Crane's 1968 Mustang Restomod

Hey guys,

Well I am doing more work on it now. The VW I was working on is complete and running well, so I can finally devote more attention to my baby.

I am trying to get ideas for my paint scheme, and could use some input.

First, this is a Gold Nugget special. That means something, and it would be too bad to change it. I have already molested this car quite a bit by changing from the 6 to the V8 and then the suspension. Not that I think anyone would "devalue" a car like this because of that, but at the same time, it seems wrong to ditch the vinyl top and gold.

Still, the stock Gold Nugget special look doesn't really do much for me. Here it is before I started working on it at a car show:

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To me, it kinda looks "grandma car." The new rims and stance will help a lot, but I would love the extra little push to make it look a little more worthy of a speeding ticket.

Here is one image I keep going back to:

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I think this scheme might work well with the vinyl top and gold.

Other then that I am out of ideas. Definitely open to suggestions.

Alex
 
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believe me....stay away from them tickets...hahahaa. I've got a hard enough time as it is. The stripe is something like a california special through....


I think the black hood/trunk would go well with the vinyl...just me....


oan...WHY THE HELL DIDN"T I FIND THIS EARLIER>!>?!?!?!?11?!1?!?! hahahaa. great work, excited to see this progress more.
 
Got some more work done today, finally.

The radiator came in, and I have zip tied it into place. I need to get bolts for it, but am out, and didn't have time to make it to the hardware store. At this point I am making a lot of progress, but it doesn't look like it, because it doesn't look too different.

Here is a shot of it up on jackstands with the new radiator blocking my engine. Don't know why, but this really makes it look more like a car. I like the look. Seeing nice shiny parts against the black engine bay really looks great.

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Also worked on my steering linkage. The shaft clears the headers- barely. We will see how much the engine moves around when it is revved up. Hopefully not much. There is about 3/16" between the diameter of the shaft and the pipe.

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PMC came out and helped for a while. Would not sit still long enough to snap a non-blurry picture.

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Alex
 

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I like that paint. Here is a '68 I did a while back. I just did the hood black, taillight panel, and a rocker stripe. It could look good in gold too.
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Gikort- LOVE the look of your car. Before I learned that mine was a gold nugget special I was learning very heavily towards a scheme like yours. I love the grey and black. Do you have a thread on it?
 
Thank you. No I do not, I no longer own that '68. The one in my sig pic is my '67 that I still have. But I like where you are going with your paint ideas. Gold and black vinyl top will look great. I think a black hood and some sort of side stripe will look awesome too. Let us know what you decide.
 
Didn't make as much progress today as I wanted, although I did get my power steering pump mounted, as well as the alternator bracket. It was a chore finding the parts, but a local salvage yard did the trick when I harvested what I needed off of a Lincoln and late 70's Ford truck. After having them sand blasted, I got them painted and installed. They look fine.

I also got my dizzy installed. I am pretty sure I did it right, but if you don't mind checking my work that would be nice. I set to TDC, with my finger over piston #1. I made several rotations, and felt the air being pushed out every other rotation. Once I felt air building up again, I brought it to 0:

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Next I set in the dizzy, with the rotor pointing to where the 1 would be on the cap. It looks like this:

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Cool?

I also made it into a car show here in Boise today. I was hoping for some inspiration on my build but did not find much. There were a couple of very nice looking mustangs, however.

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Well, it has been a good day. Went to the junkyard and found another pulley for the power steering/crank/water pump bracket. I wish I could just skip the power steering pump for now, as I don't have lines for it quite yet, and don't want to run it without fluid in it. Either way, looks like I need to get them made or find some that will fit my setup ok.

Hooked up my battery and a good part of the electrical. Not much to it, to be honest, but did need to refer to some online diagrams. I still am not sure which is the ignition connector- so I need to find that out. I have all the info I need, it's just a matter of tracing it out.

I do need the directions on bypassing the transmission NSS. I will hook it up eventually, just not right now. Got other things to worry about. I went ahead and just ran a wire to the coil for now.

