Ha ha, that will be coming off! The front drive accessories, including the power steering pump, were originally from an '85 GT vert that my father and I built up in the late 80's. It was his bright idea to write that on there, but being that it was really hidden in the engine bay of an '85, it didn't seem that big of a deal at the time.

Here is as short of an explanation of my current build as quickly and best as I can describe it:
[ol][*]Took a nice, almost new '85 GT vert (loved that car) and swapped in a built351W, WC T5 tranny, subframes, 8.8" rear, 245 gatorback tires, Kaufmann prepped suspension (does anybody else remember that name from the early Fox body days?)[*]About 1992, happened upon a straight, partially disassembled'65 A-code fastback for $3000 in need of paint and a driveline and bought it as a project (already had a '65 GT coupe driver).[*]'85 was getting more and more difficult to smog and body was showing lots of wear so I pulled the engine and tranny and set off to build a performance prepped fastback (I was only 23 or 24 at the time, single and fresh out of college).[*]Added a new Currie 9" and a Global West suspension, swapped in 351W and T5, had custom headers and exhaust built and reupholstered the seats.[*]The economy, specifically home development, hit its worst, most prolonged recession in the L.A. area ... put project on the shelf. [][*]Economy picks back up, get bit by the Jeep bug, park '65 GT in storage next to the fastback.[*]Marriage, kids ...[*]Sold storage facility so the Mustangs have to find new place to hibernate ... my home garage.[*]Five cars are too many to store at my house so one has to go ... bye bye GT coupe.[*]Staring at the fastback gets the juices flowing again so the project resumes (last October).[*]Engine did not age well in 10 years of storage so out it comes for a 302 which fits better in the engine bay.[*]Bought crate motor and swapped it in and out several times due to a rear main seal leak, ultimately returning it because the builder's fixdidn't work. (engine shown in previous pic)[*]Bought Ford Racing crate motor like I should've in the first place. (no pic)[*]Motor in, dynotuned, runs like a clock and is very streetable. [*]Nearly every part purchased, restored and/or polished and ready for install.[*]Car blasted, primed, sanded, prepped[*]Review color spray sample tomorrow (7/25) in anticipation of spray next week.[*]Get car back, paint and reassemble interior and assemble exterior.[*]Pour a cold Guiness, forget about the thousands of dollars spent, blood (seven stitches above the eyebrow), sweat and tears (more than I'd care to admit ) and the 15 years it took to finish... and think about the 'vert I'd like to have. [/ol]
This has been an interesting project to say the least. The finished product will reflect how much a person can change in 15 years and four kids. What started out as a performance build finishes as an attempt to retain as stock appearance as reasonably possible (exterior looks 100% stock except for slightly lower stance) given the parts that are already in place (suspension, driveline). Mark my words, if and when I get a 65/66 vert, it will be planned and completed in a more timely, organize manner. Better yet, I may just purchaseone already completed and save some money.[sm=goodidea.gif]

 

My plan of attack would be to do all the mounting first. I think you will have to fab the engine mounts though, not sure if they have anything out for that. I pretty much built my whole car, then disassembled it for paint.Are you going to loose the shock towers in favor of a Mustang II front? As far as the wiring, ifyou can read schematics, it should be a breeze. I prompted for an aftermarket ECM. At first, I was very intimidated by the program, but once I learned to turn the screws and twist the distributor on the keyboard, it became fun to mess with. Tune the carwithout raising the hood. Good luck and have fun. Oh, Idid starta file and notebook on the build, justto keep my head on straight.

 

I think I'll like that quite a bit.


I went ahead and bought the Ron Morris AOD crossmember so, in theory, the engine/trans should bolt in with the stock isolators. I came VERY close to ordering a Heidt's Mustang II front suspension for the car but decided not to. I'm not too concerned with the prevailing opinion of "experts" that it isn't an optimum suspension, I think it would be fine in my daily driver. The reason I'm holding off is because I don't want to make the project too big. I'd like to be driving the car next month. It's still on the table, though. I do plan on installing a set of Heidt's subframe connectors before this is all over.

