Project 'Patience' the 64.5 Fastback

[Borgche]

64 1/2 as the seat platforms have cut outs

[ozbilt]

Look at the picture & tell us what is missing .......

[scott66stang]

Look at the picture & tell us what is missing .......

A Fastback

[scott66stang]

Ok i have wasted enough time looking... Has it got something to do with the windscreen roof support above the A pillar?

[ozbilt]

Ok i have wasted enough time looking... Has it got something to do with the windscreen roof support above the A pillar?

One of them, yes .......

[ozbilt]

Ok, what the picture shows is the order in which the cars were assembled.

Note the drip rails are attached & the way they were resistance spot welded was leaving the inner A windshield pillar off until just before the roof & dash were installed. I would assume the roof skin was added next after this picture was taken, then the inner windshield pillar before the dash.

Also note the door hinge plates are not installed yet, so must go in as the doors are fitted. Cars were painted with the doors & trunk lid attached to the main shell, rear valance was also on as was the quarter panel extensions (they were spaced off the body by 1/4" spacers.



Front end parts (hood & fenders) were painted same time as the shell, however the upper & lower front valance had been painted earlier & were racked ready for install later on the line ......

[ozbilt]

Now back to the job at hand .......

Rail had been pulled to correct length before this pic was taken. This picture shows the pull arm stretching the chain that is holding the car down on the Autorobot. That way the hydraulic ram that is in the vertical position can push the rail up without the car moving on the clamps (attached to the rocker panels) .......





Now measures correct length, width & height ......









Best news is the quarter panel now does not have to be removed as it pulled into shape. Considering it was fitted over a bent rail & wheel arch, it is quite an unexpected victory .....



It now matches the RH side ......



Still a big repair to do to the LH quarter panel, but nothing like the expense of replacing it .......

[hybrid]

[Borgche]

Whoawhooo!!! Love it when a plan comes together. Great work Kerry, the alignment with the door looks a hell of a
lot better now too.

[Borgche]

Ok - kids are in bed – Mrs is out for the night, time for more man therapy and talk about Patience's drive train and the reason why I was happy to buy a car from the other side of the world with no engine.
In the mid-eighties I sourced a complete but tired 289 HiPo K code engine from a wrecked XR GT Falcon. Yep our good ol’ aussie XR GT was supplied with a HiPo engine just like the early K code mustangs. Back then the engine was planned for a V8 conversion for a TD Cortina. The block was already 60 thou over and was discarded. Back then I did not know what I had and gave most the of the HiPo bits away to my local engine shop for gratis looking back I see why the engine shop which specialised in early mustangs was so happy to take all my discards.
However what I did retain was the:
• 289 HiPo crank, I think that little 'H' means its bone fide


• HiPo conrods with 3/8 ARP cap bolts
• HiPo main caps,
• HiPo harmonic balancer and timing cover.
At the time I also sourced TRW forged pistons, a used 164 tooth flywheel to suit an 11” clutch from a 351 XY and had it all balanced.

I also had a set of ’68 302 heads old skool hot-rodded:
• fitted with screw in studs,
• shaved to raise the compression,
• 351 stainless steel valves fitted,
• ports enlarged, reshaped for better flow and polished
• double valve springs fitted,
• port matched to an Edelbrock Performer manifold which was itself ported and polished.
A pretty wild old skool solid lifter cam and double row timing chain and a mellings HV oil pump, a mid 80s 302 block completed the build. The Cortina went into cold storage for quite a while and ended up with a hot 302 Windsor with aluminium heads. I kept aside the 289 with HiPo heart for a future mustang.
Enter Patience some 25 years later in need of an engine. A buddy of mine Brendan is a whiz with anything mechanical and offered to go through engine.
Brendan pulled the engine down and found a few issues, the wild cam was knocking the valves into the pistons, the piston reliefs were not big enough for the bigger valves. Further inspection of the block found it was overbored to 35 thou over and the pistons were only 30 thou. I think this was an speedway trick though not good for a street engine. So the decision was made to source a 289 block and start again.
Sometimes I border on the obsessive which meant I really wanted, I mean for some reason I really had to have a block suitably date coded for the car i.e. something that was between 30 and 60 days prior to the scheduled build date of the car.
My car was built in Oct 1964, so a block built in August or September 1964 was required. Most people told me this would be a 5 bolt block same as the 64 ½ cars. However some investigation unearthed Ford had a generation design change in July 1964 and went from using a generator to an alternator and used the opportunity to push through a host of design changes including going from a 5 bolt bellhousing pattern to a stronger 6 bolt bellhousing.
I finally found a basically complete A code engine dated September '64 in pieces in Victoria with virgin bores. It was pretty shagged, had been painted blue at some stage ('65 were supposed to be black) and the bores had big lips on them which was OK as I was boring 30 thou.
Engine was stripped and cleaned it, checked for cracks bores were within limits so off it went to the machine shop. My old HiPo main caps were fitted, along with a new Moroso stud girdle and it was line bored and bored to 30 thou over
Its late and I’m going to bed but here’s some pics to pique your curiosity.

[ozbilt]

OK, at least I will not disappoint you too much seeing the "original" block you had is gone ........

XR GT had an A code engine, Ford Australia designated it a HiPo K code, but the 271hp K code engine never made it here. All we got was the 225hp engine, so an A code in US speak. Australia was not ready for a solid lifter, rough idling engine in a car that was basically a Fairmont.

So your Mustang A code engine you sourced is the same as what you originally had .......

[scedd]

Love your tape measures Kerry.
Imperial for vertical and metric for horizontal.

[StephenSLR]

Nice build; that is one serious car!

s

[Borgche]

OK, at least I will not disappoint you too much seeing the "original" block you had is gone ........

XR GT had an A code engine, Ford Australia designated it a HiPo K code, but the 271hp K code engine never made it here. All we got was the 225hp engine, so an A code in US speak. Australia was not ready for a solid lifter, rough idling engine in a car that was basically a Fairmont.

So your Mustang A code engine you sourced is the same as what you originally had .......

[ozbilt]

Love your tape measures Kerry.
Imperial for vertical and metric for horizontal.

Hmm, sorry all metric on the AutoRobot.

scedd, should have gone to Specsavers .....