New Guy! Project "Red Bull" (66' Mustang Coupe)

[maxamil]

Hello all,

I am new to these forums. I hang out alot on stangnet and vintage-mustang forums but this place looks like home! I have always wanted to make my Mustang a pro-touring ride since my parents bought it for me as a senior in HS. My project is a 1966 Mustang coupe. Now that I am out of college, married, and own a new home. It is time to begin working on project "Red Bull." Okay now on with the pics!! My build is going to attempt to place my 66 Mustang body onto a Schwartz Performance chassis. I have little to know fabrication skills, but I do have the determination to get something done and the willingness to learn.

[eatapeach]

Cant wait to see how it turns out. I have been playing around with the idea of doing the same thing. Car looks beautiful already though.

Do you know the widest rear tire you can run with their chassis?

[RicerwannaB]

Welcome, Looking forward to updates!

[Ron.in.SoCal]

Great project ~ ! Post a build thread in the project forums w lots o' pics...:)

[56pickup]

Sweet Project! Like Ron Said post lots of pictures! What do you have in mind for motor? I hope a new modular motor?!

Tyler

[maxamil]

@56pickup: Actually I already have a motor built for it. Sorry, it isn't a modular motor. What I will be running is a freshly built 351W stroked to 426ci with Edelbrock Victor Jr. Heads. It will make good power and be extremely light weight. I had it built by speed-0-motive down in SoCal. @Eatapeach: Schwartz is telling me with a minitub i can get 10" wide rear tires in the back so I am hoping to run 20x10 inch wheels on 315's in the rear.

[maxamil]

Some updates!! I bolted the front suspension together. The swaybar didnt fit as well as I would like it to. I may have to bend the arms to get it to fit.
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[Swiftandswank]

Cool build, I cant wait to see how the Schwartz frame is mated to the car

[56pickup]

[QUOTE=maxamil;823261]@56pickup: Actually I already have a motor built for it. Sorry, it isn't a modular motor. What I will be running is a freshly built 351W stroked to 426ci with Edelbrock Victor Jr. Heads. It will make good power and be extremely light weight. I had it built by speed-0-motive down in SoCal.

Still a nice motor! at least its a ford! :)

[maxamil]

Yup... I passed up a LS6 to keep going blue oval.

[linkstar69]

Look forward to watching how easy the unibody to full frame conversion is with the Schwartz chassis.

[devwil68]

frame looks great! looking forward to more updates!

[eatapeach]

any more updates?

[RobNoLimit]

Any more progress? I'm doing a swap like this on a Challenger. Very interested to see the Shwartz chassis swap in. Check it out - it's "No Limit Challenge-er"

[maxamil]

UPDATES!!! I got busy on the front end of the car. I chopped it off! =) Now cleaning all of the old body sealer out of the joints and welding everything up. Next step is cutting out the big bulge in the firewall where the heater box is located and smoothing that out with a flat panel. Pics!!

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[Crestronwizard]

Looking good.........I need to get off my ass and get to work on mine (reaches for another cookie and flips through the tv channels)...........

[maxamil]

@Crestonwizard LOL. I have been following your build also. I saw it on VMF now I am seeing it here. Keep up the good work. If i didn't already have a motor I would be calling you about that 4.6L. Now I'm on the search for a T-56 or a TKO600. I am looking forward to seeing progress on your build!

[Norm Peterson]

Next step is cutting out the big bulge in the firewall where the heater box is located and smoothing that out with a flat panel. Pics!!

Keep the idea of adding some panel stiffening in the back of your mind. Flat, unstiffened panels tend to develop boom-y resonances, and it's part of the reason that large OE panels have some rolled-in shape to them.


Norm

[maxamil]

Keep the idea of adding some panel stiffening in the back of your mind. Flat, unstiffened panels tend to develop boom-y resonances, and it's part of the reason that large OE panels have some rolled-in shape to them.


Norm

@Norm What do you suggest for stiffening? Beads rolled into the replacement panel?

[Chad-1stGen]

I like! Will be watching this build progress.

[linkstar69]

@Norm What do you suggest for stiffening? Beads rolled into the replacement panel?

Beads or similar would stiffen the panels considerably and keep the firewall looking more oem, it's always nice when you look at a car and have to try and work out if something's been changed or not.

[Norm Peterson]

↑↑↑ What he said.


Norm

[maxamil]

I just finished removing all of the necessary body panels to get the frame loosely underneath the car for some test fitting tonight. Still need to remove the rear valence and bumper and a little sheet metal around the gas tank but I think it is going to fit well. I still haven't decided if I want to channel the floorboards or mount the body on top of the frame.

