Howdy All -
It's been a while since I posted, my new job keeps me traveling a lot.
You may or may not remember me - I have a '68 coupe that I have been working on for several months. Today I went to the shop and checked it out. The mechanic has completely removed everything in the engine bay and under the chassis. He power-washed it three times, rotary wire-brushed it and scraped seam sealer and other gunk between each washing. Once it was pristine, he shot the underside and engine bay with sealer, primer and then several coats of gloss black paint. It looks SO FREAKING GOOD! Better than I expected!
I knew the car was in good shape when I got it, but my mechanic told me that he could not find anything other than light surface rust anywhere except where the master cylinder had been leaking, and that area was not badly corroded. He was able to sand it down and seal, prime and paint it.
I also had him remove the cowl to check for and treat any rust. Once it was off, he only found a small area of light surface rust. So he sanded the whole area to remove all the surface rust and is sealing and painting it tomorrow. He's going to put on several coats so it should last another
40 years! He's also tack-welding a screen inside the cowl so that leaves and junk won't be able to get in and rot.While he has the front fenders off, he's sanded and power washed everything he can get to. He's repainting all of it and putting on new seam sealer everywhere.
The engine going in is an EFI 351W roller motor out of an SVT Lightning. We're putting in a cam, headers, 24# injectors, and a Mustang computer which we're getting reprogrammed for performance.
The tranny is a T-5 out of a 5.0 Mustang. We're putting 3.73 locker gears in the rear end. I wanted to go with a 9" rear end, but we're going to stay with the 8" for now. If it breaks, I'll pony up for a 9".
The suspension is all Grab-a-Trak - new upper and lower control arms, 620 coil springs, 5-leaf rear springs and a Shelby drop. Right now it has
15x8 rims and 225/60s all around, but we figured out that I really need 17's unless I want to be at 2900RPM in 5th gear at highway speeds!The power steering pump is shot, so it's being replaced, and I got the "make it new" power steering kit from Mustangs Plus, so the steering should be nice and tight.
I got the disc brake conversion from Mustangs Plus, so it will be disc front. Disc rear is in my future, just not at this point.
Man, it's been a crazy ride. It's true. This kind of project is just a hole in the road into which you pour money. But, man, when I saw that car looking all smooth and glossy, it was all worth it. And it's still a good month and a half or two from being done!
Anyway, just wanted to check in and thank everyone for all the great advice. I am not anywhere close to being a mechanic, so I know I've probably asked some really irritating questions, and you have all been really great!
There are a ton of digital pix at the shop, I am going to go by soon with my USB thumb drive and copy them, then I will put them on my web site and send this newsgroup a link.
Cheers! Thomas Cameron