An Original Falcon from the 60's "I can let you know that the green Falcon was driven by Donnie Jackson who was from Clarkston, Washington and he was also running a 300 cubic inch 6 cylinder with a 4 spd in H/M" Donnie was I believe world record holder and class champ 60's and early 70's. He was a "Tuner" could make anything run. He could drive em and his wife Judy did some kwik driving times also in the car.
Body work never gets any glory so heres some pics. Dans handled most .. actually all of the bodywork so far filling holes and fixing rust and straightening the panels. shaved off all the door trim below the belt molding, and still up in the air on the hood.
well this is what the header will pretty much look like, one side down other to duplicate. the whole goal was to have it dump and follow the fenders wheel radius. there will be a full exhaust, you dont think its just meant for the track do you . the right side door bodywork is also done.
to be honest dont know yet about the steering. keep pushing it aside to get other things done but i know its gonna test us a little bit just by looking at it. youll find out soon enough cause the check list is gettin smaller
Cool post 1969-70 Project Falcon first car I ever built was a '60 Falcon stuffing in a hilborn injected 421 Poncho motor (got for free). Used front axle from econoline van, removed inner fenders and moved firewall back about 5" to make room, stripped out interior and replaced with aluminum and two fiberglass bucket seats (no padding). Ford 9" w/locker 4:40. Aluminum dash panel with SW gauges...ran good, but never had the $$$ to completly sort out.
thanx for all the comments. yeah I have been distracted with work, detroit and world of wheels but there is more coming, just have to get all the pics gathered. im not trying to jump the gun but the goal is to have it at a certain drag event at DA Grove in the beginning of may so fingers crossed that all goes well in the next 2 months cause i never make goals with my own cars.
well its been long past due since i update my post and i thought id share the rear suspension. We used a maverick rear end and shortened it an inch and a half on both ends to suck the wheels in a little for launching clearances. theres nice new moser axles on there way with long studs. the whole system is a leaf spring ladder bar. im kinda thinking coilovers i could have had done in a day. but it was cheaper. the 8 inch sits on full floaters that ride on the springs. i did move the locating pin for the leafs forward an inch to keep my rear wheels centered in the wheel well. the pin also acts as a stop now if for whatever reason something is to break. lets hope not with 3/4" rod ends and a small block i think were on overkill. i will have a plate bolted a 1/2 inch behind the floaters to act as the rear stop. i did put on a panhard bar now that the rearend can move side to side with a left and right hand threaded ends for ease of adjustment. as for the ladder bars they have 3/4 inch rod ends and urethane bushings on the chassis end for street driving. it all gets tied in to all crossmember that slams into the roll bar and subframe connectors. i also made new shckles for a little bit of an adjustment even with the adjustment in the floaters. pinion angle is set just under 3 degrees.
for the steering we used camaro tie rods to connect the stock box to the steering arm because they were the right size for the tubing we were using and gave us the room needed to use the pitman arm on the box. not super cheap at 50 bucks a pop but for durability no compromise. and for connecting the two steering arms we used left and right hand threaded rod ends. the right steering arm we extended a bit for turning radius and reamed both the extension and pitman arm for the tie rod ends.
Not to be negative but the drag link has too much angle, when you hit a bump its gonna flatten out and make the wheels turn causing it to be all over the road. I just did this setup on mine. The drag link needs to be as parallel to the tie rod as possible. Looks great other than that. Thanks for the header build thats next on my list and the pictures helped out a ton.
all right this is my fix to bump steer. make a new steering arm. caliper works, its still in the rear and everything is level and i scored a little more turning radius with no rubing anywhere. the lower steering arms will need a little tweaking for the caliper but nothing major. pictures explain and its 3/4 plate.
Holy crap, that steering arm is awesome! So is the rest of the car. Not sure if there is any other way to build a Falcon!
Cool attitude! Cool Car! Looks like your bump steer is sorted out , nice work. If the bump steer is still a problem, I have a recommendation.[ and to others open to suggestions ] Use a panhard bar, identical length as the cross steering arm, same angle [ and parallel to the steering arm ] and mounted on the chassis on the same side as the steering Box. The idea is to have the RH side of the axle beam move in an arc identical to the cross-steering arm arc [ it cancels out bump steer ] I've seen this on a vintage dirt car when my dad raced in the 60's Again Cool Car !!!
The Jalopy Journal
