1965 Fastback project.

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measurement

deadonarrival said:
Mustbereel, can you give me a measurement of the distance between your modified rear quarter panels on your fastback. I am doing a cobra irs in a 65 coupe and was planning on using flares but your method of using a 67 outer wheel house might be another option to consider. Here is a link to the dvs site showing a measurment on a 65 coupe.
http://www.dvsrestorations.com/aug03.htm

I measure 69" minimum maybe 69.5" inside to inside. This is with rolled fender lips. With the right offset and tire size this should work with the DVS system. Bear in mind that this was not a straight forward swap. Since the quarter panels are pulled out they also pull up and change the fit to the rocker panels and trunk floors. It takes some extra work to make it look good. If you are doing rear quarters anyway then it will be a little easier. And if I can do it anyone with a little body panel replacement experience can do it better. I'm not sure I would do it again. Next time I plan to go inward for more room.

I do like the DVS kit as it is bolt in and allows you to run the exhaust under the diff. You can't imagine how little room I have to run exhaust tubing.
 
First drive

I drove the Fastback for the first time today! Of course it was only from the garage to the upper part of the driveway but it drives. The front end isn't close to being aligned, the brakes felt like mush and there's no exhaust but now I can clean up the garage for the final push to completion.

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Very nice car!

I have a rebuild of a 66 underway - wondered what you thought of the Painless wiring system and how easy was it to fit?

How many hours did you spend fitting the Heidts front sus set-up? ANd why did you pick that ption. New to StangNet and just trying to get some feedback for when I'm looking to replace my front set-up.

Thanks
 
painless and MII

uk66fastback said:
I have a rebuild of a 66 underway - wondered what you thought of the Painless wiring system and how easy was it to fit?

How many hours did you spend fitting the Heidts front sus set-up? ANd why did you pick that ption. New to StangNet and just trying to get some feedback for when I'm looking to replace my front set-up.

Thanks

Thanks and welcome to stangnet,

I found the painless system to be very straight forward. All of the wires are marked and grouped by circuit. There are even some extra circuits for add on equipment (fans, MSD, AC, etc.). I like the modern fuse panel and extra relays. I think it is more versatile than a reproduction harness (and cheaper). However, my father was an electrical engineer and I have been wiring circuits since I was a child. I also design/build machinery, including control systems, for a living. I can see where it might be overwhelming for an electrical novice.

The front suspension is actually from Rod & Custom. I knew that one upgrade I wanted to make was to install rack & pinion steering. I also new that I wanted to upgrade the control arms and add disc brakes. The R&C MII kit supplied all of this for less money plus you end up with a lot more room under the hood. There is much debate on how well these handle. I will say in the short distance I drove it today the steering felt very tight and responsive. I don't know how much time was devoted to the MII conversion since I had to cut out the inner aprons and firewall due to rust. I would say it can be done in a couple of weekends if the engine is already out and you have all of the right tools.
 
wheels and tires.

Do you mind sharing the specs on your wheel and tire setup?

width, backspace, etc

Thanks

Jonathan

The front has 17x8 with 4.75 bs and 245 45 R17 tires
The rear has 17x9.5 with 4.75 bs and 275 40 R17 tires.

I assume you have read through the whole thread to see the mods that make it possible to fit these wheels and tires.
 
Nice work!

I am installing the Heidt's front end in my wife's 66 Convertible. I had some contention with the oil pan. Heidt's says to use a rear sump, and there is no true "rear sump" unless your power your Mustang with a small block chebby. I used the double hump pan and had to raise the engine a bit and move it forward approx 1/3". The engine would have fit better if I had not opted for the power rack as the pressure lines protrude forward creating more contention. I was disappointed in this regard. Now I know why the magazines never show the engine in the car. Not driving yet but soon......

Your car is SHARP!
 
oil pan engine position

Coleman said:
Nice work!

I am installing the Heidt's front end in my wife's 66 Convertible. I had some contention with the oil pan. Heidt's says to use a rear sump, and there is no true "rear sump" unless your power your Mustang with a small block chebby. I used the double hump pan and had to raise the engine a bit and move it forward approx 1/3". The engine would have fit better if I had not opted for the power rack as the pressure lines protrude forward creating more contention. I was disappointed in this regard. Now I know why the magazines never show the engine in the car. Not driving yet but soon......

Your car is SHARP!

Thanks!

In order to locate the engine as far back as possible I modified the front sump of the oil pan. I cut and rewelded the front sump to just barely fit the oil pump. This allowed the engine to move back about 1". This put the shifter right in the middle of the original opening. I had to reweld the pan twice because of my porous welds but I'm happy with the engine position.
 
Two weeks on ...

... from your last post - any more driving experiences yet - even up and down the road? Interested to know how you found the front suspension set up although I guess we'll have to wait until you get it properly on the road when you can test it more fully!

Back to the wheels: would those wheel still fits with normal arches - would I be able to get away with slightly thinner tyres?

Cheers :nice:
 

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wheels

uk66fastback,

Just for fun I put the rear wheels (275 40 17 on 17x9.5 with 4.75bs) on my 65 coupe. They stick out about 1.5" which is the amount by which the wheel wells on the fastback were expanded. Other people have sucessfully put that size tire on a 65/66 but it would have to be with a different backspacing. Looking at the inside there was about 1" clearance to the leaf springs and maybe slightly less to the front part of the inner wheel well. Some hammering may help with that part. I think it would be a very tight fit regardless of backspacing. The front wheels (245 45 17 on 17x8 with 4.75bs) would probably fit the stock front with rolled fender lips. They fit just fine on the back of the coupe.

I have been spending more time on the coupe lately to try to make room for a possible third project, a 67 coupe. I have been slowly working on the exhaust system for the fastback and haven't driven it since the first time. I may post some pictures tonight. I still have to re-bleed the brakes, align the tires and put the hood on it to make it driveable. Not enough time for two (or three) projects and a job.

Brad

uk66fastback said:
... from your last post - any more driving experiences yet - even up and down the road? Interested to know how you found the front suspension set up although I guess we'll have to wait until you get it properly on the road when you can test it more fully!

Back to the wheels: would those wheel still fits with normal arches - would I be able to get away with slightly thinner tyres?

Cheers :nice:
 
Exhaust

I knew from the beginning that the exhaust system on this car would be a challenge. Unfortunately I really didn't plan for it very well. I wanted full 2.5" with an X-pipe and exiting through the GT valance. After installing the TCP subframes with cross brace it became apparent that the 2.5" X-pipe would not fit. I finally decided to modify the cross brace to make room for the X-pipe. I would have removed it completely but I modified the rear part to mount the forward struts of the IRS. Also, 2.5" looks much bigger under the car than outside in pieces. Anyhow I built the exhaust system out of various J-bends, U-bends, straight pipe and couplings. I built one section at a time cutting and tac welding as I went. I included ball and socket connectors at the front and rear for easy removal.

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I lost count of how many pieces are in this.
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It's tight in there.
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The mufflers sit where the leaf springs used to be.
muffler2.jpg

And I even managed to get them to exit through the GT valance. These are Spintech mufflers and they sound good so far. After starting the car with open headers so many times I wasn't sure the car was actually running at idle. They wake up as you rev the engine. If I really work at it I might have the car driveable this weekend.
 

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