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Rubber mounts between body and frame

8K views 10 replies 2 participants last post by  ford4v429 
#1 ·
Hello there folks!! I need some info on the rubber body mounts that go between the frame and the body on a 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 2dr. Hdtp.
You see 3 yrs ago I started to restore this car because of 2 reasons:

1. I was born in it and some day would like to drive it completely restored.

2. The frame was rusting out and I figured to do something about it before it got too late.

In order to rebuild the frame completely I had to take the body off, and in the process some of the pieces were destroyed. I want to replace them with new ones but the closest year is, that I can find to fit is, 1964. I cannot find these rubber mounts for a '65 unless they are custom made.

Can anyone help me with this problem???? PLEASE???

Laris500
 
#2 ·
I adapted a urethane kit for a Chevelle(at least they arent true bowtie parts)- if you're restoring, sorry, but if you're just trying to attach the body on a car that was pretty far gone it might be an option...I had to fab rear arches/siderails/torqueboxes, and rather than put the big holes in top of the frame for mounts to sit in, I reversed things a bit- bolted them to the body with carriage bolts and let them sit on the frame. The kit had enough donuts to fit all but the 4 front attachment ones- had to turn 4 biggest ones to thin them a bit(if you have an original frame thichnesses might not be right- mines as close as I could make it, but I'm sure its 'different' at best-I used thin hardware store variety stainless fender washers as shims where needed).
The front j-nuts all broke off, didnt know what else to do, so I filed the holes square, and fished carriage bolts up thru with pushnuts(like they use to hold brakedrums) so they'd stay put. I know these bolts are not grade-8 hardware, but if you would have seen what was holding the car together you'd realize why I wasnt too worried.
I did have to reuse the original two near rear spring mounts- they have a shoulder and collared bushing, mine were the only ones to still be in good shape...I'm a little bit worried about these being softer than the others, but as I used way too heavy material on the frame, expect it to flex much less than it used to. Havent finished the car yet, hopefully the glass wont break first time I hit a bump : )
 
#3 ·
I also had to rebuild the torqueboxes and frame-rails and some fo the rear arches. I took a piece of the old frame-rail to the local steel supplier and told him what it came off of he sold me the same gauge tubing but it was 1/16 inch too narrow but I made it work and welded it in, but also taking my time and measuring and making sure it was still square, after every weld. My dad had the factory specs for it in a body shop book, and to make a short story long, I was well within the specs. The torque-boxes I made out of the same tubing but with wide flat iron to make up the gaps.
The whole process took about 2 months of steady welding and a lot of help from my dad.
I had to put the project on hold for a year or two because I work on the road doing constuction and also needed the rubber mounts.
I really want to get this car restored before my son turns 16 ( he's 7 now.)
Any way thanks for the tip ford4v429 I will definitly look in to those mounts.

Laris500
 
#4 ·
Saw something thought you might be interested in- go here and click on 'May 2001' link: http://www.milleredp.com/~jem/galaxie/
This guy actually mad his own mounts, and tells exactly how he did it-pretty neat if you have the patience...
Just pulled out my 'autokrafters' catalog- they show p/n C5AZ-5000 bodymount (rubber only) kit for 65-68 Galaxies for 129.95 (wish I would have seen this catalog before I bought the chevelle kit from summit racing...) go to www.autokrafters.com and get a catalog...Macs has a nice catalog too, but dont know where mine is right now- sure a quick search would lead you to them.
I bought a lot of stuff thru autokrafters, and aside from a screw missing from a hoseclamp(they sent it next day) and slow shipping on stainless brakelines(vendor said shipped- called autokrafters, they rattled their cage and I got them 2 days later) got very good service- one phone call resolved both minor problems and they were very nice about it.
if you want to see an ugly,rusted beyond hope mess of a frame, click on the www thing by my name- this is where I spent my summer...
 
#5 ·
Thanks Ford4v429 I will definately get a catalog on its way.
Just saw the work on your '65 looks really good you sure have an eye for detail, hope mine looks half as good.
When I get the pics of mine rolling in I'll post them, I have pics of the frame somewhere but have to find them.
Again, your car looks AWESOME, congrats on a job well done!!

