1970 Torino And Fairlane Builds

[Ol Fogie]

Dude, I love that Torino..

x3 or 4 maybe more!

 

[Fireball]

Woohoo! It's back on the road!

 

[bigjohn]

Sweet!
My TKX in the AMX is the 3.27 1st gear unit but currently paired with a 3.15 rear end gear.
There is a 3.55 gear set on the shelf that will get installed when the 9" ford rear goes in.
I'm hoping it will really dig hard off the line, but still be a usable 1st gear... not like driving our jeeps with a granny 1st gear.

You’ll like that 3.55 on that combo. That was the f100 gear and with 28” tall tires, it was good. 3.70-3.90 I think would be perfect in the f100. I think the 3.50 gears would be perfect in this lighter car with shorter 26” tires for getting out of the hole hard and fast. I’m guessing your amx is even a bit lighter. I’ll find out soon. I’m going to try and hit the scales this weekend. An accurate weight should help me more accurately determine wheel hp once it hits the track.

The new wheels came in. These look great but to be honest, the cragars just look right. But 14” tire availability off the rack are a problem out on the road, and the torque thrusts are much lighter. I’ll throw some taller front tires on and have some nearly new 275/60r15’s in going to try to fit on the rear.

I’ll post a wheel better picture later this week once I get everything together and maybe do some beers and wheel polishing.

 

[bigjohn]

I got a few things dialed in the last few days. Yesterday I found the original axle shaft from this axle in the barn attic, and instantly remembered why I changed it. It was easier than driving out the broken wheel studs, haha. So got to work cutting the old bearing off and pressed the new one on. Then the broken studs required a torch and air hammer, but I prevailed. Today I picked up a set of studs and lugs after work and got the axle swapped, and all The New wheels properly mounted and torqued. I generally hate the goofy anti theft lug nuts but used them here so the socket doesn’t rub the center cap.
Then went around the wheels again and the rear axle u bolts and got everything torque checked again.
With the wheels mounted I did a bunch of measuring with this against the wife’s Falcon to determine I’m fairly sure I can make the big tires work on this car with these wheels.
Lastly, I hand washed her. At least the painted and shiny parts. It didn’t take long, haha. I tend to do wheels and chrome often, but the rest about once a year, whether it needs it or not.
The shorter axle in the picture is the one I installed two years ago. That’s about 3/4” of lost axle engagement vs the stocker. Thank god I caught that. If an axle breaks under full power, that can do crazy things. Like send you through your own fence while doing 4th of July burnouts, like my buddy just found out with his formerly beautiful late 70’s Camaro that’s now totaled. All that to say, glad I caught that. And this will get upgraded axles and a center section this winter.

 

[Fireball]

I got a few things dialed in the last few days. Yesterday I found the original axle shaft from this axle in the barn attic, and instantly remembered why I changed it. It was easier than driving out the broken wheel studs, haha. So got to work cutting the old bearing off and pressed the new one on. Then the broken studs required a torch and air hammer, but I prevailed. Today I picked up a set of studs and lugs after work and got the axle swapped, and all The New wheels properly mounted and torqued. I generally hate the goofy anti theft lug nuts but used them here so the socket doesn’t rub the center cap.
Then went around the wheels again and the rear axle u bolts and got everything torque checked again.
With the wheels mounted I did a bunch of measuring with this against the wife’s Falcon to determine I’m fairly sure I can make the big tires work on this car with these wheels.
Lastly, I hand washed her. At least the painted and shiny parts. It didn’t take long, haha. I tend to do wheels and chrome often, but the rest about once a year, whether it needs it or not.
The shorter axle in the picture is the one I installed two years ago. That’s about 3/4” of lost axle engagement vs the stocker. Thank god I caught that. If an axle breaks under full power, that can do crazy things. Like send you through your own fence while doing 4th of July burnouts, like my buddy just found out with his formerly beautiful late 70’s Camaro that’s now totaled. All that to say, glad I caught that. And this will get upgraded axles and a center section this winter.
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Looking good after all the work! Now it needs some nitrous so you can beat your wife's big block.

 

[bigjohn]

Looking good after all the work! Now it needs some nitrous so you can beat your wife's big block.

Thanks Roy! Haha I’ll let Anna have one more season of wins. I have a very strong suspicion that 460 sitting in the garage will end my losing streak next year.

 

[bigjohn]

Well I finally got a good test drive done.
The Delphi fuel pump is installed. I’m very happy with it. I usually have to turn on the electric pump coming up my hill because the Carter has never been adequate for steady heavier throttle. Not today. Also the new belt came in. No squeals, or rolling over with regular tightness.
The drive went great. And I finally got to run it through the gears, hard. It was kind of nuts. I blew past the shift light every shift to 4th, hitting 90mph at the end of the freeway on-ramp from a slow roll. What a fun car!
I’m taking it to buddies tow yard auction in Vancouver tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes.

