My wife's old car. '66 Mustang

[I_make_oil]

Well I figured it was time I started a build thread as this is the site that motivated me to build this car. In my introduction when I first joined the site I told the story of how we came to own the car and described my initial plan. Well reading this forum and driving the car with a modified inline 6 quickly convinced me to go another direction. I work in the oil industry in West Africa so my time home is very important to me. I also know my limited fabrication skills will extend the length of time this build will take and also effect the level of quality of the finished product. So I've chosen to use a builder out of Gonzales Louisiana.



Corey Fisher is a friend of mine from another site I post on who owns a body shop in Gonzales Louisiana, Fisher Collision. We have similar ideas about what we like so I think it'll be a good fit as my builder.

I want my car to be fun to drive, comfortable, turn heads and really perform. Something that I really like is fat tires on classic Mustangs. I mean really fat tires. 315's fat. That's difficult to do and I've rarely seen it on them so that's a priority for me. I don't like to see fat back tires overwhelm the fronts so the fronts will also be wide. I'm going with a 4 link suspension on the rear and a Rod and Custom MII on the front. Initially I was planning on going with shock waves on both front and rear but discussions with a rep at Rod and Customs convinced me otherwise. I'd love to go that way but have concerns about drive ability. How difficult is it to keep your front end aligned with air ride on the front? Anyways as of now I'll be going with coil overs. For the engine I've changed my mind a few times. Originally I was going with a 5.0 out of an 96 Explorer I bought for parts. Then I decided to go with a Coyote crate motor. But looking at other builds I decided I didn't like the way the engine looked in the car. What to do? Well my builder Corey contacted me and told me he found a great deal on a 351 W. We talked about it and I bought it. The engine once out together should put out in excess of 450hp. That's plenty for this car. Now I'm in the air about what transmission to go with. My rear will be a shortened 8.8 out of the explorer. I'm thinking about a T5 from Summit that is supposed to handle up to 600hp. Any advice on this? I guess that's it for now. Here is the project .

[I_make_oil]

When I first bought it.

[I_make_oil]

I'm posting while at work from my IPad. So I don't have all of my pictures here.

Here is the car with the engine and transmission pulled heading to Corey's.

[I_make_oil]

The car is nearly 50 years old and has been through quite a few owners. I can't even imagine how many times it's been painted. The car looks pretty good from a distance but closer up it really shows it's problems. Lots of paint blisters, the front fenders where welded to the windshield cowl at some point. Rust on fenders, doors and inner fenders where the obvious things. Corey and crew pulled the car down to see what was what.







Along the line Corey decided he wanted to record the build with a Go Pro some of the pics are from that. I'll post the video when the car is finished.



Floor boards. Someone patched them with fiberglass in the past. Lots of hidden gems like that as we proceed. Really we expected problems but to be honest the rust was much worse than I expected.

[I_make_oil]

We where finding lots of old body work so we decided to send the car off for soda blasting.



When we got it back every panel was found to be in need of work. Also found the car had been hit hard in the rear and on the drivers side and repaired.

[I_make_oil]

More pics

[I_make_oil]

All this rust and poorly repaired collision damage made me decide to just replace all the body panels instead of repairing them. Corey and crew cut them off and found more problems. The rear us framed where bent and pushed forward in the past. Corey went ahead and put the car on his frame machine and straightened everything out.

[I_make_oil]

DSE mini tub kit going in.

[I_make_oil]

The new tires. The fronts are 255 40 17's. The rears are 315 35 17's. The wheels will be Bullitts 8 x 17's on the front and 10.5 x 17's on the rear. I want the car to have a classic look and feel the Bullitt's give that. The new tires came in today.



And mocked up on the car.

[I_make_oil]

New floor pans



Body going back together.



And that's basically how it stands right now. Corey is installing the 4 link. Once the wheels come in they will be mounted on the tires and the measurements will be taken for the rear differential. Then the front suspension will be installed. I hope to have a roller by the end of the month.

[I_make_oil]

This is my first project anyone have any advice? What are the thoughts on the transmission? I've already bought a shot peened T5 bell housing. How about the ride tech shock waves. What if I just install them the back. I'd like to carry passengers from time to time. I worry about the rear sagging to much with the coil overs with passengers. Will it give an equivalent ride to coil overs?

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, man you went full head on in this. That's good. Don't lose the momentum. Stay away from t5 transmissions though. Either use a a toploader 4 speed or a TKO 500 or somthing... and if going with the 4 speed then nothing over a 3.55 rear gear... or you will never drive it... With a TKO anything up to a 4.11 will be good. What are you gonna do for a motor? An aluminum 427 would be nuts.... But even an iron 347 stroker will be more than enough in these light cars.

[I_make_oil]

Sorry I didn't mention the engine. I initially planned to build a 5.0 out of a 96 Explorer I bought for parts then decided I didn't like the way the intake looked so I sold it. Next I thought about a coyote but don't feel it looks right in the engine bay of a '66 either. One day Corey called me and told me about a 351W. A deal was made and now it's off being built. I hope to get around 450hp out of it. I think that will look just right I there. I had thought about stroking it but 450hp should be plenty.

On the tranny I'm seriously thinking about a T5 from summit. They have one rated for up to 600 hp. The rear I'm using is the 8.8 out of the explorer. It has posi loc and 3.73 gears. My concern right now is fitting the hood over the engine. I planned on keeping the stock hood now I'm thinking about a fiberglass hood with a big Shelby due to that. Corey says I might need to go with a cowl induction hood. I think I'll wait until the engine is in to decide.

[65coupe408w]

i have a G-force built T-5 behind a conservative 500hp 408w in my 65 fastback. I have had zero issues with it. I am running a 3.70 gear and cruise at 75mph at 2000rpm. if you have a built T-5 I wouldn't worry too much about its durability

[lucky13firebird]

Loving the explorer 8.8 idea. I got one in my 68 mustang. Same gears with posi. Can't go wrong with that 351. But go for a stroker, same price practically for a 408 as rebuilding that 351w... and you won't be stressing the parts as much with the extra power you'll make lower... The same 450hp out of a 408 is much easier than 450hp out of a 351.

[I_make_oil]

The engine was already built and only has a few hundred miles on it. The guy who originally built it had it in an old Cougar. For some reason it was only used a little while and then pulled. It then sat in storage for many years before I bought it. My mechanic is going thru it and freshening it up. All internals are forged and the heads are gone through. I think I'll leave it as it is for now.

The wheels came in today. Corey put the tires on and mocked it up and sent me a pic.



65coupe thanks for the advice on the transmission. Do you have a build thread?

[kencobra]

Looking great, love seeing more Mustangs on here. I am doing a very similar build with my '66 coupe.

[lucky13firebird]

Nice score on the engine then, I thought you were building from scratch. This things gonna fly.

[I_make_oil]

Thanks. Looking forward to finishing it so I can enjoy it. Still looking for any advice on the shock waves?

[Camberdually]

With the shock waves air ride has come along way. Up until 3 years ago even my daily driver had air ride. I'm sure they have something similar to accuair if not check them out. This setup will give you the exact ride height at the push of a button every time so your alignment is fine. I always ran pressure gauges and this helped me out on aligned ride height but the acclaim is a whole mother game. It goes on height not pressure so if 50 people pile in your car it will still raise to the aligned preset height. My last dually I put over 100k miles with air ride and besides normal maintenance everything was flawless. Good luck.