Lame brain engine swaps into Falcons

[yank with ute]

Without question the OZ factory built many oddballs. People here in the States don't know about the factory built 4 x 4's for example. I was on Ute Man's site for several years and got a kick out of the photos in his galleries.

If you have the photos might I sugget you start a new topic? It would make it easier for everyone to find if they were the topic and not hidden within a topic. (Photo posting instructions are given at the top of the Ford-Forums board.

Oh and you might want to mention the Aussie laws which allow vehicles that can't be registered for street use to be driven on a special permit one day (or is it a week?) per year.

Up here the various States and Canadian providences have varying laws/restrictions in regards to inspection while OZ and NZ have standardized laws across the board. If my home state had vehicle inspections half the cars on the road today couldn't qualify!

That is the reason I was able to find the vehicles I mention in the posts above (speaking of photos, wish I could post a shot of the tall blonde in short pink outfit that just walked by...)

Now I can't remember what I was going to say. LOL!

[yank with ute]

In regards to the 63 "drag car" mentioned in this topic:

Didn't bother to take photos of the many rusted out areas which meant the stiff front springs, air shocks in the rear, slapper bars on the rear made the vehicle worse, not better.

Last night I was looking at the front subframe from that car (it is being used to assemble a V-8 front suspension w/ Shelby mods) and noticed something I had heard about back in the 60's.

I had to borrow the three bolts holding the steering box. When I removed the lower bolt I discovered that the frame's vertical wall was rotting away and had been crushed by tighting the bolt holding the steering box!

If your steering box is attached to rotten sheet metal how can you expect the vehicle to go in a straight line let alone remain in control when going around corners? The steering box HAS TO BE mounted on solid metal to mantain steering geometry/control of the vehicle.

Back in the 60's I heard several times about nice looking Falcons that had rotten sheet metal in the steering box area, therefore the car was unsafe to be driven on public roadways.

Trivia: Looking for an Econoline II? You can't find them because the frame behind the steering box was prone to rot. Ford stopped selling replacement parts for the steering unit on Econoline II's in the late 80's in order to get the vehicles off the road/avoid lawsuits.