Features Doing Falcons Right

Are you looking to make it a perfect restoration, or just make it look nice? I used the stock door panels as a pattern and made up new hard board panels. Then I covered them with plain black naugahyde and reinstalled them. I did the same for the package shelf; just made a new board and covered it with the same black vinyl. Bought the naugahyde at the local fabric store for under $5 a lineal yard on sale.

 

for me it doesn't need to be a perfect restoration, i just like the way the original fabric looked. I like what you have done as well though, i might do something similar.
Thanks

 

I just noticed where you're at! Is that Portland, Or., or?? I live in Portland also.

 

There are 14 cities or towns named Portland, in the US. I used to live in Portland, Connecticut.

 

I thought I would throw this into the mix on the door panel debate real quick, so I ran out and shot some kinda crappy pictures of what I did in my wagon. These are made of 1/8" luan door skin plywood from any home improvement store, about 20 dollars of "Zodiac" vinyl from the fabric store, and about ten dollars of 1/8" landau foam from an upholstery supplier. I cut out 2" strips of the landau foam, bonded them to the door skin panels with WeldWood brand contact cement from the home improvement store leaving about 3/8" between each piece. I then glued up the recesses between the foam pieces, the back side of the fabric on the corresponding lines, and glued them together. The rest is just carefully folding the edges over and gluing against the back of the panels.... Done, 3D, and no sewing so anybody can handle it. 'Course, I could teach ya to sew too...

Quick disclaimer. At the end of summer I will have to take some time and gently pull the skin back off and reglue the the recesses a bit better. Unfortunately, I didn't really give these quite enough time to set up before I slammed them in place and started using them. Combine that with our 115 degree summers and the glue isn't what I would call happy...

 

Mmm, Beachwood Brown Metallic.

 

I've had horrible luck with 3M77 for panels, but the Weldwood has worked great for me, if I do things right. I used it on these panels, but I had to work fast, as it was a hot day under direct sunlight, and it actually got too dry if I didn't get the material on the panel quick enough!

 

Ya, I'm thinking I might have got a bad batch this time around, as I have had bad luck with the aerosol 3M stuff too. But in our ridiculous summertime heat almost nothing sticks forever. I had a glued up headliner in the Plymouth for many years, and when I first put it in, almost every morning would find it laying across the top of the seats. A call to 3M asked many questions and answered many more. Then came "What's the temperature where you live?" 118 today. Long silence..... "Well there's the problem!" Cool! How do I get around it? "MOVE"! Another brand of contact cement DID eventually solve the problem.

 

Hoping somebody can help me out here ....
so this little '60 I'm building for my wife came with '65-'66 Shelby mustang front brakes partially installed . I have new disc rotors /bearings etc all fitted up and this morning have rebuilt/kitted the LH caliper . I go to assemble the RH caliper and realise I'm missing the 4 little rings ( these are the 4 pot Kelsy hayes calipers ) that retain the piston dust boots ....

Would anybody have a set of 4 kicking about under the workbench?
I'm not certain if they are available new or not , and certainly don't expect them to be an "off the shelf" item here in New Zealand

If anyone can help with a used set or point me to where I can get them new I'd really appreciate it .

On a better note , the 289/C4 is all installed . I built a trans mount during the week and have all the engine bay wiring installed . Working on running new brake lines and hoses now.



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Interesting '60 Ranchero I saw:

 

Wow

 

All sorted now , I have some on the way, Due here Wednesday . Brakes, Driveshaft .... Road test?



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I needed a five-lug axle for my wife's V8 project and was having trouble finding a Maverick axle, so I took the road less traveled:



It's a Dana 44 from a '56 Ford wagon. Looks like it should be a bolt-in. I'll keep you posted as the swap progresses.

 

Friend sent me this photo. Made me chuckle

 

Keep us posted on the diff. I ended up using one from a Ranger. Hard to find them narrow enough. Good score on the Dana .
Very cool pic 41gasser!

 

I've got a pair of 50 year old 28 spline 5 lug axles from a 1963 Falcon eight inch V8 rear... If you've got an eight inch rear in the car now..

 

Thanks for the offer, but the current rear is something like a 7.5 or 7.25. Very weak and not very easy to find parts for. OK for a six-powered cruiser, but not desirable for a V8 swap like the 8".

 

That's kinda' what I figured but I thought of put it out there for ya', just in case...


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This is what made me seek out the wagon rear.


Dispatched from my 1949 Underwood Master.

 

Burnt Out,
To bad that you are not closer to me. The mav.-comet 8' is still fairly common in my area. I lucked up about 4 months ago and found a 8" v-8 rear end out of a 63 4 dr. Gona use it in my 62 Ranchero build. Was gona use a mav.-comet 8" and have it cut about 3/4" but now I can use the 63 rear and not do any thing but bolt it in. Even a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.
Butch Evans(Falconeer)
Thomasville NC

 

So it was rainin' this morin' n' I got all bored. I figured there was no time like the present to ditch my slapper bars n' install my spiffy new Cal-Track bars.



First I removed the spring plates n' the spindly 3/8" U bolts along with my heavily modified Lakewood "universal" slapper bars.





Check out the spacers I made to keep the slappers centered on my 2" springs...

Then my buddy yanked out the springs...they came out pretty easy- the same dude had helped my replace the 50 year old springs n' hardware in May of 2012.

 

After lubing the front spring eye up with anti-seize (never use as a personal lubricant) I pressed in the supplied aluminum bushing on my cheesy Chinese press.

I used a bearing race installer that looked 'bout right n' a Jim's Harley 5 speed transmission main drive seal installer mostly because I couldn't find a piece of scrap pipe that was the right size.



Front spring eye bushing installed.



Pivot assembly n' steel insert installed...

 

After a lot of grunting n' bad language, the springs got re-installed with the new pivot assemblies.

Next up were the new spring plates and some 65-67 Mustang 7/16 U bolts.



I would'a like to use 1/2 diameter U bolts but couldn't find any 2 3/8" U bolts for my eight inch rear in half inch...

And no dude, I don't live on the left coast where there's a spring shop, a radiator shop n' an upholstery joint on every corner.

All the local spring shops just laughed when I asked for a 1/2 x 2 3/8 x 6" round U bolt....



So anyhow, here it is:







Now I gotta' wait till it stops rainin' to try em out.....

 

Must be a Ranger axle with the small tube diameter at the end? I had the opposite problem with my 8.8 Explorer; the tube was too large at 3.25" I used 3" U bolts on the tube, and reworked them to fit the 3.25" tube.

 

In the first pic it looks like the Cal Trac shock plates are set up for staggered shocks? What did you do about that?


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Never mind! I zoomed in closer and see that they have tabs on both ends for the shocks to mount. Crafty.


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Big block- it's a dead stock 63 Falcon V8 8in housing-
I'm told the 63 Falcon is the narrowest hosing Ford ever made- the tubes are stepped down to 2 3/8" and take the small axle bearings. I know Mustang 8in rear housings are like this too because the parts interchange with the Falcon..


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Thanks! Didn't see the center to know what it was. I did notice when looking for the 8.8" for my Falcon that Rangers with the 8.8" used a stepped tube also.

 

I kinda thought ya' might a' seen where I swapped out my 3:55 trac-lock center for a 3:80 TL center a coupl'a pages back...


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Yeah, now that you mention it I did. But my memory is about 2 seconds long! I can walk from the car to the tool box and not remember what I was going to get!