Dan,

The design of the Falcon, which started in 57, was to have a lightweight economy car. To achieve that goal, the unibody construction was used. All 60-70 Falcons/Comets have a unibody, no frames were ever used. The 62 and up Fairlane, Montego, and Torinos were also unibody construction. The last body on frame Fairlane was 61. When a big block was used, the front frame rails were reinforced and were a greater height in 66-67.

In a Falcon, the only framerail extension, in the 60-65 time frame, was in the early wagons and Rancheros. 60-61 are the years I have seen them in. In V8 models, the under engine brace was eliminated, and the double floor/firewall, known as torque boxes, was used for strength. No other structural component was used in the unibody construction.

If you have seen a body on frame Falcon, it was a custom installation, not factory. There has been just about everything done to a Falcon since they were introduced.

Terry L. Rahn

well I tried my 351 Windsor right side manifold and the Maverick left side manifold on today.the Mustang manifold fit with just a small amount of the manifold at the exit port hitting the rear part of the sub frame.drove a large screwdriver between the manifold and subframe and had about 1/8 inch of clearance.Now the driver side was another story, it fit well between the shock tower and cleared the steering box but would not clear the rubber on the rear part of the motor mount,looks like it could be more than 1/2 to 1 inch of clearing that mount.The Maverick driver side manifold part #D5DE-9431-CC I have will not work on my Falcon.The manifold has what I would say are 3 each raised cooling strips on each side of it.maybe if I would remove them it may work but I seriously doubt it.any thoughts on this ?

_On the pass side what part is hitting the subframe? Not the firewall? I would have thought if any interference at all it would be with the firewall. Any pics?

_On the drivers side Mav manifold is it the ribs that are hitting the mount. The rubber part bolted to the block? Not the corner(metal part) of the mount? What mount are you using? My Mav manifold doesn't have any ribs on the back side. It's just smooth. If yours does you could just grind them off smooth. Don't know why some would have them and not all. I have had mine bolted on and don't remember any interference. Mine is #D1DE-9431BA which makes it a 71. Yours is a 75.

_If the corner of rubber mount as well as the ribs on the manifold were cut off would it clear then?

_I know Mike S has used the Mav' manifold, I wonder what he has to say on this.

R n

_


not sure how far the manifold is in inches but it has a lot of room from the fire wall.the part that you bolt the pipe up to rubs the frame,I could grind 1/8 to 1/4 inch off of the manifold and it would be fine. looked to me as if the rear part of the rubber that bolts to the block may have been hitting the lower cooling rib,it has 3 each on both sides of the driver side manifold.after the grinding would be done on the manifold, I still don't think it would clear the metal part that the rubber is glued to. it looks like it could be an inch from letting me get the rear bolt in the manifold.didn't take any pics.

Sounds like the flange is the part that hits the subframe. Can you grind enough off that to clear and still have enough meat for the stud to be in solid? Possible shift the engine alittle bit too.

_If the Mav mani' is hitting on the rib could you grind off the rib first then grind a notch in the casting without making it too thin? Also grind away some of the mount. I would try altering the mount before I got too carried away modifying the manifold.

_If anybody has a big belt sander you might be able to run it on that and bevel the mount face of the whole manifold to tilt it out away from the block at the bottom. Some machine shops can do that. Or have a machine shop fabricate a tapered shim to go between the block and manifold to do the same thing. You might have to fab' a template for them. These might sound like crazy ideas but anything is possible. Just takes a plan.

R n

I could remove some of the flange on the left side Mustang manifold with out any problems, it would still have enough meat that it wouldn't cause any problems.The Maverick manifold,I don't think I want to go through that kind of work to get it to fit.I live about 20 minutes from Mustang Corral in Edwardsvile and they have a set of reprodution early Mustang HiPo manifolds.I think I'm going to see if they will let me take them and see if they will fit.if they don't fit, I may just use the original Falcon manifolds and get it over with.Then I'll just send the headers and the Mavaerick,Mustang manifolds to ebay.

It sounds like your Maverick manifold is not from a Maverick at all, but rather a '75 351W from a big car. I run the '69 Windsor manifolds on the 5.0 in my Ranchero, and the driver side required the engine mount have a corner removed and the heat shield reconfigured to fit. The Maverick is a bolt-on requiring no cutting of any kind to the mount, always has been. Get a Mav and it'll go right on.

Also, I have never seen a Mav manifold with the ribs, but I have seen those on the early '70s snub-nose Econoline, which was 302 powered and had a manifold identical to the Mav except for those ribs - which were probably for strength and not cooling. I pulled a set of them once, intending to use them on a Falcon. I sold them to a guy who put them on a '64 Ranchero, and they fit fine - so you can look for them as well if you can't find a V8 Maverick or early round headlight 302 Granada. (same as Mav manifold)

-MJS

Bob,

_Listen to what Mike says, he knows what he's talking about. You are close so don't give up now. Find the correct Mav/Granada and it will fit without mods. Sounds like you have the wrong one.

_I just got through discussing this same issue with another person on the forum. Try contacting Stevp as I think he has a whole bunch of what you need. Maybe you guys can work a deal. He's in Pa, don't know where you are.

_Forget about getting the Mustang Hi-po headers. They won't fit. The Falcon version Hi-pos do fit for some but not all. That's why we use the Mav/Granada drivers side when the Hi-po won't fit. The problem is the drivers side manifold hits the steering box whereas the Mav one clears it. They don't make the Falcon version any more so you would have to find someone who has a set. And then there's no guarentee it will fit in yours either.

_I have set of the Falcon Hi-pos I plan on installing in mine. But I have the Mav header as a backup in case it doesn't fit. Won't know if it will fit in mine till it goes in place.

R n

I sent stevep a pm.he has no email address in his profile.does anyone have his email address or know how I can get with him ?

Bob,

I have a dozen of the maverick drivers side manifolds. Email me at fastbluecobra@yahoo.com if you need one.

Steve

Hi Steve,sent you an email.

Thank You Steve.

Today I loosely bolted up the Maverick manifold that I got from Steve and the Mustang manifold on the right side.I have plenty of clearance on the shock towers and on the steering box.I then hooked up the z bar for the clutch.I think it's going to take a magician to get the pipe bent in the configuration that it will have to be in order for it to hook up to the manifold.I seriously don't think it can be done.Monday I'm going to the muffler shop that I use and see if he will take a look.The pipe that comes off the manifold needs to have a sharp S bend to clear the z bars flat arm and rod that pushes the arm the throw out bearing is on in the bell housing.

_Sounds like you are making progress now that you have the correct manifold. The muffler shop should be able to make the necessary bends to get everything to clear. If he can't find another shop. Don't be afraid to alter the flat arm on the z-bar if necessary to get a better clearance. Some variation is tolerable and won't harm it's function. Just compare a stock mustang z-bar to hi-po version and you will see they are slightly different. Page 2 of this post.

_How about some pics when you all done with it. I'm sure others would like to see too.

R n

I myself would like to see a picture from the driver side looking up at the manifold and pipe conection.Any body done this before and have a picture of it ?