Long time no post!

So - it's been a while since my last post.  What the heck's been going on?  Well - Harrison James arrived in August.  That has created a lot of non-car activity. 


That said - I just ordered the Vintage Air system for the car.  Radiator is next... plus clutch and clutch actuation (pedal and hydraulic slave cylinder from Modern Driveline).


Just need some $$$ to drive it.  Then the HVAC/cooling lines can get run, fender wells can get finished. 


By summer?   Who knows.

Back to the Rear End!

Now that the engine/transmission are in and close to where they need to be, I need to finish the work on the rear end.

And- for some motivation- I start positioning the tires in the wheel wells again. (for motivation)

I think that looks GREAT!

Using strings, and with the car level, I centered the rear end underneath the body and used a square to measure a centered span 28 inches apart.(see step 3 at the link)

I added taped circles to the axle tubes to mark where the brackets needed to go- and keep them mostly square to tube.  I also had to plan for 2 degrees of downward pinion angle.   Everything I read indicates you can run 1-2 degrees and be just fine- plus- I can adjust this a little bit with my four link.

After tacking the brackets in place, it really was looking like I had a mis-measurement.  The angles looked good (within .4 degrees) but I looked a bit out of center.

So I removed the housing from the car and put it on stands to do things more precisely.

This worked out MUCH better.  I was able to get exact measurements going in this case and also bought a digital level, which gave much more consistent results.


Back under the car, it becomes time to weld in tabs for the sway bar (which is WAY beefy) and the panhard bar.

These all are great products- and will be really strong once things are together.  The only catch I'm finding- is that the panhard bar bracket looks like it was cut for a smaller rear end banjo than mine.  Because my center is a little larger (its out of a late 70's pickup truck) the bracket doesn't fit up just perfect.

I'll need to modify it so its on there securely and ready to go.

This thing is going to carve up the street. (according to Margery this 'carving ' won't take place until the kids our out of college :) )

Intakes- About that Firewall to Engine Clearance Issue

So - as I mentioned earlier, the firewall is REALLY close to the engine.  So much so- that the original Mark VIII intake with throttle body at the rear, sits two to three inches behind the cylinder heads.

This means to use it, I need to mod the mounts to move the engine forward.  Or mod the firewall..which I'm already doing - but afraid to what extent it will impact my HVAC needs in the car... or try to find another intake that would work.

So - I landed here:

Casey Likey.

Fitting the Engine - Continued

As with almost everything in this project, as I modify things the lord of the domino effect comes a calling and costs me time and money.

This is no exception.

The 69 Mustang in my case came with a nice clean 302 with a C4 transmission.  I've altered this to be a 4.6 (280 ci- but larger spatially) with T3650 transmission.  The motor mounts- also changed-  are for the 4.6/5.4/5.0 Coyote... and they sit the engine VERY close to the firewall.

As you can see, there's not a lot of room there.  This amplifies the size of the transmission as it relates to the floor of the car - with the wider section of the bell housing coming in contact with the transmission/driveshaft tunnel.

THUS - I must pay in time and fab.... to open this area up a bit.

From the front...

From the drivers perspetive.

So I proceed to cut, put engine in, need more room, remove engine... and repeat... probably 8 or 9 times.  I honestly just lost track after a while.

Here's what the tunnel looked like after all the cutting was done.

As you can see- I really opened up things a lot.But - it all fits, and has at least a half inch of play around it for flex/etc to make sure we're not hitting anything while driving.

Next steps - fabricating up the skeleton for structure to enhance the rigidity of the floor and the tunnel.  I don't plan to close it up until I have all my driveline angles worked out.

Fitting the engine...

I added a chain hoist into the beefy laminated beam that was put in when we did the garage bump out.  

What a nifty addition, given that a hoist on casters would just take up space in the garage.   The below pictures don't do it justice ... but I literally took the engine in and out 30 times (low estimate) to  check fit and what not.  

