Ownership Verified: 1967 Ford Fairlane 500

mmmmm duration

 
So, about a year ago, I told myself that I was going to wait to update this until the forum was a bit less broken. Now that it works again, its time for an update.

Picking up where I left off, the Edelbrock cam came out:

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And the engine was buttoned back up again with the new Comp 290HR Magnum cam, with 230/230 duration @ 0.050 lift, and .544 overall lift at the valve.

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With the new cam in, the EFI fired right up, and after some additional tuning, I had it idling fine, and starting pretty easy.


In early March of last year, I filmed this little blurb on my phone:


and started driving the hell out of the car.

Visited a friend in Salt Lake City:
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('67 Dart, Mopar 360, Lunati cam of some variety, and a T56 out of an LT1 Camaro)



Went to Mars Hite crossing
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Saw some weather:
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Went on a 2400 mile vacation/trip to Idaho to attend a friends wedding (the wedding was an excuse, really, I just wanted to play in the mountains)
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Hit a delaminated semi-truck tire at 80 mph, and ripped my exhaust open:
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(That should be straight out of the glasspack, and into the 90° bend btw...)



Made a ghetto patch of quality that could only be described as Roadkill+
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(worked better than one might think, btw)





And installed some new seats:
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In September, I simultaneously got tired of constant CO2 poisoning, as well as tired of having to wear ear protection lest I lose all hearing, and so installed an exhaust system that was only loud when I wanted it to be, and almost civilized the rest of the time. As an added bonus, the new exhaust sealed much much better than the tape and aluminum sheet wrap band-aid.
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then, for maximum stealth, I painted the whole shebang blaaaack (really, it was just a feeble attempt to make it last longer this time)
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The system is now 2.5" all the way through, was was pieced together from what Summit racing claimed was a full kit for a '67 Cougar, along with a few extra U bends I bought.
The box mufflers are Walker brand OE replacements for, I believe, a LX platform Charger. They are quiet enough, and were the size I needed to fit in the space I had. It's quiet enough that conversations can now be had at highway speeds.
In what I have since dubbed 'Party' mode, its just as loud and obnoxious as ever. Maybe more.


All in all, My photo records show that on January 3rd 2018, the Autometer gauge said I had 51,657 miles on it.
On January 15, 2019? 71,646.

Just a hair under 20,000 miles in a single year.


I think that counts as driving the hell out of it :mrgreen:










Of course, its not all sunshine and roses. The Toploader transmission is not as happy as it once was.
The speedo driving gear inside the trans stripped all it's teeth off a few months ago (the last 2200 miles have been recorded via GPS)
A minor problem really, It's only a $7 part, and a $2 gasket.
The speedo gear problem is hugely, vastly overshadowed by the fact that 4th gear is almost impossible to engage these days unless I double clutch, and even then, it does not feel like there is much engagement most of the time.
It feels fine when I'm not moving, but when underway...... it's not so good.



A proper solution is in the works, and craigslist, ebay, and other classified ad trawling is underway.


In the meantime, I bought the car a Christmas present:
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From a '98 Ford Explorer, Axle code D4
3.73:1, and Trac-Loc.
I opened the case and verified it's contents and quality, and internally, I think it's good to go.

The OEM 8 inch axle measures about 59.25 inches, WMS, to WMS.
The Exploder axle measures 59.5, WMS, to WMS.

I'll need to move the spring perches, and clean some other junk off the axle tubes, but it's going to be a great upgrade.




Future's looking bright!
 
i don't understand what's going on with that exhaust?

those drums, are they silencers, or cats?
and where do the piper sticking out on the side, go to?
and they have a pressure valve? why?
 
The picture of the painted exhaust is upside down relative to how it installs in the car btw.

The exhaust system is now has a total of 4 mufflers.

After the headers is a set of glasspack mufflers (the larger OD tubes)
Behind those, is a Y joint. The straight through path of the Y leads to the 90° bend, and then a set of electric butterfly valves. After the valves, is an exhaust exit in front of the rear wheels.

The other branch of the Y goes into a set of standard box mufflers, then over the axle to an exhaust exit behind the rear bumper.

When the valve is open, the natural flow of the exhaust will bypass the second set of mufflers, and most of it will go out in front of the rear wheels.

When the valve is closed, the exhaust is going through both pairs of mufflers.

It's a somewhat complicated setup, and most people who install exhaust cutouts will install them before any mufflers, for maximum loudness.
When I ripped my exhaust open on road debris, I had to drive for about 100 interstate miles with, effectively, open headers on one bank.
That experience confirmed for me what I already knew. Driving with open headers sucks major ass, and anyone who does so on the road is either a fool, deaf, or their car is broken.

