Suspect67

[S[_]SPECT]

OK,
Forgive me if any of this doesnt make sense, as it was copied from another forum.

Anyways,
The History:
Four years ago I went into hospital for some surgery..was fairly invasive, but wasnt meant to be anything major. so while they had my neck open, the surgen found a tumour in my larynx that was effectively trying to suffocate me. Long story short, ended up in ICU for a number of days.. couldn't speak a word for three weeks, and now my Trachea is decidedly shorter. After Radio and more surgeries.. it looks like I might be alright.

After this you start to contemplate life and all.. so we had started to think that maybe we should be living a bit more for today.. rather than saving for tomorrow.

What really cemented it... was losing my wifes step brother .. He died in a motorbike accident on his way home from work..

So..project "Tony" was born...aka YNOT.

After the realitiy check of the price on Camaros, and not being able to fit much else in the garage, the decision was made to find a Mustang.. Coupe preferably, 67/68... the good years.

And here she is...

67 C Code Coupe.. Owned by the one family from new.. 77K miles, new motor from 95, and I even have the original invoice and owners handbook...

The Plan:

The basic idea is Sleeper / RestoMod.. A combination of the two.
Its not going to be a big budget Pro Touring trailer queen, more a weekend cruiser, to drive just for the hell of it
Externally, it should look as stock as possible, while internally running modern drivetrain. Discs all round, R&P steering (manual), efi, 4/5 speed auto etc etc.

Will be a drawn out process..(probably more so) since I took the advice of some friends and got her registered as is.. and everything will be done in phases.

Phase one is getting the anchors and steering sorted. While she aint no balls out monster..(not even close).. it takes a fair stab to get it pulling up, and it steers like sailing a boat.

Two: will be rear half of drive train..

Three: EFI transplant

Four: Body and paint

[S[_]SPECT]

First things first, we need to convert the carport into a garage...
Didnt get previous shot but this is what I made up..

Does the job at keeping the rain out
And the Dodgy Bros bench..

With the foreman overlooking things


Here is how much room to spare I have:
Front

Back

[S[_]SPECT]

Here is what we are starting with:




The 200 horse C code:


And the Dodgy Bros. Customs work done so far:
New bracket for the heater hoses
From this:

To this: (courteous of my old HilUx)


Minced Fan shroud:

To this hand bent piece:


And home made brackets for the front plate since it wont fit in the recess.

[S[_]SPECT]

Parts I picked up last year but havent fitted yet...

AOI rack..



Disc brakes front and rear






Ididit column


Lower control arms, spring perches, upper bushes etc




In addition to this speedo and temp, I have tach,oil and fuel.
Going into a new stock cluster...
Trouble is I have to butcher the gauges to fit it...

New cluster:


And what I have to do to get it all to fit
http://cars.photographiti.com/gaugebuild/index.htm

New tiller:



and most importantly, the disc brake m/c and booster...

[S[_]SPECT]

Spent a bit of time on the Dremel to clean up some XC stub axles..


The XF axles wont work with the AOI rack.. They have a larger taper on the tie rod end.
I actually prefer this, as the XC ones are a much closer match to the Mustangs. XF were 7mm taller.

[S[_]SPECT]

More Parts to install.. (Damn, I bought these back in May... LAST YEAR)

Now all I need to do is find the time to install all this damn stuff.. including the stuff I got back in May !!

TCP Subframe connectors, strut braces etc


Lokar go and whoa stuff


A Little bit of a dressup for the old 289


And my favourite bit (that the missus chose) the shifter that took forever to arrive:


Bucket load of weather seals etc


And a few dress up items front and back




The grill is a little too shiny for my liking though... any thoughts on best method to make it black... I think the back of it is powdercoated..
more powdercoat.. or paint.. I dont think it can be anodised because of the existing powdercoat...

Anyways..
Installed the Gas Cap while I was waiting to start work one night...

[S[_]SPECT]

I see now why some people prefer factory restoration over resto-mod..
This bi@tch just did NOT want to fit..





Will black it out when.. no if.. I ever get to paint..

[S[_]SPECT]

Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse
Except Birchy, working on his car
Should have know, he wouldn't get very far...

Stereo installs have got knobs on them...
Not difficult as such, just time consuming.. more so when you cant breath for sh1t.

