Half-Breed

[Zachalanche]

Just been plugging away with wiring and plumbing lately. Most of it's kind of a mess right now, but I'm getting everything laid out so I can make sure I have the right lengths on everything.
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[Zachalanche]

Tail panel finished.
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[qnitro]

Hero level....... EXPERT

[Zachalanche]

Hero level....... EXPERT

I'll be happy if I can get it to look half as good as your black one.

[ryeguy2006a]

Love the build man and excellent engine choice! I can't wait to see this thing completed!

[Zachalanche]

Started on the exhaust last weekend. I made it from the headers to the torque arm mount. trying to keep it tight for maximum ground clearance. so far so good.
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also working on my diffuser design. the bottom of the tank already tapers upward, but I have room on each side for some deeper channels. I've even been thinking about tying the exhaust into it making it a blown diffuser. Obviously with no testing or supporting data, I have no idea if this will actually increase down force. The rear coil overs also create a bit of an obstacle for air flow. like many things on pro-touring cars, it will be more of an exercise in fabrication.
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[Zachalanche]

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[andrewb70]

Zach,

Looking great. I love those header clamps. Ultimate Headers?

Also, I vote you keep this car in epoxy primer and consider a wrap! The last thing you want is for this thing to be "too pretty to drive."

Andrew

[Centerforce]

We can't wait to see the whole car in that sweet purplish-blue color! In the meantime, the stripped-down caged look is not disappointing, either!

[andrewb70]

We can't wait to see the whole car in that sweet purplish-blue color! In the meantime, the stripped-down caged look is not disappointing, either!

The color is called blurple....

Andrew

[Zachalanche]

The color is called blurple....

Andrew

Hahaha. THE shop lights really don't flatter that color. Should look good in the sun though.

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[Zachalanche]

Zach,

Looking great. I love those header clamps. Ultimate Headers?

Also, I vote you keep this car in epoxy primer and consider a wrap! The last thing you want is for this thing to be "too pretty to drive."

Andrew

Kooks headers.

At the going rate for wraps these days I may be afraid to drive it after it was wrapped.

Seriously though, the thought had crossed my mind, but I would still like a proper paint job underneath. Besides, I'll probably make enough mistakes painting it that it will be ugly enough to drive.

[Zachalanche]

We can't wait to see the whole car in that sweet purplish-blue color! In the meantime, the stripped-down caged look is not disappointing, either!

Thanks, cheers.

[Zachalanche]

Been ramping up production a bit lately. Most of it has been wiring, and hoses. so there aren't a lot of good pictures that show progress. I did get my Dakota digital gauges put together, and I must say this package is sweet. Easy to wire, and setup, and looks really good...probably better than the pictures show.

While I was in the process, I decided I didn't like how the wood grain looked with the gray parts of the interior (mostly the roll cage) Plus the on the clock side of the dash the wood grain was starting to peel. So I ordered some black wood grain vinyl off amazon and re-wrapped my gauge bezels. The picture was immediately after install, so a couple small bubbles can be seen, but they have since disappeared.

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The exciting part after near 8 years without running is that things are starting to come to life. So far, I have working tail lights, wipers, heater and AC, starter, and fuel pump.
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[OLDFLM]

That black wood grain looks SO good!

[andrewb70]

Zach,

You should install a solid state sequential blinker system. The folks that make the plug and play ones also make a universal unit.

Andrew

[LERM]

Absolutely next level build sir. Very cool. I'm inspired by the cage work. I can't wait to get after caging my project.

[cdoublejj]

them some wide tires, does wider mean more traction and better cornering? Or is there a limit somewhere in-between?

[Zachalanche]

them some wide tires, does wider mean more traction and better cornering? Or is there a limit somewhere in-between?

Short answer yes, but, I'm sure there is a point of diminishing returns. However, before that point is reached there is usually a whole bunch of compromises that come into play. For example I have had to limit my turning radius a bit to keep the wheel from contacting the lower A-arm. I think this will be fine for track use (my car will have a similar turning radius to most corvettes). but if I was a drifter I would have nowhere near enough steering angle.

[Zachalanche]

Zach,

You should install a solid state sequential blinker system. The folks that make the plug and play ones also make a universal unit.

Andrew

Thanks for the info. that would also require multiple bulbs in my tail lights too. I'm more or less in critical path mode right now. things like that will have to be upgrades down the road.

[Zachalanche]

Absolutely next level build sir. Very cool. I'm inspired by the cage work. I can't wait to get after caging my project.
Sweet. thanks. Let me know if you have any questions. I learned a lot while I was building my cage that I would be happy to share.

- - - Updated - - -


That black wood grain looks SO good!

More to come with that stuff.

[Zachalanche]

New part showed up in the mail.:bananna2:
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[andrewb70]

Oh yeah....sexy...

Andrew

[Zachalanche]

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[Zachalanche]

Thought I'd try something different with the rear part of my interior. This car is going to end up somewhere in between a street car and a trans am race car as far as interior goes. I didn't want to do the typical aluminum panels that you would see in a 70s trans am car. I decided to only fill the holes in the internal structure with aluminum. I also applied the same black wood grain that I used on the dash. I have a ways to go, but so far am liking the results. I still need to do something to fill in the random holes and clean up the rough edges on some of the original sheet metal.
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[cla5675]

Very cool and creative!!:cool:

[andrewb70]

That looks sweet, but it'll still sound like a tin can...but it's mostly a race car anyway...lol

Andrew

[Centerforce]

The black wood look is pretty neat! Credit for thinking outside the box on that one!

[Zachalanche]

Very cool and creative!!:cool:


That looks sweet, but it'll still sound like a tin can...but it's mostly a race car anyway...lol

Andrew


The black wood look is pretty neat! Credit for thinking outside the box on that one!


Thanks guys. This is still mostly incomplete. Once I get more of the interior in I should have a good balance of black and light grey.

