I am actually going back tonight to test drive it. However I am concerned that if I drive it I may actually buy it.

This thread has 322 post's. and it's not finished yet:willy: .What are we waiting on.Let's get a motor built.trans bought,and some paint sprayed.We are burning daylight boy's.:lol:

I have a transmission. Two actually. :lol:

In other news, I did more research on cam specs for the Coyote mod motors. It looks like even the road race engines are using the 263/290 cam sets with 13mm lift.

I also found the perfect bolt on for Marty in case he was having any reservations about pulling the trigger on a '13 Boss 302.

http://i.imgur.com/nAC7Y.jpg

Who is ready for some crappy cell phone pictures? :lol:

Since a number of people have asked me about the DSE Aluma-Frame, and are interested in hearing feedback, or seeing it on a car, I figured I would post up some pictures of the install process. Don't expect anything as organized, or cool looking as a Fab53 write up though.

The Aluma-frame installs onto the car's factory frame rails using basic hand tools and and a little bit of welding. I watched the video they provided and it looks like a two hour project. :lol:

the list of tools really isn't that big, you will need a drill, a few hole saws, a cutting wheel, and a die grinder or two. As I have also found out, you will need a little bit of patience on a few steps.

The first thing I did was cut out the original shock towers per DSE's instructions.Don't bother with the spot welds, just cut along the separation between the shock tower and inner fender.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps45cb2d96.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps92f75c75.jpg

Once the big piece is out, drill (or my preference - grind) out all of the spot welds on the remaining little pieces so that you are left with bare frame rails.
There will be one bolt hole underneath the frame rails boxed in by a stamped piece of metal. Per DSE's instructions this piece stays. These bolt holes serve to locate the aluminum cradle during mock up. Depending on your car, you may need to deviate from their instructions a little to cut out an embossed bump around the bolt hole.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps0210bb03.jpg

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps1de288a9.jpg

Once the cradle is mocked up, check the car front to back, and diagonally to make sure that everything is square.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps2ae10605.jpg

After squaring it up, the real fun begins. The next step involves installing the steel crush sleeves and adapter brackets to bolt the upper control arm and shock mounts onto the frame rails. You will need to locate where to drill the holes from underneath the car with the cradle bolted up. After marking your spots, break out the hole saws and go to town underneath the car. DSE now provides an alignment pin tool for drilling, and I would recommend using that to help locate your first holes, as opposed to a punch (It wasn't shown in their install video, and it showed up after everything else). After drilling holes for the four primary crush sleeves, test fit everything, check that it is square, and locate the hole for the shock mount on the steel adapter plate.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0792.jpg

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0793.jpg

Drill that out with a hole saw, then bolt everything else back up. Now transfer the hole to the bottom.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0806.jpg

That is it for pictures today. The next step is welding the adapter plates on and fitting the go fast parts up.

Matt

Nice work Matt! :thumbsup:

Call me wierd, but I love seeing those shock towers getting cut out. It means something good comes next.

I'd call you weird, but I'm not sure sure I have a leg to stand on there. Cutting the old pieces out was my favorite part. There is just something satisfying about cutting away things. It was also the fastest part of the process. It only took part of an afternoon. Putting the crush tubes into the frame rails has taken up a couple days.

Nice job Matt, its shaping up.

thanks for this write up.

Progress,:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Wow that DSE setup is nice. If that stuff had been available 10 years ago I wouldn't have had to build my own tube chassis for my '67.

I remember back in '97 absolutely lusting after an MII conversion before I realized how inadequate that would have been for me. Either way it was still far out of my budget (as would this DSE piece if I was in that same place today. I didn't see a price on it but I"m guessing $5k ? )

HOwever I have the same concern with this that I had with the MII conversion - How are they reinforcing or traingulating that frame rail ? The strut towers provide a ton of reinforcement and that frame rail is not really designed to hold the loads on its own. I look forward to seeing the rest of the install. We have come so far in this hobby.

I was thinking the same thing. I would include bay bars and tie it into the cars roll cage. But I am sure DSE has tested it well so I am sure they could explain better.

:lol: Then I have to be COMPLETELY satisfied with our project! I think we have more cutting tools than anything else in our shop!

Awesome work Matt. You are really doing it right! Keep it up! :thumbsup:

Cuttin' is the EASY part -- stickin' her back together and havin' it be RIGHT - and LOOK GOOD TOO... Das where the skillz come.


Still -- most "hot rodders" need to learn how to "cut to cure".... 'cause it's just part of the game. :thumbsup:

Yep. Got there... Still doing that.

Actually, I got everything bolted in today. I now have front suspension. It doesn't look pretty right now with patches of weld through primer, but it also doesn't look like a turd. On this car I think we're going to have to get it together and make sure all the parts fit before taking it back apart to make it pretty.

Well

:ttiwop: :ttiwop: :ttiwop::ttiwop:

Ok, I think I left off the alum-frame install after I got the adapter brackets fit. From there you just weld them on. I forgot to take a picture of that part. Then it is pretty simple, you put the lower control arms on, figure out where to weld the bump stops, here:

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0811.jpg

after that, put the rack and the anti-roll bar on. The best way to eyeball that the end links are even is the get them level, and parallel with the frame.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0810.jpg

then you install a pair of aluminum shims on the steel adapter plates. The upper control arm mounts bolt on top of the two aluminum shim plates. Here is a shot of the cool speed-lign adjusters for caster.

