TwinTorino

[SVTforme]

It will definitely change the effective rate of the bar since it will shorten the distance from the end link pivot point to the centerline of the bar. It will increase the stiffness slightly since you are reducing the length.

We had two targets here - first was the motion ratio of the pivot point of the end link (amount it moves relative to the movement of the wheel center). The second is the distance from the centerline of the swaybar to the pivot point of the end link. Using these dimensions, the overall effective length of ther bar and ID/OD of the sway bar, we calculated what bar size to order and how far away the bar needed to be from the pivot points.

The target was ~1250lb/in using the same motion ratio as a base 2004 Mustang Cobra.

[chunger]

Craig, a question on these splined anti-sway bars. Are they inherently 'better' than the standard curved solid or hollow bars? Or did you guys end up using it as there was nothing off the shelf to fit?

[SVTforme]

At the end of the day it is a piece of spring steel with a certain rate - so not really any better I guess. The thing I like about them is you can change the rate simply by changing out the bar with another with different wall thickness. The OD stays the same so you don't have to change out anything else.

As you can image - there is nothing that really was meant to fit this application. New Mustang ones would not clear the tires/and or the frame rail locations since they sit much lower on a Torino than on a Mustang.

[femurphy77]

I pulled up this thread as I am thinking about putting a cobra irs in an alston back-halved 67 mustang notchback. I am so ashamed to think that it might be "too much work". Completely insane build and only hope I get the opportunity to see these things in person one day. Keep the pics coming!!

[Dalamar]

Wow Craig, you've made some awsome progress!
i'm a lil jealous of your press....

What is going on with your gauges? looks very Interesting ...
Sounds really good

[SVTforme]

I pulled up this thread as I am thinking about putting a cobra irs in an alston back-halved 67 mustang notchback. I am so ashamed to think that it might be "too much work". Completely insane build and only hope I get the opportunity to see these things in person one day. Keep the pics coming!!

I would definitely say this is not a quick weekend job that is for sure. With a DVS kit, you can likely put something together in a week or two.. although depends on what your suspension goals are for tuning etc. Once we get these done - we will hit the circuit.. so hopefully will see us around someday.

Wow Craig, you've made some awsome progress!
i'm a lil jealous of your press....

What is going on with your gauges? looks very Interesting ...
Sounds really good

Yeah.. most of this will likely not make sense until they are done and working.. stay tuned! Press.. who said I used a press .

[SVTforme]

Been a while since I have had time to put together a post. We have been quite busy working on the car.. although most of the things like electrical etc don't really provide for exciting progress pictures. Cooling system is basically wrapped up. Intercooler heat exchanger is in and ready to run, as is the oil cooler system. For the supercharger, we ended up going with a dual pass heat exhanger. It works more efficiently and is much easier to package, also looks much nicer plumbing wise.

Sway bar is now in and complete. Did some machining on the arms to make them easier to assemble and to clean them up a bit. After that, powdercoated everything and installed. Can't wait to actually try this thing out on a corner.

[SVTforme]

Most of the work has been going on in the interior. This is the downfall to not using a modern mustang dash on the car, although I think this will be pretty slick when completed.

Decided to switch to a 1969 dash so it could be modernized a bit. We stripped off the old weatherend woodgrain, cleaned/polished everything up and added a carbon fiber accent to the dash. Came out better than I was expecting - not too over the top.

Instruement cluster design is basically complete - we ordered all the necessary parts and electrical pieces and are now ready to build everything up. This sure takes a lot more time than a person would think. Things like MIL lights, signal lights, backlighting should all make the cluster look like one from a brand new car when done. For the MIL lights, we found a harness than can be put in place of a std T5 dash bulb. By using another remote socket, we can put the light wherever we want.. in this case on the outer gauges. To mount everything, we are going to take 2 original clusters and merge them to get a setup with 4 gauges (originals had 3, and a 4th was screwed into the dash).

Heater controls are also a PITA - trying to convert linear motion to rotary motion so the original dash controls can operate the rotary dials from a new Mustang when done. Have ell the ratios figured out, ordered the parts and should have this done soon. With some rewiring, the original switch can be used to control the modern setup.

[sokoloka]

Everything about this build is awesome!

[linkstar69]

This build is one of the most well thought out custom cars I've seen.

[Scarelane]

WOW!! What a super cool project! Love the pics!

[SVTforme]

Thanks guys! Still trying to keep this one entertaining.

Hopefully soon we will get this thing out the track to see if it actually performs . Plan is to start chopping up car number 2 soon, so this will start all over again. At least this time we will know what we are doing.

[fetorino]

Some really nice work on this project. I'm looking forward to how you do out on the track.

[SVTforme]

Moving right along.. time for the details now as we are slowly running out of things to do. Time to start making things look good. Have spent a lot of time sandblasting powdercoating brackets etc. Also decided to wrap up exhaust while we were at it. Going with the stealth tips for now and will be cut almost flush with the rear body line when done. Was not sure what to do about the cruise control as most steering wheel buttons don't look right in an old car. Other issue is having the electronics on the buttons work with the modern electronics. Turns out a mid 80's Crown Vic fits the bill here. They are metal looking buttons that do not look at all out of place on the Torino. They will likely make their way beneath the dash in custom housings.




