71 Mach1(Trans Am) 2" nose drop

[71Rustang]

Wicked looking racer!

Thanks

 

[71Rustang]

Nice, love the old school stuff

Thanks,I'm doing my best to keep the whole thing old tech...

 

[71Rustang]

Hi,nothing too earth shattering ,but things i wanted to do. I filled in the side marker lights and then had to think long and hard about if I wanted to completely remove the stamping for the fuel filler in the tail light panel. I looked at every factory backed TA car and found the majority had it shaved off. The 69 Bud Moore cars still retained it,but plated over and a few of the 70/71 back up cars had it still. The two cars that I look to the most still have it,but both have it blocked off. But since the car isn't painted yet I said,the hell with it and proceeded to cut out the filler,make a blank to fill the hole and weld it in. Its just about ready for body work. I'm thinking about a nice white Ford oval to go in the center of the tail light panel.

 

[71Rustang]

Hi everyone. The front spoiler is finished. I used 1/8'',5052 aluminum for the spoiler and all the brackets accept for the frame brackets for the struts.The struts are 3/8'' rod ends with aluminum adjuster sleeves. I just didn't think the stock plastic spoiler looked right or suited my taste. The front valances on these things are flimsy,so I added some extra brackets,because I eliminated a bunch of stuff that I didn't need.

 

[midlife]

That'll make a nice asphalt scraper for sure! Watch out for speed bumps and parking curbs!

 

[giantpune]

I was thinking the same thing. That front aero is gonna shave off the top of every speed bump between your house and the track.

I had a buddy with a lowered GLI and he was always breaking his front aero. Finally he just broke down and made up a bunch of them all at once and had them all painted at the same time. So when he hit one, he could swap on the next.

 

[71Rustang]

I was thinking the same thing. That front aero is gonna shave off the top of every speed bump between your house and the track.

I had a buddy with a lowered GLI and he was always breaking his front aero. Finally he just broke down and made up a bunch of them all at once and had them all painted at the same time. So when he hit one, he could swap on the next.

That'll make a nice asphalt scraper for sure! Watch out for speed bumps and parking curbs!

This isn't a street car. Not saying I won't drive it around the countryside where I live to test it,but it gets trailered to and from the track. The front spoilers on TA cars are considered a wear item. They get bent and ground down.

 

[tony-muscle]

Hi everyone. The front spoiler is finished. I used 1/8'',5052 aluminum for the spoiler and all the brackets accept for the frame brackets for the struts.The struts are 3/8'' rod ends with aluminum adjuster sleeves. I just didn't think the stock plastic spoiler looked right or suited my taste. The front valances on these things are flimsy,so I added some extra brackets,because I eliminated a bunch of stuff that I didn't need.

Awesome killer look

 

[73pony]

Love it!

 

[71Rustang]

Hi everyone,update time. So I made aluminum ducting for the radiator.........consisting of a panel from the front valance to the lower radiator support,two side panels and a top cover Most of the ideas are from what was done on the team Trans Am cars and some of the independent racers. My own addition was,since the nose is dropped so hard and the distance from the valance to the support is very short I had to modify the bottom opening of the radiator hole. I cut off the humps at either side and flattened the top so to make it square and straight across. This allowed me to make the aluminum panel flat with a small bend to match the angle of the support.All of the panels will be riveted when final assembly happens. Since I'm using the Mach1 grill i wanted to also use the lights in the grill. So I hollowed out the housings leaving just the frames and made some mounting tabs to bolt them back into the grill. So the lights are still there,but empty so air goes through them, it looks complete with them. Lastly I was contacted by the gentleman that owns the number 15 Bud Moore Mustang that George Follmer drove at the end of the 71 season. The car was sold to Marshall Robbins and he fitted a dry sump oil system to the car for the 72 season. When the car was restored in the early 2000s the car was converted back to it's original wet sump. I was offered the chance to use the dry sump pan,tank and the battery box from that car.So it was shipped,I test fit,the best I could,measured and did a lot of thinking and staring. i decided to buy the parts to use in my car. Dry sumps where legal in 1971 thanks to Penske and AMC. The tank will be interesting to fit,as it fits against the passenger side firewall inside the car with the fill inside the engine compartment. Yes the tank goes through the fire wall and and extends into the torque box..........and.......it was built for a 70 Mustang.................should be fun to mount..........

 

[rcadd1ct]

Nice!

Keep up the excellent work!

 

[tony-muscle]

Awesome work!

 

[mjlan]

Thanks for sharing your project.

Have you scaled it yet to see how your weight distribution is looking?

Maybe that would justify moving the oil tank to a more user-friendly location...

 

[71Rustang]

Thanks for sharing your project.

Have you scaled it yet to see how your weight distribution is looking?

Maybe that would justify moving the oil tank to a more user-friendly location...

Hi. No I haven't scaled it as of this time. There is no cage or fuel cell in it yet. That's this winters projects. The tank ,while large isn't that heavy. Penske mounted their dry sump tanks in the Javelins,either behind the passenger shock tower or frenched into the passenger side firewall in the engine compartment depending on which car you look at. I'm really trying to stick to 71/72 ish rules with of course some bending, just like back then.

 

[71Rustang]

Once again it's time for an update. This installment of"Lets make some Ford engineers cry" is the fuel cell.There was nothing off the shelf from any cell manufactures that I liked and if I did,it wouldn't fit.So I had a custom fuel cell made using the Kar Kraft blueprints as a guide. I could have made a the can as it is for a cell that is 33x17x9,which is a standard size and the size of the Kar Kraft cell, I just really didn't want to. So I contacted a local open wheel racing shop and went through there builder. As mentioned it is 22 gallon, 33''x17''x9'',with the bottom of the can being 6'' deep and the top being 3''tall and its made out of aluminum. There is a 2 1/4'' remote fill(the fill neck will be on top of the taillight panel) a 1'' vent with roll over valve,fuel out,return and a dip stick to check level. Now for the hard part.......the trunk floor,it had to go,so out it came. I first replaced the front flange on the rear crossmember followed by making a new top for it that was flat and welding that in. Next was where the cell would sit in the front. I cut off the remaining bit of the floor with the ribs in front of the Watts and made a new piece that was flat all the way across and welded that on. Last were the sides that had to have flat flanges for the flange of the cell to rest on.Then welded those on and notice I bent a 90 degree lip on the inside of the hole for support for the mounting bolts,just like on a 70 and back Mustang. You don't see the fuel cell from the side or the rear with the valance on,which is how I wanted it and how the Kar Kraft cars where built. Next will probably be the fuel filler and modifying the trunk lid.

 

[rcadd1ct]

Nice work!

 

[Steve McMahan]

Wonderful craftsmanship.

 

[71Rustang]

Nice work!

Wonderful craftsmanship.

Thank you

 

[cjstaci]

Looking good! You have some excellent fabrication skills.

 

[71Rustang]

Looking good! You have some excellent fabrication skills.

Thank you.