RogerC

Finished gas pedal

Have been working on making a new accelerator pedal assembly. I didn't see an easy way to clean and modify the oem piece to work with the replacement generic cable so I went down that rabbit hole and set about creating a custom pedal. I still need to put a jog in the pedal arm and trim the cable end before welding things together. Also want to add a couple of gussets to the clevis.

I know I am getting the cart before the horse here, but I am comfortable enough that we will be pulling home the lucky rust bucket within the week.  I say "we" because this is going to be my son's build.  He is more into cars than I was at his age.  He has his favorites, but also has my sensibility.  His first choice was to build a 1965 Shelby GT350 clone.  1965 fastbacks in decent condition are hard to come by.  After that he wanted to jump into a 1969 Boss 429 clone.  The hardest part of that project was, again, finding the lucky pile of rust that would serve as the platform... and the $20k needed for a motor.  So he has gone to his 3rd option. 
In 1969 the Boss 302 was introduced.  The same year the 351W was introduced with the Mach 1 as a stop-gap measure until the 351C was introduced in 1970.  Had Ford been on its game, the Boss 351 would have began with the 1970 model as it should have given the absolute brute mentality of the engine.
So that is what he wants to do.  He wants to build a "what if Ford had gotten it right" 1970 Boss 351 Mustang.  We have it all planned out:
1970 Fastback Trunk mounted battery Stock front disk brakes (manual, not power) Borgenson power steering using manual linkage Grabber Blue with Boss 302 style graphics (that obviously say Boss 351) Blacked out taillight panel, decklid, and taillight bezels Chin spoiler, decklid spoiler, and rear window louvers Hood shaker but NO twist locks (he hates them) A stout 351C motor (should be around 10:1 compression) Stock block, crank, rods Modifications to help more oil get to the right places - restrictors and lifter bushings TFS Aluminum heads - 72cc chambers, 313cfm at .600 lift (painted blue of course) TFS Roller Rockers Howards hydraulic roller cam and lifters Aluminum intake manifold (gotta figure which one works with the shaker) Holley 650 with mechanical secondaries Original style Boss 351 valve covers Original distributor with Pertronix 2 module FPA coated headers David Kee Toploader - not sure about close or wide ratio yet Detroit Locker TrueTrac, 31 spline, nodular case, 1350 u-joints, and unknown gear ratio Hurst Shifter - hopefully an original 1970 OEM, but new aftermarket is available Black interior, black carpet We really want a gauge cluster with tachometer - might have to go aftermarket though We are going to make it as much "stock" appearing as we can without obsessing over paint daubs and chalk marks.  Stock external voltage regulation.  We want to use a stock steering pump, but I am not sure if it will work with a Borgenson box.
We are going to go get the car on April 1.  It is incomplete, no motor or transmission.  Interior appears to be complete.  All the glass is there.  Only one piece of rear glass trim.
Buckle up!  This is gonna be wild!

One disadvantage of doing tank parts in plastic is danger of breakage in case of collision.  I think ductile steel with rubber connections is going to behave much better in that case.

No, it is for a side/quarter panel mounting but it wouldn't take much to modify to work on the taillight panel.

The seat is based on an existing design I found some basic dimensions for then created a model.
The badge I created in SWX from scratch. The Ford emblem is created using an available text font I had previously downloaded then doing an extruded cut like the 351 & cleveland. I have not had any made as of yet.
This is the type of things I design at work. I created this image for the manual for this container. This is a model.
 

A shipping container for a gas turbine engine for electric power generation. That one is actually just for the core engine. size is approx 10' H x 9' W x 16' L give or take.
Back to the OT, more parts that could be 3D printed. Fuel cap & flange.
 

I use NX12 at work but have an old version of Solidworks at home.
Some Solidworks stuff

We are now settled into our "new to us" home pictures are hung, ceiling fans put up & some other stuff done so now it is garage time. The property to the left of the carport that was very flat so we contracted with a local company to come out to pour a fotting & slab that a few weeks later the garage was put up. It is 24' wide x 25' deep with 11' high walls which BTW will be high enough for a lift. This is the new home for my Mustang & my wife's motorcycle. We have to have the electrical work done, insulated, & finished interior walls put up.