With all the vinyl available on amazon, it was hard not to pick something absolutely ridiculous like snake skin, or urban camo.

as for noise, I may put some mass loaded vinyl on the backs of these panels so they don't act like speakers. but compared to the original 70 mustang, I cant imagine I am giving up all that much noise reduction in that area.

[Zachalanche]

I modified my radio bezel to house the brake bias adjuster. This created the new challenge of figuring out where to put the stereo. So I decided to use one designed for a UTV. what you see is just the control interface, and the head unit can be remote mounted. Really all this does is Bluetooth to a phone or other device. so I don't have a radio, but do you really need any other functionality these days? Its simple, reasonably priced, and doesn't have anything I don't need.

Also I'm not sure If I like the bright blue. The knob may get painted at some point.
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[Zachalanche]

https://goo.gl/photos/JM1uTWC5wgvfHxmu7

[andrewb70]

Oh yeah...making vroom vroom sounds!

[Zachalanche]

Oh yeah...making vroom vroom sounds! couldn't have done it without your help.

[andrewb70]

couldn't have done it without your help.

Glad to help...

Andrew

[Zachalanche]

I finally got the exhaust wrapped up. this is something that took way more man hours than I thought it would. I built a reducer to transition to 2.5 in after the muffler to be able to navigate past the Watts link. Sure I could have run it out the side, but If I can't do things the hard way, I usually don't do them at all. Plus, this car had side exhaust years ago, and I got tired of the smell and noise. I'm fairly pleased with the finished product.
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[Zachalanche]

To replace the back seat, armed with none of the right tools, I was able to piece together some straight pieces of carpet to cover the back half of the interior. I also wrapped the rear fire wall with some textured Faux leather vinyl.148344148345148346

[Zachalanche]

I normally am not much of a fan of center consoles in old cars, but since the original steering column has ben deleted, I need a new location to house all of the controls that used to be integral to the steering column. So the center console will no contain the horn, hazards, ignition switch, and turn signals. The new turn signal will take a bit to get used to , but I'm using a switch off a motorcycle (which is pretty familiar for me) and I think it should work pretty well. Its not finished yet, but here's a few progress photos. The top will be wrapped in black wood grain to match the dash.
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[railroad bob]

Light blue white stripe, much nicer combo.
Thanks again for the talk the other day Zach.
I'm wading thru your thread, great info.

Well, after I posted, I found you settled on a color, looks good. Nice job on the console.
I missed the info on the steering column, what type are you using?
I noticed some race cars have a removable steering wheel, but I was told those are not legal for street.

[xsboost90]

how have i not seen this yet? Nice choice on the engine and build looks awesome. I went with an LY6 "LS3" in my 64.5

[Zachalanche]

Light blue white stripe, much nicer combo.
Thanks again for the talk the other day Zach.
I'm wading thru your thread, great info.

Well, after I posted, I found you settled on a color, looks good. Nice job on the console.
I missed the info on the steering column, what type are you using?
I noticed some race cars have a removable steering wheel, but I was told those are not legal for street.


I've never heard that, but inspection shops where I live always seem to have their opinions. Either way, I'll be registering my car as vintage, so it won't require inspection. Of course I could then be pulled over for it, assuming it's even a law, but you can be pulled over for just about anything anyway.

Edit: I think any applicable laws regarding steering wheel replacement apply to cars with airbags.

all my steering stuff I bought through Woodward. My steering shaft has a massive amount of collapsibility which I see as a safety improvement. Everything is splined including the wheel disconnect so there is minimal play.

[Zachalanche]

how have i not seen this yet? Nice choice on the engine and build looks awesome. I went with an LY6 "LS3" in my 64.5

Excellent. Have you been enjoying the reactions of the traditionalists when you tell them about your build?

[Zachalanche]

here's the center console mostly complete. I need to finish up the wiring underneath. also the aluminum was to thin for the switches to snap in tightly, so I need to make an additional ring to snap underneath to hold everything tight.

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[Zachalanche]

Pulled the mustang out of the garage today so that I could take this horrible sun-washed picture. Its the first time this car has moved under its own power in about 9 years. that part feels pretty good.
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[Zachalanche]

Installed the doors. this is really just a test fit. I need them in place to line up the fenders so I can fabricate the front flares. the doors will also need a bit of work to make the gaps look right. Tons of work ahead, but for now I get the satisfaction of seeing this project become more of a car.
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[digitalsolo]

This is really coming along! I hope to have mine running in the next few months. That thing looks mean with that wheel/tire combo and the sheetmetal mocked up.

[railroad bob]

Looking good, can't wait to see the flares go on.

[migg400]

Pulled the mustang out of the garage today so that I could take this horrible sun-washed picture. Its the first time this car has moved under its own power in about 9 years. that part feels pretty good.
149229


Very Happy for you!!! It's looking good with the sun shinning on it. I can't wait for start mine for the first time next week, it's been about 7 years for me!

[Zachalanche]

I've been fitting body panels and spraying primer lately. Progress is slow, but its exciting to see it look more like a car. I also just realized that I mounted the master cylinder reservoirs in the way of the hood hinge :hand:. But, what fun is a project without a little rework.
154098

[1970 Boss]

Man - seeing it run and with the body panel being installed makes me excited to see your progress!!!

[Project Bike Truck]

Well I just spent the entire morning reading this build! Killer build, subscribing for sure. You were way ahead of your time when you started this build.

[JRANGER]

man this is awesome. As a guy building 2 mustangs (Well trying too) i love this thread. Granted ones a cheap build (73 Coupe) and the other is a street/pro-touring ish 65 fb conversion build. Keep up the good work. Def subscribing

[Zachalanche]

Well I just spent the entire morning reading this build! Killer build, subscribing for sure. You were way ahead of your time when you started this build.

I appreciate your comment. People constantly ask why I didn't put a coyote in it, and I have to explain that the coyote wasn't even available when I purchased the engine for this car. And back then ls swaps were common for some cars, but they weren't in absolutely everything. Thought I was going to have something unique. I'm almost surprised there isn't a vintage mustang ls swap kit out now.

