68 GT500KR Vert

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Project Overview

The Car:
Was working on another Mustang for 3 years - the shop I was working with turned the car into a abstract work of art. So with all the part I had I started over by picking up this car about 7 years ago from a horse barn outside Pittsburg, PA. Got it home, ended up being pretty much rusted everywhere. Hasn't been on the road since 1985. Had no motor or anything else, pretty much a shell.

The Work:
During the 10 years I've been working on it, I've had 3 different shops try to rip me off, take advantage of situations, deliver incredibly poor work, and take me to court because they wanted to get paid for work they didn't do and had closed the shop. Luckily, I haven't lost that much money, but it took a while to save back up again and find the right shop who really cares about their work, customer, and perfection. They finally started on my car last week after years in storage hell and battles with other shops. They just started redoing the rear end work to get all the panels and gaps aligned and will be working their way forward in the next few weeks.

Engine:
Never used 1970 429 SCJ engine with 4 bolt main and original oil cooler (The complete short block is original - Sat in my Dad's shop since it was new.
* Only replaced in the lower half were the bearings.
* Stock heads - D0OE-R Heads (Hardened seats, SS Valves, Bronze Valve Guides)
* Compcam Springs & Roller Rockers
* Compcam Roller Cam
* Compcam Roller Lifters
* APR Head Studs & Bolts
* Holley finned aluminum valve covers powered coated silver
* Edlebrock RPM Air-Gap manifold
* Edlebrock Water Pump - powder coated clear
* Concept One Serpentine Pulley Kit - Black
* ATI Balancer
* Canton Oil Pan
* Powermaster mini starter
* Ron Davis Crossflow Radiator & SPAL Fan system
* ICE Ignition System, Booster, & Distributor
* Classic Auto Air A/C System
* 565HP / 595TQ under 5,000RPM

Fuel System:
* Pro System 950 Carb
* Holley HP In-Line Billet Fuel Pump
* Fuel Safe Pro Cell 22 Gallon Tank
* Earl's Fittings and Lines

Electrical:
* Painless Wiring Harness - 1968 Mustang
* New accessories wiring harnesses (Convert, Fog Lights, Etc)
* Battery In Trunk

Exhaust:
* FPA Custom Ceramic Coated Headers
* Magnaflow 3" stainless steel exhaust system

Drivetrain:
* Performance Automatic C6 with Custom Torque Conv
* Steel driveshaft
* Strange 9" rear w/ 31 spline axles, Positrac 3.50

Chassis:
* Rod & Custom Motorsports Mustang II Front End with coil-overs modified for better steering and handling.
* Rod & Custom Motorsports Rear Coil-over system
* Forged 2" drop spindles
* Flaming River Steering Column & PowerRack.
* TCP Subframe Connectors & Cross Brace + Additional Custom Support.
* All new frame rails, torque boxes, inner rockers, and floor - all seam welded for strength.

Brakes:
* 4 X 12" Aerospace Components Pro-Street Disc Brakes - D/S/P & Billet Aluminum 4 Piston Calipers
* JMC dual master cylinder
* Hydratech Brake System
* SS brake lines

Body:
* Stangaholics 1968 Shelby Fiberglass kit
* All body panels replaced where needed[Ford tooling panels when available](rear qtrs, front fenders, complete floor pan, inner rockers, toe pans, seat riser, radiator support, rear valance, complete trunk, transition pan, taillight panel, and wheel housings)
* Engine bay custom constructed for MII front-end
* Red / White Paint Scheme
* Black Chassis paint in engine bay and underbody.
* Haartz Stayfast Black cloth convertible top.

Interior:
* Dakota Digital Dash with trans gear indicator and accessory gauges for the Shelby center console.
* Black Pro-Car Rally seats & matching rear upholstery.
* Lecarra Steering Moto-Lita wheel
* Saleen Light Bar
* Lokar gas pedal assembly, brake pedal cover, & foot rest pedal
* Lokar Shifter
* Electric Life Power Windows

Wheels:
* Shelby CS67 Wheel In Anthracite (18x8.5 front / 18x9.5 back)
* BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW (235/40ZR18 front / back 275/40/18)

Other:
* All brackets and accessories will be powder coated.

