1960 Restoration Project

[redvettemike]

I am a new Squarebird guy in Ms. We are doing a '60 restoration for a good guy here. He bought this '60 (and a donor car) from an individual in KS. while he worked a big egg facility up there several years ago. His first restoration effort did not go well and so we will now try our hand at it. We are off to a good start with the help on Ray Clark on this forum. We will post some photos of our progress on the Tbird and will also, I am sure, be asking some questions. The owner has bought many new parts and we have that second car which is complete (both these cars were factory a/c cars). The engine had been rebuilt and the bottom of the Tbird (suspension, steering. brakes have been worked on). The body needs help being banged up on just about every panel. There are not to many of these Squarebirds around this part on the country. We are looking forward to working on what we hope will be a fine ride.

[redvettemike]

Hello: I am a new member in Ms. In an unplanned second career I am doing some classic car restoration work. We are starting now on a 1960 Thunderbird. The vehicle (and a second 'donor' car) both came fro Kansas. Both are pretty rough but our plan is to get them worked into fine shape. Ray Clark of this forum has already been of great help to us. We will post some photos as we move along on this project.

[YellowRose]

Mike, in Mississippi, is restoring a 1960 Squarebird for a customer. There is also a Squarebird parts car that he will be able to pull parts from if desired. He is probably going to have a lot of questions since this will be his first Squarebird to restore. He has restored Babybirds and other classic cars, as you will see from his pix and his FB account. I have already provided him with considerable information regarding the Squarebird. The owner has a lot of parts for the car also, which will be a help. There are new seat covers and seat cushions going on now. Hopefully, Mike will be posting pix as he goes. Mike, since this is your first go at a Squarebirds restoration, take a lot, many, many pix of things before you start taking them apart. So that when you start putting things back together again, you will have pix to refer back to. Also, as you take parts off, tag or annotate them somehow as to what they are and where they go. Post questions and pix as you go so we can see what you are working on, and what you might be having problems with. Remember, we are just a phone call, email, or Private Message away...

Gine~Pearlbird also said... This will be interesting to follow and see the progress. Hope you keep sharing photos!

[YellowRose]

Mike just sent me pix of the engine bay of the '60 they are restoring. The other '60 is the parts car. Someone had removed the OEM AC box from the firewall, so that is why you do not see it. The parts car still has the box in place. As you can see, this '60 Tbird with AC already has the necessary 3 groove crankshaft pulley in place! They also have the necessary oem 3 groove water pump pulley and the York mounting bracket. They are going to replace the OEM AC with a Classic Auto Air Perfect Fit aftermarket AC system for the 1960 Squarebird. Here are the pix that Mike sent.

[YellowRose]

Mike sent me a couple more pix and said this...

"We have it where we can do a bit of work on it. And will do so pretty soon. Tks Mike"

[redvettemike]

Making some progress. We have lower quarter patch panels. The hood and deck lid are off the donor car. We will blast the areas behind those panels before welding the patches on.

[YellowRose]

There is a bit of duplication of information here, because we had two different threads going on the same subject. John ~ jopizz and I merged the two into this one to end the duplication of threads.

[redvettemike]

The '60 Tbird we are working on has some sheetmetal/rust issues. We have some replacement panel and we have a donor car. These rear inner fender panels we however do not have and I do not see that you can buy such panels new (that may not be correct.) So We wouldke to know if such inner panels are in fact made. If not would some of you fine folks have those panels (or could cut out the panels) used? Thanks.
Mike

[partsetal]

There are no panels available for this repair. One solution is to use the corresponding pieces from a salvage quarter panel. The other is to fabricate what you need from 20 ga., 18 ga if you have the equipment to work with it. Those pieces are critical to the support of the quarter panel.

[YellowRose]

I see that Carl ~ partsetal has replied regarding the need for the driver side and passenger side inner fender panels. Unfortunately, Carl does not have those panels either. However, he did say how you can fabricate material to repair it. Don at the Bird Nest told me this also.

"Hello, The wheel house bottoms are not available new. I will look through our used panels to see if we have anything that is in good condition. Does he need it for just the passenger side? Don, Bird Nest."

I told Don that yes, you needs both sides.

[redvettemike]

Does anyone make a fan shroud that will work with one of these Squarebirds? We are replacing the stock a/c with a unit from Classic Auto Air. These first 3 are photos of the donor car. We will ship those horns off for a rebuild (The Horn Works).

[YellowRose]

I gave Mike the information that the Bird Nest (and others) market the ABS fan shroud for the Squarebird and that you also can use the metal one off a 1961-1963 Bulletbird like I did on Rose if you can find one. I also let him know that you can get a new OEM style radiator for that '60 Tbird from the Bird Nest and I think, others... In addition, I gave him the benefit of Dave's thinking regarding going the 4 core or aluminum radiator route....

[redvettemike]

The metal on these SqBirds is pretty thick these boys tell me.

[YellowRose]

Don at the Bird Nest just told me that what they do have in the way of those rear inner fender panels are in the same condition and even worse than what Mike has on his hands. He also said they are not getting much in the way of 1958-1960 parts cars these days.

[YellowRose]

Sherman brought his parts trailer to the shop and here is some of the stuff in it. Yes, those are brand new K-H rims with whitewall radials on them, already mounted and balanced.. BTW, Mike said they have the metal work ability to fix those inner rear fender panels... Here are some pix that Mike sent me.