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This morning was a nice day so I decided we would put the engine in. We did get rained on for a couple minutes, but after that is was nice in the low 80's. I did the grunt work & my wife operates the engine hoist.

What to fix first? Make sure your checkbook and/or savings account is 3x larger than what you think it needs to be.

While coming home from a doctor's visit, we followed a car that had this bumper sticker on its rear...I'm still scratching my head about what it means...

Much of our old classics can be repaired with fairly basic tools like wrenches, sockets and screwdrivers. If you are mechanically inclined at all, you could get the manuals and do most of the work yourself. There are videos, books and lots of help on more than a few Mustang forums. Join a Mustang club and get to know the people who work on their cars.You would save lots of cash and have the satisfaction of doing it yourself, and probably doing it better than most shops. You could still pay to have those things done you don't feel comfortable doing. 10 grand at a shop doesn't go far on these beasts. It may seem daunting but many many people do their own suspension work. Its not rocket science. Look at your list- $475 for a clock? Come on, you could replace that, fix a rattle in the back seat, and adjust a window. I'll bet you could do almost all of that list, make friends and get lots of help here. Get your hands dirty! If you must pay a shop for all these things then prioritize- above all else the car must be safe so do the brakes and steering first. The speedometer is fairly important but replacing the cable and perhaps the speedo is far less expensive than installing a Dakota Digital- although I must admit I lust after one myself.

You guys learning to drive a stick ...it should sound like this!https://youtu.be/fOqBWAzinTw

By the way, these are the Shelby scoops Ridgerunner made for me, they are perfect!

Someone take this, the guy has it listed for free!!! https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts/d/hayward-free-1969-mustang/6960852205.html

Figured I would start a topic in the Project forum to keep everything in one area. My car is a 1969 Coupe with a 302, automatic, power steering, power disc brakes, and a 2.79 open 8". I got the car when I was 13 for $400. It was quite the basket case at the time but it did run and drive. It started life as Lime Gold. Over the next 6 years my step-dad and myself, mostly him, did a garage resto on the car and painted it black. At the time we did not do anything to the engine or transmission. The only thing besides body work that we did was put on dual exhaust and different wheels and tires. I drove the car during my senior year of high school but of course I was not easy on it and the engine started knocking. The car got parked and I went to college. When I came home I did start it and move it around but not much. I think it was during my second year of college I started working at the Ford dealership in the Quick Lube. After starting to save up some money and getting an apartment with a garage I brought the car up. I had a mechanic at the dealership help build the engine and the trans. We put an Edelbrock performer intake and cam package in the engine and Hedman headers, Holley 600 carb, Griffin aluminum radiator, and a DUI distributor. Probably some more stuff I am forgetting. After that I drove it every summer for a few years and put a lot of miles on it. I also put on a full stock suspension package from Laurel Mountain Mustangs and a front splitter (the car was too floaty over 100mph). Don't know if they are still in business or not. One spring I swapped the original heads for another set of '69 302 heads that I got cheap from a guy that had screw in rocker studs and some unknown K-motion springs. I put on Harland Sharp roller rockers and continued to drive the car quite a bit. Winter of '06 I parked the car in the storage unit, still running and driving. Spring of '07 my fiance and I bought our house and it was time to move the car there. I decided to do a once over on the engine before moving it and checked all the rockers since the valvetrain was a little noisy. I found one was loose so I tightened it down a bit, me not being that knowledgeable and not realizing that a lifter had bled down over winter. While driving the car the 30 minutes to our house, all of a sudden the lifter pumped up and wiped a lobe on the cam. Fast forward 12 years and 3 kids later. I am finally getting to work on the car again. Over the years I have made attempts at getting a different engine together with different goals. Right now I have a 302 that is going to be the temp engine. The temp engine came out of a '89 Lincoln Town Car with 80k miles that ran great. I also pulled the transmission that I might use. I have the engine on the stand and down to the short block. I am in the process of cleaning it up and laying out parts to figure out what I have and what I need. I also have an 8.8" rear end out of an Explorer that I would like to use. I am trying to figure out if I should keep the timing cover that is on this engine and running an electric fuel pump; or do I run the older timing cover and plug the dipstick hole in the block?? Some things I need/want for this summer are a distributor and a Performer RPM intake to replace the Performer. I could still run the Performer if I decide I don't want to spend the money on the other intake at this time. I also need to decide if I want to try and install the AOD and the 8.8" this summer or just use the old C4 for now just to get the car running and driving. Anyways this has gotten quite long so here are a couple of pics. Temp Engine: Laying out parts: My car back when it was running and driving: Where it sits now and for the last 12 years:

Street or Track has a well engineered suspension solution for just about any reasonable budget or plan. And Shaun is a class act all around. Support before, during and after the sale is extremely valuable and he has genuine expertise and proven results to back it up.

