Projects '63 Falcon, and '39 Chev gassers

Friend stopped by and took this short video he posted.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=595433523820424&l=3930389773982990770

Need to get one of my tech saavy friends to do a ride along video.

 

Came home today from helping a friend with his gasser project, and MSD had sent my repaired 6AL box back! I purchased the 6AL and a Mallory distributor at the swap meet in April for $100, but turned out the MSD was bad, even though I was assured it was "working great" when removed.
Anyway, it was still a good buy as MSD fixed and shipped it back for only $43. After our monthly hotrod breakfast get together I'll put it back on and see how it runs. I put a ballast resistor on ahead of the coil temporarily to protect the Mallory distributor from high voltage, and it's actually ran well without the MSD. Hope it's even better once I reinstall it!

 

Yer an ANIMAL!!!! I love it!!!!!

 

That's one of the nicest names anyone has ever called me!

 

Let me preface this by saying I love MSD products. But some parts of the company are sure screwed up, or at least less than perfect!
I installed the freshly rebuilt 6AL box on the Falcon today, and no spark. So I did the troubleshooting test, and got spark. Since I'd just fired the Falcon, I knew all the components were good, so went back to the diagram to double check my wiring. All good, so called MSD tech line. After a short conversation he asks what distributor I have, and then says I've got it wired wrong for a Mallory magnetic pickup, as they aren't a Hall Effects magnetic. I tell him it's wired exactly like their instructions say, and he ignores me and tells me to wire it like a points distributor. When I told him they should fix their instructions he just said, "Wire it like it had points and it will be fine."
So I wired it like a points distributor, and it worked great. I'm not sure if they don't care if the instructions for a Unilite are wrong, or if they want to leave them wrong so people will have trouble using a Unilite with an MSD and give up on Mallory? Seems like they'd want to at least fix the instructions on their web site so people who download instructions would get the correct diagram.
After getting the MSD back on I finally got my secondary links made for the ladder bar brackets. I had a single pivot point, and it allowed too much pinion travel before snubbing it, so wheel hop could be an issue on launch. Drove it around afterwards and it seems to allow plenty of suspension travel, and still control pinion travel.



Did more cleaning and painting also. Got the rear axle, springs, and most of the frame and floors completed. Still have to clean and paint the area behind the axle and around the gas tank.

 

Pretty hot today, but before it got too hot I went to Home Depot and picked up my wood paneling to use for the backer on the new door panels. Also picked up a 8'x6' piece of black carpet for the floors.
Came home and removed the two nasty door panels. Pretty wrinkled, stained, and torn.

Removed the vinyl and traced the patterns on new panel, then cut it out with the jigsaw. I had lots of cheap naugahyde left over from the Austin, so I used plain black naugahyde and contact cement to cover the new panels. I'll do the backs later, as it's too warm today!
Just simple smooth black panels, with factory trim and armrests. Less than $10 per panel, and way cheaper than repops, or custom.

 

Really Really nice!! Just not a fan of the scoop. To me it looks cheesy for such a cool car.

 

Hey no problem. I have a Hilborn style on the Austin, and wanted something different than all the Hilborns I see on every gasser build. I personally like it, but I understand it's not for everyone.

 

I really do like Falcons
Here is mine

 

Very nice Ranchero!

 

Thanks Man

 

With the aid of a stencil, I brushed the lettering on the Falcon. Panted the background in yesterday.





Then did the black border this morning.


It was good practice for the 2nd set of stencils I have to do it again after new paint. Wasn't too worried about screwing this one up.

 

Looking good!

 

Very cool work on the Falcon I'm considering a gasser build in my future they just look cool on the street!

 

Very cool.
Dusty

 

Nice work. I thought my Comet gasser would take a few months...Life and honey do's got in the way. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

Very cool ride I too have build cars under Costco tents. Take a lot to keep motivated. Great job and thanks for the post always cool to see them running

 

Thanks guys! I peck away at it a little every day. Some days more, and some less, but not many missed days!

Pulled the backseat and rear side panels today. Made my templates for covering, as old panels were warped and fugly.

Got the naugahyde marked out, and contact cement applied to panel and vinyl.

Slapped it together and installed them back on the car. Lots easier than the door panels, other than removing the seat bottom.


Just carpet left to do now, and the interior will be pretty close to done.

 

You're an industrious ol' fart! I wish you were my neighbor. I am loving this car and the progress.

 

Thanks! Not sure how industrious, but the old fart part fits me!
Going to start carpet this week. Need to locate some seam adhesive strip, or tape. I know the large trans tunnel is going to give me some trouble building my carpets.

 

Ace hardware in Battle Ground has a large selection of carpet tape.

 

Thanks Scott! Found some locally, but too warm to start the carpet. Want to keep driving it, and wait for bad weather to pull the seats!

