I'm just not sure where to begin on her. Any help would be sooo wonderfull. I love my 65 coupe and I know I have a long way to to go. I knew if I could go anywhere it'd be here.

As some of you might now I bought my car about 2 weeks ago now and there is plenty to be done to it. The only problem is where should I start and what's important. I know engine/brakes/suspension are big ones and interior/outside trim/paint are in the rear. The thing is the guy I bought the car from doesn't know much about it. He basically bought it to get it running repaint it and sell it for a profit.

It has a 302 in there which isn't the original and no way to tell the miles on it. I brought it in and had the brakes redone on it. (one of the rears were on backwards and a bearing in the axle was replaced) and the shop said there was very little miles on it. Some things do concern me with it. There is a metal hose that goes from the carb to the begining of my exhaust (sorry if this isn't quite right, I had no interest in doing anything myself on a car of mine till I was finally able to get my mustang I've always wanted) It has a braided cloth material covering it. Anyway It's broken off where it connects to the exhaust. It runs great except for even the slightes of temp drops early in the morning it runs really rough and were talking maybe 60's at night so not really cold. After running a while around town and parking it it has trouble starting unless I put it down in netrual and start it that way. There is also a hose coming off the bottom of the air filter that is about inch and a half long that doesn't go anywhere... and some rubber hoses protruding through my fire wall that just end right there.

It still has drum/drum and no power and makes my leg shake at lights because of how hard I have to keep the pedal down so I don't creep forward. Besides that the brakes seem fine.

The suspension is crud and you can feel everything you go over and I slow waaaay down for any kind of hump/dip at an intersection and the entire car rattles/squeeks.

 

That metal tube running from your exhaust manifold runs up to your choke mechanism. It needs to be attached in order for the choke to open when the engine reaches operating temp. That is why the car runs crappy when it is cold. The choke is not working properly. Buy another tube, drill out the old one in the manifold, and replace it. Your suspension sounds like it is toast. If I were you, I would replace the suspension parts and upgrade to disk brakes. If you need any help in how to do this, let us know. Take a picture of your firewall so we can see just which hoses you are talking about, then maybe we can tell you where to attach them. I am assuming you know which two big hoses go to your heater box. The only other hoses you would have coming through the firewall woluld be airconditioner hoses going to the condenser inside the car. The rest of the stuff coming through the firewall would be wires. So, if you don't have an ariconditioner, you should not have any other hoses going through the firewall other than your heater hoses.

 

Yeah it looks like those are the heater hoses. I have some pics. I have no idea How to go about the disk conversion or the shocks. It's a daily driver so most of the things I do to it will have to be in steps that can get done within a two day limit so I can drive it to work again afterwads. I will spend on saftey and quality where it needs to be spent but would like to save if it's all ends up the same. I don't really have anyone personal to help out or teach me so any and all help on here would be great.
When I brought it in to have the brakes done (I had a rotten rubber brake hose in the rear) they charged me 500 in parts and that includes a $250 oil pan... I mean really.... and over 1300 in labour.
I wont be able to afford gas if I bring it into shops soon. That and I'd really rather just do it myself and put my hard work into and love the car that much more. I've looked over some of the faqs and the problem is that they assume you allready know a good deal such as spindles and how to measure them and everything else.
I've looked for clubs near me and can't find anything any closer than 40 miles away and on an engine that's not running that great.... it's a little far.

 

When I got my car priority number 1 was getting it driveable. Brakes and enginge running right. So it can be taken to the body shop and etc. Now Ill be working on the body, and I started with a wish list for future upgrades: disc brakes, new rear end, etc etc. Along with the body work goes a new paint job, because I want to strip it down and see what needs to be replaced and check for any hidden rust spots. Once I get the body done, then Ill be placing tick marks next to my future upgrades.

 

Well it runs and brakes pretty well and I feel safe taking it on the freeway been up to about 80 mph in it but before I go for looks or body work I'm upgrading to disk doing the suspension and getting the engine where it's supposed to be. I think the engine itself needs some very little work but I'm not even going to put A/C in it before those get done. I live out here in az too where at midmorning were in triple digits.

 

Sounds like an excellent line of attack. For me I suppose its different, I have no front end. Had to buy all the parts and the inner aprons need to be replaced. If it wasn't for that Id hit the disc brakes first them maybe suspension, + misc addons like the pop open gas cap.

 

Only problem is I don't know how to do anything ha. I figured disk brakes are probably what I should be shooting for right now. I don't know if I should do all four or just front. Move to power brakes or even if I have a choice? I'm pretty sure that I have to replace the master cyl regardless since right now it's a single. So I guess I have to replace them at the same time. Or should I do suspension first and move down to brakes to make it easier? I dunno. and I'm going to put bigger rims on there and if that would affect my disk brake choice because right now it's the stock 14's. I just don't know.

 

We have several how-to's in the FAQ section regarding upgrading to disk brakes. And, yes you will need at least 15" wheels for the disk brakes to fit. We have a member on here (Tyler) who is 15 years old, and he upgraded his front to disk brakes. It is not as difficult as it may first appear. If you can afford it, you may as well at least get a kit to upgrade the suspension parts that you already have. New bushings, etc......

 

I found a few things on ebay wanted an opinion on them. I don't know what a fair price would be or if it has everything I need but here are some links if ya'll could help me out.

brake kit
another one
Yep
this one maybe?

Any advice? totally lost.

 

hmm....well, keep in the back of your mind you get what you pay for....but i suppose those could be some decent parts. u will probably need quite a few more bits and pieces and such though.

a front dic brake kit is over $1000...those things are like hovering around $100-$200 so i mean....i dono.....someone else can better evaluate them but dont think your getting the greatest deal ever because that will blind you to the fact soemthing might not be that great and u wont realize until after.

hopefully someone whos more experienced with brakes can give you a good bit of advice.