My Build

[Deviousfred]

This is a my 65 Coupe. I figured I would outline some of the highlight of my build.

The car





Pro-Motorsports Bumpsteer Kit and TCP Tie Rods Asjusters


Jegs 2.5" X-Pipe w/ Dynomax Race Bullet Mufflers


Motor Mock Up


Global West Tubular Upper Control Arms w/ Negative Wedge


Homemade Adjustable Export Brace and Monte Carlo Bar



Torque Boxes waiting to go on


F15Falcon Roller Spring Perches


RMP T5 Crossmember, New Strut Braces, and the components of future Adjustable Strut Rods


Borgeson Integral Power Steering Box and Shaft Kit




AERO 50 Series 15x7 Wheels in black


Shelby Quicksteer Kit


RMP Stock Height Adjustable Motor Mounts


SSBC Competition S disc brake kit



Wheels on





Also waiting to go on are Hedits subframe connectors and chassis stiffener, 11" drum brakes, Fiberglass R-Model apron, sumped 22 gallon fuel tank, SoT tubular lower control arms, SoT big spindles, 1pc seat platform, and much more to come.

Fred

[BigJnSA]

looks like a pretty cool resto. good luck, and keep us posted!

[12second5.0]

Cool deal! Looks like alot of work!

[2k4mk1]

I love the AERO NASCAR black wheels
Looks like it should be a fun little ride good luck.
I just spent a little over 9 months finishing up my FACH1 build........

[Sonic Blue 85]

Intresting project. So are the T5 and 9" going in this car? I like everything you are doing with the suspension, I think you should put a nicer looking wheen on the car, possibly a bit retro with a Shelby or Torque Thrust style wheel, the NASCAR wheel just does not look right on that car.

[Deviousfred]

Intresting project. So are the T5 and 9" going in this car? I like everything you are doing with the suspension, I think you should put a nicer looking wheen on the car, possibly a bit retro with a Shelby or Torque Thrust style wheel, the NASCAR wheel just does not look right on that car.

The car has a Versailles 9" that came with disc brake originally but I'm swapping them out for 11" drum brakes. The Versailles brakes were never really good. The 9" you see in one of the pictures is for an offroad Ranger I'm building. The T-5 will also be going in the car. It came from a 97 V6 Mustang. I swapped out the input shaft for a shorter fox input shaft as well as a steel bearing retainer. Down the road a GForce T5 will be replacing it. As far as the wheels, I got it in my head that I wanted to see these wheels on the car but eventually these will be dedicated track wheels and I will get Vintage 48s. Good eye Sonic Blue!



Fred

[Sonic Blue 85]

That's a good choice for the wheels. Keep posting up as you go, I like this build. I don't like all of builds where they cut the shock towers out and do rack and pinion, Mcspherson strut with coil overs and then the ones that do coil spring or coil overs in the rear with either a three link or IRS. The old suspension was very well engineered, just need higher quality parts.
I plan on building a couple of older car for my self and step daughter. I will use Global West suspension parts, with good sway bars, springs front and rear on both cars. I may lower one or both and do the old Shelby style upper arm relocation, possibly shifting the upper arms back a little to help gain a little negative caster. I used to have two '69 Mach 1s, the first was a rust bucket, the second was rust free with no body damage, I made the mistake of selling that car. I want another '69 and I have also found a '64 Falcon that I want, it has a clean body, but for a while I could not deside what to do with it if I bought it. My step daughter I discovered recently, is realy into old cars, so I think I will pick up the Falcon and build it for her. I will probably use the engine, AODE trans, computer and wiring harness out of either a '94 or '95 GT. Then probably for cost reasons, use a fox 8.8 under the rear with disc brakes, then find a good disc brake set up for the front, possibly the SSBC brakes. Then Global West suspension and then either some reproduction Torgue Thrust wheels or '01 Bullit wheels.

