This
1966 Six Cylinder Mustang Coupe was a Detroit Originated Car that moved immediately to
Bakersfield California until purchased in 1990. There was no rust when purchased.
Purchased the car before I got married. After tearing it apart to keep
from selling it, it sat since about 1994 on its side sitting on two tires.
In 2003 I was playing with weed burning torch when I figured out that the only
thing it was good for (besides burning weeds) was heating up undercoating.
Its surprising how effective a 500,000 BTU 2 foot long blue flame can be.
That inspired me to strip the bottom. In the dead of 10 degree winter,
with all the windows open and the fans on, you were sweating when that torch was
going full blast. After a few months I had the shell ready for paint.
Then I let it set for two more years before finding a fastback roof late in 2005
to put on it. That's when I decided it was time to get rolling.
Eight months later it was on the road.
<<< Car when Purchased
Car After
Completion
This car spend
many years sitting on its side stripped of all parts to save space in the
garage. This photo is just after stripping all of the undercoating off
>>>
-----
Suspension Work Completed -----
New Lower Control
Arms
New Spring
Perches (Prothane)
New 620 Front
Coil Springs (1/3rd coil removed)
Rebuilt Upper
Control Arms
Lowered Upper
Control Arms by 1”
New Strut Rods
and Bushings
New 1 1/8” Sway
Bar
1979 Granada
Front Spindles
KYB Gas-A-Just
Shocks
New Rear Springs
New Shackles
GT350 Under-Rider
Traction Bars
New Rear 7/8”
Sway Bar
New Front to Rear
Frame Rail Connectors (Welded In)
New Left and
Right Front Torque Boxes
New American
Racing 15” x 7” Salt Flat Wheels (custom backspacing)
Spinner Centers
for Wheels
BF Goodrich
Radial TA P225 60R15 Tires
<< This was the only rust in the floor pans. It
was only because the car had an accident years ago that pushed the right side
just enough to crinkle the pan and allow water to get into the seam.
Largest rust hole in wheel well. >>>
<< Front End of Car sheet metal and frame rails had "0"
Rust.
Removed 120+/- spot welds to unhide the only rust up front.
No leaks, but a couple more years and it would have been trouble.
<< Cleaned out as much rust as
possible by hand. I bought into the POR15 concept on this car. I
followed the rules of acid etching the metal so the coating would stick. I
have not had any issues with POR15 not adhering as long as you acid etch bare
metal first, wash it good, then let it sit and darken for a week or two before
coating.
From what I read online, this was in really nice shape.
The only rust hole in it was this.
<< Decided to coat the seams with the combination of POR15
and fiberglass mesh to help seal up and prevent any future rust. Better to
have water laying on fiberglass then steel in my opinion.
Remember, this was a coupe, and at first I was planning on
just restoring the coupe. It wasn't till later that I decided on the
fastback conversion. Always wanted a fastback. This body wasn't
worth too much as it was a 6 cylinder car, converted to a 302 motor. I
figure this was a perfect candidate for a fastback conversion if I could find a
roof and other parts.
Test Fitting...
Creating from Scratch...
At the time, there were no aftermarket sheet metal
available for this area. Of course, 6 months after completion, guess what
was available for about $85.00?
At least all the framing for this work was done with 1/8"
plate. Should be plenty strong. Used the rear glass as a template, and
made the curved band around the glass first, then started wending plate under it
to create the edge. Ground that to the curve I needed and welded it up.
Used some 12 gauge sheet metal for some of the fill, the 18 gauge for the rest.
Used a combination of long hair and short hair fiberglass for the final shaping,
the a skim of bondo to smooth it out. I attempted to use less than 1/8" of
bondo in all areas, as I trust fiberglass (long hair) to keep from cracking over
time. If they can make a vette from fiberglass, then this should be ok as
well.
When
installing the roof, I cut the frame in an L shape so instead of butt welding,
you would have around 3" of edge, followed by two short but welds, making it
much stronger. I was able to weld these joints from all three sides of the
frame (frame is triangular) Once these areas were treated with POR15, I welded
sheet metal to patch the holes.
Created Back Seat Steel, dimensions would have helped.
Had to install, and remove the interior fiberglass many
times to figure out where the steel and the tabs needed to be. It was my
only template. That and many photos I found online from fastback
restorations.
The rear of the roof originally was supported by four
boxes, two on each side. I created boxes from 14 gauge plate, and welded
them up. One thing is for sure, this roof design with all the boxes is
much much stronger than a stock coupe.