Set your priorities. I did that 30 years ago, and still working on items. Brakes and steering first. Some of the prices and items seem way out of line. Get it driving safely first, and then work on the smaller items. Repair things as they break.

If you are seriously considering having this shop do anything on your car, I strongly suggest they give you a separate price for every single item AND the exact brand and part number for each pat and the exact labor costs. The labor could be bulked together where several items in the same area are being changed at the same time like the front suspension. Then post that info and we can tell you for certain if you are getting hosed or not, but from what it looks like, you may very well be.

Here's my take - some of that may be reasonable and some of it definitely is not. For instance, it's definitely not a good recommendation to put in performance suspension & handling for $5K. That's NOT mandatory. You can get new stock UCA's for lass than $50 per side (that's a lot cheaper than $350/side). Don't put in 620lb springs up front unless you want it to ride like a covered wagon. I think stock springs are 300 lb/in. Don't lower it, but instead: The top 3 upgrades for front suspension improvement are: Redrill your shock towers to do the "Shelby/Arning drop" (if not already done) with new UCA's ($20 template + $100 for both UCA's) Put in a 1in" sway bar. (best bang for the buck I think and makes the car safer to drive) $140 New KYB Gas Adjust shocks (Maybe $100 for both) After that, you'll need Tie rod bushings ($40ish), stock perches ($40), new spring seats ($10), some Tie-rod work So that's like $400, and it will drive fine (not like a racecar, but you won't shatter your teeth going over the railroad tracks either) On the rear, I would not buy new springs unless they can show you they are bent or ruined. Just New KYB gas adjust shocks and see how it is ($100), maybe new leaf spring bushings if she's rattly. Since there are traction bars, this will be more work. So that's maybe $200 on the rear, and most all the big stuck on suspension for like $600-$700 in parts. If you do this work yourself (only thing really dangerous in compressing front springs). If you want to pay to have this done, $1500 is probably not outrageous, but I wouldn't buy new leafs. if they say they are "shot" make them show you how. Brakes are most important: replace all the rubber brake lines, 3x maybe ~$50 each. The following statement however - makes NO SENSE to me: "Found rear brakes contaminated with rear axle gear oil." I have no idea how this could happen. Sound like BS to me, and I would ask about it. These systems are not connected, and I can't see how they could be thru parts failure, so I call BS. Get a new drivers drum if you can't find someone to machine it. New pads (cheap) and get new rear cylinders (cheap). My brake backing plates are grooved some, but still work ok - weld and remachine is a fair bit of expensive work, and I'd try it without doing that. They don't mention the brake distribution block or the proportioning valve. The prop valve should be taken off and have a new seal kit put it - virtual certainty it needs that ($35 for parts). --- Engine: That's an expensive radiator. I bought a 3-row copper for about $350. You can get a thermostat for $5, you probably don't need a fuel pipe - I wouldn't do that. If you flush out the fuel tank, there is no need to move the fuel filter ahead of the fuel pump (non stock). New rubber connections ($10), New fuel pump $30, new filter $5. That's all that's required. If they can show you the leaks on the manifold you should fix it. And you can look for this yourself, by simply wiping off the front and back and driving it around. If it's leaking oil you should be able to see it. personally, I don't need to remove the Ac compressor to work on the intake so - my opinion - not required. Your oil pan probably is leaking. Do you need to spend $1000 to fix it? NO. This is a hard job to get the old one off and put on a new one that doesn't leak, but honestly, you can keep the oil filled while you save some $'s to have it fixed later for cheaper than that. Fix the motor mounts. If they are original, they probably are cracked. $320 seems like an ok price to do that. Engine balancer MAY be needed.- if you can't get it to run. But if it runs/timing is OK, I'd do this later. For the love of God, do the all the AC/PS/alternator/fan belts yourself - any person driving a 69 oughta be able to do the belts. No idea on the improvised trans inspection plate, but it's probably fine (it's a piece of sheet metal to keep crap out of the flex-plate starter engage area). look at it yourself and see how bad it is. Trans mount is good chance it is bad. $125 seems reasonable I'd note the rear axle seals as something to watch, and do them later. That alone is like $300. buy your own heater hoses. $340 is outrageous unless he is putting Stainless braid on them. Elec: I don't know what he means "seat plugs" but they are dang expensive. Fix the electrical that's broken and nothing else. he's only giving you an AC diagnosis, which means there is another $1500 of cost to get the AC going probably. Can wait. Two windows at 60mph is usually okay for a lot of the US. Body: If the roof drip rails are leaking, that can allow body rust which you don't want. you are looking at a lot of cost that may affect the paint. so this is expensive. Depending on the quality level of your paint, this may or may not be worth it. Just do whatever to avoid rust. OMG - do NOT spend $600 on the damn clock - buy a wrist watch! $35!!! worst case - pull it yourself and mail it off to be fixed. Dash: LED light kit and printed circuit panel is all you need. your fuel gauge either works or doesn't. If it doesn't, I would change the sender in the tank for $30, and not buy a new gauge (which is probably fine, but inaccurate - they all are BTW). Steering wheel can probably wait at $1250!!! Good lord!. Fix the windows. those mechanisms probably need an overhaul - they are cheap systems, and if not adjusted properly, can bind and be really frustrating. UGH. That's a lot of stuff. I'm not a fan of having other dudes do my car work, and so I don't know about labor costs. Anything over $100hr is questionable. $80 may be reasonable. My costs above are for parts, not labor (all of mine is free, so I on'y see parts costs). This stuff is not that hard to fix yourself. It just takes time. If you have more $ than time - this shop may not be that bad, but there is some questionable stuff in here - other stuff looks reasonable. it's a mixed bag. Good luck.

