momstang rebuild begins.

[ttocs]

finally back on my feet from my last chrones flair up and now have the parts needed to get back on the fender flares. Drivers side is burned it and ground down. Just waiting for some friends to pick up some furniture that has been in the garage before I start my fill/sand/repeat dust-makin dance. Happy to say these are the last body mods I am doing before paint!
Its coming along and I am still hoping to have it on the road by the end of the summer...


This is the look I am anxious to see from the smooth handles, to the brake vent I am smoothing it right to the flares should be cool.

And here you can see just a slight flare. I am hoping its enough to clear an 11" wide 18-19" wheel.

[ttocs]

almost finished the drivers side, smoothed the brake vent as well.

[NOT 2 OLD YET]

I see you got your hands full on this project! It looks to be coming along nice. Wanna help me with my 69 I hate doing body work.

[ttocs]

yea I need another project.... After this one gets back on the road I am going to go back to the stereo install. Although with all the new stuff I learned now on the outside there is a whole new relm open inside.

[oilworker]

Very nice! I had 20x11 CCW 505's on the back of my 95 Mustang.

[ttocs]

not sure what kind of wheels I want to go with yet, but they will be fat...

[ttocs]

One thing I have learned with this car is that I can do a project on it absolutely perfect, but if I leave the slightest little pit-tip err somewhere on a project its the first thing my eye will see every time I look at it after. Because of this I have learned to take the extra time to make it perfect. Sometimes its another 15-20 mins sometimes another 2-3 hrs but it will be worth it not too see the err every time I look at it afterwards. Perfect example is this finished/unfinished edge that the people that installed my side exhaust left. I made sure they knew I was not the average customer that was going to rag it and and sell it in 2 yrs, that I was willing to pay for quality but would have a little higher standard then most customers. They picked up on this and were really good about making some extra bracing to support the bottom of the side skirts, and did a fantastic job matching the paint. The one thing that caught my eye the first day and every day after though was this seem where the skirt met the body. I never said anything to anyone about it really because I figured it was a little too anal to really complain about but it bugged me many many times. Well the good thing about doing it all myself is I can take care of these things, the bad thing is that I have to take care of it all.... Anyway spent some time sanding/filling/sanding and amazed how much better it looks. Makes me want to take it back to the body shop people and ask them how much better it looks vs how much extra time it took.
before

After

and was removing some factory stuff I don't need in the fender and took of a mounting bracket to find this. I hit it with a wire wheel and put a quick coat of rust converting paint just too cover it. I will be covering it all with por15 later so its nice to know that this will not be a problem later.
before

after

Will probably end up making a bracket to mount my meth pump there, still trying to find a good place for the bottle though.

While the gas tank was out to modify the filler neck I took the opportunity to rust proof everything above it. Wire wheel, por15, then rubberized undercoating so it will not be a problem in the future.

And shave one more wrinkle on my ass. There was a body line or something in the top of the bumper that went all the way around that just stuck out after I smoothed everything else in. You can see where that line is by the flat black primer that covers it now but again its amazing how much better a small detail looks. For those that do not know mustangs I smoothed in the license plate frame, relocated the keyhole(behind the drop down license plate frame) and shaved the keyhole. I also smoothed in the 3rd tail light and the line that was between the deck lid and the Saleen S281 spoiler and shaved the "MU" and the "GT" to leave "STANG". I am probably going to get some smooth/smoked tail light covers and have an idea that might make the lights a little cooler.
Before deleting the body line

After deleting the body line(the black primer on the top of the bumper covers it up)


Spending time now to finish the engine mockup so I can pull the motor to smooth the bay and paint it. Got an engine stand delivered today to hold my motor while it is out, line up a cherry picker I can borrow and tyring to get a few friends together to help, or rather show me how.... ITs nice to see the body pretty much done after picturing it in my head after all this time. Also trying to narrow down the search of who to go with for the hood I want. Trying to find the best price on a carbon fiber hood and still not get absolute crap product or service is a tough line to balance...

[ttocs]

again under the hood trying to get everything mocked up before I pull it I started on the power pipe for the intake. I needed to cut the hole through the apron to fit it and after following the instructions I am not sure if this pipe was made for a different year or what but there was no way it was going to work so after a lot of trimming/cutting its in. I had to cut almost the entire stock apron but thankfully they are behind the panels I welded in. I will need to patch a hole in it as well for a nice tight fit but it will not be too bad. The way its made all the weight from that intake hangs on a couple of clamps that just seemed like it was begging to fail so I made the bracket hanging off of the maf to help. I will finish it after the fender is back on but it should help to hold it nicely.