 

Minor setback on the Falcon lately! This crap alcohol/gas mix is giving me fits! I had a float or needle stick and flood gallons of gas into the engine on a drive home the other night! Didn't think I'd make it home, and when I checked it I found so much gas in the rear venturi of the front carb it was literally filling the carb with it!
Pulled the bowl and cleaned things out, but never really saw anything. Put it back together and all worked fine, but then discovered a 2nd issue. The diaphragms in both carbs were rock hard, and not moving when I worked the throttle! These are only a few weeks old, and I can't believe the gas could harden the rubber so fast!
I ordered Holley/Barry Grant deluxe accelerator pumps with the blue diaphragms that are resistant to alcohol gas, so hopefully that will fix it for good. Had to park it today and drive the Austin to the local cruise, and I sure notice the difference in these two gassers! The Austin is short wheelbase compared to the Falcon, and steers quicker, but also choppier ride with short wheelbase. It's also fairly quick with the 327, but sure not like the brute power of the Falcon's BBC power!

 

I have been on and enjoyed most of my shakedown runs,in fact I just did one today.Never had one strand me ,but I did have to clean a fuel filter to make it home once.Just don`t abuse it very far from home. Good luck.

 

When I put the Falcon together I installed new fuel tank, new lines, fuel filter, and new carbs. Figured with everything new I was covered, but never considered the effects of today's alcohol mix gas on stock Holley diaphragms.
Hope this change to the carbs will make the fuel system reliable!
I am going to drain the engine oil and put in new, as it got so flooded I'm concerned about washing down the cylinders and thinning out the oil too!

 

Well I debated whether to tell this story of my stupidity, but then figured someone might be helped by it, so here goes.
When I got the carbs for my Falcon they were used from a friend who found them too much for his 355 SBC. He sold them to me cheap, and I was happy to get them. Since they were like new in the box, I didn't look them over too well.
When the one float stuck, I figured I'd fix that and be good, but I noticed he'd left the nozzles out on the accelerator pumps when he was swapping nozzles, and just the screws were there. So to ensure the screws wouldn't fall into the carbs I snugged them down. (big mistake!)
I later fixed the stuck float, and replaced the missing nozzles, but when I tried everything out the nozzles had no fuel going through them and the accelerator pumps felt hard. So I ordered replacement diaphragms and still the same problem; no squirt!
After much moaning and groaning, and trouble shooting, I narrowed it down to the nozzle check balls, and then the light went on. When I snugged the screws with no nozzle in place, I had seated the check balls, and stuck them! I made a hook from small wire and snagged both check balls loose, and put the nozzles back on. Presto! They worked like new, and the Falcon is back on the road again!
So that's my tale of stupidity, and troubleshooting my error.

 

Had to rework my not so traditional gilmer belt drive system. Guess a gilmer belt is traditional on a blowr, just not in the way I'm using it on my Falcon. Thought I'd post what I went through for those who might have one, or thinking about getting one.
I was having issues with my crank pulley not staying tight, even with Loctite on the threads, and noticed the lower pulley seemed to have a slight wobble, like it was a few thousandths off center.
I pulled the pulley off, and checked the mounting bolts. The shoulder non-threaded portion doesn't fit snug in the hole in the pulley, and when it worked loose from being slightly off center, it began to work on the threads also, and the first part of my balancer threads seemed loose. I tried to find 3/8"-16 bolts with a larger shank, but nothing available, so off to the hardware store. After getting some help from the store, we located some grade 8 10mmx4.5" long bolts, nuts, and washers. The 10mm bolts are slightly larger, and fit the pulley hole perfectly.
Took the bolts home and chucked them in the lathe to make studs out of them. Cut off the heads, and turned the shank down the last 2" to 3/8". Then I threaded them to 3/8"-16 NC and put Loctite on them to keep them in the balancer. The balancer is almost 2" thick, so the studs go clear through, plus a little more.
Then I slid the pulley over it, and again Loctite on the nuts, plus lock washers to make sure it holds tight. After that I installed the gilmer belt, but left it slightly loose. From what info I've gotten from guys running blowers, they tell me the belts get tighter after they warm up, so if it's snug when cold, it will get even tighter when hot. So leaving them loose keeps them from pulling too much tension on the pulleys and alternator when they get warmed up good.
I'm also looking at various factory belt tensioners on serpentine systems, and building a mounting bracket to allow the tensioner to run against the outside of the belt, and keep the tension constant, without being too tight or too loose with temp changes.

 

So when do we get to see pictures of it on two wheels?



The back ones

 

If I get things tuned up, and everything working well, I'll take it to the drags the 25th of this month. We'll see if it gets up on two or not!

 

Cool.