69 Mustang Conv. G-Machine
 

We have been growing pretty steadily and have 3 new exciting projects on board. Two are still too early to introduce but this on isnt.
Currently we are transforming this classic 1969 Ford Conv. into a modern G-Machine. It'll be powered by a supercharged, fuel Injected Cobra drivetrain ('93 Cobra: 5.0L, AOD and a '94 Cobra 8.8" Rear) and will be equiped with an Air Ride suspension. It will ride on 17”/18” Boze Forged Alloy wheels painted matte black to match the shelby striped hood. The body will receive several subtle changes and the black leather and suede will resemble that of an '07 interior on this build.
A BIG thanks to John @ Midnight Octane for bringing my design to life through his awsome Rendering skills. Now its up to us to make it a reality and debut this car in June at the All Ford Nationals in Carlisle Pa.
http://www.hotrodsbysteve.com/projec.../69_render.jpg

John does fantastic work. :bow:

Awesome as usual John! Great choice on wheels.

Thanks guys, especially Steve, FINALLY - not a 1st gen Camaro LOL! Being a Mustang guy it was great to actually do a Mustang. Steve's got plenty of great ideas and working with Steve on a project was great since I like the type of styling and overall look that he tries to acheive in his builds. I am just nuts over the metallic orange Nova on his site! Steve was back and forth on a couple of wheels and chose to go the direction of the 6-spoke. I agree, something a little different looking and fits the look of the car.

I'm surprised Ben, you didn't catch the seude-look texture on the center of the seats LOL! :D

J

Actually I noticed it yesterday on my second look...frikken sweet! I also like the extremely subtle flat hood stripe. Beautiful, just beautiful. :bow:

Ha.. thanks guys. John... I still dont know how you did the suede look, but i guess those pictures helped.Its amazing how real it looks. The wheels are my favortie part.... they really capture the stealth 'Sinister' look we were after. It actually took my client a few days to get back to me on his thoughts because he said he was too busy showing the rendering off to everone. It was a home run !

The rendering and project look sweet :thumbsup: I'm really liking the '69 Mustang body style. Keep us posted with some pics. :yes:

Love it John, awesome as always!! BTW I noticed the seats during the first glance! :thumbsup:

Good luck with the build Steve....keep the pics coming!!

Pics ?
Here are a few I have now.... This car is being torn down as we speak. So these are what it 'started' out as. The story behind why the interior was done first is that my upholsterer is moving down south. So, knowing the car wouldnt be completed before he left, we did the upholstery first.

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_86_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_78_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_79_full.jpg

Looks like a completely AWESOME project! I'm looking forward to watching the car come together.

What are you planning on doing with the front suspension?

Also, be sure you want that AOD, unless you're really familiar with them. They kind of suck (and "kind of" being an understatement). You might want to look into an AODE or 4R70W. But then again, if you're familiar with the AOD, I'm sure you have it covered.

Thanks for the advice !
This is my first Ford project.
The donar car had only 60k miles and since we are mating the SC to this drivetrain, we are going to upgrade the transmission internals anyway. I know there is a conversion for the AOD but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
Thanks for the info. and comments !
I'm really looking forward to this build.

Yes, the factory Ford AOD unit really blows. I sold my 92 Notch about 8 months ago and a few months after owning it, the extra 30 ponies and a 4.10 gear were too much for the little AOD - I fried it. I did the whole T5 swap and never looked back. Now a nicely built street AOD would be nice and recommended. I also think that an AODE which I believe are in the 94up Mustangs could possibly work well with the Shrifter paddle shift system from Twist Machine? Just a thought. I talked at length about this possibility with Steve Chryssos and my 1992 notchback.

J

How I fixed the AOD in my truck was with Art Carr internals. Of course now I have no lock-up in overdrive. If I'd have been paying attention before I got into it, I would have gone AODE and spent the extra money on the controller instead of the Art Carr pieces.