[ttocs]

sometimes I feel like I am trying to fit 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb sack, this is one of those times. IF you look at the pic above you will see a factory electronic piece on the ground, that is my constant control relay module which was happily mounted at the exact same place the power pipe now resides as I took care of that prior to getting the supercharger. So after rerouting the wiring and making a bracket for the CCRM it also made a nice place to put my balmar voltage regulator.


I didn't have any steel ready so I used an old computer tower that I saved the sides for just such a use. Worked well because the bottom edge had a 90 degree bend to it so it is really ridged. A coat of paint and it will look really nice.

[ttocs]

About 3 weeks ago I made a list of all the stuff I could think of that I needed to do before paint. It took up about a page and a half and I have been making shorter lists of stuff to work on in the next few days and then knocking those out to stay focused. Still a lot of little details to work on but the list is getting shorter now. I got the HID ballast mounts and my alarm siren in place on the inner bumper and then prepped it for POR15 paint.


After that I had another project to tackle that I have been thinking about for a while. I had to cut the fender down by the door seem because of how the side exhaust skirts were bonded/smoothed into the body. In order to still be able to take the fender off I needed to cut it somewhere so I did so right at the door seem. Last fall I welded some flanges in on the back of the bottom that remained in the car so that the top could rest on the flange and be flush with the bottom. I was still concerned about rattling though as there wasn't anything to really hold the upper down on the lower from the middle of the fender down. So what I did was weld a flange this time to the upper portion that has a spacer between it and the fender. Now when I put the fender on I can slide the original flange on the bottom between these two pieces to ensure its all held tightly together.

I am really happy with it now as I think when its painted it will not stick out much at all.


It was a happy moment when it all slid together and lined up nice and perty, till I remembered I get to do it all over again on the other side..... The list grows shorter...

[Thumper88]

Just wondering....have you bench tested those HID ballasts? Are they easily accessed when everything is put back together?

[ttocs]

not yet, still early in the mockup phase but if they are bad I have 2 others I can swap out. These are not ebay cheepies though I got these on a deal from another 12v site that the owner is on. Bought them directly from him, lifetime warranty and know where to find them if I need another.
http://www.spencershids.com/PremiumHIDS.html

But I will also have my meth pump back there that might need a look at from time/time so just today in fact I found a way to make it so the 8 bolts that hold the bumper on can be switched too quarter turn fasteners that would make it a 5 min job to take the front end off.

But I cannot stop looking at this pic with as happy as I am with how it came out. This has been concern of mine since I got it home and realized I would have too cut the old bad one off and figure out some way to blend a new one in. I mean there are a bunch of crappy ways too do it but I really wanted something smooth that would not stand out as different. I have been working on it with half a plan and a vision in my head of how I wanted it too look but having never done it before I just was not sure how it would look in the end. When it slid down yesterday and lined up nice and straight, nice and tight, I almost pissed my pants in excitement. Like I said I started off on that portion of the project in nov and just kind of left it at that point not knowing how I was going to finish it.


The other fun part about that part was that my brother helped me with it. We could not be any more different and if we were not brothers we would not hang out. He is the artist, I am the athlete. He likes books, I like magazines. I like to get dirty and sore working on the car and he is not a car person at all.... He does like to weld though so when I asked if he wanted to weld those pieces together he jumped right in. I didn't think there would be a chance in hell that I would get him, my mom or dad to do much on the build so its nice to work with my bro for a day in some nice weather. So for it to turn out better then I hoped was just a great end to a day.

Now it just sucks I got sick again this morning, back in the hospital waiting to do the other side.

[ttocs]

Was finally able to do some work on the car again this week but I will spare you pics of repeated items. I fit the drivers side fender with the same pieces on the bottom to hold it in place as well as cut the hole for the fender badge. now I am trying to finish mocking everything under the hood up so I can pull the motor and get the engine bay cleaned out. I moved the main power wire going to the back so it would not show as much and it needed to be extended a little bit, so I got out my wire stretcher and..... In reality I used some pg 0 awg wire couplers and while it might change color, its still PG wire from front to back. I wrapped the coupler with 2 wraps of techflex and some tape to hold it in place and you can see it below now. I might actually do the same thing to all 3 of the 0 awg power wires going into the back of the fuse box so I can disconnect them later if I need too.

Almost wrapped up all the wiring now, need to run a few grounds but the power wires are all ran. I was happy to have a small 4 awg fuse holder(still NIB) that you can see hanging on the bottom as I needed an extra fuse for the starter power wire in an easy to get to place I will mount it at the bottom of the core support so its out of the way and with the air ride up should not be hard to get too.