[Zachalanche]

man this is awesome. As a guy building 2 mustangs (Well trying too) i love this thread. Granted ones a cheap build (73 Coupe) and the other is a street/pro-touring ish 65 fb conversion build. Keep up the good work. Def subscribing

Like you I am also juggling multiple car projects. My 67 fairlane is my cheap project. I enjoy the challenge of not spending any money on that car while finding ways to improve it. But I often get carried away and waste valuable time that could have been spent on the mustang.

[1968Mustang]

Do you happen to have a status update? I curious what you think of griggs suspension. I have a 68 coupe that I'm thinking about Griggs or Mike Maier Inc for suspension jaut would like to hear from someone that has installed and used.
Thanks

[Zachalanche]

Not much progress in the past year sadly. Although I did do some work this evening redesigning my master cylinder reservoir mount. But rework slows a project down faster than no work. Ugh.

Honestly, I haven't done more than drive this car up and down the street by my house, so I cant speak to its performance. Although I'm happy to report no binding creaking banging or other drivability issues. This car is very powerful and easily spins the aged to perfection worn out track tires that are on it, and when doing so, the car behaves predictably has no wheel hop, and has quite a bit of forward bite.

What I like:
You can run a massive front tire without flares, and if you are willing to give up a little turning radius, you can go even wider.

Bruce griggs is very intelligent, and if you can get a hold of him will talk your ear off.

I think the product is robust and well designed.

It has already proven to be 10x better than the only mustang II kit that was on the car in droveabilty alone.

What I dont like:
I purchased a brake kit from griggs right before their buy out of Sierra fell through. So now I have calipers that are hard to find parts or replacements for. Not necessarily their fault, just kind of a bummer deal.

Not much ground clearance under the rear shocks and torque arm. So far I haven't contacted the ground, speed bumps or anything else. And I've put the car on a couple u haul trailers with no issue. So this might not really even be a problem.

Griggs frequently seems like they are having financial trouble which worries me in regard to future support. So please for my sake buy from them lol. I think Bruce is a good guy and means well but his ship times were long (10 years ago now), an it appears coretex is out pacing him in sales with a very similar product. There is speculation that some of the cortex designs came from griggs, but who knows. Point here is Bruce seems to be a nice guy finishing last. I hope for my sake things go better, but that is concerning for a new buyer.


I think if I were to do it again I'd still buy griggs over maier. But the tougher choices would be griggs vs coretex. I think agent 47 is also building some awesome stuff, but not sure you can buy it separate from the car they sell.

Hope this helps, wish I could give you a better review. Hopefully I can make some progress this summer and finally have a chance to really see what this thing can do.

[1968Mustang]

Thanks for your input and hopefully you finish your project up soon. The more I do research on different Systems the more confused i get. GRIGGS Maier Cortex or Street and Track. All have pros and cons.
Thanks again.

[Zachalanche]

What are your plans/goals for the car? I think its human nature to talk yourself into the best most expensive solution. Its certainly what I did in every aspect of my build. The car should be great when it's done, but I have missed out on years of driving enjoyment trying to make it "the best", or "perfect". Plus it's been such a long project that everything is now outdated.

I did have it easier than you though, griggs was pretty much the only choice in its class of suspension when I purchased it. And they only had 1 or 2 options at the time.

[1968Mustang]

The plan for the car is to have a fun car I can enjoy with my 10yr son and create memories in. I plan getting into Autocross maybe some open track stuff at some point. I have also enjoyed cars that handle well rather than going fast in a straight line. What I have is a 68 Coupe. All the bad metal has been replaced while adding Detroit Speed Mini-tub kit over last few yrs. I understand the long project 6yrs already. The car was just media blasted last Friday and is sitting on a rotisserie.

Really what I'm ready to do is drive have fun and create memories with a car that is different than your normal mustang. Going with 331, 5spd because its cheap and affordable. Would like to have running end of spring next year.
I'll try to post pick of status later tonight.
Thanks again.

[Zachalanche]

Sounds like a good combo. Sky is the limit on spending money, but a simple a arm drop, and some good springs and sway bar goes a long way for dirt cheap. If you want adjustable ride height and more tuneabillity, that's where you should start looking at the pricier kits. One final recommendation is to only go with rack and pinion if it's a system truly designed to have rack and pinion (griggs is). For other systems that only relocate the upper a arm, but are mostly similar to the original design, stick with the steering box. The aftermarket rack and pinion kits tha mount behind the front crossmember are fundamentally flawed.

[CSG]

Not much progress in the past year sadly. Although I did do some work this evening redesigning my master cylinder reservoir mount. But rework slows a project down faster than no work. Ugh.

Honestly, I haven't done more than drive this car up and down the street by my house, so I cant speak to its performance. Although I'm happy to report no binding creaking banging or other drivability issues. This car is very powerful and easily spins the aged to perfection worn out track tires that are on it, and when doing so, the car behaves predictably has no wheel hop, and has quite a bit of forward bite.

What I like:
You can run a massive front tire without flares, and if you are willing to give up a little turning radius, you can go even wider.

Bruce griggs is very intelligent, and if you can get a hold of him will talk your ear off.

I think the product is robust and well designed.

It has already proven to be 10x better than the only mustang II kit that was on the car in droveabilty alone.

What I dont like:
I purchased a brake kit from griggs right before their buy out of Sierra fell through. So now I have calipers that are hard to find parts or replacements for. Not necessarily their fault, just kind of a bummer deal.

Not much ground clearance under the rear shocks and torque arm. So far I haven't contacted the ground, speed bumps or anything else. And I've put the car on a couple u haul trailers with no issue. So this might not really even be a problem.

Griggs frequently seems like they are having financial trouble which worries me in regard to future support. So please for my sake buy from them lol. I think Bruce is a good guy and means well but his ship times were long (10 years ago now), an it appears coretex is out pacing him in sales with a very similar product. There is speculation that some of the cortex designs came from griggs, but who knows. Point here is Bruce seems to be a nice guy finishing last. I hope for my sake things go better, but that is concerning for a new buyer.