The downside that I'm finding... with the larger case of the transmission, and the modular motor mounts positioning the engine closer to the firewall... I've got two problems...

1. I'm going to need to cut the firewall to make space for the engine/transmission (a fair amount of cutting)
2. My intake manifold is not going to work that ideally.  The throttle body for the Mark 8 sits on the very rear of the engine.... and it sits further back than the heads - which would mean I need to cut more of the firewall for it to fit.  
1. The good is this - I didn't like the look of the Mark intake that much.  BUT - I do like Dad's Cobra intake.  I'm going to see if I can source one of those!

Four Link Rear Suspension Anyone?

With the project where it is,and with the addtion of the widened rear tubs... I quickly noticed that I would have some clearance issues with the existing leaf spring perches.  These likely wouldn't be able to work like stock.

So - go big(ger) or go home right?   I looked over a number of kits, most of them ran the links for the suspecnsion from the front leaf spring perch.  In my case, with the widened tubs, I needed something different.

I ran across Martz Chassis - they have a kit that installs on the inside of the frame rails to run the linkage to the rear end.  EXACTLY what I needed.   I threw off an email message to Martz and after some question/answer I decided to drop the hammer on the kit.  It arrived as seen below (with optional sway bar).

One of the centerpieces of the kit is this cross member - it has a driveshaft loop built in (nice feature) and it also includes cutouts that would accommodate the exhaust pipes.  After close examination of the cross member, it did look like there was a little too much metal ground down during the fab process of the cross member.  So - I got out the TIG to flow those cracks together, adding material where needed.

Next step was to epoxy prime the pieces to prep them for mock-in and installation. This rattle can Rustoleum epoxy primer actually held and has proved VERY resilient.  I'll buy more in the future.

Now for installation - I mocked in the cross member - to find that my rails were a little - (just under a quarter inch) wider than the cross member at the point it installs.  It also mounts even with the rear leaf spring perch holes - just uses them to bolt in on the inside of the frame.

So - it was time to make some plates that I could weld onto the inside of the frame rails to take up the slack equally on each side.  This came in the form of 1/16 inch plate.  I cut them out so they fit and interfaced with the subframe connectors and tried to 'fish'  one end for a little more weld coverage.

Got the area prepped - scrubbed off the epoxy primer for a nice welding surface.

Clamping in place the plate - note the hold in the plate - big enough to allow the bolt/fastening of the front rear end kit cross member.

Positioning the rear cross member between the frame rails proved to be rather tricky.  The first thing you need to do is cut the area just forward of where the gas tank is mounted.

To validate that this was where I needed to cut- I sent the Martz crew an email message with the above photograph.  I used my trusty Sharpie to indicate where I thought I needed to cut, but wasn't sure because the instructions didn't portray it the best.

On confirmation - I got to cutting.... (again)

The above two pictures show the cutting that i did and how I bent upwards the decline of the floor pan.  When you do it, you can really tell the amount of space you're creating for the rear cross member.

Now- to make a plate that will (eventually) be welded in to box the section. (honestly I've thought bout making this removable.... but I don't need to decide that until later)

Sheet metal shear made quick work of this - lots of straight lines.  Will likely fab up a nice plate for the top too - that way I can use a gauge thicker material and set it nice and flat.   This really won't matter in the end - it will be covered by carpet/bedliner ... but I'll feel better about it.

How Low Can You Go??? (With a 65 F100)

I learned a lot of what I'm trying to do with the 69 from buddy who is building a 65 Ford truck - and has been for some time. 


Shane had his F100 not too far from the finish line when he decided to take his muscle truck concept and turn it into a really slammed to the ground low-rider rod a few years ago.


This has included cutting off the front clip of the truck ahead of the cab mounts and grafting in a Camaro front subframe into the F100 Frame. 


