Saving Granddad's Falcon

[Luva65wagon]

Man - all the Falcon Elves are taking September off! When will you be back in the neighborhood?

[dhbfaster]

Got in late last night. Man...no worries guys. Sorry you can't make it Gene, and Larry prayers here for your Mother in law and you. Take care of yourself.

I should actually have a trip back in October, but not finalized yet.

I have been working on it today...got all the shifting working, adjusted the clutch total distance...but it still seems like there's not enough spring pressure. Started to try and replace the spring...man what a job on my back now that the seat is in....saving that to finish later.

Got the lock finished on the passenger font, BUT I have been noticing the door handle buttons getting stuck-and only on the front doors. Figured they were just tight but lubed them...and it didn't help. Took a look inside with the cell phone- see the pic attached. There seems to be a big gap between the door button push rod and the "paddle" lever that triggers the lock. is this normal? It seems like I would be better off filling that gap. I want to get this taken care of before I get the door panels on for sure. Since you can't be here in person...you can enjoy my challenges via the forum....appreciate the advice as always.

Working on the locks for the last back door...I think I need more sleep before I figure this out! Jason did the other one and I have the plastic over it now. Off for a few honey-do's and hoping to get some advice from you guys on the front door buttons by later this evening.

[dhbfaster]

Just bumping this up to the top guys...here's another pic. Any thoughts on this gap between the button and the paddle?

[Jeff W]

I don't think mine looked anything like that. I recall my button was just a straight peg, not anything bent like you show. I don't think I will be much help.

Looky at all the different actuators... I had no idea.

http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falc...andles-d22.htm

I would take a second look as the assembly. I wonder if the paddle is hanging up.

[Luva65wagon]

I'm in total headless chicken mode Don - sorry.

I'm with Jeff on this one. Never seen that setup before. My '63 has a straight pin and in 64/65 they have a hinge affair of sorts. Might be worth also browsing the TFFN (ugh) and see if anyone there, with a '61, has the same thing.

I do know the gap on the straight pin version is maybe less than an 1/8" away. This seems nearly 3/8-1/2"

[Jeff W]

One silly thought... did you reinstall the spring that goes behind the actuator rod (internal to the handle push button assembly) that pushes the thumb button back out?

I think you had the handles replated... maybe to much thickness is causing it to hang.

[Luva65wagon]

Let's hope he did or the gap will grow even larger... but if you have to push it oh so far to get it to release the door, it may be getting stuck due to the push button traveling to areas inside the handle never seen before by man nor beast.

[dhbfaster]

I did have the handles and buttons replated and that's exactly what I thought the problem was at first. It wasn't that however because when I hold back the lever inside and just push the button if moves freely.

Anyway, problem solved. It wasn't a huge half inch gap as it looked in the picture. I cleaned up the paddle inside really good and stuck on a wheel weight. That took up most of the gap. Then I lubed everything really well from the inside and these handles work great in both doors now.

Meanwhile, I installed (after about three hours of being up-side-down under the dash) a new clutch spring inside. Alas...that got a tiny bit better but didn't solve my clutch problem. (Problem 1 being that when you push the pedal down, it doesn't seem to come back up without help from my toe to pull the pedal back up.) I must just not have this thing adjusted correctly. The book just doesn't seem real clear on this to me. I was going to take it to my tranny guy...but he was getting ready to leave on his first vacation in 15 years...so no luck. I did start it up, and it ran great. (Too bad I can't drive it any where...) Pushed in the clutch pedal all the way down to the floor, and it doesn't seem to be disengaging the clutch. Thoughts? I assume I need to play with the Z bar adjustment on the other side?

Meanwhile, all the door locks are in, and I got the drivers door panel installed. this was a head banger for sure...After very careful trimming, and some dry lube in the channel, It finally appeared as though I had it perfectly installed...but when I closed the door (the inside handle wasn't on yet), it apparently pushed the panel towards the rear a little bit and when I opened the door the panel drug on the door latch and stuffed it up a bit. This is one of those days when you wish someone else was doing this job! Anyway, I don't think it's bad enough to replace. I'll have to find some of that vinyl touch up paint or a tiny bit of glue somewhere. I'm hoping I don't have to take the panel off and make it smaller...I think it was just the kick panel edge a little too far out causing interference...but I'll check it out in the morning.

