Hello. 1964 Ford Falcon ute / Ranchero owner interested in aero mods - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

64Falcon · 01-13-2008, 08:39 AM

Hey all.
Just thought I'd better put a quick introduction up. I love my classic cars, particularly when they're fast, none of which helps when you want good mileage. At them moment my daily driver is an Australian '64 Falcon ute, which is basically a Ranchero. I've gone from the 2.4L 6 to the later model 4.2L with a 3 speed auto, soon to be swapped out for a 5 speed manual.
I swapped out the commercial diff for a 3.15 LSD, and its got water injection on it, at roughly 10:1 fuel - water, although I'm still fine tuning, so far that has me up to 25.5 mpg from 21. Apart from that I've got a couple of sheets of aluminium sitting in the back yard waiting for me to belly pan it, so if the weather is right tomorrow I'll do some coastdown testing for a base line and then get to work.

MetroMPG · 01-13-2008, 10:09 AM

Hi, welcome.

Interesting daily driver! I take it the differential swap was for performance then? Did the gearing remain the same?

SVOboy · 01-13-2008, 01:30 PM

Welcome to the site! Pretty good mileage, for what it is!

64Falcon · 01-13-2008, 07:07 PM

The diff swap was more for mileage than anything, the standard ratio was a 4.0:1, which was great away from the lights but it was barely drivable on the highway.

Stan · 01-13-2008, 08:10 PM

A 4-oh, eh? Wow...I'll be that was a bugger on the highway!

Does your ute have an 8-inch under it? IIRC, those are available down to 2.70 here in the States.

64Falcon · 01-13-2008, 08:20 PM

Its an 8 7/8" Dana 20 from a Hornet. The width is spot on for the early falcons, I can get 2.78's for it, but with a T-5 waiting to go in its hardly worth the shipping to get a set when I'll have a .73 overdrive in a few months.

Stan · 01-13-2008, 08:42 PM

Most excellent! You're going to be really happy with that 3.15 and the T-5.

Frank Lee · 01-13-2008, 08:51 PM

I *heart* early Falcons and Rancheros!

Never had one though... yet.

Mine would be a dog in comparison- I'd probably put a four-banger in it, possibly even less!

64Falcon · 01-14-2008, 01:11 AM

And the coastdown figures are in.

Posted in a new thread: 1964 Ford Falcon ute (Ranchero) - calculating Cd via coastdown tests

Beaver · 01-14-2008, 07:51 PM

Hello 64Falcon!
I also love the old classics. My second car was a 64 Mercury Comet (US spec) which was the Merc equivalent to the Falcon. It was only 5 years old when I bought it! It had a 260 ci V8 and 3 on the tree, with some kind of high gearing. It easily got @20mpg even with a hotfoot teenager driving it.
Okay, back to my point... Your avatar picture looks like a 62 / 63 Falcon to me. I think that is probably an international difference, but can you post a bigger picture of it? I'd love to get a closer look at it. And welcome; I'm very interested in what kind of mileage can be coaxed out of old Detroit (or wherever yours came from) iron.
Cheers,
Beaver