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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594

      '63 Tempest project

      Hi all,

      After a few years out of the hobby due to being just too darned busy, I'm jumping back in with a new project - a '63 Pontiac Tempest. Ever since I first saw one, I've thought the '63 Tempest just has great lines. They didn't make a whole lot of them (only about 15,000 coupes), but I was lucky enough to find one only about 30 miles from the house last summer! While the car was a basket case, it was rust free and had a fairly straight body (aside from the crunched lower rear pan) and so I brought it home.

      Name:  As purchased dr side front 800.jpg
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      Name:  As purchased rear 800.jpg
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      The car started life with an inline 4 cylinder engine and rear-mounted powerglide transaxle with IRS. From the factory, these cars weighed about 2800 pounds! The transaxle and rear suspension was long gone and the previous owner had welded an axle under the back end to allow the car to be rolled. Up front, he had installed a Heidt's universal Mustang II suspension. The car was completely disassembled, with about a dozen boxes of parts and a bunch of spare sheetmetal. I began by taking inventory of what I had and starting the build plan for the car.

      My plan for the Tempest is to make it generally appear to the casual observer to be something that could have come off of the factory floor and that was mildly modified in the early 60s - a "sleeper car," so to speak. I don't care if a real afficionado can spot that the car has a different "stock appearing" engine from the same general period. Nor do I care if someone realizes the car is modified when they stick their head under the car to look at the undercarriage. What I want is a car that has an engine bay, body and interior that don't scream "highly modified." I plan for this car to be primarily a street car that will see some dragstrip action and which I also want to handle well on the windy country roads.



      After developing the concept for the car, my next step was to turn to the chassis and suspension.

      I took measurements of the Heidt's IFS system and plugged them into Suspension Analyzer to see how the numbers looked. Overall, the results looked generally OK, and I was satisfied feeling that I would not have to change things up front. As FYI, the front RCH is just under 3'' and follows suspension travel very closely. The roll center is also very stable left-to-right. FVSAL is about 155'' at static ride height. There is about 30% anti-dive. Camber gain goes in the right direction and bump steer is pretty minimal.

      Then, I turned my attention to the rear suspension... since the car has none at present! Rather than trying to resurrect the rear transaxle and IFS, I decided to go with a Satchell link. To get started with the design, I began taking measurements of the underside of the car to determine the constraints with which I would be working. Given that I wanted to retain the rear bench seat to maintain a generally stock appearance, I didn’t want to design a suspension that would frustrate that purpose. Fortunately, one benefit of the Satchell link is that it generally packages very well. After taking my measurements, it appeared that a 15’’ long upper arm would be about as long as I could go without getting into the floor pan. For the lower (angled) arms, the floor of the car would be high enough to provide no real fore/aft constraint. So, my measuring concerns for the lower arms would focus primarily on where to locate the attachment points side-to-side to avoid wheel interference on the axle end and driveshaft interference on the frame end. With general measurements in hand, I began plugging specifics into Suspension Analyzer.

      Ultimately, I came up with a design that gave me an 8.5'' RCH with 60% static anti-squat and minimal roll understeer. SVSAL is nice and long at almost 160''. I am making the frame mounts for the links adjustable so that I can fine tune it. With the front suspension, this gives a pretty close to neutral steer scenario. To get to a little understeer, I'll incorporate a small sway bar up front.

      With design in hand, I began work on the rear end. I got a Ford 9'' housing and fabricated and welded-on the various brackets and mounts. The guts of the rear include a TrueTrac differential with 3.90 gears in a Strange Pro case, and Strange 31 spline axles.

      Name:  rear end painted 800 x 600.jpg
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      I then began work on the upper frame mounts. This consisted of a crossmember welded between the car's existing framerails. The trailing arm mounts attach to that crossmember and are slotted for adjustability to tune understeer and to allow for changing the car's ride height if I ever decide to do so. As of right now I'm planning to run a 28'' rear tire. Here is a picture with the upper crossmember tacked-in.