I look at it this way. I have plenty of time and it ain’t going anywhere. Plus if I don’t save the car it may end up at the crusher and be one more piece of history we never get back. And making a semi-track car out of it, originality doesn’t mean a thing. I haven’t really saw anything availability wise that worries me. It’s mind blowing what is available now versus when I had my 66 in high school 15 years ago.

" So I got this from one of my best friends for $600." I think you need to find a new friend.

I love driving down the road on a nice day. Top is down and the 69 is running good. That is the best feeling in the world until a cooler car comes up and passes you.

Well are those prices parts and labor? $340.00 for heater hoses? I would post exactly what radiator they are suggesting because it is likely pos small tube chinese one. I have a real 3 row large tube original style rad here that has a new us made core for sale.

checked the clutch/bell fit. had to shorten the TOB sleeve to clear the clutch discs. engine is finished with detail.

Brakes and steering first here also...

Here's one method. Remove the trunk lid to install the rubber. Use painters masking tape around every 8" to hold it in place. Tear 20 pieces of tape off and stick them around the edges of the trunk lid. Glue a short section at a time like around 12". Black glue is harder to see when it squeezes out beyond the gasket. Flammable contact cement can also be used.

From the gasket imprint on your cylinder heads, it looks like the gasket wasn't covering the tops of the intake ports. Hence, the large vacuum leaks. And from the gasket imprint on the intake manifold, you had the wrong intake gaskets for the rectangular shaped water ports on the cylinder heads. Try the Fel Pro Performance or the Edelbrock intake gaskets I referred to on your other thread.

It can be arranged...*G*

Mike and I got the seat frames restored. What a lot of work! Time to move on!

it means you follow the car in front of you home and kick his ass :-)

I agree. My yellow Mach cost me 7k and it had none of these flaws. No doubt I may be at a loss. But wh n I get done with him he’ll be painting walls for a living

Center console is an option. 69 have the cigarette lighter hole in the front of the compartment. On a 70 console you drill a hole thru the woodgrain top. Under the woodgrain in that spot is a space where 69 years had the seatbelt buckle holder. Just a few ideas.

Pic of the switch from an early 2000 ford (F150/Mustang/etc), which I also have an aluminum/chrome knob and bezel that I may still add on since the original knob and bezel was chrome.

Passenger side. I cut down the existing lower tab due to the extra thickness of the motors, and then re-tapped it. Epoxied tabs to the roof of the housing, and used a flat plate for the bracket to mount the motors to. Another tip, look into the early 2000 ford mirror switch. With a little enlarging of the mustang deluxe door panel mirror hole, the switch looks like it was made to be there!

