As you mentioned, it is a major PITA to remove the rear wheels. Mine is lowered using 5 leafs and 3" blocks with air shocks for ride height adjustment. I'm planning on removing one or two of the five leafs so that I can go with 1" or 2" blocks. That will help with my scrub line and more importantly, relieve some of the stress points although it's been this way for years (30K miles). Anyway, to remove the rear wheel I usually pump the rear shocks full and jack the car up on one side to twist the axle so it tucks up tight on one side and drops the max on the other. This works decent. In the past, I used to let the air out of the tire to help remove it. Ha! And my wheels are small too, 14x6 Granada rims with 185-75, 14 tires. The 19th and 20th of this month, Michael Cini from FordSix will be down at my house for a few shows that weekend, Orange Plaza and All Ford at Knotts. Maybe we can swing by?
sick looking wagon, as mentioned before the wheels are spot on. my chick has a new thing for wagons after going to Roundup. she thinks she needs one now.
Here is a bit of an update... It ends with air bags, so I guess this thread isn't too misnamed. Before I can weld the perches to the axle, and pin the arms for the perches, I need to set up the pinion angle. Before I do this, I cannot put any mounting points on the axle tube (for a pan hard rod, shock mounts, etc.). Soooo, I had to final mount the tranny to lock in the driveline angle. All the research I did, told me that the mounting point for the automatic overdrive trans ( which has yet to arrive) and the three speed trans (, which is what I have) are the same. So, I bolted up the three speed and went to work building the mount. It had to be extra beefy, because it had to take up the slack for the transmission tunnel cross-member that I had to cut out for clearance. ( I wouldn't want the thing to taco). The whole mess would be secured to both the frame and the subframe connector. Well, my buddy is in Oz, and grabbed me an overdrive trans that I wanted, but the mounting points are 4 inches back! It turns out, that I can still use the cross member I made, I will just need to make new frame plates when the container arrives from Australia. While waiting for the trans-to arrive, I started mounting the bag plates to the arms and the frame. To those who are interested, here is the saga unfolding... First of all, I needed a quarter inch plate with a square hole in it. (It's how the Aussie trans mount is made) I drilled a round hole, scribed a square around it and cut it with a hand file. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I cut and welded .120 angle iron to it, cut at a 45° angle. (I wish I made the center notch a bit bigger for the washer) I figured how much of a step up I would need, cut square pieces of an appropriate length, and welded it to another 45° cut. I then cut a little piece to fill the gap,beveled it, welded it up and dressed it. We made some frame plates to tie the cross member to both frame rails. ( these unfortunately will no longer work, but I will probably still put at least one per side in to help strengthen the subframe, as I already have them cut. We then bolted what we had to the tranny, and tacked everything up to the frame plates. We then took the thing out and could attach the vertical ears, throw that baby on a drill press, and drill straight holes through the plates the ears and the mount. After that, I could cut the sleeves that went between the ears and the two angle iron pieces, run a bolt through the whole mess, and tack the sleeves in. One on top, one on the bottom, and final weld the whole thing up. Then spray, what will be known as the "inside" with weld through primer. We then bent and formed the sheet metal around it. ...welded it and dressed the welds, and boxed the ends. We then drilled to 3/4" holes in the bottom, attached some magnets, and hit it with a rubber mallet and shook it for a while to pick up all of the slag. After that we filled it up with expandable spray foam and put on some plugs. voilà I am done with the cross member until the tranny arrives from Oz, so I could work on the rear bag mounts, which has nothing to do with pinion angle. I tacked to the bag plates to the arms, and bolted the top plate to the bag as well. I will need to make some access holes in the frame to be able to remove the bags later. Here is where I'm picking up at the rear and again. peace
the updates have continued here... thanks for your interest http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=281142
Is there a complete build thread on this wagon or just spread out through the forum? I would love to follow it.
Where the second thread leaves off is where the wagon currently is. 2 other projects jumped the line... 1 is finished, and one should be done this year. Then, I'm back and in 100%.
What are the rims and centers on your ride Falconizer? Also what axle you runnin? Can get a 64 falcon cheap but not sure if the axle is too wide for my 61. Think it's 3/4" wider than my stock. Maybe someone will trade me for a maverick one.
The diff is from a Ford Ranger, which is even narrower than the round body falcon original. the front track has also been narrowed 3 inches, otherwise the rims and tires will not fit... The rims are 15 x 7 from The Wheelsmith with Shan Cones in the centers
Thank you. I was looking at the option of the Ranger rear. I read that the center is offset. Does that cause a problem with the tunnel and bagging it? I LOVE your wagon.
Just Got the Wagon Project Back into the garage today! It is back ON! Lots of other projects came up and took it's place... no mas. First off, clean it off and out and assess the state of the project and where I left off. Next, make a dolly so I can roll it around easily and raise or lower the suspension through its entire length of travel. Peace.
I mounted the 1963 comet bumper and am experimenting with extending the hood and fenders to match the peak. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Ok. Had a day to work. I lengthened the fenders to match the bumper\hood. Just finished it enough to get the line.
Then I took some photos and Photoshoped a coloring book, and will try to get some rough ideas down. These will be changing as the sheet metal changes, but at least it gives me something to look at and gets some ideas out of my head. Draft #1 Up next will be bumper work!
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