      Name:  upper link fit 800.jpg
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      As I began working on the design of the frame mount for the lower trailing arms, I realized that I didn't have an appropriate frame point for attachment. The early Tempest is a unibody design and the only "frame" structure (other than the rocker) under the main passenger compartment is a very small 1'' high x 2'' wide U-channel that is tack-welded to the floor, tying the front and rear subframes together. So, I decided it was time to hop from suspension to subframe connectors...

      To build the connectors, I decided to follow the contour of the U-channel. I cut away the floor sheetmetal above the channel and formed some 2x2x.120 tubing to fit in the channel. The ends of the connector slip inside the front and rear frame rails. I then welded these connectors all along the length of the U-channel and around their perimeter (to the frame rail) at each end. These will give me an anchor for my lower link mount supports.

      Floor cut open for rails to drop in:

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      Rail welded in:

      Name:  subframe connector in 800.jpg
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      So, that is where I am at for now. Next steps include finishing the frame mounts for the Satchell link suspension, fabbing motor and transmission mounts, and trying to stiffen up the frame a bit more.

      My schedule is still a bit crazy, so my progress has been on-again off-again over the past few weeks, but hopefully I'll be able to post more updates every week or two.

      Thanks for looking! It feels great to be back out in the garage!!!

      PS - my signature is majorly out-dated... I need to fix it.
      John





    2. #2
      Join Date
      Aug 2012
      Posts
      82
      Country Flag: United States
      looks like a money siloh

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Apr 2011
      Location
      mass
      Posts
      493
      Country Flag: United States
      I am very fond of off brand builds. Nothing wrong with a camaro or mustang build but like you said thier just isn't a lot of tempest. Good luck and keep the pictures comming

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Dec 2007
      Location
      Lombard, IL
      Posts
      545
      Country Flag: United States
      I dig your 63, allot!!
      My buddy has mint 62 tempest that is going to be his "next project". Every time I see his 62, my eyes glaze over as I imagine building a pro touring corner carver. But my good friend has a different idea in mind: nostalgia racer with a straight axle with a dual quad pontiac motor. He's collecting parts and it will be a diffent kind of cool.

      That's a super clean example you have there. Looking great so far and I look forward to following your build!
      Dan
      1971 Chevelle Maliboo Convertible 496/4L80E
      1956 210 2 door Sedan 8-71 blown 468/T400

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      Paul - I like pretty much everything too, and really like that Grand Sport you are building!

      When I finally decided it was time to start looking for a new project, although I was hoping to find a '63 Tempest I wasn't really holding out for one since they had proven to be pretty hard to find and I wasn't willing to drive 500 miles to pick something up... In fact, I would just peruse the craiglist car postings by successively searching the keywords "1961" then "1962" then "1963" and so on and so forth. Looked at things ranging from a Triumph GT6 to a '70 GMC Suburban. Then one day a '63 Tempest popped-up just two towns over!

      Dan - I like your friend's idea and considered turning this into a tribute 421 Super Duty car. In the end, I decided that while I wanted it to look more or less like a 421 SD, I wanted it to have upgraded brakes and suspension for spirited cornering. And, I do anticipate a dual quad setup under the hood (ala 421SD)... Among the various boxes of parts that came with the car is an older (haven't been able to determine how old) Offenhauser dual quad Pontiac intake and pair of old Holleys.

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Mar 2010
      Location
      GR Michigan
      Posts
      105
      Country Flag: United States
      If the front 2 bolts on the intake it fits a 66 or later. If the front bolt is lower on the manifold flange it's for the earlier engine.
      Jeff

      73 Mustang Convertible

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      Quote Originally Posted by droptop73 View Post
      If the front 2 bolts on the intake it fits a 66 or later. If the front bolt is lower on the manifold flange it's for the earlier engine.
      Thanks, Jeff. Looks like I've got a '66 and later. Should work with the stroked 400 I plan to drop in there.
      John




    8. #8
      Join Date
      Feb 2011
      Location
      Indpls, IN
      Posts
      613
      Country Flag: United States
      Good looking car. I prefer the square body stuff myself, be it GM, Mopar or Ford.

