Baldies XC Falcon discussion

[Bearded Baldy]

I need to take that out too.

[Bearded Baldy]

Recommendations for blasting and priming?

[deankdx]

that rust in the plenum, before you drill out 100s of spot welds. just check from under side if they are accessible (from under the dash) you may need to turn the car on it's side/upside down, or weld upside down (liquid metal falls in your elbow vein if not wearing leather sleeves) 

I've seen it done twice now welded from this side when the majority is solid. (have also seen just a section of the plenum cut out rather than the whole thing)
 

just thought i'd mention it as an option before you get into it. 

[Bearded Baldy]

Cheers @deankdx, the idea has crossed my mind. But that wont stop it from happening again, if i take it all apart i can rustkill and paint everything as it goes back together.

[FirstMate]

Bugger re the plenum rust, have been putting off doing same repair for the valiant. Might use this as inspiration to kick the work off…

[Bearded Baldy]

I will guarantee you one thing, i have no idea what i am doing!

[locost_bryan]

Re colour, I like that bronze. My dad an XA in Cosmic Blue, so I am partial to that too.

 

[Bearded Baldy]

I am still torn between original colourscheme or 'blue psycho' bodywork with black vinyl roof and gt style blackouts along the bottom.

[Kiwibirdman]

On 17/05/2024 at 06:57, Bearded Baldy said:

Cheers @deankdx, the idea has crossed my mind. But that wont stop it from happening again, if i take it all apart i can rustkill and paint everything as it goes back together.

Have a look at Howard Astill's channel on YouTube. He shows how to do it on his falcon van. 

 

[Bearded Baldy]

Have watched a few of his vids. That xc body on the bf/fg chassis turns my crank big time!

[Kiwibirdman]

I'm not a Ford guy at all, that is a cool car. Wish I had the time, motivation and most of all, money to do something like that.

[Bearded Baldy]

Yeah. Some of those builds you have to wonder just how much disposable income do those guys have haha

[Bearded Baldy]

Full set of BA xr6 leather seats managed to fit in the wagon while on our south island trip. Will have to tie them on the roof when we head northbound tomorrow, left half of the load at the inlaws this morning so will need a big reshuffle.

Future baldies problem.

 

[rusty360]

I can see if there's some 100x10 flat bar at work and post you a bit for ya seat spacers?

[Bearded Baldy]

@rusty360 legend mate that would be awesome if it works out. Will ring one the local engineers tomorrow and see if i can scrounge some there first though, don't want to put you out.

[rusty360]

I'll have a look in the morning anyways.

[Bearded Baldy]

@rusty360 thanks for the offer man.

The engineering outfit i send all our rusty trailer axle jobs to has sussed me a piece. Once i got them to answer the phone lol.

Cheers again

[Bearded Baldy]

Has taken a bit of searching but managed to get a pair of front spindles from an XF falcon for a decent price. Used to be everywhere but the speedway guys hoarded them and everyone wants big money for them now.

They are slightly taller than the pre Xd ones so will change the camber curve a bit, similar amount to doing a shelby drop apparently, and also have a slightly different steering arm, rumour is the geometry was upgraded to better suit radial tyres. 

Some people use the xf calipers as an upgrade to the xw to xe coons, but aside from being lighter as they are alloy, they also flex more than the older ones. So as part of the deal i told the guy he can keep the calipers.

I scored a set of dimpled and slotted hub/rotors on clearance years ago which are waiting on the shelf, unsure if i will use these and some more modern calipers, or let my imagination go wild and mod some hubs to fit bigger slip on rotors.

 

 

[cletus]

Be aware, falcons are really bad for the upper ball joint binding before the bumpstop limits the travel, a'shelby drop' or taller spindle makes it worse 

Most aftermarket ball joints have less travel than the original Ford ones 

[Bearded Baldy]

Cheers @cletus, well known in the falcon circles that the aftermarket balljoints have less movement than the originals but i have a plan.

I am hoping that since i am only going low springs this time around (whenever it actually gets on the road again) that worst case scenario i lower the bump stop a touch, best case scenario is some getting in some globalwest control arms and them passing lvvta checks with no hassles.

The globalwest arms have screw in balljoints with much greater travel alledgedly.

That style.

Actually, looking at the prices on those that may be worst case scenario lol.