Upgrades
(Page 5 of 5)


For Christmas 2018, Santa brought me and Betsy a GenAlt - that's a modern altenator inside a generator housing. Altenators put out more consistent electricity. Now I should not have that annoying generator light on when sitting at a stoplight.

Side by side, the GenAlt and Betsy's generator. The biggest telltale sign is the two wires.

But to really make this work for better headlights, the wiring had to be modified. Since the voltage regulator is no longer needed, we decided to use that location to hide the new wiring.

Back to Ebay to find a good looking voltage regulator case. We didn't care if it worked or not as we had to gut it completely. We found this case.

A bit of cleanup and it will look great.

Fully installed and working.

During one of the late fall drives, I snapped the heater control lever again. As usual, it had gummed up from lack of use and the pot metal gave. At Spring Carlisle, we were talking to the guys at Ol' 55 and they mentioned these new slip-slide cables. So Betsy is getting those. I set the camera down for a few minutes to install them and got captured in the pictures.

The new slip slide cables installed. The black coating should help prevent the sticking from dirt and dust buildup.

At Spring Carlisle, we also picked up two pairs of the new LED reflector replacements that Danchuk has. Betsy and the Wagon both got a set to provide more light on the back of the car.

The new reflector looks very stock.

For Christmas 2019 I asked for new shoes for Betsy and Santa brought me 5 Coker tires with wide white walls. Love you Santa!

Of course I had to put the new tires on. The old Broadways had lasted for 14 years. The thrumming was getting very loud.

Betsy proudly shows off her new shoes.

Along with those new shoes, we also purchased the kits to upgrade to self-adjusting brakes. For those who don't know, this is the inside of an original 1956 drum brake system, before the self-adjusting kit installation.

The axle seal was also leaking. The easiest way to remove the old axle bearing retainer is to cut it off.

Then you have to drive the new one on, keeping it even all the way around the axle as you go.

And this is the inside of the brake system with the upgraded automatic adjusters. Modern drums have self adjusters from the factory. Of course disc brakes apply better stopping power, but Betsy is being kept original for now.

Betsy is just waiting patiently for the tire to be put back on.

Betsy temporarily has a new bay in the garage while we finish up the Ranchero. Sadie looks down from her bird's eye perch.

The family decided that Betsy needed a new radio. A new Custom Autosound radio with the Wonderbar look was purchased as a birthday present for Michelle.

The new radio installed, with all the modern technology wrapped in a classic, original look.
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The play in the steering was getting spooky. At almost a third of a wheel turn, it was also getting dangerous. After some diagnostics, we determined that the steering box was worn out. This is the one from the Wagon as she gets a new high performance unit. Since this one is still good, Betsy will get it so that she remains stock.

Along with the new steering box, her steering wheel was to be fixed. It had started cracking again. Until that is complete, Betsy will borrow the one from the Wagon as it is getting a slightly smaller wheel to go with the high performance unit.
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For Christmas 2021, I asked Santa for a drive-in theater speaker for Betsy. Thank you, Santa. This is an original speaker, cleaned up, but not working. We have some plans for this gem.
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Dismantling
Dismantling
Dogleg Rust Repair
Welding
Engine and Chassis
Frame
Body Work
Body Work
Painting
Painting
Reassembly
Reassembly
Before and After
Before and After

Drive, Show, and Enjoy