Our 71 Mustang

[detritusmaximus]

I've contemplated the swap to rear discs as well. My car, 71 M code, has a 3.00 rear. I'm inclined to get an 8.8" rear out of an Explorer. Around 2000, they had leaf springs, 3.73 lsd, and disc brakes.
One side needs to be shortened to get the right width and the differential centered, but it could be a cost effective way to go if you also want a different ratio and lsd. Parts are pretty affordable.
The 3.73 would be good with an overdrive trans, but you can also get a 3.23 or 3.55.

 

[MikeGriese]

You have a ram air hood, but from the photos, you don't have all of the ram air components - intake horns, vacuum motors, plenum, air cleaner and filter lid. Those parts are available as reproductions. Originals are getting Very Expensive.

 

[David Michailof]

Looks like pressure washing will be next week . We did brush a lot of crud off the supports though.

We spent the day in the garage getting him a better work/storage space setup. We built a loft to hold all his parts. We will inventory what we have and share some pictures. I know we have two mach 1 grills still in the ford boxes, the fancy flip open gas cap and I think 2 full sets of mach 1 gauges. Plenty of the plain jane silver hubcaps.

Got the hood into dry storage.

He had been using the trunk and passenger compartment to store parts and tools. He now has a small bench with a shelf and 3 shelves in a 2x4 steel shelving unit. I've been stressing the keep organized part of this job and he's learning. He ignores me just enough to learn a few lessons the hard way but he's a teen and he's my son so it's expected. Apple - tree........ we just stubborn some times. :>

He's been dying to do a full cleanup of the interior so that's coming up soon as well.

I'm going try to hit everyones comments:

I've been reading up on the repro ram airs and I'm good with one of those, already built it into the budget but it's a fourth quarter project. This is definitely a resto mod (tribute?). It's going to be comfortable and safe but also be the car I wish I could have built in the 80's so it's got to be a little bad....

As far as the engine goes, He's dying to get into it but we are not going far. He's got to do the good weather grindy work first. On a rainy engine week, I'm going to limit him to cleaning and inspection. We'll pull the intake, oil pan, valve covers and most likely the heads. See what it looks like, what the problem is and then decide from there. If it's something we can safely do we'll be asking for advice, Worse case scenario we just soak it for a month or two....I just know how much filth is inside that engine and I'm dying to see what it looks like before and after.

Transmission and gears.... I'd like to go 3.5 with traction lock in the rear end I have. The car has a C4, I was thinking of getting that tuned but anything beyond that is out of budget. We definitely won't be abusing this- it will spend a day at the track just to see what it will do and then it'll be a cruiser.

 

[Spike Morelli]

Fixing up an old car.........that can mean different things to different people, I've found. One of the most common wastes of money, done by a lot of well-meaning car buffs, is to focus on accessories, modifications, bling, before they ever get the car itself squared away. If one goes this route, should you ever have to abandon the project, you end up with a bent, rusted, unfinished shell of a car which has little value, and a handfull of special parts that, if you're lucky , get sold off at maybe 50 cents on the dollar, sometimes less. The most pragmatic plan of attack is to get the CAR, the body, and interior squared away first, the engine should come last, just keep some old wheels and tires on it while you work on the car...."Roll-arounds" as they're called, save the expensive wheels and tires for when you actually plan to take it out of the garage under it's own power. Remember, it's the CAR that has the value, not the bolt- ons. When I worked for restoration people, we always got the body and frame perfected first, then mocked up suspension and engine, exhaust. Once everything was determined to be good ( and we mocked up with simple hardware store grade 5 bolts), we blew the car apart. At that time the body and frame got painted, any plating got sent out, sub-assemblies finished, and lastly, the newly overhauled engine and trans put in place, all of this using new or correct fasteners. So......just my .02 cents on keeping a build more budget friendly so you don't lose your investment if the situation changes midstream. Protect your dollars spent.

 

[MikeGriese]

Spreadsheets, heavy duty stackable bins with lids, sharpies, photos (before and after - and there are never enough photos), and heavy duty ziplock bags of all sizes are your friends. Take pictures before you take something apart from all angles, lay the parts out in spatial order and take more photos, label the photos so you know where the parts go (left/right, front/rear are vitally important), bag the parts together in labeled ziplocks (even the grotty rusty fasteners), log them in a spreadsheet with notes on where the photos are stored, and then put them in a bin that has a label - that label should match a tab on your spreadsheet. Do this for all of your new parts as well - it keeps you from buying stuff over again a few years down the line.

