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

[milner351]

390 4v 9.6:1 Factory rated at 300HP
Cruise O Matic 3 speed auto
Tilt away steering column
power : windows, driver seat, steering, brakes (4 wheel drum - that will change)
9" with blistering 3.00:1 gearing
4100+lb She's a big girl

Right now it's nestled next to Marco's 64 ranch wagon out near Phoenix, Shipping arrangements are coming along.

I will probably use the AC/Heat/Defrost kit I originally purchased for the falcon in this car, add front discs, dual reservoir master cylinder, 15" wheels and probably new springs and shocks.... it's LOW, and the 14" it's sitting on now are untold age.

[STINEY]

Color me jealous.




You are a brave man. I'm not sure I could bring myself to modify one of those Beauties.

And they are indeed LOW. I remember barely getting my hand sideways between the frame and ground......and that was a kids hand.

[SuperBuickGuy]

ooohhh those are sweet!

[Deaf Bob]

Might be 16" from factory?
The folks's friends had one and dad was saying they were 16 while his 60 suburnan was 15's
Either way.. Sweet car!

[milner351]

Thanks guys, it's a new and different experience for me to buy a car that I can actually drive in the first place, not a basket case that has to be winched out and pressure washed prior to actually touching it.
I don't know the 'birds well enough to know if the wheels/hubcaps are factory or not.
In my brain (defective as it may be) a 4100lb car riding on 205/65 - 14s with four wheel drum brakes and a single reservoir master cylinder just doesn't compute.
I want to DRIVE this one and not feel as if the other idiots on I94 are going to kill me since they can decelerate much better than I.

It's insured, so if anything happens to it on the ride home, I should be covered.

I've got a set of Ford 15" wheels that were on towncars and grand marquis in the 90's, sort of a turbine / american racing hurricane 2 sort of design.
They will clear the front discs (Granada rotors, Malibu calipers, stock spindles with a conversion kit) and should look pretty at home on the car, probably wrapped with 225 - 70 - 15 Coopers or similar. Probably black walls?

[Crank]

Sounds like a grand plan. Love those old birds!

[milner351]

Once this thing gets home and I start on it - I'll start a new thread on it.
Thanks to the recent cyber deals, I've already got the front disc conversion boxes piling up.
Granada rotors, malibu calipers, and a few bits to make it fit. I also went with a granada power disc/drum master cylinder (prop valve TBD).

I also FINALLY pulled the trigger on a MS MS330-K Kit with MapDaddy4 Upgrade....

So I'm going to try my best to learn from Randall and Scott - and put EFI on this thing over time.
Probably start with an aluminum intake I already have and perhaps a BBC Throttle body from the yard if I can find one.
In the last stash of FE parts I got a distributor that has a pertronix in it, or I could run a duraspark/HEI as well.
The fuel system will probably be the hardest part of the EFI swap.

Perhaps the Falcon will become more race car and slightly less street car, I never got around to putting the back seat into it, so a cage would be a natural next step, then there's that tunnel ram I've had collecting dust.....

[TheSilverBuick]

Good stuff.

Remember, with EFI, you can run either points or a duraspark distributor with a pickup coil and feed that into the Megasquirt and have the Megasquirt control the timing/coil. If you use points, they don't wear like they do when driving an ignition coil.

I want to get a multiport EFI intake for my Thunderbird.

[milner351]

The car has a points distributor in it now, it seems to work OK, I may just start with that.

The MS3 is ordered, I didn't order the simulation stuff - I'll have to order that at some point so I can play with it prior to hooking it into a vehicle.

I have the OEM CJ intake for the mach1, that's cast iron and will remain on the shelf, I also have at least one vintage aluminum intake that I was planning on using on the mach1 since Jays' book showed it flowed well and fits with the shaker air cleaner set up.

Thankfully there are some guys at work that can weld aluminum better than I can, hopefully with some convincing if I get things ready to weld, they'll be willing to weld in the bungs, I know some times old castings have junk in them, I should clean it, then heat it up to off gas as many contaminants as I can.
I'm still leaning toward starting out with TBI, just need to find the write throttle body / injector set up.

[milner351]

The tbird door panels and console lid are at the upholstery shop. All the parts to convert it to front disc brakes are in the shop waiting, the car is still in Arizona, shipping after the weather is more hospitable to old iron.

[Teddyzee]

Just spent the past week or so catching up on this car, it turned out well! I sort of drifted away after your first thrash- it was cool to see my name come up, lol...

Still have my Ranger and enjoying it being "finished". Last summer I picked up a '60 Falcon myself, been gathering parts for an EFI 5.0/T5 swap for another build similar to my truck. Thanks for sharing all the tips!

[milner351]

Gents - as we all know, Life Happens, and, well, the scary thought of possibly letting this car go has entered my consciousness....
I think I'm more tempted to sell it as a roller, keep the engine and trans for something else.

Any ideas? I threw it up on facebook market place to gauge interest, nothing serious in the first few days at least.

I'm conflicted, but if I could see this go to a good home (someone want to make it a gasser? I'll cut out the M2 for you if that's the case)

[milner351]

Well - folks must have known I really didn't want to sell this car, no real offers, so, it's still sitting where it has been for over a year now.
Thanks to the folks at Summit - I've signed up for the first "Midwest Mini-drag week" June of 19. That should give me enough time to finish the shop move, and get the 5 speed installed, and maybe even the AC kit and door panels that've been sitting on the shelf for probably 3 years.

[STINEY]

Thanks to the folks at Summit - I've signed up for the first "Midwest Mini-drag week" June of 19.

Wait....what? I just searched and found nothing online.

[milner351]

https://summitmidwestdrags.com/

PLEASE DO IT, or if you don't bring your own car, you're welcome to ride with me!