71 Mach1(Trans Am) 2" nose drop

[71Rustang]

Awesome (lot of) work, awesome welds, beautiful  :thumb:

Thank you.About half way through any of these modifications I'm like ,why did I do this? Than at the end your like,oh..........That's why.

 

[Fabrice]

Be honest and simply say you're addicted to argon gas!

Sniffing that gas myself at times a little, I must say you've done some impressive work here!!
That car will not twist easy for sure!!

 

[71Rustang]

Moving right along,we have the over rider traction bars done. They're made from 1 1/4'' DOM,with left and right threaded ends for 5/8'' chromoly teflon coated ends.I can now preload the rear and keep the pinion angle change to within a degree or so.Goodbye wheel hop and brake hop.And speaking of brakes here are the rear,11.75''x0.810 rotors and 67 Mustang 4 piston Kelsey Hayes calipers.The brackets are 1/2'' plate that I threaded for 1/2x20 bolts.Almost done with the rear suspension.Just have to finish the axle bumper mounts.

 

[droptop73]

Very nice work! Great progress on a cool car. 

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Man you are killing me. I walk by the car I want to do track days with each day and wish I could be working on it. Surgery soon I hope it works. Unlike you I will be using some of the latest steels and can go half the thickness and still be stronger and lighter. Hope I live long enough to run a 351 against your Boss 9. Glad you are making such great progress.

 

[71Rustang]

Man you are killing me. I walk by the car I want to do track days with each day and wish I could be working on it. Surgery soon I hope it works. Unlike you I will be using some of the latest steels and can go half the thickness and still be stronger and lighter. Hope I live long enough to run a 351 against your Boss 9. Glad you are making such great progress.

I hope your surgery makes your quality of life much better.As for working on the car,I over build everything,so I never have to think about it again and move on.My wheelstander took way,way too long to build.This one I am pushing for about less than 2 years for a completed chassis.It should be fun to hear people say"what the hell is that" as the car gets backed out of the trailer.Are you going to run a vintage drive train in your car? Like a 4 spd  and 9'',or a more modern set up?

 

[71Rustang]

For the life of me I can't figure out why no after market company has come up with an actual bolt in one piece export brace for the 71-73 cars.So here is part one of me doing it.I cut the ends off the factory braces and made new ends out of 1/8''. Now they bolt under the shock bracket and spacer,just like the 64-70 one  piece braces.I'm going to wait to build the connector at the firewall because I have not yet settled on 1 or 2 carbs,air box or Ram Air,and there will most likely be clearance issues.so I will make it one piece after the carb situation is sorted.I chose to reinforce the stock shock mounts on the top with an 1/8 washer.If the car starts to beat out the bushings I will switch to the 67-70 shock mounts.I also have the rearend bump stops welded in.I used new bumpers for the front of the car,since bolting them in is easier.

 

[71Rustang]

More progress. Today we have front brakes and sneak peek at what she's going to look like. The front brakes consist of 71 disc hubs,68 T-bird rotors,69 Lincoln 4 piston KH calipers,Street or Track Trans Am caliper brackets,with 3 inch ARP studs all hung on 70 drum spindles. the rotors are 12x1.25'',this is the largest brake set up you can put inside a 15 inch wheel.I am also sorting out the front suspension,as pictured the car is sitting on 9 1/2'' tall 1200lb coils.I'm trying to come up with a way to hold them in the car without using tethers.But if I can't come up with a simple solution,tethers  it is. I have to notch the frame for the strut rod travel and do upper ball joint correction. Might do a wedge kit before I cut and reweld the ball joint at a different angle.I won't be using the stock shock mounts as they would go through the top of the hood. So I have a new set of stock 70 shocks coming so I can cut the tops of the make screw on mounts for the Koni's. Yes that is the ride height. There will also be very minimal flaring of the front fenders. Yes,It's rather extreme,but that's my style.This is the craziest Mustang that I could build.

