Saving Granddad's Falcon

[dhbfaster]

Roger...thanks for the offer on the cigar lighter- I think I'll hold out and put a NOS one on my Xmas list. I can just use my old one until then.

Meanwhile....I took Kenny's advice (from his instructional thread) on the heater "pipe"...I had powder coated the top piece already (from the old one that was completely disintegrated). Now I have a really, really nice heater pipe! It fits the heater perfectly too. Somehow I even managed to get the seam pretty darn straight. Thanks Kenny!

[Luva65wagon]

No worries Don. As an FYI I picked up 4 "brand new" lighter elements at an estate sale yesterday. Generic models you can screw your new knob onto. Don't have the chrome ring, but I never knew those existed until you posted the eBay link. If yours is non-functional, one of these will at least function - and you can have one of them... for free! Yes, you read that correctly. Free.



Also, that fresh-air duct part is a thing of beauty. Kenny has a tutorial for that?

[dhbfaster]

Fa...fa...fa...free?
I'll take one! That one might even go into the housing I have now. Not worried about the chrome part...that's a future detail. Thanks Roger!

[dhbfaster]

Kenny does have a nice tutorial... http://www.redfalken.com/pages/heatercollar.html

I also worked on the instrument panel and related wire harness last weekend.

Fuses...mostly oversize! I'm talking 30A instead of 15A. Got most of those taken care of.

I don't know how many of you saw the old picture...but this instrument panel looked REALLY dull. After I dug in:

All new light bulbs. They were sort of welded in place they were there so long.

Only one light had the original cardboard around it...and it was so brittle it was almost dusty. The other three were missing so I made four new ones using black poster board and Kapton tape to line the inside (which can handle super high heat.)

I also painted the sun faded gage needles with fluorescent paint.

I used the McGuiars plastic polish Roger recommended on the plastic lens and it cleaned up really nice.

I used 0000 steel wool on the outside metal bezel which had some kind of film over the entire thing along with a lot of overspray and it turned out beautiful. It looks like this is made of the same anodized aluminum that the grill and headlight bezels are made of. I think the whole thing turned out pretty darn nice.

One question: See the attached pics, behind what I would call the LEFT turn light indicator I shined a flashlight and it has a RED lens. The right one has a GREEN lens. Before disassembly I did find that the car has both right and left turn signals that work. But I had this pedometer rebuilt. (and now yesterday I saw a NOW one for less than what I paid to rebuild...) Anyway... Back in 61 was the left indicator light supposed to be red and the right green? I kind of remember my Dad mentioning this, but I'm not sure.

[Luva65wagon]

Don,

This thread pretty much explains this issue and what I did:

http://www.rainierfalcons.com/forums...&postcount=286

You may have already had the wiring change, but what did he do with the high beam? Turns out when I did this for Steve's SD I didn't factor in the needle swing when I added a middle red high beam indicator and it would hit at about 42 MPH and stop when it hit the tube. He had the chrome on the lens style dash as seen here:

http://www.rainierfalcons.com/forums...&postcount=443

Anyway, I have in my pile somewhere more green cel if you want to have green and green.



Also can you PM me your mailing address? I'll mail you over the lighter element. By the way, these are real Casco elements, just like was used in back then in these cars.

[dhbfaster]

High beam indicator! Duh.
That's pretty funny but pretty cool. I so expected that it was the left indicator that I completely missed the text on the diagrams that said "high beam indicator." Now this is sort of an indicator of an economy car isn't it. I love it just like it is.
That is a sweet mod though Roger. I can see why it would start to annoy you eventually....so who knows I might change my mind!
If I did that one now, someone might think I actually know what I'm doing. (What are the odds....)

[Luva65wagon]

Well Don, we wouldn't want to have people start thinking something like that. You might have to start working on everyone else's Falcon too!



Not that you are not proving to be quite gifted!



I have the same signal function on my '65 wagon, but as I mentioned in one of those two threads; it's hard to do this mod when the dash actually calls out 'High Beam' and 'Turn Signal' on the dash face. The pres-64 dash's didn't call them out - with the exception of the Comet dash - and so these were a no-brainer. Anyway, have not done it on my wagon, though I want to. Drives me crazy this design!

