I picked up a 63 4 door fairlane 500 as a family cruiser. It has the 200 inline 6 2 speed auto which sucks. So I’m building a 302 c4 for it and I have a question about the rear end. Should I swap it out? No clue what gears came in the inline 6 cars. This will not be a racer or driven hard. Just a family cruiser that can actually pass other cars on the highway. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The stock rear may hold up if you drive like there was an egg under the gas pedal. It would not stand very many burn outs!!
I would swap it. Those original rear gears are pretty puny. If all you do is put about it will work ok. But with any spirited driving at all, a 302 can break it.
If you swap over to an 8 inch axle it might a good time to add disc brakes or at least covert to a 5 bolt spindle for the front.
I think the 90's. or maybe 2000 era explorers could possibly fit the bill, plus the discs as a bonus.
This is a Fairlane not a Falcon. It's a real car and it has a real rear axle. These came standard with a 8". Being a 6 Fordomatic car the gear ratio may be lower than the 3.00 to one common in V8 automatic cars. Likely it's somewhere in the 3s. The door tag will tell. Nothing wrong the 8" it will do fine behind a 302 C4. Exhaust/headers can be tricky on these make sure you get little Fairlane specific. Falcon...Mustang.....66 up Fairlane stuff does not fit. HiPo iron manifolds fit and are cheaper than the tube headers available for these cars.
All 62-65 Fairlanes and 62-3 Meteors are 5 lug 5x4.5. 62-3 could have 13" wheels but they were still 5 lug. These cars came standard with 8" rear axles. It's a Fairlane not a Falcon or a Comet.
Jimmy, I know where he is coming from. I had a 67 Mustang with the 170 and factory air. It's the most next to nothing car I have ever driven. The only thing that happened when you downshifted into passing gear is.....the car got louder. Those 2 speed light duty early 60's Fordomatics were stinkers. If they work that's good but parts now are a problem.
I decoded the door tag and it has 3:25 gears. That should be cool with a c4. I had the same combo in a 53 ford. I may go with an aod just for the hell of it. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I will stand corrected on my first post. I thought the 62 and 63 Flane were more Falcon like, then redesigned for 64.
If you are going to keep the same old column (use it for shifting) you need to remove the safety switch from the within column and connect it to the shift arm on the tranny C4 style. also you need to get the detent plate for a C4 pattern or else you will not be able to get the low gear manually. You might be able to use the old driveshaft also. The rear should be fine. Nice looking car.
Thank you, I was planning on going floor shift and just cutting a hole in the floor. That’s what I did in my 53. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The 63 200 six Fordotragic , 221 V8 Auto , and the 260 3 speed manual All came with a 3.25:1 rear end ratio. Leave it alone, it will handle a 302 easily [unless you like doing 1 wheel burnouts] Instead of swapping the rear end , why don't you use an AOD instead of a C4 behind the 302.[you're doing a trans swap anyway] AOD's don't need a computer and have a starter safety switch and reverse light switch on the trans. If this was my car [ I have a real soft spot for Fairlane Compacts] I would hunt down a Roller cam 5.0 and AOD. Convert the 5.0 to Carb and Dizzy. The 5.0 would be reasonably quick as the Fairlane V8 Autos only weighed 3126 lbs The car would be a pleasure to drive daily, and cruise at open road speeds without beating your ears to death. With 24.5" diameter tyres it would cruise at 70 mph at 2090 rpm. The roller cam 5.0 allows you to use a short duration/high lift cam. Which would make it nice and useable. I would sell my 2 door 57 Chevy and buy a 63 2 door compact anyday [they are cooler than a freezer in a blizzard]
NICE, Just like myy first car in high school around 1975. Same motor and trans. I swapped in a 289 my Sr year and it was a runner !!! Dont worry about the rear. I ran mine so hard that I sheared the pin that centers the axle housing tubes on the leaf springs but never hurt the diff. Drove the crap out of that car with the 289/3 spd till I went in the Corps. Even drove it from Indy to DC and back one summer.
I've seen a few '62s with the 7.5" light-duty rear, but only with the 'base' 170 six. And still five lug...
Simply replacing the Fordomatic with a C4 will improve the car tremendously. There are a couple bellhousing patterns for the 200, I believe later engines had a dual pattern on them. Consider joining the Fairlane Club of America for really good technical advice and articles.
Nice. Have you checked on motor mounts yet? The factory V8 cars have frame brackets that the 6 cyl. cars do not have.
That’s what I was going to start hunting next. I believe there are some aftermarket parts made but I haven’t looked too deep yet. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I picked up a 302 out of an 89 mustang, as a short block that was rebuilt so it has the factory forged pistons and the guy put an f303 cam in it. I’m just going to find some gt40 heads and a simple intake and carb and probably the aod now that I think about it. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
You may also find the 3.25's a bit high with an AOD, or you may love them. I have had a couple of pickups with 302/AOD with 3.50 ratios, and personally would have been much happier with 3.70 to 4.10 gears.
These cars are geared high. If you already have a c4 I, see no real advantage going with a overdrive. Since they are geared so high, you have to really think out the cam/converter/ rear gear combo.
On the fairlane club of America forum there is seller that has tons of parts and mostly deals with parting these Fairlane. The info archive is worth the club membership. The forum work good too.
That will make it a good driver , GT40P heads were fitted to an Explorer but will drop compression 1/2 a point . E7TE heads are ok and Cheap The F303 is quite a hot cam for a cruiser and will need some compression. AND check that the valves don't "romance" the pistons Make sure you have a distributor gear that is compatible for the camshaft. Before people try and talk you into changing ratios . A 1989 Mustang 5.0 with AOD had a 2.73 final drive [and optional 3.23] So your Fairlane's ratio is close to the Mustang's optional ratio. The '89 Mustang weighs 3164 lbs , so your Fairlane is 68 lbs lighter. The stock Mustang had 225 [SAE net] Horsepower ,300 Ft/lbs of torque and 20 mpg. The old 271 HP 289 would have similar SAE net ratings. If you could get that old Fairlane to behave like a late 80's car [performance wise] you will be happy with it. Use a dual plane manifold and a 500 cfm Edelbrock carb with electric choke and it'll be quite crisp to drive. I've pulled a few 5.0's from our local U-Pull and everyone still had the cross hatch marks in the bores after 120,000 miles . So buying a complete Motor and AOD wouldn't be too risky.
The stock '83-85 aluminum 4V intake is good, but has an EGR port at the carb flange you will need to cover up if not using the stock Holley and EGR setup.
I have had a 64 Fairlane with 289, C4, and 3.25 8 inch for 25 years and have loved it. It came this way from the factory but was not quite stock when I got it. (Edelbrock intake, bad headers, dual point, B&M shifter, etc). The rear you have will work just fine unless you want to spin both tires. If that is the case, your easiest solution is to modify or swap your pumpkin. These cars are similar to but not quite the same mechanically as Mustangs and Falcons. Be careful to buy parts that are made for your Fairlane as others might not fit. I second the recommendation to join the Fairlane Club of America. They have a great website and a good magazine with fantastic technical articles. All the magazines for the last ~30 years are archived on the website. From what I have read, you will want to steer clear of the GT-40P heads due to conflict between spark plugs and available headers. AutoKrafters is a good source for parts. Hooker Supercomp PN# 6134 headers are the only ones I know fit well. (Others have had varied success fitting others.) In addition to making fiberglass hoods and other parts to clone Thunderbolts, Crites makes motor mounts and other parts you may need for this swap. Check out their website for pictures and price lists. Note, I do not have any experience with their parts.
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