1962 Bel air 9 passenger station wagon

Got the wagon back last week. The owner at the trans shop was suppose to put a pinion seal in the rear end but forgot to. I pulled the yoke, seal and bearing. Bearing was making some noise so I bought a new one only to find out that I was given one for the inside of the chunk. Suppose to have one in the morning.

Dad got the pinion seal in after I messed the first one up the other day. What a pain in the rear. Drove the car tonight. Gas gauge is jumping around. Right turn signal works sometimes and the rear main seal looks like its leaking engine oil.

All the little things a side I'm sure it's a fun cruiser. It will just take a little bit to get all them worked out.

By the time I turned fifty, I had a few issues too. The wife still likes to keep me around though.

Filled the fuel tank about 3/4 full last night. Went out this after noon to take a ride and its leaking fuel. The tank looks brand new. Going to take it back to the farm and check everything. I don't trust what the previous owner has worked on

Tore into the car to replace the rear main seal and it won't come out. I finally gave up after getting aggravated at it. Called a local guy who said he would replace it but its going to be a "couple" of weeks. I hope he can get the old one out or the engine is going to haver to be pulled. Guess I'll fix the fuel leak and work on the suspension until he can get to it.

That bites.

Isn't it a two part rope seal?

Arieldouglas wrote:Isn't it a two part rope seal?

Two piece but not a rope seal. Its in there pretty good. The other half on the main bearing won't even come off easily.

Try hunting a tank out west. I found a good one for my old 64 wagon out there after I spent a fortune on trying to get mine fixed and it still was junk. I think the place I found mine was something like Big M Used Auto Parts. He had a bunch of wagon tanks. He said he got them years ago from people that were building old wagons to run in the Demo Derby way back when. I guess they had to take the tanks out to compete.

Looks like I'll be pulling the engine. Pulled the gas tank and the rubber gasket between the sending unit and the fuel tank is leaking. The sending unit is corroded. Anyone know if anyone makes a fuel tank and sending unit for a wagon?

Still can't get the seal out?

I haven't tried the seal again. Just worked on the fuel tank to see why it was leaking. I"ve been working on the farm since the weather has been nice the last week or so.

Gas tank is bei9ng boiled out. Finished pulling the engine and trans today. Took the trans over to a buddy's place to tear the engine down. Going to clean it up and paint it.

Stick with it kiddo, those old wagons are well worth it. We had ton's of fun in our old wagon and ran the wheels off of it. I can't wait to start working on the next one. I picked up an 84 LTD wagon this fall. We got three wagons right now. Gotta love the long roofs!

Would this be a good time to think about overdrive?

I thought about going to a 700R4. $650-$700 to have one rebuilt, plus the cost to buy a core. Then the work on the drive shaft and shifetr linkage. I'm figuring it will cost a grand to do the swap. I've already spent $320 on having the old powerglide worked on.

Pulled the intake, heads, and water pump off tonight.

My buddy Kevin tried to get the seal out and had no luck. We wound up having to pull the crank. After a hammer and screw driver the seal was out. The timing chain and gear had too much slack and needed to be replaced. The engine needed to be cleaned, so for a little more $$ in rings, rod and main bearins I opted to rebuild the engine. Kevin has all the equipment at his shop. I finished tearing down the engine tonight. A couple of the main bearings had a groove in them.

I've seen a WHOLE lot nastier engines than that. How do the cylinders mic out? Are you going back pretty stock?

Arieldouglas wrote:I've seen a WHOLE lot nastier engines than that. How do the cylinders mic out? Are you going back pretty stock?

I'm going back stock. I haven't checked the measurements yet. just trying to clean everything up.

Got a lt of love in this one...stick with it! She's gonna be worth the effort.

Later,

Lee

P.S. Smart move on the rebuild...I'd have done the same.

Well I ordered the engine and suspension parts. The gas tank was boiled out and relined once I found a stock sending unit. Found out that one company had a brand new sending units listed on ebay lower than what they had on their website. Called today and was told that they only had a sending unit for a 6 passenger. When I got home tonight I looked at the again again. No mention of "exclude 9 passenger."

Right side inner fender and battery tray was pulled, paint and reinstalled.

Thanks for the update! Hope to see it back on the road soon.

Later,

Lee

The box of parts came in this past Wed. All of my suspension, brake and engine parts.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f10/17/94/90/00/averz_10.jpg



Put new O ring seals in.

https://i.servimg.com/u/f10/17/94/90/00/averz_12.jpg


Might be a good gas pedal for the wagon.


https://i.servimg.com/u/f10/17/94/90/00/averz_11.jpg

Early Xmas