Wow another Falcon on the board, I dig it!
Those Procar low back buckets blend in way better than I would have imagined, plus they’re 1000% better than the seats they replace for sure! I’ll be curious to see how the Grant steering wheel will work out for you; I’ve had my eye on one for my build as well.
Keep it up! \m/
Thanks dudes! Glad to hear everybody likes it. I'm really digging the car, it's turning into a great driver. Then I get to start the fun part and figure out what's next for the build. Can't wait to start on the EFI conversion, just waiting on that damn fuel pump. Hoping it comes in next week. I'll have a lot more to update at that point.
I agree the Procar buckets turned out better than I expected. They are a really good fit for the car. The steering wheel should be here today, I'll have it swapped in soon. I think it's really going to finish off the interior.
I think my next project will be improving suspension and steering. The car has later year Falcon steering box and linkage from what I can tell, and that's not really a good thing. It's like a 63-64 only year range or something and hard to find parts. The steering is very tight overall, but there is a fairly big dead zone in the center. Likely the steering box is fairly worn out. Going to look at replacing the steering with 65-66 Mustang parts that I can easily source new. Or maybe an electric power steering setup? Who knows at this point. Might look at puting a booster on the brakes as well. They are just fine as is, but it might a nice upgrade, there is plenty of room for a vacuum booster in there I think.
Been looking alot at Opentracker suspension and steering. Might go further down that road. Anybody have any experience with their parts?
They have a nice steering system as well:
More updates coming soon!
Oh man I love the Ranchero as well. Always wanted one like that!
That is a fine looking automobile . what tires do you run in the winter?
Been looking alot at Opentracker suspension and steering. Might go further down that road. Anybody have any experience with their parts?
Yep they've been great to deal with so far. I have their 11" rear drum kit and it worked like a charm. I've also been thinking about their roller suspension but for now I'm sticking with stock suspension parts.
I did pick up their Delrin monoball strut rod bushings and Bump steer kit but I have not put those on yet. I dig the rack and pinion, but I'll probably go with a Borgeson box instead and keep it old school.
Always cool to see a falcon getting some love. Nice car to start with, and you're only making it better! I dig the 51 2 door sedan too, I grew up with those cars, my dad has a bunch 49-51 fords.
I've been really diggin on these lately. Nice work. Swapping out those seats would have be tops on my list too.
pilotbraden said:That is a fine looking automobile . what tires do you run in the winter?
I haven't had it through a winter yet. I will likely not get a set of winter tires for this car. We don't usually have snow on the ground for more than a couple days here, so I'll just drive my truck when the weather is bad. It has a good set of Coopers on it though, so not concerned if I need to drive it a bit in the snow.
I was hoping for a V8 with bench seat and column shifts for lap time cool factor. Disappointed 
Just kidding, I adore the 60-61 falcons! I was planning to acquire one myself until we devastated our budget renovating an old house 
but the want is still strong and hopefully only a matter of time.
jerrysarcastic (Forum Supporter) said:Been looking alot at Opentracker suspension and steering. Might go further down that road. Anybody have any experience with their parts?
Yep they've been great to deal with so far. I have their 11" rear drum kit and it worked like a charm. I've also been thinking about their roller suspension but for now I'm sticking with stock suspension parts.
I did pick up their Delrin monoball strut rod bushings and Bump steer kit but I have not put those on yet. I dig the rack and pinion, but I'll probably go with a Borgeson box instead and keep it old school.
Nice! Thanks for the info on your experience with Opentracker, glad to hear it was good. I'm really interested in that roller front end kit. I kind of want to do coilovers though, so I might look at those options. Going to be doing alot of research this winter to figure out the future suspension and steering setup on this thing.
The Baer Tracker tie rod ends look really interesting. They are height adjustable at the spindle to let you offset the tie rod height? Did the stock Falcon/Mustang steering setup have a big issue with bumpsteer? I don't seem to recall that being a big problem on my Mustang with all stock suspension.
LuxurySportCoupe said:Always cool to see a falcon getting some love. Nice car to start with, and you're only making it better! I dig the 51 2 door sedan too, I grew up with those cars, my dad has a bunch 49-51 fords.
