1966/2010 Mustang

[ndpace]

I am brand new to this site and this is my first post for a new project with my son. Step 1, drive train. see pictures. We pulled everything for the drive train from a rear-ended 2010 Mustang GT Convert with 35k miles. We have 3 goals for the project: 1. autocross/HPDE 2. Be unique at car shows 3. A 65/66 fastback
Our first short term goal is to start the motor in the car by the end of his xmas break. The car we are looking at is a 66 coupe with 10 point cage/full frame and mustangII tubular front. If we go this route we will need to decide the best way to convert to a fastback. Options are fiberglass body (http://www.usbody.com/Pages_Cars/64-Mustang.htm) or use repro metals panels. Let me know if anyone has input on either way. More pictures as soon as we get the car
Thanks, Jim and Elliot

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[NOT A TA]

Welcome! Sounds like a nice project. Buying the parts car first is a new twist and I like the cars in the background.

[MSTSFabbed]

Sweet! I'll be following along. I would personally go sheet metal over fiberglass, but some of that is just personal preference.

So are you thinking of working with the 2010 K member, or just "got it cause you had it" kind of a thing? We've measured that swap before and it would be very very challenging to get it low with those struts.

Good Luck!

[aidanfancystang]

I see you have your interior in those boxes as well! :jump:

[ace_xp2]

There're kits out there that are fiberglass roofs made convertible. Since you''ve already got a ten point I'd toss the stock roof and slap one of those on top. Get both a fastback and roadster in one. Like this : http://.item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=181151516424 (http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=181151516424) Sorry for mobile link & wrong year. Tough to do on phone.

[PortraitPro]

I have been working on classic Mustangs for a few years now. One poster suggested to make it a convertible with a removable top. A few issues with that. You will need to add a lot of extra structural pieces to the underside of the car, specifically to the trans tunnel, under the seat pans and to the rockers. You will find that these structural pieces under the car will crate some interference mainly with trying to fit an exhaust system. As for the other option of converting it to a fastback, you can by roof panels and convert it, but you will also need to replace the inner structure of the rear to that of a fastback, and will also need to replace the rear quarters and trunk area. You best bet would be to find a junked fastback that has been smashed in the front and then pull your pieces from the donor. A fiberglass roof will not provide the structural support needed to keep the body of the car from flexing even with a roll cage. Not to mention when you start cutting the car up, getting everything to line up (doors, trunk lid, fenders, etc.) is going to be a nightmare.

Based on the effort involved both physically and monetarily to convert the coupe to a fastback, I would suggest buying a decent fastback to start with and installing a set of frame rail connectors and cross supports like the kits that TCI offers. Mustang II kits and rack and pinion steering is a fairly simple add-on for Mustangs. All-in-all I think converting a coupe to a fastback is going to take you down a rabbit hole, and in the end it's never going to have the value of a true fastback.

[ace_xp2]

Yeah, it would need to be reinforced. Maybe something like a ten point cage and a full frame?

[SS PUNISHER]

Yeah, it would need to be reinforced. Maybe something like a ten point cage and a full frame? dude! Lmao...

[ndpace]

87865878698786687870878678786487868NOT_A_TA, I had the car picked out at the same time as the drive train but then there were some title issues. Now I have the car and ready to move forward. Picking up the fastback roof chop in a few weeks to do the conversion.

MSTSFabbed, I think I am going to go with what is already on the car but we will see. Do you have a late model motor in your 67?

a lot of work has been done on the car already, 4wdb, cage, front cross member, front & rear coil overs, rear 3 link, etc...
We need to check out whats there and see if we can use it all
I keep getting errors when I try to add new photos, I will try to post some soon
Jim

[PortraitPro]

I hope you got all of the inner support structures for the conversion and not just the roof.

[bikefreak600]

looks like a full tube chassy. that thing is worlds stronger than a stock mustang unibody. i would just get the fastback panels and convert it. however you will need to get a roof, roof support, doors, full quarter, trunk divider, trunk lid & trunk filler & glass. parts cost around $3500

this guy has done several conversions, all the parts are available aftermarket through dynacorn. a detailed conversion thread :
http://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/horse-sense-66-coupe-to-fastback-conversion.870734/

[gswartz]

Where in Oregon are you located? Can't wait to follow this build!

[Tig]

Welcome aboard
That is a great starting point. Looks awesome.
Lookin forward to your updates



subd

[ndpace]

bikefreak600 thanks for that link, it will be useful. Do you have a link to your 65 fastback build?

gswartz I am in the Milwaukie (Portland) area. Do you have a link to pictures of your mustang?

the front rotors we got are 13" the rears are 12". I need to know what calipers will work on this front end. does anyone recognize it?
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this the way to get a look at the custom frame we have. We don't have a rotisserie so this is next best thing. The front is so light my son and I can lift it off the ground, just not this high
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here is what we have underneath. Some of the smaller cross bars are just tacked in. Does anyone see anything that needs to be addressed?
The body is bolted to the frame which means we can lift the body off in the future
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[ochohill]

Those look like mustang spindles. You may identify the spindles here, maybe not.

http://forums.corral.net/forums/general-mustang-tech/1114886-94-95-spindles-96-how-tell.html

They could be from a later mustang. Also, those upper ball joints are suspect at best.

Griggs sells adapters. There is another company that makes them but I can't recall their name.

http://www.griggsracing.com/index.php?cPath=70_1443

[kmdracer]

Interesting. I suppose the conversion to Fb is a personal choice? I too like Fb more, but would be stoked to have that coupe as is. I've been looking around lately for a nice body 67-68 coupe to start a project. Will be following along here.

