1963 Ford Falcon Futura

Had big plans for today. Got very little done. The 200 out of the mustang is cleaned up. New front and rear main seals. I flipped it over and did the valve stem seals too.

Good thing too. They all looked like this

Last week I was working on a 57 Fairlane and liked the red color the Y block was painted. After buying a few cans I realized it matched my interior perfectly.

And I opened up the port on the small log head to fit the later, larger carb base.

I need to put some late nights in this week to get the T-5 mounted up to it and make sure it is all copacetic.

Hole saw, nice idea

CL score of the day

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/der-16926

$25.

The water pump driven fan isn't clutched and I greatly dislike the idea of it running when it doesn't need to.

Hope I can cram it in there.

Crap news I am afraid.

The 200 I was prepping to swap in has a cracked head. I says to myself "No problem Trent, get that superior big log head machined for a new head gasket and plop it on".

Magnafluxing revealed it too was cracked. Cylinders 3 and 4 exhaust valves have cracks radiating from the seats and it has the same carb base crack that the one on the motor has.

Not sure where to go from here now. I don't have the surplus 2 grand to buy an alloy head from classic inlines and an Aussie 250 head is almost as expensive.

Grrrr.

Throw the hood away and put a 300 in it!

And toss any notions of "nice handling car" out the window?

Yeah. Kind of like an E21 with an M30. Great pony car. Not so good at anything else.

Although, a cheap running M50 or M20 Bmw six would probably fit pretty nicely in there if you could do the fab work. Much better than a small black ford six.

Turbo Zetec, bellhousing from a car equipped with a Type E 4 speed and a Type 9 from a XR4Ti. That's what I'd do. Of course that's because I already have two out of the four things I listed and for the interim, the 4 speed.

fix the seats on the one head, lop off the intake manifold to just stubs from the heads, and run ITB's?

and would a later head without the built in manifolds fit?

also, could your head (one of them) be welded and repaired?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

There is no small six head in the US that had a separate intake manifold. There are some Australian and Argentinian ones but those are rare and almost as expensive as the classicinlines alloy head.

I am sending the big log head out to a different machine shop for a second opinion.

but they built the straight 6 into the 80's, didmt they? I remember replacing exhgaust manifold gaskets on a 6cyl ford truck back in hight school. it had separate manifolds.

or was that the 300 and different from yours?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

The 240/300 "big six" truck and large car motor is completely different from the (misc smaller displacments)/200/250 car engines.

Holy balls what a comedy of errors. So many things got in the way or conspired against me it would have been hilarious had it not been so much work.

I got started at 9am saturday and the 170 and and 3 speed hit the floor by 10:30. The new 200 was readied and the flywheel, clutch and pressure plate went on and then back off when I realized it didn't have a pilot bushing in it so I had to break down the old motor to get that one out and then into the new. Then it went together again followed by the T5. I broke for lunch and by the time I got back to the shop an electrician was there installing our new compressor which meant he turned the power off for 2 hours to wire in the new three phase panel. Since I couldn't operate the lift I wasn't able to do much so I basically twiddled my thumbs.

When the power came on I was able to get the hole for the shift box cut and toss the motor and trans in, but the electrician was still dorking around so I was unable to weld up the trans mount. I called it a day at 6 and got started today.

The slip yoke from the 3spd did not fit the T5 like I was told it would so I frantically called buddies until I found a driveshaft from a 68 Mustang with a C4, ran and got it and it slipped in. Seemed to tight wit only 1/4" of slip but I threw it in anyway. Filled everything with fluids and started it up... Wait no starter! The old starter won't fit? Grab the starter the guy gave me with the bellhousing and flywheel. Yep different nose but this starter is seized. quickly make two into one and pray to science that it works. Yup spins start the car and CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!

At some point during installation I dropped the oil pan on the steering centerlink pushing it up where it contacted the number 5 rod. Up the motor went again to pull the pan and hammer it out.

All back together, running. The harmonic balancer has slipped rendering timing marks useless. set it by ear. Find numerous vacuum leaks. Still runs rough and the throwout bearing is rattling. Sigh! Rummage for suitable shift lever, cut to length and drill two holes in it. Voila! Jump in and take it around the block. Shifts nice! one...two...three...two....glance in the rearview and see a trail of liquid. Back onto the lift. Speedo cable was too short so I left it dangling and forgot. oops plug hole, try again. MAJOR driveline vibration when I lay into the throttle. Fine at any steady speed though. Too long on the driveline?

Locked up the shop and drove it home. More this week.

I wish I hsd the talent. So jealous.

Nice job, looks like it was meant to be there.

In reply to fasted58:

I feel it was meant to be there, no matter what the laws of time and space say...

