'64 Custom

[cammerfe]

In January of 1964 I took delivery of a '64 Custom (bottom of the line Galaxie body). I ordered the dual-quad version of the 427 engine. It came with an unlocked 4.11 rear end, a T-10 four speed, and a number of HD suspension and brake items. I also got a transistorized ignition and a radio. It cost me about $2300.00.

I installed a set of 'Traction Master' anti-wrap-up links on the rear end, made sure the diz was set for twenty initial and thirty-eight total, and put a set of three-inch 'dumps' right off the ends of the exhaust manifolds. Several weeks after I took delivery I twisted-off the output shaft on the T-10 and made arrangements to get a big-in/big-out Toploader from T&C Livonia, where I was working at the time. At the same time I put in a Hurst shifter to get rid of the wimpy factory unit with the knurled knob that was VERY hard on your palm.  And after the first trip to Milan I made a deep-sump oil pan which stopped the idiot light from coming on at the long end.

Equipped as above, and after a few trials to get used to the car, I put on a set of eight inch M&H Dragster slicks and ran a best of 13.27 at 107. Minus the slicks, which went in the trunk when not on the car, this Custom was my daily driver.

KS

[john a]

Neat story, thanks for sharing.

[HR427]

That is a neat story, I wish more would tell about there combos back in the day.  That MPH showed a lot of promise. 

[frnkeore]

Cammer,
You must be a "Old Guy" like me, to afford a new car in '64.

I'm supersized the they would put a T10, behind that engine. My 271 HP, '64 Fairlane 500, Sport Coupe, came with a close ratio Top Loader and a 9" rear end. I didn't buy it new but, bought it for cash, when I came back from VN, in July of '67.

Although not a FE, the first time that I took it to the drags, in '69, I found that I was running under the record in H Pure Stock but, I had two  "mags" on it (aluminum wheels ) and had to use steel wheels to be in that class. So, I ran around the pits and borrowed 2 spare wheels & tires, put the matching front tires on the back and went for it. No traction bars allowed either (Fairlanes and Mustangs have plenty of wheel hop). The first two years of the 271 HP 289, had only 1.67" intakes, too.

Anyway, with a lot of work (changing the tires, back and forth with a bumper jack), this was the result.

Cammer, do you have any pictures of your car? I had a similar car, before I got the Fairlane, a '60 Custom, with a 352 but, I put the 352, in it.

[WerbyFord]

KS and Frank
Great stories, I hadn't heard the one from Frank before.
I Gonkulated both cars to generate a more complete timeslip.
I'm old enough to remember the days when the timeslip was hand-scribbied, a 1/4 mile ET you could usually read, and a MPH that was a whole number, no tenths, and sometimes was left blank.

KS 427-8v 64 Custom AA cam (so that means some of the 8v still came with the 306-306 cam?)
2.16
5.69
8.64 at 84.2
13.28 at 107.2
5.04 0-60mph (ok that's not on the timeslip)

Frank 289/271 Fairlane
Assumed 3270 curb wt, 3470 down the track
2.64 (did they ice down the tarmac first?)
6.82
10.25 at 72.0
15.75 at 90.0
7.78 0-60mph

Frank, what years did they run those Pure Stock H/PS classes?
I'm assuming you had to even run factory stock mufflers, not gutted out?

[MrRupp]

Those are two very cool stories and two of my favorite engines. Thanks for sharing. Clint

[cammerfe]

Werb', I have made some degree of assumption regarding the '64. I never had the cam out of it to check what might be stamped on the back end. I had the 540 CFM (?) smaller carbs, and, as I said, the T-10 trans. The car was ordered in the very first days of February, 1964. Before the snow was all gone that spring, I got, by mistake, a load of 190 Sunoco instead of the requested 260, and was 'on it' in second gear going west on Plymouth Road when the 190 got to the carbs. The immediate detonation collapsed the ring lands on (as I remember) #7 piston, and I quickly laid down a fog trail behind myself. I didn't want to get the little bit of warranty I had left into any difficulty so I arranged for Bill Brown Ford to simply give me a new piston and set of rings for it, and the necessary gaskets, and I replaced it myself. That was the only time I had a head off, and, other than the transmission swap (I got a big in-'n'-out Toploader by asking the Executive Engineer for it at the plant where I was working---T&C Livonia.) I got the trans, but had to buy the clutch disc, the TO bearing, and the front yoke in order to make the change.