[Deviousfred]

That's a good choice for the wheels. Keep posting up as you go, I like this build. I don't like all of builds where they cut the shock towers out and do rack and pinion, Mcspherson strut with coil overs and then the ones that do coil spring or coil overs in the rear with either a three link or IRS. The old suspension was very well engineered, just need higher quality parts.
I plan on building a couple of older car for my self and step daughter. I will use Global West suspension parts, with good sway bars, springs front and rear on both cars. I may lower one or both and do the old Shelby style upper arm relocation, possibly shifting the upper arms back a little to help gain a little negative caster. I used to have two '69 Mach 1s, the first was a rust bucket, the second was rust free with no body damage, I made the mistake of selling that car. I want another '69 and I have also found a '64 Falcon that I want, it has a clean body, but for a while I could not deside what to do with it if I bought it. My step daughter I discovered recently, is realy into old cars, so I think I will pick up the Falcon and build it for her. I will probably use the engine, AODE trans, computer and wiring harness out of either a '94 or '95 GT. Then probably for cost reasons, use a fox 8.8 under the rear with disc brakes, then find a good disc brake set up for the front, possibly the SSBC brakes. Then Global West suspension and then either some reproduction Torgue Thrust wheels or '01 Bullit wheels.

Sounds like a good plan man. Although, I really like these control arms from Street or Track. They are fairly new. I got my GW arms about 13 years ago and am extremely pleased with them but if I had more choices then I would have gone with the SoT arms.

Street or Track Tubular Upper Roller Control Arms


Matching Lowers
Street or Track Tubular Lower Roller Control Arms

[Sonic Blue 85]

Both of the cars I am going to build, I would rather have urethane bushings, because the Falcon will be nothing but a daily driver and the '69 Mustang will also be a street car that I would like to be able to cruise just about anywhere and use on the drag strip.

[Deviousfred]

Both of the cars I am going to build, I would rather have urethane bushings, because the Falcon will be nothing but a daily driver and the '69 Mustang will also be a street car that I would like to be able to cruise just about anywhere and use on the drag strip.

That is true, rod ends tend to perform quite well but can account for a harsh ride for daily driven cars. Sonic, Nice car man. I love the 4 eyed foxes. I'm going to look at an '81 hatchback today after work. Hopefully this will be a daily driver as well as a weekend drag car as well. I'm pretty excited.

[Sonic Blue 85]

Well thanks, I know the four eyed cars are not loved like the '87 to '93 cars, but they do not have the exterior trim problems those cars have either. I like both, but hate the way the lights turn yellow, belt moldings rot and the quarter glasses rot. I realy want to build the two older cars.

[Deviousfred]

Well, I did it. Pulled the trigger on the '81. Take delivery tomorrow so should have more pics. Wife is going to have a fit!

[Deviousfred]

Would like to have been ready the end of the summer but with the '81 hatchback in play now, it will more than likely be the end of the year.

On a brighter note, I got the rest of the chassis stiffener in on Friday.

Out of the box:


Together with the subframe connectors:



Also got around to fitting the steering box. There is a bit more to the installation of this box than I initially anticipated.

When I bolted up the box in place, it would not sit flush on the frame rail. I found the problem to be lack of clearance in multiple places. First place I could see was the frame rail. I had to notch a small piece of the frame and will need to fill it down the road before I get the car on the road. After that, the box was better still not sitting flush but it was no longer at the frame. I slipped a sheet of paper behind the box and the fender apron and there was also a lack of clearance. I broke out the BFH and some dimple dollies and went to work. I spray painted the fender apron to see exactly where the extra space was needed, bolted up the box, and moved it around to see where paint was missing, then went to work. Finally got it sitting flush, but I ran into another issue with the steering wheel location relative to the column. The pictures tell the story a bit better.

Frame Notch





Fender Apron



Clearance


Sitting Flush Finally



My new problem. Any suggestions?


