Hey I was just wondering how anyone would go about swapping a small block Chevy into a first gen falcon I’m sure it can be done I’m just mot sure if the subframe width is right or anything like that
It will fit right in the hole perfectly . Just don’t ruin the Falcon by making it wear a Bow Tie , Ole Henry made plenty of good engines to fill the hole with .
Cut the shock towers back. Alter the steering shaft angle a bit. Make your own engine/trans mounts. Use stock exhaust manifolds. We dropped a BBC in a 61-ish Falcon Ranchero years back with no real problems. Took a short weekend. SBC should be easier. Making the rest of the car hold up to the BBC took a bit longer.
The SBC isn't an 'easy' swap unless you're willing to make some major structural mods to the Falcon bodyshell. The narrowest engine compartment of the Falcon/Mustang/Fairlane type shell (about 1.5" narrower than the Mustang), only the 289/302 will fit easily. The SBC is wider than those (about the same width as a 351W) so you'll have to hack the shock towers and come up with a front-sump oil pan for the Chevy unless you're planning on replacing the entire front suspension. The other thing of note is the first-gen Falcon (and Mustang) had two distinct bodyshells. The six cylinder shell is considerably lighter-duty compared to the '63-65 V8 shells. When Ford added the V8 in '63, they tripled the metal thickness in the frame rails, underbody braces, and inner and outer rockers. Plus thicker metal and additional bracing at the shock towers and torque boxes tying the frame rails and rockers together. The only six-powered Falcon that got the heavier shell was the convertible, and it got even more additional bracing. You should add subframe connectors to the base six shell at a bare minimum if any 'spirited' driving is anticipated.
Drop a 5.0 roller in it. Makes plenty of horsepower to make the early bird fly and cheap to upgrade. Joe
Many years ago I dropped a 289 & 4 speed into my 61 Ranchero, also swapped in a 63 futura front suspension for the 5 bolt brakes and heavier steering. Not a hard swap. Recently sold that ride to a friend & he is having a bunch of fun with it. I have even seen a 460 Ford in a 63 but it was tight.
Probably only because he has a Chevy motor laying around, otherwise why would you even consider it. You can get all the HP you need for that small car with a SBF let alone if you stroke it to 347 ci. A 5.0 roller would be a great choice.
There is no shortage of people who are perfectly willing to overlook this, and press on with a swap anyways. My first generation Falcon is still a 6-cylinder, although now over double in horsepower. I added bracing and subframe connectors just for that. Having cut into the original structure to tie everything in, I can say of those without added structure, you are on borrowed time.
Seriously though........unless it's a 63 or later 'Fal-****' there is a bunch of reinforcement needed to make it some-what-safe and driveable for any length of time. Maybe a custom tube ch***is with the 'Foul-****' body set on it would be a better approach. BITD I had a 64 Sprint(so I get to make silly remarks about the name!!). It had a bunch of stiffening and re-designing from FoMoCo to make it work. (It was a BLAST to drive too!) 6sally6
It has to be a V8 shell to get the additional structural upgrades. This remained true even beyond the '65 models, it's just that Ford upgraded the post-'65 six shells to where it wasn't quite as big a deal. The six bodies still didn't get the torque boxes, and there were still differences in the shock towers. Will you absolutely have issues if you swap a V8 into a six body? No, not necessarily but it will behoove you to monitor the upper a-arm attachment points and the frame rails for cracking as they have been known to do this. All the FE-equipped Fairlane/Torino/Mustang bodies had heavier shock towers for the weight/power compared to the lesser-engined models. The one variation is the Comet. While they shared the same two shells with the Falcon '60-63, in '64 Mercury upgraded all Comet models to the V8 shell regardless of power for better NVH.
Ya that other guy was right i have a really nice small block laying around and it is a 6cyl so don’t pull that **** about Chevy in a Ford ok I’m 15 years old trying to build a cool car to drive around and I have a 350 and I don’t have to worry about the shock towers as I’m buying a straight axle so I can cut them out completely so ya does anyone know what motor mounts I would use?
If you do this you will remove any structural integrity the front half of the car has. Take things away, you'll have to do something else to compensate. Those things are frail in front at best.