The main power wire will come off and go back to a PG fuse holder that will be mounted on top of the stut tower brace in the middle of the engine bay. I still need to run the ground wire off of the alt back to the frame rail where I am grounding everything. The intake is polished and I am going to get the super charger polished as well but the alt I am going to paint black and then keep the edges of the alt fan raw aluminum for some contrast, the PG label will be saved of course its right on top.



I ordered my hood as I needed a bigger one to go over the alt. I decided to get something with some style and ordered a carbon fiber cobra R(2000 style). The stock hood is already fiberglass so there isn't much of a weight savings but I have been wanting to add some carbon fiber to the dark green as I think it will look good.

[ttocs]

had a good day today and got a lot done. It was bracket day I guess as I needed to mount a bunch of little crap. All the brackets were made from an old tower computers sides that was being junked. Some really nice steel honestly and I looooove my rivnut tool now. First I made a bracket for the snow meth controller. I used rubber isolators on everything to prevent rattles/vibrations and of course techflex on the wires.


a couple of screws make it easy to take out and move out of the way for access to the new fuel lines behind it.

I made another bracket for the meth pump and just welded this one in place since having it removable was not going to buy me anything. I still need to run the line for the meth but I only yesterday figured out where I am going to put my tank, and now how to make it.

I made another bracket for the meth pump and just welded this one in place since having it removable was not going to buy me anything. I still need to run the line for the meth but I only yesterday figured out where I am going to put my tank, and now how to make it.

I am also sorting out the vac lines currently and needed one more output, and needed to make an EGR block off plate so it was easy to combine the two.

and finally I started on the bracket to hold the line lock. I have not mounted the line lock itself as I need to bend some lines and get all that lined up first. This is my next step along with the vac lines....

[ttocs]

wrapped up the line lock by cutting off the flares so I could swap fittings, the redid the double flares and came out nice and clean.

also got the power/ground wire from the PG alt wrapped up as well as the vac lines. Still need to wrap a couple of the ac lines.



lines for the catch can and the bypass valve are next as well as making a tank for the meth kit. Only place I could find that I liked for it was directly on top of the radiator/condenser behind the core support. There is just enough for a 2" x 4" 32" tank which ends up holding almost a gallon so I ordered a premade 2" x 4" x 32" aluminum rectangular tube that I am going to weld some ends on and make a tank out of.

[ttocs]

I have been having and issue finding a easy to fill location for the meth tank with the meth kit. The trunk was planned to fill with electronics, the hood now with the supercharger and smoothed engine bay made it tight on space. After looking around one day I realized that I had a little bit of space directly above my radiator behind the core support. It only measures 2" x 4" x 25" but when you do the calculations that is almost a gallon. I know my aluminum welding is not up par yet so I got a piece of 2 x 4" structural aluminum rectangular tubuing (1/8" wall) cut a little bit long so I have a few inches to practice the welding on to get the settings/speed down before I start on the tank. I will weld some ends and mounting brackets on it as well as a filler neck and bung. I was going to make some gussets from the end to the brackets for strength and will integrate the upper radiator mounts into them for simplicity and the radiator condenser mounts will be held in with the same screws that hold the tank in so when its done removing the tank mounts will also remove the radiator and condenser mounts at the same time

[ttocs]

made the end/mounting bracket templates out of cardboard, transferred that to metal and then bent them into position.

then I welded them into place. I practiced on some extra material first and got comfortable with it. First time I have pulled a weld and didn't have any issues burning through. I am sure there are some spots I will have to address/fill as I am new to welding especially aluminum but felt a lot more comfortable with it this time. I left extra material in the gussets because they are going to double as the upper radiator mounts. The next step will be to line them up, drill the holes and then cut out the extra material. I made the mounting bracket on the left just a tad longer then the right because the bung will be on that end on the bottom so under acceleration the liquid will be pulled towards it.

I have also had the problem that the bracket that came with the vortech would not allow for the pg alt. THAT would not do...

so I cut a new one out of 1/4" stainless. Because of the extra length it held it out I left the extra material in between it to hold it tight.

[ttocs]

With all the metal work I have been doing I have been wanting to get a drill press and needed one to drill the holes in the alternator bracket. After looking for a used one and only finding $1500 industrial models or super cheap/old ones I broke down and got a new one from sears. I put it right to work on the alt bracket and was not completely surprised to discover that the harbor freight drill bits do not like 1/4" stainless so then I was back at sears to get a good cobalt set. That is cobalt the material not the brand and I was amazed too see that they try to get $100 for a set. Thankfully they were $20 off and I had $43 of credit now after the drill press so I got them for a little over $30. Still had to take time and oil to get through it.

Also took $13 drill bits to cut it but now that its done that alt isn't going anywhere....

