Projects 61 Falcon - Father Son Project

Thanks Guys. Yes, the motor is a 200. It has been gone thru and runs really smoothly.

 

We had a great time working on the Falcon last night. First off we got that column piece back in. It was a bit of a trick, but I'm glad we didnt have to pull the column out of the car.





Next we got to work on wiring.





I 3D printed some firewall plugs. They turned out real nice.








Can anyone tell me if this is for sure an internally regulated alternator? Im pretty sure it is, since I cannot find a voltage regulator in this car...

 

That appears to be a Delco 10si, wired in the "one-wire" configuration - it is internally regulated. I only "mess" with alternators about every 5 years - I use this web site to refresh my memory:
Index page: http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical-tech.shtml

One wire vs three wire (general knowledge and wiring): http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml

Delco 10si vs Delco 12si (Newer generation alt handles more amperage and internally cools better) : http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/delcoremy.shtml

Good luck

 

Man, those are some high-tech firewall plugs!

 

Great work you two! Nothing beats building a project to create life-long memories.
Count your blessings, my son is still on the Ipad.

 

Thanks Guys!

 

They are great cars…We had the ‘65 Futura…

 

Great father son project. I just completed restoring my '61 Falcon.
I did a father son project with my son about 7 years ago when he was in high school. It was an '84 Fiero that we still own and still work on together.
My Falcon restore started out similar to yours. It came from a guy that started to restore it and decided to move to other projects. It had a 200ci and 3 speed floor shift from a 67 Mustang. I converted it to a column shift from parts off a junkyard donor. I did the Scarebird 5 bolt disc brake conversion in the front and swapped in a 5 bolt 8" rear end out of a '77 Maverick. I would Highly recommend swapping the single brake master cylinder with a dual master for safety reasons.
You don't need power steering if sticking with the inline 6. It's pretty easy even with the smaller than stock steering wheel I have. Your boy should not have any issues. I had the steering box rebuilt by Lares Corporation. Assembling the column and installing isn't as hard as it seems. I was kind of dreading it but it all went together pretty easy. My steering wheel looked exactly like yours. I put in a 3 spoke chrome with wood wheel similar to what some of the sprints had.
I will be following the progress and will offer help when possible.
Good luck

 

Thanks for the reply! It's nice that so many here know about these cars.

 

We had a few hours this afternoon to work on the Falcon. We didnt get a whole lot done, but I took the time to show and explain to my son why its important to do things right the first time, so the work we did do turned out real nice...

Wiring...



For some reason the connectors that came with the Rebel wire harness didn't want to fit on the old headlights. We ended up breaking the tab off one of the lights trying to push it on. We needed new headlamps anyway, so if the connectors don't fit the new lights, we will just use the old plugs.





Hopefully we will have time to work on it this coming week...

 

I have a quick question.

Where are the oil pressure and water temp senders on this motor? I see them both on the drivers side, but I am now sure which is which...

Im assign the upper one in the back is the temp sender, and the one lower and more towards the center is the oil pressure.

Also, Does anyone have a pic, or can tell me the correct horn location? I assume its in from of the core support, but you know what happens when you assume...

 

The oil pressure one probably has 1/8" NPT threads screwing into the engine and the water temp one 1/2" NPT threads. Mount the horn somewhere on the rad support; shouldn't really matter where. It has been a long time since I had my old Falcon Ranchero.

 

They were actually mounted on the little braces that rum from the lower core support to the front cross member. Mine were pretty rusted on the wife's car, a '62 but Mustang parts are identical and were used. The horns bolt down on top of each side.

 

Thanks for the info!!

We got a nice little chunk done yesterday. We finished wiring the headlights, and put in 2 new bulbs. We also got the engine compartment rewire done, except for the one push on plug for the temp sender.

We also got the horns mounted and the hood put on. Its crazy what a difference the hood makes!

 

Great job. My first car was a 61 Falcon. It was my Dad's he died when I was 15 and Mom gave it to me. Wish I still had it but that was 49 years ago.
Good luck it looks great.

 

Thanks!

Can someone point me in the right direction for the plug that goes on the temp sender? I know that a lot of the Ford bullet connectors are a strange size, but this one is smaller.

 

I couldn't find this either. I just put a wire lug on the wire going to the sensor and secured with a nut & lock washer. The post on the temp sensor is threaded so you can put a nut on it.

 

Got it. Thanks!

 

The red sensing wire should be connected under the dash to monitor any voltage drop away from the alternator and not looped directly back to the power lug. Check out http://www.madelectrical.com/electricaltech/onewire-threewire.shtml

 

Very cool Falcon. Happy to see you working on it with the kid!

 

We had a nice time working on the car yesterday. We got the ignition switch wired up, put some fresh gas in and then got the car it fire up. It doesn't seem like much, but being able to turn the key, and have the car start was a huge WIN for my boy! (that tumbler sure did fight us for a while though...LOL)

 

That style Falcon actually makes a good base for a mild custom... 1st make it safe. 2nd make it reliable. Then shave the words, etc. off, mild lowering, caps & rings and such to just clean it up. That'll make a great cruiser for the lad!

 

Yup! Thats the plan! He likes the stock look, but I know as soon as he takes it to a couple shows, he may want to customize it.

 

A few things that I would recommend that will not affect the stock look, or be lost during customization:

1. The aforementioned Shelby Drop upper control arm relocation.
2. A 1" front anti-sway bar. This can come from the 65-66 Mustang parts bins. It fits fine.
3. KYB GR-2 shocks on all four corners, else KYB Gas-a-Just shocks (valving a little stiffer, but not harsh).

None of these are expensive things to do, and they will be of immeasurable help in improving the stability handling of the car.

 

Also, if you find yourself rebuilding the front suspension, complete 65-66 Mustang lower control arms are the least expensive route to take; however, the bolt spread where the strut rod attaches is not the same. It would require die grinding to make it fit. It is a PITA, as the rods are hardened steel.

I was liquidating a storage unit over the weekend, and held back the strut rods that were on my '60 Falcon. They already have the modification. You can have them. You would only need to modify your mild steel steering stops to make them work (easy).

 

I cannot stress enough the value of swapping out the Load-O-Matic distributor, in favor or a later Duraspark II and module (attached box on inner fender). This can be had at your local self-service yard for about $40ish. Hook it to manifold vacuum.

The Load-O-Matic had no centrifugal weights. It had an elaborate set of springs and vacuum diaphragms that tried, emphasis on tried, to match spark advance to engine demand. It is controlled by the Spark Control Valve (SCV) on the carburetor. It looks like a Holley power valve, but on the outside.

My progenitors tell me that these did not work all that well when they were brand new.

When I swapped out the one on my 144, when I still had a 144, it felt like I gained 25hp (and probably did).

 

Also, in addition to what Gimpy said a strut brace that goes from side to side. It keeps the top side of the shock towers from flexing. It's a Mustang part.

 

Congratulations Mike and Gavin! It's coming along nicely. Also, I want to commend all the HAMBers on this thread who've willingly offered their encouragement, knowledge, experience, and even parts! There's a bunch of really good guys on here!

 

The tub is narrower on an early Falcon.

 

When I turned 16 I got a 1960 Comet with the so called weakly 144 with 3 speed on the column. They say they only had 3 main bearing and were weak motors. BULLSHIT. I ran the ever loving crap out of that car and it never once failed me. BTW, your 200 needs a vented cap on the valve cover to match the pcv valve on the other end, trust me.



































9