Progress Thread 74 Mustang II - Build as semi-daily driver

extra_stout

5 Year Member
Aug 27, 2018
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Germany
Hello everybody,

I'm currently in a build of an 74 Mustang II Hatchback. I'm living in germany and have allready a 66 mustang coupe which i was driving (and working on) in the last years (have it sind 2011). But in the last 2 years there wasn't much to repair or to improve, so i decided (together with my wife) to buy another american car which has headrests and 3 point seatbelts because we want do be able to travel with our daughter (3 point seatbelts needed for child car seat) and the car should be more drivable for my wife (the 66 mustang is a bit more on the harsh side without power brakes/steering, but with quick ratio gear box and wide tires - more a road racer). So after looking a bit I could buy an 74 Mustang II which was unused since 1991. Because of the long time standing the 2.8L V6 engine was seized but I wanted an v8 anyway. So i could by a cheap project car which is quite rare in germany (e.g. there are offered ~500 early stangs but less then 10 Mustang II at the moment in germany).
I have allready looked in this forum very often int the past to search for info (esspecially the 74 V8 swap). So this was quite helpfull so far.
Now i want to give you an overview what i have done allready and how the basis was. And of course what i will do in the next time on the car.

Greetings,
Bernardo

ps: i'm not a native speaker, please ask if something is not clear
 
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here are the pictures from the status when I bought it in sommer 2017
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Yes, i'm happy that there is this set of cragar wheels with the car. It's a 13' rim and the tires for this rim size are getting rare... But perhaps i will buy some koyo R888.

For the car i could get an 5.0 from a 2001 explorer and an t5 from a v6 mustang and a bellhousing from an 94-95 mustang v8 (that matches the longer inputshaft of the v6 tranny). The engine will get a carb setup. I have a holley 4180 from an econoline, which i think will be the right thing for an daily driver.

Here is a photo of the combo:
WhatsApp Image 2018-04-05 at 17.47.28.jpeg


For the eninge mounts i reused the v6 frame mount and combined them with a set of f150 engine rubber mounts. to get the right height i had to bolt between the mounts a piece of rectangluar pipe. My description doesn' get it well described, but i will take a picture.
The engine is now in the middle of the car. I'm not sure, but i read that from the factory the engine was a little bit offset...
The engine sits higher (about 1 inch) to clear the power steering box because i have used a 66 mustang oil pan. To get the right driveshaft angle (3° nose up) the original double hump crossmember had the right height for the thanny, but i did had to elongate the mounting point.
For bellhousing fitment i had to work the tunnel with a hammer ;-)
But now everything fits i didn't have to buy and fabricate much stuff. so im happy with this solution (perhaps till i want to close the hood).

Because the engine has the explorere serpentine belt the radiator fits in there with enough distance to the pulley. For cooling the car will get an e-fan in front of the radiator. I have to keep the "normal" hood lock (is it the right word?). In germany the TÜV doesn't allow hood pins on street cars... so every other soludtion would not be suitable for me.

I have read here in the forum that the subframe form 74 is weaker then the later ones. Has somebody more details to this?! Is it just the wall thickness of the framerail?!
I want to strength the car with a subframe conector. Or has somebody another idea to strength the car sufficient?!
 
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Nice looking car to start with!

To answer your question, I don't believe the sub-frames are any different between a 74 and the 75-78s. If I'm wrong, please, someone correct me. The difference between the 74 and the later cars was the V8 required the radiator to be moved forward a little bit. A new radiator support and front nose were made to accommodate the 302.

Raising the engine may give you clearance issues when the hood closes, but you could easily install a bolt on hood scoop to hide/protect your engine. Many people have used different hood scoops, but one that would work pretty well would be one from a 79-84 Mustang GT. It is definitely wide enough to accommodate a "normal" sized air filter. The scoop on my car is one of those scoops but I added an extra piece in the center to mimic a 67-68 Shelby hood. If you need more clearance or want a more aggressive look, some have used the 69-70 Boss 429 scoop. If you go with a hood scoop, the choice is yours, but it will allow you to retain a stock style hood latch system.
 