[ttocs]

I also finally finished up all the wiring. I had to put some mis-matched colors in the fenders but its still all pg wiring.

The grounds are hidden below it but can still be seen. There is one that goes directly to the alt ground lug, and one that goes back to the dist block for the audio pieces from the deck to the amp, and a small 4 awg that replaced the stock ground wire up by the starter. Obviously its a lot of over kill but better then not enough.

[ttocs]

I had to move my meth pump after deciding to move some of the AC components around to clean things up. But now its mounted/wired/plumed/done.
These are actually old stock valve covers from an 80s/fox mustang. After looking around I didn't see any aftermarket styles that I liked and have an idea of how to dress these up a bit and just liked the smooth lines of them. The baffle will be going away and I could not help but hit one with my flap wheel real fast too see what it looked like smoothed out with no casting scale.

and finally I got a new koul tool and put it to work making the -10 lines for the oil separator that will hook up to the valve covers.

[ttocs]

got the top of the motor together for the first time in a long time, first time with the supercharger as well to mock up the lines for the oil separator and could not help but get a pic. I had to laugh a little as I have been doing everything I can to try and hide all wiring/tubing except for those big 0ld 0awg pg wires snaking down right on top of the polished intake to the PG alt. I couldn't hid them if I wanted to be honest the alt sticks up so much that If I tried to put them under the intake it would not be pretty....



Almost ready to pull the motor and finish cleaning up the engine bay. Just waiting on some fittings that I hope arrive tomorrow so I can finish the oil separator lines. I might still be able to get it painted by the end of summer but I am thinking more towards fall.

[ttocs]

with the manual to the alt, to the voltage regulator and to the car I could not help but realize the shit is getting real now.

got everything wired up and was able to hide all the little wiring. Of course the 0 awg wires are going directly across the top of the motor for show. You can see the voltage regulator in the lower left.

Here it is up close. Sweet little unit it has a 14 step charging cycle to maximize charging for the AGM batteries as well as an alternator temp sensor that will reduce output and light the stock charging light if there is a problem. I have not painted the bracket yet as I have about to do a large paint spray and will throw it in with that.

[ttocs]

I have got a lot of little crap done in the past couple of weeks but nothing really photo worthy. I have finished the mock up of the motor with the exception of some hose ends for the oil separator but those should be here any day and I can make those lines later now that I have the spot to put the bung drilled. Today was fun because I finally got to install my carbon fiber hood I got about a month ago to make sure it fits.




only complaint now is that the hood latch will not latch yet but I am not sure if it needs adjusting or if it was just old/crust since it was from the parts car, and that the hood stops just a little less then 1/8" from the fenders end. I am going to try and make the mounting holes into a little bit of a slot too see if I can bring it down to match and if that helps the latch. This was the last part I had planned before pulling the motor to finish smoothing out the engine bay so I called my buddy to see when he could, well show me how/help me and thought I would give him a weeks notice to be nice and to give me time. He said lets do it Saturday....... OK, just got a lot of stuff to do in 2 days now.....

[ttocs]

made some adjustments to the latch and got the hood to latch correctly. After that it was time to learn how to pull a motor. I was happy to find someone in my club that enjoys turning a wrench and that needs some sub frame connectors installed so we are trading favors and probably going to be fast friends. He came by yesterday morning and knew almost every bolt and its size on the car that needed to come out so that was nice to take the guess work out and just be able to help/learn. And for the first time ever my dad was in the garage and helping. He is not into turning wrenches at all but was curious to see how it came out. It was nice to have him to help pass tools and an extra set of hands/eyes after explaining to him the difference between a regular and deep-well ratchet socket and between a 6 and a 12 point socket and that the trays that all the sockets were lined up on were labeled to make for easy identification. The best way I could describe it is if anyone has ever had an engineer/physicist help them pull a motor it was filled with lots of questions....

So now I started a 4rth page to my list of stuff to do including to send off my supercharger for polishing and filling all the little holes in the engine bay.

[ttocs]

been busy on the car even though I am not updating here. Every time I think I am ready for primer in the engine bay I notice some other holes I do not like or a dimple/low spot and.... I think its ready now and I have been wanting to go buy the paint but my stomach has kept me home. I have did start on the hood latches. I had to laugh a little as I have become pretty brave about cutting holes in the car with a parts car and a welder to put anything back I took off on accident. Its harder to put carbon fiber back though and I wanted a completely smooth top on the hood so I went with the aerocatch flush mount hood latches. Because these are flushmount they slide in from the back and there is no flange to cover any error in the hole cut. After some thought I used my router to make the hole perfectly and am really happy that it came out nice and tight. I took pics to show how I did it if anyone cares but otherwise I will save you the time/bandwidth on the process.