65 mustang coupe/tornado survivor/face lift

[*ryno*]

heres my story.....
65 mustang that was previously restored about 4 years ago. it was in a storage building on may 22 2011 in Joplin mo when the big f5 tornado ripped through our town. i had previously done some work on the customers camaro and we always talked about doing some updating to the mustang, vintage air etc. it looked like a nicely restore gt 350 when id previously seen it, honestly never paid too much attention to it, since i never really cared for mustangs in the first place!

fast forward till about one month ago. the car has been waiting its turn up on the lift, to go under the knife, um plasma cutter, in my shop. i usually build more hot rod styled, 60 era customs, ie Cadillacs, big body stuff, etc. so this build is a breathe of fresh air, and i hope to learn from the vast knowledge on this board.

i thought our original plans where to just fix the damage and do some modern updates, boy how things change....
out came the 289, interior, suspension, basically just using the shell and building a very capable street car that will see some good guys event and hopefully some of the pro touring sponsored events when completed.

plans call for a complete tci suspension package, 13 willwood brakes, 9 " posi rear, mini tubbed, and flared quarters, coyote boss 302 engine, auto 6 speed with manual body, possibly a simple cage, 18" wheels, recaro seating, custom sheet metal interior.



a few days after the storm and hours of digging it out all the rubble. amazing where the insulation and debris ended up getting placed.




hood was open with the battery on a tender.a beam from the building fell onto the car, smashing the roof and hood.it also had a beam go through the quarter panel, amazingly enough no glass was broken. there was tons of debris inside the car also even though the windows where up. the force of the storm makes the cars implode, the 250 plus wind doesn't help either!

[1tuff68]

Whoah! Now that car is a survivor! can't wait to see it get put back right - keep the pics and posts coming

[*tim]

well what can i say?! noting beats an old mustang, not even a tornado! :P

cant wait fore some moroe pictures and updates

[*ryno*]

here's a few i should have started with.




this truck was supposedly a couple hundred yards away.it ended on top of the entrance to the storage facility.

[rfalker1]

wow, that's a true survivor.. glad to see u made it through it ok!!

[dusterbd13]

its a shame the starion died. i love those cars.

also amazing the mustang didnt get any worse than it did.

my prayers are with those in joplin still rebuilding.

michael

[*ryno*]

start of the tci front suspension.
pretty happy with the overall fit and quality of their product so far.
tci engineering here on the board was able to help me some issues i had, good customer service.
still waiting on the rear 3 link kit.

cleaning up the front rails. the previous restorer went a little crazy and fully welded all the stock brackets to the frame. so it was quite a chore getting down to clean bare rails. lots of grinding through the material and welds.



after triming down the outer lip on the top rail, you need to weld the exposed seem back together.



boxing plates tacked in place.





completely welded, smoothed out, ready for coyote x member. i think they said it was 1.5 inches difference compared to the original design for a 302 or such.



x member fit in place.



welded and mocked up.






waiting on the 13" wilwood brake kit.

[Crestronwizard]

Looking good!

[*ryno*]

Looking good!

thanks for the good word!
i like the direction your heading with yours also.spent some time checking it out.

[67 ls1 vert]

Looks like it on track to be a better car than it ever was. Your welder is doing a good job.
Keep up the progress pictures and best of luck rebuilding your home and car.

[*ryno*]

thank you!
the welder is me.
thankfully my home and shop where clear of the destruction, the car was in storage when this happened.

[*ryno*]

got the rear tci 3 link in fed ex the other day.
the worst part about this car, is the fact that it was restored about 3 years ago and has been line-exed under side, so with all these brackets, it takes some time to melt,scrap, wire wheel to clean metal again!

rear 3 link kit





removal of the old 8"




cleaning up the rails, they have taken some abuse through the years.needed to massage them a little.






inner stiffer plates. needed to make a recess cut into the factory bead in the rear, for a flat surface, this will get plated when it gets broken down for paint.






installing the frame connectors, rear link bar mounts.






sub frame, with drive shaft hoop.

[*ryno*]

i have not updated this thread in a few months.
making some slow progress. got the wheel and tire chooses figured out, im going to make a 335 -30-18 fit in the back with the tubs and wide body. a lot of work to do so. tubs are cut out and just need to order the wheels now.
with the addition of teh extra rubber in the rear in also had to move teh tci outer link bars in board, which meant swapping the link bar brackets form side to side, turning them around,welding them in, removing and re fabbing all the upper shock brackets and sway bar brackets, and shorting the pan hard bar.

tci jig for upper links


in board




torque arm




complete under side

[*ryno*]

here's a pic of the rendering i had done by Joel nelson at 1320 design out of chandler Arizona.

[*ryno*]

update..
finally received my wheels!
matte black center brushed hoops.

18x12 5" bs w 335/30/18 tire



flairs and wide body in order




front is 18x9 5 3/4" bs with a 275/35/18 tire




setting up the rear for measurement of the housing.



53 3/4" wide is needed face to face



brackets all tig'd up and ready for narrowing.

[*ryno*]

should have mentioned this earlier.
i bought the wheel works measurement tool to get the exact offset needed for the wheels.
sure beats trying to measure with a tape and straight edge!
i got a few different tires from my local supplier, and was able to find out what i could make work and try different offsets, amazing what a 1/4 in offset will do.

[pinky49]

looks like a well thought out build
ed

[85coupe50]

What's the story on this truck? Nice!

Wow, your car is coming along...

[*ryno*]

What's the story on this truck? Nice!

Wow, your car is coming along...

thanks for the good words fellas.

the truck is a product of all the left over parts from the mustang build.i used the engine,trans,fuel system,interior,radiator,etc to build a shop truck with a 62 unibody frame and cab. its been z'd in the front 3" with a mm2 front suspension, and the rear has been z'd 10" with a 2 link and pan hard bar,also on air.

[boostedtorino]

man sweet build hell no offense but i think i dig the truck as much or more than the car mainly on cool factor alone lol.