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The photos hide the ugly areas of the car (eg the driverside door has a big dent)... ;)
But you are right: it has very few rust and the paint is not perfect, but okay. i'm still happy with this car.
The inside was a little bit smelly. I removed the complete interior and damping material. And i will use new damping material and carpet to solve it. The driver seat lower part has some flaws but i will swap it with the codrivers seat, because on the codrivers seat will be the child saftey seat...
Also i will change the look of the inside a little bit. For examlpe i will use a black carpet and the uppert part of the dashboard needs new vinyl leather, which will be also in black. So the interrior will change to a two tone black-blue look.

The change with the radiator support from 74 to 75+ is clear to me. Im also aware of the hood clearance problem. I have ordered an dropped air cleaner from summitracing and hopefully i will not run into problems. But because i have a RPM performer intake... i'm not sure if the dropped air cleaner alone will be enough. But now i know which scoop fits. Thanks!
 
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I run a knock off of the Performer RPM Air-Gap and use a standard 2 inch air cleaner. I have a hole under my scoop and the air cleaner assembly protrudes through the hood under the scoop a little bit. Obviously higher in the front given that there is a slight slope going from the cowl to the nose. Facing the scoop forward gives enough clearance for my setup, but I don't know if it would be enough clearance if the scoop was reversed. Using a dropped air cleaner may solve the problem, but you will really want to watch the holding stud and wingnut as well as the leading edge to make sure there is no interference when the hood is closed.

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I don't know if you'll be able to see the hole I cut out in this pic, but it's probably the best view I currently have.

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Unfortunately, I don't have a picture showing how much of the air cleaner protrudes through the hood. I don't have access to my car right now to get one for you, it'll probably be November before I can if you need it. Good luck!!! :)
 
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Thanks for your pictures... I have a much better understanding of the options with the scoop now.

Here is the picture of the engine bay, when i bought the car (the v6 was allready removed):
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Now I'm here:
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I made some progress:
I got the heads from milling back. I wanted to have the compression ratio bumped up a little bit and from the heads were 0.5mm milled off. Also new valve stem seals were installed and every thing was cleaned by the machine shop.
Engine was painted with VHT engine paint. I like this color and had some paint over from my 66 mustang.

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Here are the pictures from the modified v6 engine mounts. I weldet a section of 100x50mm square onto the engine mounts and used rubber mounts form the 80ies F150.
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The engine now sits in the middle of the engine bay. I think from the factory the engine was slightly offset...
Timing cover, water pump and balancer are from the 2000 explorer (as the rest of the engine). I will use a electric fuel pump instead the mechanical pump.
 
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After the engine install i had to move out from the barn and now i just have this little garage to finish the project:
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For the install of the T5 transmission I noticed that it perfectly fits to an 10 inch drum i had removed from my 66 Mustang. I then made a bracket to mount the drum to my car jack... The first time I installed the T5 on my own within 5 minutes.

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Your engine looks right at home in the engine bay! :)
As for the T5 install, that looks like a much safer way to install than how I do it - I usually just manually lift it into location.... lol
 
Hey guys,
i was working on the underbody which is quiet ok: the underbody protection is hard and brittle and only few spots the underbody protection fell off and a little bit of surface rust was there. I'm not sure if this is the original unterbody protection and if its based on bitumen?! Can anybody tell me, how the car was delivered from the factory?!
 
I'm still far away from running...
At the moment im rebuilding the rear axle.
And then I have to finish the engine, exhaust and wiring.
And then I have to do the complete inerior...
 
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Lol, I understand, was just excited.;)

the underbody protection is hard and brittle and only few spots the underbody protection fell off and a little bit of surface rust was there.

I went and looked at mine.:oops:
Not sure what it is but mine is peeling off two.

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I'm not sure if this is the original unterbody protection and if its based on bitumen?!

Bitumen, is a good guess, It looks like thin undercoating asphalt/tar
 
Ah ok. That seems to be the same bitumen stuff. I also read that it gets gray with age...
At my car it wasn't as bad as on your picture. 90% of the protection where still sticking to the sheet metal. I used "fluid film" on the first half of the unterbody and I'm realy impressed that the protection is soft (and much darker) again. The spots with surface rust where reworked and painted and i will use new bitumen protection on them. Let's see how it will be looking when I'm ready... and hopefully it will protect the underbody many years...
But I'm realy happy that i didn't need to remove the old protection.
Fluid film is from a company in germany (so no problem for me to get this stuff), but i have seen, that it also can be ordered on ebay.com
I will use it also on inside cavitys to seal them better against rust. This is the actual purpose of this stuff.
 
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