I think if I were to do it again I'd still buy griggs over maier. But the tougher choices would be griggs vs coretex. I think agent 47 is also building some awesome stuff, but not sure you can buy it separate from the car they sell.

Hope this helps, wish I could give you a better review. Hopefully I can make some progress this summer and finally have a chance to really see what this thing can do.

Zach,

I know when cortex first started he came in with his modular spindle. Most of the other parts he had were actual griggs parts or at least exact duplicates. I always kind of thought that he used griggs stuff except where he felt he wanted an updated part. Those always seemed like just a newer version of what griggs had. I am curious if you know anything about what if any relationship there is/was between the two.

[andrewb70]

I would also consider bolt in full chassis options.

Andrew

[Zachalanche]

Zach,

I know when cortex first started he came in with his modular spindle. Most of the other parts he had were actual griggs parts or at least exact duplicates. I always kind of thought that he used griggs stuff except where he felt he wanted an updated part. Those always seemed like just a newer version of what griggs had. I am curious if you know anything about what if any relationship there is/was between the two.

I honestly dont know. Anything I could tell you would be nothing more than spreading a rumor I heard. I've probably said too much already.

[builttodrive]

Not much progress in the past year sadly. Although I did do some work this evening redesigning my master cylinder reservoir mount. But rework slows a project down faster than no work. Ugh.

Honestly, I haven't done more than drive this car up and down the street by my house, so I cant speak to its performance. Although I'm happy to report no binding creaking banging or other drivability issues. This car is very powerful and easily spins the aged to perfection worn out track tires that are on it, and when doing so, the car behaves predictably has no wheel hop, and has quite a bit of forward bite.

What I like:
You can run a massive front tire without flares, and if you are willing to give up a little turning radius, you can go even wider.

Bruce griggs is very intelligent, and if you can get a hold of him will talk your ear off.

I think the product is robust and well designed.

It has already proven to be 10x better than the only mustang II kit that was on the car in droveabilty alone.

What I dont like:
I purchased a brake kit from griggs right before their buy out of Sierra fell through. So now I have calipers that are hard to find parts or replacements for. Not necessarily their fault, just kind of a bummer deal.

Not much ground clearance under the rear shocks and torque arm. So far I haven't contacted the ground, speed bumps or anything else. And I've put the car on a couple u haul trailers with no issue. So this might not really even be a problem.

Griggs frequently seems like they are having financial trouble which worries me in regard to future support. So please for my sake buy from them lol. I think Bruce is a good guy and means well but his ship times were long (10 years ago now), an it appears coretex is out pacing him in sales with a very similar product. There is speculation that some of the cortex designs came from griggs, but who knows. Point here is Bruce seems to be a nice guy finishing last. I hope for my sake things go better, but that is concerning for a new buyer.


I think if I were to do it again I'd still buy griggs over maier. But the tougher choices would be griggs vs coretex. I think agent 47 is also building some awesome stuff, but not sure you can buy it separate from the car they sell.

Hope this helps, wish I could give you a better review. Hopefully I can make some progress this summer and finally have a chance to really see what this thing can do.


Love the build! I can't speak for Griggs in a vintage stang but I have it in my 07 Shelby Gt500 and the car handles amazing and is very predictable which is good with a car making a little north of 700 RWHP on a 295 Michelin street tire. I think I can say the tires offer a lot of grip but the suspension is definitely working well to help get the power down. I was a little leery of using a suspension system for my 70 Mach 1 project that altered the car much and also trying to keep cost down so I elected to go with a bolt in kit so that if one day the company up and folded and I lost support/parts, it wouldn't be too tough to purchase another and install it or even revert to a stock system if need be.

[69Phoenix]

Awesome build. I miss my 70’ Mach so bad. Wish I had the foresight to hold onto it. Good to see some Ford iron being treated right. Keep the posts coming.

[Zachalanche]

Its been more than a year since my last post. but I have been slowly trying to break out of paint jail. I'm a bit of a novice at bodywork, so I think I burned a lot of time putting filler on just to sand it back off. Also, I lack proper tools other than a few sanding blocks. So, doing absolutely everything by hand has also added a bit of time.

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Here's a shot after a bit of wet sanding. things are starting to look pretty good at this point.
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[1968Mustang]

Glad to see that your still working on it. Hopefully you will get to drive it pretty soon.

[Zachalanche]

Here, everything is blocked with 400 grit, and masked for paint
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[jaybee]

The car looks SO mean with all that tire tucked under it.

[chunger]

Nice job! It's really coming along!

Whats the story on the Fairlane in the garage?

[Zachalanche]

Nice job! It's really coming along!

Whats the story on the Fairlane in the garage?


Thanks.

The Fairlane was my first car. Over time it has inherited many of the old parts that came off my Mach 1, some of which the Mach 1 stole from the Fairlane years ago. suspension arms and sway bars, springs, disc brakes, 9 in rear, t5 trans. It has 5.0 HO efi on the original 289. I also did the Shelby drop to the upper control arms which surprisingly made a massive improvement in handling. She's a bit rough around the edges, but a fun car to cruise around in.

179635

[Zachalanche]

Since i have been doing body work for so long, I have been rethinking the final color. Since i am not sticking with the dark blue I'm switching to a gray primer to seal.

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[Zachalanche]

Also, this car takes up a lot of space when the body is disassembled like this. I seem to have created some kind of painters obstacle course.

[andrewb70]

Thanks.

The Fairlane was my first car. Over time it has inherited many of the old parts that came off my Mach 1, some of which the Mach 1 stole from the Fairlane years ago. suspension arms and sway bars, springs, disc brakes, 9 in rear, t5 trans. It has 5.0 HO efi on the original 289. I also did the Shelby drop to the upper control arms which surprisingly made a massive improvement in handling. She's a bit rough around the edges, but a fun car to cruise around in.

