[Blue Blood]

I've still got some work ahead of me. Address brake lines, finish driver-side suspension install, check/set alignment, address driveshaft if needed.
I'll get there

Yeah, I've been saying "next summer" for 5 winters now...

 

[arcane73]

So, the latest is: I've got parts!
I met up with Mike and Brianne Maier (great folks) when I was at the GoodGuys show in Scottsdale this past weekend. I have in my possession a panhard rod kit and new Bilstein shocks. My leaf springs (and probably a shock tower brace) should be arriving soon. I'll be sure to post up pics of all of that as it happens. The Christmas light cruise is getting closer to happening!

 

[Mr.E]

Loving the signature line btw, I too hope to build a poor man's wife-approved Mustang!

 

[arcane73]

So this weekend was productive.

I swapped out the stock leaf springs for a set of Maier's MOD springs. I'm also going to be installing the panhard bar kit i got from them (later this winter).
I replaced the 'spring assist' rear shocks with Bilstien shocks and while i was in there replaced the rear shackles and the front bushing with poly.
I'm tossing up a few pics of everything since I don't recall adding pics from the North Race Cars caliper brackets that I added to the 8.8.

Test fit of brake brackets. Notice the e-brake spring resting on the stock leaf. Did not want that to happen with the new leaf springs.

Shimming the caliper bracket with washers to center everything a bit better.

With new springs in place. The stock SN95 rear brake hose ended up getting held in place with a hose clamp (not in pic) but I'm going to weld up a brake tab in a few weeks when i pull everything out to paint and put in the panhard kit. Also a good shot that shows the fit of the North's rear axles (from Yukon) that centers the rear discs.

Panhard axle bracket/spring plate mounted. Again, the brake hose is currently loose. I trimmed a notch in it and attached it to a u-bolt with a small hose clamp to hold it still.

Sitting lower and leveled. I had to futz with the ride height on the front-driver coilover a little. I have a feeling the car is bent. I knew that when i bought it, though. I'll likely make plans after spring to see about getting it put on a frame table to get pulled straight so all of this fun suspension stuff can work a bit better.....and make life easier for me when it's paint and body time.

All in all, i am pleased. Pleased that all of the old stuff came right out. (i LOVE rust-free cars!) and pleased with the pieces that I'm putting back in. This poor old car will be the best handling worn out 6 banger around. It may spew oil out like it's allergic to it but it's going to handle well while it does!

 

[arcane73]

Brakes are plumbed and bled!
I'll be doing a second bleed tomorrow to finish getting the last of the old fluid out.
It's all ugly but temporary because I want it running for Christmas. I reused the stock 8.8 lines to get the job done. The plan is new lines and tabs and fittings when the rear comes out for the panhard bar install.
Hoping to finish up tomorrow by filling the rear, re-bleed of brakes, rough set the alignment and then final check of all of the nuts/bolts/grease fittings.

Stock 8.8 bracket and body to rear end hose. I ground off the stamped fitting so i could use the bracket.

Used a tee from Russell to tie the body line to the stock hard lines.

LOVE this thing.

Rough-in of the left hand side hard line. The new line will be much better fitting.

Right side.

Used the stock hard line with a fitting and braided line to go to the rear.

Here it is all tied together.

 

[arcane73]

An update:

I've driven the car a few times now (including a very short spin around our neighborhood during Christmas). I still need to roll the fenders and do a final setting on the alignment but overall I am satisfied with how everything went. It rides and stops worlds better than it did before. Today I was outside doing a quick rough-in of the toe and camber and I got to use the RaceRamps that my amazing wife got me for Christmas. She says that they were for 'Pearl' but then casually mentioned that I could use them when i service the two DDs.....so I'm guessing that was her plan all along. I also finished the install of my other Christmas gift (my wife really loves me) which was a set of taillights, turn signals and reverse lights from Gary (gtonavy). They turned out amazing and the install went as easily as I was expecting it to.

Now starts the slow and very painful process of saving up for motor and transmission. The plan at the moment will be a roller 408 mated to a T5z. I've spoken to my friend since high school and trusted engine builder about what the game plan is.....and it involves me saving up dollars because I haven't gone into debt with this car yet and don't plan to!

Here are some gratuitous LED and Raceramp pics!

 

[GR868V8]

Going to the Tucson meet in 2017? I started 2 years ago with a 1968 coupe from Santa Fe. Finally mechanically reliable and trim fixes. Enjoy the journey, you'll be cruisin' serious before y know it. Best wishes from NM.

 

[gtonavy]

Glad you like the lights.

Those big fat tiers on the rear look great.

Gary

An update:

I've driven the car a few times now (including a very short spin around our neighborhood during Christmas). I still need to roll the fenders and do a final setting on the alignment but overall I am satisfied with how everything went. It rides and stops worlds better than it did before. Today I was outside doing a quick rough-in of the toe and camber and I got to use the RaceRamps that my amazing wife got me for Christmas. She says that they were for 'Pearl' but then casually mentioned that I could use them when i service the two DDs.....so I'm guessing that was her plan all along. I also finished the install of my other Christmas gift (my wife really loves me) which was a set of taillights, turn signals and reverse lights from Gary (gtonavy). They turned out amazing and the install went as easily as I was expecting it to.

Now starts the slow and very painful process of saving up for motor and transmission. The plan at the moment will be a roller 408 mated to a T5z. I've spoken to my friend since high school and trusted engine builder about what the game plan is.....and it involves me saving up dollars because I haven't gone into debt with this car yet and don't plan to!

Here are some gratuitous LED and Raceramp pics!

Please forgive the ninja-photoshop skills on the tag. My wife thinks the internet is out to get us!

 

[arcane73]

Glad you like the lights.

Those big fat tiers on the rear look great.