      Steve

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Jun 2010
      Location
      Georgia
      Posts
      2,215
      Country Flag: United States
      I'd love to see this one when done. Always loved that body style and thought they'd look great as a pt car

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      Well, I didn't quite make my "every week or two" target for updates... but I'm only a month out from the last one!

      Today I finished putting together and tack-welding in the lower frame mount for the Satchell link lower trailing arms.

      This took awhile. In my suspension design, I wanted to keep the lower trailing arm frame mounts as close together as possible in order to allow me to fit the longest trailing arm possible while maintaining a 45 degree angle in plan view. I ended up with lower mount locations that are 3.75'' outboard from center (total of 7.5'' from CL to CL of the rod ends). Because the mounts for these have to be angled at 45 degrees, the space inbetween starts to get pretty tight. After numerous paper iterations, I came up with a bracket design that would give me a 4.25'' wide space through which the driveshaft can pass. In addition, I wanted to tie the two mounts together to add rigidity. The only way I could really do this was to bridge them beneath the driveshaft. I used a piece of 1x3x.120'' tubing to get as much driveshaft clearance and ground clearance as possible. I should have 2.75'' of body lift capability, and plan to use some sort of suspension limiter to ensure I don't whack the driveshaft on that piece. Ground clearance is just a hair over 6''. For reference, my oil pan and the drain plug on the rear pumpkin are both just a hair over 7'' high.

      Here are a few pics.

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      Name:  lower link frame bracket 800.jpg
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      Now that these are tacked-in, I will later flip the car on its side so that I can do the final welding. Welding while laying on your back under the car is no fun...

      In addition, I've been wrestling with the engine and trans fit over the past couple of weeks.

      As I was working on the rear lower link mount I started to look at pinion and trans tailshaft angles and realized that my trans tailshaft needed to come up a bit... but that would put me too high into the floorpan. So, instead the engine needed to drop down. Unfortunately, the Heidt's crossmember and steering rack were in the way...

      I considered the possibility of a different oil pan to get more clearance, but there is no way that even the shallowest of pans would do it. I even called Heidt's to see if they had a solution to the problem. They told me that they don't recommend using their universal kit for Pontiacs precisely for this reason...

      So, I'd have to make a solution myself. I recessed a section of the crossmember to allow the engine to drop about 1.5'' and have been working on rack relocation possibilities using Suspension Analyzer. I think I've found a solution that will allow me to improve bump steer and ackermann characteristics, but it is just another thing that is going to require custom fabrication. I still need to get the engine mounts made and take some final measurements to see if it will work out.
      John




    11. #11
      Join Date
      Oct 2012
      Location
      Kennewick, WA
      Posts
      259
      Country Flag: United States
      Very nice project! I have a friend building one but I still haven't laid eyes on it. He went out in left field for power train though running the Tempest 4 with injection and a blow through supercharger. He's been fighting fuel issues for sometime and it's been a while since I've seen him so I have no idea how it's coming along.


    12. #12
      Join Date
      Jul 2006
      Location
      Ca
      Posts
      135
      Country Flag: United States
      Cool project. Too bad all the original trans axle went missing. Image a Corvette rear axle with a Turbo Ecotec 4. Not super fast but different. I am liking it so far. Good luck.

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      Again, I've fallen far behind my every-two-week update goal... by several months... Life sometimes gets in the way.

      I'm back in the garage though. I got the motor and trans mounts done and decided that my next step would be to mini-tub the car. Bringing the inner fenderwells in flush with the rear frame rails gains me just about 2'' of clearance. I think I'll be able to stuff some 325s back there when done. I'm presently about 3/4 of the way through the driver's side. Not too difficult, just time consuming.

