71 custom build

[Ray]

Got all the door corner bottoms repaired had to do 3 out of 4 .











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[Ray]

A few pics, got the edges of the doors all welded up, wire brushed clean, ospho aplied to a minimal amount of lingering rust. 2 coats of epoxy primer.

 

[DK73]

Wow that is so awesome work Ray [THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars DK73

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[Luke]

Thanks for the pics Ray. Great work and its really good that you are showing this stuff too, it's this hard work and detail that is often overlooked in car mags etc. They show all the cool mods but never the boring dirty stuff so to speak. Well done

 

[Ray]

Thanks for the pics Ray. Great work and its really good that you are showing this stuff too, it's this hard work and detail that is often overlooked in car mags etc. They show all the cool mods but never the boring dirty stuff so to speak. Well done

This stuff is tedious for sure , a lot of time and work with little reward, lol. I've been working on the back window framing too. Finally got epoxy all over the remaining bare metal. I'm gonna start working on the front air bag suspension soon. That should be a little more interesting. :thankyouyellow: I hear on this forum frequently that everybody loves looking at pics and I am getting a lot of hits so I'll continue to bore you guys with details. Gotta admit, when the day is done I even enjoy reviewing pics.

 

[73429mach]

Keep the pictures coming. I like to see the progress. I couldn't imagine tackling what your doing. Great work! Ryan

 

[Ray]

Here are some more detail pics of the Tedious work that goes unnoticed. Replaced metal in rusted areas of the cowl, took out the styling lines behind the doors, finished rear window rough in. Gonna start front air bag suspension first of the week.





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I just can't get these pics to load right. Sorry for the flipped pics. You guys are gonna have to call me flipper. LOL , I think I might try using my digital camera instead of phone, see if that helps.

 

[DK73]

Wow that is so awesome work Ray [THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars DK73

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[Ray]

Moving on with the front air bag suspension. I'm using a very simple procedure. One could use billet brackets etc, etc , my approach is simple strong effective and low cost . In place of the spring and shock mount I installed a 6" piece of 3/16 2x4 stock for mounting and spacing of the air bag. On the top of the tower as it would turn out the two mounting bolts for the bag fit perfectly into the exhisting holes in the shock tower top. I placed a rubber gasket between the top and the air bag to prevent bag damage and squeaking. I can now complete the closure of the tower on top. The 1/2" air line will protrude through the hole where the shock top mounted. It fit so simply with minimal fabrication is was almost disspointing. However to follow will be relocating the shock outside the tower, that'll be more fun here are a couple of pics of the layout so far.





The bump stops I will be installing in between the lower control arm and chassis will leave 1" left of bag collapse to protect the bag from bottoming out. The bag will give a nice suspension travel with a lift capacity of 7" using a 2500 bag.


Keep in mind that 4" of that suspension tower was taken out of the middle which closed in the distance from the upper control arm and top of the tower.

 

[Ray]

[quote








Last few pics are attempts to flip inverted pics LOL practice. Hoping to keep them straight in the future

 

[Ray]

Wow that is so awesome work Ray ? [THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars DK73

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Thanks Lars , for your continued support, with all the views I'm surprised more people don't post. Hearing from you guys is great. It's encouraging to read your posts. I'm bogged down with details right now but hope to begin reassembly soon.

Thanks for the pics Ray. Great work and its really good that you are showing this stuff too, it's this hard work and detail that is often overlooked in car mags etc. They show all the cool mods but never the boring dirty stuff so to speak. Well done

Thank you Luke, for your support and encouragement, I'm starting to see some things come together now. So far it's all working according to the big plan with a few changes along the way. Love hearing from ya.

Keep the pictures coming. I like to see the progress. I couldn't imagine tackling what your doing. Great work! Ryan

Thanks Ryan, it's a big undertaking but it's easy for me, all my builds are low budget, no high dollar investment just my time so it's more fun than expensive. That way, less fear.,Never had one that didn't get done though not all come out as good as planned lol. This one ,I'm feeling ,is one of the good ones, I'm loving it.


Thanks to all you guys , your comments are what makes posting worth while. Keep em coming, :thankyouyellow:

 

[Luke]

Ray your build is cool to watch. I really dig the unseen stuff the planning in things like how you cut around the door latches and other unseen detail etc. Little things like that show off the art of custom car building and the various skills it takes to make it all work. Wish I had half your ability.

