Ford Falcon guys: need your input on buying project

Here's the deal. A girl I know has a 61 falcon that was rear ended pretty bad (totaled). It was a running daily driver for her. It has ,I believe a 144 six and two speed auto (not the greatest combo I know but it was recently rebuilt and reliable). It has a real nice interior, real nice doors, fenders etc... She wants to get rid of it for $700.

My cousin has a 63 falcon, no motor or trans. Solid car little rust, comes with new floor and fender to replace shotty one. He's had it for 6 years and hasn't done anything with it. He wants it gone for $300.

Both cars are 2 doors. Are the parts interchangeable enough to combine the good parts from the totaled car (interior, motor/trans, grille, bumpers, etc...) to put on the 63? I'm thinking I could get the totaled car, strip it of all good parts, keep what I need and sell the rest to pay for the other car. Would I be able to get $500 or so dollars from the 61' from the hood, fenders, gl***, trim, and all other misc. parts?

I'm about to pull the trigger on this deal but want you guys to tell me if it will work and is it worth it. Thanks

I posted this over on TFFN.net but it doesn't look like theres alot of traffic over there and I know there's a lot of falcon owners here.

Here's some pics of the cars in suspect.

 

Maybe try posting on FordMuscle.com. They have a falcon section that has a few regular users.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll see what kind of response I get on here and tffn.net and then I'll go over there. Hopefully I won't be crucified for not putting a small block in it.

 

I don't know if you will recoop all the money you spend,,,but as far as interchanging parts the running gears are basicaly the same,,HRP

 

The early round body Falcons (60-1) are very soft as far as selling whole cars or parts. I'm not saying you won't sell the parts, it might take a while.

The 62-3 is quite different from the 61. Front clip is different. Front bumper, grill, etc is different. Fenders, hood too.
You might be able to make the early stuff fit. Most of the interior should work.

The 144 with the auto is not very fast at all. If it was me, I'd p*** on the 61, unless there was more you could use, or have a buyer lined up for parts. The 63 seems like a decent deal, but you will pay more for the grill (big$$) and other pieces you need. You might be able to find a Maverick or similar with a 200 6 and c4 for less money than the 61. If you get a later year Maverick, you can get the 5 lug stuff to sell or swap. You will get more for that than the 61 parts.

 

Yes, you could swap the drivetrain from the '61 int the '63, but I wouldn't. If you want a falcon - get the '63 and fix it up. 700$ is pretty steep for some interior pieces (which is about all that will swap over ) and a ****py engine that can't get out of it's own way.

www.fordsix.com

 

Buy the one with no motor and throw a 302 5.0L in it.

 

I think 700.00 is pretty steep for the rearended Falcon.
200.00 would be more like what it would be worth around here. I picked up a falcon with no engine,trans or interior for 50 dollars. The engines are generally considered giveaways. I picked up three of them [one with ******] for free. Two of em are good runners. A nicely fixed up falcon is prolly only worth 1.500 dollars.
They are a nice, basic thrifty car, however and there are lots of us who love em.

 

Yeah I started to wonder after seeing the 63 in person what does the 61' have that makes it worth $700. The interior is nice but the front seat needs help, it has a motor but it is not desirable and would not be able to go on the freeway. I'm definetly reconsidering the deal. I might just pick up the 63 and find either a 200 or a 302 to put into it.

 

Personally I think that the 63 is ht eone I would go with. I would keep the outside just like it is,real plain jane. Dogdish hubcaps. Maybe convert to five lug an ddisc brakes in front. The a sweet little 289 or 302 under the hood, with a five speed.
I have been looking for one just like that except a 64 or 65. I would try the falcon forums. There are alot of good threads for the things needed to convert to disc brakes and V8s etc.
Good luck, great looking project.
Craig c. Laughlin

 

I just don't want to get to involved in a swap. I'm currently putting a 289 in my 49 ford right now. It's pretty straight forward but all the small **** that has to be done ****s. If I put a 302 in it then I have to beef up the rear end, get better braking, etc... I'm trying to keep this as low budget as possible. I've already got $10k+ in my 49' and it looks like a heap still. I really shouldn't even buy this since my 49' is never going to get finished now and I really need to focus on just one car. However, my cousin really wants to get rid of the 63 and if I don't sweep it up he'll either sell it ot s**** it. His wife has been giving him hell to get it out of the driveway so he's pretty desperate to off it.

 

It looks like that '61 was pretty clean. It seems the prices are reversed. I like the earlier Falcons better, but in this case the '63 is the way to go. Let her know you're interested in the '61 before it gets junked, and offer her $300 tops then.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

I would buy neither and just lay out 1000.00 for one you can drive home. I see them all over here for cheap, usually a nice little car, but no one really wants them. My buddy had a super super clean one, very nice car. Had it for sale for 1500.00 for months. Someone finally bought it, said they were gonna pro-street it. it was a shame, it was a great running/driving/looking car!

 

Buy the 63, and put a 200 ci motor out of a Mustang or a SBF in it. Forget about the 61.

