65 FB Scratch Build

[65-408]

When I dragged this pathetic POS home, my 3 year old dubbed it "Rusty". The name stuck and even now that there is not a spec of rust on it, it is still "Rusty".

Anyways, I had been looking for a 65/66 fastback for about 6 months, watching ebay auctions, searching craigslist. Wanted a project, but was undecided wether to buy something driveable or a basketcase. Found lots of "drivers" with rotten floors, original interiors, etc., for $12K-$15K. I figured, why spend that much on something that I will strip to the shell and replace most everthing anyways? So the search turned to basketcases, but I was specifically looking for something complete. Wanted to take it apart myself (to record) and wanted to make sure I had all the misc. parts, brackets, etc. that would take a lifetime to track down later.

Found this baby in Maine less than an hour drive, had not driven in 20+ years, even spent some time in a chicken coop according to the previous owner. Got it for $1800. Originally a 6cyl. car, got a half upgrade to a 68 302 w/ a C4 at some point (suspension and rear were not changed).

My dad went to pick it up with me, he thought I was nuts, but he should know better by now. We stopped to get fuel on the way home and had 2 guys come over to check it out on the trailer, what more justification do you need than that?

Complete with a trailer hitch:

 

[hivewax]

I can literally see the chicken poop on the rear fold down seat!

Nice build with major modifications to come, I hope...
:weas

 

[65-408]

Home on the trailer, doesnt look that bad

Got an extra set of headlight buckets (that will prove handy in the future) and some NOS splash shields and battery tray:

Surgery begins:

Massive, nasty, mouse nest. That sucked cleaning that out:

The Schlitz can defroster duct was a nice touch:

This is why cars from maine are not for faint of heart:

Every bolted on part removed, the rockers and the roof were pretty solid, but the roof had a giant dent on the passengers side from maybe a tree falling on it, had about half inch of filler in it.

 

[Coleman]

Wow! Maine is hard on cars!

 

[janschutz]

Wow! Maine is hard on cars!

Another reason I am glad that I live in Texas. Keep up the pictures of you great build.

 

[65-408]

Begin the Extreme De-Rustification process:

Down to all good solid metal, a little Great Stuff and Bondo and she will be good as new! If I remember right, this took about 3 hours...

$300 to have a guy blast and epoxy prime:

 

[hivewax]

Did you salvage the tail-light panel? It looked in decent shape.

 

[65-408]

Did you salvage the tail-light panel? It looked in decent shape.

Nope, a new rust free one in e-coat was only $40...

 

[65-408]

Shopping List:
Desc. Dynacorn PN:
radiator support bracket 3640T
radiator support bracket 3640U
complete shock tower 3630P
complete shock tower 3630Q
radiator support 3640E
battery tray M3534
Cowl 3648G
firewall 3631Z
Firewall to Floor Support set 3631ZC
roof panel 3543XA
floor pan 3648C
seat platform 3647YC
Rocker 3647LB
Rocker 3647MB
quarter 3647EA
quarter 3647FA
outer wheel house 3631M
outer wheel house 3631N
inner wheel house 3631K
inner wheel house 3631L
rear deck filler panel 3647YZ
rear frame rail 3601A
rear frame rail 3601B
tail lamp panel 3643D
tail lamp panel brace 3649I
rear valence 3642D
Torque Box 3654
Torque Box 3655
trunk floor 3649S

 

[lethal289]

this is great. :nta

 

[blown66]

Dude you got some big ones :ep to take on a project like that. When you said scratch built I never thought it would be this gone. Can't wait to see pictures of the progrees.

 

[65-408]

OK, here goes the shell build, I have posted this before, but want to summarize it all in the build thread so it is all in one place. The shell was done last fall with a past co-worker of mine (Tony P) that now runs muscle car metal in seabrook NH. He has been building 1st gen Camaros from scratch for many years and is a dynacorn distributor. Got the parts through him (all dynacorn). Some were better than others, but generally all were great for the price. This was his first ford endeavor, the dark side as he calls it. We built it together from the frame rails up like Ford did and I learned a ton (he is way up the curve on build your own unibody techniques). We adapted his camaro jig. The construction is basically the same, except for the GM front clip. The jig is basic, but effective. It picks up on all the tooling and reference holes that are dimensioned in the factory manual frame drawing. The shell was built in about 2 months (including alot of head scratchin and figurin time...). If anyone want a more cost effective solution to a new Dynacorn body, Give Tony a call, he can build/rebuild anything, 65-70, also does complete floor assemblies.

We started by putting the rotten old shell on the jig to get the frame rail reference points in the ballpark and get a general idea of how to approach modifying his jig. The shell was then removed and the points checked and tweaked against the drawing (the shell was far from perfect).

One piece shock towers and floor supports on the jig, the passenger side was pretty bent up out of the box.

Rear frame rails and full trunk floor on the jig:

Firewall in place:

Full floor in place:

Rear torque box:

Floor to firewall:

Front torque box (67/68), these are awesome parts very thick and in my opinion one of the best mods that can be made to a 65/66 body to increase torsional stiffness, very effective at tying the front of the car to the rockers and creating a continuous chain from front to rear frame rails:

Rockers next :

Join inner and outer wheel houses:

Looking like something now:

Test fit the rear quarters and tail panel. Rockers were attached after this fitting and we also held a door in place to make sure the rockers were in the ballpark:

Shove the old structure into the new:

Roof Skin:

Rear valance, decided to weld it on and go seamless:

Lower cowel and side pieces and you have an almost brand new, rust free 65 mustang fastback:

 

[fordrule]

wowsers...smimply wow. what a save in action. it appeared in one of the pics that the suspension on the original was a 6 cyl. might want to check and make sure it was all converted over to v8. I swear I saw 4bolt tires in one of the pics but i didnt see the rear wheels that well...just a simply observation

 

[65-408]

Thanks for the heads up. Yep, it was a T code car, everything suspension related was scrapped... Actually, I think I kept the steering stops, the upper shock caps and the steering box...

 

[fordrule]

steering centerlink, fuel lines and brakes lines will need to be replaced also..you might be able to get a 8.8 rear end in the rear , since you will need a rear end and a driveshaft also. all things I have been looking for in my T coupe

 

[Coupe]

Thanks for posting this.

Looking back do you think it would have been worth the money to purchase the floor/frame assembly from a mustang vendor over building it in pieces? It's about $2k + truck freight and I would guess your labor was cheaper than the retailer selling them, but for a person that does not have a jig it may be a wash?

 

[65-408]

The doors, fenders, hood, valance, trunk, etc are rough fit. The doors needed to be cut on the bottom edges some, the fenders needed lots of rework to fix the door gap, door to rear quarter was perfect, trunk lid needed some fitting as well.

Added Rivnuts to correct headlight bucket crack issue:

 

[guruatbol]

WOW, just WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mel

 

[fordrule]

:thu wow man awesome build

 

[janschutz]

very nice work :thu