My 1965 FORD FALCON soon to have a major heart transplant.........
Hello everyone thought I might start a blog on my 1965 ford falcon,and the process of installing a EFI engine into the old girl. Have been looking around the net for ages to see if anyone has done anything similar,but to my joy everybody has put it in THE TO HARD BASKET...and opted for the dull and boring (put a V8 into it with a C4 and 9 inch). True, it is a good combo for old fords but, with all the new high tech gear getting around out of later model falcons which are dirt cheap I thought, why not give it a go. Sure there will be some parts that I have to fabricate and modify to suit but, if all goes well I should have a car that will go like the clappers, be reliable, fairly cheap to run (compared to a hot V8) and able to get cheap spares for many years to come. First thing in order to is get a donor car, I have opted for a early EL falcon since they don't have the VVT engine in them and it makes for wiring up the new ECU unit a whole lot easier. Also out of the donor car, I have pulled out the rear diff which is a Bourg warrner LSD with disk brakes.I didn't worry about the auto box as I am dropping in a 5 speed manual at the same time (just to be different) .So far, engine, computer, tail shaft and diff has cost the grand total of $200 and the T5 gear box a carton of bundy & coke.The previous owner ditched the 170ci and fordomatic in the late 1980s and put in a alloy head 250 xflow and BW35 auto out of a XE falcon As the 250 and auto are near spot on the same size and length as the new drive train, I know that it will fit without any problem.
The old 250 has had its day (leaks more oil than the Exon Valdeaze...)
I have hit the first little snag in the dummy fit, the engine mounting holes on the 250 are in a different position to the 4.0. The good thing is that they are the same height and the 4.0 has an extra bolt hole 100mm back, so I should be able to fabricate a mounting bracket and use V8 engine mounts (V8 mounts bolt on flat, 6s are on a angle). As a extra bonus, the engine bracket will be bolted in 5 spots, rather than the 2 which currently hold the engine in place now. I am not going to put a cross member in because I don't want to mess around in modifying the sump, but I will use the lower engine mount brackets from a V8 conversion kit (from Castlemain Rod Shop) as they will bolt straight into the suspension towers and give me a good central point to mount the fabricated bracket. I will be fabricating the engine bracket out of 8mm H beam steel with reinforcment gussets welded in, so they will definatly have the strength to carry the load and extra tourqe of the new engine.
Rough plan for engine bracket
As you can see the original engine mount & bracket are pretty simple, and only 2 bolts in the side of the block (notice no cross member).
New fabricated engine bracket & V8 engine mount. Below highlighted in white is the 5 bolt holes in the 4.0 where the new bracket will go.( DO NOT make a mirror copy for the left hand side of the engine because the bolt holes are in a slightly differant spot due to the oil pump and filtter ).
The new bracket & engine mount is in. As you can see the front 2 bolt holes almost match, but I have moved the bracket 20mm back so the whole engine can go back as well (still will have a good 30mm clearance at the firewall). Need as much room at the front as I can get, the old Falcons are not blessed with much room under the bonnet.
Another consern with space in the engine bay is the struts that run from the suspension towers to the back of the firewall.As I want to keep it simple without having to make a complete intake manifold and keep the factory look , I have swapped the EL intake wich is taller then the rocker cover and replaced it with a EB ED style intake wich runs parallel with the head and then turns down ,allowing heaps of room to keep clear of the struts ( and they look better ).After a quick measurment it looks like it will still be a tight fit between the block and the suspension tower,So I might have to cut and shut 40mm of the intake to make sure that there will be plenty of room,With the later model Falcons running the 4.0 ( EB through to AU ) the heater pipes run down between the block and intake manifold ,But my old XP DELUX didn't come out with heaters or even a fan ( lucky it wasn't a poverty pack Falcon HA!! HA!! ) So I can bring the intake in a lot closer without having to worrie about any plumbing getting in the way ,With that done it should be a nice fit.
EL intake manifold and throtle body are in the way of the struts.
The engine bay struts.
The EB ED style manifold,Will have room under the struts. Heaps lower than the rocker cover.