Nice! I love Ford Shoebox's. I've had a 49 4-door and that black 51 2-door in the first post. They are great cars and make excellent cruisers. I'm going to miss that 2 door, but it went to a good home.
edwardh80 said:I was hoping for a V8 with bench seat and column shifts for lap time cool factor. Disappointed
Just kidding, I adore the 60-61 falcons! I was planning to acquire one myself until we devastated our budget renovating an old house
haha totally understand. I'll find a bench seat for it to make you feel better.
Hope you can track down a nice Falcon! There's plenty of them around and they are generally pretty cheap.
Mick-I can heartily recommend Street or Track for your project. I've got a '69 Cougar convertible and used their adjustable strut rods, tubular control arms and Bilstein front and rear shocks (Race Car Dynamics build), along with their front and rear disc brake conversions, Unisteer R&P steering. I used FlexForm for composite rear leaf springs.
The owner Shaun races what he builds and sells and has a strong following and referral base on Vintage Mustang forums. He's local to me and worked with some people I know when he developed his products.
A box from Jegs showed up yesterday, but I was out all day riding ATV's in the snow. We drank some beers, crashed in the snow a bunch and did lots of unnecessary winching. Had a blast, but I didn't have time to install my new steering wheel. I'll get it done this week!
Opened up the box this morning to check out the new wheel. I'm loving it! Super nicely built, I think it will look great on the car. Also had grabbed a new white 5 speed shift knob, wasn't really a fan of the 8 ball that was on the car. I'll update later when I get the wheel figured out with the Grant mounting kit.
My console should be here today as well. I think that stuff really does complete all the interior stuff!
On a side note, I have a TON of stock Falcon parts that came with this car, if any of you Falcon guys need anything. Someday soon I'll go through it all. I know there is a good non-posi rear diff, not sure of gears. Nice fender (not sure what side), perfect grill. Tons of interior pieces, trim, chrome, etc. I'd be happy to see if I have a part that could help anybody if needed. The guy I bought the car from regularly went to the salvage yard and would just pull any good usable Falcon stuff he saw, and he passed it all on to me.
More updates soon, hope everybody has a great week!
wawazat said:Mick-I can heartily recommend Street or Track for your project. I've got a '69 Cougar convertible and used their adjustable strut rods, tubular control arms and Bilstein front and rear shocks (Race Car Dynamics build), along with their front and rear disc brake conversions, Unisteer R&P steering. I used FlexForm for composite rear leaf springs.
The owner Shaun races what he builds and sells and has a strong following and referral base on Vintage Mustang forums. He's local to me and worked with some people I know when he developed his products.
Awesome, thanks buddy! I haven't heard of these guys. I will check out their stuff for sure. Appreciate the recommendation.
http://www.streetortrack.com/Street-or-Track-Tubular-Front-End-System-pr-24480.html
Oh man this is really tempting....
<edit>
Even better....
http://www.streetortrack.com/Street-or-Track-Front-Coilover-System-pr-24491.html
Damn, why did you have to send me this website. I have a feeling I'm going to spend way too much money and tear apart a perfectly good car! haha
I'm really pleased with their coilover system plus strut rods plus Shelby/Arburg drop plus caster adjusters plus spindles plus brakes plus steering on my car. I thought about their 3 link out back but decided to upgrade the springs/shocks and go to a Panhard bar or Watts link if necessary. The Flexform rear composite monoleaf rear springs and Bilstein shocks plus new HD rear shackles and bushings reduce much of the unwanted lateral motion in the rear end. My car is still a street driven floppy old convertible but I really love the feel of the vehicle with the changes I've made.
If you contact Street or Track, tell them Todd with the Cougar sent you his way. I'll pop my build thread here back up so you can see my install.
The Street or Track stuff is definitely drool-worthy, but a bit much for me to justify on my project (really, I mean to say my budget!) at this point.
It’d be pretty cool to adapt their 3 link rear end to get it to live under the wagon though, and their coil over front suspension looks all kinds of awesome. If I was building something more track-focused I’d be all over it! @wawazat, this means I am officially jealous of your setup. :)
The Baer Tracker tie rod ends look really interesting. They are height adjustable at the spindle to let you offset the tie rod height? Did the stock Falcon/Mustang steering setup have a big issue with bumpsteer? I don't seem to recall that being a big problem on my Mustang with all stock suspension.
