.
I ordered some parts from RockAuto, the ones that I'm most likely to have to change and the ones that are necessary to get the engine running (coil, distributor vacuum advance, points etc..).

If any of you ford experts has some advice or things I have to pay attention to I'd be very grateful.
So far my experience working on cars is limited to a few quick fixes on my dads 1999 ford focus but I must have watched a few hundred hours of YouTube videos about rebuilding these old cars. Don't know if that counts :)

My plan is to go visit my grandparents for Easter and spend a few days there working on the car. I'll just try to get it started in the garage as I don't have a place for it at my place yet. I'll probably update this thread as I go with progress/questions.

P.S. thanks to everyone for all the amazing information that's on this forum !

3.jpeg

6.jpeg

4.jpeg
 
Yes that 1955 Customline sure looks very good for its age that is great that it was so well protected in that garage. It will be a fun car once you get it back on the road. One of the first things you need to do on a car that's set for many years is pull the plugs and put a few squirts of oil in the cylinders and let it set for awhile then try turning the engine by hand to see if it free. It is important to clean out the fuel tank of any old fuel rust crud ect. You will probally also need to go through all the brake parts. I had a nice 1954 Customline for many years that I got from the orginal family that bought it new, great mid sized cars that are easy to drive and ride pretty nice. Best of luck on your 1955 Customline.
 
Hi Bubba,
I've seen almost every kind of oil used for that purpose. In your opinion am I better off using engine oil, penetrating oil or I've even heard that you can use automatic transmission fluid ?
 
Hi G. Anastopoulos, If we make the assumption that the engine is probally free from the great storage that the car has had then it dosent mater as much. I use engine oil for this but ATF or Marvel Mystery oil works well too. This is in case there is any light surface rust on the cylinder walls above the piston tops these oils will help to lube each cylinders piston rings, clean the upper cylinder walls removing any light rust that might of formed over time setting, most often it won't hurt anything to just try first turning the engine by hand or a socket wrench to find out if it turns fairly easy then if it dose you will be looking good going forward. if the engine is stuck then the lighter oils like penetrating oil, ATF or even Desiel fuel (this method is also used to put an engine in long term storage oldtimers called this Pickling). Any of these oils can be put into the cylinders to soak them and loosen up stuck piton rings by turning engine a little one direction then the other with a socket wrench this can take some time turning a little at a time then resoaking the cylinders some more but most times if you can move it even a little bit you will be able to get the engine free again over time of a few hours to a few days in the more severe cases. My best guess by your descriptions and looking at the pictures of the car and its engine that it is going to be free so a little engine oil will give the dry cylinders some lube so a couple tea spoons of oil should do it. The engines bearings and oil pump are also going to be dry. Examine the existing oil for its viscosity by feel in your fingers compared to fresh oil if it seems okay you can use it to get the engine started and then warm up the engine before you change the oil and filter if not then you can chage the oil and filter first but know that you will probally need to re change the oil and filter again sooner then normal. Something I would do is to is to run the engine with a flush before changing it two three times to clean out the sludge my faveriote to use was Justice Brothers engine flush that is a company local to the area I grew up I also knew the locale supply rep quite well. If you decide to change the oil and filter first then when the oil filter is off you can also squirt a bunch of oil into oil filter input port (this goes right down into the oil pump) this will get some lube in the oil pump to prime it. You will want to turn the engine severial rotations by hand and pull the coil wire (so it can't start) then you can use the starter to prime and pressurize the oil system this way works very well in getting oil into all the passages. Anther way is to pull the Distribitor with the engine at TDC on #1 cylinder and use drill to pressurize the oil system passages turning the engine a 1/4 turn by hand then pressureize it again turn another 1/4 turn and repeate until you have turned the engine two full turns this is the method I often use for a new or rebuilt engine. Best of luck
 
I just realized that I didn't order the oil filter, kind of a mistake since I can't find any parts locally here in Switzerland.
It's a shame but it seems like no one's into restoring old cars over here, they'd rather buy the new audi or whatever.. Even with their own cars people just bring them to the auto shop as soon as there's a little problem and don't even look into it.
Anyways thanks for all the advice it'll be real valuable once I get working on the car, can't wait to do that after 4 years of planning !
 
