I'd clean up the exterior and interior aesthetics and make it work well, then drive and enjoy. Not a restoration, just an elevation from slightly battered and neglected to good driver. Make it look like someone cares (because someone does) and then use it. If you restore, you run the risk of making it too nice to use.
"I'm still not 100% certain where this car will end up." In the GROSH!!! awesome love these . I'm having a senior, but the dude that really did all the werk at Gas Monkey Garage and then left built one of these (2door BADASS Pikes Peak participant)......no tarps allowed
Back about 2007 I had a Falcon station wagon. I left the drive train alone except I swapped in a Duraspark distributor into it that I harvested from some 70s era Ford that I found at Little John's Wrecking Yard. And a Harley Davidson fishtail exhaust tip. A little lowering and some moon disc hub caps from Speedway Motors.
It was a cool car but it needed just about every piece of weatherstrip imaginable and a lot of them simply weren't available.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:i would 5-lug swap it just to run Magnum 500's
Radir tri-ribs. They are reet!
My car, with dog dish hub caps, 14" body color wheels and some stainless trim rings.
They'll be for sale soon when I switch to 5 lug. I'll give away the 200 six, or a small donation with the new carb and exhaust manifold attached. It also has a rebuilt 'green dot' C4. PA, you pick up.
I have to say, it's no powerhouse setup but it doesn't run bad. It's kind of 'cheerful' as it putters along. Just not what I was after, so 302 swap incoming.
The V8 Sprints had quite a number of modifications to handle the increased power, so it's not a simple drop-in-and-go swap on an early Falcon. The FCA newsletter in recent history had a reproduction of the factory bulletin outlining all the changes they did to the chassis. I was surprised at how extensive it was.
Trent said:The T5 swap was the single biggest improvement I made. The 3 speed makes the car feel a lot heavier than it really is, the 5 speed made the car so much peppier and improved in town fuel economy a remarkable amount.
2nd the t5 swap idea (the 3speed does suck just for driving), scarebird disks and hit it with a lowering stick.
Does the T5 bolt up to the 170? Is there a bell housing that will let that happen?
The 4-speed that's in it will probably work fine around town but an OD for the highway would probably be nice.
In reply to Toyman! :
I just checked and the "California Pony Cars" adapter bellhousing I used is up for grabs.
My old car has since been converted to a V8 and the flywheel and bellhousing are just sitting in storage. He says he would let them go pretty cheap.
I got away with a regular Ford T5 with the bench seat but an S10 T5 is preferred. It moves the shifter location to just about where Ford put it on the floor shift cars.
I missed whether it's a manual or auto? I can't say what you should do, but I'd leave it stock until a really unique idea comes along. Maybe some sort of turbo I5 or something? If that's even possible in a RWD configuration - I only know of the transverse Volvo T5...
I adore these old Falcons! Love it. Definitely subscribed. I long for a 3-speed column shift to toodle around with the family on Friday evening runs to the beach and ice cream store.
In reply to Trent :
I would be interested.
I'm in the "clean it up and drive it" camp. I'd start with that and then let the car tell me what it wants as we get to know each other.
In reply to edwardh80 :
It's a 4 speed floor shift car.
fwingo said:Trent said:The T5 swap was the single biggest improvement I made. The 3 speed makes the car feel a lot heavier than it really is, the 5 speed made the car so much peppier and improved in town fuel economy a remarkable amount.
2nd the t5 swap idea (the 3speed does suck just for driving), scarebird disks and hit it with a lowering stick.
Sad fact: Scarebird is no more.
ddavidv said:fwingo said:Trent said:The T5 swap was the single biggest improvement I made. The 3 speed makes the car feel a lot heavier than it really is, the 5 speed made the car so much peppier and improved in town fuel economy a remarkable amount.
2nd the t5 swap idea (the 3speed does suck just for driving), scarebird disks and hit it with a lowering stick.
Sad fact: Scarebird is no more.
The website is up and states it's under new management as of April.
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