Progress Thread 1963 Falcor GT?

I finally have something to update. I have been busy ass much as possible but things been crazy. If it ain't the rain all the time it's mosquito's! One or the other. For two months now. That means your at the mercy of mother nature when your garage is the outdoors. Slowly but surely I got some things done.

Today I finished moving the battery to the trunk. So race car! But it needed done because the air filter needs the space worse. I'm gonna box in the battery area with an enclosed airbox with fresh air from in front of the grill.

Put a switch inline to the solenoid so I can disarm the battery for working on wiring. It's all grounded to the frame with a 5/8" bolt and cleaned up with air grinder and wiped with anti corrosion goo. Cleaned them back off and painted to protect from rust. I used a 2ga pure copper stranded cable from front to back. The 2ga seems seems like a good choice because it whipped right over like there was no difference. I think if you get a pure copper wire it's better than a mixed or aluminum wire 0ga, without the extra weight that a pure copper 0ga would be. Probably if you had big stereo or air pumps the extra weight is better.

I think it turned over even better.

I have done a few other things. I have ordered and received most of the interior switches. My knobs were either missing or in pieces so this was a necessary plus it looks cool. I ordered turned aluminum knobs and turn signal arm. I have yet to finish installing them, and the new light switch, because I wanted to make sure that all with the battery was solid. So I did the main power first. Make sure I am building on a good foundation.

Also I have not mentioned this but my car has power windows! No..not optional. I think. But I think there some kind of street rod gizmo that clamps to the glass. So. somebody put them in just they didn't connect them...no brackets to hold them down. just pushing off from the bottom of the floor!
So I have made brackets for them. Doesn't matter if it runs you can't go anywhere in it, it's black with no headliner and it'll cook your melon like a microwave! So gotta have working windows! I also uncovered the back windows from the leopard fabric over flakey plywood, and found the rear regulators are still there and work. Just need some knobs for them. I think they were the all metal, chrome knob and chrome handle with the clip.

I also got a new shifter and cup. Fix that floppy stik it has now. As long as the weather holds out I can get some of this stuff done. Got the parts just need nice days. I got new fram gaskets to remove the intake to get at the throttle assembly and see whats going on with the heater hoses and look for vacuum leaks. Also am trying to figure out in the back of my head how to re-order the garage so I can move in for the winter.

That's about it for now. Maybe too long, let me know.

Ok, you got it Pic's!

Pic's of my mosquito deterrent system. If the net don't work ol' Duke'll bite them!



Here's the new knobs. I have a couple more to install and the light switch. I got a billet turn signal arm too, was a chevy tilt steering arm but fits great as a ford blinker arm plus it was all I could find to match the other knobs.


The car has a weird universal light switch in it so I bought the right one to go in instead. But..I don't have the bezel and nut piece that screws into it to hold it on. So that will have to wait till I find one somewhere. All the shafts seem to be different sizes, some fit some don't. Part of why I got these ones is they either are the right size or too small. The light switch one was to small but drilling it out fixed that now fits great.

Moving the battery to the trunk was easy. I don't have a crimper so I soldered on all the lugs. I still have to run a vent line to the box and install the battery hold down bracket but it's done for the most part.


There is a nice channel under the sill plate to run the 2ga wire to the solenoid. I used an existing hole with grommet to go through the firewall.

Here is the power window motors. This pic shows how it was installed, or more like not installed (notice the bracket going to..nowhere). These motors were harder to get working without binding than I anticipated. One of the tubes the screw goes in ( i assume that's whats inside the motor, bracket assembly), was bent from operating off the bottom of the door and smashing it under use. Straightened the best I could, it seems to move better but not happy with how they work. I tried to mount them with the least amount of bind by moving the assembly to where it operated smoothly and drilling mounting holes there.

Here are the brackets I built and mocked up. It will be assembled with 1/4" bolts after all the bugs are worked out, till then the small bolts with wingnuts make it easier to keep installing and uninstalling until final assembly.


I got the drivers door working good but the passenger side not so much. It is slow going up fast coming down. May be an alignment issue where the glass clamps into the power assembly.

After making windows go up and down I tackled the missing back seat area. There was a wooden frame built onto the floor and carpet covered plywood over that. Someone did a nice job at one time and another came along and sprayed adhesive all over it to attach leopard spotted fabric. I guess someone thought it looked good but what I saw was a mess to be removed. The gutted race car look works better for me.


After removing all the wood frame speakers and carpet I cleaned it all with a vacuum. Vacuumed all the cracks and inner fenders where dirt is hidden away waiting to absorb moisture and rot the car from the inside out.

I was able to jam the vacuum pretty much everywhere and even pulled out a surprise! I do not know why but there were piles of steel wool way up inside the inner fender panels! Not one, like maybe someone lost one but many! I thought it was just one side but both! I cannot explain this "stash" of steel wool. Maybe it was used as a filler to hold bondo but none was attached to bondo or anything else for that matter.
Besides all the steel wool and some loose change, (various coins from the 60's fyi), I came up with a pile of crud as shown in the bottom of the vacuum. Yeah! all this was removed from the nooks and cranny's! Authentic 1960's dirt! and some 70's, some 80's and..