Painting all the unseen edges first
I decided for the sake of time, to use aftermarket doors,
fenders, hood, and trunk lid. The hood I purchased is a fiberglass scooped
hood with the all steel frame. Even with that added to the purchase, all
these parts were just a $1,000.00 new. This saved allot of time. I
need this time as I wanted to get the paint job done before summer hit (bugs and
dust doesn't make for good painting) I did have the nightmare of getting
aftermarket doors aligned with aftermarket fenders, and getting the internal
door parts to work properly inside them. If I had to do it over again, I
would have used the original doors. Ended up selling the doors and fenders
and made half my money back. So all the new steel only cost $500.00 when
it was all said and done.
Everything was coated with epoxy primer first. This
included the insides of the doors, fenders, etc.
Minutes after paint...
Buy the way, taping up where the stripes go by yourself is
a real pain! End up crawling all over the car with socks on one night
trying to get the tape lines straight.
Used the original Shelby dimensions for the stripes.
In my opinion, nothing looks as good as the original dimensions.
Fully Assembled Shell. (before sanding and buffing)
Ended up spending allot of time sanding and buffing to get
the finish smooth, but for a home job it turned out allot better than some of my
other paint jobs years ago.
----- Steering
-----
All New Front
Steering Linkage
Extended length
Idler and Pitman Arm (GT350 Version)
Flaming River
16:1 Manual Steering Box and Shaft
Granada Outer Tie
Rod Ends
New Turn Signal
Assembly
----- Brakes
-----
New Front 79
Granada Loaded Calipers
New Rear Drum
Wheel cylinders, and hardware
New Rear Brake
Drums
New Rear Brake
Pads
New Parking brake
cables (All)
Converted
Rollerized Brake and Clutch Pedal Assembly
New all Stainless
Steel Brake Lines and New Hoses
New 1974 Maverick
Master Cylinder
New Adjustable
master cylinder push rod
Preparing to tack weld the custom shock tower brace. Could not find
anything that would fit around the trick-flo intake. Saw a design online,
and made one slightly different.
It may be close, but you can still remove intake and heads without disturbing
the shock tower brace. Plus it gives you something to lean your arms on
while your doing it.
Here is the motor with a 94 Mustang Pulley setup. It worked fine except
for one small flaw. No provisions for a dipstick. After purchasing a
new timing cover 1968, and another Water Pump 93 Ford racing, new pulleys,
brackets, etc, etc. Note to self, dont use a 94 motor/trans setup. I
learned allot of info that I will never need again.
<<< This was a test fit of the motor. That Trick-Flo intake does NOT look
like it will fit under the hood. Lot of measuring happened right then.
As it turned out, I had almost 3/4" of clearance. I opted to use extra
stiff motor mounts in case this motor twisted during take off.
One Nice feature was that the motor slips right in with the smaller Try-Y
headers and the bell housing with clutch installed. Once in, you just
slide the transmission in and your set.
Throw some heavy gauge plastic inside the engine compartment to unsure an easy
slide of the motor without chipping any paint.
----- Fuel System -----
New all Stainless
3/8” fuel supply lines
New all Stainless
5/16” fuel return lines
New High volume
High pressure EFI fuel pump
New Stainless
High volume Fuel Filter
BBK Adjustable
fuel rail pressure regulator with gauge.
New modified EFI
fuel sending unit with return tube.
Front of Car
mounted new inertia switch (turns off fuel pump in an accident)
-----
Transmission and Drive Train -----
New 3.55/1 Rear
Gear Set
New Auburn Pro
Posi Carrier
New Differential
Pinion and Carrier Bearings
New Axle seals
New T-5 to 66
Stang Shortened Drive Shaft
New Universal
Joints
New Drive Shaft
1994 T-5 5-Speed Transmission (Modified for shorter 93 input shaft and input
shaft housing).
Also replaced associated input shaft bearings and all new
seals.
----- Body Work -----
Completely stripped all undercoating and paint from all surfaces, bottom to top
Etched bottom of car, and coated with 2 coats and POR-15, and one coat of POR-15
Chassis Coat Black
Etched Engine Compartment and coated with POR-15, then POR-15 poly-urethane
primer.
Then coated with Dupont Base Coat Clear Cote Urethane paint.
Outside of Body fully coated in Dupont (Nason) Epoxy Primer.
