1969 Mustang Fastback Pro Grand Touring Build

[69_Sportsroof]

The clutch pedal bushing was totally shot, I found out while checking my brake light switch that the clutch pedal was rubbing the pedal support bracket. I bought a mustang Steve bearing kit. Scoot drake also makes on but it uses the pedal shaft as the inner race, where the mustang Steve has a hardened race included.

I ran into an issue with a nut on the brake booster. Someone installed an aftermarket conversion booster that had brackets behind the firewall to the booster. Spent 6 hours getting one nut off, had to take a torch and bend a custom offset wrench and take the hood off for access. The pedal bracket inside the car has threaded inserts, and the booster bracket had threads. Somehow they managed to get a stud threaded into both and make it tight, so it was basically in a jam nut configuration. Once I got that off it was pretty smooth sailing. I drilled the threads out of the booster bracket, and installed grade 8 bolts instead.

Wire brushed and spray painted the pedal support to give it some extra life and look a little better when I crawl under the dash to stare at it haha.

Next project is the steering, there's a hard spot just to the right of center, very uncomfortable to drive because as you start turning right all of a sudden it jerks over.

[Tsaints1115]

"Someone installed an aftermarket conversion booster that had brackets behind the firewall to the booster. Spent 6 hours getting one nut off, had to take a torch and bend a custom offset wrench and take the hood off for access. The pedal bracket inside the car has threaded inserts, and the booster bracket had threads. Somehow they managed to get a stud threaded into both and make it tight, so it was basically in a jam nut configuration."

Ya gotta love prior owners and their mechanical abilities.

[69stang]

The clutch pedal bushing was totally shot, I found out while checking my brake light switch that the clutch pedal was rubbing the pedal support bracket. I bought a mustang Steve bearing kit. Scoot drake also makes on but it uses the pedal shaft as the inner race, where the mustang Steve has a hardened race included.

I ran into an issue with a nut on the brake booster. Someone installed an aftermarket conversion booster that had brackets behind the firewall to the booster. Spent 6 hours getting one nut off, had to take a torch and bend a custom offset wrench and take the hood off for access. The pedal bracket inside the car has threaded inserts, and the booster bracket had threads. Somehow they managed to get a stud threaded into both and make it tight, so it was basically in a jam nut configuration. Once I got that off it was pretty smooth sailing. I drilled the threads out of the booster bracket, and installed grade 8 bolts instead.

Wire brushed and spray painted the pedal support to give it some extra life and look a little better when I crawl under the dash to stare at it haha-

I can relate except for the mc attachment. However, I did have to replace missing threaded bosses with weld nuts cause bolts and nuts requiring 2 people to bolt/unbolt the bracket wasn't working.

[69_Sportsroof]

Well, I finally did a real wheel to wheel race and it was awesome. I have some college friends that started a lemons team years ago. One of the guys dropped out and they needed a driver for a 24 hour endurance race so I jumped in. I did 4 hours in two stints. The crazy thing is the stars aligned and the little 1.6L miata had us in first overall at one point. We ended up finishing second due to a pit stop, but none of us expected to do that well. I ran a 2:03 lap time while a 15 year SCCA racer who does spec miata ran a 1:59 in the car. I don't feel bad at all, my main goal was keep the car in one piece and I did that.

If any of you want to try wheel to wheel racing on the cheap, I can highly recommend lemons.



Here's a video clip from my night stint.
https://youtu.be/mqFkm56h5xk

[69_Sportsroof]

I had my carburetor listed on eBay for a while, after two "sales" falling through due to a nonpaying bidder it actually sold. So it's full steam ahead on the efi conversion. Picked up an accufab 4150 throttle body. Got a couple more parts coming through summit. Should have all the parts needed in a few weeks.