The next step is to sit down and really have a conversation about what you want the car to be at the end of all of this. There are all kinds of possibilities at the moment, some bounded by budget, some by skill, some by time, some by available space. Figure out where the boundaries are today and plan accordingly. All of these can change over time, so whatever you decide now will need to be reviewed periodically as circumstances change. You can think ahead a bit by looking at future schedules. You are already doing some of this, but it helps to roll weather, school, other time commitments, etc. into your plan. Figure out what you can do "on your own" and work that into your available time schedule. For things that you need to farm out, I would recommend doing those when you don't have time to do work yourself. This keeps the project moving. Nothing turns an exciting project into a pile of junk faster than a loss of momentum.

An added consideration is your son's thoughts on automotive work as a career. What might at first seem like work to farm out might be a cheap learning moment about his future direction.

And as always, try to factor in mistakes. Things will go wrong. Some parts you thought were good won't be. Some people you purchase parts from won't be totally honest. Some work you do will not be done right and will have to be done over. Some shops you use to do work will be way too slow or wind up being more expensive than estimated. But that's what makes it fun.

 

[David Michailof]

Spike, I think we are on the same page. The siezed engine actually works in our favor. If we had a running car, our priorities would be different. Getting it on the road would be an irristable urge.

With the Engine, tranmission, and exhaust out the car is a wide open canvas. Everything on the frame/chassis is getting completed before we start on anything else. It's all so much easier with that open space.

We have not bought anything for the car other than a pair of "rollers" (well, we have bought a lot of tools, lubricants, penetrating oils, some spark plugs and a battery, plus a new set of cables/starter lead/ground. Bought the engine stand, borrowed the lift). We have parts, but they came with the car and are almost photo inventoried to the best of our ability. We don't know what parts we are missing yet, other than a front bumper, rear window trim and hood locks.

Any fancy parts will be bought right before installation. We don't have room to store much and taking the car apart has used that up. My son also has a budget for this based on his grades in school and whatever money he can make on the side. He buys parts, I provide tools and I cover any work we send out. He also provides 90-95% of all labor.

Mike,

With you on the bins, ziplocks, open trays, and photos. I'm trying really hard to get Lucas into spreadsheets but he just doesn't think that way yet. I may end up having to do that as my contribution to the project. Spreadsheets are my best friend, lol and I really like how you have laid it out.

Our time limit on the project is 2 - 3 years. I want it done by his high school graduation (which will be very close to my retirement). Our rule is if it came with the car try to use it. We are sticking with the 302. We are keeping the c4. Must do's are safety and handling. Steering/suspension and brakes got to be right from the beginning.

Some things have been put into a "come back" category. Projects we can do to upgrade our existing platform at a much later date after we have spent some time getting to know the car.

We are going to need to do some welding in phase 1 of the project so we are currently looking at welding classes at the local CC or trade schools. He loved getting his welding merit badge and was mad the class ended right when he started to get the feel for it. This is the perfect project for him to learn on so anything he is willing to try I will support.

Scheduling wise, I'm a teacher so we have we both have summers off.

 

[cjstaci]

When I was 15, my brother bought a 65 Mustang coupe for me. It was an “A” code (289 4v, dual exhaust) with a 4 spd. Words can’t explain how happy I was. He taught me how to do some work on it. We changed u- joints, tuned it , put new carpet in. When I got my permit, I drove everyone crazy asking them to ride with me so I could drive. Even though I always had an interest in the cars of the era, this was the start of my obsession with V8 performance cars and especially mustangs. I can probably relate to how your son feels.
Regarding the shock towers in your car, I would definitely recommend removing them either for repair or replacement. I have a 69 Mustang that I installed a mustang II front suspension in it. When I removed the shock towers, they were rusted pretty bad where they meet the frame rail. Prior to removing them, they looked perfect from what I could see. I would think that if yours are rusted through, it will be worse than what you can see. Years of road dirt and moisture is the enemy.
I hope you and your son have fun with this car because when it’s all said and done, the memories will last a lifetime.

 

[cjstaci]

By the way, I think you mentioned you have two new Mach 1 grills in ford boxes. If you want to sell one, I am definitely a buyer for it