Projects 1960 Ford Falcon Gasser Build "Overkill"

Hello all, I have followed this page for many years and it has served as great inspiration for my Falcon G***er build. That being said, I have a couple of questions for you guys.

I bought a 1960 Ford Falcon that I fully intend on building into a G***er. It will be named "Overkill" due to it's intended over the top build and appearance (385 series powered, mint green with some accents, etc). I am conflicted on how I want to get started on building this.

The frame rails are in good shape for the most part, except for the rears of the frame rails where the rear most leaf spring shackles bolt onto. They're rotted, and I have learned from other people that the early Falcon frame rails were almost comically thin from the factory. The body of the car is in very good shape along with the rockers, the floors are all badly patched up, but they will get cut and replaced anyway.

I have 2 options it seems like, I could patch the rears of the frame rails up whilst plating the stock frame rails with pie cut 1x3 tubing, or I could go with a clean sheet new frame build using 2x3 tubing. I have the ability to access said material at my work as the plant manager suggested, which choice would be more beneficial for the rigidity and stability of my project?

 

Do the make rear frame sections for those cars? I know they do for Mustangs.
But it also depends on what you are going to do with the car. If it is truly an over-the-top car and you are going to seriously going to abuse it, you should back half the frame

 

Are you going to race it? If so, how fast will it go? (ie. how much power do you plan to make?)

If it's a street only car....hmmm....

 

Unfortunately, nobody makes rear frame rails for those early Falcons except for backhalf mandrel bent rails. It will be a street/strip car with plenty of torque. I want to put the hammer down on the throttle whenever possible, and I don't want to worry about structural integrity. I feel like it would be best to overbuild it.

 

My intentions are for it to be a street/strip car that can handle possible bouts of abuse if needed. Since I plan on building a 521 for it, I'd like to be in the 650-700 horsepower range but if not, I can live with that. I just want the car to be stable and handle said torque.

 

I think you're going to want to build a frame to put in the car. At least some frame rails front to back. There isn't a lot of metal there, even when it's not rusty.

With that much power, it should be able to run low 10s, hopefully in the 9s. If you plan to race at sanctioned tracks, you'll need a cage, and whether or not it needs to be certified depends on which side of the 9.99-10.00 line you want to be on.

Hopefully someone who has done a partial frame on a car like this will chime in. I've built a couple of sort of similar cars, but none that needed what yours needs.

 

View attachment 6584427 If you have access to 2x3 tube just build your own rear frame rails then tie the front and new rears together. Most important for that kind of power would be a 8 point roll bar to really tighten up the ch***is. With 700 hp and 650 lbs. torque you’ll need it.

I’ve back halved a 64 Falcon years ago with just generic ladder bar mandrel bent frame rails then added my own cross member. Turned out pretty good and really wasn’t that difficult.

 

That's why I would rather build a frame, considering the original thickness of the factory frame rails are not very rugged. I do intend on building a cage and running low 10's bare minimum. I hope some more people who have built early Falcons chime in as well. Currently talking to an individual who built a frame for his 65 Ranchero and am getting tips, so progress will be made.

I just want to plan this car out right before I start cutting away because I want to build it right once. I know the firewall will have to be pushed back, and the engine needs to sit 10% back from the front axle. It's all structural stuff I am trying to get planned out at this point and then I can start planning on getting the car ready to be taken apart.

 

I was going to build a whole new frame if I'm going through the effort to strengthen up the car. A cage is in the plans as well.

 

@RmK57 that's a good looking Falcon!!

 

There’s a fellow on here that has built pretty much exactly what you’re going to do. It was a very detailed build and he also used a bbf for power. Try the search function, should be easy to find.

 

why?

 

I know who you're talking about! He's a good man. He used his stock frame rails for his build. I could probably get away with doing the same, but I just want to strengthen up the car.

 

Per SEGA G***er rule requirements.

 

Oh, you're building it for SEGA. That makes a difference.

 

Where are you located?

 

What "stock framerails"?

 

The ones that are under the car?

 

Hebron, KY. Don't know why it wouldn't let me show that.

 

I apologize, I should have clarified that in my initial post.

 

That describes exactly what I did to my 67 Nova, back-halved it except went with IRS.
I had Art Morrison bend a pair of rear rails from a hand drawn pattern on a sheet of Masonite, conforms perfectly to the original floor pan, it really does take a lot of the work out of it, also tied it to the front with round tube subframe connectors.
The early Falcon could be done in similar fashion.

 

Autoweld in PA if still in business.

 

That's honestly a good idea! Can you message me with more details on how to draw a pattern from Masonite? That would save me a lot of work to where I can keep my original floor pan profile.

 

I was considering them as well.

 

I think what @DDDenny was getting at was Falcons don't actually have frame rails or a frame as they are unibody.
I like those early Falcons as my 1st car at 15 was a '61 Falcon with factory bucket seats and console. Dad and I shoehorned a '57 312 Y block into it. Really a runner but the front suspension eventually started spreading out!

Dave

 

They have subframe rails in both the front and rear.

 

Falcons just like Mustangs are unibody with no actual frame rails, just stamped sheet metal in the shape of frame rails welded together as part of the body.
Still anything that applies to a first generation Mustang applies to a Falcon ch***is modification wise measurements nonwithstanding .
Required or not, a cage that will p*** inspection for one cl*** faster than what you figure you will run isn't a bad idea. You may never run that fast but you won't be sent packing if you run a tad quicker than you figured you ever would either. A buddy of mine had a Mopar sleeper that ran two seconds faster than his buddy's "race car" that he towed 250 miles to the drags for his buddy, unhooked from the trailer and went out and ran in the 11's and then hit the bottle and ran faster than that and they told him to park it because it didn't even have a cheezy rollbar. To look at it you wouldn't have thought it would run faster than mid 14's.

 

I would call Morrison, S&W and/or Chris Alston and see what they have. I’m sure they have been down that road before. Might be easier than reinventing the wheel. Also call Quain Stott and see what he recommends, he started the series and built a bunch of the cars.
Do come back here and keep us posted. Falcons are just plain cool.

 

SEGA doesn’t require engine setback. It does allow up to 10%

 

I tried messaging Quain Stott. No word back yet, unfortunately.