^^^^ Yep. The straight axle conversion will simplify installing the Chevy engine but removing the spring towers and diagonal support struts will weaken the front end a bunch. Weld doubler plates to the firewall and the top of the frame up front and add tubing supports like you see in the Chevy II front end kits. Close up the holes where the towers were using .062” steel (even better with beads rolled in) and weld them in. Speedway and others offer many Chevy conversion mounts but I would use a crossmember style and side mounts to add a little more strength back in. Drop that Chevy in there. Every Falcon has the easy SBF installation, be different (and FASTER!). Both of the coolest Falcons from my younger days were Chevy powered; 327 & 4spd in a ‘60 and a 427 & 4spd in a ‘64.
So now that we know the OPs age and what he wants, maybe you folks that have done this kinda thing, can walk him through it, maybe you took pics, etc. To me (never having one) and I hear beef this up, cut this out, add this….I’m in no better shape than the young man is. Maybe you folks can link a proper article / thread showing/describing what needs to be done?
How good of a fabricator are you? I wasn't any good at it at age 15, but by age 17 I could make some motor mounts that would fail after a few months....now I'm 60, and I can build stuff like that with no problem. The guys who are telling you that you need to do some serious modification to the car are right. Do you understand all that they are saying, and have the knowledge, skills, and ability (including equipment, supplies, and a place to work) to do all that frame reinforcing? If not, you might want to set your sights a bit lower for your first project. I started out by swapping a big block in place of a straight six in an old truck. I did a lot of homework, and the swap only took one day, and was successful, although over the years I redid most parts of the swap, to improve them. I still have the truck over 40 years later. But to answer your question about where to get mounts, the best ones will be mounts that you design and build, and you need some experience to do that. Good luck...we'll help you figure it out.
Good on ya for thinking out side the box snd wanting to build something cool . these cars are pretty flimsy . I almost bought a 64 or 65 mustang 6 for next to nothing that was mint ( should of bought it but I was dumb) anyways when I looked into what was involved in getting the car steering, stopping , and structurally sound with a v8 I walked away. There is lots you can do to the inline 6 to make it fun until you understand exactly what you want to do with this thing. Post some pics, they are cool cars .
If you get rid of the shock towers and add a heavier/stronger V8, you should consider an 8 point cage with outriggers tied in to rockers and subframe connectors. See the build in my signature for photos.
The guy he wants to talk to is @1971BB427 who stuffed a BBC with a straight axle into a early Falcon. IIRC he had a build thread on here if somebody can find it. @63futurafalcon, this isn't a novice project. There's much more to it than just hacking the shock towers out and rolling a straight axle under it. You WILL have to reinforce the body structure and you won't find any 'kit' parts for this, there will be fabbing involved. Hopefully you have available all the needed tools and somebody to mentor you through the tough parts. You'll need good lay-out and welding skills. My advice is to work up a budget; the axle set-up, better figure another steering box and steering linkage, motor and trans mounts, material costs for steel (not cheap these days!), custom headers, etc, etc. It almost never turns out as cheap as you think it will. You may find a good used 302 roller SBF which will bolt in with commonly available parts may be just as cheap and far easier.
I'm not a Ford in a Ford nutcase by any stretch and one of my buddies had a hell of a time selling a pretty decent 40 Ford with a 351 in it when it probably would have sold for his original asking price if it had had a 350 in it. Still, If I was 15 and it was my first build I'd sell the 350 and put the money in one of those 302 roller motors aka 5.0 Mustang engines and be able to do the whole swap as a bolt in. Everything is readily available to do the swap either scrounged used or new and 95 % of the time if it fits in a 65/66 Mustang it will fit in the Falcon. No expensive oil pans or hunting that rare Chevy oil pan that now brings Big Ebay money, No cutting and reworking the shock towers to clear exhaust or so you can reach the spark plugs. That's the cool part with that car, Ford based the Mustang and several other cars on that basic 60 Falcon platform and parts swap including suspension and brake upgrades.
I do understand the extent of the project and I have a friend of my grandfathers who will walk me through and help me he raced and built g***ers in the early sixties and ya I understand I need to reinforce it I was thinking about a tube running from the subframe rail to the firewall and subframe connectors as well and probably a six point roll cage and a stripped down interior and I will probably run fenderwell headers out of where the shock towers where and like I said earlier I have plenty of steel tubing to strengthen that front end
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