62 Falcon - $5k challenge, how will it rise from the ranger's ashes?

[milner351]

hey what you guys do with your rubbers is your business!

made a bit of engine building progress and got a few things painted, one thing at a time.

[Teddyzee]

Here's a shot from one of the Ranger forums, a passenger side Tri-Y vs the AOD.


Similar to yours, but not quite exact.


I'll post a pic of his "adjustments" once he posts.

[milner351]

Teddy - is there another picture showing how the rest of that collector runs by the AOD?
I'm concerned the collector is aimed right at the trans pan, and some heating and bending is in my future....

[Teddyzee]

It's from a header thread on TRS; The picture looks like it clears the pan, but he says otherwise at the bottom. Looks close enough to work though.

OK got my new Tri-y's the other day, driver side fit like a glove perfect clearance everywhere, however the passenger side must be modified to fit around the AOD bell-housing. The pics below were taken with my motor and trans assembled and out of the engine bay, will post pics of the drivers side and mods to passenger side once I get them completed.



Collector hitting at trans pan


Secondary pipe hitting bell-housing at starter location


IMPT: I forgot to take a pic of the header flange to head fitment, in as received condition the collector hit the trans pan and the secondary pipe hit the bell-housing as shown, there was approximately a 1/2 to 5/8 " gap on the rear bolt location between the header flange and the head, a header bolt was loosely screwed into the front bolt hole on the header to hold it in place, so modifications are required.

[milner351]

Thanks Teddy for that info. It looks like his fit worse than mine. I believe that will some hole enlarging on the flange of the driver side. and some "bending" on the passenger side (with or with out heat remains to be seen) these will work.

I'm not above re working the trans tunnel in the falcon for the AOD and some more exhaust room.... I've been looking into that a bit, on the TFFN some guys have just dented the tunnel in early falcons for more room, other guys cut out part of the firewall and formed a new transition from the firewall into the trans tunnel to allow more room for the AOD. Since I'm swapping out the floor mounted accelerator pedal and linkage for a firewall mounted cable pull style pedal I'll have all kinds of freedom to make a new trans tunnel at least for the first foot or so back from the firewall. I look forward to getting into the metal work part of this build. A friend lent me his roller/flanger, and shrinker /stretcher - fun new tools to play with!

I got some work done on the engines in the home garage this weekend while playing Mr.Mom - Matt's truck engine parts are starting to come together. I plan to get the crank, flexplate, balancer to the machine shop this week for clean up polish and balance. Found a B303 cam for Matt's truck which will work great with the ported and milled E7 heads, performer intake, pedestal roller rockers, and stock trw forged pistons.

[gearhed1971]

Still don't want to go with the mustang 2 front, huh? http://www.rcmotorsportsinc.com/index.html If you HAVE to manipulate the pipes, you may as well make a path out the fenderwell too!

[milner351]

It's not a matter of WANT - it's a matter of being realistic with the money and time involved. I'm doing my best to KISS principle this build, I can always go back and change it later. What I really want is to get this thing on the road this coming summer, not have it in project jail for years.... which is where I'm afraid it would go with an M2 front or 4 link + tub rear.

[RAIV70Judge]

it will make it on the road AND the strip....

[milner351]

Got this working last night so the home garage will be toasty...

[Bob Holmes]

Man I need one of those.

[TheSilverBuick]

That ought to kick out some BTU's. That giant shop I'm looking at is insulated

[SuperBuickGuy]

Nice.

[ford141]

I have one of those in my shop. Keeps my 40x48 shop with 14' ceilings pretty cozy. Best thing is they are dead silent and don't blow dust around all over the place. Worst thing is you can't work directly under them, unless you want to fry your skin off.

[milner351]

yea - this was a $150 off season Ebay find - it's 60k btu - honestly 30k btu would be fine. My old propane version of this same style of heater could be run off 1/4, 1/2, or all of the "heating grid" but this one is either on or off.

In our ~22x26 attached garage, it's more than enough, I'll probably only need to run it about 15 minutes an hour to keep it comfy in there. It sure will be nice for drying paint projects - baked on finish! ;-)

Bob - here's a link to the Grainger catalogue for reference..... I guess I got a really good deal at $150 shipped last summer:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DAYTON-Natural-Gas-Infrared-Heater-3E133?Pid=search

[milner351]

Got a $100 deposit on the fiberglass ranger bed, no negotiating at $375 - coming to pick it up this weekend.

I may be able to use the 2x6 cart I put together to roll the bed around on to support the front of the falcon when the front steering and suspension is off it so I can move it around if I need to, always seems to be something that needs to go on the hoist.

I got a timing cover cleaned up for the ranger 302 (current cover has no provision for mechanical fuel pump)

Truck oil pump pick up showed up off ebay for the ranger 302

$9 bronze distributor gear showed up off ebay for msd ready to run distributor for falcon

got a b303 cam for the ranger 302 free from a friend.... that should work great in Matt's 77 Ferd in front of the 5 speed manual.

I may have to take a break from engine building to build a floor standing mantle for Rhonda's 40th bday present to sit on - big screen TV is on the way from tigerdirect.