Beginnings 72 Coupe Resto

[OzCoupe72]

Looks great! I really like where you have painted it black, nice detail!

Thanks, took over an hour to mask it up and 5 minutes to spray paint.

 

[OzCoupe72]

Mounted up a new RHD power rack & pinion steering. Pretty easy fit only needed to drill a few holes and trim a tiny bit of the chassis extension. Having a break from bodywork so modifying my 9 inch rear to fit local Falcon rear discs with floor mounted handbrake and will just rebuild my front disc brakes for now. I need to get the handbrake sorted before I can weld the seat platform in. Next weekend will rebuild the 9 inch center adding a Truetrac LSD with 3.5 gears.

 

[OzCoupe72]

I wasn't going to replace the trunk floor until I removed the fuel tank and saw the extent of the rust which was covered over with sheets of steel.

Despite the enormous cost of shipping I bit the bullet and ordered a new floor pan and quarter repair section.

Seeing as mine had a new tail panel installed by PO I knew it could be difficult to install however I ended up cutting mine at the front section to use good metal and making it easier to get in and out.

Installed drop-offs and quarter section but ran out of gas so will finish off next weekend hopefully.

Will be glad when all the floor repairs are done so I can start putting some of it back together then will start on hood, fenders & doors etc.

 

[Ray]

Time and money well spent!

 

[protouringstang73]

Looks great! I really like where you have painted it black, nice detail!

Thanks, took over an hour to mask it up and 5 minutes to spray paint.

Yeah exactly! I am painting sometimes now and then, it's allways that that steals the time, it's not when you are going to paint it, paint dry paint dry finished

 

[OzCoupe72]

Been busy lately and starting to make some progress - pics below

Rear axle is in with new Eaton Tru-Trac and 3.5 gears. Fitted new disc brakes and set up handbrake but will need to shorten the front cable slightly to get enough adjustment.

Fuel tank was rusty inside from sitting around for a few years so refurbished it with KBS coatings fuel tank repair kit and painted the outside with bright zinc paint from the hardware store, added some rubber pads for the top of the tank and the mounting straps, new sender unit also.

Trunk floor has been painted with a speckle finish paint which came up pretty good.

For the main floor area I decided to make my own lizard skin using $80 worth of Insuladd ceramic spheres mixed with 4 litres of quick dry enamel which was only $20 as it was a mismatch which explains the color but who cares as nobody will see it.

Couldn't justify spending over $800 for lizard skin so this will have to do plus I will add further insulation later.

Tore down my Aussie 302C yesterday and the good news is it is standard bore so I have room to move with the rebuild which will end up being a 408 stroker. With the Aussie 2V heads at this stage will use dished pistons and the heads will get extensive port work with the chambers opened up also. Might consider alloy heads at a later stage but will get the block done first as don't have the funds to do it all at once.

Anyways happy with the results and progress so far but there is still a long way to go.

 

[Vinnie]

That's all looking pretty sharp! Did you have to make modifications for the drivers seat to get that handbrake in?

 

[OzCoupe72]

That's all looking pretty sharp! Did you have to make modifications for the drivers seat to get that handbrake in?

Thanks Vinnie, Yes I had to cut, bend and weld the handle base to make it lean towards the tunnel otherwise it would have rubbed on the seat. I also reinforced underneath the seat platform to strengthen the mounting. It doesn't get in the way of the seat tracks either.

 

[mach71351c]

Looks good! Thanks for posting.

 

[Len van Rossum]

Great work Mick. You should be very pleased with your progress. I mounted my hand brake lever bracket level with the front of the seat platform. That would explain why your cable is a little long.

 

[OzCoupe72]

Great work Mick. You should be very pleased with your progress. I mounted my hand brake lever bracket level with the front of the seat platform. That would explain why your cable is a little long.

Thanks Len, I used an AU 3 series handbrake lever which was a better fit. Had a new handbrake cable made up using bits of EL & AU. You are correct that my cable was a bit long so I had it shortened 30 mm to give more adjustment.

Now I have all brakes working, bought new braided hoses and made new pipes, bled the brakes and have a great pedal but had to tighten up the pipes a bit to seat in the new flares as they leaked under pressure.

Bought a vacuum bleeder which made bleeding a breeze just had to teflon tape the bleeders and cable tie the hoses but well worth it.

Installed the steering column and mounted everything up but found the shaft between the steering column and rack is too long so will have to get another one made up. This is probably due to the way I've done the firewall and pedal box.

Also have plenty of room between legs and steering wheel even with the standard one and seeing as I have bought a 13 inch Grant steering wheel will be more than enough.

Only problem I can see with engineering is the brake pedal seems a little bit high, in other words when my size 11 foot is on the floor my toes barely touch the pedal, obviously with underlay and carpet this will be better so I hope it will be acceptable upon inspection.

Oh and as you will see in the pics I ended up making a column to cowl bracket as the OEM one just wouldn't fit despite cutting it and trying to change it.

Cheers Mick

 

[Ray]

Looks like a sprint seat, was it a sprint car to start?

 

[OzCoupe72]

Looks like a sprint seat, was it a sprint car to start?

Hi Ray, no just a standard coupe, the seats came with the vehicle when I bought it. They don't have the weave type inserts so assume have been recovered at some stage. I'm tossing up to dye them black or put in some modern black leather seats.