[GT500KR_Vert]

I had actually started out with a different car in 2004, but the 1st body shop butchered it so bad, I sold it off for someone to build a drag car.

The shop the was working on my engine had offered to handle all the sheet metal and frame work as they believed building race car chassis is the same as doing restorations. This was in 2006, the beginning of me learning about restoration and dealing with shops. While he did a decent job cleaning up my engine, his restoration, sheet metal, and frame skills were not up to par. I gave him new front frame rails, he cut off the front half of the old ones and added box tubing, wasn't happy about that. Had the car media blasted while I was away, he never primed it, then when he did he went right over the rust. I had bought him weld-thru primer, he didn't use it. By the way, he was doing all this work while I was away in Iraq. Came home to some fun, really wasn't happy, pulled the car right out. Went on the search for a new shop, talked to 3 different shops, felt good about them, 18 month backlog.

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More:

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So, I found out one of my neighbors had a shop in his back yard - he races cars - super perfectionist - you could eat off his engines and cars. He just clean them with Q-Tips. So I put the suspension, brakes, and wheels on the car and we towed it down the road. He fixed everything on the chassis, had great suggestions, fit the engine / transmission, rear end, steering, suspension, frame connectors, installed and custom fit the complete exhaust, aligned everything up, and order and installed my driveshaft. Plus, he didn't change me much - mostly beer money.

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So the car was rounding into shape. Then 2009, I relocated to Tidewater, VA. Started the search over for a new shop - talked to the restoration guys in Norfolk, Va who are on TV, way too expensive $60k+ to finish the restoration. Then another shop in Norfolk told me to bring it down for a “Free Estimate”, they build $250k muscle cars and came highly recommended. While they were giving me this estimate, they offered to have it re-media blasted and primed for $1500, seemed a fair deal. They had it 10 weeks, media blasted most of my doors, cowl, and dash, and to come in to get my estimate - $1000 for the media blasting, $1500 for the “Free” estimate. Had to work them down to $800 just to get it out of there even though he didn't do what was agreed to and he sprayed epoxy primer over my VIN Plate! BTW – the estimate was over $65k. Over the 3+ years since I moved here I’ve looked at 6 different shops, not one truly gave a crap about their work or charging a fair price. Last fall I attended a local car shop, saw a really nicely restored 55 Chevy, beautiful paint job, perfect lines, and it was freshly done. Asked him did it, told me it was the little shop that only does a few restorations a year because he loves it and the rest of the time does insurance jobs to make money, but be aware, he’s real slow – but his work is perfect. I went over and saw the rest of his work, it’s very nice. He’s also a really nice guy. Brought my car down in Feb of this year. He’s agreed to do everything for one price – I can drive it home. I supply the parts. He’s finally pulled it out of the trailer after the classic Jag and Camaros he was doing were done. They started taking it back apart, saving what metal they can, and getting the back-half lined up – tail panel is in place, the Qtrs are getting replaced again, the truck wasn’t welded back together right the first time. But in 3 days of work – he has the truck lid lined up perfectly and the gaps on the trunk and the doors are dead on! The car is already so much more solid. They are coating the insides of all the frames, rockers, boxes, and inner panels with rust inhibitor, and removing and treating any rust or pin holes, even on stuff you’ll never see. So excited to see what happens next week.

My $800 Media Blasting Job!:





The Start Of The End:

[GT500KR_Vert]

Passenger Side Quarter almost fit - door gaps are close.
Taillight panel, Trunk Bumper Brackets, Truck Support, and Trunk Corner parts are welded in.
Trunk lid gaps are perfect.
Convert Rear Support Corner parts welded in
Trunk floor and supports rewelded
Couple of little patches of small pin holes
Surface Rust cleaned up, rust convert and encapsulater sprayed on
Inner & Outer Rockers spread with Rust Preventor / Inner Framerail coating

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Updates - Pass Quarter panel almost done - things are fitting well, almost there, then onto the Driver's side.