DarkBuddha

I followed the directions on the seam sealer and applied it over the bare metal and welds. It's a sandable and paintable sealer, so I'm sanding it smooth(-ish) and then priming over it and then spraying top coat. I'm not using any rubberized undercoating inside the engine bay.

I have missed all of my deadlines, but I don't mind because I'm really trying to do things a bit more proper. This time around. As of this past weekend, all the shock tower reinforcements have been welded in, welds ground down, and seams sealed. I also installed the intake on the motor and cleared it and the timing cover with Duplicolor. Hope to get the bay primed and wet sanded this week and in top coat next weekend. Then on to reassembly.

What about the door panel side? New beltline there too?

Finished welding in the shock tower reinforcements, ground down the welds, and dressed the seams with sealer. I never intended for it to take this long for this part of the project, and I missed my artificially imposed deadline, but I'm very glad to have spent the time to do it properly.

You sure that thing is a Mustang and not a Fiat?

Yeah, traditionally, 10.5 is a bit high for going turbo, but it depends on controlling timingand fuel, and how much boost you run. An alternative could be to shim the heads or change the heads to something with a larger chamber... going from 60cc to 64cc would probably drop compression almost a full point. With regard to the questions... 1. Both banks feed a single turbo. 2. There was someone making a kit for vintage Mustangs, but I think they're out of business, so you'll likely have to fab the kit yourself, though you can probably find off-the-shelf parts for some of it. 3. Im a pump gas fan for convenience sake, but E85 seems the easy choice. But do consider if you leave your local area... What will you run? And don't forget that E85 doesn't have a long shelf life and will likely require changing some of your fuel system and lines. 4. You'll need high pressure oil supply line, and a drain line (probably to the pan). As for coolant line, that depends on the turbo you choose, but there are many that are oil cooled only, so you may not need to run coolant lines. It sounds like you have a lot of research to do... Start googling.

Thanks for the pics and clarification. Yeah, I didn't make the "dog leg" face plates, but I'd previously installed partial reinforcement plates at the upper arm on the wheel side of the tower when I did the Arning drop. Also, we partially seam welded the factory reinforcements when we replaced the cracked/collapsed original towers 25 years ago. I can honestly report that even that little welding was functionally worthwhile. I had the unfortunate experience to have to drive the car over a curb at 35mph into a median in an evasive maneuver to avoid a crashing car. Everything was fine except for a bent tie rod. Anyway, I'm taking this opportunity to finish it off and feel confident about auto-x'ing the car and knowing the towers aren't going to flex, crack, or collapse. BTW, I used seam sealer instead of body filler... You're right that most of it will sand out, but not so much that it doesn't still hide some of my less pretty welds.

Thanks... I think I might've gone overkill on mine, which are more like 6mm thick.

Just curious but how thick was th steel of the wrap arounds? It's difficult to tell from the pics.

No thread on making them, just bought some steel plate, cut it with a cheap cut-off wheel and hammered 'em into shape with a bench vise and claw hammer. I really only did the wrap-arounds and the corner L's and some small tie plates for the base of the face of the towers. Here is a pic of the mostly finished set (again):

I vote Boss too... Machs are very cool cars, but Boss cars are rarer and more valuable (generally, and with exceptions). Besides, the Boss stripes are a bit cooler than the Mach stripes IMHO.

Got most of the tower reinforcements welded in today... Kinda sucked because initially we ran out of shielding gas, then wire, and the near 30 year old Craftsman welder was finicky and we had to keep adjusting the settings, and then my carpal tunnel was causing my fingers to go numb, and my brother/helper had injured his foot, and ... Well, you get the point. The welds ain't pretty, but the towers are now more solid than ever. Pics tomorrow.

I couldn't find a local builder that could build the same thing for the same or less. Simple as that.

I like the look of their "Drift" wheel for my XR4TI. I need the centering line when I'm rallycrossing.

Was very short on ome this weekend, but I did finish fab'ing my shock tower braces, but didn't get them welded in. Doesn't look good for making the Goodguys show. :(

Now that you mention it, me neither. lol. Still while horsepower makes it fast, torque makes it fun.

I've never personally dealt with them, but I have read a few mixed reviews on Fordstrokers.com motors, but they all get squelched very quickly. It bothers me is that the owner is big on the forums as an advertiser and stuff, and all the conversations of his motors and work are very very one-sided. That makes me very dubious. The other thing I've read that is very consistent is that he takes a long time to build a motor. Not quite sure what I'm trying to here, but something just nags at me there.

Actually, I do plan on auto-x'ing it semi-regularly. In fact, my original goal was to have it roadworthy enough for the Goodguys show in Kissimmee Florida in a couple weeks just so I could do the auto-x. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be done enough in time, but I'd rather do stuff correctly than rush just to meet some short term goal. But who knows, maybe if stuff goes well tomorrow, I might have it done enough yet to go on Apr. 26-27.

@rwcstang, those FPS engines look killer and your's sounds awesome. I'm envious, except for the prices. The 345hp/430tq BluePrint 408w long block I ordered was under $3k delivered (thanks to 10% off coupon at Summit), which is decent spec at a price I could afford. I forgot to mention that each BluePrint engine comes pre-run and with a dyno sheet to ensure it's performing up to spec. The dyno sheet for my engine actually posted 348hp @ 4750rpm and 445 lbs-ft @3600rpm, and has well over 400 lbs-ft from well below 3k rpm. Quite a stump puller and should be fun on the street.

I just went through this process myself, including considering both those exact motors. Ultimately, I decided for various reasons to go with an iron headed 345hp/430tq 408w from BluePrint Engines with a 30 month/50k mile warranty, purchased through Summit Racing. Yes, it required purchasing a new intake, carb, headers, balancer, distributor, etc., so it actually ended up costing a bit more than either of those, but I liked the idea of having the potential to upgrade to aluminum heads and roller valve train, and a roller cam later to make more power later if I want. Besides, there's no substitute for cubic inches, except maybe forced induction. Now, I have yet to actually get it installed, but I should have it in before the end of the month... hopefully in a week or so actually. This is the engine I ordered: http://blueprintengines.com/index.php/products/bp-ford-crate-engines-landing/ford-408-main/item/ford-408-base-bpf4083ct

These showed up today... KYB GAS fronts, Excel-G rears (same as old GR2s). They're a stop-gap until I can afford better (and can decide on what I really want), but for $100 shipped to the door, and the $40 rebate from KYB, they were at least a really cheap stop-gap.

Thanks man... just sitting here planning the weekend's work. Too much to do, too little time. As always.

I thought I'd posted this last weekend, but... Got the bay primed and fab'd a good bit of the shocktower reinforcement kit. I'm fab'ing a poorman's version with nothing more than a cheap cutoff wheel, a bench vice, a claw hammer, and $25 worth of steel plate. Definitely wish I had better tools... or at least a proper BFH. Anyway, a couple pics:

Isn't the Edelbrock IAS now being sold as a QA1 shock?

Do note, I got Gas-A-Justs front, but GR2 (excel-G) rears, but I got them from Parts Giant Wholesale via Amazon.com... GAS were $32 each, GR2s were $18 each.