I'm going to try and finish the other doors tomorrow. With me luck!

[dhbfaster]

Got one rear door panel modified and installed. Modified the other three and repaired previous minor damage. glue is now drying, but they should be ready to install when I get home from work. The car should almost look done.

The clutch problem has to be something simple staring me in the face.

[Luva65wagon]

Don,

There is also a return spring on the clutch fork, yes? This is supposed to pull the clutch fork back and keep the throw-out bearing off the pressure plate fingers.

The spring under the dash pulls the pedal away from the floor once it reaches that over-center portion.

So really there are 3 springs:
1) The clutch pressure plate has springs working against the throw-out bearing.
2) The fork return spring pulling the throw-out bearing off the pressure plate fingers
3) The under-dash pedal over-center return spring.

[dhbfaster]

Yes, all three springs are there.
To my knowledge, the only one that has an adjustment is the one under the dash. (Other than the total clutch movement which has a spec in the book. I did check and reset that up a bit more...not sure if the carpet/firewall pad has thrown me off on that.

Also, when my wife steps on the clutch while I am looking under the hood, it seems to start to push back on the clutch fork immediately. But- maybe not far enough which is adjustable on the z-bar? Unlike for the shift linkage, I don't have a good measurement (documentation) on exactly where the z-bar adjustment was before, but it seems that it's the only other place I can adjust it. (I suspect this is one of those things that if you were there you would probably see the problem right away.)

Anyway, if you have any other quick thoughts on the clutch that I can try tonight, let me know. I have all but given up on the clutch this trip because I can't afford to spin my wheels tonight. I will focus on getting the door panels finished this evening and I'm off to my other life again tomorrow...back in October and then not back for a while.

Speaking of October....I will be back the week of the 17th, but my wife won't be coming with me so I don't plan to stay both weekends this time. I need to pick my falcon day soon and book flights. It needs to be either Sunday the 16th or Saturday the 22nd of October. I will probably pick one of those days no matter what, but if one of those works for any of you to help me on this....let me know as soon as you can. If it doesn't work, as always...no worries. I will get it figured out eventually...it's not going anywhere.

[Luva65wagon]

With the pedal fully up against the stop up top, go down yonder and see if you can force the fork in (away from the fork push-rod) by hand at all. If you have any travel before the throw-out bearing hits the fingers you adjust the z-bar nut until this play, which is something you can feel, is minimal, but not too much. If too much the clutch pressure plate will not push back enough to force the pedal over center and then the pedal may stay down. If too little the bearing will constantly ride on the fingers and spin 100% of the time, which they are not designed to do. I like to see about a 1/4" or so of fork movement before bearing makes contact. You can feel all of this at the pedal too, but I like the more positive feel right at the fork. If the push-rod can fall out of the divot in the fork when you press on it - that is for sure too much play.

[dhbfaster]

Well...by the time I got home I had about an hour before cleanup time....got one more rear door panel done, and not without a lot of frustration!
(Note: This is not a job to do after a long day of work.)
I thought I better quit while I was ahead so I cleaned everything up for next time, and gave her a startup. She started up on the first turn and ran great. Maybe next time I can go for a drive...or may be not.

[dhbfaster]

Hi All,
Well I didn't get to WA for the holidays, but I did get to visit family and go through a bunch old old pictures. I was hoping to find one of the falcon, but instead I did find this picture of my Dad's old ford truck and Shasta trailer. (And yes that's me and my younger brother on the Honda SL70 which I saved up for and bought used with my own money from mowing lawns when I was 9, $100.) I have been trying to figure out what year the truck it is. I previously thought it was a 57, then I bought a book on old ford trucks and I don't think it's a 57 any more. Of course it's more difficult without seeing the grill. Can any of you tell from this side picture what year it is?

[SmithKid]

I'm certainly no Ford truck expert, but hazarding a guess would be a '58 from the shape of the front fender/hood lines.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/42945203@N00/7761998256