62 Falcon - $5k challenge, how will it rise from the ranger's ashes?

[milner351]

Instead of continuing the 351c ranger thread adnausium, I'd start a new thread for the lastest project phase.... saying goodbye to the ranger, and hello to a little 62 falcon 2 door sedan that's really ugly but is dripping with potential.

So - after delivering the falcon (4 hour drive from central Indiana)
Matt - aka the energizer bunny - and I fixed the rusty hood on Rhonda's car, from welding in the patch (after fixing the welder - new gun liner) to spraying the clear, was all done by 2am saturday morning.


After a nap - we got back at it Saturday morning, and by 11pm Saturday night the engine, trans, axle, msd box, gauges, shifter, etc were all out of the ranger, the ranger was on the trailer - and the splash box (which is HEAVIER than the steel stock box) was swapped out for the steel box that fits much better..... the truck is just missing some white to be a patriotic paint scheme...


The Falcon got a serious bath at the $0.25 car wash where lots of it's shabily applied dark blue paint washed away with years of grime. Matt got the tires to hold air, one front brake un stuck, and the falcon was rolling on it's wheels with a bit of human power into it's new home.

I have tons of questions, Matt also brought up the granda spindles, rotors, calibers, proportioning valve - so I have most of what I need to make the front end 5 lug and disc brakes - I'm thinking a dual resevoir master cylinder with about a 1" diameter bore should do the trick. Out back - the ranger axle will get two short side axles, with one tube cut and welded to match the other side..... then - to figure out the spring perch locations, shock mounts, etc. to fit the falcon.

Then - there's the interior - obviously what's there needs to be replaced.
Headliner and seats are pretty well shot. Hopefully I can find a rear seat that is close enough in size to replace the existing one without having to pop for $$$$ oem restoration seat recovering prices. Jegs has some "racing buckets" for about $145 each that are tempting - but will kill any vintage look - I'm not sure I'm ok with that or not yet.

The fire wall to shock tower braces will probably have to go - and be replaced by something that is removable to get the V8 in and out.
I will need to get motor mounts, and see if I can make the long tube headers I have fit in that little engine compartment.

The floor has a giant hole on the driver side - the rest of the sheetmetal is amazingly solid - two spots in the driver door about the size of a playing card, and plenty of dents but very very little rot.

The adventure begins.

[fast Ed]

Lots of potential for sure ... those cars are so featherweight, with a decent small block they can run real nice.

If you're interested, I have the original black vinyl low-back seats that came out of my 68 Cougar. The bottoms have been covered over with a plain vinyl material, no pattern, the uppers are still original. Padding seems to be in decent condition. If you want to come for a drive in to Soviet Canuckistan, I could meet you half way between Toronto and Windsor ... just buy me some lunch and they're yours.


cheers
Ed N.

[Bamfster]

A thought on the seats .... check with some of your local, smaller upholsterers, sometimes they will give a deal on re-doing original seats with whatever material they have on hand. The lady that did my camaro only charged $600 for everything .... about half what the bigger shops wanted.

[Shawn Anderson]

I love it! This car would be bitchin for drag week!

[milner351]

Ed - thanks for the offer! I'm going to see what I can scare up here locally - but it's been a while since I've crossed the bridge to canukistang - it would be fun to meet you.

Shawn - yes! that is the plan.

Dan - thanks - there are few upholstry shops around here that aren't either marine specific or cater to higher end customers, with all the stuff I know of around here, uphoolstry is one area I don't have a single connection.

The next big question - if we don't follow in the footsteps of the red pontiac four door that ran drag week - WHAT COLOR?

Factory light blue/green? White? Epoxy primer after fixing the worst of the dents and leave it alone?

The other biggie...... Radius the rear wheel wells? They are in good shape - but it is missing the stainless lower trim on one side.

[VTJUNK]

Cool! Another Falcon here!

Reading through some of your posts, here are some answers. I've done this a few times, and this is funny because a friend of mine just gave up on a ranger project for a '63 Falcon.