Last edited:
Alright so it looks like I got screwed by FedEx and my last parcel is stuck in France, a bummer since it means that I won't have the carburetor rebuild kit, coil and spark plugs for Easter.
Anyone has an idea of how I could give the carb a clean without opening it and ruining the seals ? The accelerator will probably be ruined though and I have no way of fixing that without the kit..
It looks like I'll have to wait until this summer to get the car running decently.
 
The best carb cleaner we have here in the US is Berryman's I don't know if you have that available in your area but they may have something else. It all depends on the fuels you had there in your area as to if the carb would have any serious varnish build up inside but you can clean the carb with the spray cleaner fairly well from the outside bowl vent and the carb throat ventri. I would just try the carb out without opening it up if you can get some carb cleaner than use that. Your coil is probally still good if it was running before it was parked get a small stainless steel brush and clean the electrical wire ends, nuts, flat washers, and the studs that wires mount to on the coil, it is also good to clean all the grounds - and + wire connections so that they are clean and snug from the battery and back to the engine conections. You could pull the plugs and try to carefully cleaning them up and regapping them. Accually your engine and electrical looks quite clean in your above picture so might not need much to clean everthing up, I am used to seeing much worse. Hopefully that can get you going until your new parts get there, best of luck. Good luck
 
I took a quick look at the car last night when I got here, I couldn't get the spark plugs out but I don't have a spark plug remover so I'll get that today. They are quite hard to reach with a wrench, in the mean time I sprayed them with some penetrating oil. I put the car in neutral but couldn't get the engine to budge. It might need some penetrating oil as well.
The carbs throttle moves freely and it has a glass bowl. Couldn't see any residue/varnish in it but it was quite dark by that time. My grandfather can't remember if he emptied the carb when he parked the car but I don't think he did.
I'll snap some more pics later now that I have some more light.
 
fordCarb.jpeg

Here's a picture of the bowl, looks pretty clean to me. I still have to get the engine to move, will give it some more time soaking with the penetrating oil and then try to work it back and forth.
Might try to remove the radiator so I have easier access to the front of the engine because it's pretty tight at the moment.

Here's another picture of the engine with better lighting:
1.1.jpeg
 
Yes the carb looks very clean I think you will probably fine those glass bowls were very helpful for seeing the condition, they are quite sot after too. If you also weren't able to get a new set of points pick up a point file that usually all you need to clean up the contact points enough so they will work. And if there isn't any metal transfer from one contact to the other than the point condesor is a good one and wouldn't even need to be changed. Good luck getting the engine free'ed up.
 
Regarding the carburetor, it’s certainly worth seeing what it will do without disassembly. The most likely spot to have a problem from varnish is the idle fuel passage, since it’s the smallest orifice. If you end up needing to get into the carburetor, but don’t have a rebuild kit, you can make yourself a replacement bowl gasket from generic cork gasket stock if the old gasket breaks. Not sure about Switzerland, but most auto parts stores in the USA should have cork gasket material on hand.

I agree with Bubba, it looks like you have a good starting point and it might not take much to get that engine going.
 
The engine doesn't want to budge even after soaking in ATF for the whole night, I added some more because it looks like it's been drinking it, at least on the front two cylinders where I can get a good look inside the engine. The cylinder walls look pretty clean with what looks very light surface rust. However the second cylinder has some carbon deposits on top of the piston.
My best guess is that the engine ran rich because the spark plugs had some black crud over them as well.
What I'll try next if I can't get the engine to move is put some air in the tires and try to roll the car forwards in 3rd gear + overdrive. That should give me quite a bit of leverage over the engine just to get it going. Once it moves a few degrees I hope I can work it with the wrench because I wasn't able to find a breaker bar locally.
Thanks again for all your help :)
 
You won't be able to use the Overdrive unit it won't lock low gear might work. You will need a good breaker 1/2 inch drive is the minimum a 3/4 to 1 inch drive is safer bar when more leverage is needed. I used to also carry a lenght of pipe about 2 1/2 feet long for extra leverage too in my service truck. Is there a tool rental place near you?
 
No tool rental place unfortunately but I did get the engine to spin. I ended up cycling the starter a few times and that got the engine to turn. It's now free, it has spark. It revved for a few seconds with some starting fluid but then nothing, now it doesn't even stutter or try to fire on one cylinder.
I'd say it cranks at about one rev per second is that fast enough ? Or it might not have enough compression because of the lack of oil. The oil indicator did light up at the start but it does go away after about a second or two of cranking.
 
