My 1969 Convertible Restomod - progress thread

[simplyj 26]

On 8/28/2018 at 10:31 AM, RPM said:

Nice looking parts. Really nice looking neighborhood! Where abouts in NY doe you live?

Northern, NJ actually. In Hasbrouck Heights, about 10 miles from NYC. 

[simplyj 26]

didn't get a ton of time to work on the mustang last night, but was able to shoot the radiator black and powdercoat the fan brackets.  I hate how aluminum radiators look behind a classic grill, so I picked up some of this stuff from Eastwood:

Pretty easy to shoot.  3 light coats finished out the can and gave an even finish.  

doesn't exactly appear stock from under the hood

but blends right in from the front

 

[simplyj 26]

test fitting the rear wheels/tires.  I plan on rolling the fenders but they clear the fenderwell and leaf spring nicely.  

centers will be painted a lighter matte color to better approximate vintage torque thrusts.  

[Vicfreg 771]

Making great progress...look forward to seeing it come together.  My '70 Vert is nearing completion to the point of going to paint soon.  

I grew up in Bergenfield, not far from where you are, family still in Ridgefield Park and Waldwick.....

I rolled my fenders and have the same experience, but figure when I get the car fully loaded, it will probably drop a little... 

 

[RandyatBBY 55]

How did you deal with the shifter on the TR 3650? got any pictures how it fits in the interior. 

 

[simplyj 26]

reviving this ancient thread as Covid-19 restrictions here in the NY/NJ area has finally allowed me time to work on the mustang.  The little free time i've had in the last year has been mostly spent doing home renovations, motorcycle track days, and some work on the newest addition to the stable:

But anyhow, back to the mustang.  Spent the last few weeks working to correct a lot of the crappy work the shop did.  Ended up fabricating new engine mounts and transmission crossmember, fitted JBA shorty headers, installed a new intake and did a light port on the throttle body, modified the sn95 pedal cluster to fit using a 1969 brake pedal and clearancing the cowl to allow the quadrant to clear, rebuilt the door hinges, fixed some small rust holes in the inner cowls on both sides, and fabricated an air cleaner to fit a 2004 mach 1 shaker scoop and seal on the 2000 Lincoln continental intake manifold.  

pedal assembly

had to cut the cowl a bit for the quadrant to clear

door hinges

engine mounts - had to raise the engine a bit and move it slightly forward for the headers to clear and the transmission to clear the tunnel while maintaining proper driveline angle.  

Transmission mount

Had to modify the trans tunnel for the shifter opening (was an auto) so cut it for clearance, notched andboxed in the trans tunnel support, and patched the opening.  

Shaker assembly - wanted to use a late model shaker but didn't want the entire mess of the stock airbox in the engine bay (also, not daily driving this thing so not worried about monsoons) so fabricated a mid plate to bolt to the 2004 Mach 1 shaker top and sandwich the late model shaker seal.  Using a K&N filter that measures about 9.5x11.65"

pardon the trashed hood - have a dynacorn flat hood to go on but didn't want to cut the shaker hole until I knew if I could actually pull off this airbox idea so tossed on the junk 70 hood I had laying around with the shaker hole already cut.  

Have to repaint the engine and some of the engine bay and sort out the hydroboost fitment, but hoping to get started on wiring and plumbing shortly.  

 

 

[simplyj 26]

cold and rainy out there today so starting to plan out my wiring.  Going to be using a digital harness with three separate control boxes each connected by power/ground & a 2 conductor shielded can bus cable.  As a hobby, i build custom bikes and one of my suppliers came out with these last year and gave me a prototype for the mustang at cost.  

While the unit itself is water resistant, the connections are made simply by inserting a wire end with crimped on ferrule into the screw block, leaving it susceptible to corrosion.  

The dashboard box is going to be mounted along with my ECU behind the passenger dashboard, the rear box in the trunk, but trying to figure out a suitable mounting position/enclosure for the front box and Ford EDIS module.  I assume somewhere on the passenger side, possibly some sort of enclosure within the passenger inner fender.  

The general idea is to design for the shortest runs possible of the larger wire bundles.  Any thoughts on positioning would be helpful.  For reference, each of these boxes is roughly 4"x3"x3"

 

 

[stangman69 17]

Great progress!

[Mike65 475]

Nice work simplyj, what trans are you using?. I used a T-5 in my 69 Coupe that was an auto also & I did not need to modify the trans tunnel opening. BTW where are you in NJ, it looks like Jersey plates on the Ford pick up.

[simplyj 26]

3 hours ago, Mike65 said:

Nice work simplyj, what trans are you using?. I used a T-5 in my 69 Coupe that was an auto also & I did not need to modify the trans tunnel opening. BTW where are you in NJ, it looks like Jersey plates on the Ford pick up.

