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Post by afx on May 4, 2017 16:03:06 GMT -8
More engine detail.
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Post by dustymojave on May 5, 2017 1:38:30 GMT -8
Very cool project JC!!!!
I'm quite fond of Falcons for a few reasons. 1. I own 2 of them - 1 is a 1-owner (my grandfather bought it new) 4-door '61 wagon. The other is a 64 4-door V8 sedan. My son understands why I like Falcons, but doesn't get why I would rather have a 2-door sedan or hardtop than a 4-door. He's from a generation when many high performance sedans are 4 door like Subaru WRX and Mitsubishi Evo. 2. I watched Pete Cordts race his Falcon (the one in the photos) in Cal Club (SoCal SCCA), and cheered him to many wins. 3. Pete worked Cal Club/SCCA Tech with me in the 60s and 70s. 4. Mustangs are re-bodied Falcons. 5. I worked on a restoration of one of the Monte Carlo Falcons. 6. I've always been sort of a Ford guy.
A little info on Pete Cordts' Falcon: - It started life and racing as a 1963 Falcon. - Then it got re-bodied as a 64. Just the outer skin got changed to do that. - It was raced MOSTLY in A/Sedan in Club races. Trans Am was the same rules. - Pete worked at Shelby at the time and was able to get a kind deal on parts. - Pete replaced that Falcon in 1967 with a Shelby Trans Am Mustang.
As far as the fiberglass hood, doors, trunk lid, light weight window frames, Monte Carlo Bar brace for the front suspension, lowered upper A-arm mounts and some other tricks mentioned as having been slid under the FIA noses by Allan Mann...Those were ALL factory Homologated by Ford for FIA competition for the World Rally Championships, and thus FIA legal, and SCCA legal. And the Falcons weren't so much lighter...My '61 Falcon 4-door 6 cylinder curb weight is 50lbs less than a GT350R at 2700 lbs. As compared to an early Camaro at 3,200lbs and similar vintage Vette with aluminum heads at 2,900lbs.
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Post by afx on May 5, 2017 2:53:20 GMT -8
Thanks Richard for the additional information and your interest.
From what I read in the book I mentioned earlier, Ford wanted to win the Monte Carlo Rally so they sent Alan Mann Racing a Ford Falcon. AMR built the race car, replacing many of the steel panels with fiberglass, performed suspension mods etc. then wrote the homologation application, to submit to the FIA, around the work he did. That’s how the cars became FIA legal.
Fourteen of these lightweight Falcon were built. The Falcon won every stage of the ’64 Monte Carlo but was not declared the winner – The FIA invented a handicapping system and awarded the win to a Mini. After the MC, Ford had no further use for the Falcons and they languished in the back of AMR’s garage. Dan Gurney used one the cars for practice for the ’64 Targa Florio.
When the Touring Car rules changed to allow larger displacements, AMR pulled a couple of the Falcons out of storage and converted them for circuit racing. The cars were race winners into the late 60s until the rules were changed again thereby eliminating them.
The Falcon were raced during the Touring Car years with essentially GT40 engines – a 289 block with Westlake heads and Weber down draft carburetors. Can you imagine!
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Post by dustymojave on May 5, 2017 12:26:00 GMT -8
Yup...I can. Pretty cool huh?
Also, Ford offered the parts to build a Monte Carlo Falcon through all Ford Dealers. So anybody who had a Falcon could build it into a Monte Carlo Spec Falcon. I doubt that many such parts were sold, as the introduction of the Mustang and it's tremendous success got the Falcons pushed aside.
Personally, I felt the Mustang was cool, but unnecessary. A change to the marketing strategy to boost high-performance versions of the Falcon would have saved Ford the development costs of the Mustang. I suppose they wanted to separate the sporty car from the mundane economy car. Not that the Falcon (identified with the fastest creature of all) was necessarily mundane. Nor that the Mustang as a car is any "sportier" than the Falcon.
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Post by afx on May 7, 2017 10:16:54 GMT -8
Yea I think the Falcons are under appreciated. Engine painted, wiring and plumbing to come .
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Post by afx on May 7, 2017 16:02:16 GMT -8
Trans Am rules allowed for the removal of the bumpers. The create some interest in the exposed frame I create the oval opening like those on the 1:1.
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Post by robhart on May 7, 2017 18:17:03 GMT -8
The engine looks good. Is it sourced from the GT-350R kit? It is interesting to see how close to stock the early trans am cars were.
