'64 Ford Fairlane Project

[curleysracecars]

Hello everyone-
Long time lurker and always enjoyed this place. I have been debating on whether or not to start a build thread, but figured it may be fun to show progression of this project. This has been a back burner, spend time on it in between customers projects for almost 2 years now. Recently my wife and I have decided on moving out of state to expand our manufacturing business, and therefore this thing will probably be sold upon completion. She promises I can build another one someday...Lol.

I have done a lot of research on this and other similar forums and one thing that is always very prevalent is the idea of an end goal for the vehicle once completed. Keeping this goal in mind the entire build makes decision making easier at times. In other words, it is easy to get off course when decision making...sticking to that initial plan will keep you from going astray and minimize frustration. We all wants the newest, latest, greatest of everything but often times those pieces do not fit the initial goal set for the project. This particular car was always intended to be a street car more than anything. I am extremely busy and figured I would have very little time to go to any tracks with it. That said, I have gotten in a little too deep in some instances, but have been good about not going overboard for the cars intended purpose. I do a lot of drag racing stuff, and have recently started to take on projects in other industries as well. This project has been fun, while also challenging at times. I really enjoy the design/engineering aspect more than anything, so I sometimes go overboard with what needs to be done. Add to that, I run precision sheetmetal equipment and other CNC stuff, and you can see throughout the build that there are many instances where I put all of this to work.

The car was purchased from a little old lady locally. It was her husbands car, and her father-in-law was the original purchaser. It was a basic 6 cylinder, Ford-o-matic, Sports Coupe 500. White with black interior. I probably should have left the suspension part of it alone, and just did more of a "restore" on the car, while swapping a SBF into it....but that didnt stretch my imagination much. That said, the following is now the plan for the build.

*SUSPENSION*
Front -
*Mustang II Spindles, using a completely from scratch design of suspension geometry(only the spindle is MII based). Some dont like this setup, but I wanted to see what I could do with it.
*Viking Double Adjustable Coilovers
*Fabricated Tubular Control Arms
*Narrowed Rack & Pinion to Obtain Ideal Geometry

Rear-
*TCP Mustang Leaf Springs (5 Leaf)(wanted 2.5" wide, and had a difficult time finding lowering springs with advertised spring rates for the Fairlane)
*Tubular Front Crossmember with Incorporated Adjustable Leaf Spring Mounts (nobody could give a definitive answer as to the benefits of having a front adjustable mount, so I went ahead and did it to find out for myself)
*Custom Rear Leaf Spring Mounts and Shackles (Mustang springs are different dimensions than the Fairlane stuff, so things needed to be moved around)
*4.5" Long 4130 Chromoly Shackles
*Viking Smooth Body Double Adjustable Shocks

*Round Tube Subframe Connectors- I didnt want to go through the floor, but didnt want them hanging down low either. I ended up poking them through the rear floor pans just a bit to keep them from hanging below the pinch welds of the rockers. These also incorporate hidden passages on the front and rear, giving an ideal location to run batter cables and fuel lines from front to back on the car. (Ran on opposite sides of course)

*DRIVETRAIN*

*Engine- Pretty mild 302 from a 1968 Mustang. Bored .030" over. Basic intake, cam, exhaust, and ported/cleaned up stock iron heads. I figured this would get the car moving and could later be updated to any number of combinations
*Transmission - Rebuilt C4, with shift kit and other internal "tricks" to make them work better and last longer. Converter is a custom built piece from a local shop that should be well mannered on the street.
*Rearend - Ford 9", with stock 31 spline 3.50 gear center section. Housing has been cut down to accommodate rear wheel offset.



*Wheels/Tires*
US Mags Rambler Wheels 17x7" Up Front - BFG 235/45/17 Tires
US Mags Rambler Wheels 18x9.5" In Rear BFG 245/45/18 Tires


This covers most of the basic stuff. Much of the other stuff is kind of the "normal" mods that everyone does(ratchet shifter, fabbed fuel cell in factory location, painless wiring, etc). Paint will go back to Wimbledon White(unless someone buys it before paint), which will include underside and engine compartment.

Pictures:

Day I brought it home.



Getting it torn apart:


Engine Stuff:
3G Alternator with Billet Bracket for Old Style Water Pump SBF
Basic Port Job on Stock Iron Heads
Aluminum Radiator with Fabbed Overflow


Suspension Stuff:

Front:
I didnt like the stock front frame rails, especially under the battery tray. So I designed and made new ones, duplicating the 4 degree bend that the factory rails had, so that the core support would all still line up.
Engine crossmember was designed in Solidworks, incorporating a centerline mark to pull your tape measure from for all referencing, as well as all suspension mounting points. Individual pieces had slots and tabs incorporated in them to aid in alignment when assembling/welding. Tubular lower core support crossmember gave some much needed room for the aluminum radiator, as well as adding strength over the stock sheetmetal piece.
Upper BJ Plates were drawn, laser cut, and formed in order to build the upper tubular control arms. Also is a picture of the Pinto rack that was shortened 4.5" to help with suspension geometry.




Rear:
Laser Cut and Formed Leaf Spring Plates with Incorporated Tie Down Points
Adjustable Shock Mount with Billet Mount
Weld Quality (laying upside down welding the front leaf spring mounts)
Rear Shackle Mounts (encapsulates frame rails, gives new location for shackle pivot point)
Subframe Connectors with Openings for Passage Ways
Rear Suspension Mocked Up (sorry for the blast of light)

Brakes:
Using the MII spindle, 1970 Mustang rotors (11.4" if I remember right), and SN95 aluminum dual piston calipers. Design time was fun. I laser cut some brackets out of steel to verify hole locations and such. Then took this information and made solid models to then machine out of aluminum. There are 2 pieces that bolt together, one to the spindle, the other to the OEM caliper bracket. This is one of the items I may try to market in the future. The MII spindle is used a lot in street rod stuff, and I am wondering if the "all ford components" aspect will be much of a selling point.