I'm going from MI to WA with a friend in this (the hazardous part), when he gets it done(the tentative part). It's 64 Falcon with a 2.0 liter 72hp Mercedes OM601 diesel and 5 speed overdrive from a gray market 190D, will have a 5 lug swap and 3.00:1 (unless a better ratio center section can be found dirt cheap) 8 inch rear end. Should get at least 40mpg highway, maybe more, depends how it likes the probably less than ideal rear end ratio, the donor was originally rated for something like 50 highway.
You'll note that because race car and crappy 1960s Ford unibody chassis design that the engine is mounted too far back to change the oil filter (I'm told a new one was installed beforehand and it will eventually be converted to spin on) or install the air box (so it will probably use motorcycle pod filters).
This was my doing.
How many "Coolant Recovery Containers" were emptied coming up with these ideas?
In reply to SaltyDog:
As I recall I deemed it easier to empty the current one for such purposes than to use the glass bottle that's also in frame. I'd guess something like 15 to get the engine in there, but I wasn't there for that.
I like where this is going.
Swing by and pick me up on your way through Illinois!
That is actually very awsome. Remote oil filter, a little plumbing for a remote cone filter, and hit it.
What would be a better gear than a 3.00? I dont know diesels except they don't lile 5k.
In reply to Dusterbd13:
The 190D of roughly the same size/weight (and way better aero) that the engine/trans came out of had 3.91 gears, by my math 5th will only be useful on the highway ~62 mph (depending on tire choice) at 2000 rpm, 75@~2500 Peak torque happens at 2800 so it should pull it ok, it will just be slow to get there. 1st is a fairly low 3.91 so it should be able to start on a hill. I can't find a BSFC map for this engine but based on similar ones that might actually put it right in the sweet spot and the factory gearing was trading highway economy for keeping up with the city buses, like I said, we expect at least 40mpg.
That will be interesting considering the 80mph speed limits of the great plains. I did Chicago to Seattle this year over July 4th weekend. In a 2007 Mitsubishi eclipse 4 cylinder without AC. Your road trip plans are a bit more dicey than mine. Good luck in the mountains! 
Mountains hopefully won't be an issue, going up we have the big 3 row aluminum radiator with electric fan, going down it will still be drum/drum, but dual circuit and bigger than the tiny stock 9x1.5" drums.
So...why? Why drive it to Seattle? Is he moving out here, and he wants you for road support? Should be one hell of a trip once you get rolling! Better do it soon though - before all the passes get snowy.
In reply to Mezzanine :
Visiting a friend who moved out there a while back, should be leaving in under a week.
Last weekend I was up working on the car but not a lot of photo worthy work got done (just lots of little fiddly stuff, wiring, pedal box, etc). I did see the engine run, miraculously with zero priming, dry fuel line between the tank and lift pump, put a battery in it, key on, wait for the glow relay to do it's thing, crank, vroom, never even coughed. I used my sawzall skills to make the stock airbox fit, open air filter means warm air intake, but oh well.
We also managed to borrow some lathe time so after a couple hours of digging deep into the back of my head to remember how to do everything (haven't touched a lathe since 2011) I made a pair of nifty tapered bushings to hopefully allow use of some 5 lug 64 fairlane spindles with big (for a 2400lb car) drums without buying $400 in V8 Falcon steering parts (this was a I6 4 lug car).
Final brake specs: Drum/Drum, dual circuit
Front: 10x2.25
Rear: 10x1.75
Should stop well enough, a lot better than the stock 9x1.5 all around with a single circuit master.
We made it there, more later.
Some remarks in no particular order:
Loveland Pass on a foggy night is ill advised.
Avoid stopping in St Louis.
Kansas and Missouri are painfully boring.
NA diesels aren't fond of 5000+ft elevation.
High altitude is interesting.
Rural Utah looks like some sort of Alien planet.
Open air cleaner and a glasspack is a touch too loud.
The POs cut down probably 6 cyl springs in a Falcon with missing bumpstops suck.
I like power brakes.
This car really needed 4.11 gears.
Old non halogen headlights suck.
More when I get around to picking through all the pics I took.
I wish I had found this earlier. I'd have offered to have you stop 2 hours west of St. Louis. Looking forward to the story!
Finishing the build:
The shifter, it works. 
How to make a Mercedes trans spin a Ford speedometer, it's off by something like 20%, but it works.
Redline, the driveshaft is on the skinny side and will become a noodle at 100 mph (actual, more like 120 indicated)
First drive with the new powertrain.
Even with the POs lowering blocks removed this thing still sits LOW when fully loaded. 
Headed out of MI
I'll spare you the gory details of nighttime 0 hour pre roadtrip ford 8 inch disassembly that had probably never been apart before and just say that it's important to check your diff breather and run sort of screen on it to keep the mud daubers out.
Southern Illinois is boring, as is the entirety of Missouri and Kansas, also, see bad windshield wiper arm spring repair mk 1. 
I think this was when we noticed a tie rod end was going out.
Crossing the Mississippi. 
Stopped in St Louis to change the thermostat, that was a mistake between the weather and current political issues.
Entering Colorado. 
And promptly running out of fuel, turns out you get worse mileage when you drive uphill literally all day. 
Stopped in Denver to fix some stuff, like my brake line routing error. 
At the convenient combination NAPA store and warehouse, if they sell it they have it there. 
Getting into serious elevation, 4th and 5th gear are both worthless at this point.
The Eisenhower tunnel is supposed to be boring so we took the pass instead, is it still considered fog at that point, or just being in a cloud? The engine sounded like E36 M3 and barely idled, no big deal since it was all downhill from there. 
Awesome! I've done the Missouri-to-Denver trip across I-70 more times than I care to remember. I jokingly told the kids we were going to take the '65 Skylark when we went to Colorado last summer. They didn't see the humor in it.
This is where we stopped for the night after coming down the pass, did I mention the engine braking in this thing is unbelievably good? Because it is, like 5th gear will hold a 6% grade at 65mph with very little use of the brakes.
Cold starting a diesel with no altitude compensator. 
Apparently this is legal out west. 
Power was added in Denver.
West Colorado roughly in order. 
This is some serious roadkill E36 M3 right here.
Only with a lot more competency.
What an adventure!
You'll have stories to tell the rest of your life. BTW, your last name isn't Finnegan, is it?
I couldn't help but notice a Missouri inspection sticker on the windshield in one of those shots. Looks like the car spent some time here (prior to this trip) at some point in its life.
It made it back, barely, more on that later.
WilD
Dork
10/20/17 3:51 p.m.
Came to see pics of awesome views and was not disapointed. Where are the utah pics though? Inspire me!
Alright, I need to finish this up.
Utah, Utah is a strange place in most respects.
We did not stop in Sulphur.
Salt Lake City takes freakin forever to drive through. 
Next up is Idaho, Oregon and Washington, then Seattle, then going back along I80.
