Preston's 1967 Mustang

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by lebowski

Looking good Preston! Flattered you posted a pic of my car too.
James Godbolt
http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/1...stang-Fastback

awesome built james!

[Jay Hilliard]

Awesome job Preston!

[preston]

God I am the worst photographer ever !
If you read above I was thinking about bobbing the rear end, and I did. When I started in on it I was pissed at myself for starting another idiotic time consuming project but it actually came out great and looks much better I think.
I really like the simplicity of the rear end now, although I no longer have back up lights. At some point maybe I will hide some LED's somewhere or whatever. And even though I just said I like the simplicity, I have some urge to put the
M U S T A N G
letters on the trunk like at some point.
It also mimics the original Mustang rear valence and appearance much better than before, if you remember I've been striving for something that looks "vintage" but super built.

The other thing that really got me excited was getting all the window chrome back on and the running horse emblems. Really makes everything look much better especially in primer black. And the other thing I really liked was emulating the front nose chrome of the Shelby Mustang. I actually hand built the trim out of aluminum and had it chromed. It came out really really nice, even I was surprised. Of course it cost almost $500 to chrome the 4 small strips of aluminum and took 8 weeks but I had it done at Queen City plating which does cars for Pebble Beach and stuff. The quality is superb, especially considering I hand built it out of 1/2" key stock aluminum bar.







The other big news is I changed to elecrically assisted steering. I have a high end Woodward rack in the car and its a beautiful piece and the rack itself is smooth as silk. But the servo they provided seems to me to have an enormous amount of stiction. No problem on the race track or when turning in earnest, but trying to keep the car straight on the road and make micro-corrections was incredibly annoying. I talked to Tony Woodward about it and even had some long conversations with their main tech and sent it in for "reduced drag" seals, but it still felt super stiff to me. I mean on the bench you could just barely turn it back and forth with your bare hands. In the car you could definitely feel it "sticky" when driving. I've always hated the way this car steers from stock through my own custom Pontiac X-car rack conversion through the TCP rack through stock car racks to this rack. None of them felt anything like OEM steering to me. So i bought a Saturn Vue EPAS unit and column for $300 and installed itunder the dash and setup the rack as a manual unit. Its still not as perfectly OEM as my daily drivers, but its much much improved and has a nice power assist.And if I didn't have hydraulic brakes I could even get rid of the hydro pump.

Do I have a bunch of pictures of the unit installed under my dash or build photos of how I adapted my Ididit column to the unit ? No, no I don't. HOwever it was all pretty basic fabrication and the original Vue unit had a sliding shaft that was very easy to adapt to a Borgeson coupler and I even built it to have 1" of collapse in the upper shaft (although I've never understood how this helps you when you still have the 1.75" diameter steel column around the shaft).

Anyway I was very happy with the improvement to the smoothness of the steering after that.

----------------------

I have to admit though, my passion for this hobby has sadly detiorated. I've loved hot rod cars my whole life yet in the last couple of years I can hardly get excited at all. Its a combination of the money drain, the kids draining my hobby time, the fact that I live in a heavy suburban area where I can sometimes hit a fun freeway ramp but for the most part just drive around in heavy traffic, I have no real place to "go" in the car since it can't carry my family and the traffic around here most of the time is abysmal. I really can't afford the time, money, effort, and frankly, the danger, of taking the car to the track. I don't seem to enjoy fabricating on the car anymore either and am just getting too damn old to lay on the concrete etc all night long.

IOW, I'm kind of contemplating the exit ramp. Not there yet, but contemplating it.

I would like to ask some honest car guy opinions on what you think this thing is worth or what it might sell for ? Please PM me rather than post a number.

