Progress Thread Beating A Dead Horse.... My $500 66 Mustang Coupe Build.

A little back story.. (or you can skip ahead to the photos)

Back in June I went to look at a 57 Chevy. The car was not what it appeared to be in photos, and at the cost of 57 Chevy parts, required more than I was willing to deal with at the time.

The guy had a few other vehicles in the yard and mentioned that he just listed a Mustang on Craigslist that morning. A 66 coupe, that ran (6cyl) with title for $500
My wife FORCED me to drive to the ATM right then and there before I could really look it over, but I figured for that price, why not.

We trailered it home, but I ended up picking up an old Chevy truck 2 weeks later.. it was pretty much a cab and bed sitting on a 95 S10 frame, held on with ratchet straps.
Anyway, that took priority.. I finally got that running/driving and on the road, and decided to pull the Mustang into the worlds smallest garage and get a good look at it.

Here it is at the previous owners house.





While working on the truck, My 7yr old came and asked if he could help, so I put him to work on the Mustang (that he has previously claimed as his)
He removed all the top fender bolts for me



I was able to find a pair of brand new fenders, backs still as delivered black electro primer stuff, front in regular primer for $125 for the pair.
Then out of the blue one day, I decided to see how much I spend on a set of wheels in the past, and they had the same wheels I had used for sale.. they are 18x9s and usually $179 each, on sale for $69 each with free delivery!! That made my choice in wheels for me, so I ordered up a set of 4.



I went and stripped out the engine, transmission and removed the front end sheetmetal that was there and sent it all to the scrap yard.

This is what I found under the front fender..



little rough, but once I scraped away all the undercoating, it was actually not too horrible..



The whole time I had been trying to decide what to do for brakes.. I thought about just rebuilding the stock front end and adding a disk kit,
but the problem was most kits required the use of 65-66 V8 spindles, they seemed a bit hard to find, and expensive.. then I would still have the 6cyl tiny steering components etc.. and to top it all off, with the stock front end, it looked like most people said a 7" wide wheel was all that would fit, so I bit the bullet and went with a Mustang II style front end. I am on a tight budget, but I figured this was the cheapest way to get new suspension, rack and pinion steering, disk brakes, and hopefully make room for the wheels..

I went ahead and started piecing together the parts to get the front end in.. In the mean time, there was a few rust spots on the frame, big spot was where the bumper brackets bolted to the front of the frame rail, so I cut those sections out and replaced, then mounted the Mustang II cross member.. the cross member came with boxing plates for the frame, and I may have went overboard, but I decided to continue on with that theme and boxed the whole front "frame" in.
I also rough cut some shock tower fillers.. (I am working with basic hand tools here) and shot it all with fresh black undercoating.

Trial fit the new brakes, spindles, springs and arms



then couldn't help but stick a wheel on



and then rest the fender in place





And this brings us up to date..

I need to finish up a few things on the right side to get it to this point. Then I can mount the rack, and measure for tie rod ends.
I also need to get some tires and get them mounted to check for clearance.

Then I think it's on to the back end so I can get this thing on the ground..
In the back I think I am going with a cut down Explorer 8.8, with links instead of leafs, and a mini tub. I think based on cost, I will probably run a 275 in the rear.

No clue on engine or transmission yet, that is a long way off.

If anyone is interested in something other than Mustangs, here is the truck that took priority over the Mustang.. and No, it's not getting painted.. lol

Thanks guys.

For the kit, I got a speedway motors crossmember kit, I also got the rack and pinion, and springs from them. The tubular control arms are from ebay, as was a 2" drop spindle and disk brake kit.

I was finally able to finish the right side frame rail, and mount the suspension on that side, along with the rack and pinion..

Fenders are just resting there, next up is cleaning the firewall, and the dreaded Mustang cowl repair

Ok,

Got some tires delivered and mounted
So today I narrowed my rack, mounted up the front tires, and pushed her out of the garage, and spun her around so that I can start work hanging the new rear end.

Once the rear is hung, I will work on firewall and cowl.. then I can do floors and start assembling this thing..

Hard to see without the proper stance, but should look good

OK.

Only had 3 hours today to work on the car.

I was able to rip out the old 6cyl rear end, and wheel the new 8.8 under it.

Looks like I might have lucked out. I was expecting to be a hair too wide, and was planning on slitting the rear quarter flare and pulling it out an inch. Looks like I might get away with rolling the lips (after installing the new quarters of course)

Anyway, I know a thread is worthless without pics, so here we go.

Old rear coming out. Right side front leaf spring eye snapped off when removing the bolt through it.



Old and New (new will be painted before I am done of course)



Trial fit



Apparently a full width Explorer 8.8, 18x9 wheels with 6.18" Back space (30mm offset) and 275/35/18's is almost a perfect fit on a 66 Mustang

Thanks guys

lord_cobra said:

Love it. I have an Explorer 8.8 to put in my 69 also. I couldn't tell from the pics but did you already weld new spring perches on? If so, where did you get them?

Click to expand...

I have not welded new perches on yet, but I did buy some from Summit.
Right now I have the springs on the stock perches, and the front spring eye bolts in, just so I could rotate the rear up and check for tire clearance issues.
Now I need to weld on the new perches, clean up the rear end, paint it, etc

Man.. A sane person would have scrapped this thing..

Tonight I started cutting out some rusty frame rails.
Last foot and a half or so were bad, so I took it all the way back to about the axle centerline.
That way I can also tie the new rail into the crossmember that the shocks mount to.
Figure it can't hurt to try to strengthen it up a bit..

Long way to go, but hopefully this weekend it will have a solid foundation, and back on the ground...
Then its onto floors, quarters, cowl, doors... after that I think the rust will FINALLY be gone!

Rusty rail



made a new rail

Thanks man.

It is 1.5" x 3" tube with a 3/16" wall thickness.
If I was ordering new steel, I would not have gone this thick, but It's something that I already had, and it fit perfect.

Thanks

Wheel specs

Manufacturer: AmericanMuscle
Wheels Style: AMR
Size: 18x9
Finish: Matte Charcoal
Placement: Front or Rear
Centercap Size: Large (2-1/2")
Back Spacing: 6.18" (157mm)
Offset: +30mm (1.2")
Bolt Pattern: 5x4.5" (5x114.3mm)
Weight: 24.7 lbs
Material: Aluminum
Lip Size : N/A
Best Tire : 255/45-18
Year/Model: 2005-2014 All, Excluding 2013-2014 GT500