I also have a 92GT that's going to get a DOHC 4.6/4R70W and was looking at the Twist Machine setup, but because of my airbag it's a no-go. However, it certainly would be possible on, say, a '69 with no airbag :D

option to paddles?
 

Would it be possible to use the controler and eliminate the cruise control
and wire into the buttons to use them to shift? Keep the air bag and have finger tip shifting.
I've been thinking of this for awhile but at the moment don't have the resorces to play it out.

3/4/07 Update:

Air Ride Installed, Suspension Completed.
Body mods completed and now in bodywork / paint stage.
The engine work is almost done. Here are some sneak peak photos of Engine Mock-Up. Still alot to change and be done.... ie: Throttle Body SPacer to be removed and more paint work to the bracketry. Note: this is just mock up... alot of bolts etc are missing.

Before:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_81_full.jpg

After Paint:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_82_full.jpg

SuperCharger Mock-Up:
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_83_full.jpg

Looks like a work of art! Great work Steve!

Sweet Looking ride. Must be getting close!:thumbsup:

Mustang
 

Great to see how it is coming together!

Sweet! This project looks very exiting. Always a joy to see a '69 Mustang G-Machine!:thumbsup:

Well..... final engine mock-up is complete. Just waiting for the cars body to be done so we can put this jewel back in. The one and only problem seems to be that the intake tube is WAY off from fitting flush mounted to the throttle body. I have to investigate as to why. Perhaps the Cobra intake is different in the way it sits compared to the stock piece. I may have to either find a tube that Paxton makes for this configuration, or fab one up and then polish it up. We'll see.....

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_87_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_88_full.jpg

Mag
 

Nice intro in this month's Ford Builder magazine. Figured I would mention it since it is not a Camaro Magazine:lol:

Ford Builder hey ?
I'll have to go check that out.
I did a big press release back in January... I dont even remember the publishers we sent it to.

Well... I was really bummed and knew i wouldnt sleep last night unless i knew wtf was wrong... so i went back to the garage and played with the tube at the throttle boody. i realized that if i placed the tube flush against the throttle body that it doesnt fit at the blower. i also noticed that the blower can be rotated at the shaft (not the mounting point) by losening about 8 tabs and turning the blower and retighening them.
It worked !
Fits like a glove.

Please keep us posted as your ride progresses.

That engine looks simpley awesome!

I love the car and the build ideas. Do keep us posted. Thanks!

Hey Steve:

Any updates to the project?

Change in direction.....
I decided to make a last minute design change.... hopefully for the better :D

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_91_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_92_full.jpg

Nice change! I never realized that the '69 verts didn't have the scoops. I make s sense now b/c it's built off of the coupe platform. I think it would look killer with the Shelby scoops on top of the quarters.

Foose did that on his Overhaulin show a few months ago. It looks killer with the Scoop in the quarter panel.

very kool project cant wait to check out the finished result, when do u plan to unvail it?

Thats funny b/c thats what my crew said when i came up with the idea !
I truely dont watch TV and didnt know he did that.
I was so excited that i thought of it and then they all said "oh yeah like Foose"...
I guess if I had to follow someone, he would be a great leader :D

Being from PA, you're in Luck.... we plan to have it finished and debut at the 'All Ford Nationals @ Carlisle' in June. Great place to show a Ford for the first time !

well im only up here for school and i graduate in june, then its back home to Florida, so i was wondering when the show was be kool to check it out.

June 1-3.
If we dont continue to have problems with back-ordered parts :_paranoid ... we should be there !

Anything new Steve? Would love to see some more pics. :thumbsup:

Russ... I should have some good pics this week. The fastback quarters took WAY longer than expected. It is NOT as easy as changing the skins. As expected alot of fab work had to be done. But way more than I anticipated. The trunk spoiler was a nitemare to work out because of the different angles and sizes between body styles. And the quarter window mechs had to be reworked because of the scoop locaton. Fastback windows dont roll down and conv's do. End result looks amazing. However... we did final block sanding this past week and color will be shot this week. Black is a Bxxxx... especialy when dealing with all that welded custom fab work.