Laris500
 
#6 ·
Laris500-
Thanks for the kind words, but I dont know about 'awesome'. This old Gal needs doors/paint pretty bad, and the quarters are wavy from the poor work done 20+ yrs ago. I lived next to the original owner since 83 or 84, only saw him plate it and drive it twice in '92- in door jamb was a texaco oilchange sticker from '79- shows 200 miles since then...(no, the oil wasnt that old when I drained it). Mileage currently is 57384.
He used to warm it up, pull it out, polish it, put it back, and he kept it in a 1 1/2 car garage (I have a picture of the cars the day we pushed the gal out to prove it) beside his 93 grand marquis(which has 6000 on it now-he traded in his 78 grand marquis with about 20,000 on it in 93). He had less than an inch from car to car and mirror to door jamb as he backed out - and still had room to open his door to get out...made it look easy. Hes also got a 79 Zephyr that had 8000 miles on it only 3 yrs ago- his wifes car. He lost his wife a couple years ago, and started driving her car- now it has a whopping 20,000 on it...
Except for the quarters the Galaxies paint was never touched up- but corners of fenders are showing rub thru from polishing. My other neighbor would always say jokingly, "theres Ben polishing the paint off his car again...", he polished the stainless with rubbing alcohol on cotton ball(sounded crazy to me- but musta worked). to say he is meticulous would be an understatement. Last year he was sicker than just about anyone I've ever seen, and was wanting to 'get his affairs in order'- wanted to give me his car as he thought I could get it running and take decent care of it. He was afraid of his daughter having to deal with trying to get it towed out/fixed/sold/whatever, and that it would probably get tore up or something...a "free to a good home type" of thing...As sick as he was, couldnt turn it down, as I know he meant well and had no idea of what it looked like underneath, didnt want to upset him...as he got better, worked up slowly to telling him I needed to 'take apart his baby' for safety reasons- as I carefully tore it apart, I got the feeling he might of thought he gave it to the wrong person, but when he saw the frame he understood why I had to strip it- he came over to help lend a hand bolting the doors on last week, and seemed to really enjoy seeing it come back together.
I'm hoping to have it done by Christmas to just give it back to him (but I promised my kids a ride first- they 'helped' whenever they could) hes in fairly good health now, and hope he gets a few more years to put some miles on it- to me it was just a kinda neat old plain jane 4 door that might be worth half what I've put in it (less a couple hundred hours labor), but to him it was the first new car he ever owned, he still says it was his favorite. This one will always be "Ben's car".
Around here you rarely see any 65/66 galaxies on the road, especially 4 doors...theyre all neat to see on the road.
Too bad he didnt like bigblock convertibles : ) Tim
 
#7 ·
I know what you mean about the '65/'66 not being seen on the road anymore. There is one here where I live, the guy had completely restored and painted a really dark metallic blue it has a 428cj in it and boy it sure does go.
A friend of my dads has a 1965 Galaxie XL Hardtop, its not restored but he had my dad start on it doing the engine work and some of the body as well, it also has a 4-speed in it. I would love to buy it from him and fix it as soon as my '65 is done, but who knows may be he will have sold it by then.
You also rarely see any '57s and '58s, my sister has a 1958 Fairlane 4door post. It belonged to my dad and when he passed away my mom thought it was only fitting to give it to his one and only daughter. I plan on restoring it for her as a surprise this winter, there is not much to do to it so it should only take amonth to paint it and put the interior back in.(I hope!!)