      Name:  ds minitub.jpg
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      John




    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jan 2013
      Location
      Cypress, California
      Posts
      381
      Country Flag: United States
      Signing on to the post. Looks like a cool build.

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Mar 2013
      Location
      Beaufort,SC
      Posts
      329
      Country Flag: United States
      Cool project luv the out of the norm rear suspension

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      So, I had some trouble sleeping last night... and what better way to burn some night-time wakeful hours with project planning, right?!

      Over the past week I finished the mini-tub job (aside from some final seams to be welded that I'll do when I tip the car up on its side) and was feeling pretty good about progress. I had also finished the engine and trans mounts and dropped the engine in place. Then I turned back to the steering rack relocation.

      After measuring, adjusting and tinkering with Suspension Analyzer and measuring and adjusting and tinkering again and again and again, I finally had the rack in the best spot I could get it. Once I actually had it in place though, I verified my growing concern that I really have very very (did I say "very"?) little space to work with to route the steering linkage, 1.875'' primary tubes, fuel line, etc. Because the engine is a bit low, and the frame rails are kind of narrow to begin with, the front 3 exhaust ports on both sides are basically pointing right at the frame rail. And, the Mustang II rack steering shaft is pointing right into the middle of that area... that is, after clearing the engine mount (which I already brought as far inboard as was feasible) by about 1/8''. In fact, to clear the engine mount, I've actually had to offset the rack about 1/2'' towards the driver's side. You might ask whether that will throw my steering off. Well, it would... but I need to modify the rack ends slightly to correct bumpsteer with the new rack position anyway, and so I'm just going to correct for the rack offset by counter-offsetting the rack extensions to bring the inner tie rod end points back to where they should be with the steering in centered position.

      And now, back to the first line of this post... While thinking about putting together the steering linkage and fabbing the headers, I began to think about all of the other mini-projects within this project that still had to be done. I made a list... it is long... but I see light on the horizon.

      PHASE 1: REAR END/DRIVESHAFT

      1. Finish welding mini-tubs (final welding when car is flipped over).

      2. Safety wire rear rotors, install rear calipers and rotors.

      3. Plumb rear end brake hard lines and measure for and order flex hoses.

      4. Install pinion-mounted E-brake system (1350 yoke).

      5. Re-install rear end in car.

      6. Weld on chassis-side brake line tab for rear brakes. Measure for and order flex hose.

      7. Fabricate and weld on upper coil-over mounts.

      8. Measure for and order driveshaft and 4L80e slip yoke.

      PHASE 2: STEERING

      9. Finish welding steering rack mount crossmember.

      10. Gusset steering rack mount crossmember.

      11. Fabricate steering column linkage to rack.

      12. Clearance motor mount further.

      PHASE 3: HEADERS

      13. Fabricate exhaust header primary tubes.

      14. Fabricate “merged" header collectors.

      15. Remove and paint headers.

      PHASE 4: FUEL TANK

      16. Measure for and identify/purchase suitable factory-style gas tank. (They don't make a replacement for the '63 Tempest. Early 70s Ventura fit?)

      17. Fabricate tank strap mounts for tank and mount tank.

      18. Fabricate adapter to original fuel filler neck and mount filler neck.

      19. Weld a sump on the gas tank (˝’’ NPT bungs).

      20. Purchase and mount fuel pump (Holley black?) and pre-pump filter.

      21. Plumb line from tank to filter and pump.

      22. Remove and paint tank and straps.

      PHASE 5: FINISH FRONT SUSPENSION

      23. Fabricate coil over shock mounts for front suspension.

      24. Take final measurements of front suspension and plug in suspension analyzer to finalize inner tie rod mount design.

      25. Fabricate inner tie rod ends on rack, modify rack as needed.

      26. Fabricate/install tie rods.

      27. Measure for and order/install front sway bar.

      PHASE 6: FRONT BRAKES

      28. Additional research. Make final decision on front brakes. Source parts.

      29. Purchase and install front brakes.

      30. Weld-on chassis flex hose tabs and install flex hoses to calipers.

      31. Re-locate brake pedal to the left and adapt to tandem reverse-hung manual master cylinders with balance bar. Need to move, as throttle pedal needed to move left to clear widened transmission hump.