Trans
 

Hey, great looking car!

We had great success with a 4R70W trans from a 5.0 Explorer... it's like an AODE with a taller first gear for moving heavier vehicles. The AODE and 4R70W both came in 5.0 Windsor pattern vehicles, the mod motor stuff is different.

We're using a Baumannator TCS trans controller from Baumann Engineering - you can program 2 separate strategies (street / strip) and you have control over all the shift points, pressures and shift firmness, and torque converter lockup points. The AOD has no lockup converter.

Our 4R70W is behind an EFI 351 Windsor in a '62 Galaxie, and we have 2 shift strategies (and yes, you should be able to use a Shrifter from Twist Machine). Our main setting is fairly firm with the converter locking around 47 mph in OD. OD kicks in at about 44. It feels like a police car. The other setting raises the shift points for racing, and is MUCH firmer. All by flipping a switch. It's killer. Mark Bowler at Bowler Performance Transmissions is a guy to talk to on these... he builds the trannies and programs all the Baumann boxes for the big names, and he's a really nice guy.

Did you chop the hoodscoop in your rendering? Looks awesome.

- KO

That sounds like THE ideal set-up. I've talked about a similar set-up on another project with SteveO @ twist and one of these days I will have the design freedom and flexibility to do a similar set-up. Unfortunately there is a budget restraint on this project. As with all my builds, the car has been designed to perform and look as good as it possibly can within a 'said' budget. It will be 100% driver friendly and reliable but ultimately we had to delete some of the pro-touring luxuries and upgrades that would truly make the car perform to its fullest potential.

After "someone" :mad: dropped the AODE off the lift we had while delivering it to the trans shop to get rebuilt, we noticed the casing was cracked and the dowel pin section was badly damaged. So we decided scrap the AODE in favor of a 'built' AOD my trans shop had lying around. That trans ran flawlessly in a 10sec notchback one of his customers had. Its been 'freshened up' and all the internals were upgraded. It should work fine up against the +/- 350hp 5.0 we have for it.

Thanks for the suggestions. As always, I appreciate the feedback !
I only wish I had a little more room in the budget.

I hear ya
 

I fully understand the budget deal. My brother in law has a 2000 6-cyl Mustang with a 4R70W in it... I believe the 6 cyls are Windsor pattern also. He's parting the car. It's not going anywhere anytime soon, so if you get the itch, I can ask him what he wants for the trans.

Bill Smith Auto Parts is another place to get good cores / used stuff cheap.

Well its (old) progress pics.... These were taken about 2 weeks ago. I dont have any new ones because my camera died. The body is assembled and we're buffing it now. I'll be installing the drivetrain next week. Then its all men on deck for final asssembly. The clock is running down...

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_96_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_97_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...33_98_full.jpg

Steve I love the Fastback look on the convertible. Cant wait to see it with that great looking motor in it. Keep up the great work and get that camera fixed :thumbsup:

A little update.....

-Body, Engine and Undercarrige are fully painted.
-The front and rear suspension is fabricated and installed with all new urethane bushings upgraded sway bars etc..
-The Air Ride is updated, plumbed & completed.
-The new brakes mounted, lines are plumbed and bled.
-We had to narrow the '94 8.8 rear slightly for the "right" look and new axles set us back.
-The body assembly is completed and now installing all the tedious trim pieces and bolt ons.

To Do List:
(The next 4 weeks will be fun :willy: )
-Chassis and Body Wiring
-Guage Installation
-Drivetrain installation
-Exhaust Fabrication
-Engine tuning and Dialing in of the Supercharger and fuel system.
-Conv. top stiching and assembly
-Stereo Wiring and hook up.
-Interior Installation.
-Power Window / Door Glass Install

Oh.... did I mention theres 4 weeks left untill completon ? :willy: