'68 Futura Drag Car

It's early winter 2007 and the upgrade path has been determined. The scheduled upgrade events are as follows...

Major Changes:

Engine:
Custom Roller Cam
Lunati Link-Bar Lifters and Rockers
Smith Bros. Pushrods
BRC 13:1 Pistons
Replace MSD Ignition with Vertex OAC Magneto
Hard Fill Block
Install TCI SFI Flex Plate Shield

FUEL SYSTEM:
Converting from Race Gas to Methanol

BODY:
Change Radiator to VW Scirroco Style
Add Moon Style Fuel Tank to Front of Car
Fabricate New Transmission Tunnel
Total Rewire
Add Windshield Header Bar to Roll Cage

1st Steps:

Well as they say, if you want to make an omlette you have to break some eggs.

As of today the engine & trans are out, engine is torn down for overhaul. Electrical is completely removed. Fuel system from the cell forward is removed. Doors are off for easy access. Cobbled up POS trans cover is removed and has been delegated to the scrap pile. Lokar throttle pedal assembly is removed to make room for new trans cover.

I have a lot of work to do, and I need to pace the budget during the process. Cam has already been purchased, injection is at Spud Miller's Fuel Injection Enterprises in Oregon getting flowed and configured for new cam / piston configuration. Spud also has the magneto and is performing his magic on it, adding Rare Earth magnets in the process.

Block fill was to start this weekend but parts supplier neglected to bring home the filler, so that is postponed until next weekend.

While block is setting up I will fab up the new trans tunnel. (I had to cut floor up last summer when the engine siezed in order to remove trans). Once the tunnel is complete I will begin the rewire process.

I have wired two other cars since I did mine and theirs just look better than mine. Plus, since I am changing to a magneto all of the MSD gets the heave-ho. Only item left that will be electronic is the tach, and if I am unable to come up with proper shielding for tach leads from the magneto then the tach gets pitched as well, possibly for a mechanical tach, possibly for none. The high output of the mag and the solid core wires raise havoc with electronics.

I may try to install the factory dash pad rather than fab up a piece of tin for the top of the dash. Depends on how well I do at notching the pad for the roll bar 'A' pillar tubes.





Sources and links associated with this build / rebuild:

General Knowledge
Racing Junk For Sale: race & performance cars, engines, engine parts, trailers
Speed Talk Speed Talk: Interviews - Racing Books - Racing Forum

Mechanical Fuel Injection / Alcohol
Harvey Race Engines HRE.COM Forums
Fuel Injection Enterprise Fuel Injection Enterprises

Electrical Components
Del City Del City - Wiring Products and Professional Electrical Supplies

Sounds like you got your winter project all lined out. Hope all goes with out a hitch. Or at least not too many.

I'm glad to see more and more guys hot-rodding the '66 thru '69 Falcons! My first "hot-rod" was a '66 Falcon Futura Sports Coupe and NOBODY knew what the hell it was! "What's a 'Futura'?" Only if I had a dollar for every time I heard those words. (I still have it by the way).

Awesome project Murff!

Lookin' good!

Is that a W going in it? But, then, why the firewall modifications? Must be a BIG engine.

"What's a 'Futura'?" Only if I had a dollar for every time I heard those words.

ha ha, ain't that the truth!!!

Originally Posted by ScreaminC

Lookin' good!

Is that a W going in it? But, then, why the firewall modifications? Must be a BIG engine.



ha ha, ain't that the truth!!!

It is a W. No bigger on the outside than any other.

I had to open up the tunnel last summer in order to remove the trans while the convertor was still attached to the flexplate. This was in August when I siezed the engine on a neighborhood romp. Note to self: Do NOT reverse the rods on #2 and #6.

I also need to add the flexplate shield required for 10.99 or faster. Opening up the tunnel allows for room to add the shield. More of a by product than a 'by design' but it still get's the job done.

Murff

Feb '08 update.

MOST of the parts are here and work is progressing.

New firewall panel is in, tunnel fab will come later when closer to install mockup.

Ran into problem with pistons, they were the wrong size. Replacements are expected any day. Once they arrive machining and balancing can resume.

Replacement intake adapter plates have arrived as has the rebuilt and upgraded magneto, flowed fuel injection, cam, and a basket of smaller but equally important stuff.

Windshield header bar is now welded in and roll cage is now complete.

What to do while waiting for bullets? Begin the re-wire. I wired a friends '47 Ford a few years back, and re-wired my nephews '37 Chev last summer, and the wiring in both of those cars looked better than mine. That just won't do.

Since I have the windshield bar in place that means I can move my switch panel to an overhead position. Much easier to reach, but having all wiring in the tunnel area like I did no longer made sense. Plus it looked like ass.

So the Painless 8 circuit panel gets moved to the trunk. Easier access, simpler to add circuits if needed. The addition of the magneto means I needed a better master cutoff switch, one that would not only kill the electrical from the battery but would also kill the mag. Two choices for those, MSD and Flaming River. MSD is over $200 do Flaming River won. Also didn't like having it mounted in decklid so I modified the D/S taillight. Only need one taillight anyway.

Here's a few pics of the wiring in progress. Just started on it this past Saturday so not a ton of progress, but enough to give the general idea of where I'm going with it.

Murff,

Looks like it's coming along nicely. I'll be glad when mine is done. I still have a long way to go. I do have a question for you. It appears that you won't be using your original dash pad with the new roll bar setup. What kind of shape was yours in? Mine is shot due to the UV radiation that has killed it. I'm thinking about sending it in to Just Dashes for a resto. I have one of the front clips that broke on mine and was wondering if you aren't using yours, if I might buy one of those clips from you. I can't seen to find them available anywhere.

Thanks,

Here it is coming up on June already, and the car is still not ready. Some of the cause is budget, most of the cause is on parts vendors. Such is life, I guess.

Fuel cell is removed, rear of car wiring is completed.




In car wiring is mostly completed, just need to terminate a few loose ends. New Gauge panel is in as is overhead switch panel. Idecided not to utilize a dash at all. Mine was in pretty bad shape, and all I needed was a place to mount a couple of gauges. So, no dash.



I have been on vacation this week so that I could attack the engine without too much distraction. So far that has worked out fairly well. No engine pics yet, maybe this weekend.

So far everything has fitted together rather well. Had to file fit my JE rings, that was kind of fun. Piston to head clearance seems good, I can rotate the engine with heads on and no gasket, no contact. Piston to valve will be a concern, but not until I get my lifters and rockers.

On those two parts,my initial plan had me using Lunati components but with Holley selling the Lunati portion I got a little nervouse, and now that Lunati is back up and running they have raised their prices substantially. So I made a change and will be running lifters and rockers from Howards Cams.

With the help of FM member Flat32 my intake adapter plates are now port aligned and the intake now lines up properly with the plates. Last night I bent up and flared my new stainless injector hard lines. Here's a pic of how I have them routed. This is a mechanics wire mock up shot.



I had some stainless tube left over from the first time but not enough to do the whole job so I had to buy another 20' piece. Only have 10' left over. New stuff polishes up real nice but the old stuff is going to require a little elbow grease to remove the oxidation to get them to look as good as the new. Something to do while I watch TV I guess.

Should be posting some assembled engine pics later this weekend.

Here's a couple of semi-assembled pics of the engine. Still doing some mock up and fitting, but I was actually able to drop the long block into the car today for some firewall fitting.







I'm beginning to think there's a reason you don't see many mechanically injected small block Fords arounf.

Some July update pics. Gettin' closer.