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Finally, I have enough material to put up a thread. This isn't a high end or pro rebuild, it's just me in my shed building a car I wanted by myself. Part 1 - Background. I bought this car in February 2015, after it had been imported from Texas in 2010. The man I bought it off 'rebuilt' it which is a term I'll refer to throughout this build. On the way home, stopped beside another car buyer hauling his prize home. Always wanted a Mustang, don't care too much for the earlier cars and wanted this shape. When I bought it I had nil experience of Mustangs and this was priced reasonable compared to others. However, over the course of my ownership since then I have realised if I were to buy another car again, it would be totally original and complete especially if I had no prior experience with them. The car itself is nicely specced; 302, auto, power steer, factory air and an AM stereo. It is a Dearborn build, sold into the NorthEast of US and somehow arrived in Texas. I have the Texas title here with the car. Colour is Calypso Coral with black interior, verified by the Marti report. The reason for the 69 Boss Stripes is it is a Grabber pack, which was a marketing thing at the time and gave you sports mirrors on both sides, the Boss-style stripes and a blacked out rear panel. Exciting stuff indeed. The seller had a '69 vert and his story was he bought this from the importer as an alternative to golf, so his wife would have him at home in case something happened to her (they were both retired). I wasn't fussed on the mechanical side as I can do all that, but I didn't want an body or paint. This has very little rust in it, with only the floor pans replaced. Under the dash is clean and it doesn't seem to leak. The body has been repaired in places, to an average standard. That's fine as I prefer to drive them than admire them, however the paint is not great. As the son of an 80-year old painter I am across paint and this is too dry. Who ever painted it was scared to go to the edges and they are very dry. The colour and finish is OK and after a full day on a rotary buff and some compound I got it looking a bit shinier. As soon as I bought it we embarked on a major house renovation and I was instructed not to touch the car until they were finished. So, for about 5 years the car sat in the garage. I did go out and buy a whole stack of stuff; Scat 347 kit, MSD distributor and 6AL box, Dart alloy heads, TKO600 gearbox, Modern Driveline TKO kit with a cable clutch conversion, Borgeson power steer conversion. Not smart, as all the warranty has passed and the stuff is all new in boxes until about a week ago. This shelf was my view for 5 years - all my new oarts just looking at me asking when they would be used. After 5 years I started to work on the car and get it to my liking. This post will track those changes across the past few years, up to Christmas 2022 when I went full send on it and ripped out the drivetrain for replacement.

The heads are Dart Pro 1 alloy. I had a budget and these fitted it. They have a 58cc chamber, 2.02/1.60 valves and a decent port. I also spent about $800 having them cleaned up. The compression ratio comes out about 10.5:1. They are probably not as good as TF as they were bought 7 years ago but they seem to do a good job for the money. The brains trust on the intake is interesting (to me). I bought an Edelbrock Torker manifold thinking it would be good for top end, but the current word is the RPM airgap is out performing most intakes to my 6,500 rpm limit (self imposed for longevity). So I bought one of them. I can buy a Victor-style single plane for about $400 and on paper it seems good - plenty of power to about 7,500, single plane, big open hole which the Sniper seems to prefer and for me, a rear water cross over (Having overheating issues I'm a bit sensitive in that area). Maybe I might run the air gap and then put the Torker on for comparison. With the cam I am using now it might loose some torque and become a bit of a pig. Especially as the flywheel I have is similar to a NYC pizza in thickness.

The wheel tub is wider at the back than it is in the front. when fitting wider/max width tires in the back you will get the inside of the tire contact the front of the inner wheelhouse before it contacts the inner rear. so, what some people do is to slice the front half of the inner wheel house and move it inward which then leaves a long skinny pie shaped gap. then you cut a piece of metal the size/shape of that gap and weld it in i believe that is what is being referred to

Who you talking to son?