Saving Granddad's Falcon

[Luva65wagon]

Too much to read to catch up right now.

No doubt my meaningless ramblings.

IIRC, Ford's name for the advance system used on the early Falcons was Load-o-matic.

Yep, that's it. I like Spark-o-Magic better tho.

...a material called "milodyne" or some similar name. This material was stiffer than rubber, but not as stiff as poly, and prevented problems with cracking strut rod frame mounts.

Don will just need to watch these. See how they last. I'm pretty familiar with Poly, these were not that, but it might be this Milodyne stuff.

[PhilC]

No doubt my meaningless ramblings.

Not at all Roger, just too many demands on my time and brain cells these days. Do enjoy reading your posts, always good.

I checked and that material is milodyne. One of the other issues with poly is breaking strut rods and that issue continued into mid-60s Mustangs.

Falcon strut rods are different 62 and later, so a fit issue will be realized when used on 60/61. Check this link - http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falc...-61-18p268.htm

Falcons with a date of manufacture 10/15/61 and earlier require a different busing. Don't know which ones Don got, but my guess is they were for a Falcon built after that date. I remembered this because the strut rods for my son's 61 Futura were noticeably smaller than those on my 62 Futura.

Not that it will be a problem, highly doubt there will be any spirited driving in Granddad's Falcon. Under those conditions, plain old rubber would do well.

[redfalken]

Glad to hear the engine's running like a top now! Sounds like you're pretty close to a maiden voyage around the 'hood?!

[Luva65wagon]

I checked and that material is milodyne. One of the other issues with poly is breaking strut rods and that issue continued into mid-60s Mustangs.

Falcon strut rods are different 62 and later, so a fit issue will be realized when used on 60/61. Check this link - http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falc...-61-18p268.htm

Hopefully Milodyne is good in reality. My first experience with it.

I'm pretty sure Don indicated getting one of the two bushing sets from FalconParts.com - and looking there now they say you have to reuse hardware. I also looked at RockAuto and their kits were showing as OEM rubber on pre-61 listings only. Everything newer (larger) were POLY and out-of-stock IDK.

He received hardware with both kits he had. He also indicated being aware of the mid-year switch-over. He'll have to fill in the blanks regarding what kits he got and where, if interested. I just recall that one kit was, in general, all too big (I think these were from FalconParts). One set had ID holes correct to fit the strut, but didn't fit to the frame holes. This was the Milodyne set and carved easily, so I carved then to fit into the frame hole pockets. That, combined with machining one bushing on each side, got these installed.

So this was a real mis-match of stuff we saw. Both kits had washers and nuts, and neither had the same size nuts and neither set of nuts fit his struts! One set was too big (in the kit we never touched) and one set was too small (or metric?), and it was from this kit the bushings we used - along with his original washers, which were smaller OD, which helped a lot.

All in all I think we pulled off a good Cuban retrofit.

[dhbfaster]

Yea...on the strut rod nuts...the nuts from both new kits were too big. The first kit was from Macs., 2nd kit after whatever that date is...was from Falcon parts. Neither fit. Fortunately I painted the "big washers" before Roger came over so we could reuse them.
I haven't had time to put it all together yet...but plan to when I have a chance to enjoy this investigation. For now I'm slammed at work with a bit of OT lately and probably some business trips coming up...and I want to focus on getting the car on the road and then finished so I can invite my Dad out for a ride on fathers day. I already sent him (and my mom too) Alaskan airline gift certificates as their xmas presents...

I got the sway bar on yesterday...and unfortunately all the other stuff on the non-falcon list trumped getting any further. Hopefully I can pick off the other things on the list one by one over the next couple weeks...

[Luva65wagon]

Yea...on the strut rod nuts...the nuts from both new kits were too big.

I tend to remember one set too big (sloppy big) and one set not quite starting, but smaller. Regardless, both sets were unusable. Only the bushings were made to work.

June 19th? You have plenty of time to finish if you get to stay around. In "Roger" hours you have maybe 8 more to go.

[dhbfaster]

Roger hours 8....Don hours about 64!
Well, maybe not that many...we'll see if we get any more road blocks.

[dhbfaster]

Ahh....the small pleasures of getting one little thing done.
Both mirror installed tonight.