Front End almost done.

Been working on the car on and off for the last couple of weeks, and since I finally received my base completion kit I was able to finish most of the front end setup.  Installed the front coil over shocks and 500lb springs, and the front lower control arms.

When hooking up the steering rack it is obvious that it is about 3 inches too long (story of my life).!

I had previously intalled tie rod extensions as per the manual so now I will spend about 3 hours removing them and that should fix everything.  More boxes are arriving all the time from various places and now I have the new HO fuel pump and mount, the kit to mount the battery under the hood rather than the trunk, and most of the parts need for the rear end.

New HO Fuel pump and mount.

Still waiting for the rear control arms to arrive and the kit that lets you mount the firewall forward about 2" which seems to be the way to go according to all the people I have talked to .

Looks like a dull rainy weekend so I will hopefully make some more progress int he next 48 hrs.



Since Saturday is Supposed to be the End of the World...

... I figured I should take Friday off and work on the car.  Tons of progress today.  Finished putting the brackets on the Rear diff, re-installed the Pan-hard assembly, put in the steering rack, assembled the passenger foot box, and mocked up the firewall.  Drank 4 beers and met some more neighbours.

Installed the steering rack with new poly bushings and tie-rod arm extensions.

Mocked up the fire-wall aluminum with Cleckos.  Need to find out if I have to make any openings for the heater etc. before I rivet in on permanently.

Mocked up the driver's side foot box.

Did all I could on the rear end, as I am still waiting for the control arms and rear coil over shocks to arrive.

Clecko art.

Not bad for a day's work.

A lot has happend since the last post...

Unfortunately I had a 3 month layoff starting Jan 8 due to a broken wrist so I had to delay the delivery of the kit which was originally scheduled for March.  Wrist has healed now - turning wrenches is actually good therapy - and the kit arrived on May 11 so its time to post a few pictures and get this blog caught up otherwise it will fall by the wayside (like most other projects I start...)

Built a "body buck' using templates from the FFR FAQ site.  I discoverd that wood-working is like an intelligence test which I barely passed.

Believe it or not I got the engine out all by myself.  I figured that if I was going to drop it, I didn't want anyone else there to make fun of me.

Gas tank is out and looks very ratty.

Rear differential is out and looks rattier than the gas tank.  Since this pic was taken, I had the unit sandblasted, painted balck, and installed some new seals, bearings, 3:73 gears, and new 5 stud axles.

Gas tank looks way better after some rust removal and a coat of paint

Splurged at the car show and bought a 4 point hoist.  It has removable castors so you can position it anywhere you like and move it around.

The Big Day... crate arrived opened and damaged thanks to the hard working men and women at Canada Customs

Me and my new best friend start the unloading process

Safe and sound in the driveway.

16 boxes of goodies - like Christmas except that you get stuff that you actually want.

Had some friends come over and put everyhting in the garage - under supervision of course.

First course of action is to remove all of the aluminum panels that were screwed on.  I marked everything and took lots of pictures showing how everything fit together so hopefully I won't make too many mistakes when it comes to riveting them back on.

48 hours after delivery, the frame is stripped and inventory is complete.  Not sure what parts I am missing yet as there was no packing slip in the container - probably on the desk of a customs offical somewhere.

According to the manual - first thing to do is to put on the front F panels.  This was easy, but then the very next thing is to mount the upper control arms......

... and of course the just mounted aluminum is in the way.  Its going to be a long build!

More Destruction

Spent quite a bit of time over the holidays in the garage, ripping apart the Mustang.  Front wiring harness is out,  as is the computer.  Dash is gone and the next step will be to get the dash harness out in one piece.

Alternator, PS pump and air pulley are all off.

coil is off.

Front wiring harness is finally out.

Looks like a bomb went off inside.

Trying to finish all of the stuff I can do myself so that once I get a helper or two to come over, we can get the engine, trans and differential out without wasting any time.

Doner Teardown

Finally got started on the teardown today.  Moved the car to the workbay put it up on the jack stands and went to work.

Wheels went first, then removed the battery, rad, clutch fan and shroud.  Who knew that so much coolant could come from such a small car?  Slight underestimation as to the flow rate from the bottom radiator hose but its my garage floor and I can color it any way I want!  Next step for the engine bay will be to tag all the wires so I will leave that for another day.

Rad is gone.

Way more room now!

Since I was working without a helper I figured that I would do all the simple stuff so the front seats came out and then I ripped out the console and carpet.  Its much easier to tear something apart because if you are not using it again you don't have to be quite as careful as you normally would.  Over Christmas I figure that at least one person will help me for 10 mins so I can get the hood removed.

Carpet and seats are out.

I have made a pact with myself to clean up the workspace after every session so I spent the last 15 mins today cleaning up.  Total time today was about 4 hours and I loved every minute of it.

Adios and Merry Christmas.

Kit Ordered!

Finally placed my order with Al from Western Canada Cobras.  Should be here in 7 to 9 weeks.  I will have to get moving on the teardown.

Doner Car

I finally purchased the donor car I was looking for.  I picked up a 1990 Mustang LX for $3,000.  It has many mods to the original 5.0 engine which I will list later.  It runs Ok but pops out of first gear from time to time.

Part of the deal is that the guy I bought it from will come and pickup all of the left overs after I have stripped off the parts that I need.  This works for me as I don't have the time to try and sell the rest of the car.

Just got my new cabinets installed so the garage is ready to go.

1990 Mustang LX Doner car

A couple of pics of the engine.  Hopefully this is not the last time it ever runs.

Over the next couple of weeks I will start the teardown process and I can't wait to get at it.