179635

I like that it is a post car.

Andrew

[Zachalanche]

Finally some color!

Base
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Clear
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After a bit of dry time I can finally start putting the car together for good. Hopefully I labeled everything well enough back in 2009 when I started tearing the car apart.
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[Mikey97D]

Wow, that looks great. It really pops!

[Zachalanche]

Wow, that looks great. It really pops!
Thanks.

not sure what the color looks like to you, but i have noticed it appears slightly more brown on my computer screen, and slightly more pink on my phone, but in real life its about as red as it gets, and it looks killer.

[andrewb70]

I like red cars!

[Mikey97D]

It looks red on my screen.

[Zachalanche]

Close up of the hood vent. I was really on the fence about adding these, but I think they ended up looking pretty good.

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[slimjim]

Zach, great job on the bodywork, I'm really impressed with the results, what brand of paint did you go with?

[Zachalanche]

Zach, great job on the bodywork, I'm really impressed with the results, what brand of paint did you go with?


limco with a slow activator for the clear.

i need to cut and polish at some point but i was surprised at how well things turned out for a garage job. initially i was a little disappointed with the amount of debris in the hood, but then i compared it to one of my old fender extensions which still had the last paint job (which wasn't perfect, but i thought it was pretty good), and that fender extension comparatively looked like someone sprinkled sand on it between coats, so at least i have improved the car.

Btw i looked at your car and your primer application looks fantastic. you should be able to achieve results that are a step above mine.

[Motown 454]

Nice job!

[slimjim]

limco with a slow activator for the clear.

i need to cut and polish at some point but i was surprised at how well things turned out for a garage job. initially i was a little disappointed with the amount of debris in the hood, but then i compared it to one of my old fender extensions which still had the last paint job (which wasn't perfect, but i thought it was pretty good), and that fender extension comparatively looked like someone sprinkled sand on it between coats, so at least i have improved the car.

Btw i looked at your car and your primer application looks fantastic. you should be able to achieve results that are a step above mine.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I'm certainly weighing my options on doing it myself. again, great job, I look forward to pictures in the sun.

[ryeguy2006a]

Great job on the paint!! That color looks very close to mine.

[Zachalanche]

Great job on the paint!! That color looks very close to mine.

Thanks. here's another:
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[Zachalanche]

I've been slowly picking away at reassembly over the past couple of weeks. despite my optimism about how i am on the downhill run now, it seems like every little part requires many hours for cleaning, and modifying to fit the car. for example the new doors are stamped a little different than the originals, and there as conflict between the button mechanism and the door frame. Also, good luck not scratching paint while installing dozens of razor-sharp oddly shaped trim pieces (i think im doing ok so far). Additionally there were a lot of wood screws holding this car together before i started this project, so sourcing the correct fasteners has caused a little slow down. luckily I had the foresight to fix all the blown out screw holes while the car was on the rotisserie.

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I installed my grille cover which was gifted to me many years ago. its nice to have this delicate piece off the shelf and on the car. looks like a simple installation, but as usual required a bunch of fabrication. I had to relocate my ac condenser an inch downward to get the dryer canister to sit lower.
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Finally starting to get some glass back in the car. Yet another thing that is a pain to store and move around. hopefully I can get the door glass in soon, the beltline weather-stripping is on backorder until the end of the month.
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I think my favorite part of this process is clearing things off the shelf and recycling the carboard boxes......also nice that the car is looking more like a car after all these years.

[andrewb70]

Progress is progress!

[Zachalanche]

This sanding and painting thing is so much fun I thought I'd do a little bit more of it this past weekend. Also, does anyone know if there is a standard font for sarcasm? I will admit that I was pretty nervous about getting the sand paper back out on my freshly painted hood, but I think it went well, and gave me higher confidence that I should be able to do a decent job with a cut and polish (whenever I get to it).
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here it is after spraying black base and a flat clear. I also painted the rear spoiler and hood scoop while I was at it.
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I also re-painted the shock tower brace. It's been needing paint since making some recent modifications to it to hold the master cylinder reservoirs and oil separator. I figured why not paint it red.
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[ryeguy2006a]

Looking great man!

[Mikey97D]

Looks great!

That is a very interesting 351 under the hood (notes on the hood).

[Zachalanche]

Looking great man!
Thank you sir.


Looks great!

That is a very interesting 351 under the hood (notes on the hood).

I've got some extra SBF valve covers, maybe i'll cut them up and put them over the coils. :naughty:

[Falcon64]

Zach,

I know when cortex first started he came in with his modular spindle. Most of the other parts he had were actual griggs parts or at least exact duplicates. I always kind of thought that he used griggs stuff except where he felt he wanted an updated part. Those always seemed like just a newer version of what griggs had. I am curious if you know anything about what if any relationship there is/was between the two.

Griggs and Cortex were almost-neighbors eithr side of me at Sonoma Raceway before Griggs moved 10 years ago. Each of their fabricators hung out together.
Griggs was elusive ....Cortex is the opposite, straight up and deep in the tech. Filip is a great guy.
P.S. i have a 64 Falcon Futura with chev power. Bought the body shell from a Cortex fabricator.

[214Chevy]

Close up of the hood vent. I was really on the fence about adding these, but I think they ended up looking pretty good.

179656


I think the hood vents were a great addition. They add detail...

[Zachalanche]

I won't say the car is complete, but the rest of the things I have left to do won't be changing the overall appearance. I'm pretty happy with the color, it is red hot in the sun for sure.

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[thumper877]

Looks great

[andrewb70]

Fantastic red. Looks very similar to the red on my GTO, especially with the black wheel centers and polished lips.

[ryeguy2006a]

Beautiful car man! Always great to see a project nearing the end of completion.

[Zachalanche]

I think the hood vents were a great addition. They add detail...


Looks great


Fantastic red. Looks very similar to the red on my GTO, especially with the black wheel centers and polished lips.


Beautiful car man! Always great to see a project nearing the end of completion.



Thanks guys.

