'65 Fastback project

[Matt@BOS]

Update: I'm in the frigid north right now, where its a hundred degrees colder than it was at the shop, in Escondido, the day before I left.

I gathered a few more parts at the beginning of 2015, most notably these Stainless DSE headers, which are amazing in quality. It's a shame they'll be almost completely hidden when the motor is in.



I've also continued work on the front end, placing the radiator, power steering and oil coolers, as well as the intake.It has been a ton of work as everything is pretty much custom at this point. I've had to cut and modify coolant expansion tanks and hack up the core support, but after what felt like a thousand hours of taking things on and off repeatedly to check fitment, I'm finally starting to have pieces that look like they might be something some day.

Here is the air box bolted up in its final location. Now I just have to build everything around it.


The radiator is shorter, but wider than factory, and is supposedly good for 600hp, however, with the location of the valance and coolers, I wanted to make sure that the radiator's air had a dedicated path since it will only be flowing in through the lower grill opening. I also could not leave the airbox bolted on like in this picture



I'm building this cover that will become part of the core support. Undo four bolts and you can change out the filter, without taking everything apart, at least in theory.



power steering cooler:


I also started working on this close out panel to hide all of the functional, but ugly bits, like the radiator mounting brackets and coolant tanks.



I'm looking forward to warmer weather again!

[tones2SS]

Very nice Matt.
Engine bay is looking good. Those DSE headers do look very nice!

[efs69]

Looking great Matt. Makes me want to get a Stang.

[67TXStang]

Incredible build Matt! Just finished reading all 70 pages.

[Vegas69]

The car is coming along great. I think you would be better off with that cooler with the grain rather than against it. Seems you are blocking off way to much radiator.

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

The car is coming along great. I think you would be better off with that cooler with the grain rather than against it. Seems you are blocking off way to much radiator.

The radiator actually won't draw any air from in front of the power steering cooler. The PS cooler is mounted 4" forwards and will fit into the the upper grille section. The lower opening will have panelling to make a direct path to the entire radiator. The oil cooler will mount in front inside the lower opening, and will have plenty of space between the radiator for air to flow. We'll be finding out if this plan works the hard way. I could also mount the oil cooler down low and horizontally, in front of the engine, with a protective cover and it's own dedicated fan. Isn't building cars fun?

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by tones2SS

Very nice Matt.
Engine bay is looking good. Those DSE headers do look very nice!

They look even nicer in person!

Originally Posted by efs69

Looking great Matt. Makes me want to get a Stang.

You should build a Mustang! They're great back up cars for when Chevy's break, and they're not fast enough to hurt themselves.

Originally Posted by 67TXStang

Incredible build Matt! Just finished reading all 70 pages.

Sorry about some of those beginning and in between pages.

[pahela2]

Truly beautiful car . I really like the fender mods. It's funny how similar to ron's car it is but also how different.

Paul

[Matt@BOS]

I've mostly been working on things that will never be seen on the car like a way to mount electric fans, which proved more difficult than usual since there was very little space to work with. The radiator and intake cover will be seen, however, and I do have pics of that.

It's been through a few revisions. The radiator fill cap was supposed to fit through but do to other space issues, it wouldn't work without moving the intake/filter mount.

[camcojb]

Great job Matt!!