      32. Fabricate master cylinder mounts under dash.

      33. Plumb brake lines from dual master cylinders to outlet fittings going through bottom of firewall.

      34. Plumb hard lines from MC to front brakes.

      35. Make factory master cylinder into dummy master cylinder/remote reservoir. (Keeping the car looking factory to the passing eye).

      PHASE 7: ENGINE/TRANS/CHASSIS MISC.

      36. Fabricate and tack-weld engine mid-plate mount on BOP trans adapter (to be fully welded when pull engine). Fabricate frame rail mounts for same.

      37. Fabricate trans tunnel backbone frame in car. Consider routing of down legs to engine bay.

      38. Fabricate 4-point roll bar with clevis cross bar for rear seat access.

      39. Fabricate floor pan over transmission.

      40. Fabricate firewall.

      41. Re-locate/modify throttle pedal and linkage.

      42. Gut stock mechanical fuel pump and modify to be flow-through dummy pump. (Again, keeping a factory look).

      43. Source and piece together misc. pieces for engine (valley pan, timing cover, etc.).

      44. Talk to machine shop and finalize parts orders.

      45. Send engine for machining/building.

      46. Order transmission rebuild kit. (Send transmission to be rebuilt? Try it myself?)

      PHASE 8: FINALIZE SUSPENSION WHEELS AND TIRES

      47. Final measurements for, and purchase of, wheels and tires!

      48. Final measurement for and order coil over shocks.

      49. Modify wheels to accept factory hubcaps.

      50. Paint wheels black.

      PHASE 9: CAR UNDERSIDE WORK

      51. Remove engine/trans/driveshaft/rear.

      52. Flip car over.

      53. Clean up underside of car.

      54. Finalize welding underneath car (rack mount, rear coil-over mounts, rear suspension brackets, wheel tubs, miscellaneous hole filling, trans x-member).

      55. Fabricate under-car rear suspension to trans x-member trans-tunnel brace.

      56. Run front to rear fuel lines.

      57. Run front to rear brake hard line.

      58. Run battery cable from trunk.

      PHASE 10: FINAL LINE WORK

      59. Re-install engine/trans. Lift car up high.

      60. Plumb trans cooler lines.

      61. Plumb dummy-pump to carb lines.

      62. Fabricate header-back exhaust 3’’.

      PHASE 11: INTERIOR

      63. Make carpet to fit modified floor.

      64. Re-cover seats. Nobody appears to make a replacement cover for the split front bench... nor does anyone appear to make any replacement interior in the "fawn" color scheme...

      65. Fabricate console for auto-trans floor shifter (find and install ratchet shifter that fits 4L80e and doesn't look goofy with the otherwise stock-looking interior).

      66. Refurbish/test-fit interior panels.

      67. Install gauges and re-assemble dash.

      68. Refinish steering wheel and install.

      69. Figure out seatbelt situation.

      70. Fabricate mount to fit racing seat for easy swap-out.

      71. Headliner? Package tray?

      72. Am I going to put a radio in this thing???

      PHASE 12: BODY WORK

      73. Fix bent tail pan.

      74. Fill/fix misc. small holes/rust around quarter panel, window channels, etc. Yes, I found a few little bits of rust here and there...

