Paul,
This is absolutely brilliant what you are doing and sharing with us. I have restoration books that are no where as good as what you are providing.
So I just want to thank you so much and truly appreciate your efforts and time and the before and after photos are a testimony of a job very well done.
Cheers,
Ken Hyndman
Always liked these cars and it is great to see one being prepared for the HMC class. The Falcon Sprint that Jim Richards races in Australia is a really neat looking machine. Your explanations and photos of the work and how to go about it are really appreciated and I am sure will provide help to many car builders.
Keep the photos coming and keep us up to date with progress.
I will add it to my list of HMC / HSC cars that are currently racing or are being built up.
The 289 is a great small block, the one issue is the breathing of the heads and smallish valve sizes.
The engine would really benefit exhaust porting and some mild inlet porting and port matching, Larger valves and some chamber de-shrouding to improve flow.
The other issue is the conrod bolts are fairly small as they were with many engines of this vintage and a new set of forged H or I beam cap screw rods would be a great asset.
The oiling systems always need work, to improve oil pressure and getting good oil pressure the back of the block #4 and #8 cylinders.
I started the engine build, this will be built to 1964 Monte Carlo Rallye spec' and originally built at Holman Moody, The 289 engine they developed (using a K 289 Hi-po engine as a base) had much more power than the factory K series engine. It had Carter 2 x 4 bbl Carburetors, Modified heads, larger valves, 12:1 compression pistons, modified C2FF-12127 Distributor (very rare twin point with blocked vacuum advance, used on some R Cobras). I believe they used the original K series cam shaft but with different valve train components, The engine also had a remote oil cooler and winged 7 ltr sump.
I just couldn't hold back, I had to see what it would look like built. So I loosely fitted it all together to see how it will look.
I will finish the build when the car goes in for the roll cage.
The cars were actually raced with factory cast Iron headers (thanks to Bill Meek for taking the time to go to the UK and interview Alan Mann to find out the facts). The "on file" FIA homologation #1250 showed some upswept headers, also optioned for cast iron.
Last edited by Paul B; 03-15-2018 at 08:14 AM.
Hi Ken
Thank you for your kind words. I am really enjoying the build immensely and its great to get some awesome feedback. I had a lot of help with parts from Al Aiello from the Falcon club in USA. Al was fantastic in locating some difficult parts for me. He is really a great guy.
Kind regards
Paul
Thanks very much for the positive feed back, I am "keen as carrots" to get this done, It would be great to meet everyone. I might come up to the next meeting, but I find it hard to watch cars racing as I just want to get out amongst it!Originally Posted by kiwi285
Cheers
Paul
Our next meeting is HRC Legends at Hampton Downs at the end of March. You are welcome to come and join us and it is not all racing but also a lot of social chatting and meeting people. I will be going and you are welcome to come along. Cheers, Bruce
Thanks Bruce,
That sounds great. I see on the HRC news letter 25 and 26 March.
I might drive up on Friday.
Cheers
Yes its a big job, but really enjoying it. Have your still got your Buckler, they are a very cool shape.
Cheers
Paul
Wow, this is neat! Not many of these cars in NZ.
Hi Paul, the Buckler I had in nz now in the Hutt, but I have another now I am living in the UK. Your work leaves me way back under a shady tree.
I like Bucklers and a lot of forgotten fiberglass for that fact, there have been so many interesting cars made over the years.
I will have some more build posts coming after the car gets the roll cage in. Enjoy that shady Tree!
Cheers for your reply
I rebuilt the steering box, they all need rebuilding after 50 years. You never know what you will find until you open it up. First remove the Pitman arm with a pitman arm puller tool. Hard to remove, keep a lot of pressure on while light side taps and it will pop off. Then loosen the sector shaft nut and turn the worm screw in a couple of easy turns, never force any thing on a steering box. Loosen the 3 bolts that hold the sector shaft plate, slide the plate toward the oil filler. it will disengage from the sector shaft. Then you can pull out the sector shaft, be careful of the bearing surfaces down the shaft. Check the gears for wear and damage. looking down the shaft hole you will see 2 needle roller bearing carriers and at the bottom an oil seal. I usually replace these all (1-1/8" shaft on the sprint, Mustangs are 1 inch), they tap out very easily be careful of the internal surfaces. you can tap or press them back in using a large socket or the like.
