Progress Thread 66 Coupe Build

[kevbot]

Hello Stangnetters,
I recently became the owner of a 66 mustang coupe that is in need some finishing touches. It has currently had all the rust/body work/paint done, interior redone, and some other odds and ends completed.

How it currently sits:
Currie 9" Rear end
Russell Disc Brakes (missing a caliper )
17" wheels
Ron Morris Adjustable Motor Mounts
MODERN DRIVELINE T-5 cross-memeber

For the powerplant I purchased a 87 5.0 that was in need of some work, it was an AZ car that must have spent some time in the sun as the dash harness was having issues with wire shorts. I drove a couple hours to pickup the Fox and have pulled the motor and trans, I will be posting up the Fox on some local sites and sell as a roller.

For the 5.0 I plan to keep it EFI with a Painless or RMP wire harness, the dream is to someday add a turbo to run a small amount of boost. The 66 will be a summer only car and will see a couple 300-400 mile trips a year so I want to be somewhat drivable.

I am currently in a bit of a dilemma on what I should do with the motor, I was unable to get it started with state of the wiring harness from the Fox and had a limited window for help pulling the motor so I just yanked it out. I can tear the motor down and send it to a machine shop for 3 months and $1000 or just clean it up a bit (dirtier than hell) and pop it in the 66 with the hopes of it running.

 

[kevbot]

Fox donor car

 

[General karthief]

Please document the harness install with pics, I think it will be useful to others doing this.

 

[kevbot]

I will do my best, I typically get caught up in the project and forget to take pictures. Maybe ill try video.

 

[General karthief]

Here is my take on video stuff, and it is just my take, it has to be interesting enough to hold my attention, if not I move on. Most don't have edit and commentary skills to keep my attention. Just a few snaps and an explanation on placement and potential problems.
Not to say you can't make an interesting video, I think it would be more time consuming than pics and a few sentences, now there is a chance for a utube channel but again it can take up a lot of time.
I'm a 'keep it simple' kind of guy.

 

[wicked93gs]

I would clean it up and pop it in...good chance it will run well enough...you can always build a 2nd motor on the side as you drive the car. After all, you can find 302(or 351 if you are so inclined) blocks for a few hundred dollars all day long...start with a block and build it up over the course of a year as you drive the old beater engine around....also lets you sort out any electrical gremlins before installing a new motor.

 

[kevbot]

Got my motor mounts and trans mount, both look like great quality. A little nerous about the motor mounts as they are quite small, I have seen bigger/beefier on 4 cylinder imports.

 

[wicked93gs]

I wouldn't worry about them...mine are about the same size. Think about it this way, there is little difference between the amount of rubber between the metal than most stock mounts....though chances are because there is a bit less it will have a little more vibration than floppy stock mounts on most of those 4 cylinders.

 

[kevbot]

Just checked out your build Wicked, looks awesome.

I am going to put an order in for my brake lines and fuel lines. For the fuel should I go with 3/8" or 5/16" fuel line, down the road I will be looking at 350-400hp.

 

[wicked93gs]

5/16" is perfectly sufficient for 400HP, but since you are going with new line anyway, may as well get 3/8" and give yourself room to make tons of power if you ever choose to...before you order though...why not just make it? I usually go down to autozone or wherever, pick up a roll of the desired size, use my tubing bender and flaring tool(and the associated tube nuts) and make it from scratch...its cheaper and you can make it fit better for a custom application...dont even need flares and tubing nuts for a low-pressure system

 

[kevbot]

I was thinking about that as well, I will give it a shot the bending and flaring tools are cheap enough.

Need to do send fuel line, return line, all break lines, and maybe a hydraulic clutch line if I go that route.

 

[wicked93gs]

The most difficult part of it is finding the adapters needed to adapt from inverted flare(brake system tube nuts) to whatever you are using for flex lines where needed(probably a 3AN or 4AN braided stainless line for a clutch slave cylinder) but as long as you dont mind waiting a few days....all those can be found online much easier than locally(though I have found them locally as well since the flare used on AN fittings is the same flare used on hydraulic lines...but NOT the same as the standard flare you would find down at Ace Hardware or whatever...there are 2 different flare angles for those type of fittings)

 

[kevbot]

Ordered some EFI parts this weekend: Painless harness, EFI fuel tank/pump, 3 row radiator, and clutch/brake pedal assembly.

I also jumped into the taking out the pedal assembly to get ready to convert the auto to manual. I noticed it did not have the knockout punched yet, but it looks like it is quite close to the brake booster. I was looking at either buying or building a similar setup to the Dazer kit, I am going to mock the booster back up and see how much room is there for a clutch master cylinder.

 

[wicked93gs]

You know...I was watching that Gotham Garage show on Netflix this weekend, and they were completing a build by some builder who had died....and they showed a quick glance under the dash of his brake master cylinder setup....was very interesting because he had the MC under the dash and not in the engine bay...the way he accomplished it was to use a bell-crank to change the angle of the pushrod to be parallel to the firewall instead of perpendicular. This is relevant because you could use the same bell-crank method to essentially put the clutch master cylinder anywhere you wanted on the firewall....it would simply take mounting 2 bell cranks to the firewall, one to change the push angle to parallel and the 2nd to change it back to perpendicular...or alternatively just one longer bell crank if you use a pull-type clutch master instead of a push-type...or if you choose to mount the clutch master under the dash instead and a remote reservoir to fill it

Here is a video of a bell-crank setup I made to actuate my ITBs, it gives you a visual idea of what I am talking about, in the video I am using a pull-cable, but the same thing can be done with a push-rod with one output rod instead of 2:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK_1HV0xC6A

 

[kevbot]

Interesting, that looks pretty slick. I will check out that show as well, always looking for something new in the car world.

 

[kevbot]

Painless harness came in the mail yesterday, it is really nice quality with everything labeled which is going to make the install easy (hopefully). Downside is that it didn't come with any wire loom which was my fault for not checking.

Going to start pulling the motor apart this weekend, a friend that owns a shop is going help me do a rebuild on the motor and trans.

 

[wicked93gs]

The cost on the painless harness is a bit too much for me...nice that its plug and play, but that doesn't mean much if you are modifying your drivetrain or adding circuits anyway. I find universal harnesses more useful for most of my projects...with the exception of a true restoration. I would find myself very annoyed if I was splicing into a brand new painless harness because I was adding an EFI pump or upgrading my headlights with relays.

 

[kevbot]

Wish I was more knowledgeable when it comes to electrical, my brother was gifted with that trait. But doesn't come visit enough, even less now with the whole lock down.

Looking at ordering my fuel and brake likes so I can get started on planning the routing and making some brackets. I plan on using a 5.0 explorer (with return) fuel rail so I am able to run the lines down the firewall which should look cleaner and make routing the hardlines easier.

Plan on using:
Feed: 3/8 OD aluminum w/ AN6 tube nut/sleeve coupler style connection (AN6 with braided hose from firewall to rail, to accommodate flex)

Return: 1/4 OD Aluminum w/ AN4 tube nut/sleeve coupler style connection (AN4 with braided hose from firewall to rail, to accommodate flex)

Brake: 3/16 Mild Steel w/ AN3 tube nut/sleeve coupler style connection

 

[wicked93gs]

Having a return line as large or larger than your feed line will result in a more stable fuel pressure.

 

[kevbot]

Did not know that! Actually works out better as I can group the pipe/fittings together.