1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
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Well, I thought I'd do a quick intro of my latest addition to my 'collection'. It's a red 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon Futura Sprint. I've always had an affinity for these cars but hadn't ever owned one...until October 7th of this year when that finally changed. I found the car through an old friend of mine who now lives in Texas. I had mentioned to him that I'd sold several of my 'toys' & really thought that for my. Ext project I wanted a Falcon. And, low & behold, his buddy had one he wanted (maybe not wanted, but needed) to sell. After a month of negotiating we finally struck up a satisfactory solution for us both. I then drove out to north central Texas and made the deal.
Here's what she looked like on day #1... A little about the car on day one. It has a mildly built 302 with GT40 heads and a FMS e303 camshaft, AODe transmission, aluminum driveshaft, and 8.8 rearend with 3.73's & 31 spline Cobra TracLoc. I was truly impressed with how well it ran. It also has a/c, power disc/drum brakes and power steering with quite a few suspension upgrades. The car ran 8:20's in the 1/8th mile on these little 14" white walls. My wife and I were very pleased with our new acquisition. |
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After 2 days of driving around the local Mineral Wells/Weatherford we set off. My wife followed me in the 'chase' truck and we set off for Memphis TN to visit my mother. My mom's first car was a 1963 Falcon so I wanted to show her my new toy. Then I drove it the last 240 miles home for a total of 810 miles without much issue. It did seem to be using a lot of oil, but I figured that was probably something simple. Boy, was I WRONG!!! About 2 miles from home the car made a small 'bAnG' & quit running. It was a catastrophic bAnG. Turned out that the crankshaft broke in 2 and cracked the block, destroyed the timing gear cover etc and bent some rods and valves.
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After assessing the damage and looking closer at all the systems, I realized how truly lucky I was to have made it home (well, almost home). The bottom end of the motor was worn out, the heads were worn out, the wiring was a mess etc. so I've started collecting parts.
The list of new parts are: 347 shortblock, Trickflow Stage 1 camshaft & roller lifters, new double roller timing set and EFI (:D ) timing cover, aluminum heads & roller rockers, and the related pieces to go EFI. SVE aluminum crossflow radiator and matching aluminum shroud & dual electric fans. American Autowire complete wiring harness and a Ron Francis Cobra EFI hotrod harness. And finally an EFI fuel tank for the win. I'm waiting on the last few parts and then assembly will begin. I've pulled the motor/trans, the butchered spaghetti mess known as the wiring harness, and emptied the freshly filled (20 gallons of 93 octane ethanol free gas) for the Polaris Ranger, the mowers and a little went in the Audi. This concludes my past month and a half with Martha. |
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Last one
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Wow, congrats ,love those cars .
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Well, the good thing is that you were really close to home.
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On another note, I bought my Dakota Digital gauges from LaidBackRecreations during the Black Friday sale. Thanks Sarah! |
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Will be assembling the 347 short block this weekend. May even try to completely assemble the motor this weekend. I'll also start installing the wiring harnesses.
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Wow! 1st off cool car! 2nd how funny I see this post today, I was daydreaming last night during the ballet I got drug too(was nice only because we were there to support a friends daughter) ;) Anyway my mind wandered about cars during the show and an early falcon with a healthy SBF and EFI w/ an O/D trans kept going through my head. LOL. Now this.
3rd I have never known SBF to break crankshafts but it also happened to my parents 81 Bronco while they were headed out towing there trailer. Thanks for the thread! I'll be watching. |
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^^^ Thanks NonHog!!! I'm pretty excited about it too. I've had a BUNCH of Fox body Mustangs, but always wanted a unique vintage Ford with the newer drivetrain. And this car sorta 'happened'.
Today was spent assembling the new short block. .40 over with 3.400 crankshaft and 5.4" rods actually calculates out to a 349 (roughly), so with the new aluminum heads, Trickflow hydraulic roller cam and Trickflow EFI intake setup, the WWW seems to calculate about 425-450 crankshaft HP. That should be pretty peppy in this light little chassis. I'll post up some pics tomorrow before & after paint and finally assembly (heads & such). |
Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Didn't get to do any painting because we are finally getting some rain, but it came along with cold weather. So, I'm going to have to wait for a dry day to get the block painted.
