WIDE-BODY KIT FROM SCRATCH

[luxstang]

::welcome:: from Luxembourg, Europe.

The guy with the blacked out Magnums would be me but it´s only temporary to keep the car on the road while I´m waiting for my new tires to put the 18 inch rims back on.



Nice work! I´m really looking forward to the final result. I already like the air ducts in the quarters and the front fascia.

 

[Steven Harris]

Welcome.

Wide body - interesting!

 

[droptop73]

Welcome to the site from west Michigan!

That is a real cool concept. Keep progress pics coming, that's going to be a real head turner.

 

[matrixx]

When I saw this post I wasn't expecting high quality work like this because I have never seen it done, or posted on a forum.. I will be watching this thread, this is amazing. Can't wait to see more pics!

+1 not what I was expecting! Wide body 71-73s bring to mind some image of a funky ole drag car or those fiberglass panels Kurt can't seem to give away in the "pay it forward" section.

The level of craftsmanship put into this is sure to result in an amazing work of art. Thread should be "wide body done right!"

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wide-body71]

A little side by side to see the extent of the changes.The new design include creating what i call my version of a "SHELBY" "R CODE" front facia. Something you would see on a 66 or 68 transam race car only its for a 71-73. Next thing i did was snip the tips of the bumper brackets a couple of inches back and designed a new bumper that looks a little more like a 70 Shelby bumper meaning leaner and tighter to the body. I then pushed the light buckets back to the rad support, about 3" or so as well as the grill. I took this opportunity to remove the vertical supports that hold the hood latch receptacle since im going with the Areofoil locking hood mounted latches ( in place of the stock twist down locks) Rectangular Inner grill lights will probably become clear driving lights and the marker lights will be relocated in the all in one halogen head lights. I was contemplating removing the rectangular lights in the grill all together but there are some styling Q's that make a 71 a 71 and thats one of them.The car has to be instantly recognizable as a 71 Mach only it needs to look like its been on a heavy round of steroids. Lol. In other words, my muscle car's muscles needs more muscles

 

[caspianwendell]

Welcome from Arkansas. This is going to be an interesting build.

 

[Boss1Ray]

Welcome from Oklahoma!

I am definitely more of a purist but I am really impressed with your work.

Can't say I like all of it but it looks to becoming a great looking modded Mustang. Keep up the good work and also keep the pictures coming!

Ray

 

[Wide-body71]

Welcome, I had 2 65's before now and I agree that the lines are certainly unique and speak to you in a different way than the original coupe. I quite enjoy looking at it and oddly enough my Green 72 gets more attention than my Burnt orange metallic coupe did and that car was beautiful.

That is a sweet ride.

 

[Wide-body71]

Anyone know if there is a chance these gorgeous creation could find there way onto my car? I've been told by just about everyone around me that the car would look cool if I did 67 Shalby tail lights or some other tail light because the common feeling out there is that the 71 tail lights are not attractive. There is no way I'm changing those lights has been my response to that. However, for a set of these bad boys, I don't see myself finishing the build without them. They would completely legitimize the direction of the build.

 

[cudak888]

Those are Obsidian71's tail lights. See here: http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-obsidian71-2013-tail-light-install?page=5

They'll be produced sometime. He's got worse things to deal with now.

Incidentally, you're doing a beautiful job there forming that widebody - though I must say, the previous look of the car was unbelievably nice too. Love the Nascar stocker appearance:

How were the headlight openings cut into the mesh grill? Also curious how it was mounted. Possibly the best custom grill I've ever seen on a '71-73 - and the simplest.

-Kurt

 

[Wide-body71]

Hi Kurt. This is exactly how i purchased the car. Stock trim and ride height. Very nice but not really my taste so since i had a month to go before the season was here i chose to make a few tweaks. Lowered it front and rear 3". Put a posi 9" out of a 70 stang (with rear disc brakes) to tuck in the rear tire. Then i went with a 27" tall front tire and a 29" tall rear tire. Painted the rims and detailed the engine bay.. As for the grill, i enjoy going to this local metal supermarket and picking out cool stuff. Made the same grill a few years back on my 68.

Those are Obsidian71's tail lights. See here: http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-obsidian71-2013-tail-light-install?page=5

They'll be produced sometime. He's got worse things to deal with now.