I don’t think it’s as much of an issue at stock ride height, but can be when you lower it. It’s definitely an issue on my wagon since I lowered it, and if the internet is to be believed, lengthening the tie rod helps address the bump steer. I also suspect the play in the lower strut rod is a factor, since Ford used big squishy bushings to locate those and it introduces dynamic toe in/toe out issues. The delrin bushings should help with that and be cheaper than the (overkill for me) fabricated strut rods you see at several vendors.
With any luck I’ll have time soon to get those installed and see if they help with my bump steer issues; it can get pretty sketchy at times!
RE: Bumpsteer
My understanding is Mustangs/Falcons/etc. did, indeed have a decent bit of bump steer. The thing is, so did everything in the 50s through the 70s. Jags, MGs,Mopars, Fords, Caddies. It's not the end of the world, and is part of the car's "feel". It is definitely better to get rid of it, but the topic has been sensationalized a bit.
Thanks Jerry
wawazat said:I'm really pleased with their coilover system plus strut rods plus Shelby/Arburg drop plus caster adjusters plus spindles plus brakes plus steering on my car. I thought about their 3 link out back but decided to upgrade the springs/shocks and go to a Panhard bar or Watts link if necessary. The Flexform rear composite monoleaf rear springs and Bilstein shocks plus new HD rear shackles and bushings reduce much of the unwanted lateral motion in the rear end. My car is still a street driven floppy old convertible but I really love the feel of the vehicle with the changes I've made.
If you contact Street or Track, tell them Todd with the Cougar sent you his way. I'll pop my build thread here back up so you can see my install.
Thanks for the info. I found your Cougar build thread (amazing car BTW, love it!) and read about the suspension install. I'm thinking of going with that coilover setup and the rack and pinion steering. Nice job on that car!
Here's the link for anybody else interested:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/at-the-sign-of-the-cat69-mercury-cougar-convertibl/129308/page1/
Does FlexForm have the specs on the leaf springs? You can call order by fitment, or you need to send them measurements? I've never heard of these springs, but they look really cool.
Thanks mickpiston!
I ran across Flexform on forum somewhere back in time. I called them up and they had a Cougar specific spring which is longer than a Mustang spring. I gave them estimated vehicle weight and some other details and placed the order. I'm in the plastics industry and worked with my dad when he bought a composite leaf spring for his '63 Corvette so I was pre-sold on the idea of a composite leaf spring. I liked the thought of dramatically less weight, no sag (my 50 year old stock springs had long passed al dente) and no corrosion concerns. When they mentioned less lateral deflection I was sold. Spring rate went up pretty dramatically but Bilsteins control them nicely and ride is fantastic in my humble opinion.
Heh, autocorrect in my post on Shelby/Arning drop shows my plastics geeky side coming out. Sorry about that.
Right on, good to know. I will keep those in mind. The Falcon currently has new leafs in the back with new traction bars. It rides and handles fairly well out back, so I'm not going to change that anytime soon. It does have some pretty cheap shocks on the rear, so swapping them out with something nicer will probably be all the rear requires for now. The front end on the car is tight, but just doesn't corner particularly well. The only worn part on the front end is the steering box, which is not an easy replacement to find for this car. Steering and front suspension improvement will definitely be my first order of business.
One thing I'm wondering about is the front brakes. The car currently has a Scarebird disc conversion on it, using the stock spindles I assume. I'd like to leave the brakes alone since they are excellent. I'm hoping that the R/T coilover system will work with the stock spindles, and that the R&P steering conversion will work fine as well with no brake interference. I will call Shaun there and talk to him about it.
I haven't spend much time under the car yet, so I'm making assumptions on whats under there for steering and suspension, though it's probably pretty accurate. Soon I will get the car up in the air and get a solid picture of exactly how it is setup right now, before ordering any parts for underneath.
In reply to jerrysarcastic (Forum Supporter) :
Makes sense! Thanks for the info.
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