The windshield should be removed to properly install the headliner. I only use carlite glass. You can get it tinted and shaded. TMI makes the best headliners and interiors these days. The sail panels are crap. I usually remove the vinyl then put several slices part way thru the cardboard on the backside running front to back then spray water on the back then bend them so they curve properly then support them on the top and bottom then put a weight in the midline towards the front to maintain the curve then let them sit for a few hours then check the curve to make sure it is correct and if it is i then reglue the vinyl and install them. Doesn't this sound like fun?

Check this out. I hired a mobile Dustless blast to do a Mustang for us. Been hauling these cars to Ft Wayne for the last 20 years. This is so nice and its even cheaper.

You may be able to use a fender washer to fix it if it will go over the shaft. Get one that has the same id as the shaft or slightly smaller if the same id is not available and drill out the smaller hole to the correct size. Drill 2 or 3 1/8" holes near the outer edge of the washer. Put the washer on the shaft then drill 2 matching holes into the box and pop rivet it to the box.

Few engine bay pics.

It's been a few years since I've been on here. Few updates with my 70. 2017 took my mustang to sema

I would grab that if I was anywhere near close.

Here is my VHX box installed. I am using AAW wiring harness. The box is mounted to my Vintage Air system.

Make sure you don't buy cheap chinese UCA, I got the scott drake 4-rivet ones after one of my china crap UCAs locked up after 2 years and so far, they work. If I would buy today, I might also consider dynacorn #3631JL UCAs

"With doing the work myself I figure aside from my physical time I’m better off spending $3500 on sheet metal on my $600 car than buying a $7000 car and still spending a grand or so repairing rust." It will always have rust unless you have it dipped to remove the rust then dipped in protectant or primer to protect the bare metal. In addition, the panels will never completely line up correctly if you have to rplace quarters and door skins and fenders etc.

Yesterday I drained what was left of the trans fluid in the T-5 trans. Today before it got to hot I got the trans installed, & installed the shifter.,

dang that engine looks amazing!

Source: http://www.discbrakeswap.com/swap.3.3M 65-66 manual brakes 3rd edition 03292017 E.pdf :-)

Rear brakes, lines, and emerg brake cables installed last night

Strut brace made up, a bit more color added

Most are aware distributors advertised as Ready-To-Run mean they do not need any type of external ignition box or external ignition module. It doesn't mean the timing curve is optimized for your motor. An original distributor would be okay for a mild motor. But, be cautious of a used or rebuilt original distributor. The bushing and breaker plate usually wear out. Bushings are replaced on rebuilt distributors but not breaker plates. It's been a long time since I tinkered with stock ford points distributors, but I remember when the breaker plate wears, as the vacuum advance increases the timing, the dwell reduces. I've seen breaker plates worn to the point that the dwell reduces so much the motor starts misfiring when the vacuum advance starts increasing the timing.

They follow thr contour of the tail light panel. 69 is curved and 70 is flat.

Yeah....the divorce delay got in the way! Lol. All is good and we remain good friends. It it is good to be back! PS: I incorrectly installed windshield last year and had it removed and installed professionally today. 3 people (professionals) refused to take out my carlite glass. They were all gung-ho until they came and saw the condition of the car.....they all said it couldn’t come out without cracking. The last guy with 31 years experience got it out in one piece.

I have no idea what they are worth but you might list them here: http://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php

I get the same message and screen using Microsoft Edge. To get here I have to do a Bing or Google internet search for 1969stang.com then click on the link that comes up.

I guess I would have no intention of paying the man :)

Pictures of my drivers mirror. Not the same motors you are using, but may provide some ideas to help you. The SN95 motors have a removable plastic backing that snap off the motors (the black plate shown in the last picture). I trimmed it down to the size of our mirrors. My mirror glass is currently at the glass place being cut.

Yes, will need the mtr mount perch brackets for a big block, they look the same from a distance, but are indeed different. You will also need to start customizing wrenches and shrinking your hands to fit in the limited work spaces. Power steering hose support bracket is also different

Today was a nice day so I rolled the engine out of the garage & installed the valve covers & the headers. The bottom end is stock, the heads are Ford Racing M-6049-X306 w/Ford Racing 1.6 roller rockers, cam is Ford Racing M-6250-B303, & the headers are Hedman 88408 Shorties.