[69_Sportsroof]

Started digging into the steering issue. The car has a TCP rack and pinion conversion. Once I got the car jacked up it was clear that there was a hard spot every half turn of the wheel. The manual says that's the ujoints binding. Fight it for 5 hours to get everything removed, finally pulled the column and shaft out through the passenger compartment after unsuccessfully trying to go through the bottom. The fitting on the steering column itself was almost a press fit, with a 24" pry bar I could barely get it to move but not full off with the column in the car.

Get it all apart, put the rack and column back and the joints on minus the intermediate shaft, take a measurement and get 4.25 inches (this is supposed to be done when you first install, the shaft comes long and it's supposed to be cut to length). Measure the shaft that I pulled out and it's 5.25 inches... All that extra length was accommodated by cramming the fittings well past their designed engagement depth and mounting the column offset to give it extra length/more offset. Got the shaft cut down tonight and will go back in with it sometime this week.

[69_Sportsroof]

Got the steering back together. No more bind with it in the air!

Pulled my carb victor jr intake and took some comparison pics of it next to a super victor efi. Funny enough my Vic jr is ported to a hair larger than the super victor. Pics showing measurements of the super victor ports in case anyone is curious

[69_Sportsroof]

Okay, one complaint on the tanks inc setup. They sell the plate with the fuel fittings at a hard 90 degree which gave me some concern. Then I looked down into it and and barb is a serious restriction. It's almost half the diameter of an 8an fitting(measurement shown from my 8an fuel filter).

Not a huge deal, I'll drill the fittings out and install bulkhead connections. Just thought I'd point it out to people.

[chunger]

Seems like a cheap out move from Tanks Inc, doesn't it? I mean, they could have calculated the flow needed and figured that any restriction would be accounted for. But, why not just put a fitting with a decent radius on it?

If you're going to replace both of the fittings, do you even need to use their mounting plate at all? You could fab your own with AN bulkhead fittings pretty easily.

[69_Sportsroof]

I might have to walk back my complaint... I was about to pull the trigger on $80 worth of fittings to fix the issue and measured the walbro 400lph pump outlet. It's roughly the same size as the tanks inc fitting... Not sure if there's a real benefit besides changing the hard 90 to a radius...

Using their plate saves me time and having to source bulkhead fittings for the wires and vent.

[69_Sportsroof]

Well my car has officially joined the jack stand club. I've had the 8" rear listed for sale for a while and a guy says he will buy it tomorrow, so I pulled it out of the car. I have a center section with a 31 spline detroit locker ready to go. Probably going with a strange rear housing and wilwood brake kit.

Also found a deal on a MS3pro and pulled the trigger. Now I just need to rewire the whole car...

[69_Sportsroof]

Made a little more progress today but spent the morning at a local dyno helping a buddy dial in his microsquirt setup.

My super victor intake is sitting very crooked, going to have to get it milled down... One picture from each bank below.

Also got the old fuel tank out, and the crank pullies off so I can figure out a way to attach the trigger wheel. No easy way since there is a shoulder that indexes the pulley to the balancer. Going to have to get creative for a few problems now...

[69_Sportsroof]

Took a wire brush to the trunk rails where the tank mounts. Cleaned it up, sprayed some primer and fresh flat black paint on it. Test fit the tanks inc tank and it fits great.

Did some more measurements on the intake. Looks like one wide needs to come down 0.075" and the other 0.150"... Going to contact a machine shop Monday.

[69_Sportsroof]

I've made a small amount of progress lately. Over a month ago I returned my edelbrock intake and placed an order for a trick flow one. Unfortunately, the intake manifold is still backordered and it's not looking good for getting it this year. I'm going to call this week and might end up going back to edelbrock.

I mounted the fuel pump assembly and dry fit it, the depth looks spot on. I also mounted the fuel filter. I ran lines from the pump to the trunk bulkhead, and then from there to the engine compartment. I used existing holes where the factory fuel line routed and am a little nervous about the placement. At full wheel lock I have a little over 3 inches of clearance but I'm still a little uneasy.