      75. Rust encapsulator and replacement seam sealer.

      76. Make SD hood scoop or get fiberglass hood from VFN.

      77. Test fit all trim.

      78. Align sheet metal and fill/sand.

      79. Refinish trim pieces.

      80. Locate replacement windshield.

      81. Paint it!

      PHASE 12: ASSEMBLY

      82. You know what that means…

      83. Drive it... hopefully...


      I'm sure I've missed plenty that I'll need to do. I'll also probably jump back and forth on these out of sequence at points, but that is the general work timeline. Any thoughts/comments are welcome.
      John




    17. #17
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      And after that incredibly long post, I figured I owe you guys (and gals) some kind of picture. So, here is the fruit of my labor on rack relocation.

      Name:  bump steer curve.jpg
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      The green parabolic arc is the bump steer curve of the front suspension geometry as it was when I bought it. It gives an average of about .040'' of toe change per inch of bump. Now, because this is Heidt's 60'' universal system, they sell rack extenders that widen the rack to alleviate some bump steer. Plugging those specs into Suspension Analyzer does reduce bump steer to about .030'' per inch of bump and the curve is more linear.

      The blue line (the flat one) represents my bump steer fix with rack relocation. Toe changes .004'' through 6'' of suspension travel. That is as close to zero as I can get.
      John




    18. #18
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      So, I haven't posted an update in awhile, but that is just because I haven't had the time to make a post. I've been jumping around from end to end of the car doing little projects here and there. Here is a little taste of what I've been up to.

      Throttle pedal: Because I had to relocate the engine rearward a bit the cylinder head on the driver's side was close enough to the firewall that it pinned the throttle pedal to the firewall. So, I had to recess the firewall slightly. But, I didn't want to make it obvious and so here is how I did it.

      First, the throttle linkage is pinned.

      Name:  throttle link cant move.JPG
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      Second, I cut and recessed the piece of the firewall that has the throttle pedal linkage.

      Name:  throttle recessed.JPG
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      Third, I made some pie cuts to ease the transition and then filled the gaps with some 20 ga. bent to shape.

      Name:  moving throttle back.JPG
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      Brake Pedal: Not only did I need to recess the throttle linkage, but the pedal had to get moved to the left about 2'' in order to allow clearance for the gear selector on the 4L80e. As a result, I would need to move the brake pedal over. I also wanted to use a dual master cylinder setup. However, because of the inner wheel well, mounting a dual master cylinder setup through the firewall wouldn't work. I also wanted to keep a factory look and hoped to keep the original master cylinder on the firewall as a dummy that I will gut and plumb the lines through. So, the only way this could all be accomplished is to use a reverse-mount MC setup. I decided to make my own using the factory pedal.

      First I removed the pedal and took measurements of the pedal. I would ultimately increase the pedal ratio to about 6.25:1 by moving the mount point centerlines. The holes had to be bored out anyway, and so I hogged them out off-centered.

      Name:  brake pedal.JPG
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      I measured under the dash and determined that I would need pretty short master cylinders to make this fit. I decided to go with a pair of Wilwood compact remote mount master cylinders, tied together with a Wilwood balance bar. I ordered the parts and started making the bracketry. Here is the bare bracket.

      Name:  pedal bracket.JPG
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      Here it is before it was all welded-up, but with the MCs and pedal installed so you can see what the whole thing looks like.

      Name:  pedal assembly 1.JPG
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      The brake pedal was originally held in place by mounting to the column support. That support ended-up being in the way a bit and so I had to notch it. I decided that I would weld the new pedal assembly to the column support to be part of the mount for the pedal assembly. On the other side, I would have to fab-up new mounts. The column support wasn't very sturdy, so I also boxed it to stiffen it up. Here is a shot with the pedal assembly tacked in place.

      Name:  bracket tacked in.JPG
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      More to come...
      John




    19. #19
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      Fuel Tank:

      The Tempest's original fuel tank was long gone. Finding good originals is a little tricky, and nobody makes a replacement. Since I didn't want to use a fuel cell (didn't fit too well with the mantra of period-modified factory car), I had to find a factory style tank that would fit. Well... it is hard to find tank dimensions! Everyone lists tanks by fit, but not by size. To exacerbate the problem, the factory rear frame rails on the Tempest are pretty narrow as a result of the original rear transaxle setup and IRS.