Incidentally, you're doing a beautiful job there forming that widebody - though I must say, the previous look of the car was unbelievably nice too. Love the Nascar stocker appearance:

How were the headlight openings cut into the mesh grill? Also curious how it was mounted. Possibly the best custom grill I've ever seen on a '71-73 - and the simplest.

-Kurt

Front grill on the 68 was sanded and clear coated.The 71 was blacked out.





I basically make all of the angles, shapes and contours of the grill that i want with cardboard, masking tape and an exacto knife. once it fits and has places that can be used as mounting points i carefully flatten the cardboard template like a pattern and trace it onto the steel grill and cut it out. Then i put it in a sheet metal break and fold in all the angles.




At this point i still hadn't installed the 29" tall tire. It was still 25.5" or so and that large quarter needs more. Again everyone thought i was nuts until they saw how natural that tall tire looked in there.

 

[Rob73Mach1]

You got Skills, nice work and vision ::thumb::

PS

You can never have to much tire

 

[Wide-body71]

You got Skills, nice work and vision ::thumb::

PS

You can never have to much tire

Car looks sinister! Satin finish on the paint looks very even. I like it and i considered it-not easy to do it well.


A better picture of how the grill is mounted with just a few screws to the rad cover. I used the same grill for the brake cooling ducts in the chin spoiler i made. All the pieces are made out of an aluminum that i was able to put into a break and bund without it splitting on me, including the functional ram air tray i made. Since i dont know how to weld aluminum and i like more race appearance i used rivets to put it all together. 71 grill was just a rectangular cage and not as involved.

 

[cudak888]

Hi Kurt. This is exactly how i purchased the car. Stock trim and ride hight. Very nice but not really my taste so since i had a month to go before the season was here i chose to make a few tweaks. Lowered it front and rear 3". Put a posi 9" out of a 70 stang (with rear disc brakes) to tuck in the rear tire. Then i went with a 27" tall front tire and a 29" tall rear tire. Painted the rims and detailed the engine bay.

Now you have me even more interested about the stance than the grill (though your explanation was perfect, thank you). It so happens that we seem to share exactly the same tastes in stance and how much wheel should fit in a wheelwell - not to mention how far inboard, rather than outboard. Not many of us out there who prefer that look.

That said, did you take the 3" off the front with drop spindles or shorter springs? I see some negative camber, so I assume it came from the springs, correct? How about the rear? The stock shackles are quite close to the frame to start with, and I can't fathom how you did so, unless you used soft leafs with coil-over shocks (not that I'd recommend it on the fragile shock boxes).

You have me equally curious on the rear end. The disc 9" couldn't have been original to the '70; any idea where it came from? It's an art to stuff as much wheel as you can into a wheelwell and NOT tub the car - not to mention work it into the wheelwell so the outboard positioning looks bone stock. That's genius.

-Kurt

 

[Wide-body71]

Thanks for the props. You can almost see the 3" lowering block in the photo. The tire was only a 275 but i can't remember the aspect ratio. They are the same tires in the current build photos. Even they look tiny with the new body mods lol. The front was just a quick and easy coil cut. Worked fine for one summer. Need to hash that out in the new build. Rear brakes are SSB. Bought them slightly used locally. Car drove really nice.

 

[mach71351c]

::welcome:: From San Diego. I like it,I like it allot.

 

[rottenralph]

With all that beautiful carbon fiber bodywork and the fine body mods on the mach 1 I find it hard to believe you do not learn to weld aluminum. I really like the clean front of the underhood on the 68. It just keeps getting better.

 

[Wide-body71]

I picked up this trick looking export brace this winter. Wondering if anyone else has seen or used it. I don't have any feedback for anyone since it won't be going in for a while but I thought it was a nice piece with the quick pull pins that give you instant access to the sides of the engine. Don't have the company name handy but I googled custom export brace for 71 and found it in images if anyone is curious.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

MPG Heads sells that one I believe

The mount to the firewall flexes too much, the cross brace wont clear aftermarket large distributors or AC and the tabs the push pins go through bend easily.

They sell for about 315 bucks.

Given your skill set you could do much better

 

[Mister 4x4]

As one with a preference for the more "period correct" mods, I gotta say I like what you're doing! This is going VERY well, and you've got some mad skillz! ::thumb:: ::thumb:: ::thumb::

Can I ask which rear disc brake system did you go with and got stuffed into 15" wheels?