I'm doing some work to my 1961 two door sedan. This car is my unrestored stock Falcon, I bought it off a guy selling it in a driveway down the street from a job i was working on, about 7 years ago. The bird is a 144 inline with the stock three speed. I moved the shifter to the floor. I have been cruising this car as is to car shows and even to work sometimes since I bought it. The car was shipped up north from florida, so the body is not too bad, it has some spots on the fenders and doors. I will do the body at some point but not now. Its a good driver/ 20 footer. So far I have upgraded to an igniter ignition and done the brakes, thats it. The falcon always starts right up not problem and hums like a sewing machine. My problem is I just recently lost second gear, so I'm in the process of cleaning up a 170c1 and a 68 3 speed with a sincro first gear. This is a budget build, since I have other projects tying up funds. I plan on documenting with pics and prices for anyone whos interested. I yanked the 144 inline and three speed today- The 170 I picked up for $150 and a 68 trans for $75, both of craigslist. I bolted up a new oil pump and timing chain. My plan is to clean, paint and reseal this motor. I checked the main and rod caps for wear, not to bad. Im going to reuse as many good parts as I can, but I do plan on changing to an alternator set-up. More to come, thanks for looking
Thanks I love the roundbodies, I have two! As for the wagons, I want to eventually want to build a four door wagon with a small block windsor with ac, the perfect dd.
thanks guys! I figured this would amp up a couple of Falcon lovers. I also have plans of lowering the car about 3". I have blocks for the rear, and I bought the right style spring compressor to remove and cut the springs. I know a lot of guys cut 1.5 coils anyone cut 2 full coils? I figure worst case if i cut too much I will pickup some lowering springs. Also I read about the shelby drop on the towers. Falcon owners please chime in, I want it low!
Shelby drop, being real low will try to tear out the upper ball joints if you don't use wedges and if you plan to run real low the upper arm will be past horizontal anyway giving you the extra camber as you load up into a turn. I removed the bump stop brackets, but punched the shocks into the bonnet not long after. Since then I took off 1.5" from those brackets running a short shock that I welded on the base plate and tore out the upper balljoint on one side due to over rotation. Latest setup is a bit modern but is lower and does everything better.... Struts.
Awesome comet tomkat get that running for sure. I missed out on a two door 61 comet wagon close to me. Ive been kicking myself ever since.
My old Falcon back in the late 60's or so. Raced it circle track in the compact class. It was SLOW! Tom
Hey if everyone is running at the same speed, I bet it was a blast. Working on the car today, removed the trans and clutch. I'm about to switch over the floor shifter to the new trans. Pics up soon.
I agree thanks, I plan to do a repaint when I have the money, just not sure if I sure go black with a gloss finish or a satin. I'm leaning towards gloss. So today I bagged and tagged al the bolts and small parts from the 144. The clutch is in great condition, I put this one in about 10k miles ago. This weekend the plans are bolt on the head and accessories on the 170. On sunday I plan to sand down the bay, to get ready for a spray bombing....
The current paint job looks good enough to me, from here. I'd lean toward gloss black for a repaint, too. Matte black works, too.
Shocks were english/australian cortina with the falcon bases welded on. Still can't stress enough the top balljoint over rotation, speaking from experience it's not much fun when it lets go down the road!
Yeah thanks its fine for now and I don't need to worry about every little scratch and ding. Sometimes that is a relief.
Im going to keep that in mind thank you, I'm not going to over do it. I plan on chopping the springs first and see how I like it. If I decide to go lower I'll look for some aftermarket uca or fab some up. But I don't think I will get that heavy into it, I still want to retain some drivability. Thanks Cleaned Up the head today and hope to bolt it on tomorrow, also need to paint the pan and valve cover. Got to put the time in with the fam on the weekends, but Ill sneak out there! lol
So it's been awhile I swap the motor to 170 with the original 3 speed on the floor but I'm not impressed I'm in the process of setting up a 200 t5 set up. Also I've dropped the sedan 3" by chopping the front springs and adding rear blocks. I love the stance. It handles ok. But I need to replace all the shockes
Also btw I grinded the coils in place on the lift with no problems. Safety glasses, beer and lots of doubts it worked out and I'm psyched. They were coil overs so it worked out lol. This car is too simple.
The reason you were not impressed was the carburetor and distributor on the 170. They are what is at-fault for the performance. I run a 144, with a DUI distributor, and a Weber 32/36. No internal mods. It is backed by a T5. It turns 80 on the freeway, with ease, and isn't even a 170. When you do put your 200 in, you will still need to upgrade the distributor to get real performance out of it. The original Load-O-Matic distributor had mediocre performance when it was new. Just adding an electronic trigger to it is not enough. Swing by a wrecking yard and grab a late 70's-80's Duraspark II distributor from a 200 or 250, and the box that goes with it. Seriously, it will feel like you added 40hp. It won't even be expensive. If you have the coin, look into upgrading the carburetor, too. The current one is about 1/2 of what the engine needs.
Do the "Shelby Drop", you'll bs suprized how much better it handles. The shocks for that car fit many other Fords and are not hard to find.
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