69 SuperCoupe

[RandyatBBY 56]

Some real nice work. Mine is going slow too. I only work on it when I feel good. I am all most done with the wireing about 2 weeks of work left on the wire job. 

 

[RogerC 145]

Thanks Randy!

[RogerC 145]

Haven't been doing a whole lot. I plan to drop off my heads July 3rd. I've bought new Manley valves, Howards valve springs, seals, roller rockers and roller cam. Damn cam went up almost $200 since the first of the year. I want to pull the block, strip it and drop it off to get cleaned and checked to make sure it doesn't need bored. In the mean time I'm working on some small stuff. Had the kitchen redone in 21 but the contractor messed up the flooring. That's finally getting replaced next month (not by the contractor) so house stuff is taking priority.

I made a new throttle cable bracket for the engine. I've developed a tremor in my right hand so the welds aren't very pretty. Will have to do something about that. Here's the intake/carb mocked up.

[RPM 1,225]

I hate it when life gets in the way of Mustangs. Regarding welding torch shake, when using a mig and after getting the pieces tacked together, use your off hand at the end of the torch to steady the path of the weld.

When using tig, if you've laid down an ugly bead, go over the bead a second time with your torch hand as close to the cup as you can get. You can also steady the torch using your off hand. 

[RogerC 145]

Got a new complete wiring harness (American Autowire) for when I'm ready to install. Also got a Nu-Relics electric window kit. It was about $100 cheaper from MCB parts (chevy) than CJPP for the same kit. The machine shop is still working on my heads. I checked in last week and since mine wasn't a big priority they were working other jobs first. I expect them to be done next week.

 

[RogerC 145]

Modified cowl panel. Tacked 1/8 rod around perimeter on the bottom, cut away the slots, tacked 1/4-20 studs on the bottom side, welded shut washer nozzle mount holes, drilled new washer nozzle holes on top,  sanded, skim coat of bondo, sanded smooth, primed, wet sanded, primed again. It'll get aluminum or SS mesh and the studs trimmed if too long. I have 3 more of these if it doesn't workout.

[RogerC 145]

Got my heads back on Tuesday along with an Offenhauser dual plane intake I had cleaned up. The heads were reworked with new valves, springs, guides and milled for roller rocker studs. Last weekend I started stripping the rest of the engine which was still in the car. Today I pulled the engine and finished stripping it. The old cam and lifters have virtually no wear but I'm replacing it with a roller cam. The engine only has a few thousand miles on it but it hasn't run in over 30 years. The 2 & 4 cylinders had gotten some water in them somehow and the rings were stuck. I soaked them with PB Blaster and let it set for the week. Today I was able to rotate the crank. I pulled the pistons, there's a significant surface rust in 2 & 4 but the pistons came right out. I was hoping not to have to bore the cylinders but after removing the pistons I saw they were knurled. I figure with the rust clean up I may have to go a minimal overbore. I'll be replacing the pistons anyhow, #6 has a broken ring groove, there was nothing wrong with the cylinder though. Several rod bearings had some scratches but the rod journals on the crank looked ok. I think next I'll drop off my crank and have it cleaned, inspected dimensionally and entertain any recommended improvements.

[RogerC 145]

Heads

Picked up an Offenhauser dual plane. I had some recommended machining done, had it cleaned. Painted the heads and intake with Eastwood's ceramic engine paint. I may use this instead of the single plane intake.

Tacked the RH quarter on, has a subtle 2" bumpout.

[Grabber70Mach 108]

It's coming along nicely.  Did you cut the two relief cuts and stretch the quarters?

[RogerC 145]

The outer wheelhouse is set 2" outboard. I left a flange of the original quarter to attach the new one to, also bent that flange out at the top to meet the new one better. I pie cut and bent the new quarter in to have a little bulge to it instead of it flattening out. You'll notice the fore & aft upper corners were drawn in as a result. I'll continue working it and if it don't turn out right I'll have to cut it off and start over. When its right I'll do the left.

[RogerC 145]

I was about to take my block to the machine shop this week but got a swift kick in the nuts at work. Seems the company owner thinks its a good idea to sell my division right before Christmas. This week is chaos as we were told to sign on to the new company as contracted (1099) workers or be unemployed. However they've backtracked on that since most of the factory workers walked rather than sign on as contracted workers and they need the workers to fulfill existing orders, has to do with our CAGE code specified as the manufacturer on .gov contracts. Welders can pick up a job with benefits almost anywhere, why would they do 1099 contract work? Anyhow my livelihood is in limbo for the moment till they figure out the terms of the sale.