 

[bigjohn]

And another quick update.
The drive to Vancouver yesterday went great. Got stuck in nasty traffic on I-5. Like 45 minutes to travel 2 miles. But the car did great. It never got over 180 degrees. And I did a ton of clutching. No issues there. The only annoying thing is you can’t creep in first. With the slightly rough idle from the cam the car starts bucking, so it’s constant clutch in clutch out during very slow speeds.
It otherwise did great. Ran good, and felt solid.

A few issues. There were a few spots on I5 where I’d hit bumps and the headers bounced off the freeway. So I’m going to try and get some taller tires installed up front this week. and I’ll be replacing the front springs at some point so I imagine. At this point we’re 5 days from liftoff to Olympic rally so no major changes, and just keep shaking her down.
Then the speedo was still 10 off on the freeway so I tried another higher tooth count gear. As far as I’m aware that’s the highest tooth count they make for a tremec, so hopefully it gets it closer.
And the rear limited slip is still stupid tight. Like a spool. That’s both annoying and stressing stuff out I don’t like stressing. This cements by opinion, the helical gear limited slips are superior to clutch types. There’s none of this break in stuff to deal with.

 

[bigjohn]

A quick update here:
I changed the center section and axles again. Even after adding Ford racing friction modifier and a ton of driving in circles at the boat ramp, the rear axle never did anything except pop, bang, and wear tires. So I pulled the f100 down to the barn and pilfered is 31 spline 3.50 gear Eaton trutrac center section. All is better now. The speedo is show by 5mph at 60 now. I’m good with that.
Then got new tires for the front. They’re still 205’s but 70 instead of 60 series so about 1.5” taller. Hopefully this tames down the header dragging.
Then did a bunch of little stuff. Made some cardboard filler panels for the trunk to cover the rocker void, hoping that’ll kill some air flow. With the windows down, the low pressure cabin would draw air from the trunk, and exhaust from outside through the Rusty rear quarters. I don’t have time to fix that now so hopefully this works.
And now we’re loaded up and headed to Bremerton for the Olympic street car shootout, a 3 day drag and drive. I’ll know in about an hour how she’s going to work. Wish me luck.

 

[bigjohn]

Well here’s where we’re at.
The 140 mile drive up in the 90 degree went great on Thursday. The car worked perfectly and the temp stayed 180 degrees even in traffic.
The first hit at the 8th mile was bad. It was a clean pass but the timing was super retarded. Upon checking that out, I realized in my haste I forgot to pack a timing light. So I guessed, bumped it, and knocked a full quarter second off my time the next pass. And no pinging, so it stayed. The last pass Friday was the fastest at 8.969. That’s the fastest by over .3 seconds this engine has ever gone and .4 faster since it was mated to the tkx. I finished the day with another mechanical fuel pump change. The Delphi was leaking fuel at the diagram. Then a bunch of jet changes in the primary and secondary sides.
Saturdays 160 mile drive was beautiful, mostly cool, and uneventful. The headers only lightly touched a few times on a particularly messed up road in port Townsend. And no fuel mileage to report because I didn’t want to fill the car up and race with the added weight.
Today though….. went even better. We finally got to race before the heat set in. The first pass was an 8.87, improving my personal best. Despite me forgetting to turn on the electric fuel pump and running out of gas at the 500’ mark. The next pass was even better at 8.37 at 80mph, improving my PB. I’m going to make one more pass today then start the changeover to street mode.
The time slip is the wife vs me. The spousal abuse continues but the gold Torino is gaining ground vs the 460 powered falcon.

 

[Fireball]

Well here’s where we’re at.
The 140 mile drive up in the 90 degree went great on Thursday. The car worked perfectly and the temp stayed 180 degrees even in traffic.
The first hit at the 8th mile was bad. It was a clean pass but the timing was super retarded. Upon checking that out, I realized in my haste I forgot to pack a timing light. So I guessed, bumped it, and knocked a full quarter second off my time the next pass. And no pinging, so it stayed. The last pass Friday was the fastest at 8.969. That’s the fastest by over .3 seconds this engine has ever gone and .4 faster since it was mated to the tkx. I finished the day with another mechanical fuel pump change. The Delphi was leaking fuel at the diagram. Then a bunch of jet changes in the primary and secondary sides.
Saturdays 160 mile drive was beautiful, mostly cool, and uneventful. The headers only lightly touched a few times on a particularly messed up road in port Townsend. And no fuel mileage to report because I didn’t want to fill the car up and race with the added weight.
Today though….. went even better. We finally got to race before the heat set in. The first pass was an 8.87, improving my personal best. Despite me forgetting to turn on the electric fuel pump and running out of gas at the 500’ mark. The next pass was even better at 8.37 at 80mph, improving my PB. I’m going to make one more pass today then start the changeover to street mode.
The time slip is the wife vs me. The spousal abuse continues but the gold Torino is gaining ground vs the 460 powered falcon.

