Mach427

When you powder coat your table, don't coat the top... I did that to mine and the metal chips embed in the finish and add drag as your move your work piece over the table. Next chance I get I'll sand the top down and polish it up.

That colour actually looks pretty good for waste powder. The shop I work in has been blowing a lot of yellow, black, grey and red lately resulting in more of a hue resembling a puss-like yellow-green-brown... not very attractive. In the 25 years I have been there (from the ground up) we have only had two customers have their orders done with free waste powder. Depending on the work load, we throw out between 300 to 600 pounds a week. Thanks for the update. I am thoroughly impressed with the direction you are going with your Mustang and your inspiring workmanship. Allan

I like it. I think as long as it follows the same radius it should blend in nicely and be barely noticeable. Allan

Looks like the driver's side is designed to clear a z-bar. A set of headers specifically made for an automatic would likely be routed better. Congrats on the successful header rebuild. Allan

Nice! Very inspiring work... yours and Latoracing's threads are the only two that I am subscribed to. I wish I had found my lathe before I bought my Baer Trackers a couple of years ago. I can't recover that cost now, but the future should be very interesting. In case you're wondering, the Baer parts are made from inch and a quarter aluminum hex bar though they don't specify the grade. Allan

Global West has a nice set of 3 degree caster upper control arms. http://www.globalwest.net/1967-1968-1969-1970-1971-1972-1973-mustang-front-suspension-parts.html

I have a red '69 Mach I... hasn't seen the road since '97 when I parked it to start a full resto on it. I'll start a build thread later this year when I get some momentum going. Should be coming off the rotisserie in a couple of months. Allan

Great work there John, keep pluggin' away and you'll get 'er done. It's a shame so many people didn't take better care of their convertibles but she's in good hands now. Allan

Excellent attention to the details there! Regarding the bolt in door windows, I recall reading years ago, probably in Mustang Monthly, that the bolt in windows were a running change made late in the '69 model year. Judging by the late June of 69 date stamps on your heater and wiper motors, your Mustang must fall into this category. Your car was likely built with these bolt in widows installed at the factory. I'd be curious to see the build date on your car, probably a month or so after those date stamps on the motors. Allan

Enjoy it while it's yours and don't be afraid to make it your own. I see you are running extended lug nuts, any specs on those?... where you got them? I bought a good used lathe a few months ago and one of the first projects I want to do is to get some 7075 aluminum hex bar and machine my own lugs. x2 on lato's speculation on the reflective Boss stripes but from the name down only, not over the fenders and the hood.

I love the 69/70 T/A Mustang theme as well. Your car should really look the part once you have the stance, large chin spoiler and the side pipes. The matte black makes it look all the more sinister. Thought about removing the scoop to clean up the hood? Will be watching closely to see how you come along. I want to add a few road racer touches to my 69 Mach as well.

That angle on the air gap manifold matches the factory angle for the carb base. If you use an intake with a flat base, your shaker will have a nose high attitude. If your shaker is an original, I wouldn't be inclined to cut it up... but it's your car. Alternatively, you could modify a standard base and save the original.

The Edelbrock 2181 is an idle to 5500 rpm manifold, it'll be a choking point on future improvements. The Weiand Stealth and the Edelbrock Performer RPM 7181 are both 1500 to 6500 rpm manifolds. I don't think there would really be much difference between the two.

The Edelbrock combo you listed is actually for a 302 and will not fit your 351 anyway. The Summit manifold looks like the Weiand stealth part. Looking at a comparable Edelbrock setup you would want a Performer RPM and a 600cfm carb which is only a little more expensive than the Summit combo. The polish job is not necessary. I wouldn't have any problem with the Summit setup, I have the same carb on my '78 F150 and it works great. Would be a good starting point.

I see, one set of pipes over the axle and two optional sets of extensions like in the 2.5" set. Must have changed that recently. More like this one... http://www.magnaflow.com/07techtips/pdfs/15816.pdf