Technical 354/392 Hemi in a Falcon? Period correct?

Hemi's have been put in Ford Pintos, Chevy Vegas, Dodge Colts (there's a small car), and all kinds of other runts. Do it, it absolutely fits the HAMB era stuff.

 

Yea, and if you run a 1960 Chrysler alternator you can stay in the "traditional hot rod" forum sub category. Think I'm stuck with a smaller denso but it ain't over yet.

 

On the '06 Power Tour there was a Dakota with a '54 331 in it! Hemi Falcon, a Hemi Bird of a different feather!

 

An old hemi in a Falcon or any car is the "cat's ass." (By they way, that means good.) Go for it!

 

If I can "waste" one in a Rambler then surely you waste one in a Falcon!
Go for it! IMHO You're definitely gonna have to design everything AROUND that motor!! They be WIDE!!!!!

 

On the practical side, it will require a front sub-frame and suspension. The Falcon front towers are barely wide enough for the narrow-block SBF.

In fact, plan on a full frame and replacing the rear suspension while you're under there. We ripped the rear spring hanger points right out and broke the right rear spring with just SBF torque. The early Falcon/Mustang had really wimpy unibody stampings.

jack vines

 

I'm a ford guy and I say go for it. If it was a Chevy I'd say NO. (Sorry Vince). Your Falcon is still bad ass.

I love 55 Chevys and want to make a straight axel gasser out of it, but wit a injected 427 Ford in it. Just to piss off the Chevy guys lol

 

Thank you everyone for the opinions and pictures.

I was already planning on cutting off the front frame rails and making some 2x4 sq tube ones. I already made some very sturdy subframe connectors, as well as im putting a 10pt cage in it. I plan on making decent power so i think that should hold up.

I'm also thinking about a pretting decent motor set back, somewhat similar to the 'Strange Bird' gasser. 1 piece glass front end, glass doors, and a glass decklid also in mind.

Does anyone know where i could pick up a 1 piece glass front clip?

 

My falcon has the same 2x4 tubing set up. It works well with the leaf springs. No-one makes a 1 piece fiberglass front end. Show Cars in Canada says they have one, but they have had a lot of complaints.

 

Do you have any pictures of your 2x4 setup? build pics or anything?

 

Usually it's women who ask for everyone's opinion then get upset when someone doesn't agree with their idea. You know, the old 'do these jeans make my ass look fat?' bit.

Is a Hemi in Falcon period correct? Not really. I'm sure it was done somewhere once or twice but it was hardly even slightly common. It's like fuzzy dice on the rearview mirror - no one in the 50's did it but everyone in the 90's did it to be 'period correct'.

 

There are a couple in my profile. If you pm me your email I can get a lot more to you in the next day or two.

 

Just quit "Falcon around", and do it! Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Not a hemi but do a search on "strange bird" a falcon with a blown nailhead in it. One of my favorite cars on the hamb. Do it slam that hemi in there!

 

Got a 354 HEMI Valiant, maybe almost period correct C/xS possibly, a Falcon HEMI would be Cool!

 

There's no reason at all it couldn't be period correct.

Humor this hypothetical concept
Put your time travel pants on and go back.
Walk thru the bone yard and pick out your hemi, it would be less than 10 years old then. or perhaps some racer was switching to the new 426 and you got his old hemi. build your falcon with era parts and concepts. Race it a few times and stick it in a barn. Find it next spring 2014.

Perfect period correct hemi powered falcon.
You'll only screw up "your period correct" if you use modern parts.
Would it be traditional as in repeated 1000s of times? Nope but right in with the tradition of experimentation of wild racing ideas in an attempt to go faster. Traditional with outside the box builds in drag racings hay days. Right around the introduction and beginnings of the funny cars too.

Have fun with this !!!

 

I really get tired of this train of thought, and lack of imagination! If hotrodders had always thought this way, we'd be waiting for Detroit to install the proper engine combo themselves! I'm glad I didn't leave the stock flathead 4 cyl. in my Austin gasser, or look around for maybe a modern Austin Healey 4 cyl. to really make an exciting combo!
Rodders have made all sorts of engine swaps over the years, and continue to come up with very cool and interesting combos. I sure hope there aren't a lot more that think we should stay true to the brand and limit their imagination!

 

To answer the original poster's question. I'd swap whatever I wanted in the Falcon! A hemi is a fantastic choice, and I'd have dropped one in my Falcon in a second if I'd found one cheap enough. I didn't, so I went with the 464 BBC in my version of a early Falcon gasser.

 

Swap a hemi in a Falcon....sure go for it!

Back in the day (+40 years ago) we put a 392 in a 57 Chev Sedan Delivery. The Chevy purists thought we were crazy....Dare to be Different.

 

Do it...
I like the looks of your Falcon too !!

 

Take a look at the Strange Bird Falcon build. I went the same route he did with my frame. I cut out all the inner fenderwells, and shock towers, then added 1"x3" heavy wall box tubing to the bottom of the factory frame rails. Then I tied the box tubing into subframe connectors that I bolted and welded to the chassis in the rear. I added tubing from the subframe connectors to tie them into the rockers and floor pan in between also. Then I built my roll cage to tie all of it together and further stiffen the body. I also added tube frame braces from the firewall to the front frame horns. My car isn't light, but it is strong.
I built my tilt frontend from the stock sheetmetal. Just welded it all together with thin plates to attach hood to fenders, and bent up 1" tubing to make a framework that would stiffen it while opening. I cut the lower drops off the fenders to allow access to the engine when it's open and not have them hitting my head as I leaned in.
This is an old picture when I was building the frontend:

 

What I mean is you should put a Ford engine in a Ford. It's not like there aren't enough to choose from. Put a cammer in it.

Do you have any idea what a "Cammer" would cost?

 

They're a dime a dozen aren't they? Here's one an Epay for a paltry $38k buy it now price!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Ford-Aluminum-SOHC-427-FE-Cammer-Engine-Complete-/380282550288

 

Maybe he means a newer modular SOHC or DOHC 4.6 or 5.4? Wait...I doubt that is what he meant...

 

If you plan on racing it competitively, then build it as a race car. There are some cars out there that look like race cars, owners call them race cars but can't get out of their own way. These guys build them to look like a certain way but not actually race. All show and no go!

If you plan to race realize you're going to race lighter cars with as much or more horsepower.

I say do what you want.

 

These are not the droids you're looking for

 

The proper response is go fuck yourself. Well maybe only if you are as crude as the 'beaner.

I would say go for it. I think that more hemis probably got used in /BG than in /G. A big olds would probably be a more likely candidate or at least a more common candidate, a 394 being the newest. But it was racin' you used the absolute best of what you had so if you are shooting for an early '60s vibe and a hemi is the absolute best of what you got then you are nailing it heart and soul.

 

Make it your own. Nobody else matters, they're not paying for it.