Filled with re-enforced Fiber Glass, then finish coated with body filler
Primered and Painted with Dupont Base Coat and Clear Coat
Wet Sanded and Buffed
New Door Shells
New Front Fenders
New Trunk Lid
New Shelby GT350 Fiberglass hood with Steel Frame (uses standard hinges)
Coated all new body parts with Dupont Nason Epoxy Primer inside and out before
priming finishing and painting
New Fiberglass GT350 Front Apron
New Splash Shields
All new Rubber
New Vent Window Frames and Rubber
All new door handles, door regulators, guides, etc.
----- Electrical -----
New Painless
Performance Chassis Wiring Harness
New Painless
Performance EFI 5.0 Wiring Harness
White Face
Conversion on existing Guages
New Xenon
Headlamps
Pre-Wired for
Rear Speakers, Amplifier, Subwoofer, Etc.
Rear Mounted
Battery with Power Disconnect
EFI Computer and
Radio Direct Connected to Batter to bypass Power Disconnect
All new bulbs,
brake switch, etc.
New Heater Fan
Dropping Resistor
All new Flashers,
and High/Low Beam Switch
New Headlamp Hardware
New Tail Lamp Assemblies and Hardware
New Turn Signal Assemblies
New Backup Lamp
Assemblies
Auto Meter
Pro-Comp Tach with Shift Lamp
----- Interior
-----
New Carpet
Rebuilt 1969 Mach
I bucket seats with new burlap, foam, and covers.
New OEM Dash Pad
New Door Panels
New Sill Plates
New Headliner
All New Floor and
Fire Wall Insulation
----- Engine Modifications -----
1994 5.0 HO
Engine block with standard cast iron heads
Ported exhaust
ports on heads to remove EGR sampling lugs
Prototype
Performance Inc. performed the following work:
·
Pressure tested heads
·
3 angle grind job on valve seats and valves
·
Resurfaced Heads
·
Crank turned 10 and 10 by prototype performance
·
Block line bored
·
Rods Line Bored and new ARP bolts installed
·
New Federal Mogul 30 over pistons
·
10 over Main Bearings
·
10 over Rod Bearings
·
Installed new Camshaft Bearings
Ford Racing High
volume Oil Pump and Pickup Tube
1966 Style front
sump oil pan
Crane POWERMAX
2031 Camshaft with Matching Valve Springs
New 6.3” hardened
push rods
Scorpion 1:72
full roller forged aluminum rocker arms
Ford Racing
Aluminum Valve Covers
Ford Racing high
volume Water Pump
30 over Federal
Mogul Rings
Federal Mogul
Valve stem seals
Removed all EGR
system and plugged ports on heads
Resurfaced Stock
Flywheel
93 Heavy Duty
Pressure Plate and Clutch Disc with Throw-out and idler bearing
Ceramic Coated
Try-Y Long Tube Headers
Trick Flo Intake
Manifold
Larger 75mm Mass
Air Housing and Meter
Larger 65mm
throttle body
Painless
Performance EFI engine wiring harness
Magna Flow 2 ½”
Stainless Steel Exhaust System with X-Pipe
BBK Cold Air
Intake system with K&N filter
New 1969 302
radiator. Modified radiator support to accommodate larger radiator.
Relocated Battery
to Trunk with 1 gauge cable and engine bay positive terminal stud.
High Current Battery Cut-Out switch with EFI computer and radio directly
connected to maintain system memory.
1993 Style MDS Magnetic pickup, electronic advance Distributor
Ford EFI A9L
computer with AIT, MAF, BAP, TPS, IAC, and O2 sensors
30amp EFI
computer power relay (isolated from ignition switch)
140amp single
wire Alternator
Ford Racing
Starter
1993 bell housing
and clutch fork.
HP Guess
300+/- ?
Installed
an Amp, 8" Punch Series II Subwoofer, and Kenwood 6x9"s to hear anything out of the radio.
Works rather well and is a functional deck to throw stuff on. Everything
is accessible through the lift up door. Original rear trap door is
functional as well to this space.
This was so much less money than restoring the rear seat and then not having any
sound. I have the rear seat, just don't see the point in restoring it.
Not like an adult could fit in it. Daily driver setup.
Besides, if you want to go play golf with a buddy, one set fits in the trunk and
the other fits on this deck.
Seat Covers were installed by an acquaintance that actually lives one road over.
He is in his mid 70's and has been doing upholstery for many years. They
could not have turned out so tight if I had covered them myself. He had
the good air driven staple guns and a vast amount of experience.
Surprisingly,
after 6,000 miles, I'm getting around 21mpg driving to work in traffic.
I'm very curious
what it will get on the highway with 5th gear.
Car and Website
by jmiller126@zoominternet.net