Project Hitman, because it's 'for hire'!

[udloze]

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Very clean, something to aim for! The packaging issue I'm having/had was that the 64 has a swiveling steering column to assist in exiting the car, so I had to move the pedals around. I'm also going to try and put in some new gauges where the stocks were (for me it's just easier to retrofit than it would be to get them rebuild and adapted to whatever signal the new sender sends).

[udloze]

same for him he got his from Faria and they even come as a four in one with a very similar Thunderbird logo I will get you the exact info tomorrow. he also maintained the swing out steering column but converted it to work with electric solinoid, the silver push button was put on the side of the driver's seat, you would never know it was there,

[udloze]

Sorry, gauges came from classic industries.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Tried stripping the paint off the quarter panel, but the grinder took it down better, there was a lot of bondo in there for no reason at all that I could tell. I welded up the big hole by the roof panel, but uncovered a couple smaller ones while I was sanding the paint off

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Not sure if his was a sound decision, but I bought another engine...this project started around the drivetrain out of an 02 mustang GT, but after looking at other builds and threads if become more interested in the DOHC motors. This is from a 98 mark viii, so it should be a 'Teksid' block and ran when I pulled it, I think it'll look a lot better in the engine compartment than the SOHC and will be a better platform for any future mods. my goal is to have the underbody painted this week, order the body paint, and have the new engine installed for good by the end of the month.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Things look better when they're painted all the same color! Still a lot of work to do, I've already sanded these panels since the pics, I'm hoping to paint the frame rails and firewall black this week. I ordered the paint for the body-it's going to be 'Arctic blue'!

[ALLstrokedOUT]

It's hard to get a good picture of the black, but the frame rails, underbody, and firewall are painted with raptor bedliner, I'm really happy with how it's turned out. It's texture is very fine and has a satin finish (we've used it a couple other times on underbodies and stuff...). The rest of the engine compartment will be body color after a couple weeks of sanding.

[meatonastick]

This thing is going to be beautiful

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Thanks!

Finally got to open the paint can and see what this paint looks like on the car. I've never sprayed anything other than primer before (my dads painted at least a dozen cars, so I never had to worry about it before), so I've learned a few things about what not to do next time...when I was spraying the base coat I realized that in the front corners I was blowing dried paint chunks off of the masking and into the paint. But overall I'm very happy with how things turned out

Next up is to change some seals on the engine, paint it, and hopefully install it in the car for good next weekend...I still need to decide on what to paint the valve covers though: ford racing blue, body color metallic, or crinkle black...

[ryeguy2006a]

That looks great! Keep the updates coming!

[MonzaRacer]

I would definitely swap in air ride. My buddy used same rear and swapped in Ridetech 9100s in back. Handles great. Now what he used was an old GM height sensor and compressor, he just plumbed in a couple small sulfur hexafloride bottles that were in scrap pile from old x ray machine that was junked as a small air tank for each axle. While the small compressor was slow it worked fine and he wired it so it ran like older GM cars. He then use old NOS solenoids to "blow the bags" to slam it. He made small pads for it to "lay on", they had check ball retention like a socket extension and snapped into corresponding holes in frame.
And when slammed with bump stops out it was never getting towed away as you couldnt slide a dollar bill under it hardly.
I was planning air ride on my Monza but now think about Ridetech coil overs. But my idea was to use a NOS bottle as an air tank. If it holds 1000psi on hot day 150-200 psi in air should be fine.
The part he liked was the GM compressor had fill and vent valves all in one package.
Oh and rides and handles better than you can believe. He did put check valves in line so no trading air from side to side either.
Good luck

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Very interesting about the air ride, Ill keep that in mind, I 've put all thoughts of that on hold until I get it on the ground though...in the meantime I'm hoping to put the drivetrain in the car this weekend

[ALLstrokedOUT]

I think that this was the most gratifying day of this build yet. I replaced the rear main seal, oil pan gasket and installed new motor mounts and a new stock clutch before getting to see the transmission bolted to the DOHC engine for the first time. The engines finally installed, hopefully for good, now I have more space in the garage and can (re)turn my attentions to bodywork.

The engine looked clean inside when I took the oil pan off; I also had sent an oil sample out to get analyzed.

[ryeguy2006a]

The motor looks great installed. I will be honest, there is a lot more room for headers/manifolds than I thought there would be. Looks great, keep up the progress.

[ALLstrokedOUT]

The motor looks great installed. I will be honest, there is a lot more room for headers/manifolds than I thought there would be. Looks great, keep up the progress.

Thanks! I was going to wait to put the exhaust manifolds on before installing the engine but I'm holding out on finding a good craigslist deal on some headers...I only have one exhaust manifold bc the engine's seller wanted to keep the drivers side since the mark viii manifold is integral to that sides catylitic converter. With the engine in I feel better about the space I have to play with

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Not much new, just boring bodywork except I found a good deal on a set of headers, should be a good improvement over the stock logs...I also got an H pipe, an electric fan and underdrive pulley setup for a chunk less than a new set of headers

[DrFraZZy]

This thread is screaming for an update!

[meatonastick]

I second that

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Thanks guys, I really wish I could post some worthy pics! I did take some time off to camp out at the 12hrs of Sebring last weekend - always a great experience. I've also spent the weekdays trying to install a new o2 sensor and tune the demon a bit better. But the tbirds just been boring bodywork, cutting through 1/8" of paint and bondo (primer, white, red, yellow, red). I'm hoping to take a couple fenders and a door to work over this weekend and use our sandblast cabinet to dust the panels a bit.
I sent the valve covers and headers off to a friend that does powder and ceramic coatings, the next update will probably be those pieces bolted to the engine.

Once I get all of the drivers side in primer and decently straight (hoping next week or so) I'm going to drop it on the ground and rotate the car so it's backed in and I can get to the rear more comfortably.