I have a 65 Falcon, originally a 6 banger car. It now has a 289 in it, that I put in it. Someone before me put a 79 Granada front disc brakes, spindles, outer tie rod ends to match the new spindles and a V/8 pitman arm. I had all kinds of trouble with the front end alignment, so I took it to a very capable local hotrodder that has an alignment machine. He set it up, shimmed where needed, most everything has been replaced on the front end before I got it. But after the alignment it continues to do the same thing, and that is when you drive it around and stop whenever, the driver side wheel is straight and the p***enger side toes out atleast 4'',this after being aligned, but if you jack up the p***enger corner, the wheel straightens out...........Any one have an idea of what is going on, we are stumped so far.............I did notice that the lower control arms are new , must be repops? Any chance they are the wrong length, throwing out the geometry, but why does it only do it to the p***enger side..............Thanks for reading this jibberish...........Littleman
Is there any of the 6 cyl front end left? Its all different. Springs too. You have to change upper and lower a arms, centerlink, pitman arm, idler, tie rods, everything. If you jack up the front, and wiggle the wheels, is there any play? Do the front wheel hub centers really seat on the Granada hub? The center is bigger than Falcon OE rims. You had a guy look at it, I figure he would address any issues that were obvious to him. If you jack up the front corner, thus taking the weight off that side, and the wheel straightens, that is normal to some degree, but in your case I'd say something is way loose or worn out. If its that bad, you'll find it by tring to shake the wheel top to bottom, then side to side. Another possibility is the shock tower has broken away from the frame. It does happen, but usually on cars that are raced or beat to ****.
check the shock towers and braces and the ball joints. other than that, measure and get out the parts interchange book and see if you have all matched v8 stuff. personally, i would use shelby stuff or a clip kit if i switched over from the six banger.
Thanks for the info, I think it may still have the original idler arm, will have to check...So does the swap require Granada A arms or specific factory V/8 falcon ones?....I am new at this Falcon thing........Littleman
It might have the wrong lower arm on one side. The issue with these frontends is that they used the same design for almost two decades, but there are differences in the dimensions of the parts. The one thing that stands out to me, is that it's aligned, and once it's driven, it's off. Sounds like what others have said, something is broken. One thing to check is the area where the upper arm bolts on... they tend to rust there, and some metal might be thin and bending. Granada spindles are about a inch taller than stock, it helps the negative roll camber, improving handling. But, they sometimes cause the upper balljoints to bind depending on if it's lowered or the balljoint design itself. I'd check those upper joints too.
the six cylinder steering is fine. what NEEDS to be replaced when doing the grenade swap, is the upper and lower control arms, to be replaced with first gen mustang parts. i used the tierod end sleeves that adapt the six cylinder tie rod ends to the granada spindle taper. i noticed the opposite issue, that the adjusting sleeves may need to be trimmed slightly to eliminate excessive toe in. how are the bushings on the strut rod, or brake reaction rod, the rods that go the toe radiator support?
My nova wagon had a similar problem. Turned out after a lot of looking, and a couple of alignments, one of the brand new coils was cut smaller than the other. About 1/4", but enough to throw it off after a little while. Got some new coils, problem cool.
Thanks for all the direction, I will bring it home and tear it all down and compare everything. The shock tower and surrounding area is real sound and in real good shape.........Again thanks all..........Littleman
This may be where your problem lies - you must find the 'most' that hasn't been replaced. Seems that whenever someone tells me that they replaced almost everything, the problems lies with the part they decided not to replace. Cosmo
sounds strange but have you checked the centerlink ??..IM pretty sure when this swap is done evrything is changed ,but the centerlink has to be a falcon part..something to do with the stangs being to short i think....best thing for you to do is check out www.thefordfalconnews.com and do a search..its a verry common swap.
The Mustang centerlink is actually about 2" wider, but I wouldn't think that would cause your problem. I have the complete steering from a V8 65 Comet that I'm putting in my 64 Falcon tudor. Good luck!
A few things that may help, get a monte carlo bar. This will help support the shock towers. Now, the other thing I did on my Mustang was a Shelby 1" drop. This helps with caster.
Dont use Mustang steering parts on a Falcon. I tried that on a '63 that I converted from a 6 to a V8 and it gave terrible bumpsteer. I even shortened it to match the Framerail spacing. The '63 has the complete stock setup out of a '64 V8 Comet now ( rebuilt ), with Granada spindles and discs. When you call a place like PST, they will put a Front End Rebuild Kit together for you to match the parts you are using. There are some differences in the taper of the Tie Rods, Etc... Make sure its all matched up correctly, and tell them exactly what you have.
I bolted 76 Maverick manual disc brakes and spindles on my 62 Falcon. Lower A arms & b-joints were fine . I bought new upper A arms w/b-joints for an early mustang that fit the spindles and my falcon I bought the tapered adapter sleeves for the 6 cyl tie-rods to the fit the Maverick spindles to retain the 6 cyl steering
stock v8 arms are fine, the drag link is wider on the mustang. I've done the 6 to 8 swap on a few cars, and the granada swap as well. Never had a problem. The steering from a 6 car should be beefed up with 8 parts, but it will work. The springs are softer too. I believe all thgis has been said. Good luck with it. My dad and a bunch of his friends have comets and falcons, so I'll ask him. Chris
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