Here's is where I leave it for now. In the future I will be re doing this all probably race car style because I have no seats for it and the crappy one's I have seen for it are crazy priced!

Removing the intake, upper and lower to address vacuum leak. I began today to pull the intake and fix the running issues. Fairly confident the main culprit in it's not running well all center on a intake leak near the front of the engine under and behind the thermostat housing.

While I was doing wire connectors, cleaning with contact cleaner and dielectric grease, I got some of the contact cleaner into the filter. It was running at the time I was messing with the mass air sensor, and spray got in the air filter and the rpm's went up, alot up! I had planned on getting some starter fluid for finding leaks but the contact cleaner seemed to work good enough. So I started spraying along the intake seam. When I sprayed under the thermo housing the R's went up. After verifying a couple more times I was confident I found the issue. Previous owners had removed any gaskets and sensors, new sealer and clean threads to prove it. Prior owners seemed to stop problem searching at the intake level as the gasket and all the bolts are covered with grease and dirt showing they have not been touched at least in a very long time. Nobody wanted to go in this far I guess.

So that's where I am. I plan to yank the intake, replace gaskets and clean parts. I need to fix the linkage proper and do something with the heater hoses, not sure what. But thats the plan and we all know how plans go!

Beginning the tear down.

Here are some shots of the heater lines to sort out. There are some really tight turns here to deal with, not real sure on how to go about dealing with this. Some elbow's and hose maybe I don't know of what.


In this pic you can see the hose mess and the pedal linkage problem. The throttle lever can be seen in the middle here and needs to be proper connected to the throttle body. May just get a new pedal/cable assembly for this issue still weighing my options here.

Then there's the water lines the run the length of the manifold. They are rusted and I don't trust the longevity of this at all. I will be cleaning this and removing the rust and painting. I bet this is a reoccurring problem with these motors. Hopefully in cleaning I don't breakthrough and cause a leaker. You can see also on the firewall end (previous pic) that the tubing has been bent and kinked. Will deal with this when I get there.

Now, the real problem! The throttle body/egr spacer was corroded onto the upper. Not just a little either. This was a nerve rattling experience trying to remove this without breaking the studs, breaking off a piece of either the manifold or spacer or cracking something. I DID manage to remove it. YIKES it was on hard!! I even used a small jack between the upper and the throttle bracket and it STILL wouldn't budge. I finally got it by using a pick to clean out around the studs so p oil could get in there. Used a razor blade to cut into the gasket seem to weaken it. After a day of picking, soaking It and repeat it finally came loose. I had to use a chisel and BFH to get the two to separate. Man was I afraid this would go south!

Here is the jack installed. I put ALOT of pressure on this and nothing!
I hid my chiseling damage on the bottom of the intake. Nothing too bad but there are gaps where I hammered in the chisel on the corners. I used the chisel so that the studs would stop it from going in too far and damaging the gasket surface. Using the crowbar to work it off and keep it even on the studs.


Finally success! But look at those studs and the corrosion!




Today I will be right back at it if things go right. Get the parts cleaned and remove the lower manifold. Soon will be passing the middle of this job and heading towards the finish. No big hurry though. It's fun stuff when there's no deadline. I am always open to tips and suggestions so feel free.

General karthief said:

I will guess you're getting new studs and a egr plate?

Click to expand...

I did think about new studs. I cleaned them up with a wire wheel and they look....ok. There is a spot where the threads are actually corroded away but minor and below where the nut goes. You suggest new ones then? Looks like they are backwards threaded into the manifold not pressed. I agree it needs new ones but am kinda leery about them coming out very well given the trouble to get them apart.

EGR plate? The one someone made for a egr blocker? I was gonna straighten that one up a bit. Or do you mean the egr/spacer? You know far more about these than I do. I will take a pic to show these after have been cleaned up a bit. They look much better cleaned. I didn't mar any gasket surfaces so I think all is good there.

Am on a real tight budget, the bare minimums on this project. So if I can get away with using something I will, but I value your opinion and will adjust accordingly.

Here are those pic's. The stud threads are best I can get to focus. pita. But it shows the pitting and buggard threads well enough. They should be replaced. Do they have to be? maybe not.

EGR spacer front side.



EGR Spacer back side. You can see my pry marks pretty good . None go all the way across and plenty of machined surface for gaskets. Although is another item best to be replaced. I think it will work fine with no ill effect but also in the back of my mind is the "future" of this part. It will work for now but I would like to replace it with something bigger in the future. What? I don't know yet but it WILL have to be changed out in any configuration of future engine.


Here is the homemade egr blockoff plate. Seems to do the job just ugly. Ugly can be fixed.

