My "Quick Steer Kit" from Cobraautomotive has been installed

[Wilbur]

Dennis, on my other Falcon, I have the same set up as you do on yours, the early components which are much more expensive. Sixty three til June or so in sixty four used the same V8 steering components. My idler arm bracket has three bolt points whereas the sixty five has only two, both being V8 manual steering set ups.

If I recall you had power steering or?

I just got off the phone with a buddy and we were discussing how we like keeping our cars "period stock", in other words, I may do minor modifications but I want only mods that I could have gotten in the early to late 1960's and when I find a "gem" Falcon I touch NOTHING and leave it bone stock.

I sold one of my nicest Falcons, and the main reason was I didn't have a garage for it. The Falcon only had thirty six thousand miles on it, was their grandfather's car who bought it new, beautiful interior, red, no tears, Raven black exterior, straight as an arrow and rust free.

It had original bias ply tires on it, had the window sticker, and unique options such as 14 inch factory wheels, back up lights, and the hood ornament.

It now resides in a garage where it is well cared for. I would not have touched that car, the ONLY mod was a bolt on anti-sway bar, otherwise it was bone stock, so I'm like you Dennis, I refuse to alter a nice Falcon.

My two black Falcons that I currently drive were rescued from junkyards, anything I did to them was a vast improvement. I keep them "relatively stock" with some mild mods.

Roger has recently seen my one black junker Falcon, it's a rough car but mechanically speaking it has new springs, new shocks, new suspension components such as springs, control arms, etc. etc. etc.

It also has the dual circuit brake fluid reservoir, and three speed manual toploader trans, which is non stock, a 200 inline six which is non stock. It has no interior, it is my "truck".

My blue V8 Falcon, also a sixty four, that one will remain pretty much stock, right down tot he drum brakes, though I'd like to add bolt on parts that are easily removed like fiberglass bumper, hood, alloy intake, alternator. The car is utterly UNMOLESTED and I don't want to screw it up, and I may not even do the mods I mentioned above.

Some of the Rainier Falcon's crew saw the blue car last spring at a meeting, it's seen better days but it's bone stock save for a few items like the aftermarket alloy radiator I just installed, and I want to get a proper Falcon radiator for it, in case anyone wants to trade my near new alloy rad for a stock rad. I don't like the non stock look.

One of my dream Falcons, Dennis, is a sixty three like yours BUT a convertible! I so much want a convertible again! Either a Falcon or a vintage MGB or MGC from the sixties.

Meanwhile I'm havin' a hoot driving my Raven black Ford Falcon "truck" as my driver these days, though I don't drive much really.

I enjoy the car because the front is so light, much lighter than the V8 Falcon and the car drives like an overgrown go-kart.

Raysir, I look forward to seeing more about your Falcon Sprint, and though I did consider rack and pinion steering, I opted to stay with the worm gear set up, which doesn't have the quicker steering of the rack and pinion.

I look forward to seeing photos of the Sprint, I've always wanted a Sprint, a sixty three in white, black, or red, in that order, and a sixty four in white or possibly other colors.

My dream car, though, is just what I own, a sixty four Falcon two door post sedan in basic black, which is why I used to own three of them in black and four of them total, and currently own three.

[ew1usnr]

Hello, Wilbur.

My car does not have power steering.

The re-build of my front suspension started from seeing that the front tires were wearing unevenly. A mechanic told me that the car needed a front end alignment, but that it needed new ball joints.

Then in classic Roger "while I am at it" fashion, I figured that rather than just replace the ball joints why not the replace the upper and lower control arms as a unit, and the sway bar bushings are bad also, and so on and so on.

I studied a steering diagram until I understood how all the parts worked with the idea that if I was going to make any modifications, now would be the time to do it. I read about Monte Carlo bars, under-engine braces, Shelby drops, bigger sway bars, and bump steer.

It seemed that while each modification did have benefits, they also had drawbacks. Whether the benefits exceed the drawbacks depends on how you plan on driving the car and one modification leads to another and it is a slippery slope.

For example - a heavier sway bar reduces body roll. True. But, it also gives the car a stiffer ride and adds a little weight. Now you can corner faster but the original 13-inch tires start breaking free. You can increase the wheel size to 14 or 15 inches to use bigger tires and get more traction, but you further increased the weight of the car, you raised its center of gravity, and you changed its appearance.

All of that seemed to be overkill to me because my Falcon is not racing at Monte Carlo. I drive it to and from work every day and will drive it on the highway but avoid taking it on Interstates. For the kind of driving that I do, the stock suspension is perfectly fine. That is because the type of driving that I do is exactly the the type of driving that the suspension was designed for.

I drive my Falcon almost every day, and really really really do like my stock steering and suspension. It gives a comfortable ride and the car corners as hard as I care to push it without any excessive body roll. The steering is really nice. It tracks straight as an arrow, I can steer it with one finger while the car is moving, and I love the road feel that the direct mechanical connections deliver to the steering wheel. I have been very satisfied with the results from replacing all the worn front end parts.

Thanks, Dennis.

[dhbfaster]

Wilbur....at the risk of hijacking this thread....(so it won't be hijacked...) I would love to see you put some pics of your three falcons in a show off my ride thread...any pics of that very original one you sold too.

[Wilbur]

Today I drove my sixty four Falcon WITHOUT the quick steer kit, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! It feels like crap compared to the Falcon with the quick steer kit. Both cars are identical, both are sixty four Falcon two door post sedans with an inline 200 ci six cylinder motor and three speed manual transmissions. Both are also black with red interiors, what's left of the interiors.