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Nice job getting it ready on time! Also congrats on it being a reliable ride.

And 8.37 calculates out to a 13 flat quarter mile. Not bad at all for a small block on the first time out!

 

[bigjohn]

Nice job getting it ready on time! Also congrats on it being a reliable ride.

And 8.37 calculates out to a 13 flat quarter mile. Not bad at all for a small block on the first time out!

Thanks Roy! If I’m right the 8.73 should be mid 13’s which I’m happy with. More cam will certainly yield significantly more power, but that’s for another day.
The Biggest thing I love about the car now though is the drivability. The Windsor was a good little engine but this combo is great. Despite the big head Cleveland reputation, the lower end torque is good, and of course the power up top is fun too. The rattles are about all gone. And aside from the driveline angle that needs fixed, you get the feeling this car could drive anywhere in America.
A few quick notes.
The carb jetting was messes up. The nice thing is driving, plug reading and the drag strip are great tools for dialing that in.
The other bit that I’d intended to check before we left but didn’t was throttle range. I was missing about 1” of throttle movement. A quick adjustment to the cable bracket fixed that. That’s where the last quarter second came from vs my 8.96 pass on Friday.
The drive home yesterday went fairly well. There’s a bearing noise out back that’s developed. I’m guessing it’s a wheel bearing. The 31 spline axle shafts had mystery bearings on them. I’m going to get those ordered.
And that’s it for now. I’m going to pick Jeff’s Fairlane up again to do lower control arms again. The 2yo ball joints have always failed. So we’re trying trw instead of moog this time.

 

[bigjohn]

It’s time for a quick update.
The driveline angle was rough. I’m not sure what i was looking at or measuring. But the fun began this morning. I figured out I needed a 3/4” trans mount spacer. I still had the 1” aluminum block I’d used in the f100. So I ripped 1/4” of the top with a cut off wheel on the angle grinder and a sawzall. That was much harder than I’d have guessed. The block is 3”x8”. Well I guess I should have given my Milwaukee grinder a break. It let the magic smoke out mid way through. Dang it.
So spacing the trans up 3/4” putting the trans as far up into the tunnel as it would go, and changing the rear pinion shims from 6 to 4 degrees finally gave me a passing grade on my tremec app. Who knows why I struggle with driveline angle so much. But man do I.
Plenty more to do. Replace u joints. Replace the rear wheel bearings. Adjust my driveline hoop. And of course, test drive.

 

[bigjohn]

Well she’s better. Much much better.
The rear wheel bearings are changed. The u joints are changed. Everything is buttoned up and torqued. The driveline hoop is clearanced. And I can finally hit the highway without vibration. The downside is I have a whine from the rear axle that developed on the way home from Bremerton. So I’m looking at options for that now.
I could roll the dice with the 4.10 tracloc. I have a 9” install kit and a new set of 4.56 gears. I’d like to change to a nodular case and Daytona support but that all costs $. I’ll have to think on this a bit.

 

[Fireball]

The downside is I have a whine from the rear axle that developed on the way home from Bremerton. So I’m looking at options for that now.

That's what the volume knob on the radio is for.

 

[bigjohn]

Well I suppose I should update this thread.
The Torino has been great. I’ve been daily driving it about 50% of the time. The new sending unit and fuel tank came in so got those installed last week. Otherwise still making little tweaks here and there and driving the heck out of it.
I pulled the trigger on a strange case, 31 spline trutrac type, 3.70 geared third member from quick performance. Ouch. But it’s on the way.
Outside of the whine the car is killer. I took it to happy Valley for Jeepers breakfast last weekend, about 60 miles each way. It cruised 80-85mph with ease, still turning less than 3k rpm’s. Still no real check of fuel mileage, but the cruise might last Saturday, and the happy valley trip appears to be roughly 15mpg.

 

[bigjohn]

Oh, I got the lower control arms replaced on the Fairlane. It’s waiting for its appt with the alignment shop on Tuesday.
Here they are, together again. I can’t help but think about these two and they’re hopeless appearance just 3 years ago when I first laid eyes on them.