teenager fixing up her first car, needs help!!

You've got a great little car there. They are easy to work on and will last forever with just a little maintenance. Have fun and get your whole family involved.

 

I'll check my manuals/books if i have any thing that will help you I gladly help out,my 16yr daughter is rounding up stuff for her 1st build also.
As stated before above, shop class will help & DO NOT be afaid to ask questions! it's better to look a little silly now than feel like an idiot later (been there~done that!)
by the way my 1st car was a falcon but it was cheap & fun!
Welcome aboard!

 

It's always tough when you first get started, lots of surprises and things to learn. Here's a few catalogs for parts and manuals. You can get them over the internet.
MacsAutoParts.com
Dennis-Carpenter.com
Be glad to help you with questions you have.

 

TFFN.NET is a great place. I live in the Harrisburg, PA area and have a couple 63 and 64 falcons. I have worked on these cars for more than 25 years. Also have spare stuff laying around. PM me if you need some help. Or have your dad get ahold of me and we can see if we can get it sorted out. BART.

 

^^^ see you meet the nicest folk here! ^^

 

Good for you: My Daughter and I built a RED '62 Falcon for her to drive her Senior year FUN car!

 

One thing I can't stress enough is documenting everything. Start with a new notebook you can keep with the project. List all the items to fix, and as you fix them, document what you used. ie. light bulb type. fan belt size, carb rebuild kit number, etc. Down the road when something might need replacing pops up, you can refer to the notes and know what you are looking for when you go to the parts house. Also, jot down any specialty shops you use, and/or their Website. Just my two cents worth. Good luck and never give up hope, You'll be glad you didn't in the end.

 

Plenty of good advise here. With your dad & other gearhead friends helping you should have no trouble. Also when you get it running & driving you'll be light years ahead of most of the guys at school. My dad was a mechanic & although my sister didnt fix up her own car like you (she's WAAYY past a teenager now) she listened & watched dad around cars. Shes left more than one guy with that dumb look on their faces with what she knows about cars.

 

Something good about this is that you will learn lessons that will help your dad and you in the future. Because you will understand alot more than the average Joe mechanic and he (Joe) will not be able to pull one over on you. Dad will rest better too. Good luck with your new ride.

 

Madiketch... Falconparts.com has a vin decoder ,just get the info off the door tag and enter. I am also a member at TFFN.com...... The Ford Falcon news. Everything you need to know about falcons can be found on that forum.

Charlie

 

As someone else said. Rock Auto. They also usually have pictures of the parts so you can compare.
NAPA should have most of what you need. Its really a very common car to get parts for.

 

Aw Thanks everybody so much for the great responses . I started a journal to record what I'll need, the issues I've found so far, and specifications. I also compare prices of parts I know I'll need in there. Since bringing it home, I haven't had time to start truly playing around with it, since I've had work after school every day since then. I guess what's really holding me back is waiting for the manual to come in the mail. Should be here soon... But either tonight or tomorrow night I can get a closer look, get some good pictures and make some observations. First things first, I'd like to air it out since the last owner was a smoker haha. I've subscribed to as many falcon part catalogs as I could find so far. It doesn't hurt to have too many sources. I apologize for the lack of more coverage of the issues and no pictures. They're coming!

 

Congrats on the car... those early little Fords are a great, simple little car....make sure to have all the electrical grounds making good contact (from the body to the engine, and the engine to the chassis/subframe)....many electrical gremlins on these are due to bad grounding....

Have fun with the car. Make it safe with good brakes, and drive the wheels off it...

 

Falcons make great little cars,,the one I had many years ago was a 63 1/2 Falcon Sprint and I loved the car.

Photo shows my 16 year old girl friend and my Falcon, but after 40 years of marriage shes still a keeper. HRP

 

Actually sounds like you got a perfect first old car; cheap, decent shap and easy to fix.

Sounds like you just need to clean up the wiring a little bit. Check and clean all connections and replace any wires that look like they are cracked or bare. Just do them 1 by 1 and use same size color wire to replace if needed. Or just get a whole new wiring harness if anyone makes one. Actually a pretty easy job if you don't over think it and just do 1 wire at a time.

Wear a mask and gloves when cleaning out mouse nest and other stuff. Don't want to risk catching that hunta virus. Use some spray bleach for clean up.

Exhaust should be easy unless you need to fight some rusty bolts which is likely. Not hard but might test your patience and determination.

Seat is easy. Just take to a local upholstery shop if you don't feel like making a project out of that for now.

As mentioned, go through brake system. Put new hoses on and refresh the fluid, especially if. Hoses look pld. If anything is leaking, definitely fix it.