The difference is so dramatic that once I have the money I intend to swap the other car over to the same front end set up. One car has the EARLY sixty four steering box and components, the other has the LATER sixty four set up. The change occurred around June or July of 1964. Actually, lemme see if I can find a link for that:

Well, I didn't find a link but maybe somebody else can provide the source for this information.

I'll say this though, having the quick steer kit is a quantum leap forward. I don't know how it compares to a rack and pinion or any other system, but comparing my two Falcons, with and without the quick steer kit, what a difference, what an improvement!

Is this for you? Depends on you. If you just want a cruiser, it won't matter and the BEST thing you can do for your Falcon in this case is simply ensure all the parts that wear are not worn or new. That alone is a vast improvement over a car with worn tie rods and steering.

I prefer a car that's a shade sharper, not that I'm a racer, nor are my cars anything special, but I do prefer a Falcon with a stiffer suspension, a heavy duty anti-sway bar, good shocks, and now that I have it, a Shelby quick steer kit.


dhbfaster, I can't wait til I can post some photos but I'm having computer issues right now, but sure, I look forward to posting more photos of my cars.

[beerbelly]

Wilbur, I have to ask the "elephant in the room" question- how's the steering effort? Have you parallel parked it yet?

My '65 V8 Ranchero has manual steering, with the slow 19.9:1 ratio box (4- 5/8 turns). It's pleasant enough to drive, tracks nicely, and the effort is fine for me. However, I'm not sure I'd want much more effort to parallel park it everyday.

I've read that a roller-bearing idler arm reduces effort somewhat, but some have mentioned that the wheel doesn't want to return to center quite as well.

Did you need a puller to change out the arm?

[Wilbur]

beerbelly, I took care of the steering improvement answer so your question is no longer the elephant in the room question. :-)

I should say first that I I do chin ups with 130 pounds chained to my waist, no joke, and I crank out about 5 to 8 chin ups with 100 pounds chained to my waist. With no weight chained to myself I crank out about 35 to 45 chin ups, and I was curling 70 or 75 pound dumbbells in each hand but I stopped that and switched to an 80 pound barbell because something was tweaking my back and just in case it was the curls with dumbbells, I cut that out.

Thus I don't know how relevant my evaluation of parking effort will be regarding the Falcon. I have no difficulty parallel parking the Falcon with the quick steer kit, but it is obvious that the steering effort is increased noticeably. I cannot quantify that, wish I could, but can only say the effort required is greater than before and it is noticeable, no doubt at all.

Whereas when I removed my steel fan from my V8 Falcon AND installed a K&N filter, I was constantly wondering: "Has there been an increase in acceleration or is it just my imagination?" I do believe there was an increase but nothing dramatic.

The steering effort, on the other hand, required with this new quick steer kit, there is no doubt about it, more effort is required.

I too read about the roller bearing vs. rubber bearing opinions, and I went with the rubber bearing because that's all my cars have ever had and I never had a problem with them. The messages I read about the roller bearing option not allowing the steering wheel to return to center didn't help, and I figured keeping the rubber bushing had near zero risks whereas the roller bearing option had the risk of not returning the wheel to center if those posts were accurate.

I did use a puller to remove the pitman arm, I bought mine at Schuck's in the late 90's, and it works like a charm, it's a simple device and though I don't know the current cost, I can't imagine they cost much.

Let me tell you something that will hopefully save you some time, something that consumed a vast amount of my time. What size is the socket that fits on the pitman arm nut? I searched high and low for that with no luck on the internet. I did it the hard way, trial and error at O'Reilly Auto Parts, the sale's people were patient with me despite my returning two sockets that did not fit, the third try was a charm.

TWENTY EIGHT MILLIMETERS, 28 millimeters is the size of the socket that fit over MY pitman arm nut on my steering box from a 1965 Ford Falcon with manual steering and the inline six of 170 cubic inches.

As mentioned earlier, the difference in the quickness of the steering is dramatic, I am so very happy with the results, so happy in fact that I intend to ditch the early 63-64 steering setup and steering box in my other Falcon and go to the later 65 setup that will allow the quick steer kit. When I go from my "quick steer" car to my 5 turn lock to lock car, it's awful.

I will say this, the 5 turn lock to lock car isn't really that bad, I've lived with that steering for some THIRTY YEARS in all my Falcons, but the quick steer kit is a nice improvement.

Whether this is something for you really depends, for me, though I drive conservatively, it's nice to have some performance, and keep in mind my quick steer Falcon is probably LIGHT YEARS BEHIND even a budget KIA or Ford Focus, regarding the quality of steering, so I really shouldn't call this "performance" that I have in my "new" Falcon, it's just a nice improvement.

You are welcomed to come by and try out the steering in my quick steer Falcon, just sit there and turn the wheels some as if parking, the car is drivable/driveable but still needs an alignment and small details. Just today I got the Ford Granada anti-sway bar installed. Lots of details to take care of.

By the way, my apartment parking is parallel parking and I've parked it numerous times now, no problem, and keep in mind, even if you keep the car moving at half mile an hour the steering effort is greatly reduced. I really don't recall any issue parking the car.

I hope this helps beerbelly!

Wilbur, I have to ask the "elephant in the room" question- how's the steering effort? Have you parallel parked it yet?

My '65 V8 Ranchero has manual steering, with the slow 19.9:1 ratio box (4- 5/8 turns). It's pleasant enough to drive, tracks nicely, and the effort is fine for me. However, I'm not sure I'd want much more effort to parallel park it everyday.

I've read that a roller-bearing idler arm reduces effort somewhat, but some have mentioned that the wheel doesn't want to return to center quite as well.

Did you need a puller to change out the arm?