65 Ford Falcon Squire Wagon

[AussieRod]

Its not so much the steering needs modification, it will need a wedge for the top ball joint, as it comes VERY close to full travel on some early Fords with this mod. A good bump can shear the stud off or pull it out of the balljoint body. I have done this mod to a few local Falcons (late model) and it works great. You should cycle the arms without the spring to make sure the top balljoint doesnt reach full travel before the control arms do. Global West sells the steering tierod bumpsteer correctors to help reduce any unwanted bumpsteer.

[SteveG]

Its not so much the steering needs modification, it will need a wedge for the top ball joint, as it comes VERY close to full travel on some early Fords with this mod. A good bump can shear the stud off or pull it out of the balljoint body. I have done this mod to a few local Falcons (late model) and it works great. You should cycle the arms without the spring to make sure the top balljoint doesnt reach full travel before the control arms do. Global West sells the steering tierod bumpsteer correctors to help reduce any unwanted bumpsteer.

I don't have the time or desire to do anything other than stuff I know will work and drive OK at the moment. I'm just going to drill the holes for future use, cut the coils and align it. If I feel like it needs to handle better I'll tear into it again later.

If I end up relocating the upper arm mount and have bump steer, I'll likely just bend the steering arm to compensate. Like I said, though... way more than I'm interested in doing now.

Thanks for all the info, guys.

[300]

You certainly don't want the ball joints to bottom out. The Mustang went another 100K miles without an issue. Didn't see any radical improvements in handling, but the lowering of the front was a good side effect. Didn't see any changes in tire wear either, and it wasn't because I babied it. It had more than its fair share of high speed runs across hwy 166.

Changing the location of the upper control arm pivot should have little effect on the steering geometry. The tie rod on these is nearly at the same level and parallel to the lower control arm. If you changed the length of the upper arm, or the location of either of the pivots on the lower arm, there is definitely the potential for a steering geometry change. Shelby didn't change the steering from the stock early Shelby Mustangs when they re-drilled them.

Global West has the parts and engineering to correct these vehicles to the best they can be, however it doesn't sound like this is in the budget.

[SteveG]

Global West has the parts and engineering to correct these vehicles to the best they can be, however it doesn't sound like this is in the budget.

No way. This is meant to be a ghetto project.


The plan was to use the torch but it was another 5 feet away and required turning of valves and igniting so the chop saw got to do the honors. One switch and some noise.... done. I went with 3/4 of a round. Wish me luck.

[philofab]

You know what I say about street cars with bad geometry, bump steer, or bad camber curves....

Add better tires, lower the CG, and limit the travel....

[SteveG]

You know what I say about street cars with bad geometry, bump steer, or bad camber curves....

Sounds like a Bronco.



I thought I'd show a classic example of the type of repairs I've been cleaning up. Overall, the car has not been mistreated ad it is surprisingly compete but there has been plenty of strange repairs. I swear, a lot of the "fixes" on this car took longer to do wrong than it would have taken to do right. My only guess on this one is that the guy had a couple short strands of wire that he was just dying to use. I should commend him on the use of two different types of tape. One on top of the other. Neither of which was electrical tape.

[SteveG]

I got the front end back together on Tuesday. I still haven't checked ride height on the alignment rack (on floating plates) but it looks like it dropped slightly more than an inch. It's not as low as I'd like but it'll do for now and it should be easily to align which is what I wanted for the short term. The one side effect is that the bench seat angle is no longer ideal, so I'll need to put some shims under the front mounts to compensate.

With a full tank of gas, which lowers the rear almost an inch, it is now just slightly lower in the front which is good. When I have more time and am feeling more ambitious I'll take a bit more off the coils, replace all the dry and hard bump stops with soft and progressive foam and lower the rear to match.

These aren't great photos to compare but was the best I had on hand.

[hobbyturnedobsession]

Nice!! I love the two tone! It looks clean lowered a bit.

[SteveG]

Whew! The family and I logged about 650 miles in the Falcon this weekend. It performed flawlessly! No hiccups whatsoever. The car drives sooo much better with the front end lowered. I asked the alignment tech at work to set toe on the front end last week but being the perfectionist he is ,he adjusted all the angles and even tightened up the gear box. It feels freakin' great and I'm glad he did! It's manners on the road are just great. The car is a pleasure to drive.

We drove to my parent's house in the central valley then caravaned to Antioch with my older brother and his family in their 54 Plymouth 2-door wagon, my younger brother and his girlfriend in their 63? 2-door Falcon, my parents in their rat rod and some family friends and their family in their old Buick (can't remember what year it is). The Billetproof show was fantastic. I hear there were about 1000 cars but somehow the coordinators still manage to make it feel like small town show and like everyone is welcome.

Can't wait till next year!

[BajaF250]

Sounds like a great trip... what a great group of cars... very nice indeed!

[300]

Saw a 65 2-door Falcon shell being towed behind a truck load of junk the other day, obviously on its last trip on its own wheels, on the way to the scrapper. Really, really thought about chasing it down.......

[SteveG]

Saw a 65 2-door Falcon shell being towed behind a truck load of junk the other day, obviously on its last trip on its own wheels, on the way to the scrapper. Really, really thought about chasing it down.......

Funny you say that. It appears I'm saving a car from the scrapper. I somehow got talked into this Ranchero this weekend. Now I need to figure out how to get it here (or at least to the valley) from Brentwood.

[BajaF250]

Saw a 65 2-door Falcon shell being towed behind a truck load of junk the other day, obviously on its last trip on its own wheels, on the way to the scrapper. Really, really thought about chasing it down.......

Funny you say that. It appears I'm saving a car from the scrapper. I somehow got talked into this Ranchero this weekend. Now I need to figure out how to get it here (or at least to the valley) from Brentwood.

Wow, great find... I love those!

[300]

Was going to say sure, no problem, then I realized that those are bee hives on the right side of the picture! I know a guy with a trailer...... V8 or 6 cyl car?

[BajaF250]

!

[SteveG]

Was going to say sure, no problem, then I realized that those are bee hives on the right side of the picture! I know a guy with a trailer...... V8 or 6 cyl car?

Ha! I checked those out while we were there. No bees to be found....

It's a 6 cylinder car but the owner put a V8 in it. He says it's all connected but he got busy with life before he ever drove it with the V8. We were really short on time and had people waiting for us, so I didn't get to spend much time looking at it but it sure looked like the conversion was complete. Overall it seemed like it was in pretty good shape. Some rust, but nowhere near ready for scrap.

How do I butter up this guy with a trailer?

[Broncodawg]

Looks like a fun time!

If interested, there is another 65? ranchero project parked out in front of a guys house on Hwy 58 near Hinkley, which is between Barstow and Kramer jct. Looks to be for sale the way it's parked out front.

[yikes]

That's sweet Steve. You better get a bigger garage.

[Nick]

[BajaBronco13]

Nah, make that Ranch an Autofab runner like John's El Camino! Now that's what I'm talking about.