I have a stock 3 speed, 144 inch six cly 1961 Falcon Ranchero. Two questions: 1) Is my rear bumper interchangable with 1960-63 passenger car? and 2) will both a 170 inch and 200 inch fit right in without any major changes? Thanks in advance.
Yes. the rear bumpers are interchangeable from '60 -'63. The fronts are not, however. As far as the 200 goes, heck yes! Best money you can spend on your car, too. Beyond that, going to a '74 or later Dura spark distributor, and an adaptor and Weber 32/36 carb are good investments as well. One step farther and do a T-5 conversion for the addition of an overdrive and suddenly you have a car that can be used in todays real world that will get good mileage, too.
Get a 200, if you can, but if you can't, even the 144 can be made to drive the real-world, with no internal mods. For everything 144-170-200, the key factors are the same: Better distributor/ignition. This cannot be understated. Don't upgrade the stock distributor. Just throw it away. You will not believe the difference. Weber 32/36 on an adapter from Classic Inlines. T5 from an S10, with the 3.76 gear set. If you live in the mountains, then the 4.03 gear set. It is a lot less fab than you might think. Keep the tires near the stock height. Given all that, I ran my '60, 144, T5, home from work on Friday, at 75mph, straight into the San Francisco hills. Just like any other car, but with 1000x the cool. I passed a '61 moredoor, like it was going backwards.
Back to your original swap question, the extent of the parts swap will depend on the year of the 200 donor. Your 144 has an 8.5" clutch and a stepped flywheel, and a bellhousing pattern to match. In 1966 Ford went to a 9" clutch, and a larger bellhousing pattern, with a larger, flat flywheel: however, for that one year, the block had BOTH PATTERNS. The flywheels interchange, so if you can get an early, or dual pattern 200, you can reuse all of your stock clutch stuff. If the block is 1967, or later, you will need to get a flywheel, clutch, and bell, and starter, for that setup. It will work with the stock linkage. Keep in mind, you have a 2.66" 3-speed, and the 200 will be tough on it, if you like to drive like a hoon.
The distributor and the Weber will make a huge difference. I did those on mine and it was like night and day.
I have a 1961 170 and a question about the distributor. I know nothing is bolt-in, as the oil pump drive changes. But, given that I need to reseal the pan, what exactly do I purchase?? And which years distributor are 'good'?? My guess is: Distributor, drive shaft and oil pump. Just want to get the 'right' distributor. Thanks, Cosmo
The early 6's have a smaller distributor bore too, so the later ones won't fit, without a little lathe work. If you have one of those, the DUI-39820-144BK is the only option. I am hoping that someone will chime in on when the change was. I am super-over-tired, and cannot recall much at the moment. Summit has them: http://www.summitracing.com/search?...h&SortOrder=Ascending&keyword=DUI-39820-144BK That's what I run on my 144. Almost impossible to overstate the improvement.
My book says it's casting number C4xx and earlier that would have the smaller distributor hole. So in Ford-ese that means anything '64 or earlier.
I have done several early falcons, and to me the best change was from a 2 speed auto to a 3 spd auto. It's like a different car. If you change to a 200 eng at the same time you will really be surprised. Good Luck. Merry Christmas.
I have a 200 in my '65 Econoline. I bought everything to convert to a Duraspark and have almost all the parts to do the Weber carb swap. I'm hoping to get it running before spring. - JH Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Just to re-cover the importance of a better distributor: Every distributor is better than the original Load-O-Matic one. Don't just throw an electronic trigger in it. The original is this crazy Rube Goldberg contraption, with no conventional centrifugal advance mechanism, which, according to my elders, including my mom, who drove '63 in college, never worked well, even when new. If you change nothing else on a Falcon six, change the distributor, and plug the Spark Control Valve on the carburetor. The Weber 32/36 will get you a never before seen top-end, and better tune-ability, but nothing compares to the distributor upgrade.
If you are going to the work of performing an engine swap, I think I'd hold out for a 250 though. Not much difference in price, but bigger cubes will always yield the cheapest horsepower gains.
I'm with the 250 crowd. I think the engine is taller & some modification may be necessary but well worth the trouble. Those old 250 Mavericks used to run pretty good.
The carb and air cleaner become a problem with a 250 in an early Falcon. The Weber carb and adaptor I was talking about actually help that situation a bit and make things easier, as does welded adaptors for 2bbl Ford carbs and Holleys. I'll be doing in the near future a 250 and T-5 into my '62 coupe, but I'm planning on turbo charging that, so clearance gets even better.
Oh yea....sorry about that...forgot those early birds are really tight even to the small six. Might be worth finding a swather or other ag application where one has been fitted with an updraft manifold, and then adapt to a better carb. One of those old side mounted aircleaners might also be a solution. Or just add the teardrop scoop.
250 engine is not a drop in fit. It's too long for the early falcons. Longer block and water pump, pulleys, fan leave no room for radiator. You can make anything fit anything, but the 200 make much more sense. I just replaced a blown 170 in my 64 falcon convert with a 1967 comet 200. Really woke the car up, even with the 2 speed auto.
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