So, yeah...I'm back in the club! (Huge round of super excited, self-applause!!) I can't tell you how happy I am to be building my dream car.
The backstory goes a little like this: When I was growing up in Las Vegas, most of my family was in South Carolina, so every summer (sometimes in the winter too) we would load up the Wagon Queen Family Truckster ("You think you hate it now, wait 'til you drive it...") and hit the road. When I was about 10, my dad bought his dad a '65 bench seat coupe to drive until I was old enough. So, every time we went back, I got to ride around with my family in my future first car. Then, when I turned 15, we made the trip out with the trailer and brought her home. Of course, like everyone does, I made bad decisions...(or at least ones I thought were right at the time) and sold the car after I got a few years into college thinking I was going to grad school out of state. Long story short (TOO LATE!), that's been a huge regret every since.
Fast forward a few years (20 to be exact) to a few months ago. Dad is winding down his restoration business and says he wants one of his last cars he builds to be a fastback for me to keep in the family and hand down to my kids. What?? Yes yes. I currently own a '56 Ford Victoria restomod, but getting back into a classic mustang has always been the dream.
So, because I have gotten so much useful help from the VMF community, I thought I would share the build. I hope you like it. I'm always open to suggestions and thanks in advance for all the help I'm sure I will ask for.
We are about mid way through the build right now, so I'll start with the catch up pics.
So we started off on the absolute wrong foot. The original idea was to find a car that was 60-80%, fluff, buff, rebuild and replace a few parts, etc. Well, that went off track quick.
We found what we thought was a good starter car for a reasonable price. It was a basic 6 cyl car out of So Cal with very little surface issues. Then we tore it down and media blasted and found out it was way worse than we thought...
So, I guess before I get too far along, I should let you in on the basic concept for the car.
The original idea was to make a car that my wife or I (READ just me) could feel comfortable driving any day at any time of the year. It gets slightly hot in Vegas sometimes, so we needed a good AC and cooling system. We have a 2 year old and a 5 year old, so some amount of safety enhancements needed to be made like 4 point rear belts able to work with a booster seat and good four-wheel disc brakes.
I wanted the car to look like a classic, but have a modern touch, so I decided on a solid, non metallic color with painted bumpers and black trim. Try laying that bombshell on a concourse restoration specialist and old school rod builder. It was a tough sell and a few compromises were made.
Here is one of the cars that inspired the look:
This is Detroit Speed's test mule. I couldn't afford their setup, but had many conversations with them on the phone and at SEMA. This is an great group of people in my experience. They were very open and willing to share any knowledge.
So, photo credit to unknown internet guy (or girl) "lovelife81", I used a pic I found as a starting point to come up with these.
Be kind, I'm a career fireman with a couple years of photography classes because of some work I was doing for the department, so my basic PS skills are more for photo enhancement and retouching... and occasionally photoshopping my face on to a movie poster or something stupid...
And here's me when I was in Top Gun...see?...stupid
BTW...before I start getting angry PM's, all of the PS and photography classes were on my own time, on my own dime... I know how people get about stuff. Your local government did not pay for me to put my face on Top Gun pictures!
So, photo credit to unknown internet guy (or girl) "lovelife81", I used a pic I found as a starting point to come up with these.
Be kind, I'm a career fireman with a couple years of photography classes because of some work I was doing for the department, so my basic PS skills are more for photo enhancement and retouching... and occasionally photoshopping my face on to a movie poster or something stupid...
And here's me when I was in Top Gun...see?...stupid
BTW...before I start getting angry PM's, all of the PS and photography classes were on my own time, on my own dime... I know how people get about stuff. Your local government did not pay for me to put my face on Top Gun pictures!
So, at this point we had the car back on the ground and on some roller wheels. Looks SUPER low... hope that doesn't come back to bite me. We will see with the final weight on the front end what size wheel and tire we can fit.
If anyone has the TCI IFS, please let me know what wheel and tire and backspace you went with... I could use some help.
Here is a test fit of some 17x7 wheels with 225/50/17's with a 4 1/2 BS...they don't fit...
This one is with no weight installed in the front:
More to come later tonight...gotta feed the childrens.
So, at this point we had the car back on the ground and on some roller wheels. Looks SUPER low... hope that doesn't come back to bite me. We will see with the final weight on the front end what size wheel and tire we can fit.
