Tina's 65 Mustang

[RobNoLimit]

I am blessed to have a really wonderfull wife. She puts up with all of my hot-rodding anticks, she love to riding on the harley, she even likes going to shows and track events. But she's had enough of the seat on the right. I've had a 65 coupe, that we bout for fitment/measuring some years ago, and when I asked her if she wanted it, she about knocked me down for the keys! A stock 'Stang is not really something I want my wife driving around in so-cal traffic, so we're starting a make-over project. The car is pretty staight and very solid. We started up front by building a new IFS with a rack, and disk brakes. Now I'm on the rear. I'm working on a two-link + torque arm, similar to a Meyers set up. We have a clean 347 stroker, and an aod trans, and I plan on using the EFI fron an 88-93 GT. Color,interior, and wheel choice is all up to her. - I will be adding a 6pt bar for safety and solid shoulder mounts. We'll get some picts up, should be running at Del-Mar in April.

[Northeast Rod Run]

Have to keep the wife happy.

[johnny68]

hey rob was good to see ya at the f100 western nats cruize cant wait to see the stang your f100 is awsome
john

[RobNoLimit]

We had a blast on the cruise. It was our first time driving the truck that far.

[RobNoLimit]

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[RobNoLimit]

Still getting the hang of the picture deal. here's some shots of the current progress. The IFS is one that I build, it bolts in to factory holes, and then is welded in. The nice thing is that the factory spring buckets come out. Lots more room in the engine bay. It's set up for a Fox body rear sump pan, and the motor is 1" back from stock. T-bird P/S rack. The subframe connectors are just .120" wall rect. tubing. The rear links fit into the stock front mounts, and I am almost done with the torque arm. I built it to use late model Mustang wheels, but not the ones currently on it, sexy as they are, they gotta go. I am on to the coil-overs and the panhard rod now. I'll do my best to keep posting picts.

[RobNoLimit]

Some pictures of the front wheel openings to get the ride height & track width with the wheel and tire we want. We had to raise the wheel openings 1 3/4". Rob made new ones from 18 gauge steel using a shrinker/stretcher and a hammer and dolly.

[droptop73]

Nice flares

[craigs73]

anymore progress here looks good

[RobNoLimit]

Wow, it's been a while, and I am guilty of letting this project slide into the back corner. A few weeks ago I started to re-organize some parts, and get ready to move forward. With the bulk of the fab work finished, it's time to plumb the brakes and fuel. I decided on a Hydro-Electric brake system from ABS for this car. Originally I was going to use a Hydro-Boost (in fact I have it) but I have a similar hydro-boost system in my '46 'vert, and in high usage situations (autocross) I have had it loose some of the steering assist, not good. This car will have more HP, brakes, and tires than the old 'vert, so I didn't want to risk it. The install of the master is a snap. Just bolts in, connects to the stock pedal. Plumbing is a little more involved, but not to bad. There is a accumulator and a pump, the accumulator is mounted just below the hood hinge, and the pump is in the small well behind the front tire. I fabbed a small cover panel to protect the pump.

[RobNoLimit]

Next was the fuel lines. Getting these to fit in tight and not hang below anything took some work. The car doesn't have much space under it. - not like a truck But, there in. 3/8" feed and return. I just need to make a small tab to mount the #6 bulkheads.

[RobNoLimit]

And next, the motor goes in. YEAH. 347 stroker with AFR heads, comp cam ... It's mild, at appx 425 hp, 395 tq, with a 2000 stall coverter and an AOD trans. The rear has 3.90 gears, with a final drive ratio of 2.83 in O.D. It should cruise at 70 around 2200 rpm. The oil pan is a Fox body Mustang pan, and the motor mounts come with the IFS kit.

[RobNoLimit]

To me this is one of the cool parts of the whole swap. I've had experience in the past of fitting headers and playing with spark plugs in old Mustangs, and it sucks. There just isn't much room. Here is a look at the available room now.

[bmbrzmn101]

Looking good Rob, Looking forward to more pix. You have quite abit of room now for headers. But I bet it will still suck putting them in. Something always get in the way with me.

Chris

[Jetfixr320]

Looks like Fox Body long tubes will drop in. Try BBK.
Build looks great. More info on your IFS. Do you sell them?

[RobNoLimit]

Thanks guys. We tried the BBK long tubes, and they did fit fine, but, they hung down about 3" below the front rail. So, we are waiting on a set of short tube headers from them now. Do we sell them - hmm, I guess so. Here's the scoop. We have been making these for about 4 yrs now. The IFS in Tina's 65 is the 3rd update, and at this point, we don't see any more revisions. The first one has over 20k miles on it, and works great, but we felt it needed a bit more caster available. The second design is under 5 cars, 3 on the road, working great. These cars all use a 4" stroke coil-over with a 10" spring. Now, just so you know, I believe in a high-travel, low roll set up. So I like to have 4" to 5" of static suspension compression at Ride Hieght. With the 4" shock we had 3.7" of static compression at RH, so for the last update, we re-worked the upper C/O mount to use a 5" stroke shock with a 12" spring. Now we are really happy with everything about the IFS. There are 6 cars out there with the 3rd gen design, 2 on the road, and a few weeks ago we did some testing on one of them at AMP and had great results. It's normal for us at No Limit to take a long time to get things to market. We want to build a few, and have people that we know install some. Then we want to drive them, for performance, braking, handling, ride quality, and then get some miles on them, as many as possible. We have a few more detail parts for them, like a 'Shelby' bar and bracing, and the hardware kit, and then we'll let them out to the public. Thanks for the interest.

[RobNoLimit]

Some updates
I started to work on the Vintage Air A/C install. The evap is in, and the plumbing is done. The interior wiring and vent tubing still to go. I am pretty impressed with the kit. All of the hard lines fit perfectly. Yes, it is a pain to get the evap bolted in. I swapped to a longer bolt through the firewall to get it started, that helped.

[RobNoLimit]

More progress. The new BBK headers showed up. A perfect fit. The pict for the pass side looks close, but there is almost an inch to the brake line, and we put a heat barrier patch over the line there. Then I started to run some exhaust. all of the tubing will tuck up nicely with nothing hanging below the sub rails.

[RobNoLimit]

I've been doing a lot of plumbing, and that means the tank needs to go in. We fabbed the tank to fit in to the stock opening, and use the stock fill. The tank is in two sections to help with fuel control. The EFI pump is a Walbro LS style. None of the tank hangs below the lower quarters, and I still have room for rear exit axhaust. - but it's getting a bit tight under the car.

[Jetfixr320]

I like the valve covers and the fuel tank, any pics of inside the tank? Baffles or compartments?