My new '63 Falcon

Hi all, been checking out the site for over a year and am glad to finally be throwing my project into the mix.  After looking for awhile with not much luck I ended up posting a want ad on Craigslist.  Found this beauty about an hour away at a great price.  Some small rust thru areas but overall pretty solid.  When I brought it home it sat for the last year while I finished up a hot rod project.  During that time I've been reading a lot on this site as well as purchasing parts.  Plans are for nice driver to take the family out in.  I love them slammed to the ground but looks like more work than I've got time for right now.  This will hopefully be the start of a build thread.  I'm really looking forward getting this back out on the road.

I can't wait to see what you do with her. Looks like a good van.

Nice, I'm sure you'll have fun fixing her up!

Congrats Hip E!!! I like the look of the window vans. Anxious to see what you do with her.

Looks like a great start, looking forward to see what you do with her.

Welcome to VV. Looks like you're off to a great start. Keep those pics coming as you move along on your new van project.

Thanks for the welcome and words of encouragement.

Welcome aboard, the best place for old vans!

Been working on the motor for the last couple weekends.  Replaced the head gasket, rebuilt the carb, flushed out the fuel system, put in a new aluminum radiator, new water pump, upgraded to a pertronix module with new plugs wires cap and rotor, and replaced a missing ignition switch.  Running pretty good but still needs some fine tuning.  Been having a good time driving it up and down the driveway, brakes are scary bad but they're on the list.  Probably start up on body work next weekend

The carb is simple but finicky. The motor likes a lot of initial advance. By ear or feel, they're easy to tune. If you have a vacuum guage, set the idle for best vacuum and then time for best vacuum and it will wake right up. Just be careful not to go to far and of pinging. But the carb can be a problem. They aren't responsive and tend to have a soft or dead spot. The pertronix is good, but when you ditch the carb you'll need a new ignition system. But if you can get it dialed in, the old setup will serve you well

Glad to see you got her going. Keep those pics coming and and do the brakes last....then you won't be tempted to drive it untill the body work is done.

Congrats on the purchase!

Went ahead and stripped the interior and gave it a wash inside and out.  Removed the glass and some of the hardware.  There are just a few main areas that need rust repair, the bulk that you see is just surface rust.  On both sides below the turn signals there is rot as well as inside the cab in the lower door area.  There are also a couple places on the rear drip rail that I'll have to address.  I'm taking the next week off specifically so I can try and make some progress on the body work

This was kind of interesting, while sanding down for body work, this faint round "GE" sign appeared.  On both sides in about 8" tall letters was General Electric.  I didn't know they used window vans in their fleet.  I was just assuming this was some family's car.

Nice find Hip E Van. Awesome progress as well.

Here's what I use when I'm getting close on a body panel.  This is guide coat made from powdered grafite that I got off eBay.  Rub the sponge over the whole area and then block sand it down.  Everything that stays the dark color is a low spot.  The tape lets me know where the center of the peak is.  I sand up to the tape, remove it and put a new strip down low and then sand down to it from the top.  You can see I'm a little low near the headlights and a couple other places



I also use some wax remover in a shur-shot and spray the panel then look at it from the side to see what the reflected light is showing me.  That will catch things you might have missed with the guide coat.   You pretty much keep fixing problem areas over and over till it's right.  In my case I'm just shooting for good enough, this isn't going to be for show, just a nice little driver.



A couple tools I picked up for this project that I really like.  The variable speed sander is working out well for paint removal but I also like it on the slowest speed for roughing in the body filler.  My arms are already screaming at the end on the day so I need to give myself a break where possible.  The other Harbor Freight purchase was their pin welder.  It's awesome for those places you can't get a hammer on the back side.  It comes with the slide hammer and a bunch of pins.  Wish I bought this years ago.

Started patching in the rusty panels.



Sandblasted the rain gutters.  They are in pretty good shape till you get to the back.  It looks like a tricky shape to try and replicate.  What are most people doing for fixing this?

Donor parts from another van. It is where three pieces of metal come together

Thanks Bruce. I don't have ready access to a donor cab right now, have to see if I can hack something together. I noticed lots of rust when trying to peek in from inside the cab over that lip towards the drip rails. Was thinking about putting some of that rust converter into a spray bottle and just working my way around the whole inner roof to try and stop future problems. Seems better than nothing but would be curious to hear if you all are doing some thing different.

Got some primer/surfacer down on the drivers side.  I'll block it down, guide coat it, block it again, prime a couple more coats, block it one more time and then probably call it good.  Nice to get some primer on, it's always so chaotic looking at a sanded panel it's hard to see where it needs work.



Here is the other side.  I figure another 6 or so hours sanding and smoothing and then hopefully get primer on.

It's coming along nicely. Keep the pics coming. At the rate you're going we should be looking at a painted van by the weekend

Thanks Big W. Funny you say that, my plan was to try and get some color down by the end of the weekend, but now they are calling for rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It's really hard to plan these things out, still not sure how I'm gonna tackle the rain gutter issue.

Yea all I can think of for the gutters is to find a donor van from 60's or 70's and take those sections that you need and weld them on. I have never had to tackle this type of problem, so my knowledge of the "proper way" to fix this is pretty much nill. Hopefully someone who has had to do this will chime in with pics and help solve this issue.

Trying to figure something out on those drip rails today.  Using a bead roller to put a flange down.

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Put it in the brake and bent it.  The little channel is kind of like the one on the factory gutter.  I think with a bit more practice I can tighten that angle up





Ran it thru the shrinker to get the right bend





I know this is just a cosmetic fix but what the heck, it never rains in California!