 

[71Rustang]

Hello,You know building a car is nothing but moving from one catastrophe to another.Well the front suspension is no different. We all love low cars. and mine will be ,well........ridiculously low,and so creates a whole new set of battles to win. First is the upper ball joint.The upper joint was almost maxed out of its travel with car sitting as it does,which will equal just broken ball joints right out of the box.There are 2 solutions.1 being to use a wedge kit for correction,which I did think about for almost a whole day.Or 2 Just cut the end of the control arm and then bend down at the flange that the ball joint bolts to down 20 degrees. I chose to cut and weld,which is let's be honest,usually my first go to anyway. The pics should show how I did it,Pretty simple really.If ya'll want a more detailed explanation of what is going on I can go into a lot more detail. Also try as I might,I just can't use the stock front upper shock mounts.I would have to cut a holes in the hood to make it work.So I modified a set of mounts from a 70 and will be using those.

 

[71Rustang]

Some motovation............. for if you think the long slog through your project is just taking forever.Just keep plugging away at it and I promise you'll get there.I've been staring at the car from a distance of 3 ft or less for a year.

 

[droptop73]

That looks great Chris. Is the shed in the background where you've been doing all the work? 

 

[71Rustang]

That looks great Chris. Is the shed in the background where you've been doing all the work? 

Thank you....and yes it is. That's the biggest structure that I could fit with the septic system, road and creek and set backs the township wanted. I also built the wheelstander in there.

 

[71Rustang]

Hi every one.I decided just to throw the front end on to see how she looks and to see how I'm going to have to make plans to do the flares.As well as planning and figuring a bunch of other things,such as tow hooks,possibly moving the oil cooler from where they were on the 70s,how low the front spoiler is amongst other things.I'm staying with the Mach1 bumper as the bumper really isn't that heavy,it's the support that's got the weight to it,so that thing is going on a diet. The only place for tow hooks on the front is to weld them to the bumper brackets.And If I cant find a factory tie down for the rear I'm just going to copy one. I also have the manual box in it now,still the stock ratio.The power box is never going back in.It steers way to nice with a big block in it. Taking the day off,I'll be back at it tomorrow.

 

[mach71351c]

What a sinister stance! :thumb:

 

[timachone]

Great you have pulled it out so we can see how the project works in the end! Very cool looks, awesome and aggressive stance :thumb:

 

[turtle5353]

Badass! 

 

[71Rustang]

Hi.I'm glad ya'll like the car.I have an update..........having the worlds lowest 71 Mustang has just been a treat.LOL. You change one thing and then everything else doesn't work anymore.So I am systematically correcting all the problems associated with how low it is.So here is the latest fix.I notched the frame to have enough clearance for the strut rods.I like how it turned out. It looks like the notches belong there.Now on to the springs that fall out.................

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Lots of great progress for sure. Be glad when my surgery fixes my neck so I can get back on mine.

 

[71Rustang]

Hi.it's been a little while. A couple things.I did figure out how to keep the coil springs in the front of the car.I am currently working on those parts and of course will post pics when I am done. I took a little break from the car because the spring thing was driving me nuts. I'm one of those people that will work till the point of mental exhaustion to figure out a solution to a problem.But in the two weeks that I really didn't touch the car. I bought a 73 AMX,360, 4speed, Go Pack car,that's eventually going to become the street car my Mach1 was going to be.And while messing with the AMX I got over the mental block I had with the Mustang.So when I get the coil spring maker not falling outters installed I will be moving on to the wheel flares.So here is the AMX.I don't think anybody on here will mind one little ole pic of an AMC....................oh ya...........NO Trans Am mods to the AMX ,I promise.

 

[timachone]

Hi.it's been a little while. A couple things.I did figure out how to keep the coil springs in the front of the car.I am currently working on those parts and of course will post pics when I am done. I took a little break from the car because the spring thing was driving me nuts. I'm one of those people that will work till the point of mental exhaustion to figure out a solution to a problem.But in the two weeks that I really didn't touch the car. I bought a 73 AMX,360, 4speed, Go Pack car,that's eventually going to become the street car my Mach1 was going to be.And while messing with the AMX I got over the mental block I had with the Mustang.So when I get the coil spring maker not falling outters installed I will be moving on to the wheel flares.So here is the AMX.I don't think anybody on here will mind one little ole pic of an AMC....................oh ya...........NO Trans Am mods to the AMX ,I promise.

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Wow, congratulations to the AMX! That's the right one, I have a sweet spot for them, once was very interested in them. They have a similar appearance than our 71-73 cars. Take care of it, it's well worth it! It doesn't hurt to make some motivation out of it - have fun  :thumb: