Restoration "upgrades"

[pcarlson]

Hi everyone. First post here. This site has loads of valuable stuff and I hope it'll help me get the Mustang I want. I was hoping a few of you would be able to point me in the right direction, so if you have a few seconds to reply it would be appreciated.

In high school I bought and restored a '67 coupe that was my daily driver. It was a fun car to drive (paint job looked GREAT from 10 feet), but had many problems that were wayyyy above my budget to fix. Now that I'm done with college, I want to look into buying a project car that I can use for weekend cruising.

My goal is to get a '67-'69 coupe that is basically a project car. Now here are my questions that I hope some of you can answer:

I plan on turning this thing into a semi-"Restomod". I'm not worried about having all-original everything.

That being said, what feasible modifications would any of you recommend?

I am pretty set on installing front disc brakes for safety. The same goes for 3 point belts and new high-back front seats (should I get some from a 90's model 'stang?) that I will recover with the same vinyl to match.

Also, can anyone give me a very rough estimate of how much I would be looking to spend? I figure it will be between $2000-$3000 for a solid project car. How much to install front discs? What about other mods? I want to get a feel for how much I have to save to get another car I'll enjoy driving.

Thanks, and I appreciate any insight you can give.

 

[geostang351]

Are you looking for a fastback, coup or vert? DO you want a V-8 car or six? If six and you want to convert to V8? ($$$). You need to let us know type. Coupe cheapest and easier to find. I think $3000 would be pushing it to find a solid car that needs little things. Where are you located? (Rust belt or desert?)

 

[pcarlson]

Answers

Thanks for the quick reply geostang.

As far as what I'm looking for, it would almost have to be a coupe. I don't think I have the $$$ to try to get a vert or fastback at this time. Someday, maybe. Not anytime soon though

I'd definetely prefer a V8 model, as I will be trying to do something with the engine. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I get a v6 car and want to drop a v8 engine in there, I have to do a bunch of work on the engine bay, shocks, etc right? I'm thinking of either doing some sort of v8 crate engine or a conversion to a 5.0 EFI. Any guesses as to how much it would be to buy the 5.0 and get it installed and running?

So many questions, haha...

 

[mustangman70]

Well can i say this....if you dont have the $$$ for a fastback....

Does this mean you wont be able to afford modding a coupe?

 

[pcarlson]

Nope

I guess I see where you're coming from with that line of thinking.

However, the reason that I can't afford a fastback or 'vert is because I want money to be able to mod out the stang! If I got a fastback then I wouldn't be able to mod it how I want

Another thing that I've already resigned myself to is that this car will be in the garage for a while. I already have a very reliable Acura, so I will be able to tinker on this thing for a while. This means that while I don't have a lot of money upfront to buy it, I will be able to afford the mods stretched out over time (they have to come AFTER paying off the student loans, afterall )

Any guesses as to the cost of certain mods? I'm sure some of you here have done them. How much did each run?

 

[GoinBroke]

I have bought two and sold one in the last year so I will give you some advise on which path I would go with. I would suggest finding a car which the normal rust areas have already been repaired and is driveable or close to it. Buying someone elses project is a good idea if they have gotten this far along but beware on buying disasembled cars unless you know what to look for or it will nickle/dime you to death. Sit down and layout a budget and when you have listed everything you can think of I would multiply it at least by a factor of 2.5 and you may be close to the actual. I am not trying to scare you but realize these rides are approaching 40 years and need some TLC and $$$ to be reliable drivers in most cases. Having said all that I regret to this day I waited until the age of 36 (last year) to purchase my first classic mustang as I have enjoyed working on them every day since!

 

[pcarlson]

Thanks for the advice GoinBroke.

Seeing as you have bought 2 and sold 1 in the last year, do you think you could throw out some $$$-figures?

Am I being too hopeful that I will be able to find a nice project-car coupe around $3000?

