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

[milner351]

yea - I need to pull the tracks / motors off the seats and see what's what - problem is motors are integrated with tracks - so - submerging is no good. I have sprayed kroil and pb on them liberally - and will some more. The time we tried to get them loosened up was the Thursday night before drag week - not a good time to spend much time on seat tracks.

[cantvalve16]

Not going to hassle you with a poll - just want some opinions. I'm tiring of the black engine compartment, decided on a gray color for the falcon. I have a gallon, way way more than enough for the engine compartment. I'm thinking of painting the underside of the car and the trunk all the same color, it's a light gray color not battleship gray, more like the color typical of epoxy garage floors.

We plan to paint this weekend (while we're also painting Lee's pedal car - pics to follow - it's sand blasted and waiting for primer now)

John, you are going to beat me to it. That is my plan for the Mustang. That being said, I totally agree with the idea. Makes it super easy to find leaks and to work on in low light situations. Plus, it has that '60's Trans Am feel. Good choice.

[Russell]

Grey sounds good to me. Power seat tracks are $20 + 6 core + tax + enviro fee at LKQ. Want me look next time go?

I still have my 93 tbird parts car I don't think they are power but they may fit.

[milner351]

Russell - I've not had much luck finding power seat tracks for the M8 seats - if you come across some at that price - snatch them up if they look good - I'd have to ship the cores.

The 93 'bird tracks I'd think would work well coming off the same platform - that may be the simplest solution - Let me know if they are in usable shape and what you want for them.


Believe it or not it was tough finding a gray single stage car paint (not equipment enamel) that wasn't metallic. Finally ended up settling on a mazda chassis / engine compartment paint - I wanted something in stock they could mix up any time - and didn't want to hassle with base / clear etc. Will send pics once we have it done. Need to put up pics of the splitter, pedal car and other projects I've been working on too. We are still negotiating on the house - I really hope we can pull this off - the barn aint perfect -but its a short walk from the house - which sure beats the hell out of 8 miles.

[Russell]

I will look next time I am at the yard, i would not bother to ship the cores back for $12 (cost / benifit) buts thats just me. You need both driver and passenger. I will ckeck out the tbird tracks over Christmas i sure you will like my price. If you are not in a hurry and plan to be in Ohio in April, if I don't come up might be able to find someone to bring them.

[Beagle]

My buddy the painter just found a hidden stash of old-school flake.......not the paint, the actual flake to go IN the paint.

I can see the Falcon in a glittery royal blue in my mind.

(And I think Beags has the gunke thing strickly underhood, kind of a stealth retro fashion thing)

Grunke is kinda growing on me - but truth be told, I've let some of the material previously known as gunge stay in other high risk places as well - fender wheels, rocker panels....

Will Mark Vii racks work for it? You're welcome to mine if it will help the cause. They are currently sitting out in the weather so say something quick! The seats in the kitty killer weighed as much as a Fiesta so they will probably NEVER make it back into a car of mine.

John - check the seat track for hardened grunke with embedded pebble? I've had that happen before... on my SN95 mustang IIRC. Speaking of Ford seats, the recliner lever on the Lightning's driver side bucket snapped. Thankfully in my favorite angle, but I miss getting behind the seat and I bet it's starting to accummulate Grunke as well. Does anybody know of a good seat restorer? My baby is getting old.

[milner351]

While painting the pedal car we got a little crazy with the tape between coats.... ????

[Russell]

Looks good to me!

[pintoboy77]

Do I see flames or maybe ghost flames in your future. Looks cool.

[STINEY]

Nicely laid out.....you are holding out on us!

[TheSilverBuick]

Yes you did. Now make it happen.

[cantvalve16]

Ya, go for it! Flames with a little flake in them. Mmm Mm good.

[mrocketscience]

Flake is _ALWAYS_ good!

[milner351]

We may just lay them out with two different colors of sealer primer - there's no way with the move that's most likely in my future in early 13 that the time required to get the body in shape for "real paint" will happen. It will be enough of a challenge to get the car reliably motoring under it's own power.

Russel - I'm leaning more and more toward the manual track conversion with the M8 seats on tbird tracks - adhering to the KISS principle (and pushing EFI off a while too).

Now to finish the pedal car before Lee's Bday the 29th.

[milner351]

Beags - good upholstery shops that don't charge an arm and a leg are hard to find.

Most modern Ford seats can be taken apart and repaired fairly easily - the seat covers come off after releasing the clips that hold the covers to the frames, the seats have to come out to see how things work.

I'm sure if you remove the seat from the truck, remove the covers and foam - you'll be able to weld on a lever that will work, and while you're there, put some flimsy wood paneling or plastic sign material between the springs and foam - then put it all back together - the seat will feel like new again.