Gary

I do like them. A lot! And thanks for the compliment on the tires.
The car is starting to look a lot faster than it currently is....which can be a little troublesome at times. But!.....I just got off of the phone with my engine guy:
I just picked up a stock bore early 351w block and an Eagle rotating assembly (4340 crank, h-beam rods, etc) from a stalled project.....$800.

The 408 build starts sooner than i expected......WAY sooner!
Now i need to research how much compression ratio will happily live in a desert engine along with my expected hp/trq numbers because I don't know if a T5Z rated at 330 ft lb trq will be happy behind the stroked torque beast that Steve (engine guy) is wanting to build.

Stay Tuned!

 

[arcane73]

Going to the Tucson meet in 2017? I started 2 years ago with a 1968 coupe from Santa Fe. Finally mechanically reliable and trim fixes. Enjoy the journey, you'll be cruisin' serious before y know it. Best wishes from NM.

I probably won't be doing much along the lines of heading to any meets in the near future. I do the GoodGuys show in the fall in Scottsdale and that's pushing my social interaction threshold as it is.

 

[msh-r]

I do like them. A lot! And thanks for the compliment on the tires.
The car is starting to look a lot faster than it currently is....which can be a little troublesome at times. But!.....I just got off of the phone with my engine guy:
I just picked up a stock bore early 351w block and an Eagle rotating assembly (4340 crank, h-beam rods, etc) from a stalled project.....$800.

The 408 build starts sooner than i expected......WAY sooner!
Now i need to research how much compression ratio will happily live in a desert engine along with my expected hp/trq numbers because I don't know if a T5Z rated at 330 ft lb trq will be happy behind the stroked torque beast that Steve (engine guy) is wanting to build.

Stay Tuned!

Lucky, stalled projects here still cost 10x as much! Albeit in Cdn funds...Good luck with the engine build!

 

[stangnet33]

Great thread ! The car is coming together nicely. Look forward to the engine build.

 

[arcane73]

So here's the cliff notes version of the latest developments.

Some shots of the random engine parts that I've collected.

This is everything that came with the Eagle stroker kit that I acquired.

This is the second block that I picked up shortly after picking up the first.

See why the first block was 'free'?

Traveled down to my friend's shop to install the MMI Panhard kit, rough in the alignment and roll the fenders because i had a couple of scrub issues and didn't want to ruin the new tires.

More home alignment pics with friend's dad surfing craigslist on his phone for a Crown Vic to autocross....(he found one too!)

Panhard Bar prior to installation. Don't have any install pics though.

Armed and ready.

Starting point on the rears.

Getting there.

This lip will no longer chew on my tire.

And the gratuitous shot of his Chevelle. It has all manner of fancy go-fast, turn and brake hard parts on it. Built and painted right there in his shop too. It's not too shabby for a chevy.

I'll likely be doing some sort of subtle flares on the car at some point. The front passenger fender is a cheap replacement and has to go. Both quarters have prior light wreck damage on them and I'll probably just replace them versus trying to sort out all of the wrinkles under the bondo.

The engine build is still ongoing. I've been collecting parts and looking for a suitable block. I'm expecting my Terminator EFI kit to arrive tomorrow and once the cam specs get sorted out, I'll be ordering that and (likely) AFR 205 heads.
Once all that has been sorted, built, balanced and shipped, I'll start looking at sourcing my transmission. I'll be looking at a TKO500 or 600 since the current build numbers look to be approaching the 500 ft lb torque and hp range.

 

[luke87gt]

Great build thread! Eager to see more

 

[arcane73]

Minor update:

So i'm at one of those points again where I'm spending money on stuff that isn't seen. Machine work, engine internals, etc. Kinda boring but still progress. Ran into some minor problems with the block i had chosen to build so I had to start over and scored an excellent deal on a super low miles/wear roller block. So that's what's going on currently.

Time to make some shavings!

The heads are going to be AFR 195s. Still working with cam specs to see where we end up with that. But in the sims, we keep ending up around the 450hp/500 lb ft torque range. Should be a capable street car.

 

[arcane73]

Oh yeah. Forgot about this pic:

Scored this from an old post on the Pro-Touring forums. Got a smoking deal on it because the build that it was intended for changed directions.

Also, I braved the 118* temps and did two quick fixes. I swapped out the...unusual.... homemade shifter handle for an OE style ball. I also corrected my speedo by swapping in a black gear for the factory one.

The old gear and shifter 'knob'..

And now:

Now I can drive again (when it's not stupid hot) and my eyes won't keep telling my brain that I'm going a speed that I'm not.

 

[arcane73]

So i just took the time to upload all of my pics to a different hosting site and edit all of the links to repair them. Not much new on the build side of things, though. Still stashing engine parts for the 408. Most recently was flywheel and damper. AFR 195 heads and Comp rockers will be next as well as cam and link bar lifters once I get the cam specs nailed down.

 

[arcane73]

Still gathering parts and wrapping up the machine work on the Windsor. Incoming pic overload.




Ford Motorsports Flywheel and pioneer damper

RPM Forged Stroker Crank

Comp Rockers and misc stuff.

Howards Cams link bar roller lifters

Victor Jr intake

Aviaid oil pan.

 

[arcane73]

Block going in for decking.

I ended up with a few timing covers. Some late model and some older style. I'll likely end up using the late model one and running all stock style accessories from a fox body so I can have a serpentine setup.

 

[arcane73]

In non-engine news, my friend that has the chevelle had recently decided to swap out his Corbeau LG1 seats for some Kirkeys to meet racing requirements. I mentioned to the wife that he'd probably let the Corbeau seats go cheap.
She loves a good deal so I now have new-to-me seats. I will have to put in the cougar seat pans in the future as well as a one-piece headliner to give me more room. Not a big deal since both were already planned.