63 Fairlane 500

[Ratbird]

Will a FE motor fit in a 63 Fairlane 500? I may have found a decent car without a motor or transmission.
Also, are there parts or kits available to change the pedal set up from an automatic to a 3 pedal car? I love rowing the gears.

Dave J

[machoneman]

Yes, but with lots of effort Heck, might as well put an FE into a Topolino!

http://img.netcarshow.com/Fiat-Topolino_500_1936_1600x1200_wallpaper_02.jpg

Yes, you can drop an FE in it but it needs either a.) a complete aftermarket chassis (stub frame)  plus some fancy crafting to mate that to what is a pure unibody car or b.) a complete chassis (think of those lift-off-body  off  Super Gas cars ala' an Alston kit chassis) c.) graft on a '69-'70 front clip which won't be easy as the track width is much wider.  Opinions may vary...LOl!

Fatman has a kit but IIRC Jay had trouble with their stuff although it wasn't for a Falcon.

http://www.fatmanfabrications.co/products/1963-1965-ford-falcon-strut-ifs-conversion-kit/

Here's my ultimate Falcon, be it a '64 though:

http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/hdrp_0605_1964_holman_moody_ford_fairlane/

Gene Saubert, local crazy 1/2 assed mechanic long ago took a '63 and dropped in an almost full race Z-28 302 Chevy with M-22 4-speed. Lots of hacking even for a SBC. Anyway, he took me for  a ride one day and scared the bejesus out of me. The car was damned fast but no brakes. And I don't mean the OEM 4-wheel drums were inadequate. They were worn-out and hardly worked at all!       

[KMcCullah]

It would take some fab work but certainly doable. I prefer the looks of the 63 over the 64. The little fins on the back just blow my skirt up I guess. Lol

And if I still had a few fun bucks to burn.....
http://www.racingjunk.com/Pro-Street/182241168/1963-FAIRLANE-T-BOLT-CLONE-FULL-TUBE-CHASSIS.html

[BH107]

Of course it will, its the same engine compartment as the 64 that they built the Thunderbolts out of. It does take some clearancing of the shock towers and a few other things, but it by no means needs a full chassis to work. Crites sells all of the parts and instructions to do the work, and it is fairly common. As far as the 4 speed components, it would be best to find factory pedals, and then Crites also makes the rest of the linkage.

[cjshaker]

Of course it will, its the same engine compartment as the 64 that they built the Thunderbolts out of. It does take some clearancing of the shock towers and a few other things, but it by no means needs a full chassis to work.

And what's even crazier is that after the shock tower modifications, there's more room for spark plug and header access than any unmodified Mustang.

A good friend of mine just bought a '63 Fairlane 500 with a 221 and 3 speed about a month ago. I'm already working on him to do this very swap, and it won't take much to convince him since he's a Ford performance nut

[BH107]

Of course it will, its the same engine compartment as the 64 that they built the Thunderbolts out of. It does take some clearancing of the shock towers and a few other things, but it by no means needs a full chassis to work.

And what's even crazier is that after the shock tower modifications, there's more room for spark plug and header access than any unmodified Mustang.

A good friend of mine just bought a '63 Fairlane 500 with a 221 and 3 speed about a month ago. I'm already working on him to do this very swap, and it won't take much to convince him since he's a Ford performance nut

Thats the beauty of it. Ford had DST do it 50 years ago, so there is nothing to try and re-engineer. Crites sells just about everything for it, even headers. And there are plenty of examples out there to look at.

Of course you could go crazy and do a custom front clip, or a full tube chassis car, but the swap can be done without all of that work.