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Thread: Old Car Safety

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Mill Creek
    Posts
    1,224

    Old Car Safety

    Good speech Wilbur. Larry
    Larry Smith
    1964 Futura
    347 stroker



  2. #17

    Aggressive drivers

    I have always used my turn signal as a courtesy when making lane changes while in city traffic, but I will have to remember to stop doing that.

    What happens now is that when I indicate my intent to move over, the driver behind me in that lane sees that signal and instantly floors it to close the gap. This seems to be the routine response from other drivers now.

    While driving to work a couple of days ago, there was an opening and I tried moving from the center to the left lane. I was already halfway over as the guy that was behind me shot forward and just kept coming. I looked down and his fender was maybe one foot from my car door. I swerved back into the center lane and that "character" gained about one car length distance ahead of me.
    Last edited by ew1usnr; December 22nd, 2015 at 03:08 AM.
    Dennis Pierson
    Tampa, FL
    "The Wonder Falcon"

    '63 Futura Hardtop (260, Ford-O-Matic, bench seat)

  3. #18
    Dennis. This reminds me of an incident I was in about 35 years ago - right after I moved to Washington. I was car-less at the time and getting rides from a coworker who behaved exactly as you describe. If someone signaled, he'd floor it. God forbid another car would be in front of him to slow him down. One day he did this and the car in front of him hit us. I sided with the person we hit. I didn't get to ride with him anymore.

    I felt so much better about it.

    Roger Moore

    63 "Flarechero"
    powered by: 347ci stroker | Tremec T5 | 8" 3:45 TracLoc rear



  4. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Mill Creek
    Posts
    1,224

    Old Car Safety

    Dennis, the same issue is across the nation concerning the signal before changing lanes. It is noticeable when I drive our cars but if you want to see it really go crazy you should be with us when driving our motorhome and pulling the car trailer.

    To pull over that 65 feet of moving mass, you need quite a bit of room to pull into. When we are in traffic, I will have to drive quite a distance with our signal on before getting that much room. When some very nice person does give us that space, we invariably get an idiot who will go around them and pull into the empty space.

    Now, I am learning to do it the way the truck drivers handle that. I just keep pulling over and squeeze the idiot over. I get a few horn honks, but it's the only way to handle some jerks.

    Most of the time, I find that the large majority of people on the road are trying to be helpful and courteous. Just so happens that the minority as in all cases get to screw up everything for the majority.

    When I worked for Boeing I was manager for Quality Assurance at several factories and while driving back and forth from Everett to Renton or Seattle my riders called me grandpa because I kept to the speed limits.

    That being said, I still get a lead foot when driving my Falcon as some of you that have ridden with me can attest. But, not in traffic, and not in areas where I could hurt someone. Being a great grandparent 6 times doesn't keep me from wanting to go back to my days when I was 16-18. My mother on her death bed told me she still felt like she was 18, just her body didn't believe her mind. I understand now what she meant.

    Much easier though back in Wichita area when I was young to find open roads.

    Larry
    Larry Smith
    1964 Futura
    347 stroker



  5. #20
    This thread has definitely got us all thinking. Sadly I doubt there will ever be a good solution until they take all driving rights away from us and make the cars operate on conveyors of some sort. I know laws will not change people. How many still see cell phone glued to peoples' heads? A dozen or more a day for me.

    I know for a fact that Metro buses will signal and pull out no matter what. I've been along side at least 3 buses in the past few years (the long bendy ones) and out of nowhere their front end swerves away from the curb and forces me to slam on my brakes. There was no indication coming up upon any of them they were about to pull out. I suspect it is the only way they would get back into traffic using just their signal. But when you are already alongside them, you can't tell anything. They just go.

    I'd like to think that most people are trying to be courteous, but I think the trend is towards less of that.

    Other things I notice more now than ever are when you know a lane is about to run out. Rather than merging over and zippering in early everyone rushes to the very end as the cones are forcing them over and this causes a hazard merge instead of smooth one. Actually causes the line to go slower than if they just all merged earlier. The two places I see this a lot at is getting off the express lanes going south and getting onto the express lanes going north. Same place - going different direction depending on the time of day. I have seen some incredible maneuvers to get over just in at the last second.

    What I'd like to hear are what people think are solutions to these things. Will people go kicking and screaming "x amendment rights" if cars were automated? What if these things we've all lamented about here, was a ticket-able offence? What if we all had to take drivers tests every 10 years? It's one thing to rant about issues, it's quite another to come up with or suggest solutions. Almost any solution to any problem involves penalizing those to whom it doesn't apply.
    Roger Moore

    63 "Flarechero"
    powered by: 347ci stroker | Tremec T5 | 8" 3:45 TracLoc rear



  6. #21
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Mill Creek
    Posts
    1,224

    Old Car Safety

    Oh my gosh Roger, what great comments. The argument about personal rights versus safety come to the forefront every time a new law is passed to help safety issues.

