Hello! Newbie Here.

[HITMONEY]

Greetings board,
I am so glad to have found this board which I found through the Big Red website. (I absolutely love that car). I am glad because I really need alot of help planning this car and relaying what I am looking for to my builder.

My name is Dennis, and I reside in Tampa/St. Petersburg Florida and have just started a build, my 1968 Mustang Coupe which I have owned and dragged behind me all around the country since I was 14 years old. (36 now). The car has been basicly been neglected sitting in a warehouse for the past 11 or so years.

I have had alot of toys in which some were raced proffesionaly and not so proffessionaly <evil grin>.... ranging from cars to motorcycles, and boats but not one of which I have ever loved as much as I do this Mustang that my father and I built so long ago in 1983 to 85.

I have felt extremely guilty letting the car sit, I had not even laid eyes on it in over 2 years till last month. A certain set of circumstances led me to wake up, make arrangements for the car to be picked up and delivered to Ronnie Setser's shop in Tampa where it sits right now in the planning and tear down stages of a build.

The best I could describe to Ronnie as to what I was looking for was the recently coined Resto-Mod terminology, but that didn't quite cover it. Pro-Touring (which I just learned today) is more of what I am looking for, and hopefully this site will push me in the right direction.

Some pics of my car...



Drag racing at Phoenix Raceway Park 1991 I think, 390 FE motor at the time....



Another shot same day, broke the rear end on that burn out... towed home.




14 or 15 years old after car was first built...




Her spot of decay for over a decade...





The rescue...


And where she is today awaiting tear down...





Thanks for taking the time to read this and any suggestions are MORE than welcome. I need help deciding power and suspension right now. Builder has suggested air-ride suspension and a hopped up 460 crate motor. I am worried about the road handling performance of air and I need some feed back on that. I do want the car to sit low and wide.

I have been talking with McAllister Brothers Racing about a 5.1 03 Cobra powerplant making 650hp running EFI. I am also up in the air about either going manual or automatic tranny, the car last had a C-6.

Other plans call for roll cage, welding up the hideous sunroof that was cut into the car before I got it, extensive metal body work, center exiting exhaust through a custom made rear diffuser.. think Ferrari F-40ish, fuel cell, big brakes, updated head lights, etc..

Contrary to the above pictures, I am not building a 1/4 mile car, I want this car to handle at speed, be safe, and streetable to local and semi-local shows and events, and maybe even some track days at Sebring.


EDIT: I put up some pics of my moderatley modded Cadillac DeVille in the Garage as well if anyone here is into Caddys. I love em, had a few but so far this one is my fav.

[novanutcase]

From your description of what you want the car to do I would say AirRide is the answer.

Welcome!

[MonzaRacer]

Give the folks at air ride Technologies a call. Bret has a 67 he did the boogie too.
Check out www.ridetech.com you wont belive how it will ride and drive after you get it on. And you can go from paddle switches and manual fill to full on ridepro e2 and level pro and remote control.
The hook up is it will drive like a lincoln, corner like it was designed to run a F1 circuit and never seem like its a 40 yr old car.
If you are running a Cobra motor you will be able to hang some whoopass on people.
Good luck and keep us posted with pics as it progresses.
Lee

[David Sloan]

Welcome to the board!!
Nice project you got there!!

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to the site, Dennis.

[ProTouring442]

Welcome!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"
www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

nice!..

did you put a challenger rear end on it?.. cant really tell.

either way.. you came to the right place!

[Bandit]

Welcome, nice pics!

[6'9"Witha69]

Looks like a cougar rear. Welcome to the site.

[HITMONEY]

Looks like a cougar rear. Welcome to the site.

Correct... shaved the trunk and grafted in Cougar tail lights.

Thanks for the welcomes! I have spent hours this past weekend doing searches and just reading up on your site.

[Bill Howell]

There will be several of us hanging out at the speedway in Daytona at the Turkey Run this week, come by and say hey if you are coming, or better yet, park with us and hang out some.

[HITMONEY]

There will be several of us hanging out at the speedway in Daytona at the Turkey Run this week, come by and say hey if you are coming, or better yet, park with us and hang out some.

Wish I could but between Thanksgiving, family, work, and plenty of drinking as a result of all the fore mentioned I don't think I can make it.

But a big thank you for the invite!

[bnickel]

honestly, if you really want the car to handle forget the cobra motor. they are as heavy as a 460 and even wider which will require at least nothcing the shock towers, if not completely removing them. id' go for a 347 or 408 personally, much much lighter and the car will handle tons better. air ride is a good option if want the car really low but there lots of other oprions as well. here are some places to look at different suspension parts.

www.totalcontrolproducts.com
www.globalwest.net
www.opentrackerracingproducts.com
www.streetortrack.com
www.fays2.net
www.evolutionmsport.com
www.randallsrack.com
www.rrs-online.com
www.discbrakeswap.com this guy is working on a drop spindle for the early mustangs that is based on the 70 drum spindle and will be able to use most of the aftermarket big brake swaps and will have a 1" drop and hopefully improved geometry for guys running lowered cars and those with rack and pinion swaps too.
www.pro-motorsports.com


and some general mustang links too

www.stangnet.com
www.vintage-mustang.com

[bnickel]

also here are some good links for other brake systems besides the more mainstream stuff.

www.ultrastang.com
www.vintagevenom.com
www.mustangsteve.com
www.cobraautomotive.com not just brakes but lots of other stuff too.

and just in case you're interested in an IRS for your car

www.dvsrestorations.com they also have kits for installing that cobra motor but i still recommend against doing it not only because of the weight but also you typically need move the engine up and forward 1" each way and that's bad for handling as well, these cars already have a pretty bad weight bias and the sheer weight of the cobra motor and the new placement make it even worse.

i'll post anything else i can think of for you.

[DarkBuddha]

Welcome! Nice to have another Mustang on the forum, especially doing something different with it. I dig the IMSA flavored flares! I lived in Tampa from '89-99 and I think I might've seen your Mustang way back then... did you ever come out to Gandy or cruise the BK-Steak'nShake route?

Anyway, keep us posted on the progress.

[HITMONEY]

Welcome! Nice to have another Mustang on the forum, especially doing something different with it. I dig the IMSA flavored flares! I lived in Tampa from '89-99 and I think I might've seen your Mustang way back then... did you ever come out to Gandy or cruise the BK-Steak'nShake route?

Anyway, keep us posted on the progress.

Yes, I used to do the Steak n Shake and Gandy but I moved away from Tampa in the summer of 88 to SoCal.. but now I am back in the Tampa area. Thanks for the IMSA comment... that is exactly what I was inspired by as I was doing some part time IMSA driving stuff in the mid to late 80's with Red Lobster Porsche 962's and Mazda GT Light cars. My favs were the GTO's but I never got a seat in one.


bnickle, thank you so much for the links and the info. I do plan on removing the shock towers completely for a cleaner engine bay and more access. I am still undecided on power, I have been spending alot of time, or rather drooling, on the Roush site.

Amazing that the Cobra motor weighs in as much as a 460.

Anyway, should have some updated pics of teardown soon. I guess I should start a project thread about it when I get the pics.?.