Some months later, after the 90-day warranty was done with, the dealer put a set of stem seals in for me. At that time, they discovered that I had the dreaded spiral lifters and replaced them, and the associated push rods, with a set of shell lifters they had in stock. But I'm guessing about the AA cam.

Just noticed that up above, I said I got it in January. Actually, shortly before I got 90 days in and became part of the bargaining unit, I stopped to talk about buying a new car. I told 'Little Joe', the performance salesman at Bill Brown Ford, that I wouldn't actually order it until the 90 days was up---which would have been Feb 11, '64. I went back on the morning of the 12th to finalize the order and found out that Joe had actually put the order in after the first visit. He then told me it would be in a few days later, and it was!!! (I gave him the $20 down payment and drove it home. Payment was $104 per month. That was a full week's take home as a machine operator at the time.

KS

[WerbyFord]

KS,
Hmm - well, always collecting evidence or even memories to resolve the "306 vs 324 degree - what came factory?" dilemma:

Do you remember how it idled & acted?
I mean, the 306 "AA" cam - it only takes a minute or so & it's driveable. About like a 428CJ cam. And once the car's warmed up, you cant tell theres a cam in there at all, except for the lifter clatter. And you can floor it as low as 1800rpm or so & it pulls like a flathead Ford.

The 324 "K" cam, the 8v cam - it idles, not super-rough, but you know it's a cam, even after warmed up.
And when it's cold - it needs 10-15 minutes in the winter to become driveable (even here in CA). It is exactly the same grind that Chevy then used in their solid 396-427-454 Rats, the L78, L72, L71, LS6 if you've heard one of those with the stock cam. Doesn't really pull until 3000rpm.

Does that behavior jog your memory any?

Even MORE conflicting info on which cam came in the later Medium Risers, maybe even a different cam in Galaxie vs Fairlane. NHRA once tried to DQ Charbonneau because he was running the 324 cam in his 67 Fairlane 427-4v car. He said the 324 was optional in them. NHRA let it go but later banned the car because it was a non-numbers matching wagon. I think their point was, Ford didn't put the 427 in wagons even if AMA said they did.

[cammerfe]

I believe it was a 'AA' in the '64, because I bought a 'AA' over the counter for the engine I built several years later ('68) to go in my '67 Cougar XR7 GT.

The Cougar came, of course, with a 390, but it never was satisfactory, so I gathered a bunch of parts and put a 427 together for it. The pistons I found were a set of the C8AX pop-ups, so I had a bit of trouble even with 260 Sunoco, and put a home-made 'Snow' type set-up on it that ran isopropyl alcohol to cool things off. I used an adjustable Hobbs switch to trigger it and found that it removed the tendency to 'crackle' under low-speed load.

The 'AA' cam, with shell lifters, was relatively mild for daily driving. I used an 850 DP carb that I had gone through by Harold Droste, the Holley guy that worked all say, every day, at EEE. The carb was mounted on an early, modified Sidewinder. That carb was designed to use of the 427 Cobra, but Harold worked his magic and it functioned vety well.

I went through the C6 that came in the '67 Cougar and used an aftermarket converter. Headers were intended for a 390 Mustang, but I cut the flanges off and substituted a set of  8-bolt up-'n'-downs. The gaskets weren't known for lasting well. but I got good at unbolting the motor-mount on one side at a time for room to get my hands in the vivinity, and whacked-up a few box wrenches to fit. Using gaskets made up of two layers of gasket material with a perforated steel core also helped.

The street characteristics of the two engines were close enough that I'm sure they were both 306 instead of 324. FWIW, I asked Comp for a solid roller that duplicated the street manners of the 'AA' when I spec'd the parts of the engine I built at the Roush prototype shop for Mustang Illustrated. What they gave me was 242-248 at .050, and about .666 lift on 110, but the idle characteristics, on the dyno, were just fine. a bit of lope at about 850 let one know, along with the mechanical sounds of the lifters, was all quite glorious. We've learned a lot about cams since the '60s.

I might also comment that we used a C8AX-D in the Thunderbolt/TP combo I helped with in '68. Much rowdier.

KS