[Zachalanche]

Finally the car is registered and insured. I took it for its first legitimate drive on real roads about a week ago. I must say this thing disappoints.....well maybe a better way to put it is that I haven't worked everything out yet.

The car cuts out pretty hard under full throttle. at first I thought it was a fuel supply issue. there was no problems like this when the car was on the dyno a few years back, so I wondered if it was related to fuel starvation under hard acceleration. the fuel cell has an internal baffle with trap doors so I don't think its unavailability of fuel, but I was suspicious of a kinked hose inside the tank so I replaced it with corrugated plastic line. Additionally The fuel pump was very very loud and this has since been corrected with a new Fuel filter/regulator.

After all that fun work the problem seems to be even worse which has me wondering if it is fuel related or something else.

On top of that the low speed drivability isn't great. not terrible but a little annoying. the engine rpm hangs around 2000 rpm for a long time when coming to a stop. and the the car is either bucking when you try to hold steady, or dead pedal when you try to accelerate (not completely dead, but not very responsive).

I read some things on other forums that mention the T56 Magnum has a 12 tooth reluctor wheel which doesn't play nice with the GMPP ECM which expects 40 teeth, and this can cause low speed drivability issues

Anyone her familiar with tuning GMPP stuff? and if so what is your tuning software of choice? I'm wanting to make some adjustments to the vss signal since my T56 reluctor ring has much fewer teeth than the ECM expects. this issue also doesn't allow my speedometer to calibrate due to low pulses per mile. Also, I'd like to look at the ignition map and see what the timing is at lower loads and speeds, and on crank. The starter has a hard time cranking when hot which has me wondering if the timing is too advanced during crank.

Any advice is appreciated.

[andrewb70]

I cleared my PMs...sorry about that.

Andrew

[Nova1970]

69-70 fastbacks are the best! Car looks awesome, I really like the stance!

[JRANGER]

Awesome ride, im building a 69 Mustang myself...Wont be anywhere near this nice but love the cars

[Zachalanche]

It's been a while since I have shown any updates on this. here's a couple recent pictures of the car.
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201557

I finally built a proper airbox. The plan is to eventually duct this airbox up to the hood scoop and obviously cut a hole in the hood making the scoop functional. I will need to fabricate some kind of plenum that sits under the hood scoop attached via the hood scoop bolts, then I will run flexible duct to the airbox. But for now, it's just pulling air from around the side of the radiator. the airbox could use some heat wrap. My engine compartment gets hot with this modern engine and its hot thermostat.

201560

there's been a bunch of other random things I have been sorting out on the car, but I have been pretty busy the last couple of years and its hard to find time to even drive the car lately.

[Zachalanche]

After years of minimal use and being busy with life in general, I finally had an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of my labor at LS Fest West last weekend. The car performed great.....much better than its driver did. What a great time. I need to attend more events.
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[MSTSFabbed]

The car looks great! I’ve enjoyed following your progress and have admired the car from afar for many years.

What ended up being the engine tune issue you were fighting?

[Zachalanche]

The car looks great! I’ve enjoyed following your progress and have admired the car from afar for many years.

What ended up being the engine tune issue you were fighting?

thanks.

The speed sensor would drop out occasionally which would cause low speed drivability issues and occasional stalling. this seemed to be related to the reluctor wheel being 12 tooth instead of 40. even though it was set to 12 teeth in the ECM, it seems like there was still issue with it. I set it to 40, and then compensated with the rear gear ratio in the tune so now the ECM thinks I have a 1.11:1 rear gear and everything runs great. At some point I am going to pull the tail shaft and put a 40 tooth wheel in the trans, but for now everything seems fine.

[Zachalanche]

A few more pics taken by Terry Lysak @tlysak
213526213525213524

and a couple from theautobuilder.com
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[Zachalanche]

suspicious oil
213716
so I dropped the pan and noticed this coloration on the crankshaft:
213717
So i checked the crankshaft play and found it to be around .014" which is a lot more than it should be. so I pulled the #3 cap:
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looks like it wiped out the thrust bearing all the way down to the steel.....which means that the crank took on some wear as well:
213719
So out came the engine:
213720
once disconnected from the transmission there was .040" of crank play
213721
looks like all the metal did some decent damage to a couple of the piston skirts so I'm looking at replacing the crank, pistons, and all bearings at minimum. But I don't have many good options for machine shops near where I live now (the one shop in town has been working ...or not working...on honing my block for the past 6 weeks.) so I'm not sure where to go from here. maybe there's a junkyard engine with a turbo in this car's future.

Pretty much a heart breaker. I'd like to think things would be better if I had never looked because the car was running great. but the crank was starting to eat through the #1 main support, and the rods were running almost all the way to one side of the piston, so I suspect catastrophic failure was a possibility in the near future.

[ryeguy2006a]

Huge bummer about that engine man... Been following your car for years and great to see those pictures. There are a few vendors out there that sell balanced rotating assemblies that you can just drop in. May want to look into something like that and what a great opportunity for a stroker.

[Zachalanche]

Huge bummer about that engine man... Been following your car for years and great to see those pictures. There are a few vendors out there that sell balanced rotating assemblies that you can just drop in. May want to look into something like that and what a great opportunity for a stroker.

This was a 418 stoker, so i'm looking at replacing with the same. I'd go bigger if I had the budget for sleeves, but....i don't. Sad thing about the 418 stroker (vs a 416) that I had not realized earlier on is that there is no room for repair. my bore is 4.080. the max bore for a stock LS3 block is 4.085, but no one makes a 4.085 piston.

Open to recommendations vendors if you have any. buying a complete rotating assembly currently appears to be the best route at the moment.

I picked my block up today since the machine shop never got to it. there are some minor scratches in a couple of the bores. Since this block is already at max bore, I can't really take much material out, so I'm just going to dingle-ball hone it and live with whatever scratches are left. The engine was running well and had no signs of blowby prior to tear down, so, despite not being perfect, the cylinders can't be that bad but I'll do some thorough measuring to confirm. from what I can tell, the cost to balance a rotating assembly is pretty similar to the cost of the rods. So, I might as well just buy the whole rotating assembly pre-balanced, and then sell my old rods for whatever I can get for them.