I could not wait, so I decided to spin her up and see how she sounded. For this video I did not have the ignition hooked up, so it is just her turning over. Honestly, I cannot describe how good it sounds. Sounds so throaty, even without it starting. Also I liked the sound of what I didn't hear- clanks, rattles, or the sound of a nut in a cylinder. Not that I was expecting that....but you never know.

Seriously, the camera doesn't sound as good as in person.



So then I ran the ignition wire to the coil, poured some gas down the barrel, and turned the key. It was terrible. Backfires, smoke, you name it. Turns out I had the wrong firing order. After swapping a few plug wires around it fired up and ran (roughly) for a few seconds. I don't have cooling hooked up, so I didn't try again, but it sounded great.

All in all a great day.
 
More progress!



Hooked up the ignition wires, and got it running on its own fuel. Still don't have my exhaust in. I went to a local hose supplier yesterday to get power steering cables made, but they needed to know a bit more about my R&P, so I didn't get them quite yet, unfortunately. I don't like running it with the power steering dry. I don't run it very long, just what you have seen here a couple times.
 
Thanks to all the guys giving me "permission" to break the gold nugget scheme. I keep going back and forth. Honestly it's starting to grow on me.

Here is another poorly photoshopped idea of my paint scheme. It's definitely growing on me, although more ideas would be welcome.

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Alex
 

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Going in for exhaust tomorrow. They are coming at 8:00 to tow it in. Been working on a lot of the little things. It is really slow going at this point, but slowly things are coming together.

Today I worked on the vacuum line for the C4 transmission, and got one of the transmission cooling lines fitted. Still waiting on the adapter so I can plug in the 90* fitting. I ordered a couple of weeks ago but still no show.

Oh, and this might help someone along the way. After doing a Google search I found a great way to plug the old dipstick hole. I got all the parts at my local hardware store, and only costed $2.00.

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As for exhaust...anything I should tell them? Going with the Magaflows.

Alex
 

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Well, it ONLY costed an arm and a leg...but it was totally worth it. I made a mistake in my last post... I ended up going with Flowmaster 44's.

The new exhaust is in, and no doubt about it, the local shop did a much better job then I could have. It looks great, and sounds even better. No video just yet, but you have to believe me, it still rumbles.


Here are some pics:

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You can see that I have only undercoated the front half of the car. I asked them to put flanges in so I could remove the whole system easily.

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And the stainless tips...

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Something else that was really cool and unexpected was seeing the car on level ground. I have been looking at this car on a sloped driveway for the last few months, and have yet to see it on a level surface with the engine in. I must say... I LOVE the stance. Absolutely awesome.

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Much more accomplished this week.

Started out by finally getting my throttle rod fabricated. It was actually really easy once I found the end connectors at CarQuest. Could not find anything that worked at the other stores, and was just about to order something online. The arm is just 3/16 rod with the ends threaded by a die. Worked great, and looks great.

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I actually drove it home from the exhaust shop. I overheated once and had to go and get my fan and install it on the side of the road. Good times when the radiator is searing hot. After topping the fluids again it stayed cool. I also ran out of gas, which puts a damper on things. Luckily I was running a clear fuel filter, which I saw was empty. It would have taken much longer to figure out what was going on had it not been for that. After putting premium fuel in, it ran SO much better. Night and day difference.

Have to say....the thing is loud. Super loud. More then I was expecting, but it does sound sweet. I think I will dynomat the inside after all. Plus it is not running tip top shape yet, so that should help.

And here she is:



Sorry for the high idle, I turned it was up because the old gas was making it hard to run.
 

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How fast can you say tax refund?

It is officially off to paint! Can't wait to get it back! Took some photos of her on the trailer as she drove away. The last two times I posted pics like this she came back super different.

Not sure how long it will take, they told me they will work on it as they have time. No rush for this. They promised to do a good job, and were going to work on it between other projects. Fine by me. I will try to make it over to the shop every so often to take pics of the progress.

Here are all the little things that will need fixed while there.

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Yup, Roland there hooked me up. They did really good work. He even let me borrow a fire extinguisher for the drive home...just in case. Where are you at? Your profile says your heading towards CO, are you still in Boise?