[69_Sportsroof]

After a couple months of waiting I got my motor mounts from TCP.

The driver side was quite a pain, due to steering and brake components. Passenger side went in much easier. Fit was great and no issues. I like that these have captive bolts so even if the mount breaks the engine can't torque over very far.

[Tsaints1115]

I see Tanks Inc is still punching the filler neck opening incorrectly still.


For your fuel lines I see you went with a 90* fitting into a straight bulkhead to pass into the engine compartment. If you were to change it to a 90* bulkhead passing through into the engine compartment and then a straight fitting it would buy you some more tire clearance.

Also in your trunk I see you looped the fuel line into a straight fitting to exit. Those will get stressed if you put stuff in the trunk. Maybe change out to a 90* so the fuel lines lay flat?

I essentially did the same install as you, just with a 69 Cougar if I can offer any help.

[Vimes]

I see Tanks Inc is still punching the filler neck opening incorrectly still.


For your fuel lines I see you went with a 90* fitting into a straight bulkhead to pass into the engine compartment. If you were to change it to a 90* bulkhead passing through into the engine compartment and then a straight fitting it would buy you some more tire clearance.

Also in your trunk I see you looped the fuel line into a straight fitting to exit. Those will get stressed if you put stuff in the trunk. Maybe change out to a 90* so the fuel lines lay flat?

I essentially did the same install as you, just with a 69 Cougar if I can offer any help.

In addition to the observations by Tsaints1115, this is a huge problem to me. It wouldn't take much of a side impact at all here to split the fuel lines and spray fuel all over your new accident scene, at a point where metal might be scraping and sparking on the ground right where the fuel lines are spraying. A minor low speed T-boning into the driver side door now has an excellent chance of becoming a screaming burned-to-death-painfully scenario. That pinch weld even looks quite a bit like a knife poised to slice right through them. Those lines really should be moved further inboard on the car. I'd move that inside that frame rail your jack stand is sitting on even if it means moving the exhaust or putting a heat shield in. If an accident was bad enough to break the fuel line inboard of that frame rail, everyone in the car will be beyond the need to worry about fire.

[dhutton]

In addition to the observations by Tsaints1115, this is a huge problem to me. It wouldn't take much of a side impact at all here to split the fuel lines and spray fuel all over your new accident scene, at a point where metal might be scraping and sparking on the ground right where the fuel lines are spraying. A minor low speed T-boning into the driver side door now has an excellent chance of becoming a screaming burned-to-death-painfully scenario. That pinch weld even looks quite a bit like a knife poised to slice right through them. Those lines really should be moved further inboard on the car. I'd move that inside that frame rail your jack stand is sitting on even if it means moving the exhaust or putting a heat shield in. If an accident was bad enough to break the fuel line inboard of that frame rail, everyone in the car will be beyond the need to worry about fire.

Ya, I hate to see fuel lines run like that. Hard line would be much better....

Don

[Tsaints1115]

On my Cougar I ran the fuel lines along the inside of the rear frame rail and then up into the trans tunnel to the front frame rail and then through to the driver side into the engine compartment.

[69_Sportsroof]

I see Tanks Inc is still punching the filler neck opening incorrectly still.


For your fuel lines I see you went with a 90* fitting into a straight bulkhead to pass into the engine compartment. If you were to change it to a 90* bulkhead passing through into the engine compartment and then a straight fitting it would buy you some more tire clearance.

Also in your trunk I see you looped the fuel line into a straight fitting to exit. Those will get stressed if you put stuff in the trunk. Maybe change out to a 90* so the fuel lines lay flat?

I essentially did the same install as you, just with a 69 Cougar if I can offer any help.

On the engine compartment fitting if I just flip it I buy myself a half inch or so, I might do that.

In the trunk area I'm not thrilled with the line placement being there at all. My thought was to build a false floor that sits on the fuel tank and prevents anything from laying on the lines and wiring.