Not a light task to say the least - but here is a picture of what he's been up to.  The grafting has been really fun to watch - especially seeing how the heat from welding it together wanting to twist the overall alignment of the frame.  (with me hanging off the end of it adding pressure to keep it in place)

Welding Buddy

Its a lot easier to hang out in the garage and work when the family joins you.

Deacon laid down his first bead.  Pretty fun. He's obviously conflicted about the experience.

Inner Fenders

It has been a while since I posted to the blog- not for sake of progress to the car, but more for the sake of time.  Apologies for that.

Time to move onto INNER FENDERS!

I am at a point with the car where really, there is no rust in the car anymore and I've cut and trimmed and inserted new metal into the car enough that I'm not afraid of it anymore.  So - why not keep modifying it?

I wanted to get  more wheel and tire under the car - and everything I am reading indicates a 10 inch wide tire is about as large as you can go.

Mom and Dad pulled through in birthday fashion again!  Some two and a half inch wider tubs arrived wrapped up for me to graft into the car.  What needs to happen first????

CUTTING.

Cutting out the old inner fenders wasn't overly difficult.  The thing to keep in mind is the attention one needs to give to the stays/brackets that hold secure the trunk hinges.  Some round bar and angle tacked into place keeps these things sturdy.

Once cut out, fitting the new fenders in requires you to alter the profile of the frame rails to fit in the new fenders.  One needs to notch out the frame rail in a curved fashion to make the needed room.

This is a good time to really put the enamel/rust preventative/inner frame coatings to work.  I used Eastwood's internal frame coating which worked great with its long tube to reach into the framerail and hose down those surfaces.  The other thing that was neat from my perspective- (and you can see in the picture) that the rails are galvanized - so be careful when welding to make sure there's adequate ventilation.

Once cut out - I did some dry fitting to see how things fit into place.

Once fit, it was time to seal up the hole in the frame and also weld on a strip that could be used to attach the fender to the car.  

You have to do this to both sides (obviously).  i ended up completing one whole side first, then moving onto the second... because I wanted to have a whole picture in the event I could reproduce the process better for the other side (and hopefully go faster, have better quality).

The BIG LEARNING I had as I did this, was to find a long - 4 ft - piece of thin round bar that you can bend easily with your hands.  Use it to trace the outside of the fender, getting its profile.

Map that profile to the floor of your car and slowly cut the piece out, hedging towards not cutting enough so you can use a flap wheel or similar to hone the opening to being perfect.

Above is a view from inside the trunk area - you can see how you have to cut things in the frame rail a little more clearly here.   From the factory, the frame rail 'flares' outward as it moves towards the back of the car.  SURELY I CAN FIT MORE RUBBER UNDER THE CAR NOW RIGH?

 Modifying the front section of the floor to fit the tub does impact how your rear seat will fit.  Time for a custom seat...  

Finally - a couple of shots from some of the last mocking in of the rear inner fenders.  This is just before spot welding them in. You can see the spots drilled out to allow for welding.  Just make sure to align them to the mounting flange, so you don't have holes without something right behind them.

Wheels and Tires - and Some Imagination

Its been a little while since I did any hard/fast updates on the car.  Truthfully, I lost a little steam going hell bent cutting up the Lincoln Mark VIII. 

Not all progress was lost though.  I bided the time hanging out with the fam, replacing the siding on the front of the house with Dad, and accumulating some Mustang parts along the way.

The most significant of these is a narrowed rear end and axles which should fit under my car.  It just needs cleaned up.

The other is a set of late model Mustang wheels and tires.  Dad was over the other day and we decided to prop one of the wheels inside the rear of the car to see what it looked like.

We saw this:

 

Seeing this has put a little fuel back in the tank.  Time to start finishing up the welding on the front of the car, grinding and cleaning up my initial welds. (with the TIG this time - HA!)

 

Then I can put wheels under the front and temporarily hang a fender on the front and see how it looks.  We'll go from there!