I did start on the American Auto Wire harness install yesterday, but didn't get very far on it R/t the weather either. I did get the upper Trickflow intake, valve covers and serpentine brackets & pulleys to the powder coater though. Hopefully I'll be getting this thing reassembled in the next few weeks. |
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Some pics from today. Because we all love pictures.
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
I see new parts ,now it gets fun.
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Motor is getting closer. Still need to do some cleaning and/or painting on the bolt on pieces.
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Going to be a bad little car .
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I did get a few pieces blasted and powder coated a gunmetal.
Upper intake, valve covers, acc brackets, and a few other pieces. |
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First test fit of the new motor...
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Looks good in there .
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Well, I have been working on ole Martha, but I don't have any pics to show. I have also ordered a bunch more parts to get me through this part of the build. What started out as only a new motor has snowballed into more....Stunning!?!
I've obviously decided to go EFI and more powerful motor, new wiring throughout the entire car, but now I've also decided to completely redo the interior and trunk. I spent 2 days stripping, scraping, sanding, treating, sealing, priming and painting the interior floorboards (which were actually in FANTASTIC condition). I placed a rather substantial order with SoundDeadenerShowdown.com (Don is great to deal with BTW) for heat and sound deadener etc, purchased new ACC carpet with mass backing, backseat to trunk divider and a new trunk liner so the inside of the car should be pretty quiet and easy to heat & cool. I also ordered new interior panels, seat covers and a few other sundry pieces. And finally, I ordered new floorpan drain plugs, a cool Lokar automatic shifter and the appropriate bracketry and cables for the drivers side throttle body placement too. It's coming along, and I plan to spend quite a bit of time working on her this weekend. :metal: |
Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Martha is a good looking ride :chevy: For a ford :smoke:
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I finally moved into my new home shop and Martha & Walt have been moved in... I hope to get Martha up & running soon, then I’ll focus soully on Walter!
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Very nice upgrades you have done. I don't know why I missed this thread back in '16, but will be following from now on. Thank you for sharing and posting pics.
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That is a cool little Falcon! New motor looks great and will run awesome! I am amazed the 302 that was in it made it that far before spitting the crank out - WOW. Congrats on the new shop as well - time to get busy :lol:
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Well, the wife & I ran away to Chattanooga this weekend to go to the Coker Tire cruise-in. We got to hangout with board members Cc69Rat & his Dad NoNeck and family. It was a great time & got to see & HEAR Chad’s ‘69 turned ‘68 restomod beast. This truck is absolutely badA$$!!! I did get back home this afternoon & worked on getting the EFI tank final installed & getting the initial lines run to the frame. Hopefully the fuel filter will show up tomorrow so I can get the rest of the fuel lines run. I did also get the AOD fluid cooler lines run. |
Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
Cool little Falcon and nice looking work! Tagging along.
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I finally got a chance to tinker on the Falcon some today. I got the new EFI (lower) intake installed, mounted the AAW fuse panel and pulled the 2 engine bay looms through the firewall, and got the Ron Francis EFI harness pulled through the firewall too.
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So, I got some more wiring done & I remember why I don’t like living in the humidity belt. I’ve decided to add a/c in the shop.
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I’ve been pretty lax lately when it comes to working on Martha, as I’ve been pretty hard and heavy on Walter. I did test fit some new wheel that worked out great. 17x7” Magnum 500 replicas with 0* offset and 245/40r17 BFG’s & they fit like a glove. So, I’m either going to go with them or the Halibrand replicas.
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
I think old Martha looks mighty fine with those wheels .
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
The Magnums would be my choice, they look right on that car. Love that Falcon, BTW.
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Magnum 500!
That engine shot is magic! Very cool. |
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Thanks guys!!! That was one wheel that I borrowed off my buddies 67 Mustang. I put it on both rears (since they are the smaller wheel well) and the d/s front. It fit like a glove! I like them too, but I hate to hear “copycat” from him :lol:
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I thought about this one too, but I’m afraid the grey part would disappear with the way the machined part seems to StAnD OuT.
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Re: 1963 1/2 Ford Falcon aka Martha
The Magnums definitely get my vote! What brand are the wheels posted above in post #36 ?
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It’s the Ridler 605...
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I sold my 77 C10 and had a set of LED headlights that I never installed in it. So I put them in Martha and I love ‘em.
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I also ordered the American Racing VN527’s.
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