Mach1Mark's '65 coupe restomod

[Ponyman66]

Hell, just today I made a fixture for straightening hard lines. I'll be damned if I am spending a couple hundred bucks for such a tool if i can make it!

Not meaning to hijack Mark's great work, but Terry I just had shivers after reading your reply! Not 10 minutes prior to logging in I was sitting on the porch mulling over a few design ideas to build a tubing straightener! EEKKKK! That's just freaky!!

How about some pics of yours on the tools & tech area?!

 

[Mach1Mark]

Two steps forward one step back. You are still making progress. Do you still plan to get a chrome unit?

You're right about fabbing stuff. I seem to have to modify every little thing on my car. Most in the quest to hide/route wires, lines and hoses and such. Hell, just today I made a fixture for straightening hard lines. I'll be damned if I am spending a couple hundred bucks for such a tool if i can make it!

I ordered the natural finish compressor and CVF sent the chrome unit by mistake. I informed of the error and they quickly and without cost to me sent the natural finish and a shipping label for the chrome unit. I love the quality of their product and the resolution of this issue makes me love them even more.

 

[msell66]

I ordered the natural finish compressor and CVF sent the chrome unit by mistake. I informed of the error and they quickly and without cost to me sent the natural finish and a shipping label for the chrome unit. I love the quality of their product and the resolution of this issue makes me love them even more.

I bought my pulleys from them too. Great guys to work with.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Yesterday, re-hung driver side front suspension, installed some front tires. Set front end on ramps. Today I installed the rear carpet, tucked, trimmed and attached. Back seat installed. Test fit front carpet, cut slit in carpet over the shifter. Next weekend I should be able to make some good progress.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Some small items today: installed the K&N valve cover breather, modded the heater hose elbow and installed, started drilling holes for the MSD ignition box and coil to mount.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Today I continued with connecting the vacuum lines to the brake booster and the PVC.

 

[Mach1Mark]

This weekend my mufflers and tail pipes arrived, trial fit them. One side fits the other side doesnt. Weird because the entire system is from the same vendor. I need to trim 1 1/2"-2" off of one side of the H-pipe and that should fix it. Finished trimming the front half carpet to fit. Fabbed and installed a plate around the shifter to close up the gap to the floor sheet metal. Installed the seat belt eyes. Installed four (4) vacuum hose clamps and one on the radiator over flow line.

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Looking good but are you sure you're leaving enough room for movement of the Transmission around your shifter for when your banging gears?

 

[Mach1Mark]

Looking good but are you sure you're leaving enough room for movement of the Transmission around your shifter for when your banging gears?

I did consider the trans rocking and widened the opening after I took this pic. Thanks for your questioning attitude. Id hate to make a mistake because I missed a detail.

 

[Horseplay]

I hacked up a rubber shifter boot to make a seal around the shifter/hole. It will be hidden by the console and leather "upper" boot.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Good new and bad news today . . . good news: pass side seat mounting bracket and seat installed, MSD ignition box installed. Bad news: test fit of the side exit exhaust determined that it doesn't fit as well as it should. Problem is the subframe connectors requires the pipes to hang down too low. Will need to go with another design. Also mounted the MSD ignition box on the radiator support.

 

[msell66]

I have seen where people have cut and boxed the SFCs to allow the side pipe to go through.


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[Horseplay]

You are just checking things of that list. Admirable effort. Keep it up. Personal opinion is that unless a side exhaust is incorporated into the body work it usually doesn't look that great anyway. I'm glad you are choosing functionality (ground clearance) over appearance in this case. You might consider a custom rear valence that features a modern fitted set-up for the exhaust exits. That would be more eye catching and distinctive IMHO, anyway.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Thanks, Terry. The last system I had on the car was a 2.5" straight pipe with an equalizer connector. It connected to the long tube headers at one end and exited in front of the rear wheels. I had it up close to the floor pan. That was before I installed the sub frame connectors. I have another layout I can go with.

You are just checking things of that list. Admirable effort. Keep it up. Personal opinion is that unless a side exhaust is incorporated into the body work it usually doesn't look that great anyway. I'm glad you are choosing functionality (ground clearance) over appearance in this case. You might consider a custom rear valence that features a modern fitted set-up for the exhaust exits. That would be more eye catching and distinctive IMHO, anyway.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Found three more hard-to-find bolts to mount the driver side seat adaptor bracket. Wrestled the driver seat into place and attached it to the bracket. Had enough weatherstrip adhesive to install the passenger side door weather strip.

 

[I make oil]

It's looking nice!

 

[Mach1Mark]

June 26th
I installed a few small pieces: brake light switch clip (way up under the dash), new rear quarter window cranks and nylon gaskets, windshield pump/nozzles/hoses/washer bag and bracket. Also cleaned and straightened the stainless steel front window trim and began installation. Removed steering wheel to solve problem of sloppy steering column play that has developed since I installed the column and wheel.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Yesterday I finished installing the short, stiff spring under the steering wheel. That will fix the sloppy as it will keep the centering collar pushed in. Tried a method of measuring for wheel size and backspace. Used some masking tape, a plumb bob and a measuring tape. Trying to finalize wheel and tire specs. Also reinstalled the 5/16" fuel line to ensure that it would clear the sub frame connectors. It does. Now I can order the new 3/8" line.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Yesterday I started the process of re-seating the adjustable motor mounts. Last year after I brought my car home I discovered that the motor was not sitting firmly on the mounts. I did some measuring recently and the pass side is about 3/16" higher before I started. After removing and tightening each side and attempting to lower the motor into place I discovered that the motor is now 1/2" lower than before and I still haven't gotten the passenger side bolted together. Looks like Im going to need to install spacer plates between the block and the mount plates. Clearance problems include no gap between one header tube and the shock tower on each side, brake line interferes with valve cover (now removed and will be re-bent) and header collector and steering column half shaft. I initially thought pushing the motor rearward would solve the issues but that will not work due to the steering shaft clash.

 

[Mach1Mark]

Parts arriving this week: two new American Racing Torq Thrust II rims (same diameter, different widths and offsets), another hurst shifter (first one is too short), more motor mount-to-body plates from Ron Morris Perf (because I thought I had the other set that lowers the motor 1/2"). Last night I installed the shifter. Much better proportions. Should prevent me from having to lean forward to grasp it. Motor plates are the same as the ones I have installed already. New plan: fabricate 1/4" thk spacers to lift the motor that will provide more clearance for the headers to clear the shock towers. Fabbed and installed with longer bolts to attach them to the motor plate. Checked engine height and level in engine compartment. It now sits 1/4"-7/16" higher than before I installed the 1/4" shim plates. Return body plates that arrived this week. Last thing I did was tighten the transmission support-to-cross member bolts.