Features Doing Falcons Right

Not trying to start anything,but the car looks like a 63 or 63 1/2 sprint to me,,,not a 62,,

Lower top and different side trim,,

The car IS amazing! HRP

 

you're right, it's a 63 1/2, same as mine.

 

I used the front rotors and calipers from a '77 Grenada, all-new upper and lower control arms and pitman/idler arms for a '65 Mustang (ebay kit), and a centerlink from a '65 Merc Comet V-8......the key is replacing the upper and lower control arms....
Rob

 

Thanks! Yeah, that air cleaner is gotta go...I've heard the stories, too!
Rob

 

Yep...as soon as I can get all these other projects done!
She's the next project to be restored....
Rob

 

Here's mine. She's a 60 2 door wagon running an English 2 litre 4 pot Ford motor. She's pretty rotten but I'm doing a little at a time and I guess I'll get there eventually.


Taking off the front fender revealed this...


A little work with the wire brush made it worse...


Nothing to do but cut it out and replace the bad stuff with good...


I'm learning as I go along and haven't had much experience of panel beating. I tried to shape a piece to fit the gap but after an afternoon of beating on a piece of steel I was getting nowhere fast. So, plan B. Offer up some flat sheet and weld it where it touches. Beat it until it touches somewhere else and weld there.

After an hour or so of this, this is what I ended up with.


Not too shabby I think. Now on to the other side.

 

Looks great!
I left my rust intact, in case someone steals the car, I can trace it from the trail of body pieces....
Rob

 

nice...
is the cowl pan missing? As I look through the hole you cut, I can see the floor. What are you going to do for that???
Is the 2 L motor you're referring to, similar to the 2.3 L overhead cam Ford Pinto engine? that motor probably puts out at least as much power as the old I6 does.
I don't think I've ever seen a falcon with a four banger in it. any pics of the motor?

 

Yeah, the cowl pan is rotten too. I have cut that side out to make it easier to get to the cowl so will have to replace it. The other side is a little worse, so I guess I'll have to take all the wiring out too so I can get to it.

The motor is an overhead cam pinto but the 2 litre. I'm planning an auto box too. It's aboult half the weight of the six cyl and I'm told puts out a little more horsepower, so should pull the old girl along just fine.

No pics at the moment, I'm about to pull the motor that's in it (also a pinto) as I have a freshly rebuilt one to go in. The autobox is a little longer than the manual, so it should move the motor forward by a few inches. The current install is too far back, so that should help.

I'll get some pics of what's in there at the moment if it ever stops raining!

Oh and I could really use a pair of lower rear quarters if anyone has a pair - from rear wheelarch to tailgate would be cool.

 

I worked on the beast for 12 hours, and it almost looks exactly the same as it did before I started! Certain tasks sure seem to go slowly. When I look back at the pics though, I can see why it took so long.
Here is a small recap... (for a full-size recap, click on the picture link below)

Due to my needing to move the cross member 4 inches rearward, I had to make new side plates. Construction paper makes the perfect template.


The next step was to bolt everything "in place" and tack the plates to the dual frame rails, and also to the crossmember itself.


Next, I had to cut the tacks that hold the plates to the frame rails, but leave the plates tacked to the cross member. I drilled small holes through the plates just to get me in the ballpark of where the holes in the crossmember are located. This is the part where I had to go in with a die grinder and enlarge all the holes, and line everything up perfectly with the holes in the crossmember.
Then, I had to bevel all of the notches in the plates where it will weld to the frame rails. This makes the welds much stronger. I also had to patch any cuts that I put into the plates from hitting it with the cutting wheel, while removing it from the car.
I also pulled a bonehead, and didn't account for the amount that the transmission mount will compress (which is about an inch) and drilled one of the holes too low. I had to fill this in. Can you see why it took 12 hours?

before (with patch in place):


after:



Next, was to bolt the finished beveled cleaned plates to the crossmember, put it under the car, and final weld the plates to the dual frame rails. Almost there... or so I thought. I discovered another bonehead. The crossmember is slightly wider at the top than it is at the bottom.
When I welded on the top eyes, that heat shrank the material and pulled them out-wards. I couldn't get the darn thing out. After torching, bending, prying and pulling, I got it out, then had to grind it quite a bit to level it back out. (about two hours worth).

The final step is to box the mounts (and don't forget the drainage hole for water)




the finished mount: (and don't forget to primer all of the metal inside the box before you weld it up, and allow a place downhill, preferably, where the water can drain)


all that I have left to do, is to box the other side and primer everything and I should be good to go on that.

To see the full craziness that is the transmission mount and cross member, see the link below.
Did any of you guys did anything done this weekend?
peace

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=9AbN2rJq3as4m

 

That's from the other thread. The question is: How would one set up the suspension on a Falcon for a good all-around racecar, if there is such a setup? By all-around I mean being able to corner and drag race.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

you would probably use a similar set up as you would with a Mustang. Subframe connectors, Watts link or pan hard Rod, Shelby A-arm drop, Konis etc. I have never known a suspension setup that will work with both road racing and dragracing, as the principles of weight transfer are completely different. If there is such a beast I would like to know about it though...
interesting videos... thanks for posting

I did finally get my air cleaner!

 

anyone getting any work done on yer birds?

 

Finally got to this...

