Dan's 65 Mustang Fastback

[funbnme]

Kicking off my new project.

Car was delivered today...some pics of my starting point.




The other car is my Factory Five Cobra Replica. With a 347 stroker, it's a rocket ship on 4 wheels.









Been killing myself trying to decide what I want this car to be when it's done. I think I'm going for a loose interpretation of a Street GT350 (but with a rear seat delete and more modern front seats). Since it's a Pro-Tour car, I know I don't really have to stick with the original colors, but all the GT350's in 65 were white (some had stripes), so I'm really leaning toward this combo as my end goal.





Plans as of now look like this:
- Lowered 1" or so
- Front Suspension - replace all of it with modern components, but keep the stock mounting points.
- Rear Suspension - 4 link with coil-over
- Still on the fence with wheel size. Love the vintage look of 15's, but want the handling and tire selection you can get with 17's. 16" wheels look great on these cars, but need to see what tire selection and wheel option there even are at that size. Plenty of time to sort that out.
- Power rack & pinion
- Great brakes - probably Wilwood discs front & rear. Debating on power or manual brakes. One builder I know well says that with the right brakes, I won't need power...he recently took power brakes off a Mustang for a client of his and replaced everything with stuff that works better...and the owner likes it a lot more.
- A/C & basic sound system (can always upgrade the tunes later on)
- Small block Ford with a T5 Transmission...nothing too wild to try to stay in a budget.


Step 1 is going to be to sort through all the pieces I have to get organized and then figure out the suspension so I can make it a roller.

Updates will be slow, but I'll post them as I have things to report.

[slimjim]

great starting point, what a fun part to start with.
I'm down in charlotte, and I am very envious of your garage!

[slimjim]

double post

[Eurostang]

Very Nice. Maier for the front end!

[NOT A TA]

Looks like a really nice "starting point"! Was rust repair already done?

[Crestronwizard]

Awesome car to start with but I'm biased .

[latoracing]

Looks like a solid foundation to build on.

Look forward to the updates.

[funbnme]

All the rust repair is done. Doing the inventory on all the stuff I have tonight.

So far, my decisions on parts are as follows:
Most likely looking at Control Freaks from & rear suspension (someone I know really well builds a good number of mustangs for his clients and uses those parts on his builds. It seems to fit within my needs and budget).

TCP Power Rack & Pinion steering with an ididit column

Wilwood disc brakes. Need to decide if I'm going to use 15" or 17" wheels so I can pick the brake package. If I go with 17" wheels, I can use a 6 piston caliper in front. If I want 15", then I'll have to use a 4 piston caliper. Been looking for pictures of 65/66 fastbacks with 17" wheels to see if I like the look. I really like the Cragar 500 Series (for the Shelby look)...just not sure they look 'right' in a 17" wheel.

Car will be lowered about 1 1/2" from stock.

[funbnme]

Had a friend come over last night and got things organized.


Here are some pieces I found in the car that I can't figure out where they go. Any ideas?


What are the hinges for?



For the seat risers, was looking online and saw that some guys plug weld these in place. How far apart should I drill the holes for the plug welds? Every 2" enough or closer?





From what I've read online, Fastbacks didn't have torque boxes installed from the factory. I'm probably going to do a 4 point roll-bar in the cab. Do I need to install torque boxes or would it be overkill for a street car with moderate power (probably 350hp max at the rear wheels)?

This is inside the driver wheel well.

[Crestronwizard]

Hinges may be extras we had or came off of one of the other tear downs

[arcane73]

Here are some pieces I found in the car that I can't figure out where they go. Any ideas?

The piece in the lower right:



is normally found under the front fender and serves as your front bump stop on the stock suspension. It covers the spring as seen here:

[funbnme]

Thanks...I do have two of those. I thought they were bump-stops but didn't see where they bolted in. The picture helps a lot. Will have to see if I use those when I get the aftermarket stuff installed.

[latoracing]

The part on the lower left is a replacement rear torque box top. The middle top piece is a mystery piece, haven't seen that one that I recall.

The plug weld spacing on your seat riser would need to be between 1.5" to 1.75" apart, as needed. The factory had diagrams to go by (which you can buy) and spot welded them in the general locations, approximately. Drill 5/16" ish holes as it is a little thicker material than other locations.

Torque boxes would be a fantastic upgrade and will add noticeable torsional stiffness to your chassis. With your planned 4-link and coil over conversion I would suggest installing convertible inner rocker panels as well. These tied into your 4 point bar would stiffen up the "wet noodle" chassis even more allowing your new suspension system to work even better. Any bracing installed into the platform will help, in the right places.

[xsboost90]

i put torque boxes in my coupe on both sides, plus frame ties and a rear rollbar. Cant go wrong making it as stiff as possible while you are in there....

[Eurostang]

Had a friend come over last night and got things organized.


Here are some pieces I found in the car that I can't figure out where they go. Any ideas?


What are the hinges for?



For the seat risers, was looking online and saw that some guys plug weld these in place. How far apart should I drill the holes for the plug welds? Every 2" enough or closer?



From what I've read online, Fastbacks didn't have torque boxes installed from the factory. I'm probably going to do a 4 point roll-bar in the cab. Do I need to install torque boxes or would it be overkill for a street car with moderate power (probably 350hp max at the rear wheels)?

This is inside the driver wheel well.

I would always add torque boxes! By the "64.5-66 mustang weld and sealant assembly manual" . It will have all the weld points in it!

[funbnme]

Got the manuals so I can figure out how it all goes back together.

Also spent the weekend getting the seat risers to fit and prepped for welding. I had to do a good amount of adjusting to get the driver side to sit flat on the floor (picture not shown), but it sits nicely now. Have them held in place with some sheet metal screws now (just a couple on each edge).

Just waiting for the weld-thru primer to arrive and then they will go in permanently.

Anyone know what gauge metal the seat risers & floor are? I have a sheet of 22 gauge I picked up at the store so I can practice plug welding...does that seem like a good piece to use for testing?

[Crestronwizard]

I have two cans at the shop

[migg400]

Looks like you are off to a good start! Great project.....

[1967marti]

The seat pans should be in the 14-16 gauge flavor. Depends on the quality... Before you weld those in you should look into getting a one piece seat pan for the coupe/fastback. It will add tons of support and stiffness to the car.

[Eurostang]

I agree with 1967marti! Go with the one piece seat base. It will add a fair amount of strength to the build. Use the torque boxes and frame connectors.