toranav8ss

Finally off to the paint shop after 5 years of working on the car!   Will take around 60 days,  I have use the shop before, they’re not really fast but they do very high-quality work
I will need a recommendation on hood stripes, I’m not sure if I even want to use them, but if I do, looking for best possible quality product that you all have used.

Whew, I got it off the jackstands and back on the road today.  I started out by putting in some 3pt seat belts.  Then the UPS man brought me the last piece I needed to button up my new fuel line.  While it was up in the air, I let it run and get up to temperature and played with the steering wheel to check for leaks.  Everything looked good so I dropped it down and took it for a spin around the block and up to the gas station.
  

A quick update:
1-the 408 stroker finally arrived in the crate across the pond after 9 month of delays, shipping issues etc
2-taken some times to get the various ancillary parts, shipping to U.K. is a real pain; JBA shorties etc 
3-engine fitted and hoping to fire it up in next 3/4 weeks 
4-just collecting the other parts to complete the car e.g  glass will go in next 2/3 weeks 
car is booked into a major U.K. classic car show on 10 `July so has to be ready, but not sure if I’m going to make it 
chris 

So the car we are building started life as an H-code Mach 1 built in San Jose in May of 1970.  Options on the list are:
Power Steering Power Brakes 4 speed transmission 3.25 conventional rear end Sport Deck rear seat (fold down) Grabber Orange Tinted glass We will retain most of this in some fashion, but the color will be Grabber Blue unless I can convince the boy to do the orange.  It has collision damage to the passenger side which bent the rear axle housing and axles.  The first step is tear down, which wont start for a few weeks while I finish dad's 1969 Dart. Currently the plan is to replace most everything below the roof.  We have most if not all of the trim for the car.  We have a full interior (not the fold down though) except for the dash pad.  We need a windshield, but the rest of the glass is in great shape.  All in all, its going to be a heck of a project, and a heck of a lot of fun.

Got the new seats in you can see the NARDI steering wheel there too. They work much better w the race harness that is mounted on the stock roll bar. Reupholstering them in white w the Cobra & blue stitching took MONTHS, IDK why.
they are comfy too.
Next issue is getting her to stop wandering in the highway. After I fix that I can add MORE POWER!!!!!!

woohoo! Both my side assemblies came in yesterday! I am borrowing an assembly table from a friend and he is dropping it off tomorrow afternoon. Once i've got it set up i'll mount the floor pan to the table and determine the datum line and get crackin on this project!

I purchased a rebuilt box from Chock & with the roller idler arm that I got from Opentracker Racing it steers easy. They are great to deal with.
Roller Idler Arm, Manual Steering (1967-1970) Mustang Cougar - Opentracker Racing Products
I also have roller spring perches.
Opentracker Roller Spring Perches (opentrackerracing.com)

Terrible thing to happen, but doing a great job with this build, congrats

So interior pretty much done. Had rear seat reupholstered with wider strips by local shop. Doesn't match perfectly but looks good enough to me and I'm not winning any shows, I just need a car to drive. all the panels are repo plastic and kind of flimsy compared to the original fiberglass so I lined them with sound damp material. seems to make them much more solid. Had to do new carpet as well but super worth it. Much thicker than original. had a hard time finding bolt holes so I used a cheap soldering iron and melted the holes through so permanent. Smells bad but makes intall of seats and belts so much better
 

Had 3.55 gear and Tloc installed. Then spent 3 days cleaning and sanding rust. Painted with eastwood rust encapsulator

Well I’m pleased to say that the car came back to me 2 weeks ago from the paint shop.
I’m so pleased with it, the paint finish from the shop is just sublime.
 Now for the hard work of putting it call back together.
Chris 

What the F... Progress??
First time powering up the AAW harness. Got head lights, tail lights, horn, heater fan, radio, interior lights and voltmeter working. Hazards only work with parking lights, so there is some gremlins yet. I have a lot of grounds to go over.  But it's huge for me to finally be able to power up stuff. It's been over a year since the last update, and I have been doing stuff, but I never did feel it was enough to make a post about. Still there is work to be done on the harness, but a big step was made today.


 

Took a picture today of both son’s cars against the Blue Ridge Mountain backdrop in our back yard. Thought they turned out well!

I’ve been rather busy at work, so still being doing a bit, but between work.
finally finished the welding, long list is done !
Now onto main body work.
Just purchased the SoT coil overs. Long wait to get it over U.K. .....never done this mod before so intrigued as to how it will work out. 

agreed, I tried to base my wheel setup on this chart when I started to pick out wheels and tire combos, but soo many ppl had different set ups, its hard to collect that much data as every year a new kit would appear. 
Im happy with my setup 18x9/10 245/40 275/40 with SOT Front Coil Overs and Grab-A-Track 4.5 Mid Eye leafs with Vintage Venom's brake kit: 
 
 

I have rear drum brakes but I used a center mount parking brake handle from a 1987 Fox Mustang in my 69 Coupe w/aftermarket Lokar parking brake cables. Here are the cables I used. https://www.cjponyparts.com/lokar-rear-parking-brake-cables-black-universal-mustang-1964-1-2-1993/p/PBCR31/


 

Started to put her together, things that should be simple turn into a major job. Patience and breathing8-)

National Mustang Convention in New Zealand won best in show, best in class and entrance choice.
Another show with 100k spectators won Top 20 for Fords. Craig has done very well at all the shows. 

More progress...spoiler, wheel lip and rocker moldings. Taillights and panel... I know some folks don't like how painted them. 

 
 

Progress has been slow lately. But I have much of the electrical wiring done. I now have my exterior lighting mods installed and tested, including the led switchbacks in the front fender extensions and the sequential arrows in the power side view mirrors. I also used red led bulbs in the taillights. I used red instead of clear led bulbs to avoid the orange color effect in the lens, as a result of the brighter led bulbs. See the video link below.
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AuF11H1Kul6fwG98iUZuD52EK00T?e=X2qLZq

I did templates of the areas to fill in and cut them out of some leftover 11ga. I also fully welded all the seams on the shock towers before installing the plates, then fully welded them in place. The big block reinforcements were also fabricated (these are out of 7ga) and fully welded and blended. The inner brace was more 7ga, fully welded.
 

Interior just about complete

We took the car out today for first test drive!  My son was so excited especially when I stopped at the corner and told him it was his turn!  Could not wipe the smile off his face!
IMG_7445.MOV IMG_7446.MOV

A few more from yesterday, now it’ll sit for a week before rub back and flow coating

Been a while since I posted an update but over the last couple of weeks I finished the brake system and now have fully functional brakes. I also installed the under dash portion of my vintage air AC system. This last weekend I installed my lower dash and the wiring harness, along with the steering column and steering wheel.