I have made a deal and will pay for and finalize on Monday the purchase of a 1974 Squire wagon. It's not the 1975 wagon with a V6 I was hoping to find, but with some work, it will work out great! I won't have to deal with the People's Republic of California and the smog issue any longer! It has a 2.3L with manual trans and the only other option I noticed was the sport mirrors, otherwise it has manual steering, manual brakes, and no AC. It also includes a pair of later model Escort sport seats, which is a plus because I like those seats and wanted to use those type of seats anyway! My plans are to strip off all the Squire trim, install a '76 grille and trim and swap in a 2.8L V6 drivetrain with 8-inch rearend. Eventually, I'll adapt in a T-5 with a 3.40 rearend and convert to 5-lug wheels. I've included a couple of photos. It's not pretty or "shiney", but the main body is straight with no rust and it runs and drives!
I couldn't upload any photos. I kept getting message that the upload folder is full.
Congrads. I also own a 74 squire wagon here in California. Just for info right now in California anything 75 on down is smog exempt. When you take the squire trim off I would be interested in buying any of it in good shape.
Jake
Hi Jake,
The trim will all be available for sale. The decal material is pretty well shot on all of it, but the trim itself is nice and straight without any dents, etc. Let me know if you may still be interested.
Brien
79panel
The decal stuff I already have found NOS but all the trim I would be very interested in.
Jake
Hey Brien,
Congrat`s on the new Pony...Yeah it is nice to shine the CAL SMOG POLICE...nuttin` better :showback:...I`m done with it myself...my work van is a `71 Dodge...I love payin` $40.00 a year for registration..and no B/S...Keep us posted on the progress!
Rex
I'm going to try to see if photos will load now! It's not pretty, but it's straight and rust free...a good place to start!
Very cool. Rear hatch air deflector and all. Nice!
Jake
And one more....
You know Brien, all those pictures missed one very important aspect of the car, the wonderful smell that radiated from the cars interior....what was that airfreshner called? Old gym sock? I forget. But hey, aside from my yellow 80 sedan, all my cars have smelled like old gym sock when I bought 'em! Wouldn't want it any other way! Brien, I have my eyes on that wind deflector... Oh, btw, Gaslight, where you live? I'm in Cali too! My red 79 used to be a squire!
I am up in Fillmore which is Ventura County. Right now I just pulled the motor and trans from my squire. I am prepping the 2.3 turbo a 5 speed to go in. Had a bit of a battle with the flywheel. Turns out the T-bird and Merkur use different flywheels. Oh well its sorted now.
Jake
you usually dont see a blue with the wood paneling.. i always see white, brown, tan, or yellow, that is kool i like the color combo
Hi skrach,
Thanks for the comments, but my plans are to remove all of the Squire trim as I don't want to take the additional time necessary to maintain the vinyl woodgrain. I've had a couple of Squires and if you have to park them outside, as you would for work, they just don't hold up looking well for much more than a few years. I'm going to paint it an original dark metallic blue and let it go at that. It should look good with the wheels I'm considering and should pass scrutiny of the "Shiney Police"!!! ;)
Quote from: wagonmaster on August 03, 2006, 12:38:09 PM
Hi skrach,
Thanks for the comments, but my plans are to remove all of the Squire trim as I don't want to take the additional time necessary to maintain the vinyl woodgrain. I've had a couple of Squires and if you have to park them outside, as you would for work, they just don't hold up looking well for much more than a few years. I'm going to paint it an original dark metallic blue and let it go at that. It should look good with the wheels I'm considering and should pass scrutiny of the "Shiney Police"!!! ;)
The Shiney Police are allways on the lookout for Shiney wheels. :police:
I love those squires.
I never had one but always wanted one...the woodgrain and a hot motor is a rocking combo...like very stealth.
Faux wood Roxz
Frank
my squire is a 78 with a orange/wood . v6 auto bought it 2000 . been a great car till 2004.
cromcru - What happened in 2004?!?
My '74 wagon arrived today! It starts up quickly and gets almost 60lbs oil pressure quickly, but it won't stay running without pumping the heck out of the gas pedal. Tinkered with her a bit today, but didn't find anything unusual. The fuel level in the float bowl looked good and didn't look dirty or corroded. Took off the timing belt cover to check the cam timing and found that the timing belt has numerous splits, so that will be one of the first things that gets replaced. The car came with Escort sport seats that were not bolted down and, much to my surprise, the Escort tracks lined up with the holes for the Pinto so I bolted them down to be able to at least sit in it without falling over! Anyway, because the car has been sitting for ten years, I'm planning on replacing the fuel pump and carburetor. I would rebuild the carb, but someone did a poor job the last time and a good number of the screw heads are messed up. Hopefully, by next weekend, I'll have her running well enough to drive around. I'll attach some photos of her arrival.
First - on the truck coming in.
Second - down off the truck.