[darkgable79]

I've been in touch with Dale over at Schwartz Performance about a chassis for my future project. This is the 1st build I've seen using their product. So I'm interested to see how this turns out. Keep up the good work.

[DaleBird82]

Updates?????

This is one of our early design chassis, we've made a few tweaks and changes in design since this one was built, so it looks a little different. FYI to the readers!

Call me with questions!

[maxamil]

More build progress!! I have made all of the clearance necessary to get the fram under the car for some test fitting. So far I have the rear bolted in to both spring mounts and the front I need to smooth out the firewall and add some angle iron before its finalized. I wish the chassis would fit tighter in the front area it is about two inches longer than needed to hug the firewall. Here are the pic of my progress.
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[85coupe50]

Good to see another build on a Ford. Great progress so far! Keep it up and this will be completed in no time flat.

@DaleBird82
Was this chassis supposed to use some of the orignal subframe sheet metal to hang the chassis from or intigrate into or was it inteneded to sit directly on the original subframes?

[Bryce]

@DaleBird82
Was this chassis supposed to use some of the orignal subframe sheet metal to hang the chassis from or intigrate into or was it inteneded to sit directly on the original subframes?

Yep, I think you are correct. Atleast the chassis that I have seen use the stock frame rail at that location. Oops.

[THIELMETALFABRICATION]

sweet build .. cant wait for more !!!

[maxamil]

Today I made room for the 315s! I still have a bit more to remove before I start putting it back together. Who says 315s wouldn't fit under a 66'? =)
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[Dolmaner]

beautiful car, keep up the updates

[csx4766]

Real nice project and clean Mustang to start with. Looking forward to the progress.

[Schwartz Performance]

... updates? :)

[maxamil]

@Schwartz Performance

No updates so far. I have been busy with the honey-dos around the home. I am trying to source a ford 9" 31 spline pumpkin for the rearend so I can mock up the wheels and tires to see if I need to cut away more sheet metal. I have a question for you, Is the front of the frame supposed to hug the firewall? Mine has a gap of a few inches. I want to know if this is normal or not.

[stillridin]

I'm doing a 67 mustang right now, with 20x10's. I also was looking at 315's. They seem to be a hair to wide for the 10's but 305's fit on there a little better and a lot cheaper. What side wall are you going to run? 25,30. Sorry for all the?'s. 18's in front? Lol

[Norm Peterson]

You really shouldn't run anything wider than 295's on 10" wide rims. That's the general tire industry guideline, not mine (I would prefer not to put even 285's on 10's strictly on a handling/cornering basis).


Norm

[maxamil]

I'm doing a 67 mustang right now, with 20x10's. I also was looking at 315's. They seem to be a hair to wide for the 10's but 305's fit on there a little better and a lot cheaper. What side wall are you going to run? 25,30. Sorry for all the?'s. 18's in front? Lol


I havent figured out what I am going to do yet. Right now I need to buy a brake kit and a pumpkin to get the true finished dimensions of the rearend before I make any final decisions. I think I want to run 18's all the way around the car. Remember I am running a aftermarket frame/chassis so my dimensions are going to vary from yours. You car is larger and wider so you should be able to easily run a wider/taller tire setup if you need to. The wheels and tires I used for the above pics fit on my friends 69' fastback with no mods just a 5/8" spacer and longer wheels studs.

[maxamil]

It has been awhile since my last post. My project has far exceeded my abilities. I think the Schwartz frame does not fit my car properly due to the large gap between the frame and my firewall. If you can look at the pic i posted earlier. There is about a 3 or 4 inch gap. If anyone can recommend a good fab shop in Central California maybe I can get this build back on track. Thanks!

[69stang]

It has been awhile since my last post. My project has far exceeded my abilities. I think the Schwartz frame does not fit my car properly due to the large gap between the frame and my firewall. If you can look at the pic i posted earlier. There is about a 3 or 4 inch gap. If anyone can recommend a good fab shop in Central California maybe I can get this build back on track. Thanks!

I can't recall if you were supposed to retain part of the front frame rails or not. I have some pics on my computer at home I can post up later to show the front relationship. I seem to remember seeing attached to the engine side of the firewall, a piece of plate, a section of tubing with a pair of side plates used to pickup those 2 holes near the firewall on the Schwartz frame.

From Schwartz site,
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/07/7116319945_ff8ba757ed_c-1.jpg
similar to this newer set up

[69stang]

pics
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114661

[maxamil]

pics
https://www.pro-touring.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114659&stc=1
https://www.pro-touring.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114660&stc=1
https://www.pro-touring.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=114661&stc=1

Thanks for the pics! That gives me a good perspective on how the frame fits to the firewall.