My 60 Falcon

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HELPFUL TIPS

Here is just a few helpful tip I though I might pass along for some of you who might be crossing the same road  that I already crossed. I hope somebody finds this information useful. Most of the subjects will be concerning the work and modifications that I have done on my 60 Falcon, but I'm sure most of the tips could be used on your project just as well. This is for you information. I'm not liable for any damage or unfortunate incidents which may occur using these descriptions or methods .

 

Floor Pan Replacement

Floor Pan Replacement ...Well, This wasn't a week end project, more like all week! Now I'm no Bodyman or Iron Worker, I don't even know how to weld and still don't, I've seen it done before, but this was my first try at it. My floor was seriously ate up with rust. At first I got a hood from a full size pick up truck at the body shop's dumpster to make some patch's to repair the floor. That wasn't working out too good, it was kickin' my ass. I decided to come up with another plan. I bought my replacement pans from Melvin's. The choice was Front and Rear or Full Length, (Right Side and Left Side). I went with the Full Length route (both sides). I decided to replace the toe boards while I was at it. These panels are not exactly the same as original, the 'hump' that the seat (s) bolts to are not as crisp as Ford made them, but you can't tell it when carpet is installed, (and it's under the seat too). The best thing I can say about replacing the floor pans is "DON'T CUT NOTHING" until you get the new pan and see what will be staying in your car, and what will be leaving. These replacements panels don't have the transmission tunnel, and the toe board doesn't have a lip around the side to weld gainst the rocker panel like the floor panels have. I tried to leave enough metal around the kick panel to weld to, but most of it fell off with the rest of the floor. I made a "tab" and welded it to the side and toe panel with some old sheet metal I had laying around. Taking the old floor out was easy on my car, all I had to do was peel it off with pliers. First, you know, you have to remove the seats and carpet and anything else on the floor. I then lay a panel over the old flooring and trace the edge and added about 2" to the old floor so the new panel will overlap and have a place to weld to. I use a grinder to smooth over the spot welds on the frame rails and on the inside rocker panels. I found out using pop rivets and small bolts to hold things in position and to the frame rails made things more easygoing.  I Then MIG weld inside and underside. I kind of "stitched" the floor in, weld about a half inch, and skipped around to keep the panel from getting too hot in one place. After I skipped around all I could, I went back and filled in between the stitches. I made a coantinuous bead around the frame rails to make the 'frame' more stronger than the spot welds. Might want to paint everything with POR-15 at this time. I use 3-M seam sealer on the seams, inside and underside. The seat support frames are easily to bend up while hanging out in the air. Oh, one more thing, while replacing the toe board panels, the concave lines in the firewall/inner fender did not mach up, I had to hammer the firewall to the toe board so I could have metal to metal to weld. Measure where your dimmer switch is, speedometer cable, seat mounting holes, ect. to help you remember where to screw the stuff back down at . The replacement panels also don't have the big access or drain holes for the rubber plugs. Watch the rubber seal around the steering column and firewall, I caught mine on fire and it wasn't easy to replace, had to remove the column. I replaced one side of the floor at a time, this will help keep the car square. I used a heavy roll asphalt building felt to cover the floor after I primed and painted. A few days later, after it "air out" I then added the pad and carpet.

Disc Brakes

This is what I did to put Granada Disc on a '60 front end. All these parts are from a '63 V8 Falcon: replaced the upper and lower control arms, steering box, (.. And bolts, The '60 has 5/16" and the '63 used 3/8" ) pitman and 2 bolt idler arm, (3 bolt arm wont match up) strut rods, steering stops, center link, tie rod sleeves, inner tie rods. I swapped the tie rods around  ( inner to outer) to use the correct threads with '63 V8 parts. I used my springs and spring perch. The '60 perch has bearings whereas the later Falcons has a bushing. I got the spindles, calipers, splash shield, rotor, brake hose clamp, brake hose, and outer tie rods from a 76 Granada V8 from the junkyard. Then bought new parts that was questionable, along with adapters to connect the brake hoses and a piece of hard line to go from the original brake line to the rubber hose.

Dual Bowl Master Cylinder

I used a 89 Mustang master cylinder because the aluminum cylinder and plastic bowl  looks better than a cast iron master cylinder and it has to be lighter too. And it  will bolt up to the original bolt holes in the fire wall. I used my old push rod and old rubber boot. I bent the cross brace at first with channel locks but after I tighten the master cylinder down I notice that I didn't have to bend the cross brace. The master cylinder has metric fittings. I used 1 3/16 X 12 adapter for the back line and 2 3/16 X 10 for the front lines. I installed an adjustable proportioning valve on the inner fender under the hood hinge and used a 20" pre fabricated hard brake line coming from the front of the master cylinder port to the proportioning valve and bent my rear brake line to the proportioning valve. I put the brake light switch on the pedal support. The 'stang master cylinder is 22 mm bore (not quite 7/8") and the Falcon came with a 1" bore (25.4 mm). I also have 29/32" rear brake wheel cylinders, I don't know how much, if any, this has on the effects of the braking or the feel of the brakes. The pedal has about 1/2" or less more travel than before but it "feels" about right. If the push rod was about 1/4" longer it might have the same 'old' travel than before, but I can live with the difference.