Had to make a new parcel shelf as the old one was cactus and wasnt going to live past any 'modification' to fit the 6x9s.

Cut some MDF and bevel the edges


12mm foam to fit


Bit of imitation leather, lot of grunting and groaning and hey presto


Not quite as nics as I would have liked.. I got a bit carried away with the scapel and you can just see a cut in the material. (not in pics)

Now Im not as keen as some when it comes to wiring, but I am a big fan of 'neat' and 'easy'.. given my constant need to pull the console out there is no way in hell I was going to plug/unplug 12 wires each time..


So a bit of heat shrink, wiring sheath out of a computer and woo hoo..


Just dont lose that detailed wiring diagram..

[S[_]SPECT]

Thought I'd give the car some more love...
Fitted the shifter..Bit me in the arse...



Neutral safety wired up using the original wires that went out the firewall and down the tunnel.


Not really showing much here.. had to make up a boot to cover the underside of the shifter as it is narrower than the original.. So there is a steel box under there with a vinyl 'gasket' to close up the cutout section around the lower lever.


Yeah it only took me four days..
My fault really, did it pretty much on my own.. which makes for a lot of time wasted going in and out of the car.
I love the shifter and the quality... but not the end result.
Should have stuck with the original plan, which was to ditch the console. But the missus wanted to keep it.. which mean the shifter had to line up with the old shaft...No problem did that.. but the body of it was way too high to mount the console.. In an effort to lower it, I mounted it below the tunnel..
Which was an absolute mongrel since it meant I had to feed the entire assembly up from underneath.. requiring some dismantling to acheive..and then its still not low enough..

So the console has to go anyway.

To top it off, the length when you order it doesnt seem to count the height of the body, just the shaft. I ordered 10" thinking I was going to raise the handle by 2", instead its like 4" higher. (5" if I had have surface mounted)

If I was to do it again, I'd go with a cable operated shifter.. the mechanical linkage cost me so much time to get the lenght and clearances right..
In park it is a bee's d1ck off the wall of the tunnel, and had the shifter been mounted any further rearward, I would have had problems.

As it stands now, I need to get a boot (and ring), reverse micro switch and probably a gear indicator. Also need a new bezel to mount the stereo into.
At least it will be more the way I wanted to do it now.. (albeit with the shifter further forward than ideal)
It also makes mounting the park brake easier.

[S[_]SPECT]

Well.. it only took me two months to install.. but finally that damn shifter is in and done... and I saved the console..

So after a mate had the bright idea of lowering into the tunnel.. I started trying to get some spacers made up...
A friend came up with the bright idea of just remaking the brackets.

So these special order billet items (machined to look convincingly like angle iron) were made up in his shed..


Bit of paint


Wack everything together... and yahtzee !!


And the bonus.. because my breathing has gone to absolute sh1te.. I took time to do the install.. a lot of time.. so with correct alignment and rod lenghts now.. the shifter works even better than it did before..

[S[_]SPECT]

Swapped the dash out..




Now I'll use the old one to practice the install of the Autometer guages..
Dont want to cut a new dash up until I know what I'm doing..

[Dynamic]

this is just awesome man really love the work you have done so far

[donoauto]

Hey Suspect , firstly good to see ya!! Secondly , I'd be interested in your console for my '67 GTA ivy gold. It somehow vanished in the last 43 years & want to get 1 back.Thirdly , great story & pics!!!! Keep 'em coming

[S[_]SPECT]

Hey,
Yeah Ive had a couple of people ask about the console..
Im still umming an ahhing about it..
On one hand it really does make the interior look a lot better..
And the shifter fits now Ive lowered it down.
On the other.. I think Im going to have problems mounting the Lokar handbrake..
If I do pull it.. it'll go up in the forsale section here..

Problem is they are so bloody expensive to replace.. 1K USD for repro ones..

Although Tim told me someone picked one up of Salva recently for $50
Mine would siut you car perfectly though as the colour matches...

[mikes68]

Although Tim told me someone picked one up of Salva recently for $50

That would be me Suspect... although it was a little more than that - $60.00 I think

It is second hand of course with a paint job needed and a new roller door and lense cover but otherwise in reasonably good condition