[RPM 1,225]

Damn. Sorry to hear that, and hope things work out for you. 

[Vicfreg 786]

Hi Roger, sorry to hear about that.  My guess is that the new owner isn't able to comply with some government requirements, and the current owner is wanting to switch you all over to subcontractors to avoid getting caught up with some contractual barriers that will prevent the sale.  

If they lay you off, they will have to offer you COBRA.   In that case being a 1099 may not be a bad deal. This happened  recently to my wife,  so been through that, and in the end, she became an independent contractor, and it worked out quite well.  

Good Luck!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RogerC 145]

Well, the deal fell through and I'm still employed as before, for the time being anyhow. Still, I'm holding off on spending any money on the car for now or till I get a warm fuzzy feeling on the security of my job.

[Vicfreg 786]

Oh. Good news!

[Grabber70Mach 108]

Glad to hear that your job is going back to normal for now. 

[RogerC 145]

I did some clean up work on my block. hit a couple of areas on the outside with a flap wheel to smooth off casting flash and a couple of sharp corners. Hit the lifter valley with the dremel, chamfered the oil drain holes and cleaned up the hole letting oil onto the distributor gear. I need to go talk to the machinist about prepping the block for the build next.

[RogerC 145]

Got my polycarbonate quarter windows yesterday. They'll be fixed in place and not moveable. Made by Plastics 4 Performance in the UK. They were pretty pricey to ship to the states but I think they're worth it. I tried making my own with 1/4 inch plexiglass but it didn't turn out well. They look well made and accurate.

Direct link worked to load the pic.

[RogerC 145]

I talked to the machinist a few days back. I'm going to try and drop off my block next Friday. He's going to sonic check it, clean it, do a complete eval and determine what all needs done.

[RogerC 145]

Slight diversion from the 69, Added front spoiler and rear spoiler wicker bill to DD.

[RogerC 145]

Opened my oil pump up. Wanted to see if it was still good. Looks like something got between the housing and the gears gouging them. You can barely feel it but I'll replace the pump while I have the engine apart.

[RogerC 145]

Been thinking about my engine compartment overall configuration. I initially wanted to go with the Martz front suspension and R&P set up. I really like that set up best of all the options with R&P. I was thinking of going dry sump on my 351C. I backed off that but never felt good about the engine position height-wise with a rear sump conversion. I decided to retain the front sump and do several things to ensure good oil supply in the 351C. I'll document those later. Keeping the front sump meant re-thinking my suspension. Back in the mid 80s I installed the Global West Negative Roll set up. It seemed obvious to move to their coil-over negative roll set up as I already have the A arms relocated (slightly different than the Arning/Shelby mod) and I wasn't really feeling the work necessary to do the Martz set up. So I pulled the trigger on the GW kit adding Willwood 12 inch disc kit. I'll get a quick ratio manual steering box and roller idler arm. I bought the shock tower plates from opentracker and started welding those in also. More to come.

BTW, My company was bought, an agreement was signed last month, waiting on .gov official approval due to DoD contracts. New company is intending on expansion. Its a french company with facilities in Miami (north american HQ) and Mexico along with other facilities around the world. We've been told they want our company as the main engineering and manufacturing facility in the U.S. Our biggest customer outside of DoD is GE Aerospace & GE Power (whatever they're called now) and the Cincinnati & Peebles facilities are fairly close (day trip). Also, Rolls Royce is over in Indy.

[RPM 1,225]

Regarding your front suspension, I've got a buddy who swapped in some Viking coil overs, tubular upper arms, and adjustable strut rods, and his 65 rides and handles great. Here's some info on it: 

https://fyi.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=13451

[Vicfreg 786]

I have the Global West +3 upper control arms, and also the Viking coil overs on my 1970 convertible.
I used Open Tracker reinforced lower control arms.

I have a Borgeson Steering conversion with an open tracker, roller idler arm

 

The Global West UCAs allows me to run over 5° of caster, which really helps with the handling of the car. I also have a 1 inch Shelby drop.

The Viking coil overs are very cool, they have adjustable rebound and damping, and you can also adjust the right height of the front of the car.

Very happy with that set up