69 mach 408w build

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

thanks for the reply. i was in to much of a hurry to see you already wrote 3". i'm most interested in pics of the tubing around the axles and along the tank to the rear valance.

 

i really have thought about making my own exhaust. i priced the tri-mix to do the stainless ($300) along with the raw materials and i'm struggling on what to do. i have seen the ovalized tubing. it's pricey just like all the other stainless....

[Pittcrew 10]

I will PM you the pics and info so as not to water down your thread. I would rather see your work on here, as I already have seen mine.:thumbup:

You have mentioned a few times that you are unhappy with your headers. If it is something that really bugs you then change it. I think the percentage is 90 something of people that never go back and re do something after a project is done. They typically live with it bugging them.

You have the advantage of having data from the dyno showing what your motor makes with a set of tubes specd out like the dyno headers as far as primary and collector sizes.

I dont know how your in car headers compare to the dyno headers you achieved your numbers with but it gives you a baseline. You can tweak that curve with something custom and build a really nice collector also. I got into building them because they weren't available for a application or options I wanted in a size I wanted or what was available was of horrible quality and or fit. Its only tubing, cut it up.:taz:

I realize you had them coated but its better to make the change now than after you have time and money in the rest of the exhaust system designed to work with them. After all, you took a very pretty and perfectly new oil pan and cut it up.:smile:You have shown that you have the want and knowledge to take on any task this car has and I have no doubt you will come up with something great.

On a side note, I have been running Borla XR1 race mufflers on another 69 running 10.60's at 4500ft and they have been great. High quality muffler IMO.

Sorry this is so wordy.Just my two cents. Keep up the great work!

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

I will PM you the pics and info so as not to water down your thread. I would rather see your work on here, as I already have seen mine.:thumbup:

You have mentioned a few times that you are unhappy with your headers. If it is something that really bugs you then change it. I think the percentage is 90 something of people that never go back and re do something after a project is done. They typically live with it bugging them.

You have the advantage of having data from the dyno showing what your motor makes with a set of tubes specd out like the dyno headers as far as primary and collector sizes.

I dont know how your in car headers compare to the dyno headers you achieved your numbers with but it gives you a baseline. You can tweak that curve with something custom and build a really nice collector also. I got into building them because they weren't available for a application or options I wanted in a size I wanted or what was available was of horrible quality and or fit. Its only tubing, cut it up.:taz:

I realize you had them coated but its better to make the change now than after you have time and money in the rest of the exhaust system designed to work with them. After all, you took a very pretty and perfectly new oil pan and cut it up.:smile:You have shown that you have the want and knowledge to take on any task this car has and I have no doubt you will come up with something great.

On a side note, I have been running Borla XR1 race mufflers on another 69 running 10.60's at 4500ft and they have been great. High quality muffler IMO.

Sorry this is so wordy.Just my two cents. Keep up the great work!

 

post your pics here. i'm sure others would appreciate seeing a 3" exhaust routed through the rear valance.

 

i have no interest in spending $1000 on more header work for 5 or so HP that won't even be measurable in a controlled environment.

 

they didn't fit so i cut them up and the result is no dimpling or squashed tubes. and the ground clearance is more than i could ask for. what were you thinking i should modify?

 

i'm hoping i like the sound of the borla's once the full exhaust is installed. it's way too loud the way it is.

[Pittcrew 10]

As per Buckeye's request here are some pics posted in this thread.

Here are some pics that I hope show what you want to see.

At the time I took them the car was on stands so the views might not be all that great.

Also at the time I built this there was no 3 inch exhaust available. I have not googled to see if there currently is.

I started with these parts. Not shown is the Dr. Gas X pipe.

Here are the over axle pipes in progress.

Here are some views of them in the car.

Here is the view on the tight side. It is super close here. The pipe just barely clears the shackle. It sits just below it. This taken during tip fab.

Tons of room over here. Taken after tip fab.

I bought this car in 87 and sold it to my Parents in 95 to pay the down payment on a new ford truck. I owned three 69's at the time and it was the one to go. My mom owns the car and at the time I built the exhaust she didnt want round pipe coming out of the valance. She designed the tips and I made them.

