Hey guys so im new to the Falcon family and had a few questions. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated. I have a 61 falcon with a 2.8 straight six three on the tree. 1) Any mods out there for filling up the gas tank? Its a real pain in the *** to fill up and having the gas spill everywhere because of the fill tube being bent the way it is. Anyone disconnect the tube inside and cap it off and fill it up inside the trunk? if so what did you use inside the trunk? 2) lowering kits. I know theres lowering blocks I can use but my question is how does the kit work when the blocks and kits are made for wider leaf springs and bottom plates? what need to be done to make this work? 3) White wall tires? im running stock rims and wondering about the size to use and the cheapest place to get them at I dont care about brand names or anything like. 4) Carburetor? mine needs some work so should I stick with the stock holly carb? or will anything work? Im looking for something that gets MPG and runs smooth I dont care about HP. any good shops out in So cal I should use? 5) Modding the front seat track? Im 6'7 and fit ok but would like to move the bench back just a few clicks, Any easy way of doing this? Can I set the seat back on the stock track or is there another track from another car I can swap it with? 6) Exhaust? is there anything out there that can make the straight 6 sounds good? Whats everyone running? straight pipe? cherry bomb? gl*** pack? Thanks again for all the help.
Hey solo, you didn't say what engine you have but I'm guessing you're runnin' a 170 incher. These are cool little motors for a crusier but they do need some help. I had a 200" inline in my Mustang (wish I would have left it alone lol..) and I ran a 350 CFM holley 2 barrel on it and it seemed like that was about the perfect sized car. I believe the adapter was a transdapt piece. If you go this route you're going to have to watch hood clearance and modify your throttle to work with the new carb. I just converted my Mustang over to a cable throttle. As for exhaust I ran a three chamber delta flow flowmaster with a 2.5" pipe and I left it single exhaust. It sounded pretty good and took away alot of the raspyness the little ford sixes are known for. I still have the carb if you need one, the adapter grew legs at some point but they are still avalible new so no big deal there.
For lowering blocks you need to find the correct width blocks for your springs. I think they are 1 3/4" but don't quote me on that. Try a Mustang place like Mustangs Plus in stockton, they have the correct drop blocks for Mustangs and I think the falcon runs the same rear springs. As for the tires if you're running the 14" wheels I'd say something like a 195/75 14 would do the trick that's what i have on my Mustang and they cleared pretty well. I'm working on a '64 Ranchero for a guy and it has 205/70 14's and they rub like crazy but I think that has more to do with his wheel offset. For the seat track you're just going to have to pull up the carpet and do a little investigating, I know on a Mustang you can cut the front seat risers loose from the floor, scoot them back and weld them back in for more leg room and trim their height for a little more head room. I hate to keep referencing Mustangs but they are pretty much the same car so a lot crosses over. Look up Mustangs Plus' website for info on moving the seat risers back, they have a great little tech piece on thier site about it. I hope this helps and sorry for rambling lol...If you have any questions or if I can be of any help feel free to shoot me a PM. Later, Roger
Oh I almost forgot the gas filler issue. It seems like that is a pretty commen problem on old fords. I think the newer filler handles on modern gas pumps seal to well to the body of the car and presureise the fuel tank, at least it seemed like it on my old Ranchero and on my Mustang. Neither tank has a vent so the pressure has nowhere to go when you're filling your tank. Think of it like when you were a kid with a juice box, when you blew into the straw what happened? All the juice came shooting back out of the straw lol...I'm going to try drilling and tapping a fitting onto the filler neck on my Mustang and run a vent line off of that, that may be something you want to look into as well. My tank needs a vent either way so it can't hurt to try it!
Falcon tanks have a 5/16" vent tube that runs along the trunk rail then out nearr the bumper. I thought mine was cloged because the gas puking situation . Blow air thru and it's clear, but the gas pukes due to the 90 degree bend right where gas nozzle enters. Even slow the gas sometimes pukes. I put the filler straight up inside the trunk, and have te dummy fill cap on the back.