 

Almost all of the parts from the '61 will go into the '63, all mechanicals and all wiring (swap the dash and engine bay harnesses together) and it will work fine. But you have to understand that the 144 was a terrible engine, and even running well in rebuilt form they just barely get by in town - and forget about ever taking it on the freeway. A 144/2spd auto Falcon did 0-60 in about 20 seconds, which was bad enough in the early '60s but is dangerously underpowered today. Slow. Annoyingly slow.

I'd p*** on both of them. Sounds like you already have a project going in the '49, and if you are like most of us, compounding one project with another ensures that both will get done much slower, if at all. I'd go with the idea of finding a decent driver Falcon in the 2K range, preferably with a 200 and C4. Avoid anything with the 85hp 144, and consider a 101hp 170 only if it's in very good running condition. The 120hp 200 with the C4 in good condition was a snappy little outfit, and does well city and highway with 3.00 gears. Many early Falcons have had these swapped in, and come up for sale now and again.

-KK

 

Thanks for the input guys. Definetly sounds like the 144 is a dog. I'm trying to see if I can find all the parts to do a 302 swap for less than a grand. I can get a running 302 and trans for about $400-500, a maverick rear end for $100, I have a driveshaft from a 65 mustang that probably could be used if shortened, then I would need the motor and trans mounts and radiator.

I wish I could find a driver around me but here in the rust belt they aren't as plentiful as they are out west. There's a couple around here but they want $2000 or more and they need alot of rust repair.

 

I'm pretty sure there were some Suspension ( rubber Bushings ) Changes early on in the Falcons.

So there might be some parts that arent a straight swap over between these two...


Doing a V8 swap on a 6Cyl Falcon is a lot more work than a lot of people think.
( it was a lot more work than I thought it would be...)

The only Suspension Parts I left on the Car when I did that were the Upper A-Arms on the Front Suspension, and the Rear Springs ( and one of the Springs broke after a while...)

Some V8 Falcon Steering parts are V8 Falcon & Comet only.
'64 Mustang is not the same.
( It can be made to bolt up, it can work, but not perfectly...)
So those V8 Falcon Parts are rare and expensive.

The rest is easy enough...

Fab some Motormounts, if you cant find the Originals,
Maveric Rear End, Granada Discs, and I used a remote Mount for the Brake Booster out of a Torino...

 

I saw this site here

<!-- m -->http://falconparts.com/search_results.a ... earch.y=15<!-- m -->

They sell the motor and trans mounts all for about $200.00

 

Don't blame the 144- I think it's more the 2-speed automagic's fault. 1st gear, "EEEhhhh", 2nd gear, "BBUHHHH".

 

If it's just a small reliable car you want, then see how low you can get her and buy it. It's an easy swap with nothing extra to buy to make it work. At the end of the weekend, you'll have a dependable, great on gas (20-30mpg) little car. It will be rather slow, but if you just sit back and relax, it will get you there and you'll look good doing it.

ask these guys, www.fordsix.com

 

We'll it turns out I was mistaken on the engine. I found out it is actually a 170 with a 200 head on it. Sounds a lot better than the 144. I think I might get it and put it in the other one for the time being and over the next year gather the parts for a 302 swap.

 

I talked with a guy yesterday about a 61 Falcon 2dr in NJ. Chopped, which actaully looks good. Car is set up for drag racing, but still runs the street. Very sick car, all ready... only needing motor and trans, set up for small block Chevy. It was a 10 second car he tells me. Pretty darn cheap for what I saw....

I thought about it for a second as I wanna letter anything I can get my hands on. I p***ed. Pm me if interested.

 

I paid $1500.00 for my 62 four door and dont regret it in the least. Fun cars and good on gas with the I6. Buy them, the 170 with 200 head seals the deal IMO.

 

I have almost 9 grand in my Falcon and i dont regret it or care if i keep it forever.It hauls *** and is my daily transportation. I say buy them and build it...

 

Your car looks great! What kind of things did you do to the suspension to get that stance? cut coils, and blocks? Thanks

Bryan

 

The only suggestion I'd make is to put a manual trans in the car you're going to drive with the good motor and use that 2-speed auto to anchor a boat or something. An OD trans if you can find one, or figure out what combo of parts will work to use a T5 with it, and it should be a lot more fun to drive and still be capable of decent gas milage. I considered getting into a Falcon a while back, could have bought a runner with all new brakes for $300, but it was an auto trans car. From what I could gather online, even the freebie '84 Buick Skylark I used to have could beat an auto trans Falcon in a heads up race.. and that thing gave you time to brew a pot of coffee between 0-60.

 

Yeah I'm definetly going to see about switching trans, even to a C4. I'm not looking to go fast in the car, especially since the wife will be driving it occasionally and believe me she likes to drive fast.

I wonder what modifications would need to be done for a t-5? I'm sure someone makes an adapter but there usually $300-500.

 

I had a 170 in my 64 not too much power but better then a 144.You could always go to a 200-250 and a tri set-up.

 

Well, I bought it that way but it has 3 inch blocks in the back and the coils are cut but to much, the front end bottoms out at that height so I have some changes to make. Thanks for the comments though!

 

If I could take off at a traffic light and not have people behind me get pissed cause I'm impeding traffic I'll be happy, lol.

I have a mildly built 302 in my 49 so that will satisfy my speed needs.