Any one put a SBC in a early Falcon?

A SBC should have been a factory option, I wish my Comet had one.

 

Seems like it would be a whole shit-load easier to put a 302 in there....

 

I put a SBC TPI in my 62 2dr wagon......... with a mustang IFS. Looks/works great!

 

You’re absolutely right. If you just want a V8 Falcon, find a 221-302/5.0 and copy the ‘65 Falcon setup.

I exchanged PM’s with the one poster who has done it (name withheld to protect the guilty), and he said it took some major clearancing to the shock towers, a special set of fabricated headers, and spark-plug access holes ala the Thunderbolt Fairlanes.

These days, you could use a Crites kit on the shock towers, but essentially, it’s still as much work as building Thunderbolt Fairlane, but with a result three people out of four are going to hate. You’d have to be really loyal to both the SBC and the Falcon body to want to put in the work.

If you really want something other than the standard SBF, it would be far better to invest your time in something with more “wow” factor, be it an FE, Y-block, 300-6, or some GM or MoPar engine people are going to be less tired of seeing.

-Dave

 

You say you want her to do the work and keep it easy.
In that case trade that 327 for a 289/302 and keep it all Ford. They already figured out how to mount it and the parts are available. It will be easier to sell, easy to work on and the SBF is much lighter than the SBC so the suspension won't be as stressed.

AS for keeping the stock Falcon suspension, I will take a Global West or TCP equipped stock set up over the poorly designed Mustang II swap any day. The control arm length is better, when the upper arm is relocated the camber curve is better, and the chassis was designed to handle the load distribution of the stock set up - not all loaded to the lower frame rail without the strength that the shock towers lend to the entire structure.

 

Built one back in the sixties, used a 283. At the time there was an article in Hot Rod about Wally Park's Chev powered Comet, and I used most of their tips. Remember I dropped the front crossmember,reversed the tie rod, and used a widened Hurst front mount, from a Studebaker swap kit. Had load levelers, and wagon springs, and a lift kit between the spindles and upper ball joint that allowed the wheels to almost touch upon launch. Put alot of miles on it, and was much cooler than a Ford swap, because it was a Hot Rod, and not a muscle car wannabe, even though some of the factory cars were probably faster...OK, they were faster, but not as neat. Would like to have it now.

 

gearsforguts has a four door with a sbc and a straight axle

 

An interesting philosophical point, although I maintain in this day and age, it would be arguably a cooler swap to go with a Pontiac 389, Chevy 409, Olds 394, or something like that, rather than a 283/327, simply because John Q. Public views the SBC as a been-there-done-that motor.

-Dave

 

You are probably right, but back in the sixties, most of us couldn't weld, and those motors would have been major projects, especially in a street driver. (Nowadays guys would just sub frame it with some kit.)

 

I have seen one in my life. It used a front sump chevyII pan and pick up. I think it had an engine mount at the front like I had seen my father use on some old hot rods he built.
I knew very little about what I was looking at then. The front sump thing just stuck in my head.

 

Yeah, probably a straight axle, per most of the responses above, although I still think a shock-tower notch like Crites offers for the 351W might do it. Especially since, like Hotrodron, I’m suspicious of what doing just a front stub does to the safety of a unibody car.

-Dave