Next was lightning. Lots of options here.. most of them are sub par. Seems most lights are looks over function. Several paths we can take here. Go out in left field and make a custom HID setup using the guts of a new Ford HID light (Mustang, Taurus, Explorer etc). That just screams $$ and time. We'll revisit this later. Note that putting HID bulbs in a standard halogen based housing does not count. HID bulbs require their own custom projectors and provide horrible optics when placed in a non-HID designed housing, and will also blind oncoming traffic with even the low beams on. Not quite sure why this fad has taken off in the aftermarket. There is a reason why cheap HID kits are only $100, and high end ones with the correct housings are 10x as much.

Ok.. back to the point here. Several options for Halogen based lighting. Goal was to run H4 for the outer bulbs and H1 for the inners. Main objective is to have a crisp lighting cut-off and glare free lightning. Basically be able run very bright lights without blinding oncoming traffic but still be able to see everything. Three obvious options in the order of increasing cost: Autopal, Bosch and Cibie. Pricing wise, one Cibie housing costs the same as a set of 4 Autopals. There are mixed reviews out there on the Autopals, plus they are not easily available with convex lenses - only flats here in North America. You can get the H4's in convex (HL-103-H4), but no H1's (HL-103-H1). I looked everywhere - only place you can get them is in Australia. Shipping cost rules out that option. Next is Bosch. Not a fan of the look of Bosch housings as they only come in flat lens, and they get mixed reviews. The last selection is Cibie lights. These rise above the rest and then some. They are pretty much the best you can buy as far as optics go. I was not really interested in paying the ridiculous prices they go for over here, so since we needed 8 total lights for both cars, I decided to order direct from the UK. Saved about $30/housing in the end with shipping included. I can't wait to try these out. If they work as nice as they look, I will be all set. For now I will run the std 60/55W H4's and 55W H1's. Both with be Osram Silverstars which are on order from the UK. Note that since Torino parts are scarce, 1969 Mustang headlight kits were used and disassemled as used as donors. Since they rest of the car was built using the best of parts, the optics should be no exception.




Next is the trim. Half the trim on this car is anodized aluminum. It may look nice new, but the years are not kind to this combo. Problem is the aluminum is anodized which means there is really nothing you can do to polish it up when it starts to dull. Solution here is to strip the anodize, re-polish and then re-seal, likely by powdercoating. After looking into this, I decided to give the cheap alternative a try first. This was Greased Lightning which I got from Home Depot for under $10. Did it work - sure did. The easy way to tell is to use std metal polish - if the rag turns black, you are in contact with bare aluminum. More to follow here, as well and getting started on stripping the grille.

[coolwelder62]

This is an awesome build thread.

[SVTforme]

Been a while since I have posted an update. Have been working on the cars a lot lately and finally have some time to post pics.

Wrapped up the front grille for the most part and got in bulbs (Osram Silverstars) from Europe. Also finished up the underbody and swapped out clutch discs (very long story while which would need to be told over drinks). Continued on finishing up most of the electrical in the interior and only need to get the cluster done and the will basically finish up the complicated part inside. Since the car had no power accesories in the doors, we had to add pass throughs. Tried using a Greenlee knock-out punch set this time and it worked perfect. Grommet is from a 1990's Fox Body Mustang, but the part number actually traces back to the 70's.

What next - time to put some paint on the car and make it one color. Paint of choice - Home Depot flat black of course. $50 of paint and a day of elbowgrease and it is now done for the time being. Paint booth was a morning in the garage followed by a nice hot sunny day outside . We will finish up the trim etc of the coming months, but we wanted to make it at least road worthy again. We went to the first show of the weekend and put about 30 miles on the car. Works great. Time to get the car ready for Motorstate now.

[chunger]

Craig - as usual, another great update! Would like to understand a bit more about how you mounted the H1/H4 bulbs in place of the original sealed beams. Could you show/tell a bit more about how they are mounted and wired. I'm assuming they are on some type of relay?

[SVTforme]

Craig - as usual, another great update! Would like to understand a bit more about how you mounted the H1/H4 bulbs in place of the original sealed beams. Could you show/tell a bit more about how they are mounted and wired. I'm assuming they are on some type of relay?

The nice thing about these are that the bolt right up to the stock headlight buckets. H4's directly replace the original high/low beams and the H1's replace the high beams. The electrical connectors are the same as on the Torino too forth both lights. These lenses are also convex like the originals and not flat like most aftermarket ones so they look kinda stock.



I am running the modern Mustang wiring so I do not currently have any wiring modifications (aside from integrating Torino connectors). Once I upgrade to 100W bulbs I will upgrade the wiring to better wiring suited for the current draw.

I did try the Cibie lights out the other day and they are amazing in comparison. They may not have the modern "bling" like other diamond lens style aftermarket lights, but they will outperform any other lights out there. I will have to take a picture of the beam pattern they make and post it.

[Badbird1963]

Man that turned out nice, even with the cheapo paint job. If you can get past the brakes and wheels, could pass for a stocker, til you turn up the noise. I didn't see a part number for those Cibie lights. I would like to run something like that in my 63 falcon. I too want to stay away from the flat lense but want to upgrade to brighter lights. Thanks

[Shadow X]

I am in aw over this build. You have given me so many more ideas for my project, then i already had! I'm going to need the next few days to get around all of this lol... To me this is one of the best build ever! Thanks you for doing it...