Eschewing Technology: 1966 Ford Falcon

I'm pretty certain the back bottom window corners will be rotted. That's a standard feature on most any 1960s car.

I attacked the floors with the rust treatment, then will follow up with some Rust Bullet paint. I got more parts but the box didn't contain the two lower control arms I ordered. I'm hoping there is a second box that holds them that may show up Monday.  I don't see how anyone with a pulse could miss putting those in the box.

I hit the heater box with some flat black and it really spruced it up. 

One of the members of my FB group had their dash parts rechromed/refinished. I'm really tempted to do this awhile. They said it cost around $600.

That would be the nicest thing in the entire car!  I'm a little concerned about what the seats will cost me though. They are more pressing than dash bling.

Wow those look nice, what outfit did they use? I've been wanting to get my dash parts rechromed for a long time as well and that doesn't seem unreasonable given that you can't exactly order new ones like you can for Mustangs.  

Vacuum Orna-Metal

Those guys are local to me.   I should stop in one day.

Pick me up a discount coupon.

Well, where were we?

I had to stop working on the brakes when I found out the rear park brake cable was seized. That finally showed up but I haven't returned to that joyous job. I bought a new brake line that runs the length of the car from a company called The Right Stuff. Pre-bent, nice job. I could have made one myself but it would have taken HOURS. I think it was around $70 in regular steel. The rear axle ones had already been done. I let the front ones go for now as I'll change those when I do the disc brake conversion.

Took the seats to the upholstery shop. Just resigned myself to writing a big check on those as there are no DIY cover kits for the folding bench seat. Originally I wanted to duplicate the factory upholstery but there is only ONE place in the world that supplies it and they are absolutely horrible to deal with.  I'm having the local shop find 'close enough' materials. I still need to order a carpet kit. I also need to figure out what I want to use for floor insulation. Do I use a Dynamat type material or the OEM stuff? Cost is probably about the same. 

I was happy that the passenger side cowl was still solid. Well, the driver side isn't. Totally rotted around the air inlet. I'll make a magnetic block off for the outside vents to keep water out. It's pretty much impossible to fix without cutting the car apart. 

The latest thing I've worked on is the dash. Pulled the instrument panel out and disassembled it. The wiper switch was broken, so had to replace that. The chrome finish was entirely gone so I did my 'chrome paint' refurb to it. It's never perfect, but always better than what was there. I'm pretty happy with the outcome but the gauge faces have some rust blisters and there is no way to fix them. I'll browse for a used cluster going forward. Only downside is the rest of the dash trim now looks like crap so I guess I'm painting it too.

I found a video on YT that showed a guy modifying a factory AM radio to run an external device through, like a MP3 or bluetooth. The radio would function as on/off and control the volume through the speaker(s).  Since these OEM radios aren't a standard size you have to cut the dash to put anything else in, which I refuse to do. I really liked this idea. Removed my radio (which seemed to power up) and gave it to my electronic-savvy father-in-law to modify. Well, the radio doesn't produce any sound. Something is fried in the volume function. So it will be a decorative piece while I try to come up with a plan B. Bummer.

I'm waiting on a AMD seat bracket so I can start cutting and welding the floor. That will take some time to fix, then add sound deadening, then the carpet by which time I hope the seats will be done (about 3 months). Then the interior will be done for the time being. I still have to finish the 'for now' brakes and then replace the entire front suspension with wonderfully cheap RockAuto parts.  I'm going to see how good I can make the stock junk work before spending money on totally tubular sexy parts.  I did have a guy loan me the tools and template to do the Shelby drop. Still need to order a front sway bar.

In reply to ddavidv :

For the radio, I modified my '65 mustang radio with one of these - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07YSH6CBS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Pretty easy to install and allows you to stream from your phone 

I'm not clear on how this works. Did you gut your old radio and install this inside?

In reply to ddavidv :

Yes, found a non-wrking one, gutted it. Used the origial knob to turn on/off - just left the volume up on the amp since you can control volume on your phone.  replaced the dash speker with two 4.5" speakers for stereo sound.  Not the best but better than nothing

I'll give this a shot. If it works it solves a lot of problems. For the price it's a worthy experiment.

