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

[cantvalve16]

Way to go, John. You are making some serious headway. I was thinking your timeline was going to be awfully tight to make DW, but with this thing rollin', you really could make it. Press on, brotha. We are rootin' for ya.

[cantvalve16]

I've heard that the Mustang II front end leaves no front subframe support, and looking at your pictures, that makes sense. Are you going to install some sort of down bar from the firewall to frame or anything?

You weren't kidding about the amount of room in there with the M2 swap. Gotta tell ya, that thing is just screaming for a well sorted Cleveland (once you don't have this monster time limit of course).

[milner351]

I've thought about adding some sort of reinforcement from the firewall to the front subframe - probably on the wheel well side so it's not inside the engine compartment.

I'm thinking about (for street use) 255-70-15 for the rear (29" tall - help with the 4.10 gear at highway speed),
and something like a 225-70-15 for the front. These would be on the old Fenton torque thrust style wheels which are 7" wide.

Even with all the work on the rear wheel wells - I don't think a 275-60-15 will fit.

[STINEY]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12936[/ATTACH]

Holy missing internal casting batman!!

Looks like you reached a turning point this weekend? The one where you get to put more stuff on/in the car than you take off?

Congrats. Looks great!

(Bet that was fun to push outside with no rack, eh?)

[milner351]

my machinist friend took all the leaf spring parts back to his shop to do some lathe work and make everything fit into my relocated spring pockets - caltracs plates included - we will see how things work with the aluminum front spring bushings, rubber out back.

He came back and walked into my shop with an engine and transmission over his head! The c4 housing is totally empty - and one day while he was slow with machine work - and looking for a mock up engine - he cut apart an old 289 that had too many bores too far gone -the whole assembly only weighs maybe 50lb, sure makes it easy to mock things up when you can just pick the thing up and move it!

I still have to build the transmission mount, but the engine is sitting in it's mounts in that picture - the driver side mount will need trimming once I have the steering column, rack, and u joints in hand.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I agree with the brace idea


the red bars tie to the support that was at the original firewall. Granted, all of your weight is supported by the cross member, but it would flex without some kind of tie to the firewall. Btw, that isn't the finish for mine, I'm going to tie the upper control arms together and triangulate them to the center of the firewall (not quite sure how that's going to be accomplished yet)

[milner351]

I like what you did there SBG - I will have to attempt to copy that in some fashion once I have the rest of the stuff sorted out.

The steering column, shaft and ujoints showed up tonight, I hope to get that sorted out with heads and headers to find out just what I'm going to have to make work, I'm really hoping I can make the stainless tri-y's work - there so compact and were a good deal.

I cleaned up two of the fenton 5 spokes and will try to get some front tires on them soon.

255/70-15 too tall for the rear? we shall see. I'm still thinking that having a taller tire for the road and a shorter slick for the strip would be optimal - but getting one set of drag radials and leaving them on would make things easier....

[STINEY]

Will that trunk hold a pair of mounted wheels/tires?

Or are we looking at a hitch rack, or a small trailer?

If a hitch is needed, I just may have the ability to source one at cost + shipping. I can check tomorrow....

[Russell]

Damn red button! lets try again

Over size tires are great for cutting down gear but I can not tell from NC if they will fit! If I call a 26" tire normal and if 255/70/15 are about 29" tall that would make 4.10 act like some where around 3.60s I think after drag week you should come run the mile in Ohio on Sept 29.....to get 140mph with a 255/70/15 4.1 you only need to turn 6640 rpms!

[milner351]

I have one of those cargo carrier things that slides into a standard size hitch - that's a possibility if required.... I may also have a wide open back seat area because given the time table - mounting the back seat is not a priority.

The trunk is pretty good sized but I'm not sure it would hold a pair of wheels / tires.

The column, steering shaft, and joints came in last night, and I confirmed measurements and ordered the shortside axle for the shortened rear (26 1/4" from hub face to end of axle)

Got a pair of front radials mounted on the 5 spokes, they look pretty good for fronts, the Fenton 5 spokes are 6.5 - 7" wide - so the 255 is going to be a bit of a stretch.

[milner351]

The caltracs I bought used, but still in the box, are too short for my set up..... should I make them longer by cutting and welding in a piece of tube - or see if caltracs will swap them for longer ones? (wonder how much they'd charge?)

[cantvalve16]

John, aren't you running an AOD in this car? If so, why so concerned about highway speed?

[BBR]

The caltracs I bought used, but still in the box, are too short for my set up..... should I make them longer by cutting and welding in a piece of tube - or see if caltracs will swap them for longer ones? (wonder how much they'd charge?)

Definitely try to swap 'em.

[milner351]

Yes - AOD - some concern about highway engine RPM - and some about looks, with the contoured wheel well - I want a lot of side wall.

[SuperBuickGuy]

The caltracs I bought used, but still in the box, are too short for my set up..... should I make them longer by cutting and welding in a piece of tube - or see if caltracs will swap them for longer ones? (wonder how much they'd charge?)

keep the mounts, replace the full length of tube - don't weld. That said, welding a piece on shouldn't be a problem, but why risk it?