All that stuff might seem hard for someone who has never done it. But it is actually pretty typical and easy. You seem sharp enough and with a good attitude. When needed, husk your backup for help. Gear heads love helping people who are willing to put the effort and work in, but just need some advice or and extra pair of knowledgeable hands.

Good luck and have fun!

 

Looks like you are getting plenty of sound advice on here and from the Gearheads around you.
I just want to wish you Good Luck and enjoy the ride and journey.
The people you will meet are some of the finest you will ever meet.
You may meet a bad apple but they are far and few . Listen to those around you and you'll do all right.

 

How about some pictures?

 

my dad had anew one in 62 for a sales route ---same problems when new...

 

I have had Falcons before and i recently had a 61 Comet 4 door sedan. I got some good catalogs from MAC's auto parts. Very good selection and reasonable prices.

 

Heres a link to the site.

http://macsautoparts.com/1960-1970-ford-falcon-mercury-comet-parts/camid/FAL/ca/154/

 

Ditto, getting a shop manual. As said, those are very uncomplicated cars, and not difficult to troubleshoot and repair. A good source of parts is Hemming's Motor News, which is sold at bookstores and some magazine racks.

Enjoy your ride !!!!!!!!!!!

4TTRUK

 

The electricals are very basic. The manual will have the color codes for the wires. Learn to read the color codes and you can follow where most of them go under the dash. Make sure the mices didn't chew on your wires. Just remember it is DC voltage, so every wire is a "power" wire, and the return (called the ground) goes through the metal body of the car.

The exhaust manifold may only need a gasket. Check it to see if the manifold is cracked.

 

Lovin the Falcons. I've had several and started my daughter off with a 68 as her first car. You'll be fine. The Motors manuals and Chiltons are good too. they cover alot of other cars but you'll want that down the road. If you can read it, you can fix it.
Look at garage sales and estate sales. I've found em there for $1.00. Big books.
Everything for the brakes should be under $200.00. Master cylinder to shoes. Just start new. It dosent have to go, but it does have to stop.
Congradulations and welcome. Ask questions.
Baby oil rubbed into your hands before washing them will make the grease come right off.

 

cool hrp cool!

 

You couldn't find a much simpler or more basic vehicle to learn on, and most things on it can be handled with a voltmeter, a test light, and basic hand tools. As others noted, Ford used the Falcon platform for the Mustang/Cougar as well. Even the slightly bigger '60s Fairlanes, the Maverick and Granada of the '70s are offshoots of the Falcon platform. The good thing here is that if you want to upgrade to disc brakes, just grab spindles, rotors, calipers, booster, and master cylinder off a Granada with disc brakes. Glad to see a girl learning her way around a car. One of the best automatic transmission builders I ever knew was named Sue. She was a petite woman with small hands, and she said that having small hands gave her an advantage working on automatic transmissions and working in tight spaces.

 

Some inspiration....

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80033

 

Good to see you posting on the main board!

I can just about guarrenty you that the problem with your brake lights and turn signals originate in the turn signal switch. They are inexpensive and not super hard to change, but I have only owned one of these little cars that it was good on when I bought it.

As far as exhaust leaks go, the early Falcon manifolds very commonly crack very near the outlet. The best way to fix it is to scrounge a '68 or later manifold from a 170, 200 or 250. It will take a little different hook up, but an exhaust shop can handle that for you for very minimal dollars.

Your car is what is refered to as a "round body Falcon". They were made form '60 until late '63. As far as parts interchange ability, most of us lump '60 and '61 together and '62 and '63 together. Most body parts will interchange between the two year breaks, and some will go all the way through the round body series. Mechanical parts will pretty much interchange with all the round body cars and even some of the later Falcons and Mustangs and such. The Falcon lineage is littered with running changes though, as the cars were improved over their production run. he bottom line is most anypart will fit any round body year as long as you know what fits with it. If you run into any of that, don't hessitate to ask here as there are lots of us that can help you. Cool thing to is that most well stocked traditional parts houses have or can quickly get for you almost anything you might need.

If I can be of any help, feel free to P.M. me. I have been messing with these little cars since I bought my first 31 years ago.

 

Thats cool for a first car now if you are getting your license soon go get one of those jap crap cars and learn how to drive in it that way you wont screw up your old ford.
Not saying you are a bad driver just saying.

 

If ya want a little inspiration, look up the thread "The girl and the Falcon" that I posted a couple of years ago when my girlfriend put the engine in her '62 wagon herself. I swear other than rolling the car under the engine and pointing stuff out to do she did it all her self - and she is the deffinition of Girly-Girl!

 

Great choice of a "starter" car! Built several 64 sprints and loved them all. There has been alot of info thrown at you allready and having read the post.....lots of great advice. Just read them carefully and you'll do fine!!!