Fred

[Sonic Blue 85]

Hey I was looking at your picture of the upper arm bolted to the shock tower. Did you drill new holes for the upper arm, if so did you mount the arms in those holes? The reason I ask, is when you lower a car you should raise the A arm mounting points, the old Shelby trick for relocating the upper arms was to raise them 1". I recently saw a guy who incorrectly drilled the mounting holes for the upper arms down 1". That will put your upper arm at quite a bit of an angle, you want the arms close to parallel to the ground when the car is sitting at ride height. The old Mustangs had what is known as a short arm/ long arm suspension, basicaly the upper arm is shorter than the lower, it will gain all the camber you want when the suspension compresses. With the upper arm at an angle, it will gain more camber than you want and then likely bind up and possibly throw your toe way out of wack when the suspension compresses.

[Deviousfred]

Hey I was looking at your picture of the upper arm bolted to the shock tower. Did you drill new holes for the upper arm, if so did you mount the arms in those holes? The reason I ask, is when you lower a car you should raise the A arm mounting points, the old Shelby trick for relocating the upper arms was to raise them 1". I recently saw a guy who incorrectly drilled the mounting holes for the upper arms down 1". That will put your upper arm at quite a bit of an angle, you want the arms close to parallel to the ground when the car is sitting at ride height. The old Mustangs had what is known as a short arm/ long arm suspension, basicaly the upper arm is shorter than the lower, it will gain all the camber you want when the suspension compresses. With the upper arm at an angle, it will gain more camber than you want and then likely bind up and possibly throw your toe way out of wack when the suspension compresses.

You are correct in that having the control arm close to parallel at ride height would promote better handling but the control arm needs to be lowered. From the factory the control arm is at an angle because the mounting points to the shock tower are high. By lowering the mounting point, the control arms comes closer to parallel to the ground. Shelby did drop these mounting points by an inch hence the name for this popular modification; "Shelby Drop." The control arms I am running from Global West actually are mounted about 1 3/4" lower because they have a better balljoint angle built into the design.

Here is an example of the Shleby Drop Template:


Fred

[Sonic Blue 85]

I remember seeing the upper arms being relocated many times in the past, everytime they drilled holes above the original holes. Yours is the second one I have seen done in recent times and both lowered the mounting holes. I would look for old litterature to double check that.

[65mustangscott]

the shelby mod calls for drilling holes 1" below the original holes. there is a negative wedge kit that you can lower the a arm 1" and 3/4 but it comes with a wedge that angles the upper ball joint at a better angle.

[Deviousfred]

They were doing it incorrectly or maybe for a different purpose.

How To Relocate Upper Control Arms - Mustang Monthly

DazeCars, Shelby Drop, Klaus Arning drop, upper control arm drop, Falcon, Mustang, Cougar 60-70

Here is the control arm sold by TCP that they offer with a dropped shaft so no new holes have to be drilled. This drops the pivot location of the arm.



Here is the control arm offered by Street or Track mounted to a mock up shock tower.



Fred

[Deviousfred]

Ron here is my car on the ground. Still needs the motor so by then it should be very close to parallel.

[Deviousfred]

Dbl. Post.

[Deviousfred]

I had every intention of working on the '81 on Saturday, but while driving over Trans Mountain, an image popped into my head of what the finished '65 might look like once its done, so by the time I got to the shop, I was in the mood to make some more progress on this car.

First things first, do something about this pesky steering column problem. Took a very close look at the column bracket and the slot in the column. Everything looked right but it appeared that if I were to install the column bracket 180 degrees in the other direction, it would allow the column to slide up further, so I gave it a shot. Placed some cardboard between the column and the steering wheel to make sure I had enough clearance, then tightened up the bracket to hold the column in its final place. Presto!


Other than filling up the notch in the frame rail, the steering is finally all buttoned up and ready for disassembly so that I can give the engine bay its final prep work. Shelby quick steer pitman and idler arms w/ roller idler bearing and all the other goodies.


But first, I need to move the '65 so that I can move the '81 in place to remove the motor. Most of the suspension and steering is already on the car, might as well get the last couple of parts on to get the car rolling.



The old swap-a-roo.



Then tear all back apart again. Seems like I always keep getting back to this point.



Then started taking a wire wheel and spatula to the undercoating. Hell of a lot of work and dirty too.