Seems as though it is common for these harmonic balancers to slip. I lined up the crank key slots and painted the timing marks to show how these two are off. The one on the right appears to be correct. I will double check with a piston stop to find TDC.

And the saga of "Oh curse word I ruined my car!" finally comes to close.

Since the 24th I have been fighting this thing. Went through the ignition system with a minor improvement. Went through the carb. No change. Picked up another carb at the swap meet for $1.

Just a Holley 1940 from a 200ci mustang, AKA the correct carb for this motor.

went through it and installed it. Better carb but not a fix. Still fighting a crappy rough idle, random misses and low load bucking and surging. Put your foot in it and it seems good but cruising at 25 miles an hour will give you whiplash. Put it on the oscilloscope. Everything checks out. AFR's are good, ignition looks perfect. Float level good, rig up an electric fuel pump to make sure it isn't a crap pump. Nothing.

When I took this motor out of the donor mustang I did a compression and leakdown test on it. 170-175psi across all six cylinders and ~4% leakdown. Otherwise known as awesome. I gave it new gaskets and seals, plastigauged the rods and mains and they were 2-3 thousandths. Did new valve stem seals and let it sit on the engine stand for a few months. After installing it I get 125-150psi and crazy all over the place leakdown readings that made me think my gauge is broken. Wednesday I decided it had to be bad or burnt valves so I tore down the head off the old 170 and got it cleaned up. Today I lapped the valves and threw it on.

You have to love the simplicity of a pushrod motor. I was done in an hour and am happy to report SUCCESS!!!

Dead solid idle. Excellent low load manners. Smooth and sweet.

I am so stoked right now. Almost a month of cursing myself for ruining a perfectly good car and now I have a healthy bump in displacement and a sweet shifting 5 speed transmission in my old Ford.

I have a lot of cleanup work to do under the hood. The 170 head has much smaller valves than the 200 unit so I am crossing my fingers that I can repair it, but I don't really care right now. I am just elated that it finally works.

I guess the radiator has a few holes in it. No drips or leaks but a constant coolant smell when hot and a hissing sound coming from the joint where the hose barb is soldered to the top tank. I could pop it out and flow some more solder into the joint but it isn't a real leak so I have a bit of time.

I dug this alloy radiator out of the parts stash. IIRC it was for a Corvette but I had planned to cut it in half and use it for something else. That was YEARS ago so I am donating it to the Falcon.

mmmm.... nasty old radiator that was forgotten outside for several years. What a treat!

The Rad cap piece was probably ebay sourced and has been in my toolbox for a few years, the threaded bung for a VW rabbit fan switch was quickly made out of some scrap. I love those switches so I keep the tap around to make the bungs whenever I need them.

The hose barbs are not in the right spots and are the wrong sizes so I hacked 'em off. The resulting holes just happened to be in handy locations!

I had no scrap 1.25" Aluminum tube so I foolishly used what was at hand. A solid 2" bar! That took way too much time and made a big mess.

savin' money, wasting time and material

but I have my weld on billet hose fittings now

Now I just need to drill the holes and weld them in

See how nicely the old hole locations worked out? I also hit the crappy nasty radiator with some "Aluminum brightener" which worked wonders in taking off the stains that occurred when it sat submerged for months in a rusty metal bin with rain water. I need to do a bit of fin straightening too.

Been doing this in 10 minute chunks on the one break I allow myself a day at work. Looks like I should have it installed Saturday.

I also finally scored a set of the wheels I have wanted since day one of this car.

17X7 Charger steelies. $40!!!!! Thanks Craigslist. 2 hour round trip to get them though. Now to find the right tires to go with them

Unibit

Welder

Got it done this afternoon. I also found that a wooden coffee stirrer is pretty much the perfect tool to straighten the fins. Rounded edge, softer than the metal. Just push it all the way through from the back side and it straightens the dings when it exits. Looks like it will only take HOURS to finish

Anyone know what the correct way to make a slim fan a pusher? IIRC it involves flipping the blade and reversing the wires, but I could be pulling that out of my ass. I never have luck with slim fans but every other yank tank around here seems to get by with a pusher so I am gonna try it to.

The crank trigger I am going to mount will interfere with the water pump driven fan or a puller

Use a fan that's reversible (some you can just switch the polarity) or get a pusher, which some cars actually have from the factory (wander the junkyard and you'll find them). Fans are cheap. I mean, not as cheap as billet radiator tubing, but cheap.

Bryce

Love the car, but ive never thought of the 200 as an upgrade.

Then there's this approach to Ford 6-cylinder power....

http://bangshift.com/bangshift1320/mad-science-a-drag-racer-sliced-and-diced-a-pair-of-ls-heads-stuck-them-together-and-mounted-them-on-a-ford-inline-six/

HOOOLLLEEEE CRAP!!!!