Also 'PING' on the PM with address again. Your phone number too would be nice to have. Can then put it in my phone like I should have a couple weeks ago. Might save Gene and I an hour of searching (again) sometime in the future.

[dhbfaster]

Ok, a couple of "what's the deal with this" questions:

First the standard radio speaker that goes into the dash. I plan to keep my original AM and send it to a place to refurbish it (possibly with a hidden iPod port..). I love those old push buttons. Meanwhile, while I'm at it I might as well replace the speaker and get that on my xmas list because I have enough socks. The old one is really brittle. So where do I find a replacement?

At falconparts.com:http://www.falconparts.com/ford-falc...ERS-21p979.htm
It says it won't work with the stock radio due to the "impedance mismatch."

wiki:"Acoustic impedance, a constant related to the propagation of sound waves in an acoustic medium." Hmm.....

Well, I don't need a $45 speaker for this application anyway....but where to find one that will fit.

At Macs: http://www.macsautoparts.com/ford_fa...-falcon-1.html
Looks like the same speaker to me (based on the picture)...except it will "drop right in" but what about the impedance mismatch? it says it will work with "our radios." I guess that means not the falcon radio.

AT Classic auto parts: https://www.classicautopartsonlineca...kCode=con11flx The only original speaker for the front it says is for 67-70 falcons. ($25) Seems to look correct, but apparently not.

Melvins...nothing. eBay...seems like something has to be there but I don't see it.

Does anyone know where to find an original style speaker that will have impedance to match close enough my original AM radio?
I also emailed Crutchfield to see what they say. (Their website said "your car has not been researched.")


Also, the wire harness connectors that are the male female bullet type. It turns out the blue 14-16 gage bullet type connectors you buy at AutoZone etc., are too small for the black female types under my dash (don't say it.....) Anyone know where to find the bigger classic bullet connectors? I only need a few actually, but I don't want to replace both ends with the blue ones if I don't have to.

[ew1usnr]

Hello, Don.

Look at: https://www.classicautopartsonlineca...ode=con&from=2

They have a 5" x 7" OEM speaker for $24.95. I ordered one and it fit perfectly and works great with my vacuum tube 1962 AM radio. The price is still the same as when I ordered mine in 2012. I bought a two-prong connector at O'Reilly auto parts.

See:
OEM # SKU # Description Unit Qty Price
C0AZ-18808-5X P18-28930-075 REPLACEMENT RADIO SPEAKER EACH 1 $24.95
B5A-18912-A P18-29065 ANTENNA LEAD GROMMET EACH 1 $3.95

Attached is a picture of the speaker that was in the car when I bought it.

Old speaker.jpg

The original paper had crumbled and a clever person had mounted another smaller speaker in the frame of the old one. But the paper in the smaller speaker had disintegrated also and all that was left was the center of the cone. It was amazing, but the speaker still worked. It was high-pitch and tinny and not very loud, but it still worked.

Notes:
1. Chuck Berry sounds best when played through a single dash-mounted speaker.
Carol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYYr4-Red-U

2. Your little Falcon is one of the coolest cars on the planet.

[Luva65wagon]

Don. I may have one. I pulled one out of my 66 pickup that is stock Ford and it looks really nice. I'll send it over with the lighter to have you do a test fit.

[dhbfaster]

HI Guys, good falcon day today.

Speaker - After seeing Dennis's picture...maybe I"m being too picky?? A pic of mine attached. It's a radioshack realistic brand. I'm thinking I should go ahead and restore the radio first and then worry about the speaker. Roger...thanks for the offer! but no need to mail anything...this falcon is going to be ready for the startup before xmas...so you can just bring it with you.

New clip...I made a new clip that goes under the throttle bar assembly out of aluminum and plasticoat. I think it's a pretty good replica! The third pic over is a pic of the old one and the new one. I think I could have worked at Ford back in the day... The 2nd pic from the left is a pic of it installed.

I have a Mystery hole...fourth pic from left...pic of the holes in the firewall. The large hole is the lower heater hose hole and the two with the tape with "BL" are for the brake line clips. So what's the lower small hole in the middle between the two structure ribs for? I'm thinking it's for a firewall pad clip...? but the new firewall pad doesn't go down that low there and I got rid of the old pad (it was discusting). I'm about to put a firewall clip in there and hope for the best...

