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falcon_master

Well-known member
Hi everyone. Sorry for the topic don't know what to call it. So I finally starting to seriously take off parts and get those car in running condition. Note I said running. It's really my only car and I have basically a week here and another week there and then the whole summer to make this thing hold together enough to be a daily. I know it'll look rough but I just need it to run. I'm starting out by buying all new brake parts. I mean springs, wheel Cylinders, shoes and a master cylinder. I want to know this hunk of steel will stop when I need it to. So my first question is I'm confused does anyone know the size of my brake shoes because multiple sites are giving me 9" or 9 and 1/4" or 10". My next thing is seat belts. I figured due to my budget I'll have to make due with lap belts ( I don't really like it but it's better than nothing). Now is it wrong for to think that I get one 70in lap belts and put it across the whole bench that way all three people can be seated with one belt or is that a hazzard and to short for my seats. My third thing is drivetrain. I'm planning on trying a rebuild kit for the carb because there's no way that thing is still ok it's full of dirt and crap. I plan on that and new gear oil for the diff and trans. I want to get the engine running for some amount of time so I can see of it needs to be rebuilt or not. I'm planning on a tach(anyone know the max allowable revs for a 170 hydraulic lifter six) I haven't been able to make it do more than sputter yet. Im also planning on new hoses if mine are all cracked up (don't want them blowing especially near the heater core). Than it's all the other nickle and dime stuff that bites the rest of my budget which by the way has been lowered to a total budget of about $500. And after that a 800 mile trip back to AZ with this thing. So any tips on seatbelts and other safety and brakes and drivetrain would be great.
As always thanks everyone for the info and advice. I'm so happy to finally work on it. I feel that falcons and any six cylinder car for that matter gets alot of crap and o want to show people that while there not at all power screaming monsters there reliable, quiet, easy to work with and efficient.
 
The 9 inch shoes like your last post is what your 65 has. Good luck (y) :nod:
 
Hi, I would rebuild the carb, and clean out the fuel system first, and get it running. You will probably have to drop the tank and shake it and rinse it out and let it dry. I wouldn't spend all the money on brakes first, and find out the engine won't run. I would work on one system, the engine, including tune up, hoses, belt, electrical, then move on to the brakes. By the way, those brake shoes are for the rear, the front shoes are probably wider, and the front wheel cylinders larger. One big seat belt is not an option. You need three separate belts, bolted to the floor pan behind the front seat, with big washers so you don't rip the floor sheet metal. The center belt can share the mount with the left and right sides, four holes, four mounting bolts. I used Speedway Motors 91072065. Good luck
 
2X what 'e said. (All of it).

Yeah, for the "6" belts - 4 mounts...| || || | is the configuration, ie the 'middle 2" are of a shared sort & on the left'n right side of the 'hump' behind the frnt bench.
Ur lucky to have that bench, most R replaced w/buckets (ie only 2 seats up frnt). (if U dump em I'll buy!).

Hope the formatting comes out when posted - it explains better than in words...
(single........paired....paired.......single)
 
Howdy,

Dont worry about over revving it, youll know when you need to shift by the sound of it. But anyhow, i know the 200s redline at 4500 so youre probably the same. The highest ive gotten mine is probably 4100 so dont worry.

Yeah get the car running first to make sure you dont have a rolling brick that stops, it needs to move before stoping. Lol

Good luck,
Ryan
 
Howdy Back F-M and All:

FIrst, second and Third! Don't spend a dime on anything else til you get it running. Dive into the Carb rebuild. That will be the most cost effective way to go. Clean and diagnose as you go. And learn. Did you buy a shop manual yet? Lots to learn in a manual.

If you are committed to buying, my suggestion is that you invest in a vacuum gauge and a timing light. A tach may be cooler, but more expensive and less helpful until later. Get it running then figure out what should be next.

As already posted your car has 9" brakes both front and back. Master cylinders are the same on all four corners.

Best and cheapest source for seat/shoulder belts is your local recycling yard. Check it out.

Anyway, keep it coming and keep learning.

Adios, David
 
As above same below, more or less the same here,

when i was getting my car first running we did basic ignition tune up , plugs, cap, rotor, points and condenser and wires then we re-stabbed the distributor and with the engine turning freely we drained the oil pan put on a new filter and took off the valve cover and pour the new oil over the valvetrain to give it some start up lube, plopped in a new battery, disconnected the line from the tank to the pump and took off the fuel supply line at the carb and tried starting and nothing, have to clean the armature on the starter and then tried turning it over again and it cranked. So, we cranked it for a good 10 seconds or so and then let it sit for a minute and did it again for a total of about a minute or so of crank time trying to make sure things were as oiled as possible. Now most people would have suggested putting aN oil pressure tester on it to make sure it was making pressure but we didn’t have one and i didn’t know to think about it i was 15 what can i say.

