mlax

I am back. I had a stroked an blown 03 that I sold two year agao prior to my last deployment to Iraq. Now thta i have been home a few motnhs I decideded that I needed another toy. This time I went with a 68 fastback in great condition. It will be delivered this week. It has a 302 J code with a C4 3 speed. No power breaks or sterring and the brakes are all drum. I want to no what are th efirst things that should be done. The goal is srceeming pro touring setup. I plan on it taking 5-6 years to complete. First I was thinking power disc brakes and then some basic motor tweaks (intake, carb, upgrade ignition, headers etc.) Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks.

musnicki

Welcome [back] to the forums.

I got mine five years ago and went through a similar experience. I bought it on one return trip back from Iraq. I tinkered with it for a year and then went back down range for another year. When I came back, I did some more work to it.

The order that I would go is:

1. Safety; Disk Brakes, Windshield (40 year old glass sucks), mirrors, lights (halogen headlights and LED blinkers/brakes), Gas tank and Brake Lines.

2. Handling and Structural Integrity; (you may want to put this first depending on how bad/good condition your car is) New Floor Pan, Coil Over Front and Back Suspension, Rack in Pinion Steering, Rims / Tires and New Cowl (omg, water leaking inside the car was pissing me off)

3. Power; Most people start here first but if you don't have a good frame to support the car or good safety measures, well you know...anyways, I rebuilt the motor (Performer RPM Kit from Summit), TKO 500 5 speed with cable clutch, New Drive Shaft and rear end.

4. Cosmetics; I'm currently at this stage of my car. I tinkered with the interior a bit, new carpet and Pro-Comp Gauges with LED Green back lighting. I helped a friend (Boogerschnot on this forum) prep his car and that gave me the confidence to be able to do my own sometime this year. Window/Door seals, minor body patching, replace trim as needed and then paint.

rmodel65

welcome back gonna move this to general discussion. personally id make sure the brake system/suspension is in working order then id do the mechanical stuff then cosmetic

69FB

These are the steps I'm working on now with my 69 except I had several issues with the body and am replacing a lot of the sheetmetal in the process.

dodgestang

4 first! 4 first! 4 first!

I've had my 67 for 5 years.

The first thing I did was add high back buckets.....5 yrs ago.
I just recently starting working on it again.

So far I have done:
Deluxe interior panels - last month
Ribbed tail light panel - last month
In the middle of a full suspension front to back
Then going to maybe work on those drums......maybe.....

mlax

Thanks for the thoughts. Still waiting for delivery. I will post photo's as soon as I have them. The body is in great shape so I will be going straight for the mechanics. I have been looking for a brake swap but am having trouble finding exactly what I want. I have manual drum and want to change to 4 wheel power disc. I have only seen mustangbrakesc.com carry a full kit, all others are front or back or 4 disc but not powered. What am I missing? Who else makes a conversion kit?

dodgestang

They don't sell 4 wheel as 1 big kit.

You buy front
You buy back
You buy a power booster

I just pulled the trigger on a bunch of braking stuff for my 65 from Street or Track http://www.streetortrack.com/ I believe they would have everything you need except a power booster which you can get a great setup from http://www.mustangsteve.com

Both sites are small shops run by die hard car guys who support the mustang community.

White05GT

Welcome back and congrats, looking forward to pics.

andrewmp6

Just depends do you want factory brakes or aftermarket like wilwood or there is brackets to use the cobra mustang brakes on it.

mlax

Alright. Here we go. Long term goal is to have a pro touring set up. Realisticly I expect it to take upwards of 5 years to complete. The end state is new front and rear suspensions from Heidts, DSE, Martz or similar. With that new suspension will come larger upgraded brakes ie Wilwood, Baer, SSBC or equivelent. I would prefer to do this towards the end when I am ready to swap the motor and trans because I don't want to pay for things twice. What I am looking for, to hold me over, is a brake upgrade that will allow for comfortable driving in Northern Virginia/Washinton DC traffic. The 25 mile trip can take up to an hour and a half in stop and go traffic. If a front power disc swap is sufficent than I would be willing to settle on that. My car has 15" cragar classic style rims. Again I would prefer to wait a year or so since I just bought the car and it has new tires on it before I replace the rims and tires. So the package would have to be able to fit inside the 15" rims. Since the body is in great condition and it is mechanically sound my thought was to start with the interior. It currently has a two tone blue that I would like to change over to black. This and a brake swap will eat most of my year one allowance.
So an suggestions on a brand or package would be welcomed. Thanks.