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Introduction:
My name is Jason Ballard and I’m a member of Severed Ties car/truck club. I’ve been into the custom scene since around 1997 however was reading Mini Truckin’ Mag as far back as middle school. I’ve also loved Lincoln Continental rides as I grew up learning a good bit about JFK. I also saw Gleaming The Cube as a child and loved the big black car that was in the movie. As it turns out, it was a 1965 Lincoln Continental –> http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_203350-Lincoln-Continental-1965.html
Anyways, here is my 1967 Lincoln Continental aka Project JFK Ride. If you want an explanation on why it is called JFK Ride check out my blog post (which has a couple of typos in it 🙂 and I didn’t finish the car for SEMA 2013 🙁 –> https://bd94s10.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/project-jfk-ride-lincoln-continental/
Awesome build man I can’t wait to see more. Please keep us posted as you go..
Instagram @wesakin
SuicideSlabs4LifeThanks guys!!!! I have a long build thread over on that “other site” but I’ll be updating here more often!
Spent several hours on the car yesterday. Finally got a pittman arm puller to remove the pittman from the steering box. Man was that thing on there!!! Finished cleaning up the steering box and painted it. Mounted the Ron Francis Wiring on a small piece of wood after I sanded it and sprayed it real quick. On Saturday I dropped the calipers off at the Napa Machine Shop to have the pistons removed and for them to be hot tanked to clean them up. Enjoy the pics below.
Calipers boxed up and ready to go to the Napa Machine Shop. My compressor broke so I only pulled 2 pistons out:
Pic from Saturday night. Wanted to capture how low the front of the car is. The tranny bolts are laid out flat!
Needs to be cleaned up but I was able to easily snap this pic with the front end disassembled
Steering box fun!
Throttle linkage scuffed and painted
Much more to come. I’m working on this thing every second I can.
Love the build Jason.. Is the Ron Francis kit you have vehicle specific of a universal kit. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your ride.
Instagram @wesakin
SuicideSlabs4LifeThanks man!!! It is pretty much a universal kit. You can run an aftermarket steering column and get the plug for it but I’m running the factory steering column (at this time) and needed to figure out the wires so I can splice into them. Normally Ron Francis will sell you a plug for the steering but for an off car like a Lincoln.. I don’t think they have one. Check out the column plug chart on their site here: http://www.ronfrancis.com/prodinfo.asp?number=COL
But other than that… it should come together real nice! I’ll end up doing a 1-wire alternator setup as well. Well that is the plan.
My buddy at Torq’d design uses Ron Francis in all his builds. He loves them. I’m going to put a flaming river column in when I do the rack and pinion retrofit. Should be interesting.
Instagram @wesakin
SuicideSlabs4LifeWes, I saw Torq’d Design’s T-Bird at LST this year. Loved that thing.. such an awesome build. They sure did kill it. That sounds awesome. I’m thinking of doing a steering column now. I figured out all the wires coming from the column in the car now but I’m like hell.. why not do it.. I ran a Flaming River column in my S-10 build (http://www.minitruckinweb.com/features/chevy/1307mt_bada_bing_1994_chevrolet_s_10/) and really liked it. I think I’m going to run Digital Dakota gauges like Slammed64 did. It is just so easy how they setup their products.
I put about 5 hours into my car today. Mounted the Ron Francis Wiring brain and ran most of the wires. I still have the window wires, locks, dome light, distributor and battery cables to run. I’m sure a few other misc things. I also still need to run the wiring for my AccuAir. It is coming together!
Here a few pics from today. I plan to run TechFlex around the wiring and make it look real nice when it is fully finished.
Started the day off with my music cranked up LOL.
Laying my first bag out
Headlight switch
Used this track for now to lay the wires down and get them bundled.
You can see the wires behind the dash in this pic. Again, in the end they will be bundled up real nice. This was at least to get the lengths cut and terminated into the brain.
Much more to come. I really want to drive this thing to a local show a club puts on here in the Tampa Bay Area. Date is 2/28/15. I think next my buddy is going to paint the engine bay (http://instagram.com/smithworkx) so I can then drop the motor back in… then I can figure out exactly where to mount the Vintage AC and run more wiring including the battery cables, starter wiring, etc.
Thanks again for the kind words Wes. Really liking this new site.
Thanks Jeremy! Been hustlin’ since my last update. Buying parts, working on what I can, etc. This week the TechFlex came in (from eBay), which allowed me to route the wires in the engine bay thru it… way cleaner now! Also, the Ron Francis neutral safety switch came in and had that installed in less than 5 mins (of course I don’t have the tranny done but it is zip tied where it needs to go). Today the Ron Francis ignition switch came in so I’ll get that wired up tomorrow. Also, received from new connections (quick 8 and quick 6) from Ron Francis Wiring. This will allow me to cut off the steering column wiring plugs and then easily run the RF Wiring to the factory wiring. Last weekend I hit The Powder Room (http://www.the-powder-room.com/) and got a ton of parts sand blasted. I then painted what I could. He still has to powdercoat the strut rod mounts for the front cross member and a few other misc things for me.
Factory steering column wiring –
Sand blast and paint – remember I’m not going for a full blown show vehicle here. I’m just looking to have everything nice and clean –
Rare Parts – strut rod bushing kit came with these
Pre Tech Flex
Post Tech Flex
Headlight wiring zip tied
Neutral safety switch I scored on eBay for more than half off! Brand new!!
Put the various bolts front the front end area in the vice and hit them with a wire brush / sand paper… then shot them with paint!
