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Project 66. back in the mustang game!

39K views 313 replies 33 participants last post by  RTM 
#1 ·
I got out of the mustang game roughly 10-11 years ago when I moved to FL. I sold my fastback and had a motorcycle and even had an early bronco for a while. I have always been on the look out for another mustang and stumbled upon this rusty 66 coupe that had a boss 302 engine in it. Yes the boss engine was sold and it paid for the car and then some. So far I am only about $1000 out of pocket.

Plan on building a 351W stroker with a built g force T5. DSE mini tubs and the leafs moved inboard. Here's a few pics of the father son build.
 

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#2 ·
So far both rear rails, all of the trunk floor, transition pan, added front torque boxes and repaired the lower panels of the firewall and butt welded those in place. Plan is to finish the floor pan and then onto the mini tubs. Then the quarter panels and outer wheel tubs. I bought a new core support because they cut the original one up so it will get replaced. Sadly I need to repair the cowl panel and instead if the patch panels for the cowl area i will replace the entire lower panel.

I'm just over a month into the project. I have all the panels I need to perform the mentioned work. Pretty much got all the panels for free with the sale of the boss engine.
 

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#5 ·
No, it was a service block and it was listed for sale on here but I sold it locally. had 69 heads and intake on it. the four speed had a vin on it which I was told fell in the cougar eliminator vin range. I couldn't see driving a boss engine around like I plan on driving this car. Felt it was better served to be used in a car that needed it more than i did.
 

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#6 ·
Meh, I could do better....I’m kidding, I can’t do anything like that. You’ve clearly got mad skills and that you’re passing them on to your son is awesome. I’m sure he’ll remember this forever. Enjoy the journey and great job! Can’t wait to see it all done.
 
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#7 · (Edited)
Found a local guy who does the dustless blasting at a car show. I will get a quote from him as soon as I can get the car rolling again. Then I will have the all the original panels that are left blasted.

I was going to save one of the fenders and one door but have decided to just buy new doors and fenders. Its not a show car. It will be driven by me and my son to the drag strip and where ever else we feel like driving it. Hopefully I don't get to carried away as I tend to over do everything I touch.

Not much progress today. Got the floor pan all marked out to drill the holes for spot welding it in and the ares that it sits on are pretty much prepped and ready. I also started laying out al the lines on the frame rail for the mini tub install.
 
#11 ·
Made some progress on the mini tub install. Floor pan is predrilled but im holding off on installing it. I think the mini tub and installing the crites kit will be easier with the pan out.

My son grinding away in one pic. I had to trim the trunk bracket to fit over top of the mini tub. It’s butt welded for a clean look.

Don’t beat me up to much over my lack of welding skills.
 

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#12 ·
I haven't updated in a while but have made a little progress on the mustang. Drivers side mini tub is in but need to weld in the back seat bracket and the trunk bracket for it to be complete. Pass side mini tub install is complete. The floor pan is drilled and ready to be welded in but i am waiting until I finish the leaf spring relocation install which I just started today. I also started to make my own frame ties but only made the drivers side. Waiting to see how it fits and what modifications it will need to fit the leaf spring relocation kit.
 

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#13 ·
more pics but of the drivers side mini tub
 

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#14 ·
And the start of the leaf spring relocation kit. I ran out of cut off wheels so i did not finish cutting the rest of the frame. The crites instructions suck!!!!! First off they say to leave the e-brake brackets on, that's not happening. removed the brackets and i used a socket extension to line it up and mark the frame. I removed that part of the frame and then installed the extension again to mark the inner part of the other part of the frame, which i still need to finish cutting. You can see in one of the pictures how its fitting together. Before I did all of this I established a center line of the original leaf spring location and will move inward 3 inches from there to locate the crites leaf spring bracket. Its not going as bad as i thought it would. the pass, side should go quicker. I will more than likely box the crites bracket in to the outer rocker with some sort of tubing. I hope to tie the home made frame ties to the inner part of the crites bracket.
 

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#16 ·
Spent a few hours today finishing up fitting and welding in the leaf spring relocation bracket. I also got to test fit the custom made frame connector, the ones Daze designed. Happy to say it fits great, just have to trim the rear length to fit. Maybe tomorrow I can get the passenger side bracket fitted and welded in.

I may leave the floor out and have the car dustless blasted then weld in the floor. I think it may make blasting it easier. just have to decide if I want to install the quarters first, still need to do the lower cowl panel and core support.
 

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#17 ·
Not much progress but slowly getting things done. I have the steel plate to make up the frame difference for the frame connectors into the front frame rail and I bought the spacers to weld into the connectors so I can make a bolt in X brace. About a week away from welding in the drivers side quarter panel.
 