    Trouble is, I get caught between the two issues. I agree that helmets prevent injuries, but don't agree that I shouldn't be able to make that decision.

    I agree with seat belts completely, agree with child safety seats, even agree that red light cameras help to prevent accidents, agree that our new technological improvements can help.

    But, I also feel threatened by a Government that starts telling us everything we can and cannot do. Like no smoking (which I never have). Like don't eat candy (which I always do). Like don't use incandescent lights (like kiss my what?). Shame on me.

    Good Lord has this innocuous post become a Frankenstein moment or what.

    I say let's go back to 1960, not read 1984 and start over. Larry
    Larry Smith
    1964 Futura
    347 stroker



  7. #22
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Federal Way
    Posts
    906
    The amazing thing...imho we have (relatively) the nicest, most considerate drivers in the country up here in the northwest.
    In Texas where I'm from...no comparison! If you're not aggressive enough you will be cutoff every minute...especially if it's a pickup truck or Mercedes (profiling I know)
    In Detroit where I go to work sometimes...worse than Texas! But all types of vehicles.
    Then there's south China where I have been going for 12 years...it's a different world. You have a system of intimidation there that is more important than any laws or lights. Red light? Doesn't matter...go or get run over. Drive down the wrong side of the road? Sure, why not. Mix that with thousands of new drivers who are actually the opposite and don't "get" the system.

    Well...my plane is taking off...(to visit family for the holidays) and no texting and flying allowed. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all of you. Next update...my solutions...
    Don Bartlett
    Federal Way, WA
    61 Four Door Sedan
    144-6, 3 on the tree



  8. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by Luva65wagon View Post
    It's one thing to rant about issues, it's quite another to come up with or suggest solutions.
    Two words: Mass Transit.

    Baltimore has free buses. They wanted to lessen traffic congestion downtown, so they have it set up so that you just hop on and do not need to worry about having correct change.
    Dennis Pierson
    Tampa, FL
    "The Wonder Falcon"

    '63 Futura Hardtop (260, Ford-O-Matic, bench seat)

  9. #24

    Alloy Manifold

    Quote Originally Posted by Wilbur View Post
    I ... and frankly I don't even think I want to add the alloy intake I bought for it.
    Is this an aluminum manifold for a 260 with a two barrel carburetor? Or does an intake for a four barrel also work with a two barrel?

    My Falcon had an Edebrock aluminum intake manifold and four-barrel carburetor when I got it. I bought a two barrel carburetor, throttle linkage, cast iron intake manifold, and air cleaner cover off e-bay to put it back to original.

    The original-equipment cast iron intake manifold weighs 40 pounds as indicated on a bathroom scale. The Edelbrock Performer aluminum intake manifold weighed 15 pounds (25 lbs less).

    DCP_3802.JPG
    Last edited by ew1usnr; December 23rd, 2015 at 04:04 PM.
    Dennis Pierson
    Tampa, FL
    "The Wonder Falcon"

    '63 Futura Hardtop (260, Ford-O-Matic, bench seat)

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by ew1usnr View Post
    Or does an intake for a four barrel also work with a two barrel?
    Only with an adapter...

    http://www.summitracing.com/parts/mrg-1933/overview/
    Roger Moore

    63 "Flarechero"
    powered by: 347ci stroker | Tremec T5 | 8" 3:45 TracLoc rear



  11. #26

    Intake manifolds

    Quote Originally Posted by Luva65wagon View Post
    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
    Last edited by ew1usnr; December 24th, 2015 at 07:03 AM.
    Dennis Pierson
    Tampa, FL
    "The Wonder Falcon"

    '63 Futura Hardtop (260, Ford-O-Matic, bench seat)

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    133
    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!









    Quote Originally Posted by ew1usnr View Post
    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
    Last edited by Wilbur; December 25th, 2015 at 06:51 PM.

  13. #28
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Mill Creek
    Posts
    1,224

    Old Car Safety

    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
    Larry Smith
    1964 Futura
    347 stroker



  14. #29

    That's the Brakes

    Quote Originally Posted by BadBird View Post
    [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.
    Last edited by ew1usnr; December 28th, 2015 at 03:32 AM.
    Dennis Pierson
    Tampa, FL
    "The Wonder Falcon"

    '63 Futura Hardtop (260, Ford-O-Matic, bench seat)

  15. #30
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Location
    Federal Way
    Posts
    906
    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.
    Don Bartlett
    Federal Way, WA
    61 Four Door Sedan
    144-6, 3 on the tree



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