[LindenBruce 27]

Hey Pittcrew nice exhaust work. Do you have a sound file of your system? How about drone at highway speeds? Bruce

[Pittcrew 10]

PM sent

[stangnet33 88]

Going back a ways when you did your dash & column, did you order your DPLF and spray(32586) straight from PPG or get it locally ? Have you come across or have any recent idea's on getting a bit more gloss ? And one more :huh: what is the reason for the cleaner/zinc solution vs blasting or paint stripper and what brand and where did you get it ? .....ok thats all for now :whistling:

[stangnet33 88]

Never mind about the DX info, I found it on their site.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

Did you order your DPLF and spray(32586) straight from PPG or get it locally ?

 

i get the DP locally. i purchased the 32586 online.

 

 

Have you come across or have any recent idea's on getting a bit more gloss ?

 

i've just been wiping the panels with armor all.

 

what is the reason for the cleaner/zinc solution vs blasting or paint stripper ?

 

1. i wanted to keep the film build thin. i reduced the epoxy to keep it thin (also sprays better) and only sprayed one coat on the grain (wanted two coats of the metallic). the P-sheet recommends a metal conditioner if you don't have the required film build (i think 1.5mils?). i think the metal conditioner says something about not applying to blasted metal (don't know why).

 

2. it was winter when i did that. seems like it was around christmas. it wouldn't fit in my cabinet and i didn't want to set up the pressure blaster outside.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

i've been trying to wrap up any loose ends or problems with the components under the dash pad, so i think i'm close. the clock cluster should be finished up in a few weeks, so i updated the clock with a quartz unit. the most difficult part was pulling the seconds needle off. that took some force.

 

i solved my complaints with the dash lighting by changing the illumination bulbs in the center housings with led's that aren't so bright. that balanced it out better so that all four pods are about the same lighting. the dimmer has zero effect now whereas before it would make a very slight difference.

 

it's hard to get a representative picture.

 

 

also for reference, i snapped some pics of testing a few different bulbs for the tail lights (1157).

 

Sylvania Silver Star. rated at 645mA/2100mA per bulb.

they claim 40% brighter than a standard. i didn't test the standard bulb, so i don't know if it's that much better.

 

1157-W18-T rated at 35mA/210mA

these use 18 white leds. (i should have gotten a red)

 

1157-R45-T rated at 25mA/165mA

these use 45 red leds

 

 

i tried to take some pics but it's hard to tell.

 

left: silverstar

right: red led

the red led is actually just a little more red than the silverstar. my camera doesn't indicate this though.

 

brakes on

 

left: white led

right: red led

 

brakes on

 

i really liked the color of the silverstar. the lens was nice and red. i would be perfectly happy with them. what i was noticing was the voltage measured interior of the car would drop about 1.5 volts when hitting the brakes, turn signals, etc. i so i wanted something with less current since the headlights will probably be the pig. my ignition box runs off it's own power source so i really wasn't concerned about that.

 

the white LED produced an orange look (pictures don't show it well at all) and wasn't quite as bright. i hated the way it looked. the difference was slight between the 45 red led and the silverstar.

 

a red 18 LED unit would have been much better for color. I made a mistake when ordering. the website claims the 45 version is the highest output. I'm sure it is, but not positive it would be that much of a difference. the nice thing now is that my volt gauge doesn't move when i hit the brake lights.

 

i can't physically tell there is an LED bulb inside except when the lights are turning on/off. the LEDs are on/off whereas the bulb has a slower response time.

 

amongst fixing a lot of other issues, i've been working on getting the alignment close. since the car still needs some weight, i'll have to readjust it again at some point. i drove the car back on forth in the driveway a number of times trying to coax the oil around the pan. the good news is i don't have any signs of oil leaks. hopefully that's real.

 

 

 

[Powershift 19]

Great update, and review of brake lights!

 

I'm planning to go the LED route too.

[Junior2561 10]

its coming a long well. Are you using the original wiring? You may have mentioned it and I've forgotten.

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

all the wiring has been replaced with the exception of the main underdash harness. this car was last registered in 1983.

[stangnet33 88]

Nice reveiw on the lights. What are your plans for your exterior mirrors, staying body color ? Looks like you have a very nice piece of property :)

[Boozshey 12]

your car looks so nice!!

[Powershift 19]

Just ordered two of the 1157-R45-T red LED bulbs, based off your review post. Thanks!

