1970 Mustang Retromod - Boss 351

[Cantedvalve 128]

So it’s been awful here lately. Between the crap weather of mid 30’s and rain/snow constantly for days, and the fact that I tweaked something in my neck that makes everything painful - sitting, standing, laying, thinking about any of the those three - there isn’t much getting done. I did take a moment to check out how much porting would be necessary on the intake we are using. For refresher it is a Edelbrock F351-2V intake - the predecessor to the Performer 2750. The original Boss 351 had an aluminum intake, so this was the closest we could get within economical reason. It’s used, as any F351 intake would be these days. Flanges all look good (although it will probably get cut due to decking the block). It needs cleaned up. 

I put the recommended Felpro 1240 intake gaskets on the flange, and found that the spacing of the ports was good enough, and that I would have a lot of cutting to do to match up to the heads we are using. The heads intake ports are 1.470x2.100. The gasket is 1.500x2.120. I don’t need them to match perfect, but closer will be better. I won’t be touching the heads, so it’s all in the intake.
 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Did the same exercise with the heads. Clearly no work needed.

 

[RogerC 151]

Just did this with my Offenhauser intake. I had a port on each side where the spacing was off. Port matching to the intake gasket fixed that.

[Cantedvalve 128]

I have good drugs! Between nerve pain blockers, steroids, and good old Tylenol, I’ve got most of the pain managed. Today the boy and I got back on the primering of parts. We got the outsides of the wheel wells, the insides of the cowl pods, and most of the torque boxes primered. In the driver side, I drilled the spot welds on the e-brake channel because I saw some sort of what looked like oil staining around the tabs where it was spot welded on. it showed up before and after sand blast, and didn’t evaporate, so I decided to separate it, clean it, primer it, and I’ll reassemble it later. Pics are of the mystery stains and the parts we primered.  Need to finish up the other sides tomorrow.
 

[Cantedvalve 128]

I also include a few pictures of our water and oil removal systems. I have what is essentially a transmission cooler on the compressor that takes the hot wet air and cools it off. You can’t touch the copper tubing going into it as it is way too hot, but the pipe coming out is quite cool. Ambient, maybe a touch more. Works well. There is a water and oil separator that takes out the condensed water before passing the air into the tank. Also, I have a desiccant dryer that uses 5lbs of desiccant beads. It is for spraying or blasting only.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Today was more of the same. Media blasting and primer on parts. We also let the parts bask in the sun. Tomorrow hopefully we assemble again and get ready to weld. Josh has been doing an awesome job with the primer. Parts are turning out very nice!
 

[stangs-R-me 124]

On 4/20/2023 at 8:28 PM, Cantedvalve said:

Some recent acquisitions. We were able to find a nicely restored original Hurst shifter. Reproduction rods and handle, but original levers and T-handle. Also just purchased an original 1969 gauge cluster with tach and 140mph speedometer. Not sure I’ve ever seen a 140mph speedo before. Will obviously need to trade the panel for a 1970, but the gauges will work. 

 

IIRC ... 140 MPH Speedometers were only used on 1969 Shelbys, so pretty much the rarest 1969-70 cluster out there.

That cluster is probably worth a whole lot more than a Deluxe 120MPH 1970 Tach Cluster.   May as well try and find the correct cluster and re-sell that one.

Doug   

[Cantedvalve 128]

Inner wheel wells are welded in. We put epoxy primer on all surfaces first, then cleaned the back metal off through the hold via a flattened drill bit in a die grinder. We also got paint! Single stage urethane Grabber Blue.

 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Work continues.  Wheel wells are welded in place.

 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Tonight was busy but necessary work of grinding down welds in the wheel wells and primering the bare metal. Nothing sexy.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Earlier this week we did some more mock assembling to make sure we had things in the right places. We put the quarters and roof on to make sure the positioning of the rear filler panel was correct. I measured my Fastback at 31-5/16” down the middle. The car we are building measured at 31-7/16”. I think it is in the roof. I also measured the trunk diagonal to corners and it came out exactly the same as my car, so I am confident enough that everything is in the right place. I stripped the inside of the filler panel and brushed on some epoxy primer. I also stripped the upper seat support brackets, primered those, and drilled holes for the plug welds. I’m hoping tomorrow we can weld some of this stuff together. 

[Cantedvalve 128]

No pictures today. Started welding the filler panel to the rear seat support. Should finish today or tomorrow. The boy has been working on stripping the EDP from the inside of the passenger quarter. He is anxious to see color on the car! Once that is done, we will hit it with epoxy primer, then Lizard Skin, then epoxy primer again, and finally Grabber Blue. Now I’m getting anxious!

[Midlife 840]

Lizard skin on the exterior of the car?  Isn't that bedliner?  WTF?

[Cantedvalve 128]

Interior of the quarter panels.  Sorry, I failed to specify that.  It is sound deadener.  Factory had it, and we are approximating a factory build, so we will put it in there.

While im here, we also need to get the marker light holes cut before we do any of the spraying on the interior.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Last night we did nothing on the car. I did help my daughter do front brakes on her car. I showed her on the driver side, and she did the passenger side.

 

[Cantedvalve 128]

Tonight I worked on welding all of the inner structure together while Josh continued to strip EDP coating from the quarter panel. I got the inner structure welded to the wheel wells, and the rear seat support welded to the wheel wells and inner structure. Next is a pause on welding parts on so we can clean and prep and primer the whole thing.

[Cantedvalve 128]

So we have stuff done. Floor has been sanded and primed. Today we cut the marker light holes in the quarter panels. Talk about nerve wracking! Turned out well though. This is the passenger side. It had a 69 marker hole in it, and what I learned is that the bottom of that hole is the same height as the bottom of the 70 hole, so it helped line things up. The driver side was freehand and We got it after a couple of attempts. The quarter is sanded and ready for round 2 of primer, after which the lizard skin goes in, then more primer, and finally Grabber Blue.

[Cantedvalve 128]

I welded in the two boomerang shaped pieces to the inner structure.  I installed the quarters to make sure they were reasonably located.

[Cantedvalve 128]

Lizard skin on. We masked off an inch from each flange, and layer down two coats. Is it factory? No. I do like how it looks though. Wednesday we’ll put down another layer of epoxy, and Friday color.

[aslanefe 352]

I think Lizard skin will be good to stop resonation of those big panels.