The engine is a 71 351C 4V with closed chambers.
Before I started disassembly. Posted elsewhere in the forums.

I've been buying parts here & there. I have all new ARP hardware, thermostat & housing, Quick Fuel SS-750-AN carb, Hamburger 1" carb spacer, MSD ignition system, Romac double row timing set, Aluminum external oil filter adapter, Hamburger remote filter mount, Mallory electric fuel pump & regulator, Aeromotive primary & secondary fuel filters, Aluminum fuel pump block-off plate, Milodon water pump, Moroso oil breather tank & coolant overflow tank, G+ oil cooler, gauge sending units and Felpro gasket set. I'll be reusing my Offenhauser Port-O-Sonic intake.

I'm wanting to pull the heads soon and have them rebuilt so I'm currently thinking through the cam and associated valve train I want to use. The top of the short list is Howards P/N 230245-12, 

If I had a real GT350, had no plans to ever sell it, and wanted it go be more compedative I would at most upgrade it with bolt-on stuff, or maybe, MAYBE, minor welding. Lowering the seat platform to be able to fit more comfortable, yes. Rising the transmission tunnel to fit a different transmission, maybe. Removing the shock towers and installing a different crossmember and suspension, BIG NO NO. Whatever you do the car will be worth less. Money aside, I think you should at least reflect on that it's really a rare piece of car history that you are trying to modify.
If I had way more time, money and skills, and I REEEALY wanted a bad ass GT350 I would probably get a random shell and make into a GT350 clone.
Something like this:

Many (but not all) of the accessories and brackets are the same on the Windsor and Cleveland small blocks. I have a 351C with a Tuff Stuff 140 amp Alternator, A CPP (Borgeson like) Saginaw Powersteering pump and Vintage air Sanderson A/C compressor. There are no v-belt accessory brackets on earth that support this combination. I used a stock 351C three groove crank pulley, and stock single groove Water Pump and Alternator pulleys.  The passenger side alternator, brackets, and v-belt are a slam-dunk stock setup. On the drivers side I had to make the P/S and A/C brackets by combing a few stock brackets, a couple of brackets available from the aftermarket, and then I had to make a bracket, modify a couple, and make all the spacers. Finally fine the right side v-belts. PS. I only used high quality toothed Belts. I have read that these belts grip better.
In my humble opinion, to avoid belt slippage/squealing/wear, it is important to have the alternator belt on its own and on the middle groove on the crank pulley and the A/C compressor dedicated on the large outer groove. The Water Pump and P/S pump share the inner most groove. It took me a lot of time and trial and error to make certain all the accessory pulleys were on the same plain with their counterpart groove on crank pulley and also that the accessory pulley was square with the belt and then make the right length spacers. Leaving any angle in the belt forward/back or tilt left/right in the pulley will cause the belt edge to fray in a hurry.
 

 

I have been driving the car on the road since October 1st and its been running fine for most part. After a month I experienced some slippage (squealing) on the alternator belt when I would rev the engine quickly, so I tightened the belt a bit more an she has been quiet since. Hopefully it will stay that way. The P/S pump belt width and V angle fit the Saginaw pulley perfectly, but sit a bit deeper than stock in the grooves on the crank and water pump pulleys, but so far no issues. I do feel the hydraulics straining a bit when turning the wheels from stop to stop at a stand still, but that is partly due to the wide front Nitto tires putting more resistance than stock tires. I should mention, That the P/S pressure hoses do not mind bending, but they do not like and flat out refuse to be twisted. To my surprise, I had quite a bit of difficulty finding the right high pressure fittings needed to clock the P/S hoses so I could connect them to the back of the Saginaw pump. I think adding the 71-73 over the A/C  compressor P/S fluid cooler will help keep the system cooler when driven hard on those hot summer days.
Overall, I am pleased with the results so far. With the two adjustable Saginaw pump brackets on the front and back and the long 7/8" dia bolt running thru the three brackets and in to the stock accessory hole in the head, they setup is solid and does not flex when tightening up on the v-belt. Very important to square off your pulleys and get them on the same plain as the crank and water pump grooves to minimize resistance and prevent fraying the belt edges.
What I have not hooked up and tested yet is the A/C belt, but I don't anticipate any issue there. The belt grooves on the Sanden and the crank pulleys match, and the crank pulley is designed to drive the old York Compressor, but that test will not happen until sometime in the spring. Here are a few more pictures...
 days.
 