In reply to ddavidv :

Dash looks great.

Do you have a link to the yt video with the original radio modifications you were planning?

This guy yammers on a bit. YouTube radio conversion link

ddavidv said:

This guy yammers on a bit. YouTube radio conversion link

Thanks, I'll check it out

Awesome car and build, I'll be following it.

Glad to have more Falcon's around here!

Here is my 61:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1961-ford-falcon-fun-factory/179396/page1/

Mick, that bird of yours looks like a ton of fun!  

@ddavidv I never mentioned it but my longroof build is probably up your alley too: Flying Monkey Bus - ‘67 Falcon Wagon Content

Definitely loving the strong Falcon presence on this forum, so much fun to wrench on and drive. I'm enjoying the progress you're making on this thread!

I've been lax posting to this thread. Sorry, sports fans.

I took the seats to an upholstery shop before Christmas and am still waiting for the call to "come view upholstery samples" for the custom seat covers. Ugh, sublet vendors. 

I removed the installed parking brake cable that DID NOT FIT to measure it. Length matched what was in the catalog. Huh. Put it back on and it fits perfectly. 

Really butchered the guts of the radio trying to get the Bluetooth controller to fit and function. I think I may have a winner. Photos if it actually works. Silence if I'm unsuccessful.

I've been avoiding the rust repair/welding on the floor but I pretty  much have to start dealing with it. I'm not letting myself start on the front suspension until I've fixed at least one side. All the front end parts are now here including the Shelby drop tools/templates. Only thing I still have to source is the front sway bar. Probably going with Addco.

Good to see another Falcon on here.  I did the floors on my son's 1967 CAM-T Falcon Wagon and there are a few pictures on page 5 of the build thread.  I think it took me about 8 hours to make them and install them.  I imagine you've purchased some--that should go faster.  

This project has been humming right along. I haven't posted proper updates because the GRM message board 'system' makes it hard to search and find my thread. But, it's worth what I paid for it.

I've been totally lax at taking photos as I've concentrated on doing the videos for my YT channel. But here's a photo of the carpet after I took it out of the box.

90% of the carpet kits out there are made by Auto Custom Carpet. The peculiar thing is, you have to shop the various web sites to find the best price. If you go to ACC's own web site to order it you will pay WAY more. Which makes no sense. My only gripe with it is the firewall side is really poorly cut and seemed a bit short on the passenger side. I wound up gluing a piece of scrap I trimmed off the side to that area just so it wouldn't be visible.

Link to the videos:  dDavidv's YouTube channel of vehicular nonsense

So, where am I?

Well, the mother-Berkelying seats are still at the upholstery shop. Since December.  The fabric was selected, at least. The vendor has a good repuation for work quality but the wait has been absurd. Unfortunately, I don't want to flame the place because I will need a headliner installed some day and don't want to burn a bridge I may need to cross. 

Carpet is in.  Rear deck salvaged and re-carpeted. All the door seals and weatherstrips have been replaced. The radio 'conversion' is done and seems to work. New trunk seal. Rear brakes are done. Steering box packed full of grease (yes, grease is correct). Wipers fixed. Floors patched. One of the fenderwell holes has been patched (welded up). I suck at welding. My stuff looks terrible, but the welds are strong, so I guess that's good. 

The front end is totally apart. RockAuto sent me the wrong upper control arms, which was nice. So I had to order a new pair. Of course, I didn't find the problem until it was too late to return them and I threw out one of the boxes. Lesson learned. The fuel line I bought from The Right Stuff was waaaaaay too short. They stepped up and offered to make me one if I sent them mine, which I did. That should be here any day. Autokrafters also treated me well by fixing a problem with some belt moldings that weren't their fault. Very fond of that company.

I've got about a month to make it drivable again to go to the Falcon Nationals in TN. I'll manage IF all the parts come in when they are supposed to. 

