Old Car Safety

[ew1usnr]

Only with an adapter...

Hello, Roger.

That is interesting. If I ever have to remove my stock intake manifold for some reason, I will give some serious thought to re-installing the Edelbrock aluminum intake. Changing things, though, can lead to complications.

My car had this Edelbrock Performer #1404, 500 CFM, four barrel carburetor with manual choke on it when I bought it:
DCP_3807.JPG

DCP_3808.JPG

The background as to why I removed the "high performance" items and went back to stock was that the previous owner had changed the throttle linkage in order to make the four-barrel carburetor fit. This photo is with the two-barrel carburetor installed but with the modified throttle linkage still in place. It is just a rod connected directly to the pedal crank:
1 arm and link rod.JPG

Having a correct throttle linkage is (in my opinion) very important. You can't just stick something in there and expect it to work properly. The arc of the pedal range has to match carburetor throttle range. The spring tensions have to be correct to make the pedal comfortable to use while still providing a positive return. The original equipment throttle linkage for a V-8 engine and a Ford-O-Matic transmission is a complicated, engineered mechanism that incorporates swing arms, two springs, and transmission kick-down rod:
1960 168 Ford Parts Manual annotated.JPG

I had to watch e-bay for a long time to find the right parts, but I eventually found them and everything went together nicely:
The correct linkage installed.JPG

[Wilbur]

You're absolutely correct, once somebody messes with the creations of the Ford engineers, they open a Pandora's box of of bodge jobs. One of my Falcons, another blue one like the one in my photos but a different one, he installed a four barrel carb and almost NOTHING worked right. There was no kick down for the automatic C4 transmission, and one day I figured out that the gas pedal was not opening the secondaries on the carb.

Another Falcon of mine, similar situation, somebody bodged it, and the car would never kick down to a lower gear, it was also a C4 equipped Falcon. Yes, it's best to leave the car alone and leave it stock, UNLESS you're prepared to follow a project through to the end.

Speaking of which, today I "almost" finished installing an air cleaner housing on my black Futura Falcon. Simple sounding isn't it? Buy air cleaner housing, bolt onto car, right? WRONG.

Single barrel carb for my inline six, I buy the very same air cleaner housing I bought for my other Falcon, but this time the opening is ever so slightly too small. So I spent twenty minutes with a file widening the opening of the lower housing so it would fit onto the carb.

Then I had to manufacture my own bolt so I could install a wing nut onto it to hold the housing to the carb. This became a huge project, I had to use a hacksaw for the threaded rod, I had no vise, it's not easy without a vise. Then I screwed up and the rod was too long, and when I closed the hood it rammed the rod through the threaded part that it was threaded to, stripping the threads and making that part of the carb USELESS.

Thankfully I had a junk carb laying around and I took that part from it. Then I created my own "vise" from a wood block, drilled a hole, stuck the threaded rod into it to hold it in place, and cut it with a hacksaw again, this time much easier than the last.

Both times I had to file and work on the threads after sawing because sawing damaged the threads.

Tomorrow I have to buy two nuts so I can lock the threaded rod into place so it won't turn while I twist the wing nut onto it.

This has been a two day project with about three hours total spent, just to install an aftermarket carb housing.

I have to use an aftermarket housing because I installed a Monte-Carlo bar and that prevents use of the stock factory air cleaner housing.

Yes, it's a domino effect when you begin to change what the engineers created long ago. In my case, I believe it's worth it, all the changes I've made to my cars provided me with a lot of enjoyment.

I did remain stock on one part this week, precisely to save me the problems you've mentioned Dennis. I had a seventy six Ford Granada anti-sway bar laying around, and rather than schlepp to Bellevue the long way around to avoid the toll on my car which has no toll equipment, to buy an anti-sway bar, why not use the Granada bar?

I still needed mounts and end links, and the process of finding high performance polyurethane mounts and end links because a tortuous nightmare so I said screw it and checked for factory BONE STOCK parts, and not only were they easy to find, they were right there in the store at O'Reilly Parts.