Laris500
 
#8 ·
I Feel Sick... remember when I said something about breaking the glass first time I hit a bump? Well didnt make it that far- went out tonight with my son, he says 'dad- why is there rain on the back window?'. I looked over at the car and said 'I dont knoooOH SHIT...'
Apparently a improperly shimmed body, or mismatched mounts, and temperature changes, or all of the above can explode a window- I'll put a pic on the cars webpage tonight. It actually did look kinda like it had rained on it... warmed up a lot this afternoon, must not have happened long before we went out as you could still hear it crackling as we looked at it.
Now Ive got a dilemma...to replace the mounts the safe way, gotta pull the doors/steering/parking brake, etc, etc, haul them back to brother in laws, bring hydraulic lifts/body cradle back, etc, etc-basically undo the past couple weeks work
-OR-
remove the inner column mount, loosen front mounts, remove rear mounts, rear bumper, and try to lift just the rear end up (how?) the inch or so needed to pull the two original soft mounts out. Worst case I'd lift it wrong, kink the roof, break the windshield, and call the junkyard to come get it(this was my original worry, and why I made full length rocker lifting cradles to begin with).
I'm guessing that although I was pretty careful to shim the mounts for even pressure, using the softer mounts above the axle was a huge mistake- tightening these bolts probably just crushed the soft rubber, binding the body on the harder urethane pads a couple feet ahead and behind these...As I had lifted the body at least 30 times, welded, pounded, etc without incident, and am pretty confident all the mounts/pads were shimmed OK, dont know what else could have done it. Body bolts had only been torqued for a week or two...thing that really pisses me off, I was thinking about removing the rear window last night so I could replace some trim clips and start prepping roof for paint, but came in early and started watching TV...
This sucks.
 
#9 ·
Sorry about the rear glass on your '65, I know what its like to go thru a bunch of work like that and have something like that happen, its enough to piss off the Pope.
I think in the long run it would be better to pull the body off again ( I know you don't want to hear that.), but you reduce the risk of kinking the roof and busting the windshield, just hang in there and before you know it you'll be cruising down main street.
Again I am really sorry.

Laris500
 
#10 ·
Laris500-
thanks- I quit pouting over my screwup, got back at it- just lifted one side at a time to replace the mounts, still had to unhook a lot, but doors got to stay put. Mounts all urethane now, everything reshimmed torqued back down, and all the unhooked stuff put back together-
thought about pulling windshield to reseat it in a new bed of adhesive with no stresses from the body, but I think odds of me breaking it taking it out kinda balance out with the 'it might be fine as-is' gamble...if it breaks, then I'll cry some more and tackle that one. Pretty confident all is well, as I spent hours going around reshimming the mounts/pads- this time I shimmed bolted mounts just a touch more snug than the pads, so when bolts torqued, should crush more even pressure on the floating pads. First time I had shimmed for as even (unbolted) pressure as possible, but rethinking, the bolted mounts have to compress a bit under bolt torque, even if same material in all mounts- this way should give more uniform load/less bind after tightening bolts...I think.
If it breaks it breaks, best I could do...time will tell
Tim
 
#11 ·
Finally got a replacement glass- but it dont fit well...either my car had 'straightened' or the donor had 'curved'- curvature of glass about 1/4" too much at center. Hard to say, maybe a little of both, but this might be a caution to anyone with frame troubles: might be a good idea to take to a glass shop and have front/rear glass removed/reset, just in case it might have taken a set from sitting on a saggy frame- apparently given enough years, glass will bend. Resetting body on a strong frame will shift the loading around a bit- I'm convinced the body on mine was holding the frame together-imagine the donor car was similar or worse- maybe actually broken. Rebedding in fresh sealant should relieve any tension between body and glass- I think.
After waiting so long to get the glass, and worrying about shipping, aint about to pull it back out- just going put rubber spacers at center rest pads(on the moulding clips for '65s), set with the newer style urethane adhesive that shouldnt creep like the old butyl rubber stuff, and hope for the best. Will need to spring trim 'open' a bit towards center so it wont press too hard, and 'close' it a bit at the corners so it will reach the glass- shouldnt show unless someones really looking for a twist in it...
Hopefully car will be roadworthy soon, and can get to a glass shop to get quote on front/rear reset(probably gonna get another glass and reveal mouldings too- have them put in whatever fits best). Just gotta weigh cost of resetting now vs risk of having to replace(and availability).
Glass problems were something I'd never dreamed of- never think about how much stress this stuff takes as the bodies flex...
Amazing how a camaro or similar glass hatch has constant gas strut force at outer corners, locks only at the center, and opens on two hinge points...bet they busted a few figuring how to do that one!
 
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