Thus, having the cutout between the two sets of mufflers. Effectively, when the cutouts are open, the exhaust is the same as it's always been, with just the right amount of loud and awesome. Close the cutouts, and the car becomes much more civilized.
 
got it :)

so you only want to be a little bit redneck? :p
 
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Nabster's car next to yours?
 
@Dr_Grip alerted me to this, then ran across it scrolling through Facebook.

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Yes, I saw that on both Facebook and instagram. It looks like Motortrend is using a pic of my car from last years zip-tie drags cruise to promote this years event. That picture was taken at Irwindale Speedway.

There's another pic on the previous page that I had taken around the same time from a slightly different angle.

Nabster's car next to yours?

Nope, as far as I know, Nabster's car was about 1400 miles away at the time that picture was taken last January.
Also, that Mustang's headlight surrounds were painted black, and while that particular '69 was a decent driver quality, I think Nabster's Mustang blows it away condition-wise.
 
So, I recorded some videos not long ago, and I also found an old SD card with some interesting video as well.

This clip is from not so long ago, and includes just about 3.5 minutes of V8 glory.

The exhaust was in party mode for the duration of the clip, and the audio from my mic absolutely does NOT do it justice.
The sound echoing in off the cliff walls was viscerally loud and cutting in a way that I just can't describe.

More clips to come (hopefully) soon
 
The exhaust was in party mode for the duration of the clip, and the audio from my mic absolutely does NOT do it justice.
The sound echoing in off the cliff walls was viscerally loud and cutting in a way that I just can't describe.

The only problem I can see (hear) is that it'd be completely impossible to drive anywhere without constantly feeling the urge to run up and down the gears to experience more of the sound.
 
The only problem I can see (hear) is that it'd be completely impossible to drive anywhere without constantly feeling the urge to run up and down the gears to experience more of the sound.

This is true, and its a very real problem.

I just cant seem to stop myself from going WOT as often as I safely can.

Thus, measures are being taken to reduce the speed at which I hit redline in 1st gear, making easier to do so without totally obliterating the speed limit...
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An unfortunate side effect of this adjustment is that I will be able to maintain much higher highway speeds at lower RPMs and better fuel economy...

But that's a price I'm willing to pay :mrgreen:
 
So, back in feburary, I had a package arrive
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it is, of course, a new T-56 from American Powertrain, 2.66 1st gear, and 0.62 6th gear.
The trans came in a package that includes damn near everything I need to make the swap happen, including bellhousing, clutch, flywheel; the lot. I even got a decent warranty to boot.

With the trans parts in hand, as well as a slew of parts for the differential that I've been pulling together for the last 3 months, all I was waiting on was a break in the weather good enough for me to drive the car up north to my parents place so that I could start the first stage of the project, which is to strip and prep the new axle for installation.

My opportunity came last weekend, and so I made the trip, and got to work.

Starting by pulling out the axle shafts, which require the removal of the disks and calipers:
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I also ended up removing the brake line, parking brake cables, and parking brake/dust shield/caliper mount assembly.


I then worked to cut off the link mounts that appeared to be part of some kind of traction adding device (not entirely unlike a cal-trac or something).
The link mounts had to go because they were going to be in the way.
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I then installed new axle seals, and cleaned and prepped the axle for paint:
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and waited for the paint to dry:
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(that's weld-through primer where the jack-stands are. Those are the approximate areas where the new perches will go)

I left the sway bar mounts, since they are not in the way, and I would like to maybe use them. I also left the old spring perches since they are also not going to be in the way, the brake line mounts to them, and most importantly, I may end up using them as part of the shock mount.

Anyways, that's where I'm at for now. The plan for next weekend is to get the old axle out, and the new one roughed in. I wont weld the new spring perches till the trans is in, and I can fine tune the pinion angle.
 
That T-56 should be hell for stout. What trans does it have currently?

It's a close ratio toploader from a 65 mustang now. I think 4th isn't very happy though, that or the shifter is ruinously worn out.
I don't think either have ever been rebuilt though, and I certainly got my moneys worth out of the setup.
 
So I assume with the change in rear-end and transmission there is a change in rear ratio with the addition of overdrive?

Yup, the new 8.8 inch axle is a 31 spline 3.73:1 ratio, with the ford limited slip in it.

The old 8 inch that I will be removing soon is a 2.79:1 open setup.

I'm going to go from about 3050 rpm at 80 to about 2400 at the same speed.

3.55 gears might have been slightly better for lower rpm at 80, but the 3.73 is what was available at the junkyard I went to, and I suspect my particular setup will like 2400 rpm at 80 anyways.

Plus, more ratio = more faster
 
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