It was a done deal! So now the bar is mounted, that too became a project for reasons I won't waste words on, but much trouble was saved by using stock mounts and parts needed to install the Granada bar, and best of all? I'm using an authentic vintage FoMoco part that was MADE IN AMERICA. No mystery meat here.

NOBODY HAS A PLUCKING CLUE where their parts are made these days, not CJ Pony, not Falconparts, not NAPA, NOBODY (except for Cobraautomotive) but I know where my seventy six Ford Granada bar was made, in the US of A. I should add that I recently bought about $400 of parts from Falconparts a few weeks ago, and though there is no indication of where the parts are made, they look like very high quality parts and I have no complaints and will continue to do biz with Falconparts out of California.

Anyway, yeah, I agree Dennis, unless you have a very burning desire for a specific goal, it's best to leave the car alone, leave it stock, I've owned plenty of hacked, molested, bodged, bloodied, screwed up cars that were worked on by hatchet murderers.

Leave cars be, keep it stock, unless you really really really want to reach a specific goal and it makes you happy enough, just leave the car alone and enjoy it!

Hello, Roger.

That is interesting. If I ever have to remove my stock intake manifold for some reason, I will give some serious thought to re-installing the Edelbrock aluminum intake. Changing things, though, can lead to complications.

My car had this Edelbrock Performer #1404, 500 CFM, four barrel carburetor with manual choke on it when I bought it:
DCP_3807.JPG

DCP_3808.JPG

The background as to why I removed the "high performance" items and went back to stock was that the previous owner had changed the throttle linkage in order to make the four-barrel carburetor fit. This photo is with the two-barrel carburetor installed but with the modified throttle linkage still in place. It is just a rod connected directly to the pedal crank:
1 arm and link rod.JPG

Having a correct throttle linkage is (in my opinion) very important. You can't just stick something in there and expect it to work properly. The arc of the pedal range has to match carburetor throttle range. The spring tensions have to be correct to make the pedal comfortable to use while still providing a positive return. The original equipment throttle linkage for a V-8 engine and a Ford-O-Matic transmission is a complicated, engineered mechanism that incorporates swing arms, two springs, and transmission kick-down rod:
1960 168 Ford Parts Manual annotated.JPG

I had to watch e-bay for a long time to find the right parts, but I eventually found them and everything went together nicely:
The correct linkage installed.JPG

[BadBird]

In every story their are always at least two sides. Don't misunderstand, I am all for either side. The folks who love the Falcons for their originality are adamant that they should stay that way. There are those in the Falcon family who are just as adamant about changing things.

Sometimes the changes are for the better, sometimes they aren't. If we all stayed with stock and nothing else, there wouldn't be Hot Rods, Drag Races, Paint styles beyond belief and even down to the Rat Rods.

There are things about the 60's Falcons that absolutely were not good engineering, even for that era. But, to keep costs where the average American family could afford them, they were fantastic cars.

I would tell anyone to change certain things about their Falcons due to safety issues. Other than that, can't think of a thing that needs to change from the original.

That said, I left my (non-stock) Falcon stock on the outside, interior is stock less a stereo added in the glove box with two additional speakers on the package shelf and a tachometer on the Ididit steering column with new steering wheel.

I drove the car with the original 260 V8 when we bought it for our son Dallas. It got you from A to B, but? It also had horrible brakes that he built to original specs and still were only acceptable. But they would get you stopped at B if it was quite a distance to B.

As most owners know, the single bowl brake cylinder is perfect if nothing goes wrong. But, as some of you know, stuff happens and the dual bowl is better.

We need to not get locked into our way or my way is better, they are all good, even the Rat Rods which I admit doesn't fit in my psyche. But it fits in those guys minds so have fun.

I like the stock Falcons. I like the Falcons with blowers and 15" wide tires on the back. I love mine and I am sure you love yours. That is all that matters.

Larry

[ew1usnr]

[SIZE=4] As most owners know, the single bowl brake cylinder is perfect if nothing goes wrong. But, as some of you know, stuff happens and the dual bowl is better.

