65 Mustang vert build

[LastDeadLast]

Hello folks,

I'm starting a build thread here. Most of my work so far is electrical. I bought a 5.0 engine from a 90 Mustang GT and a harness from RJM to run it all. Since a lot of the electrical was ripped out by the PO, I got a replacement harness from Painless Wiring. The harness was nice I guess, but a lot of money for what I got. If I had to do it over again, I'd go with a basic kit. This is especially true since I upgraded the headlight wiring in order to handle higher wattage lights... PLUS much of the factory engine wiring is replaced by the EFI harness. All in all, quite a few wires of the Painless harness had to be taken out because I wasn't going to use them.

Since the car came with strips and kinda looks like a race car, I'm going for a road-racer look... and I'm setting up the suspension and brakes accordingly. The car came with the sub-frame connectors and a 6pt roll cage installed, so it's pretty darned stiff for a vert.

Anyway, here's what I envision:


Engine-Drivetrain:
1990 5.0 EFI
Electric fan
JBA shorty headers
T-5z gearbox
Aluminum driveshaft
9" diff 3.89 gears/Detroit TrueTrac/Moser Axles
13" Cobra front brakes, 11.65 Cobra rear brakes from Street or Track
Vintage Wheel Works 17"x8" V-48 wheels 4.75" offset
235/45-17 Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tires

Suspension/Brakes/Steering:
Global West rear leaf springs with Del-alum bushings
Global West sub-frame connectors
6-pt roll cage
Street or Track front UCA/LCA/Strut bar
1" Sway bar
Bilstein shocks f/r
Borgeson power steering module
Strut tower brace
620 front springs

Electrical:
Battery/Solenoid re-located to the trunk
Painless main harness
RJM EFI harness
Upgraded wiring for headlights, driving lights and electric fan

Interior:
Fiero seats (eventually)
Air conditioning
Custom aluminum radio delete panel

As purchased:

Radio delete panel:

Trunk - battery rerouting:

I'll be really getting into the suspension install in a week or so, I'll post more pics as I take them.

-Shannon

 

[68EFIvert]

That looks like a nice project you have there. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[Fast68back]

I like the radio delete, nice job!

 

[hivewax]

I agree on the radio delete panel switches. What are the 3 used for?? One off stuff like that catches my eye.

 

[LastDeadLast]

I agree on the radio delete panel switches. What are the 3 used for?? One off stuff like that catches my eye.

Thanks!

I have a on-off-auto switch for the electric fan (DPDT), driving lights (SPST), and the hazard switch (3PST).

My car didn't originally have the hazard light option, but the painless harness came with it.

-Shannon

 

[70_Fastback]

Tha switch panel does look snazzy! What did you use for the "C" shaped dividers? U-bolts?

 

[LastDeadLast]

Tha switch panel does look snazzy! What did you use for the "C" shaped dividers? U-bolts?

The switches are from this site... I searched for days trying to find something I liked..:

http://www.periheliondesign.com/switchguards.htm

 

[70_Fastback]

Interesting.

 

[daveSanborn]

Shannon,

How is ingress/egress with the roll cage side bars? If it's cumbersome, which it looks like it is for a daily driver.... there is a solution.

I have side bars on my roll bar and although they're a little higher than yours I found that getting in and out of the seat with the side bar was awkward. To correct this I bought/installed a kit that "hinges" the bottom and "pins" the top of the side bar. Now, the side bars can be easily removed for local daily driving and it only takes a couple minutes to bolt/pin them in for more agressive driving.

Here's a picture where you can see the permanent short leg that's welded into the floor/rocker panel and also the short leg coming off of the main hoop where the top of the side bar would be pinned. When the bar's are installed, ingress and egress is pretty easy. All you have to do is remove the top pin and the bar swings outward allowing you to get in, swing the bar shut and then pin it. I built/cut the lower hinge point such that when un-pinned and swung out the side bar will not hit the fully opened door.

Something to think about if you get tired of hauling your butt up and over those side bars.

 

[LastDeadLast]

Dave,

Thanks for the tip. I haven't been able to drive it yet, but I can tell just by the build up that it's gonna be a real PITA to get in and out of.. not so much for me, cause I tend to just accept the car for what it is, but I know that my passengers will be hat'in life. Although in my age, I'm not getting any smaller so that little idea might change on the first test drive!

