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

[SuperBuickGuy]

(shakes mouse, taps computer screen, kicks tower....)

Darn thing is acting up again - - can't see pictures.

*chortling*

[milner351]

Happy now?

[milner351]

Good news - heads are almost done at the machine shop.

Bad news - keepers and locks are el junko. They didn't look great to me when I pulled the stock edelbrock springs out. 10 degree locks and retainers FTW - comp most likely.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Happy? no, satisfied, yes

[milner351]

I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not going to make the $5k cut off with this thing..... Happy? no - Satisfied? time will tell.

Sold at swap meet (144 engine, axle, radiator, driveshaft, steel wheels) $150+
Sold on craigslist - ranger splash bedlinder $50+

Hood $100
Fender $40
Steering wheel, horn ring, spring $70 (a bit of an impulse buy)
Front and rear bumpers $150

Machine shop bill for heads, including new 10* retainers and locks ~$240

[STINEY]

Wow, you did well indeed!

Your SwapMeetFu is strong - - I always end up wishing I'd have spent the time working on the junk I already have, must have weak SwapMeetFu personally.

Just to needle you...... pictures of the SFC custom fabbery?

You'll have to let me know when the next big thrash is planned........... I'll just run up and help out, and pick up those durn tires as well. We ended up with a full load on the way back too on Monday, plus it was 10:30 as we passed Detroit area.

[milner351]

I'm never one to turn down free help! You're welcome any time - even if it's just for a quick stop on your way either way.

Don't forget that I have a few other goodies from our jetboat thrash for you as well - they're in the tires so they don't get lost in other piles o junk 'round the shop.

I fit up the pass side 1x2 tube last night - but didn't weld on it - will do the welding tonight and take more pics. I keep forgetting the camera or it's got dead batteries - so most of the pics I'm posting are from my blackberry - the one convenience there being that I don't have to reduce their size before the forum software will accept them.

[mlcraven]

I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm not going to make the $5k cut off with this thing.....

Don't think for a minute any of us were holding you to that

[milner351]

Thanks mlcraven - I suppose if I get serious about the accounting, Brian can move the thread to the regular project section.

Here's a couple pics of tonights welding progress. Frustrating in a lot of places, hard to get in there and get the metal clean, undercoating, paint, some galvanizing, over head welding, hard to see, etc. Some good welds, some really ugly ones, lots of holes that were blown through and welded shut again after turning the welder down.

Need to figure out the spring relocation for the front of the leaf springs before continuing with the next section of the 1x2.
Moving the springs inboard of the frame is going to make muffler placement tricky and may mean I need to buy smaller mufflers than the magnaflows I'd planned on using, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.



I wish all the welds went as smoothly as this one. I decided to weld in the cross member insted of leaving it alone with the factory spot welds.

[SuperBuickGuy]

nice work, the Miller machine setting grid on the inside of the cover is a bit hot for how it actually welds. I've gone to at least 1 lower than recommended and .5 more speed on the wire than the temp - so a setting of 4 on the heat has a 4.5 on wire speed. Seems to work pretty well, or at least gets you close enough that you can fine tune it.

[milner351]

Thanks SBG - I've been using the "easy set" as a guide based on the material thickness - for this "dirty metal" work - I may have to revert to full manual operation. I'm lucky that the vast majority of sheetmetal under this car is not swiss cheese - but - some of it is galvanized and all of it is dirty and the some of the frame rails were partially cut through when we cut the rusty floor sections out - so the metal in those areas goes from 14-16 gauge to paper thin in many places. Some of the fill welding I'll have to do from the top with a copper spoon backer, or, just bend up some patch panels to weld into the thin areas.... it's the floor - it's not a beauty contest.


Now it's decision time...... move the leaf springs inboard of the frame - or leave them in the stock location?

Moving them inboard means a good deal of fabrication time - and - will make muffler placement and tailpipe routing a real challenge, if not down right impossible - as the leaf springs will be getting almost 6 inches closer to center of the car on both sides - and closer to the middle of the floor mounted fuel tank - right in the routing that most tailpipes typically take (I was planning on using off the shelf mustang tail pipes).

hmmmmmm

[SuperBuickGuy]

side outlet exhaust is cool

[Beagle]

The 5k thing is entirely do-able, but a NICE car for 5k is damn hard. Maybe we should have the "5k car that your SO will ride or be seen in challenge."

I'm sitting at about 1500 into mine, but it dang sure won't be nice. I'm busy taking care of any chance of it being nice this week.

Good progress! I've never been a weldor, if I get around to subframe connectors, I'll probably have to farm that out. I don't think I want to try to learn overhead on something critical.

Falcons are pretty low by nature, if you go out the side, have a look at Dr. Gas oval mandrel bends (cough$$$) and oval pipe? They have some conversion round to oval (*cough$$$) pieces that I was looking at when thinking about the downpipe on the diesel.

[Russell]

Hmm. Tire size v/s time.... a bigger tire may hook better if its ready in time for DW. Tick toc. What's that saying it takes twice as long and cost twice as much? Its real temping to do it now, but perfict = not done? Tuff call how long do you think it will take?

[milner351]

Ah the balance, time, money, effort, etc.

Crites makes a relocation kit that I don't like - $160.

There is a compromise....

From the factory the falcon leaf springs are outboard of the frame in the front, and straddle the frame in the rear (the frame curves as it goes up and over the axle and toward the back)

Some guys move the springs all the way to the other side of the frame - making the springs mount flush to the inboard instead of outboard side of the roughly 2" wide frame rail.... moving them 4" in on each side.

The other option is to cut into the frame rail and locate the front spring eye centered on the front frame rail, basically "inside" the front frame rail, moving them over 2". This is probably the best compromise from a packaging stand point - as it does not encroach into the muffler area under the back seat and it leaves more room for tail pipes (still puts the tailpipes close to the gas tank).

If I wanted to capture the 70's vibe - I could put the front of the leafs UNDER the frame rail lowering them about 2-3" inches and effectively raising the rear end of the car that much. But if I'm going to do that - I might as well radius the wheel wells for the 15x10 slots I have, wrap them in N50-15 M/T's and put side pipes on it. ;-)