I am glad that you guys persuaded me to upgrade my car to the 1967 Mustang dual master cylinder and talked me through the conversion process. That was a huge improvement.

dual cylinder.jpg

The original manual drum brakes are adequate for a car in its stock configuration if they do not get wet, if you don't tail gate the car in front of you, and if you do not drive too fast. Making an emergency stop with drum brakes anywhere above 55 mph is an exciting experience.

The original 90, 101, and 164 horsepower engines were not very powerful and that in itself helped keep the speed within the design capacity of the original brakes. If you drop a bigger, heavier, higher-powered engine in the car, the original brakes will not be sufficient.

The six-cylinder Falcons had 9-inch drums and the 260 V-8 Falcons had 10-inch drums that were also used in the mid-sized V-8 Fairlanes. That is interesting because if the 10-inch brakes are barely marginal by today's standards in a Falcon, they would be even worse in the heavier Fairlane.

One thing that I do like about my drum brakes is the "squuuueeak" sound that they sometimes make when stopping at a red light. That squeak reminds me of elementary school and the sound that the school buses made when they stopped.

[dhbfaster]

I'm with all you guys. Definitely one change leads to another. I definitely like the original falcons, but I really like and appreciate all the resto mods too and even the crazy stuff is now a form of art to me. I can also appreciate how mods give us another way to keep enjoying the hobby too.
Most of all,I really like our clubs attitude on all of it. It's a very accepting club.
I'm comfortable now that I can have a basically original falcon and not worry at all that I have upgraded brakes and added seat belts or a couple other things which will simply allow me to enjoy the car more or not spend crazy money to get something exactly original.

Dennis, maybe the others that know more will chime in, and maybe you tried this already, but I don't think your brakes need to squeak. My memory (I used to work at my Dad's RV dealership) says it's probably related either to brake dust or rubbing of the shoes against the back plate, or worn out. I think yours are probably not worn out? Also, if you got new shoes when you had yours done, if they don't fit up just right sometimes it causes some vibration which means squeaks. If you got new shoes, I would go back and tell them they squeak too much, if you didn't, I would remove the drums, clean everything up really good with brake cleaner, put a dab of anti squeak grease on the back plate where the shoes rub (not on the braking surface), reassemble, and squeaks might be gone...good luck.

[ew1usnr]

If you got new shoes, I would go back and tell them they squeak too much, if you didn't, I would remove the drums, clean everything up really good with brake cleaner, put a dab of anti squeak grease on the back plate where the shoes rub (not on the braking surface), reassemble, and squeaks might be gone...good luck.

Hello, Don.

The brakes were one of my first "big ticket" repair items.

I bought the car in July 2012, and it looked like it had been sitting somewhere for ten years. The tires were not worn, but they were ten years old and dry rotted. In August 2012, I had a new set of tires installed. I looked at the brakes while they were changing the tires. They looked OK, but .... I noticed that the self adjuster on the right front brakes was backwards:

front right.jpg

I added that to my "to do list" and kept driving the car. Then I noticed that I was frequently adding brake fluid to the reservoir. In December 2012 I took it to Meineke and told them about the self-adjusters and losing fluid and asked them to check the brakes. Well, ... They called back and said that my wheel cylinders were leaking and the rear drums were grooved and could not be turned.

The bill turned out to be: He had repacked the front wheel bearings, added two front brake wheel seals (parts $14.78), two front wheel cylinders ($40.72), two rear wheel cylinders ($36.24), a left rear self-adjuster cable ($19.85), rear brake shoes ($36.85), two rear brake drums ($137.36), and rear brake hardware ($18.40). Total = $348.10 parts/shop supplies + $254.70 labor + tax = $690.15. Wow! It was better than the alternative, though, of running out of brake fluid and crashing into something.

And yes, I could have done it myself. I hate working on brakes, though. It is a messy pain to bleed the brakes and it is a royal pain to cock those springs into position without the correct brake tools. Plus, the springs will wreck everything if they are not in correctly and pop out of place. I preferred to pay the labor and let them do it.