Then we tested for spark can be done at any time once the engine turns over by taking out one spark plug and putting the wire on it and holding it against the block with some pliers specifically insulated pliers unless you want a shock. We then filled a water bottle with gas and would "trickle" it down the carb to "fuel" the engine and got it to start and could keep it running that way for a decent amount of time but i wouldn’t suggest more than a minute or 2 as the radiator was empty, we timed the vehicle that way and made sure it didn’t have any weird noises or knocks that developed. Then set about the task of getting into a running and driving unit, rebuilt the carb, cleaned out the gas tank of rust by taking the random nuts and bolts coffee cup that we have and throwing in the tank and shaking it around for about 3 hours then taking them out and cleaning out the tank with brake clean, now would be a opportune time replace the fuel sending unit while the tank is out, then we moved on to the fuel pump it didn’t want to suck properly so we took it apart and cleaned this mesh "filter" inside it and "made" a new diaphragm from some rubber gasket material we had laying around while it was off we blew through the fuel lines to clean them out, we filled the cooling system with just water to get it running, reinstalled the tank, the pump and carb filled her with gas and cranked and cranked some more finally on the 4th attempt she coughed and spat to life idled horribly but with some "quick" tuning it was running decently and i didn’t check fluid in the trans or rear, the next step was all new brakes front and rear with all new hoses didn’t replace the master cylinder just bleed it.

After everything was done and finally got to drive it on the old 25-year-old dry rotted tires and of course it pulled every which way and stopped weird and the rear end was howling and steering was loose, the charge light was on, which we eventually figured out was the voltage regulator but it ran and i was beside myself and i wasn’t even the one driving! I could barely drive a car let alone 3OTT :LOL: after than it was a slow change this, fix that, getting everything into better condition, ran radiator flush through the cooling system at least 3 times then filled it with coolant, one of the old dry rotted tires blew at about 9 at night coming back from relatives that lived just outside of town and it was luckily all on gravel so no rim damage and we still had the full sized spare and the bumper jack and lug wrench so that was an experience, but i also eventually replaced the radiator hoses and the fan belt all the filters and then topped off fluids and all your normal wear components tires ect.

I am by no means saying that was the correct way to do it but that is how i did it and i did it 50 bucks at a time from mowing lawns and such so starting off with 500 is going to get you a lot further done in one go then i ever did, it took me about 7 months from when i got the car to it driving
 
great post, story, experience, Thanks.
Better than my Jonny Cash "1 lunch box full at a time" method.
I had such a junk I hadda get 3 or 4 others to compose the one (in pic) 30/40 yrs ago. Many of us can say we "did it one piece at a time" (que the music that matches).
:shock:
:oops:
:eek:
and finally
:beer:
 
I was curious so i went online and from rockauto, who has a suprisingly good amount of parts for older cars, you can get pretty much every thing i bought to get the car up and going, plus or minus some extra stuff you might not even need, from them for about $350 with shipping, leaving you $150 for seat belts and various light bulbs, fluids and other stuff you might need the only things that i would even think twice about after getting all that replaced would be tires especially if a long trip is in order. So it is definitetly do-able
 
Thanks for the info everyone. Your right I need to go over everything before I order parts. I wanna keep the bench seats if possible because I love the look and that it can hold 3 people per bench but if I can't really make them safe I guess I'll have to go to bucket seats. Ive been practicing double clutching and I can do it relatively jerk free. So thanks for the help. When I start on it I'll be doing videos if anyone wants to see them
 
falcon_master":3il921mu said:
Thanks for the info everyone. Your right I need to go over everything before I order parts. I wanna keep the bench seats if possible because I love the look and that it can hold 3 people per bench but if I can't really make them safe I guess I'll have to go to bucket seats. Ive been practicing double clutching and I can do it relatively jerk free. So thanks for the help. When I start on it I'll be doing videos if anyone wants to see them

Sure you can keep the bench seat and make it safe too it's easy! Ford offered seat belts as an option as far back as 1955, by about 1960 they were made standard equipment on Ford and Mercury cars. If you don't have seat belts now then someone must have taken them out. Crawl under the car and look at the floor and you should be able to see were the seat belts were bolted in, checkout the junk yards in your area for good used sets, cragslist, etc" (the basic lap type seat belts are fairly universal so your not limited to just searching for Falons or Comets most Ford / Mercury cars will also interchange as well as other brands). There are also severial companies that also make new seat belts if your looking to keep the OEM Falcon looks. I also agree others above posts that you should start first with getting your Falcon running to access its Mechanical condistion you can do a lot of that without spending very much. Good luck (y) :nod: Edited
 
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