This is correct, Falcons, Mustangs and Ranchero's all have tank vent and the problem with all three is that the new pumps in California at least fill to fast for the angle of the neck. I did the same thing and put the Falcon filler vertical in the trunk and the Ranchero one vertical in the bed. AS for the exhaust, get a Clifford Header for it which is a 6 into 2 and run duals. Sounds great. For the carb, if you want better mileage and throttle response, again go to Clifford and get a Weber 32/36 two barrel conversion. Runs on a smaller than stock primary barrel with a progressive secondary
Hot rod don hit it right with the caburater, that weber is *****in' on these cars. I ran mine forever. You need the adapter from clifford to do it though. On mine for exhaust, I like things a bit louder than most, so i took the stock muffler off and welded on a after market VW stinger with a gl*** pack insert. When I installed it I cut a small cut out (half moon shaped notch) in the rear bumper, and tucked it up so it looks great. With the insert in it's not that loud, with the insert out you get that pissed off bumble bee sound on the freeway that's great fun for a day or two! For tires if you don't already have fourteen inch wheels on your car, hunt some up now! These cars handle and ride soooo much better on taller wheels. Actually, I haven't looked in years, but if you can find a fifteen inch wheels do that. I did, but I had to convert to five lug to do it. When I ran fourteens on my car, I used 185/70-14 on the back, and 165/75-14 on the front. It road very nicely and on stock Mustang four bolt rims I had plenty of front tire clearance, even with my car set very low. As far as lowering blocks, I ended making my own out of tubing. Before I did that though, I had my leaf springs de-arched, and the eyes rerolled. Any spring shop can do this for you and it drops the car and helps keep it a little flatter in the corners, and these cars need all the help they can get with that! It does tend to make the rear suspension a bit stiffer, but not too bad. As far as the filler goes I did the same as every body else and relocated the filler to inside the trunk, and left a dummy filler out on the rear panel. Oh on the front to lower, I cut coils and built extended shock towers to give me back some shock stroke that was lost. I also made what would now be called a "bumpsteer corrector kit" with heim joints and DO.M. tubing. Have fun, these little cars are a ball, I've had mine almost thirty years!
I always turned the gas nozzle upside down, and pumped slow, that worked fine for me, no puking. If you're going to customize the car anyway though I would suggest moving the filler to the trunk and smoothing off the back panel. I've used the regular u-bolts that come with the lowering block kits, just elongated the holes in the spring plate. I know it's not the preferred method, but I've done it a number of times without issue. Personally I prefer to de-arch the main leaf, it gets you just as low, and no wheel hop, there's a tech thread on here for the DIY. On a six I've just always rebuilt the stock carb, nothing wrong with them. For exhaust you've got to run a split manifold and dual straight pipes, nothing sounds better. Again, do a search, there's a tech post on how to split the stock manifold, alot cheaper than shelling out the 300 bucks for a header. Now I miss having a Falcon, thanks.
Although splitting the exhaust manifold is a lot cheaper, the log manifold is horrible flow wise and even split doesn't flow well. A header on these little motors really makes a difference, and they can use all the help they can get if you'd like a little more acceleration.
Thanks everyone for the advice. I forgot to give the info of my Falon so here it is. 61 falcon with a 2.8 straight six three on the tree. The tires I have now are P175/80R13
61 came with two motors, a 144 and 170. If it is stock the 144 will have a red valve cover while the 170 will have a blue one. the block code for a 144 will be N and for a 170 it will be T. This is on the side of the block where the road draft tube was cast in
Here's a few sites to check out. Like it's been mentioned, Clifford headers with a Weber carb makes a real difference. www.cl***icinlines.com www.falconparts.com www.cliffordperformance.net
You have to hold the nozzle at an angle and go slow. I finally loosened the clamp, turned the tube 1/4 turn, bolted on the same **** with the cap receiver stuff, takes 5 minutes. Much easier to fill. That was on a Comet, I think the Falcon might look kind of blank without the filler cap though. I made new trim that looked stock but went all the way across.
Sounds like it is the 170 (2.8 for the metric crowd). You will find in the Falcon world that you will get further if you call it a 170 not a 2.8 (which is the metric equivalent). Seems the whole US to Metric conversion never did quite catch on.
I have a 65 2 door hard top with filler just above rear license plate. after spillin on my Sperry Topsiders en route to the abandoned pier every time it burped during a fill up I learned to pull back then hold the nozzle's foreskin and listen while filling. I preferred modifying myself instead of opening the trunk and pushing all the dead bodies out of the way just to get to the cap. Thus avoiding awkward stairs from those nosy nellies who might just get a free ride as well (space providing). It was also hard to use the small amount left over in the the "just in case" gas can I was putting back after a little spring cleaning but one of those flexi-spouts will help. I sure don't mind smelling like Hai Karate (brute) instead of gasoline nor do my customers at my tanning salon and liquor store down at the end of Miller's Crossing. Mostly kids with fake IDs trying to buy up but it's all the same to me. So good luck and hope this helped. Also I'm having an end of the summer special-1 free tanning session with purchase of select malt liquors. Come by and see me for details.
