Going To Surprise My Nephew,64 1/2 Mustang Coupe

horse sence · Sep 10, 2012

i lowerd the upper a arms ,1 inch down and 1/8 inch back. it requires a little hammering on the inside as well ,just to flatten some flanging around the holes. tomarrow i am going to work on the lower control arm mount. going to make it adjustable using the brackets off an old 68 front end . no more shims to adjust the front end. the radius rods will be changed with modified 67 rods so every thing will now be adjustable. i know ,a kit is available for the lower control mount but uncle Jim aint made of money!

horse sence · Sep 11, 2012

just finnished the lower controll arm mods. i used the old adjuster brackets form an old wrecked 68 front clip. there are only three spot welds holding them in place.simply drilled the spot welds and removed them. i had to modify the controll arm mount a little,nothing major. using a straight edge i conected the holes through the centers
marking it with a fine tip felt pen, the line will keep things parallel. i then took the brackets and marked the center of the adjuster hole horizontal and verticle like cross hairs and aligned the marks over the holes in the lower controll mount.now every thing will line up level and square ,this is a must to work properly.welded them in place through the spot weld holes and welded them up the sides for added strength.
i then used a 1/2 inch hole cutter to cut the ends of each slot and cleaned up the points that were left over with a die grinder .no more shims ,it adjust like a 67 up now.
now i just have to find a set of lower radius rods for a 67 to modify and the suspension will be fully adjustable. a set of the positive lock adjusters and its good to go.

horse sence · Sep 13, 2012

took the door hinges apart today and rebuilt them. sand blasted and primed as well.

i found a set of the 67 radius rods. they have to be shortened to use them on 65 lower controll arms, about 1 1/4 inches. i also have to chuck them up in the lathe and turn them down in front of the threads and extend the threads ,room for adjustments and the front nut. that way i will have full adjustment for caster.

horse sence · Sep 14, 2012

i just figured out how to edit my posts. this may sound kind of strange to you but untill i signed on to stangnet i have never touched a type writer ,much less a computer key board. i am learning slowly and this is a big step for me ,and i know i will use it alot :doh:

for some reason i find myself typing words backwords,missing keys and hitting wrong keys and not catching it untill its posted. i am learning all by my self and i guess i am doing alright? however,( sence) in horse sence is not spelled incorrect .there was already a horse sense on stangnet and there was already a
horse cents. so i just changed a leter in sense. this apears to be causing some confusion i hear.

Falcon79 · Sep 19, 2012

all spelling errors are forgiven as long as you keep up with the awesome updates!

horse sence · Sep 19, 2012

yall got it. though sense your from Texas, yall is probably correct :rlaugh:

i have realatives in the great state of Texas

Fstbk · Sep 19, 2012

Outstanding job. You are making more of an impact on Nick than you may know. No doubt that twenty years from now he will remember this fondly and it may not have as much at all to do with the car as it does now. I mean, a lot of guys can teach a kid to fish, but it takes a hero to teach him these skills.

Good on ya!

I would like to mention that a trunk divider behind the seat not only adds chassis stiffness but may prevent a flaming ball of gas from hitting the occupants during a rear end collision. I would do that or get a better tank that eliminates that from happening.

horse sence · Sep 19, 2012

yeah, planning on that and a plate over the gass tank as well.

horse sence · Sep 21, 2012

i built a 9 inch housing for nicks mustang. started with a 8 inch from a 65 GT coupe .
i used the axle tubes and the axles from the 8 inch and the center pumpkin from a early 9 inch. i have a jig for building rear end housings. 1 1/2 inch round bar and four solid blocks machined for a slip fit for the 1 1/2 inch bar .one in each axle tube a one on each side of a gutted center section ,they take the place of the bearings. it works out like a hi po rear end ,9 inch center with small axle tubes, the GT axles are the heavy duty ones . i just need to toss it in the solvent tank ,then glass bead the housing. i have a 3.25 geared center section ready to go .we will probably use drum brakes for now .i have a set up for 2 1/2 inch shoes .that should be good enough for now.it cost me about three hours work and no $s. thats the way i like it.