I did pick up an 8" rear axle this weekend. Now just need to find a roller cam 302 before winter.

In reply to ddavidv :

To track a thread, scroll up to see the thread title, click the little eye icon.  That puts it on your watch list.  To get to your watch list click the drop down and select that option 

I know the theory of this build is non technology, but I think you're missing a good bet...if you want to keep the lighter front end of the 6 but still get V-8 power why not go with one of the 310HP 4 cyls out of a modern Mustang? Much lighter weight (all aluminum), lot of torque from the turbo, MUCH better fuel economy (esp if you went with a modern 6 speed auto trans) and still keeping it in the family.

Thank you, Mr Asa. Never knew that!

As for the 2.3 turbo, looks like they cost $5000-ish for a used engine with no electronics. Arguable comparable to the cost of building a 302. But just the thought of the wiring is enough for me to say, no thanks.

Why stop there? Could do a V6 Ecoboost. This guy did it to a Fairlane wagon (same platform): https://www.instagram.com/p/Biz0JZugh6G/  I've seen this car and it is a top level job.

But, that's not what I'm about. Zero interest in dealing with EFI, OBD-II, boost plumbing, etc. 

Update (if you are really a fan, you'll have subscribed to the YouTube channel here.):

The seats finally arrived. Though the upholstery shop gave endless excuses for the delays, once I saw them all was forgiven.

Coupled with new carpet from Auto Custom Carpets

Interior is done, except for the headliner and dash pad.

Bench seat? Yeah, not exactly what one would want for any kind of motorsports. I did struggle with that a bit but decided the sleeper look was what I wanted. If I ever progress to really caring about running autocrosses I'll do a swappable driver seat of some sort. The period buckets for these offer about the same lateral support as this bench does. All of the weatherstripping has been replaced and the doors close with a real nice, quality 'thunk' now.  Still welding up the rotted torque boxes; one side done, one to go.

Viking coilovers installed in the front and the alignment done after all new suspension parts. I still have to get shocks for the rear. Ride is really nice but this thing still desperately needs a sway bar. After a few test drives, some problems have reared their heads:

1)  The brakes all stuck on. Usually, I'd assume a brake hose or two had swollen shut but the rear one is brand new and the fronts look pretty young. That all 4 brakes were locked tells me it's the master cylinder...the one part I didn't replace, because it didn't look that old. Fortunately, they are cheap.

2)  The C4 is puking it's guts onto my garage floor. It's like a political assasination out there. My guess is the front pump seal has given up.  Fabulous; I get to pull the transmission out. 

I have really enjoyed following along on this build.  Keep making it awesome.

Since the last update I pulled the transmission out, replaced the front seal and put it back in.

Aaaaaaand, it still leaked. Apparently the front seal between the case and the bellhousing is actually the culprit. So, back out again. And of course the more I looked at the trans, the more it seemed foolish to not just go ahead and either rebuild it or replace it. So...

I've never taken an automatic apart before. The C4 is delving into totally uncharted territory for me. But, I have a Haynes manual, so how bad could it be?

Reminder - all the build videos are here.

I took a flyer on this. 1968-1970 302 pulled from a Mustang. Despite the outside appearance the internals are so clean it looks barely run. Roush heads, roller tip rockers, ARP bolts, Performer RPM intake, Hooker headers, Milodon oil pan and that highly desirable chrome alternator. I did hear it run a few revolutions. No idea what cam but it didn't sound silly. This was not my intended path but I couldn't build one for what I paid for this. Came with a C4 with the needed bellhousing and 'correct' shift pattern valve body. And, all the brackets, pulleys and crap I'd have had to source separately if I'd bought some later model donor. Seller even included the B&M shifter and a new-in-the-box trans cooler and Champion radiator that actually fits my car.

Funny thing is, I just finished rebuilding the old C4 to fix the spewing fluid. Actually wasn't that scary.

Car is wholly running and driving now. Not sure when the six will get yanked as I have to recondition the 'new' rear axle, figure out new leaf springs, etc first.