Here's the pic you wanted to see



This motor is coming out as I don't trust it and managed to find a freshly rebuilt 2 litre pinto and autobox for what it would cost me to rebuild this one. Thank heaven for clubmates eh? The new motor comes with an auto box which is about 6 inches longer than the manual. This will move the motor forward (which it desparately needs) if I use the same propshaft.

This weekend I have got this one ready to come out and managed to sell it too! Just arranging to borrow an engine crane then I'll be able to remove it completely and get to cleaning up the engine bay. It looks very rough in this pic but it's mostly just dirt.

The lack of a hoist stopped play as far as removing the motor but I spent the day cleaning up all the ancilliaries I took off. It aint much but hey - it's progress!

 

Whats the axle out of?

 

The "quote" didn't come out like I wanted it so let me explain my predicament. I have a nice '61 I bought awhile back and want to get started on and I need to know the front end track width. The frontend is laying in the trunk but I'm wanting to go with an axle up front as I have several laying around the shop out of different cars and trucks. I also have a '66 390 complete out of a Fairlane GT that I'd like to use, thus the axle. Thanks for any help on the track width.
Before the search police start on me I read thru alot of the Falcon post on axles but I need the stock track width to start to see if I have something that will come close to working by measurement as I don't recall what some of them come out of.

 

Here's an old thread when I got my Comet going:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=156033

 

is the engine sitting hard against the firewall? i'm asking because i have a 2.3OHC and a 4spd from an '80 Pinto i'm considering dropping in a Falcon. i have the entire pedal hanger assembly with the clutch pedal to adapt if necessary. where does the shifter end up in your car? having the shifter too far back for comfort will definitely stop the presses IMHO. thanks for the info.

 

While you guys are on the subject of building Falcons.Does anyone have any pics of rear suspension setups or doing away with the inner fenders / shocktowers on early Falcons .Im talking about drag cars .Not really needing pics of tubbed out backhalfed cars.Im mainly wanting to see gasser or street rod setups headers ,traction bars ,tilt fronts etc.Thanks...

 

HIDDEN asked a good question yesterday.
Figured I would link that thread here.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=290630
Vapor locking seems to be a problem with these cars.

Norton

 

the pinto mill looks at home in there. (a really big home). it would probably make as much if not more power than the stock 6, and seems a decent choice given the gas prices. too cool. would probably have considered it if #1 I had thought of it and #2 if i wasn't going to tow a trailer.
there are a few turbo versions of it out there as well.
hmmm....

 

You can put the engine the same distance from the firewall as normal. The bellhousing is behind the center link about an inch or so, and sets lower than the center link, so there's not room to mount the engine more forward. I think the shifter will end up more forward, rather than too far back. I have a T5 and the shifter is slightly more forward than I liked, so I put a tall, arched-rearward shifter on it. I believe it ended up where the trans tunnel crossmember was. I cut out the original trans tunnel. I hope this makes sense to you.

 

sounds good! now for a likely candidate for heart surgery... another 2dr sedan preferably. the '66 is headed for a 351w and some MFP stripes.

 

The Pinto mill makes a little more power than the stock 6 and weighs almost half as much. I think it will pull her along just fine.

Just picked up a cool air filter for it too (if I can make it fit) - pics later.

 

Put a remote door opener system on mine...I'll never do that again......and bought the paint for the exterior; if the d@mn rain down here ever lets up, gonna try to shoot it this coming weekend...
Rob

 

are you painting it outside? What color and kind of paint are you laying down?
I look forward to seeing it.

Why will you never put a remote door opening system on again? What were the problems you had? I was planning on shaving my door handles and putting some type of system on mine. it seems like you have information that could be quite valuable to me

 

I got my dropped spindles from Fatman this week! Those clear up a lot of the jacked up suspension geometry that you get from lowering a car too much. When you air it down, it sits LOW.
I do have a problem with the rotor hitting the lower control arm though. It's nothing that can't be cured with a few blows from a hammer, but if something is not right, I would rather fix it properly than resort to beating on it.
have any of you used these and run into a similar problem?


PS
does anyone know how much I can get away with shortening the control arms and narrowing the track width? 2 inches per side, for a total of 4 inch track width reduction would be perfect.
I am not sure that I would not end up disturbing a hornets nest of geometry problems...
peace

 

Good luck getting someone to tell you how to narrow it, I can't get anyone to simply tell me the stock track width..

 

if you're running a straight axle, couldn't you make it what ever you want?
seems like you could set it where ever you thought it looked best ...
i may totally be missing something

 

Yeah, I'll be painting it outside...shade-tree style, you know......it's a rat, so I'll be doing the obligatory suede black; I'm cheap, so I'm using Krylon enamel...I'll post pics...

The door popper deal...hmmm...all I can say, is DON"T skimp and buy cheap solenoids....spend the money, and buy screw actuators, or heavy-duty 40-pounders...my cheapo set won't hardly do squat; a couple of buddies over on TFFN said to swap them out for mid-70's Cadillac trunk solenoids, or use Ford starter solenoids (wired under the dash) to give my weenie versions some extra kick....that '62 door latch design is diabolical; there is no way to disable the lock function (believe me, I studied it for an hour), and it doesn't have the "button detent" the later models have (where you hold the button down while closing the door, to lock it)...it has to be locked separately with the key for security, every time....and besides, the damn latch lever actuates perpendicular (not parallel) with the door on the inside, and does not pull downwards to open....

Good luck, bro!
Rob