Third - keeping good company!!
well simple enough. i had to replace the converter and muffler due to pin hole leaks before i had to smog it. then the carb went out .you know the one we all hate. 2700 varb venturie. well new one out of the box . the carb started out being a problem. all the work into it and i cant get it to idle under 950/975 rpm . so 3 tries at smog. would not pass idle. sooo i put it on non op and has been that way for the last two years.sure i could put a 2150 carb on and pass. but being the is a california smog car. you know how the smog shops areeeee grrrrrrrrrrrr. ohwell lol i hope yours goes better then mine
Sorry to pry but what happens when you swap carbs? they research the carb and all that?
I'm not in Cali so I havent a clue what the smog inspectors do there.
Frank
cromcru - Where in Cal are you located?
FCANON - Yes, they do check to make sure you have the proper carb when a smog check is done because it is an integral part of the "smog system" and can alter emissions. I have heard of cases where the carb was rebuilt and the carb tag was left off and the smog station would no issue a smog cert because of the missing tag! That's a bit extreme, but it gives you an idea of the crap we have to put up here in the great "People's Democratic Republic of California"! Another part of the Cal smog laws is that, if the vehicle came with a single exhaust, you cannot change it to a dual exhaust. The reasoning behind this is because the vehicle was not originally tested and smog certified with the dual exhaust! Fun, huh?!? There's all kinds of gimmes and gotchas in the smog laws that make it one big pain in the a**!!!! Our illustrious, foolish governator has also bought into the "global warming" crap and is now planning on new laws to "combat global warming"! I just can't wait to see what we're in for!! ...and just think...about twenty-five years ago the same nuts talking about global warming were screaming and warning us about a pending "ice age"!!!
i live in northern cali. town called oroville :welcome:
That's a nice area up there. A lot less crowded than SoCal!!
GREAT NEWS!!! I've finally had some time to work on the engine in the '74 to get it running. I did a compression test and got 160 across all cylinders!! ...and I get just a tick over 60lbs oil pressure when first started cold and it holds above 40 at operating temp, so I know that I have at least a good foundation to start with. This morning I put on the new carb I got off eBay and now it will start right up and actually idle! I adjusted the clutch, but it appears that the clutch is about shot. Oh well!!! Can't have everything!! I have a question. Has anyone ever seen an electronic trigger ignition on a '74 2.3? Everything I've heard or read about the '74 states that they had a point ignition. Even the sticker on the valve cover has the specs for setting the point gap. The distributor in my '74 has a rotor with a ring with windows around the base of it and a magnetic pickup. Funny thing is that it doesn't have the usual control box that the later ignitions have. Anyone seen something like this?
I wonder if someone didn't put the Pertronix Ignitor kit on it to replace the points...
goes under the cap and no control box needed... see link
http://www.pertronix.com/ignition_products/ignitor.htm
I have mine on order and hope to get it soon... NO MORE POINTS!!! YEA!!!
Cromcru, Brien and I both have the joy of the 2.8 liter V-6 and the 2700 VV carbs, but I chucked mine th minute it started to give me problems. The autolite replacement to the VV carb is a valid replacement. My 79 and 77 V-6 pintos have no problems passing with the autolite. I hope that helps (email me if you have and questions, my cousin lives in Vacaville, CA, and just smogged her 76 V-6 with autolite carb, pintopower@hotmail.com) - what carb did your 79 panel have Brien?
i have put mine up for sale here in oroville. have someone in yubacity interested in it.it will be his headache lol. ill stick to my 79 bobcat and 72 pinto wagon
I've started the arduous task of removing all of the Squire trim from the car. The surround trim has been removed, except for the rear hatch. I have a standard hatch to replace it. Then will come the removal of the woodgrain vinyl. The rivets will be ground off and the holes welded shut as I go along. I've found some plugs for the holes to use temporarily until I get them welded so I can wash the car without pouring water into the rear quarters! Will put up some photos later this week.
Be careful with that trim! And you know why! There is a heatsink puddy that I use for doing panels like that. You can get it online or some of the bigger body and welding supply houses. You just mash it around the hole and weld the hole up. It sucks in the heat keeping the body panel from warping up.
Jake
Hi Guys,
It's been a while since I posted anything, but I keep trying to move forward with my project. Recently there's just been too many other issues that needed addressing that didn't allow me much time to do anything else.
I've picked up a '76 grille and headlight doors that I'm getting ready for installation. I've pulled the inner splash shields on the front fenders so I can get at the fasteners for the Squire trim and finish getting that pulled off. Thanks for the heads-up Jake! I've found some compounds to use while welding the holes shut. I've filled holes before using a scrap piece of metal with a "00" or "000" tip to spot it in and then used brazing rod to fill up the recess. A little file action usually brings it close enough to sand from there. If there are any imperfections from there, a small amount of putty will usually take care of it. For right now, I'm just going to put plastic plugs in the holes so I can get some of the other work done before I tackle filling the holes. I'll probably have some photos in the next week or so, depending on how the next few days go.