Progress Thread 1966 Mustang Coupe: Ford 3.7L swap

Olivethefet said:

Nice build! Do you have a link to the full build thread on the other site?

Click to expand...

I do:


It has a lot more details and pictures

Did a little work prepping what remains of the trans tunnel support, trimmed it down and will seal it up, maximizing the room in the tunnel...the MT82 is a fairly large bodied trans....also ended up having to notch the bottom portion for clearance around the header collector on that side.



Then I got bored and did some work on the velocity stacks......Here we have a v-band flange welded to the bellmouth. This allows me a lot of versatility in velocity stack design...I can swap out longer velocity stacks in just a few minutes, I can bolt on a true air box, or a filtered setup in the same amount of time...or I can even bolt on a box built for boost...v-band flanges and gaskets are awesome like that....but these stacks are visible...had to get rid of the weld bead, but I didnt have a lathe....so I built a backyard substitute:





Amazing what you can do with a drill, a chisel and some sandpaper no?

Still some tweaking to go, but stacks are almost finished.

Minor things hardly work mentioning, made some torque box gussets because I didnt feel like buying them, various minor metal work making patches for anywhere that needed them(like the trans crossmember after cutting it down), running another weld bead on the floor pan patches underneath and grinding it down to prep for the bodywork needed to make it look like a one-piece floor pan, things like that. Really only have 3 things left before I start sandblasting and primer/paint the undercarriage and interior:

1. Jacking rail installation(Global West finally decided to ship that just yesterday)
2. Installing a LCA camber kit from Street or Track(That should deliver today)
3. Fabricating and installing some rear seat belt anchors(evidently my '66 was really a late '65 and didn't come with them)

After that is sandblasting, body work for the floor pans and engine bay(along with any welding and grinding needed for that), primer and paint for non-exterior body panels. As for the engine, chances are I wont get back to that until the car is sitting on the ground again, but I will make sure to get it started and idling before re-installing it.

Fitting the jacking rails for installation, before final welding though I need to get underneath them(or rather above them) and strip the paint, seam seal and epoxy primer because they tend to create all kinds of nooks and crannis I wont be able to sandblast and spray later on.

Slowly but surely...got the epoxy primer down this weekend.

I can now officially claim I am at the point I can finally start putting the car back together.

After 4 months in the air, its finally back on the ground...even if I am rolling it around on the rusty old 4-lug stuff till I order SoT front suspension. Rear suspension got new 4.5 leaf mid-eyes, new shackles, new shocks...and the '05 v6 wheels bolted on. Hoping the rear comes down a bit once the car is loaded down and it settles. Also ended up cutting 2 cols out of the stock I6 front springs....because it made re-assembly faster than stopping and going to get a spring compressor....lol



This is almost ready to go in...needs a good cleaning. I need to get the shifter installed, remove the schrader valve from the fuel rail, drill it out and add return line fittings to the old schrader valve fitting, install the new front-sump oil pan pickup, reseal the oil pan, and do a final header interference check(for drivetrain components) and it should be ready to go...in other words, hope to have it in by the end of the week or so, then I can turn my focus to wiring and plumbing.

Officially going back together now.

looking for a good place to put my remote oil filter...not finding it.



Yes, I decided to embrace the orange-peel paint instead of sanding down and respraying the engine bay, it works for the industrial look I want, although I may well sand it down and repaint next time I have the engine out.



Anyone have a 3" cowl hood laying around they want to get rid of?