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Post by afx on May 8, 2017 2:50:37 GMT -8
Thanks Rob. Yes the engine is straight from the GT350R except: - coil and distributor from R&M
- fuel pump from the AMT Cobra kit
- oil breathers from HRM
The early emphasis was keeping the cars as stock as possible. The rules would continue to evolve to allow more and more modifications however. The GT350 chassis fits pretty well, maybe you want to go this way with your rally build?
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Post by dustymojave on May 10, 2017 16:56:44 GMT -8
So what is the Trumpeter Falcon chassis like? I haven't seen one yet. I was hoping it was well done. If not, then is the relatively high kit price for just the body shell? I could buy a resin body based on the old AMT for less.
I would have thought the AMT 67 Mustang chassis would be the ticket. What had to be done to the Monogram Mustang chassis to make it fit the Falcon body right?
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Post by dustymojave on May 10, 2017 18:25:34 GMT -8
Trans-Am rules of the period only allowed roll hops to be installed. Scratched one up based on my reference photos along with the rear bulkhead. Truth of the roll bar vs cage deal, is that at the time, SCCA required a minimum 4-point roll bar for open cockpit or closed cockpit race cars. They did not limit a racer from having a roll cage. In the early years of the Trans Am, racers could not brace the roll bar or cage to the suspension mounting points. But they could add as much roll cage structure as they wanted otherwise. Starting in the 1968 season, roll cages with a minimum of 6 point mounting were required for Trans Am and Sedan classes and fuel cells were also required. SCCA Sedan Class rules (and Production class too) required that cars to be used in competition must be "Homologated" for competition with SCCA and/or FIA. Homologation is a registration by the auto maker company to the race organization which includes photos and written specifications of features of the car, such as curb weight, body material, engine type and displacement, carburetion type and number of carbs, size of stock wheel rims, gear ratios in trans and axle, brake type for each axle and size, gas tank capacity, clutch size, specific relevant options such as larger wheel cylinders, optional carb or optional fuel injection, optional gear ratios or entire trans, wire or cast wheels as compared to steel wheels, fiberglass hood, etc. It also included certification that sufficient quantity of this type of car had been made and was available for sale to the public. A list of eligible cars were included in the rule book each year. Bumpers were allowed to be removed in A/Sedan competition up through the mid-70s. For Trans Am by 1970 bumpers were required to be installed. I don't remember just when bumpers began to be required to be installed for Trans Am. For Pete Cordts' Falcon, no front bumper is correct. The 63 body work included a lower valance that looked good without the bumper. The 64s/65s don't look so good.
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Post by afx on May 11, 2017 2:52:37 GMT -8
Thanks again Richard for the additional info. I stumbled onto the SCCA rule books from '66-72. Someone scanned several pages from each year. I'll post a link once I get them into a Fotki folder. I think I am taking the build in a new direction, Bob Johnson at Sebring in '67. Here are the American Mags after priming. Very cool but I can find no period photos of a Falcon racing on them.
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Post by gwadagone on May 11, 2017 5:40:26 GMT -8
Cordts/Dittemore Riverside Trans Am 1966 Also Pete Cordts Falcon at Riverside Don Sessler Falcon in 4 Hours of Mont Tremblant 1967, this car was the same of #33 Bob Johnson/Don Sessler Falcon of 1967 Sebring 4 hours. ANY ORIGINAL PICS FROM THE 1966/67TRANS AM RACING RACES.And a very good model you choice, Best greetings.
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Post by afx on May 11, 2017 12:32:49 GMT -8
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Post by afx on May 14, 2017 6:18:03 GMT -8
Did some reshaping at rear valance. Added a stiffener and drain plug to the rear axle. Did some work on the rear shocks as well. Rules required stock door panels. Reshaped the Trumpeter unit to fir the Revellogram tub.
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Post by dustymojave on May 14, 2017 16:38:23 GMT -8
Gwadagone, thank you very much for those pictures. Especially those of Pete Cordts' Falcon at Riverside. I was there at the time, of course, not IN the pictures, but somewhere on the property. In the paddock picture, Pete is the guy with his back to the car wearing the Cobra t-shirt. At the 1966 Riverside Cal Club 4 hour Enduro, Pete Cordts' Falcon had American Torque Thrust D wheels. I think there's a picture somewhere that somebody else took.
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