1967 Mustang Coupe, Project "Code Blue"

[Wesley J]

Ok, turns out TR is shipping me some shipping labels for the return trip and will refund my money for all of the shipping assuming they measure like I say they do.

275 40R18's are on the way.

I'm going with the FR500 wheel in an 18x8 up front (18x9 with an inch missing) and 18x9's in the rear. I'll still have to run a spacer up front but it'll work.



Wes

[Bryce]

Wesley,

Can you do me a favor? Can you give me the specs of the FR500 18x8s: weight and Backspace.

[jackfrost]

cool project. sorry to hear about the setbacks.

[Wesley J]

Wesley,

Can you do me a favor? Can you give me the specs of the FR500 18x8s: weight and Backspace.

The weight is an issue for me. The other rims that you see in pictures in my shop are forged and weigh 20 lbs. I believe the weight of the FR500 is 30 or 31 lbs.

I've found the FR500's in standard backspacing for SN95 as well as S197. The SN95 is 5.9" BS, 24 mm + offset, 9", the S197 is I believe 6.2" BS. I'm rolling with the SN95 and narrowing the front to 8" so I'll have an effective BS of 4.9 and an offset of about 10 mm+.

I'll add a 1" spacer in order to get the tire out to the fenderwell. At least thats the theory. I'm going to get some 3/4" and 1" Al this week and turn out some spacers.

Wheels are getting ordered today.

Wesley J

[Wesley J]

Wheels are on the way from Steeda.ca. They gave me a great price, almost as good as ordering them from down south. Considering the issues I've had with the TireRack.com I thought I'd rather spend a bit more for good service locally.



Copying the look of this stellar car:



Wesley J

[Bryce]

thanks wesley!

[George Manont]

Wheels are on the way from Steeda.ca. They gave me a great price, almost as good as ordering them from down south. Considering the issues I've had with the TireRack.com I thought I'd rather spend a bit more for good service locally.



Copying the look of this stellar car:



Wesley J

Hi Wes,


Those are nice wheels, good choice. ( I almost pick 'em before settled with the current set. )

But Wes, they're meant for NEW Mustang . Means that you may need spacers again.


My wheels are also meant for 05 + 'stang, but I like 'em and don't mind using spacers. ( 1" Front / 2" rear )






Oh, btw, you said the " Code Blue " was an inline 6, please check wheel's lug nut ; 4 or 5 ?


Best to your project !


Cheers,


GM.



.

[796spdbu]

Nice project! Im digging the coupe body!

Greg

[csx4766]

WOW !!! I am really impressed. Very nice Mustang. We certainly need to talk since I am building a 67 Coupe right now.

[Wesley J]

Ok, first, thats not my green car above. I wish! Hopefully I'll have one as cool (or cooler in my eyes) in a year or 2.

Second, on the wheels, I'm using SN95 versions and you can see all my calculations above on wheel spacing. I'm good.

Wes

[Wesley J]

Well, spent the weekend heading down to the local pick and pull to grab a power rack out of a '90-'03 Ford Escort which is used in the FatMan kit. Man, there sure are a lot of those cars there....

Then I jumped on the VFR and took a ride out to Banff for the night to party with some buddies. Sunday morning was a cold ride home (17 F....)



Sunday I got back to modifying the rack. Sure is a good thing I have a lathe because you wouldnt be able to do these mods without one. I guess FatMan calls it a bolt in kits because it has bolts in it....

So, tonight I'm going to drop the crossmember so I can install the rack. After that it should just be brake lines, paint and a few other odds and ends.

I know, where the fusk are the pictures? They'll be up tonight.

Wes

[Wesley J]

Rack mods:

So, the fatman kit requires the rack to be narrowed 4 1/2" on each side, rethreaded and then have spacers put between the rack an tie rods. I stuck the tie rods in the lathe to turn them down to spec to be threaded.



Then re-assembled the rack:









At that point I installed the rack into the crossmember and test fitted the unit into the car. There's a tubular crossmember that goes below the engine to the rear of the front sump oil pan. Not too sure if all cars have this or not. Anyway, this kit wont go in without removal of that crossmember (seen in the pic below)



After fitting the crossmember to the car I attempted to install the swaybar. Guess what? It doesnt fit. Suprise suprise. This car really seems to be fighting me at every turn. I guess it wants me to really appreciate it when its done.





Oh well, I guess this is why we test fit stuff completely prior to any paint going down.

I wish I would've found a rear end by now so I could spend my time building the rear suspension this week. At least building stuff from scratch would mean it'd all go together well....

Wes

[Bryce]

wow, good work wes! the kit is a bummer though. Good luck!

[chunger]

This kit appears to be far from a "bolt-in", why did you stick with it when there are other kits that require less work to install & make work?

[Wesley J]

This kit appears to be far from a "bolt-in", why did you stick with it when there are other kits that require less work to install & make work?

Cost. This kit will be around $3k including rack, adjustable struts, disc brakes.

Any of the stock replacement style (Grigs etc) would be north of $6k (not including brakes) for me here and most arent designed to be used as a daily driver (open Heims).

Wes

[482supersnake]

and built a new crossmember that holds the rack and bolts to were the old round tube crossmember was.

[Wesley J]

On a positve note for the FatMan kit, I have gained a huge amount of space for headers. Looks like some tri-y's are in my future...

Wes

[Wesley J]

Wow, I think I'm defining the term "Scope Creep"....

Ordered up a new exhaust today. I had a hard time not considering it was $530 shipped to my door. Got it from http://www.pfyc.com

Magnaflow 2.5" Stainless Steel Cat Back:

http://www.magnaflow.com/02product/s...ne=all&id=3364



Wesley J

[Wesley J]

Ok, I'm surprised none of you asked the question: "are you sure the sway bar isnt upside down?"

To quote an Oscar worthy film: Never go full retard...

Flipped it over and now I look stupid...er I mean it fits...

Wesley J

[kmcanally]

I am running the same rear wheel with 5.94" backspace, a stock width rear and no spacer. If you want to go as low and wide as possible you have to suck it in.