Modifications and Upgrades to my 1957 Ford Fairlane 500

This video shows some of the modifications that I made to this car which I bought in 2011.
I do drive this car and have put on about 1,500 miles per year on it.
If you like it give me a thumbs up
Comments welcome
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[@thomasnorman951]

Great music and a great Ford thunder road

[@ROKuberski]

Glad you enjoyed the project.

[@olblu8746]

Great job on a great looking car.

[@ROKuberski]

Thanks!.

[@65rivierags35]

The 1957 ford Fairlane 500 2-door hardtop is certainly one of the best looking cars from the 1950s Era

[@65rivierags35]

Along with the 1957 Chevy Bel-Air 2-door hardtop!

[@ROKuberski]

You know I am biased, but, I really believe that the 1957 Ford has a much more distinctive styling than the Chevy. It outsold the Chevy, but the Chevy has a big fan base now. This is not a forum for which is the best, that's best done over a campfire with a beer.

[@ROKuberski]

You know that I will agree with that statement.

[@tompritchard154]

Ford kept it classy with the tailfins, never went overboard like Chrysler and some GM.

[@craigszwed]

My first car was 1957 fire engine red Fairlane with the 292. Paint was faded, so I repainted it candy apple red. It was a FL country dirt road car with oil bath air cleaner. That caused internal plugging of many or most oil passages in the block, so the previous owner had installed overhead oilers between the oil pump to the top end as a shower for the rockers and tappets. I miss that old gal.

[@ROKuberski]

I've read that the valve train oiling is not too good on the Y block engines and the modification you describe has been done by many engine rebuilders. I doubt that a problem was caused by the oil bath air cleaner. If the air cleaner is serviced, they work well. I added an oil bath air cleaner to a 37 Chev I restored. The original air cleaner on that car was just a metal screen, it would filter out small rocks, but not dust.

[@tompritchard154]

My Uncle bought a new one when he got out of the Air Force. Black, three on the tree with overdrive, Thunderbird V-8. Kept it till he died in 2011.

[@ROKuberski]

Great car with GREAT styling.

[@thoreakes1439]

Thanks for sharing. Hope you still have the car.

[@ROKuberski]

Yes, I still have the car. I am about to install a Ford AOD transmission. This will give the car a true 4-speed transmission with o/d.

[@mdogg1604]

The '57 Ford looks great from any angle; I think it's one of the best looking cars ever. Your new red paint job really pops!

[@ROKuberski]

Matt, Thanks for the comments. I really like the red/white too, but then I am partial to red. Since I made this video I've put in power steering and hydroboost power brakes plus new rear leaf springs. Much nicer to drive now. The front disk brakes really need the power boost to get the most out of them.

[@alanblanes2876]

@@ROKuberski I am delighted to you are constantly upgrading this car. That is the best way to get enjoyment out of the car hobby.

[@alanblanes2876]

What a satisfying video....love to see upgrades!

[@ROKuberski]

Thanks, I appreciate your comments. Considering ZERO for labor, I think I have as much invested in the car as what it is worth. As you can imagine, I am very fond of the paint scheme. The car came in a lot of color combinations. The red is supposed to be an original 1957 Ford red, but the white I used is brighter than the Colonial White used in 1957. When prepping the car for paint, you could see the old white and it almost looked brown compared to the bright white on the car now. My upgrades are mostly replacing worn parts (power steering gear), safety (power disk brakes), drive-ability (EFI, AOD transmission) and comfort (A/C.) It creaks and groans a little, so maybe new rubber isolation in the future as well as more sound insulation.

[@mrskeets52]

That is sweet my first car was a 57 Fairlane 500 hard top,, no posts 292 Y block and 3 on the tree. I loved that car went to SE Asia came home and it was junked,,been crashed a couple times not by me,,, Anyway, I would love to find a driver again, though it handled like a barge, it was a sweet machine for me Thanks for the trip!!

[@caseywolcott8605]

What wheels did you use that fit the disc brake kit. I’m about to do a conversion on my 57 and would like to keep the oem hubcaps cause I love the look.