Here are some highlights of the car just to refresh:
(see the next post)

[preston]

Chassis:
-GT/TransAm inspired aluminum honeycomb reinforced space frame with integrated roll cage and front and rear crush structures.
- Total bare chassis weight 420 lbs (compare to Corvette C5 at 450+ with no floor, suspension crossmembers, or roll cage)
-Removable front tray (in less than 30 minutes the complete front end including intercoolers, radiator, plumbing, wiring, and headlights unbolts from the main chassis).
-Goal was low Center of Gravity (CG):
15” engine setback from “stock”, 10” driver setback.
Turbos are behind front axle centerline.
Fuel tanks in front of rear axle centerline.
Exhaust is routed through rockers so that the floor and therefore driver and therefore car body could be mounted as low as possible
Suspension:
-GT/TransAm inspired dual A-arm front suspension using heavy duty but lightweight aluminum stock car hubs and custom uprights. Design goals were low roll center, long control arms for low scrub and stable roll center, low (3/4”) scrub radius, low side scrub, combined with high caster and high caster gain for dynamic camber gain increases during steering to allow for mild camber gain in straight line bounce.
-Interchangeable front sway bar, Afco double adjustable coil over shocks.
-Custom Woodward steering rack with electric power assist
-360 degree articulating polyurethane “Jonny joints” for the best compromise of ride comfort and suspension accuracy. Coil overs have also been poly bushed on one end. All bushings could be converted to heim joints.
-Full floating live axle with ½ degree camber.
-Adjustable three link suspension with very long (30”) links.
-Underslung Watts link for low roll center.
-Adjustable rear sway bar.
-Bilstein double adjustable coil over shocks (one end poly bushed).
-Rear bushings are a combination of rubber stock car race bushings, Jonny joints, and heim joints.
-CCW 3 piece aluminum wheels (2 sets)
Street
18*11 285/35/18
18*13 335/30/18
Track
18*12 315/30/18
18*13 335/30/18


Brakes:
Not your typical big brake package out of a catalog!
- PFC Professional Sports Car Endurance racing 4 piston nickel plated calipers, purchased from a Ferrari Challenge team spares package. I have a Hoerr catalog from 2000 where these calipers were being sold for $3k apiece.
- 4” brake ducting with spindle ducts.
-15”/14” fully floating Coleman rotors with Brembo/McLaren anti-rattle clips. Bolt on aluminum mounting rings (not slip on hats).
-Hydraulic booster with custom dual master cylinder balance bar racing setup.
-Hydraulic shutoff valve parking brake
Engine:
Twin Turbo all aluminum dry sumped 427” Ford Small Block, built Spring 2011 by C&D Machine Kirkland WA
Dart aluminum block, 4.125” bore and 4” stroke
Eagle forged crank and H-beam rods with ARP bolts
AFR 225 heads with upgraded valvetrain and stud girdle (New Spring 2011)
Mild Cam Motion hydraulic roller cam, idles at 19” vacuum at 900 rpms. (230/224 .59 lift with 1.7 rockers)
3 stage dry sump with trunk mounted tank (pump rebuilt Fall 2010)
Custom Wilson intake manifold with front mounted 90mm throttle body
Twin Precision Turbo GT35 with 0.68 A/R with twin intercoolers fully ducted (never seen IAT’s over 110). Dual Tial 44mm wastegates. Insulation blankets
Tubular turbo manifolds, Swain ceramic coated
MegaSquirt 3 Electronic Fuel Injection – includes on board data logging,boost control, self tuning wide band O2, PWM and digital outputs, CAN bus, and all other features of modern EFI. USB port in cockpit.
Fully sequential Injector Dynamics 1000cc injectors
Coil on plug ignition with 36-1 crank trigger (LS Truck coils)
Vapor recovery system
620 rwhp @ 7 psi on pump gas on a load bearing “Mustang” brand dyno. A couple of keystrokes to the boost control would net 850rwhp very easily.
The hydraulic roller cam is very mild, with a larger cam or going to a solid roller the sky’s the limit.
There is also plenty of room for bigger turbos.
Frankly, I still find 600whp to be plenty.
Fuel System
Twin saddle tanks in front of rear axle for weight distribution and safety. Uses Corvette siphon pump to transfer fuel to pump side reservoir (passenger). Pump tank has trap door sump, both tanks stuffed with fuel cell foam.
Dual Bosch 044 pumps, 2nd pump triggered from ECU. Should support 1000+ flyhweel hp.
Aeromotive regulator and filters.
Exhaust:
Full v-banded 304 stainless steel 3” exhaust system all the way to the rear bumper.
Down pipes and headers Swain ceramic coated.
Drivetrain:
Centerforce DYAD dual disc clutch rated to 1200 hp (new), hydraulic throw out bearing
Quicktime reduction gear starter
Quicktime scattershield/bellhousing
Rockland Standard Gear “Son of Tranzilla” T56 Magnum transmission.
Aluminum driveshaft (new 1350 u-joints Summer 2011)
3.5 ring and pinion, Detroit Tru-Trac differential, 31 spline (fresh rebuild Winter 2016)
Transmission and differential coolers and electric pumps
Moser Aluminum pumpkin