Catching up on some mini projects while I’m home for the holidays. I have my LED tail light assembly‘s together, and did some quick checks of my tail light wiring harness, and connections, to make sure everything was working OK.
everything seems to be working well, I just need to get an LED flasher, to check out my sequential tail lights.
You will probably notice my powder coated tail light housings, that’s keeping with my all black trim theme. Should be pretty cool.

I've been meaning to make a build thread for months now, if only to keep a record for myself. Hopefully it will be useful for other people as well. I've had the project for 15 months now, and finally know exactly where it is going to end up.
I had been shopping for a 67-70 Mustang for a few months, and had moved too slow on a few excellent deals. I finally found a red '69 hardtop that seemed in good shape. It was originally a Grande, but the vinyl had been removed at some point. It had been repainted, the interior was redone, and it had a built 347 stroker. The price was a little high, and the motor was mated to a 3-speed and an 8 inch. The frames and panels all looked solid, except for evidence of a crash on the passenger front quarter. I ended up buying it. The original plan was to slowly upgrade things as I went along, starting with the trans and a 9-inch. 

The car was running and driving, but it was 2 hours back home.

Interior was pretty nice, with some small details being a bit wrong, such as the door panels. 
Had the car for all of 2 weeks, before I blew the 8-inch to pieces. To be fair, both the 3-speed and the 8-inch were ticking time-bombs with that stroker in front of them. Got it back to my garage, and started deciding what to do with it. I had a pretty solid body of a Mustang that wasn't particularly special. I also had a decent motor, but nothing worth getting excited about in 2021. I decided that I was going to go pretty far as a restomod, though at that time I was still planning ion using the stroker. 

The motor was far prettier on the inside vs. the outside, but still was only an old stock roller block. 

Started pulling it all apart in January 2021. It is still up on jacks in my garage as of today. 
I won't bore y'all with all the details of the teardown, just the interesting bits. Overall it went smoothly. Some parts were a little crooked due to subpar repair on the previous wreck. There was also some rust that had been poorly repaired when they painted the car. Both doors and both front quarterpanels had bad Bondo jobs that had been painted over. The front floorpans also had significant rust, though it couldn't be seen from the bottom. Someone had fiber glassed over the floorpans, encasing the rust, before they had done the interior. There were a few other small p[arts, like around the gas tank mounting and where they welded support tabs for the previous exhaust. Drip rails aren't terrible, and the only other body rust is a 1/4" hole in the rear passenger quarterpanel. 

Passenger door cancer. Drivers is only slightly better. Luckily entire doors are cheap to replace. 

Floorpan after the fiberglass was taken up. you can see the chunks of it in the picture. Both sides are similar. Whoever put this in must have simply gone right over the rust without repairing. 
The rest of the teardown was uneventful. during this time,  I decied on what i wanted to do to try and make this thing go anywhere other than a straight line. I went with TCI's torque arm 3-link and IFS. This setup fully braces the subframe, allows for a no-bind setup to mount a 9-inch rear end, deletes the front shock towers, provides new motor mounts, replaces the front steering and suspension with a double a-arm coil spring setup and custom spindles, and allows the car to be lowered. This particular kit also came with 13' 4-pot Wilwoods all the way around, and double-adjustable Ridetech shocks. 

Before the new front suspension setup, with the shock towers deleted.

View just before final welding.