Ps like the flare you have in the rear guards now

 

[Flatback72]

I'm fascinated with this build and I'm itching to see the final product. The work you have done on the rear deck lid and the inset back window looks insanely cool! :bravo:

 

[DK73]

Well I have a lot of good stuff to do on My own Mustang [WINKING FACE] Just wanted to be motivated by following your's Renovation and others so I'm sure that I can do it right That's is so awesome to see all of the good news. But Ray I think it is most likely because of all the other things forum members has to do at daily basis. Whit work and family life. They don't always have the time to put in their work on there cars. But does it later on [WINKING FACE] perhaps that is a reason... Regards Lars DK73

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[Ray]

I got to play with the plasma cutter today. Had to make 4 pieces to complete the top of the spring tower. the section left a discrepancy between the top and bottom of the tower. The bag fit great and accommodates nicely the 4" s lost in the cut. Plus allowed me to lower the vehicle suspension an additional 5"s for a total height reduction of over 9"s. When I factor in the low pro tires ill be at a height of about 40"s here are some more pics of that work.




















Thanks again for all your posts. I will be cleaning up the entire body over the next couple days. I'll be using a combination of sand blasting wire brushing and solvent cleaning. After that I will be starting with application of fiber all and bondo. Some shaping on doors and fenders before I begin hanging panels back on the car.

 

[Ray]

I got the bump stops in, the shocks mounted. Here's a couple pics one extended and one collapsed.





Air bag appears bit distorted cuz it has no air in it , it's just hanging. Total lift ended up at 6" ride height will be at 2 to 3 inches of lift.





3rd pic is at ride height


Most of the body and suspension fabrication is complete so next step will be cleaning and painting chassis & hidden panels, replacing necessary suspension pieces such as sway bar links etc, installing door hdwe and glass, and rehanging the doors & fenders. I am still undecided on the design of the dash board, it will also be fabricated ,I'm considering a couple different options there. I'm thinking speedo and tack either side of the steering wheel, top of the dash having two sort of squared off humps across its width with a center panel turned slightly towards the driver , loaded with 6 gauges all covered in leather. I'm working on a couple of drawings of the dash considerations now.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

I'm sure it will be terrific!

 

[Ray]

I'm sure it will be terrific!

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

 

[Wide-body71]

That is a very cool configuration you've designed. I'm enjoying your invocations. Did you end up having to move the upper control arm from the stock position? Also does ball joint need to be shimmed or does it still have enough angle? In trying to lower my front end I needed to go to a tubular control arm because the ball joint was binding and wouldn't have lasted long.

 

[Ray]

i didn't have to relocate a arm or shim the ball joint. Did my up and down ride range test today, I saw no issues with any of that. It all seamed to be in good range with room left over. However since you mentioned you might experience problems, I will give it a stronger look over tomorrow and comment further on it.


Here are a couple of pics of the high and low range of the suspension travel is about 6" the actual ride height will be up about 2"











Keep in mind, 4" was taken out of the body that is 4" of the drop effort. So the car is 4" lower before any suspension change, The rest comes from suspension and finally the tire size to be used.


I'll have to check my build sheet because I can't remember exactly but I'm thinking that the suspension drop in reference to a frame and ball joints is between 3" & 4", How much were you trying to lower yours that you were going to run into issues with angles?


I did a quick check on camber and it's very close to spec. At 2 to 3" of lift. And really never goes intolerably out if range at any level.


I don't have a stock mustang nearby to check rocker to ground clearance but I can tell you that the outmost lip of the rocker panel is at 10" to ground. Don't know how that compares to stock but that would tell exactly what suspension drop I have realized. A couple of friends looking things over today commented that the rocker to ground clearance was still excessive and suggested I incorporate some type of ground effect addition. If you wouldn't mind, maybe you could check that distance for me on your car and let me know. Thanks


Tubular a frames are one option and a cool one but you could also consider 2" drop spindles and 2" drop springs, if I'm not mistaking they both are available for the 71 - 73s now. I'm am still considering the 2" spindles myself but not sure how to go that extra 2" in the rear without major changes like a 4 link or independent. I don't really want to end up with that much rake, but maybe ! I do think that fat mans has 2" drop spindles that require the use of 1975 Granada rotors and bearings and also 1975 Camaro brake calipers & pads