63 Falcon

[mnkyboy]

I recently tore apart my 63 Falcon Futura to fix some rust problems.

So far I've had to reconstruct part of the roof and I'm getting ready to make replacement floor panels.

 

 

[mnkyboy]

here's how it looked before

 

[neohic]

Cool project! I love the lines of these Falcons and Rancheros. Any long term plans for it?

[mnkyboy]

I haven't decided yet exactly what direction I'm going with it.

 

When I bought it about 6 years ago I had big plans to stick a V8 in it and make a hot rod out of it, then I found that I liked driving it around and hitting all the cruise ins. The car gets awesome gas mileage so its nice to cruise around in.

 

Any more I don't worry so much about going fast so I have been considering leaving it a 6 cyl car, the stock 170 isn't bad but I think a modern V6 would make a nice cruiser. I also have a 351 I could swap into it, just have to make up my mind.

 

For now the plan is to strip it down and see how bad it is, I think what I find is gonna help direct the build. Already from the rotten rear wheel boxes Ive decided its getting mini tubbed. The car had a very bad restoration done at some point and has a lot of serious issues hidden under bondo.

 

Currently I'm thinking the car is gonna end up a combination of hotrod black and school bus yellow, but that could change too as the build goes.

[87Warrior]

What an awesome project. I love seeing the old not-so-popular cars getting the kind of love they deserve. And I am more of a GM guy. IMHO that car would be slick with a fuel injected V6, air conditioning and a reworked suspension/steering built for road cruising. 

[mnkyboy]

That's kinda what Ive been thinking, the car weighs almost nothing so it would perform well with a modern V6 and still get great gas mileage.

 

Personally I like the less popular or oddball cars, I get tired of seeing the same cars done over and over.

This is also why I bought the MJ.

[johnj92131]

My late wife's first car was a 61 Falcon (same body as your car).  Had the 170 6 and Ford O Matic 2 speed autotrans.  Her grandmother was the original owner.  Helen got it in 1967 with 23K miles.  We loaned the car to a friend, he wrecked it and that was that.  The hot ticket for that car is to find a 200 or 250 cubic inch version of the same engine ( it came along later in the 60's)  Ak Miller built one or two with three stock carbs and a few other "goodies".  Brakes are a big weak point, but you just want it for crusing, so not a big deal.  Remember the 64 Mustang was based on this Falcon.

[mnkyboy]

First thing I did after buying the Falcon was buy a 63 Falcon V8 wagon parts car, so I have the bigger brakes and everything to convert it to 5 lug wheels.

 

I've seen some pretty crazy 200s and 250s but I'm thinking I want something modern with fuel injection, another issue is mine is a 3 on the tree and I'm not sure I want to build a performance inline and stick it in front of my non performance 3 speed so I will probably swap transmissions as well if I do a repower at which point it won't matter much what bolts in.

[FrankTheDog]

Build a GT350 Falcon, modern 5.0 and 5 speed with 64-66 GT350 handling parts.

There should be plenty of repop parts out there to be had.

[H3RESQ]

I have always loved those year Falcons. I think they would make such a great resto-mod.

[mnkyboy]

When I bought it I was look for a 64-65ish falcon but the 63 has grown on me.

[HOrnbrod]

I had a 65 Falcon Sprint for years. Great cars and plenty fast with the 289 V8. Except when it rained because the rear end would spin out easily. I did always prefer the original 63 body style with the Sprint package though. Never could find one that wasn't rotted out.

 

[mnkyboy]

63 hardtops are very hard to find, I would have loved to get one but I'm ok with my sedan/post.

[mnkyboy]

Got some time to work on the Falcon this weekend. I cut the rust out of the drivers side rear inner fender /wheel well area and made patch panels to rebuild it.

 

Hopefully I can get the rear quarter panel patched up soon, I've already made a new section of quarter panel for it but I've had to wait till I finished getting rid of all the rot that was behind it.

 

 

[streetjeep2.5]

First thing I did after buying the Falcon was buy a 63 Falcon V8 wagon parts car, so I have the bigger brakes and everything to convert it to 5 lug wheels.

 

 

I owned a 63 Falcon 260 v8 wagon in the mid/late 1970's LOVED that car!  Since it had 5 lug 13" wheels on it I put 14" wheels on it with 70 series tires, and it really improved handling. I started to build for it when the 260 was tiring out a 289 that would have the hydraulic version of the 271 hp camshaft, 4 barrel regular fuel pistons, a dual plane high rise with a 289 Autolite 4bbl, and headers. But, family issues meant selling the engine. Guy that bought it put it in a 65 'stang and said on the highway he would get 23-25 mpg, but when he needed so go, it had go!

Given you are in Washington, and I owned that falcon in Coos Bay, Oregon and sold it around '77 or '78, any chance your parts wagon was white with red interior?

[streetjeep2.5]

I've seen some pretty crazy 200s and 250s but I'm thinking I want something modern with fuel injection, another issue is mine is a 3 on the tree and I'm not sure I want to build a performance inline and stick it in front of my non performance 3 speed so I will probably swap transmissions as well if I do a repower at which point it won't matter much what bolts in.

If I remember correctly, the 170 and 200 are the same block, but a 250 is different.  A 200 would be a good way to go, and "freshen" it up with a light cam for better breathing.  I had a 200 in a 1979 Fairmont wagon with an auto and we pulled a 8' open trailer pretty well loaded and the car having a 3rd and 5th grade kids with wife and I and two dogs and a cat from Indiana to Florida, and it did fine.  Tried to overheat once, and would slow down on larger hills, but it chugged right along!

[mnkyboy]

Not very good pics but this was the parts car, it had been hit in the rear and some one had used it as a drivetrain donor.

I don't remember what the seats looked like but the interior parts that i kept are brown, it also had the stock 5lug 13" wheels on it.

 

Looking back i should have kept it and fixed it, it had way less rust then the one I'm building

 

[mnkyboy]

Havent updated this in a long time. The Falcon project has gone on the back burner so I can focus on the MJ, but I have still been slowly gathering parts,I have a brand new drivers side rear quarter panel waiting to go on and although I had already repaired the rot in the roof I stumbled across an entire rust free 2dr post roof from a drag car that kissed the wall at 150mph so it looks like I'm gonna be replacing the roof once I get back to it.

[big66440]

Stick a 4.0 in it :banana:

[mnkyboy]

I've had enough 4.0Ls and parts laying around that I probably could.

 

Hopefully once my MJ is back together I can work on this project, I have had alot going on so the Falcon has been on the back burner.

[COFFMAN]

We have these down under 3 models XL XM and the XP, your roof line around the back window looks like a four door car. Our 2 doors were a little more stylish and had the lines of a coupe. I'll snap a coupla pics next time I see one.... 

[mnkyboy]

Mine is a 2dr post, you could also get them like this in 63.

 

[COFFMAN]

That's how ours Look... Cool :thumbsup: I think the XL XM & XP ran between 60 - 65.  Two doors in XP defiantly maybe XM. Sorry not a Ford man, do like  the early gear.