      Finally, I figured out that the tank from a 71-72 Ventura would be the right size to squeeze between the frame rails. It also uses a center-rear filler neck location.

      So, I bought the tank and a pair of straps. The original Tempest tank was mounted with a single strap running side-to-side (from frame rail to frame rail). This tank used two straps going front to rear. I had a pair of old tank/trunk supports from a '68 Camaro sitting around. Lo and behold they fit pretty well with only a little trimming.

      Name:  tank.JPG
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      I then cut off most of the neck from the Ventura tank and was able to mate up the original Tempest filler neck with a piece of 2'' fuel filler hose from NAPA.

      Name:  filler neck 1.JPG
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      Finally, I welded-on a sump, hoisted the tank in place and welded the trunk supports in. Yes, I know... I still have to fix the mashed lower tail pan.

      Name:  tank sumped and in.JPG
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      Steering Linkage:

      I started mocking it up.

      Name:  steering linkage mock up.JPG
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      It is going to be a really tight fit up there with the headers. I have to stuff the ##1, 3 and 5 primaries through a very small space between the block, engine mount and steering linkage, but I think I can make it work. More on that later...

      Transmission Yoke:

      The 4L80e I have is from a truck and used a bolt-on yoke and a slip driveshaft. I figured out that Denny's Driveshaft sells a slip yoke (from Spicer) that is designed to work in this application. It features a longer section of smooth (non-splined) area behind the splined section (toward the front of the car) to maintain engagement with the o-ring seal on the output shaft while the yoke slips in and out.

      Here is the trans with the tailshaft housing removed to reveal the o-ring.

      Name:  tailshaft with o ring.JPG
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      Here is the new yoke (on the right with elongated smooth bore section). Uses the same 1350 U-joint.

      Name:  yoke comparison 2.JPG
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      John




    20. #20
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Maine
      Posts
      594
      My camera went kaput and I haven't really been getting into too much pictographically exciting stuff anyway. Hence, no update for awhile.

      I finished the hanging dual MC brake pedal assembly and plumbed all of the brake hard lines, including turning the original master cylinder into a "dummy" by welding in a small thru-piece of pipe tapped for 1/8 npt on each end. The remote reservoirs are discreetly tucked under the dash and will be accessible by removing the gauge cluster, for which I will be putting together a quick-connect/disconnect to make that an easy job.

      I relocated the gas pedal to the left about 1.5''.

      I sealed and painted the fuel tank and plumbed all of the fuel lines (1/2'' aluminum tubing and -8an nylon braided hose). I'm using a Holley HP150 pump and a Jeg's return-style regulator. I used an old crank pulley as my bending form for the 1/2'' tubing to avoid kinks. Worked out pretty well.

      I took final measurements for the driveshaft. It should be arriving Tuesday. It is a Strange 3.5'' chromoly piece. Once it is in, I'll put together the transmission tunnel.

      I have begun implementing the front brake plan and now have a pair of Wilwood hubs on the Mustang II spindles. Unless wheel fitment turns out to be an issue, I'm presently planning on using rotors from an early 2000s BMW Z3 - M coupe (12.4'' diameter by 1.1'' wide) and a pair of forged Superlite calipers.

      I've also been working on some of the other little, non-sexy, things: patched-up some rust under where the battery used to be on the radiator support; stripped, prepped and painted various brackets and bits; gutted the mechanical fuel pump and turned it into a flow-through dummy pump; restored and refinished the windshield wiper motor, and various odds and ends (voltage regulator, relay, etc.); restored various unique looking nuts and bolts. Stuff takes time, but it has to get done.

      Slowly but surely. I'm hoping it will be road worthy about a year from now.
      John




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