Looks like once the engine is in, and the car is at its final ride height, the upper control arm should be almost perfectly parallel to the ground.


Once all the old undercoating is cleaned off, I plan to start welding up the shock towers and some of the seams where weight bearing sheetmetal meets. Then purdy paint. But still, nowhere near close to being finished.

Fred

[Deviousfred]

Torque Boxes

Holy crap! What did I get myself into?!

Figured this would be a perfect time to start on the torque boxes I had picked up a while back since the underside of the car is being cleaned-up and welded up.



There is absolutely no way to get these in in one piece so I started by drilling out the spot welds.




After several hours of grinding, cutting, and fitting the first piece in place, I was finally happy with the fit.


In preparation of welding these in place, I decided to drill some holes in this piece to give me more point to weld and make sure these really do stiffen up the car.



It was at this point that I realized I have to replace the floor supports before I can move any further in the torque box install.

I have never done anything like this before, but I feel confident I am moving in the right direction. Needless to say, this did take me all day but I would much rather take my time and do it right the first time. I ask that you all pray for me and this project. LOL

Fred

[Deviousfred]

So here is a big problem with my '65. The floor supports are mangled beyond repair. Although they work just fine the way they are, they do not allow the subframe connectors to slip over.

I ordered new ones and before I can continue on the torque box install, these need to be replaced first. I had no idea what I got myslef into, but now I have a pretty good idea. Sweet lord!

Mangled floor supports



Started by pulling up the carpet and drilling out the spot welds.



Then, after hours of drilling, grinding, cutting, prying, cursing, bleeding, crying, and praying; one of these sons-a-bitches finally came out. Piece of cake. :bang:




Anyone need a set of slightly used floor supports off a '65 Mustang?




Replacement


Need to straighten out the sheetmetal and clean it off for welding. But that is another battle for another day.



Fred

[Deviousfred]

This has got to be the part of this project I absolutely did not really want to get into but just today I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Have you ever started doing something on your car just past the point of no return and said, "Maybe this was a bad idea..."? I got to that point with these floor supports. But, since there was no turning back, I pinned my ears back and kept on, and upon mock-up today, it looks like I just might make it out of this alive.

I drilled weld holes in the new floor supports but failed to take good pictures because I was just too frustrated. I got one up in place which was a chore all of its own, and using the subframe connector got it just where it needs to be then clamped it in place.





These subframe connectors tie into the leaf spring bolt so I figured this would be a good opprtunity to take down the rear suspension and start cleaning it up.




I also remembered that wifey had bought me some poly leaf spring eye bushing two christmases ago so this was a great opportunity to get them in. A 5lb sledge and some perseverance made some short work of this as well as a possible broken thumb.




BTW, these springs are some bad bitches. 5 1/2 HD leafs and from what Mustang Plus told me, they are rated at 300lbs. Not a comfortable ride, but the car handles pretty damn well with them.



Now the good news. One of the parts of this process that scared me was not knowing if I was going to be able to get the floor supports welded in the correct location for my x-cage to fit properly. While I was under the car getting the first connector in place and inventing new bad words, I realized that if I held off on welding in the first floor supports until the second floor supports and connector were in, I would be able to use the x-cage to pull the floor supports into the exact place needed for this x-cage to fit like a glove.

So when both connectors are in and slip over the supports, I can use the center x-brace and bolt it in place to determine the location for th floor supports and fire up the welder and start laying down some bird **** welds.


Now to get started on the second floor support. The first one only took me about a week so.....

Fred

[Deviousfred]

Got the other floor support out and the new one put in place, and got it lined up using the subframe connector. Before I start laying down my crappy welds, I installed the x-brace to pull the floor supports together to make sure there are no gaps between the subframe connectors and the x-brace. I was blown away by how well the x-brace bolted it. Usually, everything I have ordered for this car has required extensive massaging to fit properly. Tomorrow I will tighten everything up, start laying down some welds, and get back on track with the torque boxes.