This last pic is the vacuum connection on the distributor. i was fitting up all my new engine lines...but looked in there at this connection...lots of corrosion inside where the brass fitting will go. Doesn't look like it will seal well. I'm not sure what to clean it with or if I should. Any thoughts? I was also wondering if I can buy just this piece of the distributor. I definitely don't want to buy a new distributor just for this if I don't have to. (Update...looks like rock auto does sell the vacuum advance for $25 if I need it.)

Thanks as always...

[ew1usnr]

Ok...back to my rear lic plate bracket...I'm seriously on the hunt here..

Hello, Don.

Seen on ebay this morning for $35: "62 FORD FALCON REAR BUMPER LICENSE PLATE LIGHT W/ MOUNT BRACKET OEM"

LICENSE PLATE LIGHT with MOUNT BRACKET.jpg

"TAKEN FROM A 1962 FALCON. THIS IS THE OEM REAR LICENSE PLATE LIGHT WITH MOUNT BRACKET. WIRE HAS NOT BEEN CUT, HAS ORIGINAL PLUG END. I AM PARTING OUT A 62 FALCON SEDAN. IF YOU NEED ANYTHING SPECIFIC, PLEASE LET ME KNOW."

Look at e-bay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/62-FORD-FALC...9WUnN8&vxp=mtr

[dhbfaster]

Thanks for looking out for one Dennis! I need to update more often.
I did get one from Phil. He blasted it for me before he sent it. I painted it last weekend and yesterday I installed it and the license plate and it works perfectly.

[dhbfaster]

Well...this carpet install just isn't quite as easy as the video's seem to make it out to be. So far no mistakes (that can't be hidden) though. A cold garage doesn't help much either.

Jeff and/or Roger
The carpet hole making with the hot pipe held by the vice grips makes a very professional hole....img attached.

A few questions now:

1) The video's online (for mustangs) say I should put some underlayment under the carpet and it says the carpet is sized for that (and it says this is in addition to the jute already stuck to the bottom of the carpet.) I didn't see a kit for it. Did you guys add some synthetic carpet pad under the low foot areas and on the hump? Appreciate any advice here. It does seems like some 1/4 inch or so synthetic carpet pad might work nicely.

2) I seem to have about 3/8 of an inch of space between where the molded carpet wants to be and the door opening edge. Both sides front and back are like this. See the image that is a bit out of focus (sorry)...that's the gap I'm talking about- on the sides where the carpet needs to tuck under the threshold. Jeff is this where you said you sort of had to reshape it with a heat gun?

3) Next picture- Is the carpet supposed to go partially over the edge and then under the aluminum door thresholds? or does it just come up the side and the threshold sort of caps over the it? It seems too thick for the threshold to go over this stuff, but just want to make sure. I can see how it would really need to be perfectly stretched into place (and maybe glued?) if the threshold just caps over the edge.

Speaking of glue...should I glue any or most of this stuff in place?

Thanks as always....I really want to be sure before I do any more cutting!

[Jeff W]

I only used one layer of the very sticky but thin Generic Dynamat stuff under the carpet, no other pad.

My ACC brand carpet had the "mass backing" and I think it also had some sort of jute panels glued to the back in places. I did not add anything else. If you can fit more, that probably isn't a bad thing.

For your corner gap, I used a heat gun (more industrial than hair dryer) to heat the backside of that crease and when super hot (wear gloves) I used a scrap 2x4 and pressed the carpet hard into the corner to move that crease over and tighter. I was sitting on the rest of the carpet to hold it in place.

I also used the heat gun to reform my kick panels... maybe that is what you were remembering.

After reforming that crease, I trimmed the carpet flush with the top pinch weld seam along the door still, maybe just slightly proud, 1/8 to 3/16. The still plate just acted like a cap and you would see both edges of the carpet and the metal sill. The carpet did not fold over the metal, I don't think that thin sill plate would allow it. I don't remember if I used any adhesive on that vertical 4 inches or so... I don't think I did. If I did, that was the only place I used any on the entire project.

This worked for me. Not an expert.