Yes he is already growing a lot. I don't know anything about helmet clips. Do you have any information on those or links?

Thanks so kindly, guys. I am very appreciative.

I was away for a week and a half, for my daughter's destination wedding.

I talked to my brother tonight, and he said it would be fine, and his son would be likely very enthusiastic about doing this. He plays a lot of x-box car racing games and is very good at it apparently.
(don't ask me which ones, I don't do video games haha)

So the next week or so I am going to do some planning.

We agreed that he will likely need a tether of some sort, on the helmet, just in case of a fast braking maneuver.
I don't plan on doing anything extreme, just having fun, but want to make sure that he is safe.

I will get some body measurments from my brother then am going to make a wood mock up within a month or so.

Going to try and time it so I can have a good working plan, by the time Brent is finished with the engine.

It's going to be a fun project

Please keep me posted and I will send you some money

Absolutely.

I am feeling like I am over the flu/cold, so am back at work creating aluminum shavings (grinding the heads) and trying to hurry up and get the engine parts ready to ship to Brent.

Once the engine parts are completed and ready to ship, I'll get to work on the seat. Should take a couple weeks to get the engine parts ready (less time I hope)

Cheers

Keep us posted

I certainly will!!

It's been super crazy at work, so not as much car work going on.

BUT the block is out for machining. Hoping to select the cam profile within a few days and get that ordered up.

Doug, you think you will have it back together for late april?

Hi Ryan

I am hoping I will. I asked Brent, today how fast he can get the engine ready.

Let's see what he says.

Some progress news

I almost have the heads done.

Crank and rods arrived at the engine shop.

More news soon, I hope.

Do you have pistons and a cam yet? Is that thing going on the Dyno?

Yes Brent is going to set it up on the engine dyno, for me.

I think we have a cam selected. Brent wants to see the heads.

Brent wants to get the heads set up, valves, and CC, etc. before ordering the pistons, Then order the pistons to suit.

Heads are pretty much done as of tonight.

Just going to double check everything and get the parts ready to ship to the engine shop

Time for engine intermission. Let's see some more pictures and details about your car and the building of it.:thumbsup:

Okay Rob, I will try. Within a day or so.

The engine itself is being built to meet my overall needs, and road racing hard driving component is a part of it.
That being said, I am looking for a broad torque band and reasonable behaviour, with air conditioning etc.

The heads are done and ready to ship out with a lot of the other engine components. Not an all out porting job, but looking at the before and after pics, should allow a real decent gain in power.

Before;



A close up of some of the port work before the final polish.



After:

Rob, you asked for it, AND Be Careful What You ASK FOR because I am LONG WINDED, but I'll bring everyone up to speed.


BTW I did everything on the car myself, except for the paint, and engine assembly

Original GT500 We owned, could not afford to keep her, sold for $11,500



So after owning a couple mustangs, including the 68 shelby, I knew what I liked and didn't like about the cars.

Since I didn't have to stay original, I could take steps to improve the car, and build it the way that it should have been done. I tried to stay with the theme, that I wanted to look as if all the upgrades and changes, were something that looked like the car came that way from the factory.

There are literally hundreds and hundreds of modifications to the car, and every single one I considered that I wanted to try and make the mods stealthy, unseen, or period correct.
My pet peeve is the wheels I still am searching for something that has more of a "period-correct" look. If I find some, I'll let you guys know. Obiously the big brakes stick out, but the calipers do say "shelby"

Anyway, the first part of the car I'll talk about is the ASS END.

Now this is important, because this is the part you see, when the beast flys by you ;)

The Shelby had a nice overall concept and nice lines, but the fiberglass and metal work were terrible, from the factory.

Some examples;




Notice the spot welds under the rocker;


Notice the fit of the trunk and extensions, and gap between the bumper and extensions, gravel pan where it meets the bottom of the quarters;


So I embarked on a mission to make it the way that it should have been.

Literally, there is about 9 months of body work, metal work and fiberglass work into the trunk, extensions and rear quarters alone.

Changes;
It's hard to see, but there is a body line that is in the lower portion behind the rear wheelhouse. This was made razor sharp, but with the number of coats of clear, it's hard to see in the photos.

There is a spine, that runs from the center of the car, on the hood, cowl, roof, then there is a line down the center of the back glass.