[@ROKuberski]

My wheels are from a late 70's Granada. They have 14" wheels and the wheel covers fit just fine. I did not want to change the look of the wheels either. I had to look hard to find 5 wheels. My car is not a hotrod and I did not want to give it that look with new wheels. By the way, that wilwood disk brake kit is very well designed and a snap to install. You will really like the disk brakes. I installed a master cylinder from a late 60's full size Ford sedan. It's dual chamber and was designed for a disk/drum set up. I thought I could get away with non power brakes, but not so. The master is so close to the exhaust manifold that at first I installed a 7" boost unit. It won't work well where I live, about 5,500', just not enough boost. I installed a hydro boost unit from a late 70's Ford car. This works great. But, it needs hydraulic power to work. Since I also ditched the old manual steering box and put in power steering, I already had what I needed. Good luck with your project.

[@gingermeig]

Tom here sharing Richard. If you ever decide to part with this car, I would be very interested in it. You probably have people lining up for. But having had three Skyliners (57, 58 and 59) and a 57 hardtop. I do know a bit about the cars and would treat it right. TC

[@ROKuberski]

Tom, Thanks for the comments. I would sell the car, but my price would be too high for any sane person to pay. There will be a time to sell, but not likely now.

[@gingermeig]

@@ROKuberski I hear you Richard. You have done an insane amount of QUALITY work!! So keep me in the loop when the time comes. All the best! Tom

[@ROKuberski]

I haven't posted a video of my most recent project. I just installed a remanufactured long block from S&J engines. I've only got about 150 miles on it and I am still having tuning issues. I am using my previously installed EFI unit, but I'm having what feels like a misfire under load. I did see a spark leak from a distributor wire, (not a plug wire) but never found a fault in the insulation. I have some slide over insulation that I use in my radio repair hobby and I used that to cover the wire. I no longer see a stray spark, but there is still something that is not right. It's virtually a new engine with almost all new parts. So, I just have to slog through this until I find the problem.

[@gingermeig]

Do you still have? Fantastic work and everything done so well.

[@ROKuberski]

Thanks for your comments. I still have the car. Check my other videos and see a couple more videos of work on the car.

[@gingermeig]

@@ROKuberski I had two 1957’s. One was a two hard top like yours, the other was a Skyliner. Later had a 1958 and 1959 Skyliner’s I had to rebuild the 312 in the 1957 as bought in California, but neglected to add antifreeze for Chicago winter 😩

[@tubedude1077]

57 fords outsold chevs in 1957 and again and again in 1959 and the tri-5 T-birds outsold the corvette 5 to 1 for those who are ignorant to the fabulous fords of the fifties.

[@lynndempsey4096]

stephan leman yeah Chevrolet sucks always has and always will!!!

[@ROKuberski]

I would prefer to avoid inflammatory comments about other vehicles. I'm not going to debate the relative merits of different cars. I've got a 2002 Corvette in the garage, and the car I restored prior to the Fairlane was a 1937 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Sport Sedan, you can find a video about that on my channel too. I also organized the restoration of a 1929 Chevrolet for the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver. I got a crew together, got companies to donate goods/services and money and we did the project at no cost to the museum.

[@TheCatOfAges]

i absolutely prefer the inca gold over the red but thats just me...

[@ROKuberski]

The car had been painted yellow/white, neither color was original. The Colonial white has brown in it and I did not like that, so, it's a brighter white and the red is a '57 Ford color. It was not a hard decision for me, I LIKE RED. Thanks for your comment.

[@TheCatOfAges]

@@ROKuberski aaaah, i thought it was original paint, my bad, i have a '57 292 3 speed sedan myself, the white does appear a shade of cream when its not in direct sunlight. Mine had 96k original miles and had been parked since the mid 90s, really the early 80s.

[@ROKuberski]

Mine had 102k when I got it. I've put about 12k on in in the past10 years.

[@TheCatOfAges]

@@ROKuberski wow, mines in a bit rough shape, its my first project, somethings up with the 2300 holley, have a new gas tank, needs a lot of bodywork, i have a few videos of it on my channel.

[@ROKuberski]

It's satisfying to to complete the project. Are you on the "57fordsforever.com" website? Lots of good information there.

[@d14d]

5 people don't appreciate the classics

[@ROKuberski]

Although this is my favorite 50's car, there are lots of other that have their fans too.

[@Bossrich6287]

Did you correct the oiling problem to the heads?

[@ROKuberski]

Everything seems to be working properly.

[@mikeromano2219]

where is the fuse box on this car? thanks.

[@ROKuberski]

Mike, Sorry for the delay in response. This car does not have a fuse box. There are several inline fuses and a fuse on the back of the headlight switch. That's all that I am aware of.