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horse sence · Sep 23, 2012

My brother and i took Nick to the Cherry ave. swapmeet in Fresno today.how dissappointing :notnice:

we got up at 5 in the morning ,drove for an hour one way, and not one ford part there worth looking at. we were looking fore an instrument cluster for a 66 mustang,going to change over to full guage set up.there was enough chevy junk to build 3 chevy motors ,just in the first row. its the same old chevy junk every time we go. not even new junk ,just the same old junk.what happend to all the ford parts?is every one holding on to them or are they gone? :shrug:

LAVAgt2012 · Sep 27, 2012

Too bad with the swap meet, but on the upside that stang your building is coming together good. Keep with the updates, just because were not posting doesn't mean a bunch of us are not looking at your progress. I'd love to build one, one day. My knowledge just isn't here so I would have to get one with the body complete already.

horse sence · Sep 27, 2012

yeah i will keep posting, i am in the middle of a seasonal lay off, hopefully not a long one. i am tring to do what i can that doesnt require $$$,thats not much. i am just about ready to start the body work,then i can get it off the rotisserie. then comes the expensive stuff,motor ,suspension and interior. i already have the paint so thats one pluss. i think we are still going to get by fairly good cost wise. i am doing the work my self ,so no shop fees.

dont be afraid to build it your self, thats what stang net is here for, people here will be more than glad to help out. mustangs have to be the easiest car i have ever worked on, any one can do it so dont be afraid to try.

horse sence · Sep 27, 2012

Oh boy, loook out stangnet. Nick passed his drivers test today. thats right ,he is now an officially licensed,CALIFORNIA driver. beware. :rlaugh:

YEAH

horse sence · Oct 3, 2012

wow , what i thought was going to be a short layoff may be a couple of months.
i hope the rest of you are working. looks like nicks car will not be finnished by his birthday. not even getting any sand blast work. i am usualy able to find odd jobs durring a layoff ,but the only odd jobs i have come across are a few of the people i have met latley :rlaugh:

if this keeps up my only alternative may be ,

horse sence · Oct 17, 2012

uncle Arnie has been at it ,cleaning all the bolts and parts and repainting them.
soon as we are ready to paint, it will just be a matter of assembling every thing.
everything is getting detailed nothing will be left untouched.

horseballz · Oct 17, 2012

Nice to see you found some stuff to occupy your time without really spending any/much $$$. It sucks that when you have the $$$, you don't have the time and when you have the time, you don't have the $$$.

I hope work picks back up for you soon and that you don't have to "drop your pants" too often.

Keep The Faith,
Gene

horse sence · Oct 18, 2012

horseballz said:
Nice to see you found some stuff to occupy your time without really spending any/much $$$. It sucks that when you have the $$$, you don't have the time and when you have the time, you don't have the $$$. I hope work picks back up for you soon and that you don't have to "drop your pants" too often.
Keep The Faith,
Gene

yeah tell me about it. actually i have managed to pick up some subed out work from a couple of local shops,nothing big but it will do for now. i have forgotten just how many nuts ,bolts and small parts there are when completly restoring a mustang,and every thing needs refinnishing or replaced to do the job right

horse sence · Oct 19, 2012

i picked up the fiberglass trunklid and end caps ,with the spoiler from stang- aholics. the trunk lid is just setting there .its not bolted down. just about a perfect fit right out of the box. the end caps needed the mounting holes in the body egged very slightly not alot. they fit just about as good as the origional caps, they also have a tail panel that uses the t bird lights like a 68 ,that i have orderd as well. it uses LED lights but i am going to use a set of 64 t bird light cans that i already have . it will be a whole lot cheaper this way. also thinking of using the 71-73 pop open gass cap. wanting to do somthing a little custome with the rear valance. just going to have to set down and draw something up. somthing like the 67 valance with the exhaust cut outs but a little different.