There Is A Article In A 1961/62 Hot Rod Magazine Where They Do This Swap On A Mercury Comet And They Are Not Judgemental About The Engineering Or Consequences Which Was Refreshing...Proceed.........
They could not have had any notion of what the consequences could be. There was no frame-of-reference, as the V8 body shells did not come into existence until halfway through the 1963 model year.
My comments other than being critical of the "tude" were meant to help. Yeah, Hot Rod did this in 1962 but.... They had the budget and they had the experience. They were Hot Rod Magazine in 1962 for Pete's sake! We are talking about a 15 year old, realistically with no budget and by the questions asked, no real experience. I'm nearly 50 years old I have a shop and a lifetime of tools and this would be a project I would not do. I really wish there would have been a HAMB when I was 15. I did not know. My Dad did not know. We had no idea what was truly involved. Guess what we did have back then..... Hot Rod freakin Magazine and others... You can paint your car at home... Rust to Riches... High School Kid builds dream Rod.... Follow along with an 8 year old as he pounds out this '39 fender and leads it. ^^^^BS like that! We all fuss about how unrealistic the "garage shows" are with all their drama and big budgets. Those shows just follow the same formula the magazines did a generation prior. In 1987-88 me and my Dad took a 1951 3100 that had sat in a field for 15 years. We got it running driving and stopping. I truly wish there would have been somebody, some old guy who had been there from this field, from the real world rather than parts sellers to say to me...say to us.... Hey kid, don't blow it apart. Love it, drive it, do little things as you go rather than tearing it all down at once. Take small steps. Build on your experiance.... What's left of that old 51 is still behind my parents barn.
Congrats, another young potential hotrodder scared off. Way to pass the torch fellas. I'm getting the philosophy here. "You can be a hotrodder here, as long as you do eveything we tell you to do. Independent thinking will result in verbal abuse and insults.
Just started reading this thread but I haven't got to the end yet. However, has anyone suggested the great 300ci Ford engine. Powerful little bugger and being a six I wouldthinkitwould make things a lot easier.
That is even bigger than the 250 that won't fit easily. I am not saying that it cannot be done, but it would require even more extensive surgery.
Everything that has been said is all factual and what all the individuals would do if it was their project, but it is not OUR project it is HIS project. Imagine if we never had a mentor to guide us with our dreams in life, and they were all squashed like a bug before the even began? Then there would be no creativity and what we know as Hot Rods Street Rods Race cars would not exist. We all had to start some where, with some ones help, at some capacity! Try to help push the next generation of car guys up the ladder dont pull them off.
part of being a mentor is to share experiences....and I think many of us are doing just that, by suggesting that he might be biting off more than he can chew. Then again, lessons learned the hard way, are the most strongly learned.
Who cares? NHRA techs? I built the door bars to support the body and make entry easier, so the car could handle the BBC better. The car has never run at an NHRA strip, and the local 1/8 mile dragstrip doesn't care. They're not an NHRA sanctioned track, so it passed their tech since it's not going fast enough in the 1/8 mile to even require a rollcage and door bars. The door bars go all the way to the firewall, but have a bend in them to allow easy entry into the car. I know they're not optimum, but better than nothing. Which is what it could have and still be legal.
My 64 Futura is a hardtop that came with the 170 from the factory. My shock towers do not have the extra metal as Crazy Steve has pointed out. I had asked here a while back when I was considering dropping in a 351W I have ready to go but have since learned otherwise. I did upgrade to 5 lug spindles, 8" Mustang rear and a C4 prior to dropping in a 260 from a Fairlane. I have not added any bracing what so ever but I want to. I have been collecting parts to rebuild a 302 myself to gain the knowledge. I can get a pic of my shock towers if you or the young man that started this thread to look at if you guys like. Nothing wrong with being adventurous but there is a lot of sound advice on here from everyone. Best sometimes to take a step back and think things through before jumping head first. Good luck with your project 63falconfutura. -Mark
Well what did he expect?! The same as...." I got this pretty nice 5 window coupe and I have this cherry Isuzu diesel engine I want to put in it!" "Think it'll fit OK?!" OR........"I have this cherry 57 Chevy and I think I'll put this fresh Yugo motor in it"! Don't you think some negative comments would 'flow'!? Anyhow............ 6sally6
I see an engine as an engine, period. I've done some odd swaps and enjoy the challenge. The '59 Ford swap, I knew the center-to-center mounting bolt was 16.5" and made up a jig that was used to construct the mounts. It worked well and had a bare block which helped. I had 2 brothers down the block when I was about 14. They swapped a freshly rebuilt 283 Chevy into an early Falcon, went the straight axle route. I was there watching them try to fire it up... had 24 volts worth of batteries hooked up... nothing, just a grunt and smoking cables. They were going for 36 volts... my brother pipes up, realizes something is amiss with the engine build. He asks if they filed the piston rings to fit... the brothers just looked at each other. There is likely more swap info with an early Mustang, the OP should look that up, it will be similar to the Falcon.