That was about 12,000 miles ago and they had just replaced the rear drums and shoes. How long do a set of brake shoes typically last?

The squeaky brakes are not a critical item, but I will save your description of what to check and have the guys at Meineke take a look at them whenever I am there next. I am due for an oil change in about 300 miles. I could let them change the oil and clean up the brakes at the same time.

Here is a completely unrelated photo that I like. A trio of hotrodders from 1924. The expressions on their faces are great.

Hot rodders 1924.jpg

[ew1usnr]

Note to Larry:

Send this link to your brother with the Fairlane. Here is an incredible 1964 Thunderbolt tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj29Zf2Uua0

Wow! That car is cool. It remotely pertains to the topic of "Old car safety" because he says at the end that "cars like this will never be built again" because the new cars are safer.

Oh, geeze, though, I would love to take that jazzed up Fairlane for a spin.

[ew1usnr]

Making an emergency stop with drum brakes anywhere above 55 mph is an exciting experience.

I drive The Wonder Falcon to and from work everyday at around 45 mph and do not have a lot of experience at making sudden stops with it at higher speeds. I was provided an opportunity to try that out while driving north on I-75 yesterday afternoon.

There were orange barrels along the edge of the highway and a state trooper was parked on the shoulder of the road with his lights flashing to indicate that this was a construction zone. There had not been an accident, no one had been pulled over, and nothing was blocking the road, but people saw the flashing lights, hit their brakes, and traffic came to a complete halt. I had been buzzing along at 75 mph when I suddenly saw a mass of brake lights ahead and applied my brakes, and had to press harder, and then harder. The distance between me and the car ahead was diminishing rapidly and my wheels were just beginning to lock (bump bump bump bump) when the Falcon finally stopped.

Whew! It takes a lot of room for the drum brakes to get that car stopped from 75 mph, especially in comparison to what you would expect from a newer car with power anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes.

Post-script:
I just looked up some figures and was surprised.

A Motor Trend road test for a then new 1963 six cylinder Falcon convertible reported that the brakes "performed exceptionally well" and "60-mph panic stops were accomplished in 126.5 feet".

A recent Motor Trend road test for a 2016 Mustang GT reported "BRAKING, 60-0 MPH, 109 ft".
See at bottom of article: http://www.motortrend.com/news/2016-...t-test-review/

The 2016 Mustang GT with four 13-inch disc brakes stopped only 14% shorter than the 1963 Falcon. Huh. That makes the Falcon look impressive.

Maybe an accumulation of brake dust has made my brakes less grippy. I will have them inspected and cleaned this month when I have the oil changed.

[ew1usnr]

I came across this picture of a 1961 Ranchero.

Total 1961 Ranchero daily driver.jpg

It is interesting in that while the front end was completely destroyed, the car appears to have maintained its structural integrity from the firewall back and passenger space is intact. The windshield is not even cracked.

The Ranchero protected its driver and he is now selling parts from the car on e-bay.

[Luva65wagon]

Very interesting the stuff you can and can't see. A power brake booster? A 5.0 roller motor. No clue about the seat belts or if he collapsed the steering wheel.

Do you know him? What the heck did he hit?

[ew1usnr]

Whew! It takes a lot of room for the drum brakes to get that car stopped from 75 mph

I took The Wonder Falcon in to have the oil changed and I also mentioned a tic tick tick sound and my squeaky brakes.

The tick tick tick sound was from a leaking "doughnut" gasket where the exhaust pipe joins the manifold.

The brakes were squeaking because the front shoes were worn down almost to the rivets. I had new brake shoes installed, the front drums turned, the front wheel bearings packed. and the brake lines flushed. These are the new brake shoes:

IMG_0297.jpg

IMG_0296.jpg

Yay! Now the car should stop more quickly. I will pick the car up this evening.

[dhbfaster]

Were they almost to the rivets or actually to the rivets? To the rivets would usually mean an audible squeal...maybe just starting though. Anyway, Glad you're good to go now. Nice and quiet now I hope.