Some will get reused.. many will be replaced with stainless bolts I purchased in bulk from Fastenhal
Still have a big job ahead of me..rebuild the brake calipers. This is post Napa hot tanking them and getting the pistons out. I hear to hit the insides with 600 grit to clean up the cylinders.
Purchased new headlight adjustment bolts and springs, which should be in Friday or Saturday. Also, picked up some new 5/16 u bolts to replace any of mine that are too gone to cleanup. Also, scored a radiator and condenser from a local Slabside guy who posted in the FB SuicideSlab group! I’ll be getting that on Saturday!!
As promised I did some work today on the car. The steering column wiring is wrapped up (except the horn, which I still need to run a wire for it) including the hazards. The Ron Francis Wiring is making the job a piece of cake! Very happy thus far with the outcome. I also started mocking up the front grill support and headlight brackets. I need to get some stainless nuts to go along with the stainless bolts I have. Once the new fasteners get in and the headlight bolts I’ll finish up putting the front end back together… although the grill and headlight grills still need to go out for chrome plating.
Ron Francis Wiring ignition – just need to tweak the factory piece behind it so it is tight.
This is the Mustang connector that was on my ignition wiring since I purchased it from a lady locally on eBay. If you purchase from Ron Francis Wiring they will put the correct quick 8 fitting on and provide instructions (see the pics further down) for connecting to your factory steering column wiring.
Although I took the connector off I still needed to cut off these and put the correct wiring connectors on
I really didn’t need to do shrink wrap and actually used a bit too thick of shrink wrap on the first 2 wires but I did so anyways.
My buddy got me into soldering and using this torch for my wiring projects. You cannot beat it. Super cheap at Harbor Freight vs. Home Depot etc.
With the Ron Francis Wiring ignition plug all ready to be plugged in
Next I moved to the steering column wiring. Again, I had to cut off the connector that was on the harness since it was for a Mustang. If you purchase from Ron Francis Wiring they will put the correct quick 8 connector on for you as stated above.
Factory wiring and you can see some of the connectors I changed out.
Super easy wiring diagram.
Done! I suggest NOT using any shrink wrap on this piece because it makes the wiring a bit tough to get into the plastic plug.
First time I ever put these connectors on today (surprising since I’ve done so much wiring it seems LOL)
Mocking up the front piece I painted and had sand blasted of course first.
Fear not, most bolts will be swapped for stainless or grade 8. Some washers still need to be sand blasted and painted or simply replaced.
Real happy with the POR-15 and cleanup of the headlight mounting areas
Washed off the headlight brackets before I put 1 bolt in them to mock them up for this pic
The bolt / sprint kit I purchased from eBay can be found here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/160714061021?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
For pretty much $11 and free shipping I couldn’t beat it. My few bolts were rusted and stripped out. Also, you get the plastic mounting pieces… so when I sprayed the headlight brackets I just painted over everything… knowing I would swap out the plastic pieces etc.
More to come!!!
Put a few hours in today. Got the headlight brackets all mocked up to see what parts I’m still missing. Looks like I need a couple of springs and some stainless steel screws (for the headlight bezels). Also, the passenger outside headlight probably needs a new headlight bezel. But it is MUCH cleaner and I’m real happy with the outcome thus far. Also, just got inside and took the front bumper brackets off (no pics of it dissembled).. taking they to my boy now to blast and powdercoat them!
More to come!
Been hustling on the car. Got a lot done. Still much more to go. Will be at Doin’ It In The Dark in Lakeland on 2/28 to show the progress. This past Sunday my Pops and I dropped the motor in the car. 1) I had to move it as we moved a carport and it couldn’t stay where I had it 2) I wanted to be able to cut the wires to the correct length for the starter etc. Really no reason for it not to be sitting in the car at the point.
Lastest progress:
-More parts finished from powdercoat thus I could begin putting more back together
-More parts back from sandblasting that I planned to paint to seal them up nicely (hood tensioner setup, etc.)
-AccuAir wiring including the ViAir compressors
-Strut rods installed including the new bushings – at first thought the passenger side was going to be a beast to mount but ended up fine. I had to install the 2 bolts on the RideTech control arms and then get the front bracket aligned
-Motor dropped in
Blasted and painted:
Shout out to the Suicide Slabs crew
My buddy didn’t have the right media to blast these nasty brackets. I’ll prob get another guy I know to blast and coat them
Although this isn’t the final spot where these wiring items will go for the compressors etc. it made it easy for me to work on here – used a couple of battery lugs, solder, wiring from Ron Francis Wiring, heat shrink, etc. Solid / clean connections
Strut rods. I put the flat surface in the vice to get the nut started – I had to purchase that wrench when I took these bad boys off because I didn’t have an open ended wrench large enough!
Transporting the motor a few miles to my house to drop in the car. We moved a car port a few hours before taking this photo. I’m putting up a 40×24 shop. This will allow me to do so much more and help finish this car up!
Once to my house, we backed the trailer up right near the front of the car…. cherry picked it out.. while lifted off the trailer I put the clips back in for the oil pan bolts (had then sand blasted) and then swung it around to drop err in. Couldn’t have went any easier.
Other updates:
Decided to retain the 67 dash vs dropping in the 65 dash I purchased. Why you ask, will be easier and allow me to focus on other things I need to work on. I also picked up some BAD ASS Digital Dakota gauges. They are going to be awesome once installed. It is one of their VHX kits and should be really sick once installed. Plus it will be super easy to adapt to the Ron Francis Wiring in the car.
I’m working on getting the transmission rebuild by Monster Transmission –> http://www.monstertransmission.com/
Much more to come!
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