Good glad you got it to turn free. Do you have a temp fuel sorce hooked up to the fuel pump like a gas can or small fuel tank? That sounds kind of slow on the cranking speed but might be ok. Is the battery fully charged and the battery cables clean and snug? Is the oil level on the dip stick reading at the full mark? The oil pressure light will light would be on for a small amount of time especially on an engine sat unsed for awhile until the oil pump starts to pressurize the oil passages. The light shuts off when the engine has more than about 4 PSI of oil pressure so it sounds like your oil pump is working as it should. Did you clean and gap the spark plugs? Since it did fire up and run for a short time then you have enough spark and some compression so probably all you need now is to get enough fuel up into to the carb.

Sometimes old fuel pumps that have set a longtime dry can take some time for the diafram to start pulling fuel again somtimes they might have to be replaced. You could dribble some fuel down the carb's float bowl vent to fill the float bowl up with some fuel then it should run. And in many cases the fuel pump will start to pump fuel again. Be real carful when doing any poring of fuel into the carb's float bowl or down the carb's throat (only a small amount) at a time of the carb and if you spill any on the outside of carb or engine wait awhile until it drys and or evoperates. A pump type oil can works or even a plastic squeeze bottle to get fuel into the bowl vent tube once you have the air cleaner removed. Also the engine will free up more after you get it to run some more or can keep it running for a good amount of time 10 to 20 min. at a time as you watch for any problems. Best of luck
 
The car has metal fuel lines so I wasn't able to hook up another fuel source.
The oil level is full according to the dipstick and the oil looks very good so I haven't changed it for now. I've cleaned the spark plugs and gapped them but I'll get some new ones anyway. They did have a strong spark when I checked.
I managed to get the engine to run off the fuel that was in the bowl for about 5-6 seconds. Added some more fuel in the bowl but then it wouldn't start, it was cranking slower. I think my battery's not fully charged because it's at 6.58 V and should be about 7V when fully charged from what I read. I charged it the whole night we'll see how it goes. I'm working on an improvised fuel system, I took out the fuel line and put it in so that it goes upwards, However I wasn't able to get a siphon going from my small "fuel tank", I'll try something different today.
The other thing I could try is hooking up the starter to a 12V battery while leaving the rest of the electrical on the 6V battery I got, not sure if the jumper cables I have are thick enough though. But that way it should crank significantly faster and the starter doesn't mind 12V from what I read.
 
Alright little update, I didn't manage to get the car running last time. Brought the carb back home and rebuilt it, It was pretty clean on the inside but all the gaskets were brittle and the accelerator pump busted. Also sent the battery back to the seller and they confirmed that it was defective so I got another one.
I went back to work on the car, installed the carb, changed the spark plugs and spark plug wires, filled up the bowl, gave it a crank and it started right away !
However the fuel pump diaphragm is broken. I rigged up a gravity fuel system and drove a few meters in the front yard, unfortunately it's pretty small and I didn't feel like going on public roads without a plate so I left it at that.
I looked around for a fuel pump diaphragm but couldn't find any, does anyone know where I could buy one ? The fuel pump is the one with the vacuum booster on top for wipers.
I'm also thinking of changing the wipers from vacuum to electric but that's a problem for another day. If I can't find the fuel pump diaphragm I'll probably install an electric fuel pump.
 
Thanks for the link ! I gave it a look and it looks like he doesn't sell just the diaphragm.
The main body of the pump is in excellent condition so I'm not too keen on buying a whole new pump.
 
Congrats on getting your 1955 Customline 223 back running! Sadly the 1954 to 1956 Fuel pumps with the vacuum booster on top these repair parts are quite hard to find nowadays. There are probally NOS fuel pump repairs kits somewhere but I looked at 3 of my old sources which didn't carry them. In the past some of this was because of the rebuilder companies had a strong lobby that didn't allow the repair parts kits to be sold in most areas I lived in Southern Califorina and it was one of the largest areas were you couldn't buy any of the fuel pump or water pump repair parts back then, I had to get them from an old mail order company in Chicago I'll. If you go to electric windshield wipers than you can use the 1957 to 1964 223 fuel in place of your current pump. The 6 volt electric fuel pumps, 1957 Fuel Pump Repair kits, and for most other years (except for 1954 to 1956 available only as a complete fuel pump) are avaiable from Dennis Carpenters. https://www.dennis-carpenter.com/trucks/fuel-system/fuel-pump/

Best of luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top