Driver side floor support with subframe connector and x-brace


Rear Section


Little bit better picture


The flat piece is where the driveshaft safety loop will be mounted.


Front view


Fred

[Deviousfred]

I've really been neglecting this project for a while but I was down at the shop doing some cleaning and decided to wrench on it some at the end of the day. I had forgotten I even had this part for the car. This is a Cobra Automotive Trans Am crossmember like the ones constructed and used in the 70's Trans Am racing series. I have to take my hat off to CA on fitment. I swear they used my car as a jig. This piece ties the lower control arm pivots to the chassis.




Also got the driveshaft loop in place.


The new poly eye bushings on the leaf springs are a tad bit too wide now so I have to shave them down a bit to get them to fit.


Fred

[Deviousfred]

Picked these tires up locally for my auto-x outings and maybe a visit to the ASR road course one of these days.







Suspension set-up almost complete. Just ordered these yesterday. All that is left is some strut rods.



Fred

[2k4mk1]

So whats the progress been in the past 9 months????

[Deviousfred]

On this car almost none. I sold my '81 project to pick up a Bronco and I've been working on getting it trail worthy.

[chrisv_10]

Very nice project man. Let's see some current pics

[Deviousfred]

There has been literally no progress on the Mustang.

Most of the work that has been done lately has been to get the Bronco ready for summer.

Spent a week getting from this:


to this:


Fred

[Rusty1968]

that looks awesome man keep up the good work

[mustang6tee8]

Very nice Fred. You've got some pretty fancy hardware going on that car! I'd love to add some aftermarket suspension to my 68 one day.

[RunninHorse]

Hey Fred, good to see you on here too. Nice work on the in-line. I regret junking the 200 out of my '65. I was an over ambitous kid that thought for sure I'd have another engine in it by now. 12 years later and it's just sitting in the barn.

Let me know when you're ready for me to bring my '65 out there so you can give it the same treatment as yours...

[Deviousfred]

The inline is a 300 for my Bronco.

This car will be receiving a roller 306.

Well, the adjustable export brace and monte carlo bar were turning out to be more of a head ache than anything else so I decided to scrap it and use the parts for a later project. Since I had ordered the tubular lower control arms, I received a $60 gift card from CJPony so I ordered up a Scott Drake stamped export bar. Originally, I had my doubts about a stamped steel export brace preventing flex but once I got this piece in.... WOW! This thing is beefy! Best part of all, it dropped right into place. Most people have to place a hydraulic ram or jack and spread their shock towers because they sag over time. Lucky me.




Added the Monte Carlo bar as well. One more week of work before summer break. Hoping to get a lot done this summer.





Fred

[Deviousfred]

Hey Fred, good to see you on here too. Nice work on the in-line. I regret junking the 200 out of my '65. I was an over ambitous kid that thought for sure I'd have another engine in it by now. 12 years later and it's just sitting in the barn.

Let me know when you're ready for me to bring my '65 out there so you can give it the same treatment as yours...

Bring it by anytime man. I love working on these things. Can't believe some people actually get paid for it.

Fred

[RunninHorse]

Bring it by anytime man. I love working on these things. Can't believe some people actually get paid for it.

Fred

Hmmm maybe someday we can work out something that is mutually beneficial. My focus will be on my '93 for a while and I don't know what I'd want just yet for the '65. I'd be interested in suspension improvements that would also eliminate the shock towers to free up space for a 9.5 deck in there. Also, anything that improves braking a chassis stiffness. My wife has family in El Paso, so maybe sometime I can come by and see your progress first hand.

EDIT: This is what I'm working with: http://img839.imageshack.us/slidesho...d=img0191v.jpg

[REDHOT86]

Nice project... keep the updates coming.

[dRiZzLe]

Hey Devious. Just happened to be skimming through ur build here and noticed the words Trans Mtn. Lol. If you ever need a wrench buddy or some help let me know. I live on the North East side. Got a 1984 1/2 GT350 (Recently put on craigs) prob still work on it though till i sell it. Have a goal of getting something a little older with the fastback body style. Msg me if you wanna meet up.