DarkBuddha

Exactly what I would've done... it looks great, and totally functional. Best of both worlds!

I'm using the original shifter as well, but I'm less than thrilled about it. It's fine if you just wanna put it in gear and leave it, but it sucks for manually shifting at all. I've been looking at a couple other options, but may just try to adapt a Hurst or B&M unit to fit the stock console in a tasteful OE-look kinda way.

Painted engine accessory brackets and pulleys today. Still more to do though. Also made a list of parts I still need to order. List just keeps getting longer and longer.

Forgot to post this the other day... sprayed the satin black, still a bit wet in this pic, but it's already better than the semi-gloss:

My sincerest sympathies Pak.

My sincerest sympathies Pak.

Got an hour or so to spray the bay with the satin I bought... much better than the semi-gloss, but wasn't quite sure how it would turn out exactly because I had to leave before the paint completely flashed/dried. Here's a pic anyway:

Oddly, I found those on a search yesterday as well while looking for something else on Ford's media site. Strange they would add it unless they're just archiving old print materials on am ongoing basis.

I guess we'll see... I'm considering going to a shaker in the future, but if I'm going to have to cut the hood, it may be sooner than later.

I haven't checked them all, but it was common that the r&p conversions added several feet to the turning diameter. Stock, the Mustang has a 37.6 foot turning diameter; adding more would not please me.

It doesn't seem terribly high to me, but it's just a Weiand Stealth, which should clear fine. And you are correct, no spacer... yet. I'm not going with a shaker for the moment, and hadn't planned on needing to cut the hood for clearance, but I did figure I'd need a drop-base air cleaner. But rumor has it there will be plenty of room in any case.

Always nice to see another component being developed for our old cars. For some reason, I suspect there was another application/need for this component that drove its development, especially given how many other r&p conversions already exist for our cars, but it's just a guess really. Anyway, I wish they'd publish things like turning radius and such when they do the descriptions. For most folks it probably doesn't matter, but for some of us (like me), it does. I'm avoiding doing an r&p conversion specifically because I don't want the increased turning radius.

Got a couple things done... I finished painting the engine and mounted the intake and test fitted the carb and fuel line. And the engine bay got sanded, primed, and topcoated. The "semi-gloss" was to glossy for my tastes, and the flat black is too flat. So now I've bought some satin black to try. Hope it works. Pics... engine bay still in flat black here:

Got a couple things done... First, I finished painting the engine and mounted the intake and test fitted the carb and fuel line. The carb is a Quick Fuel Slayer 750, and the dual feed fuel line I purchased doesn't fit. I'll either get the right one or just cut and flare it and connect the two pieces with rubber fuel line rather than bother with returning it. Not worth it for $15. Second, engine bay got sanded, primed, and topcoated. I originally sprayed it "semi-gloss", but it was way to glossy for my tastes. So then I sprayed a coat of flat black, and that's too flat. So now I've bought some satin black... hopefully this will have the right sheen. If nothing else, there will be plenty of paint on there. Pics... engine bay still in flat black here:

I just purchased some KYBs... they offer a couple choices: Gas-a-just shocks for performance handling (a bit harsher), and Excel-G shocks (previously called the GR2) for better ride and good control. Based on your preference for a smoother ride, I'd suggest the Excel-G shocks, especially with the poly bushings. BTW, KYB currently offers a $40 rebate on a set of 4 shocks. Given that the street price of the Excel-Gs is around $22/shock, that means a set of 4 would only be $48. That's damn hard to beat.

Maybe the brakes stuck? Or could the axle seal be leaking? Or maybe you picked up something on the drive, like a plastic bag or something?

I hope it's not a problem, because that's about where mine will sit when done.