 

[OzCoupe72]

Progress and setbacks seem to be the norm for me. That's what I get for buying an unfinished RHD conversion project, always a glutton for punishment.

Steering rack to column shaft ended up being too long due to my positioning of the firewall and column and getting a shorter one made is taking forever.

Good thing is my steering wheel height will be better than most RHD conversions but will have to get a new shaft and have had to lengthen the brake pedal.

Below is some pics of latest work including getting the headlamp housings and bonnet lock supports blasted/painted/installed with new hardware

Also ran into a problem when I went to install the Old Air evaporator unit. The PO had welded in the original A/C firewall hole a bit high so the unit hit the cowl. Pity I discovered this after I painted the engine bay. Had to cut out the hole section and weld in a new plate with a round hold and repaint the area.

Also had to cut and shut the evaporator mounting bracket as it was designed for original LHD firewall.

Pretty happy with the A/C unit otherwise and although it will hang a bit low I may actually have a full size glove box.

 

[OzCoupe72]

Been a while since my last post but just been busy doing bodywork repairs on the quarters and roof area

After grinding out a heap of body filler from the rear window panel and not having much luck straightening it out I ended up welding in a new section which has been a mission in itself especially getting rid of the oil canning. Bought a shrinking disc and although it took a while it worked wonders

Anyway should have the body shell in primer and blocked next couple of weeks then onto the bolt on panels

Got the cleveland block at the machinists so should get a break from the bodywork soon

 

[OzCoupe72]

Been a while since I updated my build thread as I've been busy doing the tedious job of panel work but managed to break the monotony occasionally with other jobs in between.

My feeble attempt at repairing the rear window panel hasn't turned out so well as once I got around to installing the trunk lid and although I expected a small discrepancy in the gaps it was unacceptable. Seems like the previous damage had pushed the edge to the front and downwards plus the welding would have shrunk it back some. A disappointing set back as I was hoping I would be ready for paint within a month. I have Don from OMS organizing a donor panel but will be a few months before I see it via sea freight.



The black seats that came with the vehicle were too far gone but the sprint seats still good so changed them to black with SEM vinyl paint. Came out pretty good despite the foggy photo. Did the dash pad and a few trim pieces as well.





Got lucky with the fenders, doors and trunk lid having very little rust or damage





More work done on the engine bay and inside for the RHD conversion getting ready for wiring harness





Getting started on the engine with the rotating assembly fitted.

Engine build plan so far is 406C stroker using Scat 9000 series cast crank, Scat I beam rods and SRP 16cc dished pistons

Heads are getting done by Pavtek and are Aussie 2V with CNC porting capable of over 500HP in stroker

Cam is ordered and is a custom grind Hydraulic Roller by Jones Cams specs are 232/240 @ .050 duration, .602/.611 lift and 110 LSA

Induction will be RPM Air Gap and Holley SA 770 cfm

Ignition looking at ICE Ignition system so far

For headers have some stainless 4 into 1 suited for a local Falcon so reckon I will have some fun fitting to a RHD Mustang but lucky I have a big hammer!

 

[OzCoupe72]

Still waiting for my camshaft and lifters, taking forever with the lifters on back order for more than 2 months even though I was told they'll be in at the end of the week back in March! He finally sent them a couple of weeks ago and having taken a few weeks holiday in anticipation of getting the rest of the engine back together they ended up getting held in Customs in which the pirates demanded a ransom of $300 to release the goods! Talk about robbery.

Anyway with winter coming on it was time to start on the wiring project.

Have most of the wiring in place and just need to do some testing with a fire extinguisher nearby before I wrap it up.

Have made some upgrades including a Derale PWM fan controller, headlamps running off battery power via relays, modern fuse box/connectors etc

Getting ready to put the dash together and decided to add center gauges but not OEM

I went with some VDO gauges and reading how other members had done theirs I went and attacked the new center bezel with the Dremel.

15 minutes later I had them mounted in and although not perfect I'm pretty happy with the result. Gauge set with senders was $180 so not expensive.

Also have put in a new 1/2 inch fuel line with 1/4 inch return to go with the Rob Mac fuel pump and sender unit

Pictures below

 

[OzCoupe72]

Starting to make some progress on the engine as a distraction to all the other jobs

Had some difficulty with getting correct length rocker studs and on my third attempt ended up with 2.100 studs plus a .120 washer

Seems the heads had longer stem valves for the taller valve springs and combined with the relatively tall Scorpion rockers I needed an odd combination to get correct geometry

To add to my problems the Comp Cams guide plate set was one short so a 3 week wait for a replacement

Pics below and it looks good with the valve covers but a pity the RTS oil pan is a poor fit so I've ordered a Kevco oil pan as recommended on this forum

 

[OzCoupe72]

With the winter weather here preventing me from doing panel work I have been busy rebuilding the engine and C4 transmission.

Upgraded the C4 with better clutches, billet servo, deep pan and a hi-stall convertor. Would not have tried to do it myself without the excellent Badshoe Productions videos.

Made a frame to mount the engine/trans which makes it easier to move around. Hopefully I will be installing it all soon and will attempt to install it with trans and headers attached.

Still need to sort out the alternator mounting as standard brackets won't work with the Summit 100 amp unit.

Looking forward to the day it is all running but still a long way to go.

 

[mudbilly]

dam, you do nice work............