If anyone has the TCI IFS, please let me know what wheel and tire and backspace you went with... I could use some help.
Here is a test fit of some 17x7 wheels with 225/50/17's with a 4 1/2 BS...they don't fit...
This one is with no weight installed in the front:
More to come later tonight...gotta feed the childrens.
I used Billet Specialties Laguna wheels on my 66 Coupe with a TCI. I will send you a message with the backspacing and tire size next chance i get.
I have 18X12 in the rear with 18X7 in the front.
They were really pricey for the wheels and tires but ill let you know ASAP what they are on the BS.
I had Kindit-it Design in SLC order them for me. Dave Kindig is the owner and he is awesome to work with. He even had me bring my car to his shop and he helped me measure them up for the best pro touring fit. I recommend them all the way. awesome and talented company.
So, we originally wanted to go with a 5.0 EFI. Our shop had already done one and my '56 has one and they have been great, but we decided to go a little different direction and use a TBI setup.
Here's the rundown:
5.0 roller
Trickflow aluminum heads
JBA shorty headers and 2 1/2" exhaust with JBA mufflers
ProComp intake
Classic Air system
Powermaster alternator
FAST EZ-EFI (Latest version)
Tanks Inc. tank, in tank pump, regulator
2 row aluminum radiator
Electric fan
...and more
Looks like it will be a beautiful car. I never understood the concept of welding up the cowl vents. How do you get fresh air into the car with the cowl welded up...other than rolling down the windows?
Going to be a pretty sweet ride, looks like the sheet metal behind the doors and underneath was perfect. Can't wait to see this one done. Btw, where did you get the hood...it looks new...AND how was the quality and fit??
The sheet metal all came from NPD, an it actually wasn't bad. We had some trouble with the lines on the doors near the A post. The gaps are nearly 1/2" at the top near the mirror holes, but pretty good the rest of the way around. Manufacturing issue, I think.
I would not use NPD again though. We had an issue with the shipper charging us an additional $300 plus...long story, but their response was for us to take it up with the shipping company. No help...
Hood fit was good. Quality seems good too.
We did have a few issues with the fenders matching up to the OEM headlight doors.
Here is a more recent bodywork pic. You can see the door gap issue. It took some creative fill and weld to close it up.
Looks like it's gonna be SWEET! I will have to check it out next time I make it out to SEMA. One thing I did notice in the engine bay though is that it looks like your fuel pressure regulator will be underneath the Export brace? Not sure about which one you are using but my Aeromotive one has to be adjusted by an allen key on the top. Might just want to make sure you have enough room to get one in there.
Also, who made your radiator? Looks a lot like my 2-row from Griffin.
The plan so far is to go without the export brace. We boxed the rails in the front and added a ton of supports underneath when we installed the TCI IFS.
The radiator is from Mustang Depot here in Las Vegas.
AMAZING build!!! I've always wanted to do a project the way you're doing yours. But due to lack of space, time and funds it will remain a dream. Keep up the awesome work!!!
Yup, I think we all battle that particular area. I ran a bead of weld on my fenders and then filed/sanded it down as needed. I'm a complete freak about gaps so this part of my body work took forever, doing it all solo didn't help either.
One tip I have was that I got some tile spacers for cheap from home depot when I was setting all of my gaps. They came in really really handy and I was able to reuse them when hanging all of my metal for the last time. They are somewhat rubbery so they wont scratch the surface. But not so much that they will squish or deform either.
Have you considered the Trans Am stripes? I think it'd look pretty sweet.
As for wheels.. I'm a big fan of the forged 3 piece CCW Classic wheels as they're light, strong, and great looking. Only thing that sucks is the price tag LOL. I might get a set for my '69 vert.
Really exciting day today! The car is in its first coat of primer!!!!! (I'd put more exclamation points, but that would be obnoxious, BUT THAT'S HOW EXCITED I AM!)
Here are a couple shots:
Also, here is the front of the engine on a test block. We had to custom work a couple brackets to get everything to fit just right.
Also, also, I don't think I ever posted anything about these, but we are installing 3-point (three point? how is that spelled??...whatever...) seat belts in the front and 4-points in the rear. Here is a shot of the mounting points for the front. Shots of how these went in were a little tough to come by on the internets so, I hope this helps someone who may want to do the same.
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