This engine also had a custom grind cam that I wasn't super impressed with. it wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't mind having the power be a little bit more peaky and maybe around 600 crank hp. this engine previously dyno'd at 459 wheel hp. I'm guessing that's a little shy of 600 crank. Given the displacement I would think that power would be achievable without going too wild with the camshaft.

[Pedigry]

So your saying the mustang spit the LS out of it's compartment. Should have seen that coming! In all seriousness, all you can do is getrdone. The car is beautiful and deserves to be driven hard when at all possible.

[Zachalanche]

So your saying the mustang spit the LS out of it's compartment. Should have seen that coming! In all seriousness, all you can do is getrdone. The car is beautiful and deserves to be driven hard when at all possible.

Years ago this thread got trolled with a very similar comment. sadly it appears they got the last laugh. But since LS fest is the closest event to me I probably won't be swapping for a different engine any time soon.

But....in reality I think what happened is that I measured wrong on the shims for the hydraulic throw out bearing which put a constant pressure against the thrust bearing. I hate to admit it because I distinctly remember measuring and double checking and my measurements were telling me to use all the shims that i had available (which i thought was weird at the time). I'll need to measure again to confirm this was the case. but all signs point to this being the issue.

So...this turned out to be an expensive lesson. I think I bolted the transmission to the engine almost 10 years ago now. It's hard to remember exactly what I was thinking at the time. who knows, I was probably drinking beer while I was installing the transmission.

[C Presley]

Dude, love the Stance of the Stang!

[slazisme]

Its unfortunate about the engine but looking at some of the pics I'm sure you literally had a blast driving it.
Summit sells a some nice 4.080" kits if you can get away with the cylinder walls being okay, only thing is they're B/O. Maybe check with them to verify.
Another option is to check with SRP/ JE pistons, I'm sure they can build exactly what you need at a cost, I would double check whether a aluminum block liners can go .085".
https://www.summitracing.com/search/department/engines-components/section/engine-kits-rotating-assemblies/part-type/engine-rotating-kits/brand/summit-racing/actual-engine-displacement/6-8l-418

As for shimming the bearing I usually go for .150" but ultimately its best to check with the clutch manufacturer.
Hope things get back together okay.

[Zachalanche]

Its unfortunate about the engine but looking at some of the pics I'm sure you literally had a blast driving it.
Summit sells a some nice 4.080" kits if you can get away with the cylinder walls being okay, only thing is they're B/O. Maybe check with them to verify.
Another option is to check with SRP/ JE pistons, I'm sure they can build exactly what you need at a cost, I would double check whether a aluminum block liners can go .085".
https://www.summitracing.com/search/department/engines-components/section/engine-kits-rotating-assemblies/part-type/engine-rotating-kits/brand/summit-racing/actual-engine-displacement/6-8l-418

As for shimming the bearing I usually go for .150" but ultimately its best to check with the clutch manufacturer.
Hope things get back together okay.


Thanks for the tip. I wasn't even thinking to look on summit. and those kits look to be a pretty good deal. the 6cc pistons are pretty close to what I had before (4cc) hopefully not a noticeable drop in compression from 2ccs....but yikes estimated ship date is October 16 2024. I should order it so that it arrives shortly after I blow up the next engine.

as for the clutch bearing shimming, I'm sure I was aiming for whatever the spec was, but somehow ended up with a negative .026"....you can bet i'm going to be over analyzing this and measuring 9 times when the engine goes back in.

I'll post some pics of the cylinders in a bit.

[Zachalanche]

Dude, love the Stance of the Stang!
Thanks man!

[Zachalanche]

Oooo looks like I can get a rotating assembly with 4.085 pistons from www.lsxceleration.com

[Zachalanche]

Good news. lsxceleration was able to provide a crank and pistons and balance it with bob weights. I just had to provide the end weights of my rods. Parts showed up a few days ago. The block cleaned up well with just a ball hone and I'm working on reassembly:
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[Zachalanche]

more progress
213983213982

[Zachalanche]

Engine is almost ready to go back in. I need to order a new clutch first.

I also took this rebuild as an opportunity to find out what mystery (custom grind) cam I had. As measured this cam was a 250/258 111LSA. it had a very late ICV, and the .006 duration was 291/300. since I'm running a full exhaust and mid length headers, this probably isn't the best cam for the application. 68Formula helped my find a better fit, so hopefully I can squeeze a little more performance out of this engine this time around.

214333

[MSTSFabbed]

Looking good! Glad you were able to find a rotating assembly that works.

[Zachalanche]

After many weeks of chasing my tail on a number of things This engine is finally going back in.
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The pilot bearing I ordered turned out to be .001" too small. when I went to install it, it went all the way in with one tap of the hammer. I was able to slide it back out with my finger. So I measured (with perfect inaccuracy) the OD of the pilot bearing at 1.094". Based on this i made the assumption that the pilot bore in the crank shaft was too large (I have heard of this happening on some stroker cranks in the past so it seemed like a reasonable possibility). I contacted LSXcelleration who contacted Molnar, and after a week or 2 they told me that I needed to have a custom pilot bushing made. So, I contacted Molnar directly. They measured some of the crankshafts they had in stock and confirmed there was a dimensional issue, and that they would send out a custom pilot bushing. After not seeing anything in the mail for a couple weeks, I called Molnar again to see if the had sent the bushing. Well, it turns out that they aren't any better at measuring than i am. Prior to machining some custom bushings they went to their local napa and measured a pilot bearing and found it to be about .001" larger than the crank bore, so now they are telling me the crank should be correct. This was very confusing to me. So, I re measured my pilot bearing - this time I get 1.093 - crap, either my calipers are not that accurate, or they were dirty the last time i used them. Then I went to Napa and picked up a pilot bearing and it measured .001" larger than the one I had, and of course it installed just as it should. So there you have it. A simple problem caused by a simple part that I managed to turn into a (almost) month long disaster. But, in the end I am happy the crankshaft is correct.