It would be great to be able to tune the engine with a computer. I happen to write software for a living (have a degree in Mathematics/Computer Science) and the fusion of my job and my hobby would be pretty cool. But I want this project to be mostly off-the-shelf parts. When I get around to putting turbos and fuel injection on my Pontiac... It will be exciting. Gotta build a good reliable driver first, though.

I've been taking a lot of pictures as I go, I might build a website detailing my project. I think I'm going to do a few things differently than some of the other sites I've seen.

 

Here's another pic of the dipstick on the 5.0:



It's got some extra curve in it from being too enthusiastic about tapping it down with the hammer. But it functions properly, so I'm not going to redo it.


I got the old 351 and trans pulled out today. What a mess. I also pulled off most of the front of the engine. Found a bad connector going to the alternator, broken bolt on the water pump, bad harmonic balancer, rust colored antifreeze, the lower radiator hose spring was entirely rusted and broken in places. The thing was so dirty I stopped halfway through and pressure washed the newly exposed portions of the engine compartment.

Anyway, I drove it this afternoon one last time and here's what it looked like when I started:



And here's what it looks like now:


Time for a shower and maybe a run to get some beer. [8D]

 

This was a fun read. Looks like fun too, then I remember mine is sitting in my driveway without and engine, then it's not so fun looking anymore The tube installation was my favorite part, looks great. Good luck to you, keep taking those great photos!

Roy

 

Not to hijack the post , But im am intrigued by EFI ...

can you make the swap to any SBF Engine?

how much gas does it save you ?

 

Thanks, Roy. I think the fun part is the assembly because the tear down is so messy.

takeoutexodus: There is a ton of information out there about this EFI swap, including a Mustangs Plus article on installing the later model EFI on an older engine. Start another thread and I'll give you the link.

 

You restomod guys slay me. You are always looking at ways to make your classic Mustang like a modern car with efi conversion, etc. If you want a modern car, buy a modern car.

 

I've been in the final stages of selling a house I own 200 miles away so I haven't had much time to work on the Mustang. But the house is now sold (what a relief) and I can get back to work. Too bad it's raining right now and I have to do all this work outside. So here's an update.

I got the old engine and trans torn down and stashed away in four 55 gallon drums. The drums are sealed up and airtight so everything will be ready for me if I decide to make the car original again. Plus everything is being kept together and out of the way. Everything I took off went into a barrel.

The old 351W still had the engine tag under the coil and had the last few digits of the car's VIN stamped onto a pad on the back of the block below the driver's side cylinder head. According to the tag, this engine was code "K211-S".



Here's the pressure washed and painted engine compartment (I took these a few minutes ago in the rain):







The paint is semi-flat black. The pressure washing removed a lot of the old paint so I had to break out the shake-and-shoot and start fogging. It's not a great job but this isn't a restoration. Not a lot of "resto" in this "restomod". Oh, and those paint runs are OE. [8D]

I'm really having a hard time resisting the urge to get out the sandblaster and making this project a lot bigger.

Yesterday I found a couple of allen plugs for the thermactor (smog) ports on the back of the 5.0L heads. For the record, they are 5/8-11. Turns out there is a place about a mile from my house that only deals in fasteners. They gave them to me gratis, which I thought was cool. They've been there about 10 years which means I've wasted a lot of time over the last 10 years running around looking for bolts.

Trick-Flow also sells the plugs and you can buy them through Summit for under $4. My problem with them is that they are about an inch long and hard to thread into the carbon-encrusted port.

 

The engine/trans is in the car so I could see how everything cleared. I kept the factory 89 Mustang exhaust manifolds to see how they would fit. Here are some pics:





There is a tiny bit of clearance on the passenger side but the driver's side is barely touching the steering box. If the manifolds were 1/4 inch narrower on both sides everything would be great.

The motor mounts are pretty well lined up:





There is a TON of room behind the engine:



The AOD crossmember fit perfectly:


The passenger side trans mount threads were stripped (the bolt FELL out when I went to remove the old mount) but the bolt was long enough to put a nut on it.