New to The Forum - 76 Country Squire

Purchased a 1976 Ford Country Squire from the original owner last summer. His kids no longer wanted him to drive; he was getting too old.

Light cream colored exterior with sable interior. Power windows, power seats, and power lock all in working order. Body in good shape. Driver's seat ripped and all armrests cracked and broken.

Summary of project plan below.

Already performed:
- Replaced AM/FM/CB with CD/MP3/Bluetooth/SDRam player.
- Replaced stock speakers with modern 3-way speakers
- Replaced stock 600 Holley with 750 Edelbrock carburetor
- Replaced stock intake with aluminum Edelbrock dual plane intake.
- Upgraded cylinder heads with D0VE heads.
- Replaced cam with custom ground RV cam.
- Installed roller rockers
- Installed dished pistons
- Overbored the 460c.i. engine by 0.03"
- Installed hardened push rods.
- Upgraded stick exhaust with 2.5" H-Pipes, removed cats altogether, and installed flowmaster muffs.

Currently in progress:
- Replacing C6 transmission with AOD
- Converting to wider gears (from 2.46, 1.46, 1 to 2.84, 1.55, 1, 0.7)
- Replacing 3.0 rear gear with 3.25 rear gear

Near Future:
- Installing 1998 Ford Crown vic steering assembly
- plus one sizing the wheels to enable brake upgrade
- converting to all disc brakes
- custom fabricating interior door panels (unless minty stocks can be found)
- installing 3rd row seats (owner removed and tossed them out in the 80s !?)

Distant future:
- Inserting heated massaging seat features into current front seats
- recarpeting interior
- repainting exterior to a metallic flake dark olive drab/forest green
- replacing faded/cracked wood applique with a walnut burl applique
- rechroming bumpers
- weight reduction (removal of bars behind bumpers ~300lbs, removal of crash bars in doors ~120lbs, replacing front clip with fiberglass parts ~300lbs)

Rechristened the vehicle name to: Grrretchen.

Thanks for having me on the boards, let me know if you have any comments/suggestions on Grrretchen.

P.S. sold my 93 convertible corvette to fund this project

 

Hidey ho good wagon neighbor! Welcome to the madness! Sounds like some big fun on a cool wagon. Can we bother you for a few dozen when you get the chance? How have your upgrades affected items like drivability and gas mileage?

 

Welcome, Norselord!
Sounds like you've been busy...and it all sounds like a great build plan!
Looking forward to seeing many pics!

 

to the forum. Enough with the pretty woids. Where's the pretty pictures? When you get it finished next week take a bunch of photos. Or if you are working slowly how about some before, during, and more during!

 

Pictures attached based on purchase condition.

Exterior and interior have not seen much improvement, since the top priority for Grrretchen is to get the drivetrain and steering done before any of the cosmetics.

 

Upgrades have made a significant change in driving.

Total power went from about ~200HP to ~450HP. Straight line acceleration severely improved with increase in torque. Actually have to make sure not to floor it too much or it will lay down a long patch of rubber. Overtake acceleration also significantly improved. Have yet to take Grrretchen to the track to test 0-60mph times and 1/4 mile times, pretty sure that i can improve on the stock 11.8s 0-60 and 18.1 1/4.

Gas mileage down quite a bit in city driving, mostly because of driving style... Guessing about 7mpg right now. The addition of the overdrive transmission coupled with the increased compression (from 8:1 to 10:1) should yield a highway mpg over 15mpg.

Handling is ... well ... what you would expect from 2.5 ton wagon. A series of weight reduction, steering improvement, and suspension upgrades should help a little; the main them is still to break hard going into a corner and to accelerate out of it. It is not possible to maintain any speed around a corner right now.

 

all that work ?....and NO pics??....

some ambitious plans there

lookin forward to seeing her !!

to the board

 

How long does it typically take for posts to show up?

I imagine there three different levels of approval:

1. New posts.
2. Posts with attachments
3. Responses to existing posts (not having attachments)

Just curious, that's all...

 

Excellent wagon, and excellent plan! I'm new here too, and just acquired a 1970 Country Squire, so I'm excited to see some pics of what you've done to yours!

 

Welcome to the Forum!! Sounds like an awesome car...can wait to see her.

 

Geez, nL, you've got some plans!

You've got some 'yardin' to do......................but you've probably already done a bit already.

Welcome to the forum!



Marshall

 

Welcome norselord

 

Congratulations on your new project. Sounds like you have a great start on your wagon. Good like with the rest of your list. Hope you keep us posted.

 

Welcome aboard and thanks for posting photos!

 

This is norselord by another name. Forgot my username/password/email account.

Thought I'd provide an update, with pictures.

It's been 3.5 years since i purchased this thing and it is taking forever (my wife reminds me weekly)

The car has been painted -- no longer sand colored, it is now a deep metallic army green.
New vinyl has been added.
New 'wood' trim has been added.
The seats have been dyed from the poop-brown color to sand.
The dash has been pulled, and will be replaced with custom gauges, real wood panel inserts, and a touchscreen GPS stereo.

Pictures of the above, shown below.