1963 Ford Falcon Futura

The factory chrome mirror is in the trunk. I'll get there eventually.

wow, that's tucking a lot of tire in the front. i like it. a lot.

Any rack and pinion swaps thoughts?

Old 4dr's can be cool, I guess???

Ranger50 wrote: Old 4dr's can be cool, I guess???

Is that yours? I've been following the build elsewhere.

And yes, four doors can be fun too! Those 'stang wheels would probably look good on mine too.

Nitroracer wrote: Is that yours? I've been following the build elsewhere.

I wish. I found it over on the 'Bullet. done by Blake at 417 Motorsports.

with 2 doors getting hard to find at a reasonable price, 4 doors are up next.

ditchdigger wrote: You asked for it

Aaargh. Must stop clicking this thread. That is badass, and I now want one.

ddavidv wrote: Aaargh. Must stop clicking this thread. That is badass, and I now want one.

"Welcome aboard, I am the captain of this ship...."

Here is here it sits now. There is no adapter universal to go from an 1110 to a 1310 and the driveshaft is now 2" too long so I ordered a new 2" tube to 1310 weld yoke, 1310 universal joint and a 1310 flange yoke adapter from dennysdriveshafts. All that gubbins is supposed to be delivered thursday

I really should have gone with disc brakes in the rear because this is as low as it will go on drums and in my opinion there is a bit too much rake. The space between the low rear arch and the giant drum is too small to fit the tire in between. It needs to go down another 3/4" to get the rake just right. 17 or 18" wheels would fit but these 16's just wont go with taller blocks.

So I am taking the weekend off of the Falcon and am going to do some home improvement projects with the GF. After work monday I will install the Ranger M/C and start running the new steel brake lines. Anyone know if I will need a proportioning valve with the modern master cylinder? I can't find a diagram that shows one in a Ranger.

ditchdigger wrote: So I am taking the weekend off of the Falcon and am going to do some home improvement projects with the GF. After work monday I will install the Ranger M/C and start running the new steel brake lines. Anyone know if I will need a proportioning valve with the modern master cylinder? I can't find a diagram that shows one in a Ranger.

Speaking from my 96... The prop valve was integrated in with the rear antilock brake module down under the cab on the framerail.

In reply to Ranger50:

front disc rear drum, you definitely need a prop valve. in fact, you should buy an adjustable because you're probably going to need to limit rear pressure more than your OE prop will allow. National Parts Depot sells a bracket to mount a prop under the master, which you can just re-drill to match the bolt spacing of the adjustable prop. that's how i did my buddy's '68 mustang when i put the S197 GT front brakes on it. i'll dig around for a pic.

Damnit. I was hoping Ford got the memo that you could just design the brakes properly and eschew that extra piece. What did I expect from a company that didn't change their basic brake design from the 50's until the 90's. The "it's always worked just fine before" department must have been putting in some overtime.

I have a Granada prop valve that will find its way into the car I guess.

All you need is full pressure to the front and to limit the rears, so just plumb an adjustable prop valve into the rear line.

Ranger50 wrote: All you need is full pressure to the front and to limit the rears, so just plumb an adjustable prop valve into the rear line.

yeah, what he said.

Wrenching time is limited. The driveshaft bits took forever to get here from Dennysdriveshaft.....not their fault though. I put the caliper on the driveshaft read 2.5" and wrote down 2" and then ordered accordingly

the wrong bits

Cut the driveshaft as square as I could and hammered in the yoke, set up the dial indicator and made sure it was true,

welded

done

I did install the master, prop valve and new front lines as well but ran out of time to bleed them. Need to go over every nut and bolt and make sure I didn't miss anything and get it to the alignment shop post haste.

Nice welding. Wish mine looked half as nice.

Drums adjusted, Master cylinder push rod adjusted, Brakes bled and it stops! Rears seem to lock up first. I should have just used a universal adjustable proportioning valve but the Ford unit was there and free so I took the chance.

I brought the rear down a bit more to tame some of that awful 70's style rake. Looks good to me!

I also swapped out the "can't believe it was still functioning" water pump and bloated, ready to burst radiator hoses. I was able to drive it a couple of miles. Needs an alignment badly.

wow, that's clean. I wrote an article about the 63 Ford Falcon Sprint a few months back: http://www.fifteen52.us/project-st/history-lessons-1963-ford-falcon-sprint/

Ugly 80's plastic mirror replaced.

I found this one on a 59 Fiat 1200 convertible parts car in storage. The bolt pattern fit perfectly!

^That looks absolutely spot-on. Fantastic work.

RossD wrote: Any rack and pinion swaps thoughts?

This is actually been on my mind a LOT lately. From what I understand there aren't many/any rear steer OEM racks that have the necessary six and a half inches of travel needed for a falcon with stock steering arms.

I have been looking into the Cadillac Catera and Isuzu Trooper power steering boxes but I do want to keep the column shift for now and I know the Catera unit is too long. The Isuzu box might work if I shorten the column and hope the box acts as a support bearing.

Car is at the alignment shop now. Hopefully it feels markedly different when it rolls out.

Looking really cool! Hey, on steering racks: 98-up Rodeos had a front mounted steering rack which works 'backwards' through a Vdrive gearbox. What that means is it's actually a rear steer gear mounted at the front. Might be worth looking at. I understand Nissan Pathfinders use the same setup.

That looks real sharp. Personally, I'd have left the rake, but the flatter stance doesn't detract.

Now that it is driving, turning and stopping I can start in on cosmetics

The carpet was nasty

Moldy, crumbling, stinky and gross.

One of the first things I bought when I got the car was a carpet kit. It has sat in a closet since.

It came from accmats.com