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0813.jpg

Bolt the shock mounts, shocks, upper control arms, and spindles in place and you're just about good to go!

http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0817.jpg
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...A/IMAG0818.jpg

There is a reason I don't write installation manuals for a living. Deal with it. :lol:

Some cell phone shots are better than nothing, right?

Hey! What are friends for.... unless they can push all your buttons!


Nice work Matt!



:thumbsup:

Dang that crossmember is a nice looking piece.

Thanks Greg! You have to worry about the people you call friends that don't push your buttons. :lol:

Speaking of when you said taking things apart was easy compared to putting them together and making them look nice and work. Well, I didn't fully weld a couple pieces on because I figured I would be taking it all off later for paint and I wanted to make sure it all fit before I made it really difficult to take off, so I only tac welded the bottom of the two crush tube sleeves that the big 8-3/4" coilover mount bracket bolt goes into. (there are four smaller bolts that also secure the coilover mount) When I was just buttoning up the front end and putting the bolt, the I could feel that it wasn't threading in normally. My first thought, "F--- me, I screwed it up. I knew that was going to happen." Then I realized that mounting bracket was wobbling as the bolt went in. Yes, the huge 7/16 x 8-3/4 grade 8 bolt was bent, actually both were. It's funny, I was just so relieved I didn't screw things up.

looking great matt....those adjusters will make your life a lot easier.

I drove the car it was a blast. However a once in a lifetime vehicle was offered to me and I think I am going to try to figure out a way to buy it.

Oh no he didn't! :lol:

Seriously, you can't make a statement like that on here and that's it! Give it up, whatcha getting now? :unibrow:

Inquiring minds want to know, what is cooler than a Boss 302? It must be something from Chevy, or European, but not BMW (you don't seem like an asshat). :lol:

Kind of back on topic, I started mocking up the rear suspension. Crappy cell phone pictures to follow on Monday.

Nice job Matt, its coming along now.

Hand Built frame - Dart Small Block - AWD and more metal work them you can imagine.

Kenny told me not to tell my wife and just buy it. I told him to sell the Cuda so were trying.

Cyclone with a V-8? Hardly seems worth throwing the cuda much less the Boss 302 out for. :unibrow:

sweet car bro. thank gosh it's a ford this time.

I always wanted to use this -> :G-Dub:

Now I can. I just bought one of these.
http://www.fordracingparts.com/image...-6007-M50B.jpg
It shipped out yesterday. :G-Dub:

I've got a TR6060 transmission and clutch from a GT500 with under 100 miles on them to try and bolt up. Hopefully it will all bolt together, ha ha, which would allow me start cutting the transmission and fabbing up a transmission mount. In the meantime I've been cleaning up the firewall, and working on mounting a set of Wilwood pedals.

:drool: :drool: :drool:

You're a bonafide Fordaphile......



Sweet by the way!

Sounds like a game plan Matt. :thumbsup: Congratulations on the Boss. Have you got the rear suspension in yet? Car in primer?

:cheers:

Smart move....

What can I say. For a brief period of time (thank god) I think I owned more Fords than Rob. At one period I had two late model Mustangs, the fastback and a bitchin' aluminum monocoque GT40 kit. Technically that might make four cars, but remember, we are talking about Fords here, and things that I own, which means only two of them had wheels and only one actually drove.

Funny story about the GT40 though. My dad decided to retire last year and one of the things he wanted to do was pick up a car that he could work on. I happened to have a big old Ford engine lying around that was a little bit of an impulse by. It was an all aluminum supercharged 5.4L from a 2011 GT500 that was wrecked with 54 miles on it. Couple that with the fact that those engines make 700plus with just bolt ons, and it seemed like a wonderful purchase. I wanted to put it in the little Mustang and have a ridiculously powered cruiser/daily driver, but the damn thing was taller than the length of the bottom of the rocker to the top of the hood. At that point I told him he should take the engine off my hands and drop it in a GT40 replica since wanted a project and had liked GT40s since watching/reading about them at Le Mans. I handled all the paperwork to get him the kit, and somehow ended up footing the bill on it at the same time. He has been paying me back in Mustang parts ever since.

Just heard 3 or 4 of these power around Infineon today at a NASA event. Was commenting on how good they sounded.

Wait..... What? :lostmarbles:

Thanks Rob. The rear suspension isn't 100 percent in yet. The housing is bolted up to the control arms, watts link and push rods, but I need to cut the car off the cart to install the torque arm, which means I need to put it on the lift, and I figured I would so I can get a couple of things done when it goes on the lift.

Todd, I could never really put a Chevy in a Ford. We both know resale would be atrocious, and the only other reason to do so would be to go fast for cheap. The upfront savings would definitely be lost down the road, and with me behind the wheel the going fast logic is lost as well. It really doesn't make sense from any perspective, really. :lol:

I am looking forward to the mod motor though. It will get bolt ons and possibly a set of cams that have met Ford Racing's 150,000 mile durability standards. It won't be the most powerful engine but I am much more confident that it will be able to take abuse better than the worked over LS engines I've had.

My friend was out there performing the drift demo(he works for cortex), did you get a chance to watch it?

Surely you meant to say SONOMA Raceway..... :bitchslap: