1963 Falcon Phase 2

[jarhead]

Nice toy!

[craig510]

Making good progress. Finished a fixture and bent up all the brackets. I started tacking them together late this afternoon. I need to practice inside corner joints and learn how to tell how much heat to use.


Turned up a ton of spacers. No CNC here.


Don't try this at home kids. Hanging it way off the mill.


Added some extra roll center adjustment to a down rev part.


I love my vintage Di-Acro brake. I saved it from the scrap metal guys and restored it several years back.


Its little details like this you could never get in a modern piece.


The dowel pins fit into reamed holes every 15 degrees. There is an additional adjuster screw on the hard stop that will bridge the gap. The result is very repeatable bends. You understand their name, Die Accuracy.



Sometimes you have to get more creative.



Is that 3.5" exhaust tubing for the Falcon?

Table full of parts ready for welding.

[DBasher]

Looks great, Craig!

[craig510]

Been making steady progress.

Working on the TIG, I am getting better, most of my early issues were due to contamination from poor surface prep.



How's that go... Do your best, Grind the rest?


The MOD2 Kit comes with an awesome bolt kit.


Careful marking, drilling and cutting go a long way toward a clean installation.











Not quite laying dimes yet, but improving.


Everything just clears.


Its all starting to make sense.

If I don't get the links anodized I may have a roller this weekend.

[SSLance]

Very nice work!

[Graham08]

All that work looks great! Love the mill setup with the torque arm hanging waaaayyyy off the table. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I've never used a DiAcro brake. That looks like a really nice piece. I love my old equipment, you're right that the detail, fit and finish exceed any of the new stuff.

A couple things that really helped improve my TIG welding (beyond practice) were to switch over to a gas lens setup and to go to smaller diameter rod. The gas lens allows for much better gas coverage than a standard cup, which really helps the appearance of the welds. Smaller rod, like dropping from 1/16" to 0.045" diameter will allow you to better control your heat because you're not overheating the material trying to melt big filler rod. For me it makes the difference between bright, shiny welds and dull gray ones.

Outstanding work, I'm looking forward to the next update!

[GregWeld]

Looks great Craig -- WOW! That's a LOT of work. People don't realize how much effort making everything from scratch like that takes.


RE TIG:

What happens to beginner welders is their travel speed is too slow - so with the machine "set" - the heat builds because of the slower travel speeds... as you get better there will be less HAZ. It's something to work on.

[jarhead]

great progress!

Amazing skills

[WSSix]

Nice work, Craig! Keep it up.

[craig510]

Keep making slow progress. Finished up some extra special lower control arms, checked the pattern of the gear set (before welding on the housing and installing the locker). Made some aluminum rods shiny, added some style to the hex rods and added the grooves to indicate the LH heims.




The gas lens definitely helps with seeing the weld and keeping it clean.


No real geometry change, but they look a lot better than my garage built ones.












Just need to match this. Most of the time with 8.8's the factory shims drop back in and you are good to go.