Hot Rods FALCON GUYS or others......Looking at a Wagon.......SUSPENSION? WHeels? Tires?

OK, with the Legion gone I'm looking at family fun cars on a budget and I'm seriously considering this '63 Falcon Squire wagon. It's super cherry but obviously needs stance and wheel & tire help. Wheel-wise I'm torn between Supremes and chrome steelies with skinny whites. Maybe Salt Flat ETs?

Suspension-wise does anyone have a good proven spring combo for a nice lowered front-low stance?

Thanks!

 

Get with Chris at Boerne Stage Kustoms, he's got the formula down.

 

One thing you have to remember about these cars is there is not much room in those wheel wells. No reversed wheels and nothing wider than 6". I believe Dearborn classics sells dropped coils for the front, but I think most falcon guys are still just cutting coils. Of course ther are more radical options, MII setups, coilover front suspensions, dropped spindles, all of these options are very spendy though and that doesn't seem to be what you are looking for. They're great little cars though and I don't think you would regret picking one up. Also I'm sure you're aware of the multiple Falcon threads on here, so if you've got a few hours to kill you might want to check those out.

 

I just lowered my daughters 62 by cutting a coil up front, you can get another 1" or so with a "shelby drop". I was watching the 60's surfing documentary called The endless Summer last night and there was a really sweet Falcon wagon similar to the one in your photo...it had a great lowered effect going on but of course it was loaded down with surf boards and surfer dudes.

 

Was this it?

 

Shelby drop?

I guess I could get the same result by stopping by the local Home Depot parking lot every time I want to cruise somewhere.

 

Yeah, I know they're tight space-wise so I need to keep it reasonable. Mustang II is out as I am looking for easy mods.

 

I have done the Shelby mod where you drop the upper a arm. People like to argue how much it lowers the car. I know it makes them handle better. Just cut the coils to lower it. If you do the upper a arm drop, one thing you may need to do is the ball joint wedge to keep them from binding.

Barn-Core is right about the wheel wells being tiny. You won't get much tire under them without a mini tub.

 

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65 Shelbys had the upper a arms dropped. Caddy-o out typed me.

There are templates online or you can get a metal jig that bolts into your old holes and you just drill the new ones from several manufactures, mine is from Chassis Works. It simply cures some factory geometry issues.

 

IF it were me id just lower the front atouch leave the rear where it is and put some nice chrome steelies around it with raised white letters and drive it

 

These are from team three wheels and are ET style.



but I saw Boerne Stage's wagon at Salina last year and it is dialed in with that mild custom look.

 

Mine had 2 full coils cut & 3" blocks plus 2 leaves removed. Stock 13" wheels with Futura wire hubcaps. 155/80r13's with a shaved whitewall.
I switched to a 4 speed stick after scraping up few cruise-o-matic pans.
Much better with the manual trans.

 

if you go with the shelby drop let me know i have the template and the drill bit.i'll send it to you and we you can just send it back when your done.pm me

 

Just don't drive too fast with the off centre wheels as it will cause vibrations

 

I was gonna offer the same thing! I have a spring compressor too. Been working on my females for quite some time now, just trimmed the coils up front, Shelby dropped it and had the rears dearched a bit. The wheels are 14x6 Tru-Spokes with 185/75s on the back and as of today 175/70s on the front. Scarebird makes a cool disc brake setup for these too. All pretty simple stuff.

 

That car is nicely restored, and has a very proper V8 conversion with Granada disks, '65 Falcon V8 manual steering, and the '63 Falcon V8 8" rear end (seller identifies it as a 9", but it's not). My Comet has all of this, the exact same conversion:



V8 coils front with 1-3/4 coil cut, 2" lowering blocks rear and maybe another inch courtesy relaxed original springs. Nice ride and handling.

In my experience, this is about as low as you can get them with a static drop and still have adequate suspension travel without resorting to notched rear frame rails and the like.

-KK

 

Both examples are what I'm looking for! They look great!

Going right after work today to see the wagon in person.

I don't remember ever seeing a Comet wagon from that year. They're better looking than the Falcons.

Komet, can you tell me your wheel and tire specs? Thanks!

 

cool wagon. 14 x 6 American Torque Thrusts would get my vote.

 

Kirk! Kustom Komet makes a great point about these little cars in his reply, and that is the ride height our cars sit at is as low as really practical for daily use. You can certainly go lower, (I know you have never seen my '62 coupe) but ride and handling starts to suffer badly pretty quickly.

 

For this car ride will outweigh look if I have to choose. I think a couple inches all around will be fine and hopefully still ride well. I'll probably go with lowered springs and the Shelby drop in front and then blocks in back to fine tune the stance.

Wheel-wise I'll probably keep changing my mind until the last minute. I don;t think I can go wrong with any of the options.

 

They just made that illegal in certain counties here in GA- someone got run over trying to jump in the back of a pickup that had stopped at a light!

 

Awesome! If I end up with this wagon tonight I want to get going on the suspension ASAP, so I'll PM you . Thanks!

 

I wish they'd do it here.

 

I like the Bellflowers.

 

I think Car and Driver refered to a Falcon Squire they tested as a "Country Squirt"

 

I gotta say, if that car is set up with five lugs(and Kustom Komet seems to know it is - he does know EVERYBODY in the Falcon world!) The your idea of the E.T. type salt flat kinda mags really turns my crank. I'd shoot for a 15 or 16 inch size with a 185 -205 tire max on these. You'll find a 4" backspace willbe your friend in this deal as well, as that is right at practical maximum for these cars. Say a 60 series on 15" wheels, and a 50 or 55 on 16" wheels. Oh, 6s front, 7s rear.

 

Ha, I'm leaning the same way. The ones with cast looking centers and polished outers.

I would stick with 15s and 60 series so the wheels don't look too small, but keep some sidewall as to not look too modern.

So you think 4" backspace all around?

 

no worries

 

Trust me on that one, I know 4"backspace all around! you might end up using a 1/4" spacer on the fronts depending on wheel construction, but it's better to have a touch too much than not enough. Do you best to keep the tire heights in the 24 1/2" range in the rear maximum, fronts an inch or so shorter. My '62 coupe ran 195/65-15 on the back which are right at 25" (on a 7" wheel), and they always looked just shade too tall, even with the car hammered.

 

Hey kirk

I know this isn't suspension related but..I had a 1962 Falcon wagon and found a dash and steering wheel out of a 1960 Comet S-22, Made for a very different looking dash.