Tr-3650 from a 2004 Mach 1 - had to move the engine up (1.5") and forward (1") for header clearance as well as clearing the throttle linkage on the rear mounted throttle body.  Transmission is sitting slightly higher in the tunnel (but still clears fine) to keep the drivetrain angle acceptable.  Car is going to sit pretty low so the added oil pan clearance helps too.  Not tracking the car so for a street driven convertible, it should still handle just fine.  

I'm in Northern NJ in Hasbrouck Heights.  Where are you in south jersey?

[Mike65 475]

18 hours ago, simplyj said:

I'm in Northern NJ in Hasbrouck Heights.  Where are you in south jersey?

Berkeley Township, off Rt-37 west of the GSP, 5 miles from Seaside Heights/Seaside Park. I have lived in Essex, Morris, & Warren counties before moving to Ocean county.

[Vicfreg 771]

If you use a trunk mounted battery, you can put the front box in the space where the battery was.  Just remove the battery tray.  I have see people use those large, underhood fuse boxes that come on modern cars.  You can source one at the scrapyard.  Or use a small air intake box.  They usually are gasketed.

[simplyj 26]

finally got the engine painted and fully installed.  New header studs and gaskets.  Headers and poly engine mounts installed and everything bolted down.  Next up, running the engine bay wiring harness.  

[simplyj 26]

While I'm waiting on some engine sensors, I decided to move towards the back and hang the doors.  Bought a pair of dynacorn repo doors a while back and the driver's side went on pretty easily with decent gaps.  Will need some massaging but fit better than I thought repops would.  

passenger side was a whole other story.  Even with the hinges adjusted as far back as possible, there was a gap you could drive a car through.  

tossed the old rotted door back on to double check if it's the body or the door and, although not perfect, the gap was significantly better.  

really scratching my head how the repop door could be so far off. Thankfully my passenger side door shell can probably be saved with a door skin and some patches along the bottom, but currently trying to find a rust free original door.  

[bigmal 225]

Wow, they are some serious gaps. Very interested to see how you will sort them.

[aslanefe 333]

Did you measure and compare the repop and original doors? The length on top and bottom, diagonal etc.

[JET 445 43]

You could make a spacer to go between the hinge and the door to move it back.

[simplyj 26]

2 hours ago, JET 445 said:

You could make a spacer to go between the hinge and the door to move it back.

tried spacing it out and then the inner structure rubs against the rear door jamb.  It appears it was just assembled poorly.  I've tried contacting the local dealer I got it from but it is closed due to covid.  I just pulled the trigger on a new one from CJ and will try to sell this one cheap for someone who wants the inner structure for repairs.  

[RPM 1,190]

Dang, forgot about this build. You do outstanding work, I love the pedals and hanger work. Are there pads made for the shape of the pedal, or are you leaving then as is, or something else?

[simplyj 26]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

Dang, forgot about this build. You do outstanding work, I love the pedals and hanger work. Are there pads made for the shape of the pedal, or are you leaving then as is, or something else?

you and me both forgot about this build for a while.  

These pedals are just sn95 pedal pads so there are a few options - I ended up going with the cobra snake version as I felt the oem version looked a bit dated.  Not my ideal choice, but works well enough given what's under the hood.  

 

[RPM 1,190]

47 minutes ago, simplyj said:

These pedals are just sn95 pedal pads so there are a few options 

 

So now you've got me interested. Are the complete pedals sn95, or did you just R&R the metal pads?

[simplyj 26]

3 hours ago, RPM said:

 

So now you've got me interested. Are the complete pedals sn95, or did you just R&R the metal pads?

The pedals are modified sn95 since i'm also using a sn95 hydroboost.  I have some more pics of what I did, but essentially modified the cage and it's secured through the firewall and also bolted to the inner cowl.  Then swapped in the modified 69-70 brake pedal, chopped the quadrant arm and swapped the quadrant into the inner part of the arm, and added a brake return spring perch.  On the firewall side, I welded in a perch for the firewall adjuster and am using a maximum motorsports clutch cable (which is 9 or so inches longer than the stock cable).  

[simplyj 26]

working on routing the engine wiring harness.  Ended up going with a Holley HP system rather than trying to work with the obsolete Accel DFI gen 7 system I purchased years ago.  Aside from having to order some of the 2nd gen sensors (oil pressure sensor, air intake sensor), it's plug and play.  Most of the wiring will tuck underneath the shaker airbox.  Also using a Ron Francis alternator wiring kit.  The HP system has an option to retain the waste spark coil system, although still waiting on tech support to get me wiring details.