Fully installed with rotors from outside the fender well. 
The rear suspension install is ongoing. I'm currently debating the overall width of the 9-inch, and whether or not to add small rear fender flares to give it a subtle widebody and allow for wider rear tires. The rear end will need to be beefy, because I sold the original 347 stroker and acquired a Gen 1 coyote and a pair of Precision 6266s. Current plans are to put 1,000 hp to the rear wheels. The turbos can get that high, but the stock Coyote internals will need some help. This power will go through a new close-ratio TKX, hardened by American powertrains Extreme package. They claim that it'll hold 950 lb-ft of torque. Clutch is TBD, but I will be running a 31 or 35 spline Trutrac or Wavetrac posi 9-inch rear and hardened axles. Standalone engine management will come from a Holley Terminator X Max to retain Ti-VCT capability. This car will be a daily driver, with the occasional track and drag outing. This means I'm adding A/C, sound deadening, etc., but I'm also installing a roll cage, SFI fuel cell, and other safety equipment. Currently, I expect to have it primed and running by Summer 2022. I will update this thread as I get significant portions done. If anyone has questions or wants further pics, please let me know. 

The coyote fit perfectly onto the crossmember provided by TCI.

Merry Christmas guys!!

RPM, I have Marti Report Deluxe, it says nothing about shaker but it has very scarce technical information. Do I need wider, Elite report? Here is my car. 
 
 

I went with body color. Con is it will show more dirty, oil and grime but I love the look.

Hi Roger, Unfortunately I didn't make more pics from the right one - destroyed more, but on both of them I made the the valance mount from 3 pieces of 4mm aluminium plate. Actually only one - with hole should be enough for the valance, but I needed support for cracked part of the bucket. With help of the side ones I was able to clamp the lower lip of the bucket level. After welding corners of all 3 parts I tacked them to body of the bucket. Last I opened the cracks so they have some clearance and not touching, drilled ends with 1/8 bit and under taped them. For fill out I used "Liquid metal", as well as for initial filling of missing surface (pre aluminium filler). I was hard - needed to be filed, but nice to work with.  

Vic, I do not know if it makes a difference but my 69 Coupe has 2 torsion bars for the trunk.

A Project progress update....
Well, it's been more than 3 years since I bought the 1970 Calypso Coral Mach 1 M code with Vermillion Red interior and it's almost done. The Cleveland was stroked to 408ci with a Tremec 5spd, Eaton TrueTrac with 3.70 gears. Four-wheel disc brakes with Global West Front Suspension. Holley Sniper EFI and Holley Hyperspark Ignition. Lots of other mods.. Still needs the interior door panels and windshield installed.  I can't wait to drive it, but I still need to bleed the brakes again, Bleed the Hydraulic Clutch, take it in for a wheel alignment, and some exhaust pipe work. Then I can get it inspected and drive it. I'll post a walk-around video next.... hope you like it.
Still needs door panels and windshield and molding...


Here is the switch for the power windows and the toggle switch for the remote power side view mirrors. I mounted them in the center console where they are accessible to both the drive and passenger to avoid putting holes for them in the door panels.

The fold down rear seat with a pair of Kicker 8" sub woofers mounted in the trap door panel.

I was able to install a 17" x 9" rim with a Nitto 45 x 245 size tire in the trunk even with a fold down rear seat trap door panel. This spare wheel matches my front wheels and is a bit smaller than my rear wheels. I did it by relocating the hold down loop. First I sweeeezzzed the wheel in to the trunk where I wanted it, and then I placed the hold down bar thru the dust cap hole in the spare and marked where to weld the hold down loop to the trunk floor. The space is so tight, that I have to release the latch on the trap door when putting the wheel in, or taking it out, but once the wheel is completely in or out I can latch trap door again. Here is a pic of it....


Below is a walk-around video.... 

Two weeks ago we put our home in NJ up for sale, & today we got an offer on it for what we were asking for it. Our house in Southern Virginia that we have been renovating for the last year, short of a few ceiling fans & a couple light fixtures is ready to move into. So in about one month we will be moving out of NJ to southern Virginia just west of Martinsville in a small town called Horsepasture. The house is 1350 sq ft ranch with a full basement & a 1 car carport on 1 acre of land & has room for a 2 car garage.