KC1971Grande
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2014
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Kentucky
- My Car
- 1971 Mustang Grande, originally bought new by my father in Louisville, KY at Bill Collins Ford. Original color Medium Green Metallic, 302 2V engine, 3 speed manual, medium or dark green vinyl top and interior, and few other options.
So I am from Kentucky and have a 1971 Mustang Grande that is in dire need of restoration. It will definitely need a lot of metal work, interior work, a new vinyl top (if I go with a restoration to original), and much more.
The body, suspension, and motor promise to use most of the restoration money with things like brakes, fuel system, interior, and such while not being cheap to restore still not as expensive as the major components.
This car does have a long history with the family. My father bought it new in 1971 and it served him until he passed the keys to me in 1980. The car was showing signs of age then but I did what I could to keep it in driving condition. Eventually the motor quit and I never could put the money together to do a restoration, so it went into storage. Storage has really not been kind to the car since I live in Kentucky near the Ohio River where the humidity and other environmental factors are unkind to old metal.
So the plan is to restore but maybe not totally back to original. The car has been in a couple accidents and, while the body is intact, it is not quite in proper alignment. It has a lot of rust and there are probably several parts that will have to be replaced. The motor is not good and a rebuild while possible is probably not the route I will go. My thinking now is short block, long block, or crate motor. I am leaning toward something like the 306 340 horse crate motor I have read and seen much about recently. This motor is a lot more powerful than stock and would require suspension, brake, and other upgrades to make the car safe to drive. In all fairness, a lot of those upgrades should be done anyway due to age of the car and components in the car now. Transmission, well I have a t5 in storage now. It is a Borg Warner from an 85 GT I believe and only had about 5000 miles on it when it was stripped from the wrecked car. I had it checked out and it suffered no damage in the wreck.
I can be long winded so I am going to stop here. At this time I am still doing research to find parts and also people with skills I will need on this project. Also need to put together a budget for the project as well. (A budget that will probably be blown past but hey gotta at least try.)
The body, suspension, and motor promise to use most of the restoration money with things like brakes, fuel system, interior, and such while not being cheap to restore still not as expensive as the major components.
This car does have a long history with the family. My father bought it new in 1971 and it served him until he passed the keys to me in 1980. The car was showing signs of age then but I did what I could to keep it in driving condition. Eventually the motor quit and I never could put the money together to do a restoration, so it went into storage. Storage has really not been kind to the car since I live in Kentucky near the Ohio River where the humidity and other environmental factors are unkind to old metal.
So the plan is to restore but maybe not totally back to original. The car has been in a couple accidents and, while the body is intact, it is not quite in proper alignment. It has a lot of rust and there are probably several parts that will have to be replaced. The motor is not good and a rebuild while possible is probably not the route I will go. My thinking now is short block, long block, or crate motor. I am leaning toward something like the 306 340 horse crate motor I have read and seen much about recently. This motor is a lot more powerful than stock and would require suspension, brake, and other upgrades to make the car safe to drive. In all fairness, a lot of those upgrades should be done anyway due to age of the car and components in the car now. Transmission, well I have a t5 in storage now. It is a Borg Warner from an 85 GT I believe and only had about 5000 miles on it when it was stripped from the wrecked car. I had it checked out and it suffered no damage in the wreck.
I can be long winded so I am going to stop here. At this time I am still doing research to find parts and also people with skills I will need on this project. Also need to put together a budget for the project as well. (A budget that will probably be blown past but hey gotta at least try.)