Do you do any shows in NC? When I had my old Triumph TR6 I was a member of a club, but I didn't really attend too much or do any shows for that matter.

I'd much rather do track stuff than sit around all day and get sun-burned.

-Shannon

 

[LastDeadLast]

Street or Track Cobra brakes install:

I'm in the process of installing Shaun's kit. I'm waiting to get some brackets welded onto the diff, but you get the idea:

Bare 9" housing:

Street or Track brackets. They replace the 9" bearing retainer brackets:

Brackets installed with spacers:

Discs installed:

Finally the calipers:

Overall a pretty easy install and the old pita is needing to get new bearings pressed on when you remove the bearing retainer brackets.

More pics to follow when I get the brake line brackets installed.

-Shannon

 

[LastDeadLast]

NEW WHEELS!!!

Vintage Wheel Works V-48. 17" x 8" with a 4-3/4. Courtesy of Street or Track.


I plan to get these tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=Direzza+Sport+Z1+Star+Spec&partnum=345WR7Z1SS

-Shannon

 

[daveSanborn]

when you remove the bearing retainer brackets

If the existing installed bearings are/were okay, couldn't you just cut the no longer required bearing retainer brackets off?

 

[LastDeadLast]

If the existing installed bearings are/were okay, couldn't you just cut the no longer required bearing retainer brackets off?

Yes you could.. but in my case, the goober PO had installed axles with a GM bolt pattern.. so I had to replace them anyway.

-Shannon

 

[LastDeadLast]

Ok, well, I've finally started working on the Mustang again.. it's been so friggen hot in NC, that I can barely stand to be in the garage. Lately it's been a little cooler so I'm back on the project.

I've decided to add some shock tower reinforcments. I'm hopefully get started on that project next week and post some pics.

In the mean time, I also decided to rebuild my 5.0. I purchased a Trick Flow top end kit.. which should get me close to 300 rwhp. I've already torn the engine down and I'm dropping it off at the machine shop next week.

I finally got the tires, the front are 225/45-17 and the rear is 245/45-17. Since I have no front suspension yet, pics of the rear wheels will have to do:

 

[Fast68back]

Sharp looking wheel/tire combo. Love the color of the car!

 

[fordrule]

awesome build. cant wait to see your progress

 

[LastDeadLast]

Taken from other posts for build documentation purposes:

Freshly milled roller block:

Canton road racing oil pan:

Holley Systemax II Intake:

Trick Flow 170 heads:

Along with the above junk, I've got a Trick Flow Stage 2 cam (224 int./232 exh.@050), #30 Injectors, Acufab 75mm throttle body,80MM MAF. She should be hitting about 10.3:1 CR.

I can't wait to start on the build.. hopefully in the next month or so.

-Shannon

 

[LastDeadLast]

Another post from another section:

Well, after two days of toil in hot weather, I finally got my shock towers stripped and my shock tower reinforcement plates installed... mostly.

I started with a Pro-motorsports reinforcement kit for the 65 Mustang and after A LOT of messaging, I finally got it looking half-way good. Each piece had to be heavily modified to even come close and even then, there are pretty large gaps at the bottom of the wrap-a-round pieces. In order to make the setup a little stronger and to ease installation, I drilled 1/2" holes in the 1/8" plates and spot welded each piece to the tower. Next step is to stitch weld the top and bottom joints. I would have completed the job today but I ran out of welding wire.

Lesson learned:

• I should have sourced the metal myself and done this.. but cutting out the 1/8" steel would have been a pain in the ass.
• I know it's hard to get a pre-fabbed kit like this to fit every car, but I had to do a lot of re-bending and forming to get these pieces to fit right
• My welder, a Millermatic 211, kicks major ass. It did everything that I need it to and it makes spot welds like a champ
• I don't think I'll ever willingly want to do this ever again.. :barf

Next steps are to finish the welding, grind the welds down, prep the engine bay and paint.

Here are pics of the progress so far:

I'll post more when I finish up.

-Shannon

 

[LastDeadLast]

After many, many, many delays, I've finally got the first coat of primer on the engine bay. All the welding is complete and I hope to have the final coat on the bay during the next couple weeks:

-Shannon