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

Nice reveiw on the lights. What are your plans for your exterior mirrors, staying body color ? Looks like you have a very nice piece of property :)

 

the stock mirros, headlight buckets and hood are in my spare room, primed, sanded and ready to be sprayed red. i couldn't fit these parts in the garage while i was painting the car. i'll be spraying those in the next few weeks.

 

i needed a cheap house with some land that would allow me to support this hobby :)

[Angel 24]

Nice! Where did you buy the LEDs?

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

Where did you buy the LEDs?

 

Super Brite LEDs

 

69 Mustang Bulbs

[stangnet33 88]

Hey Buckeye I forgot to ask, do you have a rear window louver for your car ?

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

do you have a rear window louver for your car ?

 

yes, i have a set of louvers new in the box (not the cheap ones).

 

i'm not installing them so they are for sale.

[Blue08 10]

Hey Buckeye, I also purchased some LEDs similar to yours for the brake lights because I noticed the 1.5 volt drop when hitting brakes and signals also. And due to my mustang being stuck in the shop to have it's 13 something leaks fixed, I am unable to test for the answer to my question which is: When you switched your rear lights to LEDs, did you also have to switch over your flasher terminal over to an electric one? Or were you able to use the one used with the incandescents?

[BuckeyeDemon 211]

Hey Buckeye, I also purchased some LEDs similar to yours for the brake lights because I noticed the 1.5 volt drop when hitting brakes and signals also. And due to my mustang being stuck in the shop to have it's 13 something leaks fixed, I am unable to test for the answer to my question which is: When you switched your rear lights to LEDs, did you also have to switch over your flasher terminal over to an electric one? Or were you able to use the one used with the incandescents?

 

i did switch to electronic flashers. at the moment i don't have the front turn signals connected (i do have the LED bulbs for those). so right now my only loads are the tail lamps for those relays and the turn signal bulbs in the dash.

 

i had also switched the turn signal bulbs in the dash to LED's. the electronic flasher still uses a relay, so it still needs some amount of current to operate. with just the LED tail lamps and the LED turn signal lights (in Dash) installed the turn signals would not flash with the electronic flasher. when i replaced the turn signal (in dash) LED with a regular bulb, the electronic flasher would work. i would speculate that if i had connected the front turn signal (with LED) that the flasher might start working. I don't know what relay is in the flasher to know what current it actually needs. the funny thing is the small 194 bulbs in the dash specify a current of around 270 mA which is more than the brake lights combined.

 

don't forget there are two flashers (emergency/turn signal).

 

last weekend i also fixed my issue with the circuits that are always powered (power the door ajar lighting/clock as an example). i had narrowed the problem down to the fuse holder for that circuit a couple months ago.

 

so i pulled the fuse box down, put a small wire brush on the dremel, brushed all the fuse terminals. it didn't get into the corners, so i wrapped some scotch brite pad on a small circular file and worked the fuse holders with that. i also dripped some phosphoric acid (DX579?) on the fuse holders and wire terminals. i then rinsed with water, then sprayed it down with electronic parts cleaner.

 

after that procedure (i don't know which part of that process really made the difference), the broken circuitry started working (door ajar lighting, clock, etc). i also noticed the voltage drop on the meter was less than half of what it was before. so you might look into cleaning up those fuse terminals.

[69gmachine 15]

 

after that procedure (i don't know which part of that process really made the difference), the broken circuitry started working (door ajar lighting, clock, etc). i also noticed the voltage drop on the meter was less than half of what it was before. so you might look into cleaning up those fuse terminals.

 

So you have the correct door latches with door ajar switches and harnesses in order to have verified they light? Those were very rare. Where in the dash is that jewel?

 

Is the writing straight or curved? I would like to replace the OIL idiot light and use that space for the door ajar since I have an oil pressure guage in the console. I can steal the jewel out of a standard gauge cluster if it's straight.

 

EDIT:

 

I just looked back at your pic on the previous page and it appears they are on either side of the fuel/temp gauge and they are straight, so... never mind

Edited April 18, 2012 by 69gmachine
looked closer

[buening 63]

I don't believe mustangs came with a Door Ajar warning light, only the Cougar. I think Buckey means the quarter pillar lights and the lower dash lights, which turn on when you open the door