Cutting Up a Perfectly Good Mark VIII

OK - the time has arrived.  The wife is sick of seeing the Lincoln in the driveway.  It won't start when its cold out, so I pulled it into the garage after tucking the Mustang into the back corner of the shop.  Its time to start dismantling this beast of a car.

First came the bumpers and front fenders.  For some reason I thought I might try to re-sell some of these pieces, then decided to scrap them.

Then came the hood, the doors, the back glass.... Oh- the back glass.  Word to the wise, don't pry on it with a screw driver.  That pop you hear will be the last thing you hear before you are showered with thousands of pieces of glass.  And it gets everywhere. 

Here's me and the car getting ready to take our last cruise.

 

I even took some video with my camera.    I still have the AOD if anyone is interested... this proves it works!

 

That last drive took place while Margery's uncle Tom and aunt Marcia were staying in town for Katherine's baptism.    It was neat to see the look on everyone's faces - as I drove the car up and down the street.

 

Here's a shot of the Mustang in the back of the garage.  The Mark VIII seat is used to act as the source of truth to tell me when I've got the truck in the garage far enough to close the door.

 

 

 

Now that the last drive is done- its time to really get down to tearing the car apart.  What to do first?  Make it a convertible!

 

 

Thank you to the inventors of the Sawzall.  Without it, this blog post would not be possible.

So - while I was doing all this dismantling, I knew I needed to cut the car into small enough pieces that I could put it into the back of my truck and haul it to the scrap yard.  And - I knew I wanted to keep the wiring harness as intact as possible.

By keeping the harness together, my hope is to lessen any issues that one would have in getting the engine to run correctly when placed into the Mustang.

A few steps further....

 

 

And then the rear half the car was gone...

 

 

 

Now its time to start pulling the engine out.  The neat thing with the Mark VIII is that the engine can come out from the top and the bottom.  I opted for removal from the bottom, so I used the engine hoist to lift the car off the engine.

 

Here's the start of the process...

 

 

And with the engine out of the car!  So Nice!

 

 

Finish Welding the Cross Member

I won't go too in-depth into the steps taken to (finally) weld in the front cross member, but I dropped a bunch of change with the auto body shop, so I need to finish getting the cross member put in.  Here's a shot of it.

What do you mean the FRAME ISN'T SQUARE ?!?!?

Serious frustration has ensued.  I thought I had licked the issue with the front driver's side impact on the front subframe rail.  I pie cut the member and straightened it with the welder and some applied pressure.

But - in the end not only was the rail pressed towards the passenger side of the car, it was also pressed towards the rear of the car.

This became very apparent when I tried to mock in the front K member for the TCI Mustang coil-over kit and noticed I could not get the thing square in the frame rails.

Seen above you can see it sitting between the rails... all fine and good.  But on that driver's side, I needed to pull it forward to get it square, which only pulled it out of square on the passenger's side.

I put in a call to TCI to ask about how tolerant one could be with the cross member being out of square.  I was told 3/8ths was about as far as one could go... and go figure, I sat right at 3/8's of an inch out of whack. 

 

 

After some heavy thought, I decided I would take it to a shop to have the frame pulled back into specs.  I measured every which way and could tell quickly that the back half the car was 100% true... but the driver's side ahead of the rear seat needed work.

 

I had to get the car tied down to the auto body dolly so I could safely transport it. (oh and cut the sub-frame connectors loose so the rear and front were no longer tied together)

 

 

And off to the body shop!  With a little help from Deacon in the blue coat.

 

 

 

This site was a bit surreal... Following my car down 1st street.

 

I didn't take any immediate pictures after I got the car back.  What I can say is that the car did get pulled and it did allow me to square my cross member up.

What I'll also say is that I paid a LOT more for the work that I had expected.  Double what I expected.  Needless to say, after having other work done in the same shop (on our van) I am less than confident in me taking the Mustang (or any other car for that matter) back that direction.

But - the work needed to be done and its done.  And I'm working with a squared up car.