This spine was built up and now runs from the center of the backglass, all the way across the trunk and up the inside of the rear spoiler (not stock, and most people don't notice it - but it should have been there IMO)

There are three body lines that come down the C Pillar. I enhanced/sharpened these lines, and then carried all three on to the trunk, where they all converge in a point.

So see if you can spot some of the differences?



Yes the extensions. I spent a long time making them fit better. First to the body, then gapped the bumper 3/16" and contoured the extensions so that the shape flowed right around the spoiler from one side to the other.

While I was doing that, I thought; I wonder what the spoiler would look like, if it was taller?



Yeah, I thought it did deserve more height. So I added an inch to the rear spoiler, and about a half inch to the extensions.
I spent a long time making sure that everything flowed together nice, including blocking the back of the spoiler all evenly, for a nice fit.

Yeah I definitely wanted this to look good, as it rumbled by.

Part way through, I decided the spoiler needed a little bit of a kick, so I leaned the upper lip of the spoiler back, just a bit more, and gave it a nice sharp edge.


Whew, I get tired just writing all this down.

Yes the rear valance, got the edges welded and ground, welded and ground, until it fit nice against the rear quarters.

Oh yeah, the pinch welds at the bottom of the car.

My car wasn't going to have an "eleanor" style fiberglass rocker/skirt, so with my crappy welder a shrinking disk, and sanding block, I went to work.
Again it's not noticed by many people, just me. But all the ugly pinch welds at the bottom of the car, are gone. Nice and smooth. I even block sanded under the rocker.

This makes it simple to wipe off road debris. The paint is nice and smooth, under there.

Okay, thats enough.



Oh yeah, the metal on the rear quarters was also stretched. Most people can't tell that either, but I think the car looks sexier the way it is now.
Months with the shrinking disk and long block to make it look nice.

I'll never do that again LOL

I got to spend some time with my nephew Tanner (who we are going to be building the seat for) yesterday, during my daughter's cerimony.




The first question he asked me, was "Is the mustang fixed yet?" ;)

So I told him, we are about a month or so away. I have some work to do on my mom's place this coming 2 weeks, but I am also going to place some calls out to a few manufacturers.

He is a super bright, and otherwise pretty normal boy for 13 years old. In some ways a lot brighter.

I'll keep the updates coming on the seat and engine progress.

I was advise the Holley 770 Avenger was going to cost me some HP, so I am going to A Quick Fuel Carb.

Yes I like the bling but know that the bling on carbs can go away after you do hard driving for a while.

Then I saw this one;

http://static.summitracing.com/globa...qft-bd-650.jpg

I like the idea of the black finish, for ease of maintenance.

Diamond pistons are ordered, but a few weeks out :(

That gives you time to work on that seat project. :thumbsup:

Doug the car looks killer, nice touches on the body work mods. Hope you get the engine together soon would like to see this car in person. :thumbsup:

Thanks I will be working on it shortly

I hope so. Going to try hard to get it ready

Keep posting picks and don't forget to tell us when you start the seat project

Great work on that car. Looks killer.

http://www.cnc-motorsports.com/media.../I/C/IC867.jpg

Can't wait until I get the pistons, a few more weeks, tho

Some pics that Brent sent me yesterday;

I just noticed your ? about the clips on the helmet. It's a poor mans version of a HANS Devise. Just metal restaining clips that are attached to neck restraint.

http://www.saferacer.com/evs-r4-race-collar

Thats excellent, thankt a lot! :D

Sounds like the pistons are about a week away from being shipped.
Keeping my fingers crossed!
(plus the weather is getting nicer out as of late)

Doug

Do you have something to tell us?:warning:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/75943...spension+68-70

:stirthepot:

MAYBE....

What do you think of this offering from Shaun?

http://www.streetortrack.com/files/i...ver6_small.jpg

http://www.streetortrack.com/files/i...ver5_small.jpg

http://www.streetortrack.com/files/i...ver4_small.jpg

works for me

Thanks. One of the good features of Shaun's system, is that I do not have to cut off the coil spring support, and he is easy to get a hold of on the phone.

He also custom ordered my brake system, a couple years ago, and it's awesome.

Should be deciding in a day or so.