Racelogic adjustable traction control system using custom 40 tooth trigger wheels. This system works really really well, very happy with it.

Aero:
Flat bottom floor with removable undertrays from front splitter to rear diffuser
Rear diffuser at a mild 7 degree angle so its actually functional, not cosmetic
Front splitter mounting system such that race splitter of large size can be accomodated.
90% of the air going through the grille will be routed right back through the hood duct including all radiator outlet air to reduce drag and increase downforce.
Interior (looked nice at one time but needs a refresh)
Fully dynamatted
Lightweight German short weave cut loop carpet
Cup holder, storage trays, glovebox
Heater/defrost with fresh air supply
Variable wipers
Cruise Control (works excellent)
Excellent heel/toe throttle/brake setup
Kirkey deluxe road racing seats
Removable steering wheel
Standard 3 point retracting seatbelts as well as 5 point harnesses
Nu-relics Power Windows
Full suite of gauges including wideband O2 display and trans/diff temperature
Warning lights – Oil pressure, temp, water temp, overboost, A/F ratio, 2nd fuel pump
SFI padding on roll cage
Excellent helmet clearance
Miscellaneous:
10 lb fire system
Custom alum radiator and Lincoln Mark VIII fan with PWM fan speed control (car has never overheated (210 degrees) street or track).
Setrab water/oil cooler
200 amp alternator
Cockpit switch for high boost (pre-mapped)
3 gallon water/meth injection tank in trunk ready to be plumbed.
Body:
Widened 2” each side thruogh the character line, 74” tread width
Custom flares, all steel
1968 Shelby inspired styling
Front noise piece, rocker panels front and rear valence handbuilt from aluminum
Rear tail caps hand built from steel
Hood scratch build from aluminum
Fiberglass front bumper
Despite the Shelby theme I chose to stay with the classic triple tail lights as I’ve never liked the Shelby style.
Maier FG trunklid and rear bumper (widened)
All factory glass with factory seals.
Basic bodywork complete
4.5” ride height with nothing hanging below the ground plane
3300 lbs

If I sold it I would have the bodywork on the rear end touched up where I kissed a fence post and finish off the roof. The gaps are all great, all the main bodywork is done, it might not be SEMA quality but is very presentable.

The car actually drives very nice, easy powerful brakes, good clutch feel, good turning radius, a bit loud inside but eh its a hot rod.

ON the negative side, I am 5'11" with longer legs and torso and it fits me perfect, however there is no room to move the seat back or put in a cushy padded style OEM seat. There is a lot of head room though, the seat could move up but not back. Also this is a 15" Kirkey seat, a 16" would fit but probably not a lot wider, although other seats without big side bolsters would fit.

[DBasher]

I love it, Preston! I think you've done a great job over the years building something exactly the way you wanted, think of everything you've learned doing all of this. Nice job!

[preston]

Yeah I've always figured when the economy collapses I'll be in a much better position knowing how to weld and fabricate and fix things than relying on my ability to manipulate abstract symbols on a computer screen.

So I've got that going for me....I've always thought maybe I could do some part time fab work for a car shop as a semi-retirement plan too.

[Flash68]

Preston, your skills are in the right place man.... building and designing and rebuilding your car pretty much everything touched by you best I can tell.... that's better than just being able to post crap on the interwebs.

Your car -- to me -- is like a winning USCA car in 2020 -- but was built a decade before. A man (and car) ahead of its time.

That thing has to be a hoot everytime you get it in. Hope you keep it.