<TABLE id=table3 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #d1af9a 2px solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 4px; BORDER-TOP: #d1af9a 2px solid; PADDING-LEFT: 4px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1px; BORDER-LEFT: #d1af9a 2px solid; PADDING-TOP: 1px; BORDER-BOTTOM: #d1af9a 2px solid" bgColor=#87583d colSpan=2>Ford Falcon Engine Identification</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ffffff colSpan=2>6 Cylinder Engines </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid" borderColor=#d1af9a bgColor=#efd6c0>Ford 144 cid "Falcon Six" </TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid" borderColor=#d1af9a bgColor=#efd6c0>Ford 170 cid "Special Six" </TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid" borderColor=#d1af9a bgColor=#efd6c0>Ford 144 cid "Falcon Six" General Engine SpecificationsModel Prefix..............................................................................? Type....................................................................Inline Six Cylinder Cubic Inches................................................................................144 Compression Ratio....................................................................8.7:1 Combustion Chamber Volume.......................................48.3-50.3 cc Brake Horsepower................................................85 @ 4200 RPM Torque....................................................................134 @ 2000 RPM Bore & Stroke.................................................................3.50 X 2.5 Compression Pressure......................155-195psi @ Cranking Speed Taxable Horsepower..................................................................26.40 Firing Order.......................................................................1-5-3-6-2-4 Valve Arrangement-Front to Rear................E-I-I-E-I-E-E-I-E-I-I-E Engine Manifold Vacuum @ Idle....................................................17 Engine Idle RPM Manual Transmission.................................................575-600 Automatic Transmission.............................................500-525 Engine Initial Ignition Timing - BTC Manual Transmission.............................................6 Degrees Automatic Transmission.......................................12 Degrees Oil Pressure.........................................................................35-55 PSI Oil Capacity................................................................4.5 U.S. Quarts Engine Colors Block.....................................................................Black Rocker Cover.....................................................Lt. Blue</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px solid" borderColor=#d1af9a bgColor=#efd6c0>Ford 170 cid "Special Six" General Engine SpecificationsModel Prefix..............................................................................EET Type....................................................................Inline Six Cylinder Cubic Inches................................................................................170 Compression Ratio....................................................................9.1:1 Combustion Chamber Volume.......................................48.3-50.3 cc Brake Horsepower................................................105 @ 4400 RPM Torque....................................................................158 @ 2400 RPM Bore & Stroke.................................................................3.50 X 2.940 Compression Pressure......................155-195psi @ Cranking Speed Taxable Horsepower..................................................................29.40 Firing Order.......................................................................1-5-3-6-2-4 Valve Arrangement-Front to Rear................E-I-I-E-I-E-E-I-E-I-I-E Engine Manifold Vacuum @ Idle....................................................17 Engine Idle RPM Manual Transmission.................................................575-600 Automatic Transmission.............................................500-525 Engine Initial Ignition Timing - BTC Manual Transmission.............................................6 Degrees Automatic Transmission.......................................12 Degrees Oil Pressure.........................................................................35-55 PSI Oil Capacity................................................................4.5 U.S. Quarts Engine Colors Block.....................................................................Black Rocker Cover.....................................................Red</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
You are Correct, I transposed my colors in my first post. So he probably has a 144, if everything is stock. Later 200's were a darker Blue. In a Comet a 144 was Yellow
i lowered mine but cutting one coil link on each side and used three inch blocks in the rear. you will have to get new u-bolts for it. for the gas issue, i just fill it up slow.
for exhaust, i have just a single going into a cherry bomb turbo and y'ed off behind the axle to look like dual exhaust. sounds good at idle, but mines a 200, not 170.
I have a '64 Comet and got the rear end down a bit by removing the 3rd largest leaf from the four leaf spring pack. You will definitely need longer U-bolts if you plan to use blocks. Keep in mind that they are smaller than the U-bolts that come standard with most lowering kits. Early Mustang parts also swap across for the suspension and drivetrain. You might also want to consider swapping out the single reservoir brake master cylinder for a dual.
I have a '65 Comet and have no problems with the filler neck, cant say the same for my old '39 Coupe & Pickup.......those were a pain to fill up.
Anyone swapping out the stock air filter canister? I was thinking about using an open edelbrock one? anything thoughts?
Moses dropped the third tablet on which was written " Thou Shalt Not Refer To Ford Engines Built Before 1980 With Metric Values" or words to that effect. before i'd spend a DIME modifying coils, lowering blocks, etc; i'd swap out that fruit jar MC for a '67 Mustang dual reservoir unit. couple of hours and a couple of lines and no worrying about losing ALL your brakes if one cylinder pops. just sayin. and the E-brake SELDOM works properly on Falcons as the owners never do any maintenance on them.
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