'63 Falcon project

[Monk]

Thanks! But I usually just use their online parts directory.

No problem....but the catalog is easier to read on
the can

[1946Austin]

Got over to the steel place today, and picked up 1.25", 1.5" round tube, plus 1"x3" square tube. Then when I got home I started disassembling the Falcon. Pain in the rear with all the various bolt points. Unlike a GM where I could take the whole front clip off with about 8 bolts; there must be 18 on each fender of the Falcon! And hidden in every weird place you could imagine, including the interior kick panels!
Got the fenders, hood, and bumper off, and all loaded in the trailer to store.



Then got the HF bender out and began making up the supports to go from the firewall to the frame on each side.



They're just laying in there for now. I need to chop out the shock towers a bit to allow them to set properly, and then trim them to length and weld them to the frame and firewall. Also need to make up some plates to spread the load on the firewall end.
Once the braces are in there solid I will start cutting out the inner fenderwells. Did a little measuring today, and was surprised to find the 454 is almost exactly the same length as the 170ci six! I would hve thought the six would have been longer, and I may have to do some relocating on the radiator, or change to a short water pump to make it fit well and have room for a fan.

[milner351]

OK - what are the specs on the tubing and what technique did you use to bend it?

I have the HF bender and I've seen Stiney's modifications to "make it work" but I've not tried it yet - and DOM aint cheap enough to just experiment with willy nilly!


With some measuring I think you'll find a universal aluminum rad that can be made to fit "inside" the core support and give you more room for water pump and pulleys - that's how my Ranger was set up.

I used a first gen mustang core support we grafted into the aprons of the falcon then I cut most of the stamping that funnels air to the radiator out to make room for the bigger radiator - and move it further forward.

[1946Austin]

OK - what are the specs on the tubing and what technique did you use to bend it?

I have the HF bender and I've seen Stiney's modifications to "make it work" but I've not tried it yet - and DOM aint cheap enough to just experiment with willy nilly!


With some measuring I think you'll find a universal aluminum rad that can be made to fit "inside" the core support and give you more room for water pump and pulleys - that's how my Ranger was set up.

I used a first gen mustang core support we grafted into the aprons of the falcon then I cut most of the stamping that funnels air to the radiator out to make room for the bigger radiator - and move it further forward.

Yeah tell me about it! That 1.5"x.185" tubing was over $60 a 20' stick! I wasted about 4' of it, but once I cut the kink out I can use the remaining 3' for other supports. I got thinner wall for the 1.25" traction bar tubing, so it was cheaper. And the box tubing put them both to shame on it's price!
I'll have to look for the HF bender rework, as I bought this years ago used for $40, and it's never done well. I usually end up going back where I retired from and using one of their Greenlee 555 benders to make nice bends.

[STINEY]

No research necessary. Here are pictures of the modifications.

Replacing the rollers with half-pipe pieces of tubing (welded to pivot tubes) keeps the "kinks" minimized. Just size the half-pipe pieces according to the size of the tube you want to bend, it should fit in them nicely.

[1946Austin]

No research necessary. Here are pictures of the modifications.

Replacing the rollers with half-pipe pieces of tubing (welded to pivot tubes) keeps the "kinks" minimized. Just size the half-pipe pieces according to the size of the tube you want to bend, it should fit in them nicely.

Thanks STINEY! I was searching all over the site and nothing came up using your name about bender mods! I'll grab the welder and make some of those up for the next bending session! I need some slightly tighter bends for the 1.25" ladder bar tubing.

[1946Austin]

I need to go rattle the neighbor's cage! He's still got my cherry picker! Using it to swap engines in his BBC '68 Camaro! I need to get that six cylinder out of there. It's in the way of everything else I need to do!

[STINEY]

Thanks STINEY! I was searching all over the site and nothing came up using your name about bender mods! I'll grab the welder and make some of those up for the next bending session! I need some slightly tighter bends for the 1.25" ladder bar tubing.

Welcome! Its still no GreenLee or JD2, but it makes a big difference!

[DanStokes]

A guy here in town made his own and he has a pretty clever design that stands vertical. Easier to use. He says that any idiot can make the bender but the hard part is the shoes. He popped for them (from Greenlee IIRC) and his works slick. When I get to bending my next bar I'll just drag it over to Barry.

Dan

[STINEY]

The shoes are also the EXPENSIVE part...... just pricing the benders isn't too painful, but the shoes - OUCH!

[Bob Holmes]

That's some stout tubing.

Any thoughts on designing in some crush zone so that in the event of an accident it doesn't bend up the entire car. Or bounce your brain against your skull?

[1946Austin]

That's some stout tubing.

Any thoughts on designing in some crush zone so that in the event of an accident it doesn't bend up the entire car. Or bounce your brain against your skull?

I'm afraid I'm not an engineer Bob. Any ideas?

[SuperBuickGuy]

no crush zones. mimic the cages built by Morrison or any of the other quality guys - but no crush zones... the only thing that should crush is a collapsable steering shaft.

[Bob Holmes]

I tend to think that you should use some pretty stout tubing no farther forward than your shock/suspension mounting. Then I look towards a lighter gauge anything forward of that. The whole idea is to keep the human body from taking a shock that will kill it. So you have to have a way of dissipating the energy. By allowing a controlled crushing of the structure, you dissapate the energy. In a structure that is infinitely stiff, the energy is transfered through the vehicle, and the occupants are pinballs.

Ditto on the collapsable steering shaft. That's a must have.

[DanStokes]

It takes a TON of engineering to make controlled crush work properly. What you need to do is make the time between contact and secondary contact (you into the inside of the car) as long as possible. But if the structure isn't strong enough then the primary contact includes the driver - also not good.

GM spends a lot of time and money and I'm sure the others do too. To think you'll pull this off in your home shop is not realistic. I don't know if there's a kit (maybe from S&W or Morrison) that would facilitate controlled crush.

A friend of mine worked in the crash test facility at the GMPG and while I certainly don't claim much skill in this area we did talk about it on occasion (I wonder where he's ended up.....). What I took away from those conversations is that it ain't easy. The collapsible steering columns are devices that can be transferred intact from one vehicle to another so that should work fine.

Best of luck on all this!

Dan