Years ago there was a neighbor that had a Falcon Ranchero with a Flathead in it. I thought it was to die for. Seems to me it had a 3 x 2 manifold, aluminum heads, and a Falcon 4 speed transmission. I have often thought of that car so long ago...
I want to start my own thread "how to swap a Boss 302 into an 63 Chevy 11". Start it off by saying, I inherited a one owner 1963 Nova SS from my aunt Ethel and I have a Boss 302 under the bench and was wondering what motor mounts would be best to use? I wouldn't think there should be any negative comments. The car doesn't know what powers it. The little Boss engine is more than capable. Brand loyalty, bah! It's hot rodding!
While the Mustang was based on the Falcon design, the tub, and engine compartment on the first-genetation Falcon is 1-1/2" narrower than the first Mustang.
... And that makes a huge difference in what fits. It should also be noted there's misinformation out there on engine measurements. Look at any common 'engine dimension' site and they'll list the SBC and 221-302 SBF as the same width at 22". That's not actually true. Measured side-to-side at the exhaust port flanges, the small Ford is a bit over an inch narrower. That means you have another inch to get exhaust manifolds in there, which can make a big difference. The taller-deck 351W is about 1/8" narrower than a SBC measured the same way. And a 351W won't fit in an early Falcon with functional exhaust unless you cut the shock towers. I have seen a 351W installed in a first-gen Falcon with OEM parts. The owner used the tiny 221 exhaust manifolds which allowed it to barely fit; under 1/8" clearance to the shock towers on each side. Horrible spark plug access (worse than any big-block Mustang with the exception of one with factory AC), and the tiny manifolds choked the motor so badly there was no performance gain.
Shock towers CAN be notched to gain more work space but that requires some welding. The MII front CAN be installed and do away with the towers completely but more stuff to buy and welding. Like anything else.........if you have the $$$ and the talent more 'things' are possible. 6sally6
Interesting thread. Winter of '65 when I was a 16 year old High School student, a buddy bought a '61 Falcon 4 door with a burned out hunk of junk 6. As my ride was a '61 Rambler fitted with a 283 Chev, he sought my experience to perform an engine swap. His first suggestion was a flatty V-8. After some thought and measuring I suggested a B.O.P. (The Ford small-blocks were still new to the market, rare and even if found, way beyond this school kids' meager budget) Miracles do happen. A couple of days later as we were talking in front of our local hang out restaurant a nice '62 Olds F-85 had an encounter with a train while we watched. Train spun it around so hard that both doors flew off and the driver was ejected into a snowbank, from which he quickly emerged uninjured. The Olds was totaled. A day and $150 latter we were able to drive the remains home, albeit with no doors or windows. Using another buddy's garage, we yanked the Falcon 6, and had the Olds 215 bolted into place that same afternoon. No cutting or welding involved (we didn't have the equipment. Did do a bit of 'clearancing' with a BFH.) Had to flip the tube front crossmember around and hammer a few inches flat on the backside for oil pan clearance. Amazingly by exchanging the Falcon's bolt on mounts from side to side, they bolted right up to the Olds engines factory mount locations. When my buddy's parents saw what we had accomplished in a day, dad's wallet opened up and the next day the search was on for a nice Falcon 2 door coupe. Found a nice low miles black coupe with red interior. And Bing Bam Boom! another day in the garage and everything that was done was swapped over. (This time we didn't have the luxury of an actual garage, but it being mid-December and Michigan cold, we removed an end wall from a old vacant house, rolled that Falcon inside and walled it back up) Sourced a 9 inch from a '57 Ford 6cyl wagon, 4:11 gears, rims and tires included for $50, Of course we had to radius the rear wheel wells to fit them big 15 inchers. The 215 came with a 3 speed so we did have to have a bit of welding done to fabricate clutch linkage and to shorten one section of the Olds' 2 piece driveshaft. Installed a Hurst shifter and a big tach, Olds manifolds without modification fed into dual exhaust fitted with just resonators (Olds '98, out of Oldsmobile Salvage $10 ) Rest was nuts& bolts. Finished, it ran like stink through the first 2 gears.... and of course, immediately someone else wanted it. Money talks. I believe my buddy received about five times his investment. But the moral of this story is, never underestimate the power of youthful enthusiasm and inventiveness to accomplish a goal. Ummm ....Dammit! Now where the hell did I leave my dadgum enthusiasm?
Who the hell you preaching to? Guy ain't been here since Oct. Probably got tired of waiting for HAMB money to hit his account. Figured since you guys were building his car, you may as well pay for it too. Can't really fault that logic.
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