Had my buddy come over today to help me replace the top on my backyard canopy. It was almost as wet inside as out, and time to make it dry while the engine was out of the Austin.
After that I reinstalled the interior door panel on the Falcon, and made up my urethane front connectors for the ladder bars to eliminate the metal noise of the heims. It did eliminate the noise up front, but still have it at the rear heim, so I guess I need to focus on that next. After finishing the ladder bars it was so nice I took the Falcon for a drive over to another buddy's shop to visit. It was nice to get the Falcon out for a long run, and with a nice weekend I'll probably take 1-2 more runs!

 

I finally got around to doing something about the fugly hole that I see when I have the backseat folded down. Love the folding seat, but not looking into the trunk when it's folded down!
I dug through my scrap bin and found a piece of 20ga. sheet metal, and after making a cardboard template, I traced and cut out a filler panel. Then I sprayed some 3M77 on it, and covered it with some scrap black naugahyde I had. Screwed it in place, and it cleaned up the opening nicely.

 

New fabricated Hurst shifter added today, and a new gas pedal. Weather was fantastic at mid 60's! More great weather tomorrow, so I'll finish up tuning the Austin hopefully!

 

Over the weekend I developed a leak in the axle tube on my Falcon! Got under the car to see what was going on, and to my shock and horror the mounting brackets for my ladder bars were tearing loose where they were welded to the axle tube! Yesterday I jacked the car up and drained the gear oil, then prepared to cut things loose and repair the brackets and tube. I dropped the ladder bars off, and got the tubes and brackets ground smooth. Then did a thorough cleaning of the tubes to make sure there was no gear oil residue. After welding the brackets back on, I made up another brace that ties to the existing old swaybar support on the back side of the axle. I felt with the way the bracket hangs down I needed to have some triangulation to the back side. Got everything welded up and then coated the entire area in 5 minute epoxy to ensure there were no pinhole leaks later. This is the finished product with the extra brace:


I think the break was caused by two things. First by torque of the axle twisting against the ladder bars, and second by the bind of the springs trying to flatten and arc as the car goes over bumps. I didn't think the axle traveled far enough to create an issue, but with the ladder bars off I raised and lowered the car from full weight to hanging the rear tires, and measured the wheelbase difference. It changes about 1/2" without the ladder bars connected, so that is the extreme change from fully loaded to unloaded. Even if it was a little less, it's still enough to work the bracket and eventually do what it did.
So my next step was to come up with a way to mount the front that would allow the ladder bars to travel back as the suspension moves up and down. I drew up several things, but a shackle seemed to be the best, and simplest fix. Just 4 flat bars with 2" hole spacing, but it will allow all the travel front or rear that the ladder bars will ever move. I dropped the front and put a spacer between the frame bracket, so it wont collapse when tightened. Nylocks to keep tension, but not so tight as to not move at all.


Just got done with a long test drive, and it's working great! I used to hear the heim joints clacking and clanking as they worked against the mounting points on shifting up or down. All nice and quiet now, and not the slightest noise to indicate anything rattling or binding!

 

I assume the bungee cord is for drive shaft retention, sort of a poor mans drive shaft loop. Probably not NHRA approved, but innovative for sure.

 

It's holding my car cover on, so the wind doesn't uncover my car. Came home the other day and the cover was sitting by the house, just like someone had taken it off and piled it there.

 

Finally found a new window regulator for the driver's side door glass! Mine failed awhile back, and I did a bandaid fix on it, but I knew it wouldn't hold. Been searching CL, and found a guy who had one taken out in the 70's and sitting in a box of Falcon parts. So I have a low mileage used regulator to replace my well worn piece!

 

very nice!

 

Got the regulator installed today, after we got home from a family breakfast. Then struck up the Mig welder and welded in the lower cross bar for the shoulder harnesses to mount to. I've had the harnesses hanging from the main hoop for a year, so figured it was about time to finish it and get them mounted properly!

 

Nearly done with our kitchen remodel, so back to car stuff while we wait for the counter tops to be built.
I got back on body work for the Falcon and started going over the quick filler I put on before. Hitting all the imperfections with thin coat of Everglaze. Still don't know if I will get paint on it this year, but looking into finding a place to rent for a week or so to possibly give it a try myself.