1967 Mustang Convertible Pro-Touring project

[cjsgarage]

I haven't posted any of the cars I've built here, mostly because I don't have time and partly because some of them have their own build threads (Mike!). Since I work alone, I thought I would show you guys so I can actually have some conversation around the stuff I'm building instead of just chipping away at it everyday.

Here's goes:
This is the Mustang, virtually untouched. I had pulled the driveshaft and radiator and fuel tank already, but it's not like it added enough weight to lower the car or anything. I wanted to get a video of it running before I tore it down or at least a picture.. but I don't think people really care about what a car looked or ran like BEFORE it went into the shop.. do they?










Phew. This is a lot of work. Lat-G doesn't like uploading direct from my external drive, so I'm having to upload them to photobucket first. Oh, and this laptop doesn't like my iPhone, so I had to plug into the work laptop and transfer the photos to my external drive so I could plug into this laptop. (who else is putting two hours into a post? Anyone else as silly as I am?!)

Moving on. I specialize in wiring which happens to go hand in hand with EFI conversions. So that's what this car came in for.. he wanted it to start and drive and have more power. Believe me, I tried and tried to talk this guy out of converting a 6 cylinder Mustang.. but you can only lead a horse..

So I bought a donor car so I could get all the wiring and extra goodies that don't come from a junkyard or crate purchase. I thought I had a pretty good deal when I went to check it out. 113k miles, body was messed up so I was hoping the engine was good. After I removed it and tore it down, I found this.





This stuff happens, right? Right. I guess, I'll just fork it over for another engine.

[cjsgarage]

That thing isn't worth saving. It was going to cost more to bore it the .040" over and put a new rotating assembly that it was to get a known good block.

So here it is. I've bought another engine from these guys before and they have been good to me. This particular engine has been sitting on their shelf since 2001!!! I've had good luck using used engines to keep the price down, and this is another one of those cases. If you shop around enough, you can find a good deal on something that was crashed early in it's life for a good price.



So I tore this one down to the bare shortblock, too.


I had already sourced an E303 camshaft and some GT40 heads that I had rebuilt at the local machine shop.


Redline lube to make sure the camshaft and lifters remain friends when it's started


lots of scuffing and washing and a coat of painter's tape on the good parts




now we've got an engine we can bear to look at..

[cjsgarage]

The other 5.0L is destined for a 1963 Ford Falcon. I figured if you have to wait 10 minutes between coats and you're running the shop heater anyway, you might as well make use of the time and the heat to get two done at once.

Here's where I got this week:
I got the engine bay taped off.. I hate this. I really prefer to take it all down and remove the wiring and the brakes/brake lines and the suspension and the bracing and heater core hoses.. but I have a master and his name is Customer. Customer said he didn't want to spend that much, but wanted it "nicer". Right. Here's my try at nicer.






Houston, we have landed. I somehow managed to give away my pickup tube and oil pan gasket, so I had to wait over the weekend while Summit delivered. Got the stuff, got the engine assembled the last little bits and finally stuffed it in there. Oh, and I had to change the timing cover since I couldn't get a standard rotation water pump for a 94-95 5.0L engine. *sigh*

[cjsgarage]

One last photo before I get to bed. I thought you guys might think this was funny. When you're running to Orchard and you have to make a few quick notes on bolt quantities..




I actually got the transmission installed tonight, but I haven't made a crossmember for it yet.. so it's being held in the car with a few layers of bailing wire.. and no one needs photographic evidence of that tidbit..


opinions and comments welcome! g'night y'all

[cjsgarage]

Today's work on the Mustang. I didn't get much done since the owner and another good customer came by and chatted me up. It's hard to hear them when you're running the rack up and down, and I was pretty tired by the end of the day.. so I didn't get much a second shift in today. But here's some photographic eveidence..

Apparently the evidence doesn't show the hood. I got the hood mounted today when a friend came over this afternoon to help me mount it. I really didn't think the intake was going to fit, but after moving the strut tower brace out of the way I got it mounted. The hood does shut. I haven't clay barred it, but I think I'm in the safe zone. I don't think the motor mounts are going to flex enough to make the intake hit the hood.
This is the intake before I removed the strut brace. I figure I'm going to have to make a strut brace in order to get the car assembled in time.



I also got the tank dropped in. I didn't snap a photo of the fuel pump, fuel sending unit and filler neck installed. I had to call Summit, since I couldn't find the tank side of the filler neck stub, the gasket for the stub, or the gasket for the fuel pump module. It's a little frustrating, but I won't have a bunch of parts until Tuesday anyway, since I didn't make the 7:00pm Thursday cut-off.

This here is a hole in the floor.




and here she be, test fit. Does anyone know what they used to seal the tank to the lip it sits on?



After being frustrated with the back of the car, I moved back to the front to put a few more parts on. I got the radiator mounted and realized I still have a few more parts to paint. I missed reinstalling the little air block-off plates that are to the left and right of the radiator when I painted the engine bay. That's okay. I still need to paint the master cylinder, distributor hold down, timing pointer, and the strut mount that has yet to be made.

Radiator in, I decided I couldn't live with the timing cover gasket sticking out all over the place, so I lowered the pan a little bit and pulled the cover. Replaced the gasket with another I had here and cut a tiny bit of the excess gasket off with a razor. I mounted the water pump and measured some bolts so I can get bolts to mount the pump and the alternator brackets. I also got the stainless steel headers mounted.





You can see the timing cover removed here.



I knew I was going to have to weld bungs onto the headers because I need to run oxygen sensors in order for the computer to have fuel control, but after installing the headers, it appears I have a little more welding to do than initially intended.





I'm guessing the headers fit a T5 car just fine. They do not fit a car running an AODE. I guess I'll make a little cut and redirect a little bit. Hopefully I don't have to course correct too much, since I do have the rest of the exhaust system that is stainless and is meant for these headers and for this car. That's okay. Work is work. It must be done.

Then I tried fitting the alternator bracket and realized it's not designed for my timing cover/water pump. And the bracket kit is missing the necessary spacers for correct alignment/mounting. And there's no place for a dipstick tube in this timing cover either.

At this point, I had had enough frustration for one night. I already had a huge scare this morning thinking the intake wouldn't fit. I would have had to change the computer I'm using, get a different tuning device, and strip/blast/reassemble the donor intake. And the tuner wasn't necessarily readily available. So I turned in. I'll deal with the headers and the fuel tank later.

Here's where I left off for tonight. The purchase and to-do list got a little longer than shorter I think, but I still feel like I'm making progress.

[cjsgarage]

so much for stirring up some conversation around work..

opinions on tune-up parts? They have red caps/wires and blue distributor cap/wires? I ordered an air intake with a blue filter.. thinking of continuing a blue theme under there. Thoughts?

I assembled the brakes last night but fell asleep on the computer before I could upload the photos. I'll bring those in tonight.

[cjsgarage]

Anyone here know what they use to seal the fuel tank to the body?

[glassman]

Its called rope caulk, used to attache window frames to metal trailers. Check with Jason, he'll know for sure. Rope caulk is getting hard to find however, its basically a 3/16 to 1/4 diameter "squishable" type of sealent. I'm pretty sure i can still get it from CRL.

But u have to finish my wiring first lol

[dontlifttoshift]

strip caulk 3M 08578

[WSSix]

Coming along nicely! It's amazing what some cleaning and painting will do for the looks of a car. Keep up the good work!