First, I want to preface this with the fact that I don't pay attention to values very much, and I don't care what my car is worth on the market. I've owned my Mach for 26 years and it's being built to be driven and used. It's not an investment for me at all. Now, that said... So by way of a random web search result, I spent way too long looking at auction results for Mustangs over the last couple years last night. Some things I casually observed: 1. Prices appear to have gone up over the last year by a good 10-20% across the board. 2. Restored big block, Boss 302, Shelbys, have remained relatively stable comparatively. 3. Boss 429 cars are big money. Period. 4. Exceptional cars of any sort (low mileage, survivors, pristine restos, high option cars, etc.) command a significant premium over similar, but less exceptional cars. 5. Yellow cars don't pull good money. Same for any overly bright/neon colored cars. 6. Cars of mediocre quality still pull good money at auction. Mediocre workmanship, paint work, detail work, etc. don't seem to hurt values nearly as much as I think they should. 7. Show quality, custom built, magazine cars pull HUGE premiums... by 150-300% over their "normal" counterparts. I'm talking about Ring Brothers/Foose/etc. type cars that compete for things like Street Machine of the Year and SEMA awards. Think in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. $$$$$$ 8. M code cars have been gaining value steadily, especially well restored cars. 9. Pro-touring style builds pull a good sized premium, even compared to some restos. This is especially true if there's custom paint, stroked motors, modern engine/transmission conversion, and suspension/brake upgrades. 10. Blue and silver cars seem to pull better money. Grabber orange seems to do well as do black cars. Reds are hit-or-miss, and green, yellow, gold, are less popular. 11. There's no obvious value difference between manual and auto cars, but either one upgraded to have more gears/od gets better money. 12. Any car that has been overly customized toward a particular genre (pro-street, hot rod, "kustom", with a theme, etc.) don't do as well. More subtle is more popular and sells for more money. 13. Any Shelby bodied car (whether real or not) pulls a significant premium over an otherwise comparable non-Shelby bodied car. 14. Convertibles are not as popular and don't command the same kind of values as sportsroofs. Coupes seem to do fairly well comparatively. 15. Driver quality cars, especially ones modified to perform and drive better, have very very good values, and sometimes pull a premium. Seems buyers like the idea of cars that can be driven and enjoyed and are willing to pay a bit more for them sometimes. 16. There have been some exceptional buys out there... insanely well built and detailed restos that seem to randomly sell for significantly less than they should've. Maybe it was the day/time the car crossed the block, or the location of the auction, or whatever, but some folks got some high quality cars for damn decent prices. 17. There seems to be no discernible difference in the value of efi over a carb. Carb'd cars sell just fine, even on otherwise premium built and customized cars. 18. Absolute correctness seems to be less of an issue on an otherwise well done resto. Added a/c, stroked motor, aftermarket ignition, etc. all seem to get a pass. 19. Generally, any '69-'70 sportsroof of any decent quality is a $25k+ car, and most are $35k+. Convertibles are generally $25k+, and coupes are $17k+. And keep in mind, these were auction results that didn't include the buyer's premium or seller's commissions, so actual out-of-pocket costs for these cars would've been 8-15% higher. 20. Generally, all of this stuff applies to '65-66, and '67-68 cars as well. Except that Shelby bodied cars and Eleanore cars are even bigger $$$. Admittedly, there are exceptions to all of these, but they are exactly that: exceptions. Anyway, as I said, just casual observations. The things I really latched onto were the rising value of well done M code cars, Shelby bodied cars, and pro-touring cars, and how the level of quality can be very varied and still pull good money. Just thought I'd share.

I agree... roller all the way if you can afford it. If not, upgrade later.

I'm glad ABS is still around... it helps keep the prices competitive between companies. And no headaches is as good a reason as any in my book.

Nice work... keep it going!

BTW, the reason I couldn't find it, was I was looking on their other site: http://www.maierracing.com/

Thanks for the link... but $2100?!? Wowch! I guess I'll stick with Borgeson or buy directly from ABS (if they're still around).

We've always used the subframe at the front and pinch weld at the rear with a wood block between the lift pad and the pinch weld. It raises the car dead level. I do want to use something else for to replace the wood block that has more structural integrity.

Do you have the link to the Maier steering kit? I looked around on their site but couldn't find it. I've been planning on upgrading to one of the integral box ps kits rather than going to a rack for a combination of reasons, including that r&p conversions have a bigger turning radius, cost more, are bulky, and can hurt performance. I'd be interested in seeing what Maier has as an option.