 

[geostang351]

The 6 cyl cars are more numerous and cheaper. However, like you stated before, there are numerous upgrades necessary. I have done the 6 to 8 swap. Easy to do but again, expensive. Items include:

New front suspension and brakes. For 8 cyl the engine is heavier requiring five lug spindles and superior springs. ($300 for front spindles, footbrake, master cylinder and power booster from Granada Donor)
upgrade rear end from 7 1/4" to either 8" or 9" (Both are 5 lug) to handle the increased horse power ($150 from Donor).
New tranny to handle V8 power (used same tranny C-4 but beefed it up with rebuild $850)
Larger radiator for extra V8 heat ($200)
New motor mounts ($100)
With new 5 lug suspension, comes new wheels and tires.($1,500)

This is just to name a few and not including engine upgrades.

 

[pcarlson]

thx

OK, so I definetely do not want to be buying a 6-cyl and upgrading to a v-8 if it will cost me more than $2000 to make the switch. It seems easier to buy a v8 than to go through all that.

Does anyone have any experience with adding a 5.0 EFI in place of a v8? I'm assuming that I would be able to get the engine from a late model donor mustang... are there any suspension/tranny upgrades that are required when doing this?

 

[geostang351]

Check out Red5oh's website. He has an EFI set up and sure he would answer all your questions on what's required. Here is his cardomain site:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2224648

 

[mustangman70]

67coupestang's post...

well the 5.0 itself will bolt in with no major headaches, converting your car to run efi is sort of a challenge, but not hard. that motor is a 50oz vs the 28oz imbalance that the 289 has so if you just use the motor with the original c-4, you'll have to find the proper balance flexplate. the tranny will work, but people have always said that the 94-95 t-5's are longer than -93's. not by much i think, but it requires moving the shifter hole. I just put a tremec in my 67 this last summer, and moving the shifter towards me would have been worth cutting an new hole. the rest of the tranny swap is getting a crosmember, and figuring out the clutch, I recomend converting to a cable setup. I say go for it, but it all depends on your skill level, and how long you want your car down for, My tranny swap alone kept my car out of commision all summer but most of that waiting was financial.... but thats just my .02

 

[mustangdave]

Find a coupe where the floorpans,the cowl area, and body are rust free or repaired. If you have to pay for someone to do all of that, it would run you $3,000 on up...most likely way up. Picking up someone elses project that has all of this done will be in your price range but a driver with that done and nice paint would be $8,000 and up.

 

[bnickel]

if you can find a 69/70 six cylinder coupe that originally had the 250ci six those cars already had the 5 lug axles and 8" rearends, i've even seen some that had factory power disc brakes and ac. so converting one of those cars wouldn't be any harder than doing an engine replacement in a v8 car other than getting the correct engine mounts but those are available in all the catalogs so that's not a big deal. just giving you another option to consider. however be careful when you're looking because not all 69/70 six cylinder cars have the 250ci engine, they were still offering the 200ci six banger at that time and those cars still have the 4 lug axles and weak salisbury rearend.

 

[66Runt]

To further what bnickel said

You could then pick up a late 80s early 90s Mustang GT for a couple of grand (less if you buy one with body damage), and now you've got an EFI V8, 5 speed or AOD, solid rear end, and all kinds of parts to add power door locks, stereo, etc.
Scrap whats left for beer money!
You'll need lots of beer to bribe help from your buddies.

But, before you spend a dime, spend as much time as possible reading through the archives.
Personally I like the 70 over the 69, but both cars are great, and you have an excellent oportunity

 

[mustangman70]

I like the 70 over the 69, but both cars are great

werd

I think the 70 looks better then the 69...SOMETIMES...then the next day ill come across a 69 that makes me hard and makes me wonder about getting one because it looks so bad ass compared to the 70 lol

then i see a 67 fastback....then a 72 mach.....or a fox......then an 03 cobra, and then an 05 GT elanore.


One thing is for sure....NO car....and i mean NO CAR IN HISTORY has had the run the mustang has, especially when it comes to style....