And then there's this.....a black hole. Is it supposed to be so.....grungy, inside of the upper? Is it telling a story about worn rings or is it what you get from the pcv/egr spewing engine gasses and being efi? The engine sounds solid, for as good as it runs and there is no smoke. I wasn't concerned about a compression test but maybe I better do one after it's running good. I will try to clean some of it out, maybe gas or something will work.
Beyond replacing the intake gasket and getting it to run well, I am planning on what I will do in the future to this little 302. I like the idea of a stroker motor, but am ok with a ring job too. Maybe alls it gets are some heads, cam and bigger intake of some sort. I CAN, tell you that it WON'T be getting an LS! lol As I do work now I am planning for the future and if I save money now it will go towards what It will be. Some parts have a place both now and in the future engine. So depending on need and price I have to decide where to invest my time and dollars. I could buy new egr spacer but I would want a bigger one in the near future. Then throttle body and down the line. So if I can get away with saving money here to add it to there, I'm all for it.

Today after much struggle I finally got the fuel lines apart and removed the intake. I had read that the fuel line connectors can be a pain sometimes and that's the truth! I eventually got them split after lots of cleaner and modifying the line tools. I got Harbor Freight line tools, the cheap plastic ones and they would NOT work without some modification. The leading edge wasn't pointy enough to slide under the spring in the fitting and the ramp up too long. After sharpening the tools so there is no flat spot on the leading edge and a shortened ramp they finally worked. Heading towards the middle of this project soon then it's down hill from there. Lots of cleaning to go and some painting. I can't go this far in and re-install dirty ugly parts!

Handful of clean bolts fresh off the wire wheel.
This pic shows the area I suspect is the leak, if not it sure don't look good. This is the thermostat area where the motor R's increased using contact cleaner looking to verify leaks.
I also suspect the rear wall is an issue too. When removing the intake, the far passenger side rear bolt wasn't tight at all could've turned it by hand.

Overall removing the intake wasn't too bad. Some of the bolts didn't need to be "broke" loose. I really don't think the bolts were torqued properly. Removing the intake itself was a surprise. After removing all the bolts, getting a prybar and mallet ready I found a good spot to get leverage and went to pry it loose and ...nothing. It just fell off no effort required!

So now I have a big pile of parts, mostly cleaned ready to go back in. I still have to work out some issues. I have a new gas pedal with cable coming. I think I can make that work got a long one in case I need to go around the front of the engine and around. Next I have to figure out the heater hose problem. Figure out a better route with no kinks.

Today I passed a milestone. At the mid point at this point. Most of the parts have been cleaned. All in various stages but progressing. The fuel rail had what I thought was really bad rust on it. I managed to get all the flake stuff with grinders and what I can't get Krud Kutter will!. Everything is going well.
Almost there with the manifold too. Man! What is that really really hard UH crap, like concrete on aluminum that nothing can remove without grinding? This pic is after using sandpaper rolls to jam in the nooks and cranny's to remove this concrete like stuff! The black on it is an oxide of some sort from acid. I use alot of acid to clean. Then turn to rust! And then to primer! I will go through gallons by the time this job is done! But it's how I like to do parts. I don't want to do them twice.
The acid turned my nuts and bolts, black. It is good primer just get rid of the loose stuff. I'll be painting these bolts silver too.
Well if you ever wondered what those cheap gas pedals on ebay look like, here ya go. Seems pretty nice. Have to get the engine partially together before I can figure out how to make it work. It was $65 and included 36" of teflon tube with wire braid cable. Seems really smooth. If it wasn't for these cheap parts I couldn't afford to do this. Same with Harbor Freight, if it wasn't for access to cheap tools I wouldn't be able to do much of the things I do ..do (eh eh he said doodoo eh eh).

Thanks for the reply!
I had questions about some of those things. Like, can the throttle body be turned and why the IACC has to be installed down, is what I read. You deleted the whole egr plate! I looked for this and cannot find any reference to doing that. Is it not needed after adding a blockoff plate? Thats why I was looking to see if it can be removed. How do you block the outlets in the manifold? rubber hose and plug?
I considered just running long hoses to the front but now I have the old ones all cleaned and painted so I must use them. Though changes like that are up for consideration next time I dig in. Next time will involve a cam and timing chain.

I looked into doing a intake swap but the prices on them are way up! I would prefer to put the money I would've spent on a set and just add it towards a good matched setup with heads. Now don't get me wrong if I could find a deal on a upper, lower and a set of heads their in like flynn!

Yeah some of the ports were full of black gunk. The vacuum manifold under the lower was about plugged up I bet this is a issue with other egr delete vehicles. I was thinking maybe a catch can connected to it may be a good thing.

Mr Kelley I noticed your Falcon has no braces from the firewall to the shock towers, won't they work with that engine in there? Mine does not have them either but previous owner built stainless bars to replace them. They are right in the way of the tb and intake. I thought if I removed the egr plate I could claim some room in there.

Also, what do you do for fuel vent. Do you just connect to the Falcon filler neck for that? I am wondering if I use the fuel neck inlet with a electric fuel pump pumping to the rail and back would it cause vapor lock in the tank? Those old gas caps didn't have vent holes in them. I believe the Mustang ones were vented caps.

Life has happened so it will be a couple days before I get back to work on the Falcon, but soon. Providing the rain allows it!