[bikefreak600]

sorry i do not have a build thread yet, i will make one before long. slow moving the past 4 yrs. your chassy is really nice ! that thing will make a nice road/ race car. looks like a majority of the raw fabrication is already done and that is a great platform for engine/ body swap etc. i will be following this one !

about those spindles, check the ball joint fitment you might be able to fit the 2010 mustang spindles and re use all the brake stuff. also looking at the trans tunnel & crossmember you should add a drive shaft safety loop.

[MSTSFabbed]

Nope, I'm abusing a mild '66 289 till it croaks. Then onto a roller 302 and EFI.

My boss has a couple of salvage 2012s and a 66 fastback and is considering a major transplant of new into old. We were trying to figure how much we can repurpose.

Looks like a good start! I'd double check your lower link brackets in the rear. Looks like some lateral gussets would be good insurance. Keep us posted!

[ndpace]

it is a measures as a tight fit... but we are getting close. Looking like we need custom long tube headers.

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[TheJDMan]

You stated that you want to do HPDE and Autocross with this car. Forgive me if this comes across as negitive but what you have there was built for dragracing and will likely be worthless for HPDE/Auto-X. The entire front chassis and suspension looks to be too light weight for serious high G cornering. I just don't see where that front end is going to work at all for what you want to do with the car. Even the support structure around the rack unit looks to be too light weight. Speaking of the rack, based on the tie rod angle the rack looks to be located too far aft in the chassis. In my opinion, you would be money ahead to sell that car to a dragracer and find a nice fastback to build a proper track car around.

[ndpace]

Steve, no worries on taking it negative. I havent built a project like this before and my use is based on what the seller told me the car was built for. I know, the seller isnt always the best source. I am interested if anyone out there has opinions or suggestions on how/if this could be modified to meet my goals.
Thanks in advance, Jim

[TheJDMan]

I would urge you to take a look at some of the aftermarket Pro-Touring front suspensions out there and compare them to what you have. For example, take a look at this picture of a current state of the art Pro-Touring Mustang front suspension from Detroit Speed. Note how much beefier all the components are compared to your setup. Also note that your suspension does not even have a provision for an Anti-Sway bar.

http://detroitspeed.com/1964-1970-mustang-products/032050-aluma-frame.html

I would just hate to see you spend tons of effort and money putting that car together only to find out it is totally inadequate for HPDE/auto-x.

[ndpace]

to get the 9in floater rear end built I need my wheel details. My goal is to run 10in wide 17 in diameter wheels front and back. Here is how they look on the front. they look doable with a 2-3 inch flare.
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[Zachalanche]

Steve, no worries on taking it negative. I havent built a project like this before and my use is based on what the seller told me the car was built for. I know, the seller isnt always the best source. I am interested if anyone out there has opinions or suggestions on how/if this could be modified to meet my goals.
Thanks in advance, Jim


I would urge you to take a look at some of the aftermarket Pro-Touring front suspensions out there and compare them to what you have. For example, take a look at this picture of a current state of the art Pro-Touring Mustang front suspension from Detroit Speed. Note how much beefier all the components are compared to your setup. Also note that your suspension does not even have a provision for an Anti-Sway bar.

http://detroitspeed.com/1964-1970-mustang-products/032050-aluma-frame.html

I would just hate to see you spend tons of effort and money putting that car together only to find out it is totally inadequate for HPDE/auto-x.


Not to stir the pot, but Here's my 2 cents:

as far as the frame is concerned, there appears to be some decent triagulation, and I would expect better stiffness than you would get from adding a bolt on suspension to stock mustang frame rails. I am not sure what the wall thickness is on your tubing, but if its near .120 you shoulbe in good shape. Even you suspension arm mounting tabs don't need to be overkill if they are loaded correctly.

The upper A arms seem to be sized about right, and those appear to be later model mustang spindles which should be plenty strong. my only concern is the lower A arm. looks like there might be some unnessesary bends that could alow the arm to buckle under high loads. Further more, the front and rear mounts for that arm are sisde by side and relatively close together. this my not hold up well under extreme repeated braking situations. this design also has me wondering what your caster cuve looks like, as well as the other aspects of your suspenion geometry (not that I am an expert on right verses wrong here, just intruiged). If it was me i would consider fabing up a new lower A arm, and I would extend its rear mount aft similar to the lower arm on the mustang that those spindles came from (something late 90's is my guess?).

the way the coil overs extend out to the spindles is good for keeping bending loads low. so all your lower A arm needs to do is support the compressive forces of cornering and shear forces of braking. this allows th arm to be much leaner in the middle so depending on wall thickness of the tubing, you may be ok here, but I couldn't tell you for sure just looking at the picttures, not knowing any of the dimensions, the weight of the car, or the quality of the material and welding.

Obviously the Detroit speed stuff looks beefy, because the corss member and arm mounts are aluminum. if it was steel, it would look much leaner.

Bottom line, I wouldn't get rid of the car because you have a lot of modification options that aren't as availble in a stock chassis. I think you could turn this thing into an excellent performer, but there are some parts of your front end that are diffrent from the norm, and at minimum you'll want to verify that they will work for your application. Without some calculation, or some kind of testing, it's all just speculation.

[ndpace]

Finally working on it again. First start since the motor was pulled from wreck 13 years ago


https://youtube.com/shorts/ohbU2zfXrV8?si=Qo5btg_b_9F0yD5c

[jaybee]

Nice, glad to see you working on this one again.