Once that Hurdle was cleared my next task was to correctly shim my throw out bearing to have the correct air gap with the new clutch. not a challenging task....except...at this point I was still operating under the assumption that I had done this wrong previously and it cost me an engine. the first thing I did was re-install the old clutch to see if I could confirm that the 5 shims i had originally installed was incorrect. It was very difficult to get a good measurement from the back of bell housing to the clutch fingers because there was massive differences in the height of each finger. As a result, I could not confirm that the old clutch had the proper air gap between the clutch and throw out bearing, but I did confirm that the air gap was not negative (meaning the throw out bearing would always be pressing the clutch even when fully collapsed / disengaged). As this was not an obvious smoking gun, this left me scratching my head. So, i moved on with the installation of the new clutch. I got good repeatable measurements from the Bell housing to clutch, but when I measured from the throw out bearing to the transmission face, I would see up to .050" of variation depending on where i measured on the transmission face. I had a length conversation with American Powertrain about this. The told me that most people just take a measurement in one spot and move on, so they don't really know if this issue is common. additionally, they haven't ever had any cases where the transmission face hasn't been flat. Also based on the range of measurements I was working with, we determined that i needed to run 6 shims with the new clutch, and the air gap would be in spec regardless of whether I used the smaller or larger measurements (for throw out bearing to trans face). I'm 1 shim short here so they sent me a bag of shims free of charge. At this point I'm accepting that my measurement methods, or my calipers are creating this error, and the transmission is likely fine. Besides, I have not had any shifting or vibration issues with the prior use, so I'm not expecting large dimensional errors to be valid.

A few days later the shims show up, I put 6 shims behind the throw out bearing, do one final set of measurements just to double check, and I drop the engine in. Now, not having an obvious smoking gun related to my thrust bearing failure, I'm extra paranoid about this engine install, so, I decide to check the crank end play with the engine in the car. this was not an exercise to obtain accurate crank end play, I just wanted to make sure there was some as it would be validation that nothing is pushing on the crank that would inevitably lead to another thrust bearing failure.......Um....there's no end play...*****. What if I can hold a small mirror in the stater pocket and see if throw-out bearing is pushing on the clutch?...o crap I just dropped the mirror into the bell housing.

And out we go with the engine again. OK, now I'm measuring everything related to the back of the crankshaft and the input shaft on the transmission. and in every possible case where there could be contact, there is more than enough clearance available between the end of the input shaft ant the bottom of the pilot bearing bore, or the end of the splines, and the back of the pilot bearing, etc.

I Grab my old crankshaft and start taking measurements. and as I go to measure the total depth of the pilot bearing bore, I see this:
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that's not just some grease in the bottom of that hole. there is clear evidence that there has been some metal-on-metal contact (oh and I think the pilot bearing is in backwards...lets not worry about that now). Sure enough, the depth measurement here is over a half inch less than my new crankshaft. the new crank is drilled all the way through and uses a plug. the old crank has a much shallower hole. Even more interesting is that the amount of overlap between the pilot bore depth and the input shaft length was close to .040" which is close to the amount of additional crank end play that i measured before i disassembled the old engine. This is the "smoking gun" i have been looking for. everything makes so much sense now......including the slow cranking issue I could never seem to solve.

Back in the car the engine goes. and the crank end play is....still 0....um....maybe if i pump the clutch a couple times, just in case the disks aren't perfectly aligned are creating some bind on the input shaft...oh here we go. .005" of crank end play with the engine in the car. Finally, things are starting to come together.

Now I am just waiting on mufflers to show up, and I can fire this fresh engine up. If i was 20 years younger I would already be driving it. But I'm older, more patient, more responsible, and more lamer now.

[chunger]

If i was 20 years younger I would already be driving it. But I'm older, more patient, more responsible, and more lamer now.

Lordy, ain't this the truth!

[Zachalanche]

Just a couple pics from the Valley of Fire Cruise at LS Fest West 2025
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[MSTSFabbed]

This thing looks so good! Motor doing better now?

[MSTSFabbed]

It looks so good! Great pictures! Motor doing better now?

[Zachalanche]

It looks so good! Great pictures! Motor doing better now?

thanks.

so far so good on the engine.

[rickpaw]

Were you at the speedway during LSFest? I was there, and didn't recall seeing your car.

[Zachalanche]

I was. I ran the Grand Champion class

[Jeff70]

Nice build!

After all these years on PT I cant recall ever seeing this thread. I seen pics of it at LS fest and assumed it was a local Bay Area car that looks very similiar and he sapped in a LS. He would always attend track days at Sonoma.

Is that radiator off the shelf or custom built? Looks like a Griffin? Can you post a pic of how you mounted it?

Thanks

[Zachalanche]

Nice build!

After all these years on PT I cant recall ever seeing this thread. I seen pics of it at LS fest and assumed it was a local Bay Area car that looks very similiar and he sapped in a LS. He would always attend track days at Sonoma.

Is that radiator off the shelf or custom built? Looks like a Griffin? Can you post a pic of how you mounted it?

Thanks

the car you are referring to was probably this car :
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2025/10/2b6638ec51be2212fdd581827cffa639AccessKe-1.jpg

I wasn't trying to make a copy of it, but it sort of worked out that way in the end.

I'll have to try to get some pics next time I'm working on it. it's a little hard to see how its mounted. I can tell you that i have 3 rubber isolated mounts on the bottom and 2 on the top that i made using pieces of scrap metal I had lying around. If I had to do it again, I would do it differently as it takes to long to remove / install the radiator. I also notched the frame a minimum amount to clear the radiator, so everything had to be tight enough not to allow contact between the frame and radiator....just another thing I would do differently if I did it again. To many compromises in my design, and I would have been better off tube framing the front for a little more room.