Use an impact screwdriver & hammer to loosen the large ring on the steering shaft, the unscrew the housing cap. you can then remove the whole shaft with the worm intact. inspect the upper and lower bearing races and inserts. More than likely the Seat inserts will be pitted and there may be damage to the bearing race, replace these, again they tap out fairly easily.
If you choose to remove all the ball bearings from the worm shaft...! there are 62 bearings and it is tricky to get back together. You must load the centre of the worm and don't move it while reloading it. Check all the worm surfaces for pitting. Once it is all degreased, washed, CRC or WD40 and dried clean you can reassemble with some moly grease on all the bearing surfaces. I also grease pack the sector shaft bearings down to the seal. Center the worm on the steering shaft, finger tighten all the adjuster rings and worm screw with lock nut so there is zero lash, but no drag. once the steering box is in you will need to set preload, You need a lb scale to pull the steering wheel it should take about (Ford manual says Maximum 4.5 Ft lbs) 3-4lb to turn the steering wheel (12inches from the center of the wheel) use the sector shaft screw to tighten/loosen in VERY SMALL INCREMENTS or you will damage the steering box. Also check end play at the end of the pitman arm, you need zero lash again, if it has some movement, Recheck Preload again. Screw the sector shaft adjuster screw inwards to tighten, it is best to back it off so you feel loose lash then slowly tighten so only just removes all lash, caution with this as over adjustment tightening will cause binding of the sector shaft and worm gear, then damage to the gears with excessive wear.
These are the old parts that were replaced
I have the Lincoln parts now that Holman moody used to quicken the steering from 19:1 to 17:1
Plus a new sector shaft, a big thanks to Dale!
Removing the Pitman arm bolt, needs a lot of leverage, and good hold on pitman arm
Removing pitman arm, a lot of pressure and patients
Reassembly
Last edited by Paul B; 06-28-2018 at 09:18 AM.
Nice Paul, I was thinking about pulling mine down but have taken the play out of it. Like your work.
Stuart McC
This is such an awesome build thread Paul. I'm really enjoying it. Because you're building the car to FIA rules, you can't just go purchase a bunch of shiny new off-the-shelf parts. You have to research the rules, find out what is allowed, and also research what racers did in period to make these cars perform. Its educational in every way and really enjoyable to follow.
Hi Stuart,
Thanks for your reply, When taking the play out of the sector shaft/ball nut, using the worm screw& lock nut on the top of the steering box. there need to be some end play from the base of the worm screw inside the box, to the sector shaft so you don't have binding and premature wear of your Steering box. Refer to factory manual sector shaft end play. Hope this helps.
Cheers Paul
Thanks Steve, Yes its a mission finding the right parts, for sure, getting there ... slowly
Cheers
Hi Rodger
This is such great viewing, Jims Falcon 5th on the start grid
Cheers, Paul
Last edited by Paul B; 05-31-2018 at 09:14 PM.
So after some excellent advice regarding roll cages (work still in progress) I fitted up the whole interior so as the roll cage will fit nicely, although likely most or some of the interior will sit at home while the car is on the track.
There is just enough room between the seats and door panels to run a 50mm (2inch) block through to accommodate the roll cage side bar, missing the handles, winders etc.
Also fitted up the sun visors, A pillar trim and hood lining bows just to be sure... Yes, I will run hood lining, all 800gms of it. The Falcon Rallye Sprint had touring seats that were lighter and better fitting. I will be installing these later. In 1964 they had no roll cages back then (common practice) so I will need to work a rear seat back into fit around the roll cage back stays.
Last edited by Paul B; 06-28-2018 at 09:23 AM.
While I have been waiting some more parts have arrived... Christmas again! so here are the 1964 Kelsey Hays 4 pot disc brakes that these were fitted with and 11inch rotors. (some Falcons had Girling calipers fitted.
Also after a massive amount of research I discovered what the inline booster was
And this is what I have now
The rear drum brakes are something else, 9 pads on each side, Mainly for cooling, a H-M modification. I figured this out after reading the FIA homologation and researching Holman Moody Nascar program. After reading some period car review magazine articles I found out the Falcons had some rear brake lock up issues and they sorted it by adjusting/ backing off the rear shoe adjustment.
So I am going to have a crack at that ... more to come
Last edited by Paul B; 10-04-2017 at 09:31 AM.
This thread just gets better and better. How much of the interior will you use Paul?
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