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

[SuperBuickGuy]

here - it'll be the same as this one - only one less durango racing.

[milner351]

Nothing spells dedication like welding on heat advisory days. I've perfected the summer welding look. Carhart shorts, steel toe work boots, and a welding jacket. Jacket keeps the sparks from scaring my arms anymore, and the shorts allow marginal body cooling with the fan running at me at floor level (can't run a fan near the weld as it blows away the shielding gas)

Passenger side jacking rail is welded in along the entire length of the rocker hem flange. I put three cross braces of the same square tubing from the subframe to the jacking rail - one just behind the front wheel well, one centered on the transmission cross member, and another just in front of the seat cross member. I'm not sure triangulating between these three cross members would help or not.

I also got the driver side jacking rail 90% welded in before calling it a night.

I'm still mulling over rear shackle mount ideas in my head, as well as the mini tub situation. I'm getting closer to some designs I'm comfortable with that will hopefully still allow the use of the stock fuel tank, and not make the shackles impossible to get in and out - or make tail pipe routing insanely difficult.

We have shut down the week of 4th of July - so I'm hoping to make enormous progress in the next 7-10 days.

[milner351]

Decided welding in over 100F heat was nonesense, the home garage was still in the 80's, so I assembled the short block.

Main bearing clearances are all ~.004"
Crank thrust ~.004"
Rod bearing clearance ~.003"
Rod side clearance ~ .018"
Pistons are ~.019" below the deck

Spinning the rotating assembly by hand yields no cause for concern - smooth, even, no funny noises.

One thing at a time.

[Beagle]

no .040 under bearings with a .020 offset grind? hehe. Good to see it going together!

[milner351]

Yea - a few more cubes would be nice - but that's not to be at this time - I'm literally using stuff I had on hand as much as possible on this build. I've had to buy crank and rod bearings and gaskets, and I'll have to buy a set of hardened pushrods - but that's about it.

Another time saving score - I was going to build a set of caltracs - but a friend in the car club is clearing house and has a set of caltracs still in the box from 10-12 years of storage inside his abandoned 64 comet project..... $225! I'll be picking them up this afternoon.

[milner351]

Got the caltracs
Bonus - they come with the ubolt plate with shock mounts already in place - another time saver for me.

Question - the caltracs come with aluminum front spring bushings - are they ill advised for a street / strip car?

I will have to get a friend with a lathe to turn them down if I'm going to use them since the falcon has 2" wide leaf springs... the kit was purchased for a 64 comet that has 2 1/2" wide springs (like most muscle cars).

[milner351]

jacking rails in, cross bems from jacking rails to subframe and triangulated. I hope this will do in lieu of factory torque boxes.

[STINEY]

I see triangles (in Sixth Sense little kid voice)


Is the rocker tube welded at the bottom only? Not that that is a problem, just curious. Don't see how it could be welded any other place.....

[Bob Holmes]

I like your subframes. Looking good.

[TheSilverBuick]

Make that car extra low. With all that under carriage bracing I want to see you teetering on a speed bump

[milner351]

Stiney:
The rocker braces / jacking rails are welded on the top in a few places, but they are completely welded along the full length at the bottom where the inner and outer rocker are hemmed and spot welded together.

Thanks Bob! That means a lot coming from you!

Today I stripped more undercoating in preparation for the mini tub, and I removed the bump stop (encroached into valuable wheel / tire space)
The plasma cutter was giving me fits and the high temp warning light came on, I let it cool off a long time, but it never reset... bummer - I got the passenger side wheel well about 75% cut out.

Then a friend stopped by for a few hours and we got the front frames cut and the mustang two cross member all squared up and tack welded into place in a few spots. I'm leaving the factory engine mount locations in place so I will be able to use the old school engine mounts I prefer.

The oil pan is a fox dual sump just sitting there for reference.


Then we decided it was beer 30 and too hot to keep at it.

[pintoboy77]

Man you get more done in a day than I get done in six months. Great job so far.

[milner351]

Lots more welding on the Mustang two and some cutting for the mini tub before the plasma cutter hit the over temp and didn't reset - no matter how much time I let it cool off.... time to trouble shoot the plasma.

I think I'm going to invest in a pair of protective welding sleeves - my arms look like I've lost a tight quarters fight with one of Michigan's native wolverines.

[SuperBuickGuy]

my last plasma burned up because it would over temp - it's last time, (I'm guessing a bit here) it overtemped but didn't shut down.... I found where one of the kids who works on his stuff here was cutting metal on the top of a concrete wall....

You're obviously not overtaxing the machine, is there a fan for the motherboard that is clogged or inoperable? Or, perhaps the sensor (current sensor) has just had enough - it is a wear item (an expensive one, but does wear out).

[pintoboy77]

When mine goes into high temp mode it needs a new tip inner and outter both.