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#18 ·
I have several hours in fitting the quarter panel. The rear tail light section held the rear valance out by 1/2 inch or so. I had to bend it inward increasing the fold which you can see the marks in the sheet metal where I worked the bend. The door gap need improved in two spots and I had to rebrand the bottom edge of the panel so it would drop down a little allowing the body lines to line up. So far it’s coming together but it’s a lot of work.
 

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#23 ·
I haven't gotten much done on the mustang. Had to plan a trip to Ohio top pick up a ton of tools that were left to me by the wife's step dad, who sadly passed away. Of course that lead to a three day cleaning of the garage which they can now park a second car in, currently has a 72 nova sitting in it. Made it home with all the stuff and reorganized my garage and sold a few things. I also rebuilt an axle for my truck which I screwed up. My setup bearing which I had honed out was different than the final bearing I pressed onto the pinion so I put about 100 miles on a brand new gear set making noise. Turns out I was almost .040 to deep on my pinion. My fault for not checking it after I pressed the new bearing on and not listening to the little signs that said something was wrong. That will be a $300 mistake plus more time. Currently driving it after i reset the pinion depth correctly to see if the pattern will still settle in, but I am very doubtful.

I hope to get back on the mustang soon. I did order some self tapping screws to start securing the panels before I weld them. Maybe this weekend I can get back on the mustang since I'll have three days off. Which is another reason I have been slacking on the mustang, work has been keeping me busy with 10-12 hour days. I don't have the drive like I did when I was younger to go out in the garage after a long day of work. Doesn't help I get up at 4am to go ride my bicycle every morning. lol
 
#24 ·
Made a little progress yesterday on the project. Did some more work on fitting the panels better. Got the rear window panel fitted as well. I sealed the unseen metal with some Eastwood rust encapsulator product and prepped some of the edges that will be welded together. I welded some 1/2 inch inserts into one of the frame connectors. The plan is to make my own X brace that will cross under the car and bolt to the frame connectors.
 
#25 ·
Nice looking project. I like the choice of the windsor and the upgraded manual. I just noticed that you are in Cape Coral. We lived there for almost ten years up until 2006 before coming home to Michigan. They used to have a huge street racing scene in the North Cape before the cops cracked down it. This was before it built up like it is now and the North Cape was like the wild west. I am assuming you will be adding air conditioning.
 
#27 ·
Funny, we moved here from Ohio near the cleveland area about 11 years ago. North Cape is differently building up. I do a lot of cycling through that area and it's still way out there and people like to drop off stolen jet ski shells and stuff but I don't think you could get away with racing out there now.

Yes I plan on having AC. I sold my 65 fastback that i restored in Ohio after we moved here. Didn't drive the car much and at that time never found a good car scene or group to chill at or with. Luckily I'm back into the mustang game and now with my son. Hope to buy most if not all the exterior panels next month. NPD is out of stock on the R model apron I want so I won't be able to get that. Saturday I may drive to Orlando and pick up a passenger fender that I need. & hours of driving is a lot for a fender but the wife and I may make a day trip out of and stop Downtown Disney and have dinner or something.
 
#26 ·
Its coming along, looks like you are somewhat ahead of me on the quarters. Did you get a one piece wheelhousing? I am having issues test-fitting my outer wheelhousing the way it slides into the rocker...having the trunk drop off already in place might be making it harder than it needs to be.
 
#28 ·
Thanks and no I bought the DSE mini tubs and outer tubs as separate parts. I left the original outer tubs and quarter panels in place while I replaced the frame rails and transition along with the trunk floor. I then fit the mini tub kit to the original outer tubs. Once I had the trunk floor and all that inner stuff done I then moved onto the outer tubs and quarter panels, one side at a time. The second side was much easier, lol. I also installed the crites leaf spring relocation in between all of that.

Sadly I have never installed the one piece wheel tub so I can't offer much advice on the best way to install it. Is the trunk panel new or the original? if it's new I would not have welded it in place before fitting any other adjoining panels.

I know when I first install the drivers side quarter I thought it was so far off that I feared it was not worth working on and second guessed going that route. After I hammered and few edges and stuff it's a much better fit. Mainly the tail light area, it was bent outward so far I thought I would never get it to fit. It was out by an inch or so. All the tight bend ares just weren't bent in enough on either side and the bottom of the trunk drop off area. I have a lot of hours in fitting them.

My point is maybe step back if you haven't already and just give it a good look over and maybe it will fall in place with a little love.
 
#29 ·
Made a little progress today on the frame connectors. Finished welding in the 1/2 inserts on the other frame connector, got one side fitted and just about ready to weld in. Just need to drill a couple of plug holes on each side of the frame rail.

I was trying to decide Igbo I should add the vert inner rockers and after seeing the frame connectors in and clamped down I don’t think I need to speed the extra money or time for a street driven car to add the very inner rockers. My goal is still to build a 500-600hp 408.

Just hope I can get back into this project. Work has been crazy busy and it doesn’t look like it will slow down.
 

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