New Falcon in the house

[Obie 250]

Hello all,
Hopefully I am posting this in the right place, just wanted to introduce myself, Doug Oberst, I live in Tacoma, and have been lurking on this site for a little while as I was looking for a car, which I took possession of about a month ago. I have not owned a Falcon previously and have not had a car purely for fun in a long time and I am looking forward to getting back into this hobby.

I was looking for a Mustang for quite a while and for what I wanted, (convertible, 1^st gen) in the condition I wanted, I was striking out based on the money they are bringing. While looking, I started noticing Falcons and began to understand the similarities to the Mustang and considered them more seriously. I eventually found a '63 Sprint Convertible that was mostly original here locally and got pretty excited about it, the price was great, and I went to look at it in person. It was definitely more of a project than I originally planned, the floor pan was pretty much rusted completely away from the rockers and there was some extensive bondo repair, the top was a complete loss, and someone had tried to paint (looked like with a brush) it white over the original Viking Blue. I actually considered it but decided I really didn't want that much of a project.

I think it was the next day I was looking at the adds and found this car online out of Pennsylvania and impulsively just called the seller. It has a '92 302 out of a Fox Body Mustang originally EFI but the owner changed to NA because "it didn't look right in the Falcon". The front end steering and spindles are from a '65 Mustang as is the 8" rear axle. It also has a C4 transmission and is overall in pretty decent shape. The seller, who I am still in contact with, is 78 yrs old, has owned over 200 cars and has rebuilt most of them. This was one of the few he has left, and he is selling everything off.

I have been generating quite a list of things I want to do to it but currently I will just be driving it for the summer and plan to do some projects over the winter. I have lots to learn about the car and will probably start a thread about what I am doing or hope to do, ask questions, and get advice. I gotta say I am much happier with the Falcon than a Mustang at this point and really looking forward to having some fun with it.

[Jeff W]

Very nice car. You will be glad you paid more up front and bought a solid runner. Congratulations

[Luva65wagon]

I like! It's a pretty clean car from what I see. Welcome to the Falcon family and I'm sure as you tinker on it you'll find it as rewarding, if not more, than a Mustang. For sure it's far more unique. Keep us abreast of your progress and hopefully, someday soon, we can all park these cars together somewhere.

[SmithKid]

Nice car. My car too, was a 'second' choice when purchased, but has turned out to be a very good choice.

[Obie 250]

It's definitely not perfect but a good solid platform. I want to get a little more performance out of it. The '92 302 is stock, other than the carb and intake, and they were rated around 240 hp when new I believe even though it was considered "high output". I think its lucky to be making 200 at this point. The C4 works but it hunts a little and is dripping so not in perfect condition but I will possibly put in a T5, we will see.

I polished it but the paint is not new, I guess the car was originally white. It was a decent paint job and looks good from a respectable social distance, ha. No clear coat and a couple of thin spots so not too many polishes in her future. There are a couple of small rust spots that need attention and most of the chrome is shiny but definitely failing in some spots. It came with spoke hub caps off of a Fairlane I think, which I didn't love, so I painted the wheels and found the dog dishes on ebay. Not sure about that yet.

The entire heat system needs a rebuild and the drivers side fresh air vent is rusting, need further investigation on that. The ignition is not original and the original plug for the switch has been bypassed and is hanging under the dash. That and some other questionable wiring for a tape deck that was in the glove box and some added gauges needs looking at.

All small stuff generally and I can certainly drive it and have fun with it while I plan out bigger improvements which will likely include engine performance, suspension upgrades, cosmetic issues and etc, etc.

[Luva65wagon]

Oh yeah... those small things. Those always lead to big things. Around here we call that the curse of "While I'm At It™." Be careful... be very careful.

[beerbelly]

Or as Derek at Vice Grip Garage would say- "mahzzle", as in "mahzzle fix this while I'm right here anyway".

[Luva65wagon]

Beerbelly... Well I'll be dipped! I'm just going to pretend I didn't see this...

[Obie 250]

So here is a current question. The rear end is a 2.79, not exactly exciting but I found a 3rd member while I was in Portland for a work thing, a 3.25. My intent was to rebuild it and make sure bearings are good etc. but mostly wanted to install a limited slip too. However, after checking it out it is in really good shape so I could just swap it out and rebuild later if I do some suspension upgrades when I will have to drop the rear end anyway. So rebuild now and install later when doing suspension or install now, rebuild later when I have to take the axel out?

[Luva65wagon]

Install it. If it's a limited slip, be sure to add the friction modifier. You can get a tube of prussian blue or other ring gear marking compound and make sure it's setup OK, as well as just feeling things out by hand. It will tell you if you need to rebuild it, but doubtful it will explode without giving you some indication of issue from a visual inspection. No matter what, you can do new axle bearing and seals now, While You're At It™, and they'll still be fine when, and if, you decide to pull it later, or sooner, for a rebuild.

[Obie 250]

The new gear set does not have a limited slip, I was going to add that while rebuilding. If I install now its easy, no rebuild, but I would still need to rebuild later to add the limited slip. Right now its looking like I might start doing any major projects next Fall so I will probably take my time rebuilding and install the limited slip and swap it out in the fall. I might need to narrow the rear end too so we will see. Still trying to decide how far to take things

[gtaroger]

Welcome to the bird watchers club. Nice looking bird.

[Gitanesteel]

Welcome - glad we have corresponded via email. Great looking car! Hope to see your Falcon at the PNW mini-regional in Ellensburg on Sept 18th

[Obie 250]

The project has started!

Well after enjoying the car last spring and summer I have begun the winter rebuild. I spent quite a bit of time planning and deciding what I want to do, its still a bit of a moving target, but I have started the first step which is the rear suspension and axel. Let's hope I can get it back on the road by next spring.

I originally planned to use the TCI 4 link system but turns out it doesn't really work with convertibles. There is a slight difference in the trunk pan and the floor, as it turns up behind the back seat to accommodate the roof when retracted. As I am finding out, there are a number of subtle differences with the convertible that does not allow certain parts and mods to fit. I ended up going with the Ride Tech rear 4 link and so far, so good. The main cradle fits in the frame great.

I have removed everything from the rear end including the drive line and am currently removing the old undercoating. I have never seen undercoating this thick on a car and I have to basically unbury any nuts or bolts to get at them. I am hoping to not find any significant rust and haven't yet. Heat gun and a scraper along with some mineral spirits has been the best method so far but it's a slow process.

The front bolts of the leaf springs were a major PITA. I don't think they have ever been touched since the car was built. I finally got one to turn but it was basically welded to the bushing and just spinning the whole thing inside the rubber, finally decided to cut them. Sawzall didn't work, no room for the blade, and my 4 1/2" angle grinder would not fit in the small space so I then used an arbor to mount the cut off wheel to my drill. The drill spins too fast though and would basically spin out the center of the wheel.

So I bought a 6" cutoff wheel and put it on the grinder to get more reach and it did the trick in just a couple of minutes. Kind of sketchy to hold the grinder with that big wheel and fortunately had my gloves on ��.

Now anyone know what to do with the old springs? They are up for grabs if anyone wants them.

I will keep adding to this thread as I go but it may be slow, I only have weekends and some of those are not always available.
Not sure if I should start a new thread or if mods want to move this to a more appropriate category but just let me know.
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[BadBird]

Glad your gloves protected you. I know the pain of having to remove all that undercoating. My last Falcon took forever to get it all off. The Falcon I am working on now is a California car and doesn't have the undercoating. Keep it going, and it's looking great. Larry