1963 Falcon Phase 2

[tom091074]

Originally Posted by craig510

I pretty much made up my mind to paint the car. Once it is painted it will be "finished" for all intents and purposes and I can move on to a blank canvas.

It will loose a little character but having nice paint will turn it into a nice car that I can drive and enjoy while I cook up something really wild.

I just picked up my next project car. Full out no compromises 1929 Model A hotrod. It will be set up with a 60's salt flat look (think oversized T-Bucket) with 18x11" wheels all around, fully adjustable independent front and rear suspension, fire system, roll cage, hand built body and chassis .... I am thinking 4.6L 4 cam motor from a 90's Linclon Mark VIII and a T-56 five speed.

I have a friend that got a T-bucket and a 5 window coupe, he outruns crotch rockets with both of them. That would be a fun project.

[craig510]

A couple quick updates: Getting the car ready for USCA at Thunder Hill next month. I finally got my roll bar painted. And who ever told you you can't build your own leaf springs?

Mike built the cage for me several months back. He did a great job and it is a very tight fit in the interior. I finally got ahead on my "Honey Do" list and pulled the interior back out to spray it before it got too rusty.










I actually modified my leaf packs before the November GoodGuys, but I figured you guys would like to see them anyways. Went from a 155# to about 185#. Really keeps the nose down better (no longer lifts the inside front), but my tires are too shot to get a good idea if it will be any faster.


I added an extra leaf below the main, flipped the old #2, and added a new #3, and an anti-wrap leaf to the front half of the pack.


Formed up a bunch of leaf straps




And had to make a custom aching tool...with adjustable stop.


FYI, McMaster-Carr sells a bunch of thicknesses and widths of 5160 spring stock. As long as you use sharp drills bits, keep it cool and use lots of lube, this stuff drills great.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

nice work....

[DBasher]

Nice work man! Just curious on how you figure out the spring rate? I've got a set of Maeco springs that are rated at 300lbs and would like to reduce them.
Looking forward to seeing the car at Thunderhill.


Dan

[GregWeld]

In all the years I've been doing this..... I've never seen a guy willing (or able) to arch his own springs. I bow in your direction.

Looks really good Craig!

[SSLance]

More pics of the roll bar please... And kudos for the home grown leaf spring mods, nice work.

[MeanMike]

This is a great build. It's amazing what you can build when no one makes parts for your car and you have more time than money.

[jarhead]

nice work, love this build!

[joemac]

Subbing to what is one of the most creative builds on the internet IMO.

I've got a '95 Ranger as a daily/project and aftermarket parts availability is limited at best. After seeing some of the creative stuff in this thread, I am inspired to make the parts I'd like to have. Keep at it.

[craig510]

Thanks for all the kind words everyone!

Originally Posted by DBasher

Nice work man! Just curious on how you figure out the spring rate? I've got a set of Maeco springs that are rated at 300lbs and would like to reduce them.
Looking forward to seeing the car at Thunderhill.


Dan

Dan,

I use a combination of an excel sheet and this online calculator:
http://www.auto-ware.com/calcs/leaf.htm
Leaf are a little funny because of all the 3rd and 4th order effects of friction between the leafs and when they start twisting with body roll (which are nearly impossible to calculate). I didn't actually measure the rates, so everything is approximate.

In college we messed around a bunch mixing and matching leaf packs for 4X4's and hot rods. The most important thing if you start modifying them is to keep the stagger between the ends of the leafs nearly evenly spaced. If you stack them too close together or put thicker leafs below thinner ones you can cause the spring to bend into an "S" which will can cause the main leaf to fail.

Here are a few more roll bar pics: The main hoop and bars are 1.75 x .120 1018 DOM, the harness bar is 1.5 x .120 1018 DOM. Tabs are 7 gage (.177 thick steel). The car looked like a Dexter kill room but I did't get any overspary on my interior.












Oh and this should be here in a few days: