This past month I’ve gotten rolling on my 1960 Ford Falcon Project. First I had to get it into the garage and begin disassembly. Now I’ve finished clearing the engine compartment and detaching everything I can from the engine -resulting in a healthy pile of parts, hoses, and wires that have come out. If you’ve never torn apart a car or engine before – make sure you’ll know how to put it back together before you take it apart!
One thing that will help you get it all back together when you’re done is to take lots of pictures while you’re taking it apart. For example, I had never seen this funny bracket piece holding a couple parts of the throttle linkage together. I’ll be glad I’ve got a visual marker to help me when I’m scratching my head wondering what its for a number of months down the road.
Make sure you don’t lose any of your parts either! Have a special shelf (or a box is probably better) to hold all the parts you’re taking off. For lines and electrical wires, use tape to label where it connects to. And be sure not to lose all those bolts! I’m keeping mine in a jar until they’re needed again.
Here’s what’s left in my engine compartment! Radiator, fan, carbeurator,exhaust, alternator, hoses – they’re all off. Next up…this straight six is coming out! Any tips, comments, concerns? Leave a comment and let me know!
Good point about the digital photos! Take LOTS as you go, you never know what you might need to refer back to. As for misc. nuts and bolts, I like to use small zip-lock bags and write on the bag with a magic marker. You can toss all the bags into a cardboard box as you go, and sort them all out later when you need to re-assemble.
A soup can with some nail holes in the bottom and a bucket of dunk-degreaser will clean those nuts and bolts right up when you need them next. Drop them in the can, lower the can into the bucket and let them soak for a few minutes while you get other parts ready, then lift the can out and drain away the gunk. Presto! nice clean fasteners for re-assembly.
Keep on it, Kristin!
Keep going. Remove that old tired 6-banger and install a nice Ford V-8 and drivetrain. Of course you know the suspension and brakes must be upgraded to handle the extra weight and power. This is just a suggestion. You probably have many of your own ideas. Good luck. Got you bookmarked so I am watching. And I might add impressed.
Thanks for the feedback guys!
Great ideas Gearhead – why do I think you have a very logical progression of projects?
And Bruce – good to have you along in this project! As for the V-8, that was an earlier discussion with about 50/50 on the keep vs. upgrade chime-in. Since I’ve already got a hot rodded Studebaker, I’m deciding to stay low-key and original with the Falcon!
water base markers. clean off easy after finishing project. great for marking wiring and plugs ( + / – ) on coil. holes to be weld, lines etc . damages areas for maping dents and dings in body, trim marking lt and rt sides ,clips screws etc in bins. dollar store containers, tackle boxs work great for nuts,bolts and hardware and are easy to store. if you ,like the 6 keep it but up date the brakes and suspension. these cars handle bad on agood day. duel resovoir master cyl (a must safe wise )disc brakes on the front , a 1 and 1\8 sway bar 550 pound frt springs 5 leaf rears and 14 x7 rims and good new tires re build on front end and shocks. safe nice handling driver. check out the falcon forum.any trick used on a mustang can be used on a falcon.if your in to engine swap 5.0 5 speed can be done on the cheap. good luck on the old bird!
Thanks for the tips and pointers Darryl! I’ve definitely learned my lesson on the dual reservoir master cylinder already… Click here for that story!