I also heard news that the pistons arrived and the crank has already been sent out for balancing

With the upgraded electronic sequential LED brake lights and turn signals, the old style turn signal clicker is not used.
Not that I could hear it anyway, but I have found myself driving down the road, with the turn signal left on.
I always feel a little dumb:goofy: when that happens.

So I had always wanted to update this, and make an electronic (sound) indicator, which is loud enough to hear over the engine.

Well I bought a cheap flasher housing.

Gutted it.

Filled it with a piezo buzzer, capcitor, some resistors, a couple diodes and a bit of heat shrink.

Voila, an electronic turn signal indicator, that won't mess up the led flasher.
It should mount on the stock dash location.

The tiny hole is where the sound comes out.

The capacitor makes the buzzer sound a little more like a fading bell sound

diodes make sure the current does not come back out of the new chime and f-up the rest of the system

Once the car is running, we shall see how it works, and sounds.

I guess I am finally getting into the spirit of getting the car, finally back on the road again.

I wired in the new signal indicator, and confirmed the coilover order yesterday.

After reading the instructions this morning, the assembly is integrated with the export brace. This means it's a little more work to re&re the engine with the coilover system.

But after a little thought I decide to get the billet shock tower brace. That way I can mount the coilovers permanently and just remove the braces, for popping the engine in and out.

It's a pretty nice piece and the right decision, I think.

Shaun's cowl bracket is one of the nicer pieces out there.

http://www.streetortrack.com/files/i...ort-brace8.jpg

http://www.streetortrack.com/files/i...port-brace.jpg

http://www.streetortrack.com/files/i...ort-brace2.jpg

I think a lot of vintage racers cut some fast laps on leaf springs and modified OEM mustang front ends. As long as the upper mounting point is lowered to get some camber gain and the shock dampening is dialed in it should work well.
With that kit you get better bushings and less flex in the control arms along with a longer shock body with the ability to revalve as needed.

The drawbacks are the old Mustang spindle and the retention of the shock towers and stock frame rails which limit your ability to stuff a large tire up front.

In your case you have a nice front brake package for that spindle so that drawback is a plus of sorts.

You also have a nice set of wheels and a decent sized front tire so the kit makes sense.

I think you will be happy with it overall. :thumbsup:

^ Spoken like a true Ford guy ;)

Ha ha :)

I should see the suspension parts just after the weekend :ups:

Next I got an email from Brent saying the crankshaft will be ready shortly. Possibly going to freshen up the polish on the chrome, aluminum and engine bling, before reassembly.

definitely I miss driving the car, now that we are getting out of the rainy weather, finally. I'm jealous of all the guys with the nice vintage muscle cars roaring around

I think you'll like the kit. Im using the Total Control Products front suspension on mine and think it handles great. (Virtually the same thing) I did however go to a Fatman dropped spindle to get my ride height. I currently run a 265/35-18 and have plans to change to 275 soon enough. There is enough room under there, you just have to NAIL the backspacing.

The export brace setup is awesome. I almost purchased it for my mav but there were too many differences between the Mustang and Mav firewalls to make it work. I might go back and purchase the shock tower plate and rods later if he'll break up a kit though.

Too bad the Maverick is not as similar in dimensions, to the mustang. That'd make it a lot easier.

I like your Maverick BTW !

For backspace, I used a 95-98 mustang wheel with a cut and weld on the inner rim, and machining on the hub face of the wheel, to go as deep as I could.
I'm not sure how that wheel fits on the maverick.

I did a lot of calculation, with wheel and backspace combinations, before cutting the wheels.

After I got it all together, I ended up pulling the wheel in a little tighter with the hub face machining. I'm maxed out with the 17's and the UCA's now. I'd have to go 20's to go deeper. Honestly I don't want to go 20's on the car. 18's max, and that doesn't gain me enough to switch.

http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/DSCN0768.jpg

I'm pretty happy with where I am now, but I run a race camber spec to make it all work and not rub anywhere

While I am waiting for the engine;

My new high horsepower wheels.

http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/i...psfba03d75.jpg

A little quieter than the Mustang, but easier on gas

A Kona Mountain Bike - Man it's hard to find a Kona dealer around here.

Nice to see a fellow rider into cars.