A Granada master cylinder will work just fine, but because your car is a 6 cylinder, the Falcon outer tie rods will require a bushing to fit the larger Granada spindles. You can't use a Granada outer and Falcon inner because they are both RH thread, and there isnt a sleeve for that. It wouldn't allow you proper adjustment anyway. For engine mounts, use '65/early 66 Mustang frame brackets and engine mounts. My engine goes in and out no problem with the shock tower supports so no real need to cut them. Early Mustang headers fit best, nothing fits these cars perfectly, so you may to bump them here or there. That side trim is cool and rarely seen. Look for the missing piece, I may have one but not sure. At least you can ditch that awful 62 grille and swap a 63 grille and headlamp bezels on it.

[milner351]

VT I was hoping you'd chime in here.... thanks for the insite, I will look for the missing trim for the opposite side, and I will try to preserve the quarters in their current shape if possible, the more of these cars I see in pictures - the more I like the shaped rear wheel arches, even if they do prevent wide tires - this isn't going to be a powertrain that will be traction limited - even with 7 or 8 inch slicks, I don't think I'll over power them with caltracs.

I'm concerned the AOD will make header selection even more difficult - but I'll do what I can.

I'm hoping the fram connectors I have for 69/70 mustang will work with some modification (not going to use them in the 69 as it will stay stock appearing)

[Beagle]

Shorties will probably work with no drama, John. Tri-y's might work, it looks an awful lot like under the hood of my '65.

I fit 16" 205 65 16's in the front of mine on 2k5 Mustang wheels with a 1" spacer, the 215's were too much. The back will take the 215 65 I think, which is a pretty good size tire for no more weight than you will be trying to keep glued.

[jays67]

I used Dodge Neon seats,when we recovered them we left the head rests off. they are low back then with side bolsters. Car looks like a lot to work with should be fun. I just got in the shop this weekend I will ship your linkage Tuesday.

[Mater]

cool

a falcon is basicly a 64-66 mustang right? so parts to make it handle better should be easy to come by


what are you going to do with the ranger?

[Bob Holmes]

I'm a huge Falcon fan. I'd rather have a Falcon than an early Mustang. This will be a fun one to watch.

[RAIV70Judge]

Buckle up,.....this is gonna be fun!!

[SuperBuickGuy]

cool stuff...

[Stich496]

ha, why not the 170 and a 2.2 turbo..

[milner351]

That didn't take long - I was waiting until someone suggested keeping the inline.

Since the 302/aod/8.8 are already all rebuilt and ready to go (aod will go back to trans shop to fix the "won't upshift" problem)
That powertrain gets the nod, with a few mods:
Edelbrock aluminum 1.90 intake valve size heads - probably swap the valve springs to match the x303 cam.
Those require stud mount rockers - which are on the way from Summit.
picked up a ready to run msd off craigslist for $100 - need to swap the gear to match the roller cam.
dual quad offy intake $50, one 1405 edel $20, rebuild kits $20 each, calibration kit $60, and still shopping for another 1405, and a big thanks to Jay for the linkage.
Headers will depend on how much modification is required to get the hedman long tubes I have to fit.

another subject - Harland Sharp Rockers look really shabby out of the box - so much so that I called up summit and I'm sending them back in favor of some comps... I will take some pics and post in another thread before I send them back. They don't have "Harland Sharp" on them anywhere - the box is a generic summit "repacked" box, the bodies are dented under the anodizing, the roller tip axles looked like they were peaned by a gorilla with a sledge, disapointing for $229 a set, the vacuum cast comps for $150ish I ran on the twisted wedge heads in my '90 looked much better.

Matt and I have already discussed getting the inline running just for the fun factor - and to increase resale - I'll be selling the whole power train, and the spare trans in the trunk with a crack in the bell housing - it will be interesting to see if that stuff is in any kind of demand or if it will sit out back for years waiting for a buyer, or another project. The car is an original automatic car from what I can see - that means (I think) it's a 170 inline not the base 144 that came with the three on the tree cars.


SOME of the early mustang stuff works on the 60-63 falcons - but not all of it - I'm learning more and more about these cars, I may end up swapping over more of the front end to make the granada spindle swap work - upper control arms and inner tie rods will have to go at least. (still avoiding the mustang 2 swap at this point due to time and cost constraints)

The ranger is already "back home in Indiana" to it's new owners house.