Build Updates 2006
17 June 2006: Did an almost complete tear down of the car in the storage space today! About all that's left is the engine and the rear glass. I took everything else off.
And I've found some more areas that aren't so good. Behind the rear valence, completely gone. The floor pans they put in are just a mess - they shouldn't have even bothered. They aren't in correctly and they never finished putting them in. The passenger door seems newer than the drivers door. I'm wondering if it's a replacement from an accident or something. That wasn't good to find.
And whomever painted this thing should be shot (no pun intended). There is red paint everywhere. Clearly they didn't care what the car looked like. A complete waste of paint in my opinion. Especially since I'm just going to pay someone to take it off now.
So I'm going to get the back glass taken out and figure out how to get the engine out and where to put it. Then the body will be all ready for media blasting! Yea! Then we can assess what panels need to be replaced and put a self-etching epoxy primer on the parts that don’t need to be replaced. Then the body shop that I’m going to have do all the body work (Performance Restorations) will give me an estimate and we can start saving towards getting that work done.
It feels really good to be getting somewhere with this thing. Now I think money becomes the issue. Once again, I'll add some pictures to the photos page when I get a chance.
3 June 2006: Shelbyfest in Volo. Really cool! Lots of cars, even a 69 Mach 1. It was a really nice day and there were a lot of Shelby's, quite a few Cobra's and a few "other" cars mixed in. Plus with admission, you could look at all the cars in the museum. I'll add some pictures to the photos page when I get a chance.
30 May 2006: It's Alive!!! I got the 390 started today! There is video on the video page of my 2nd and 3rd start attempts. Boy is this exciting! The only thing that isn't exciting is that the number 3 spark plug came flying out when it started. Craziness! Apparently I cross-threaded it when I put it in or something, because the first two threads are messed up a little. So it doesn't sound good since obviously it's missing and it's just a loud motor. Plus most of the exhaust is probably toast anyway.
It's not a really big deal - I just wanted to make sure the motor worked before I take it out, but I'd really like to hear it run on 8 cylinders. It hasn't run in 10+ years and the fuel lines are corroded. I got some rubber fuel line to run from the fuel pump to a gas can, and I had to buy a fuel filter because the fuel was pooling on top of the intake and clearly not getting to the carburetor. After that, it started right up! Amazing after such a long time! Now if I could just get that spark plug to go in....
27 May 2006: We all went to the SN-65 Open House today. I got to take a test drive and WOW was it cool! Bob and Wayne did an excellent job. The only sad thing I heard (or maybe good if you've got money) is that it'll probably be at Barrett-Jackson in January of 2007. But they're going to sell some of the parts they had to fabricate if you'd like to add some of their touches to your 65 Mustang. They are available on their website.
I took a video of the test drive and it's on my newly added video page. It's a big file, so you'll probably only want to watch if you have broadband. I will add a few pictures to the photos page that I took of the car also.
20 May 2006: Went back to my storage space today and started to tear down the front end. Got pretty much everything off of it: fenders, fender extensions, cowl, condenser, and the lower valence. I'll add some pictures of this to the photos page.
This has me excited because it actually looks like I've done something. It's a good feeling. Maybe if I can get it all torn down pretty quickly here I can get it media blasted and assess just exactly what the car will need to get it going (body wise). Maybe I can do that soon.
What I can assess from taking this much apart is that the cowl area looks horrible, completely rotted above the heater core. Left inner fender and shock tower aren't so straight along with the radiator support too. Someone in their infinite wisdom put fiberglass in the battery tray area. I'm not sure the hood is good enough to keep and I'm not sure the lower valence is correct for the car.
That's all I can gather from today's work. Hopefully I can get some more answers soon.
6 May 2006: Went to a Griot's Garage Open House at Lake Forest Sports Cars today. It was really cool. They had a few nice cars at the dealership, but the demonstrations were really cool. I learned a lot and had fun, got some free product and of course had to buy something. I'll put some pictures on the photos page so you can see some of the cars that were there and some of the demonstration stuff maybe. Although pictures of a demonstration really aren't so exciting.
I have got to get one of their orbital buffer machines! Very cool and it would make polishing and waxing the cars a lot easier. It's being added to my wish list!
20 March 2006: Finally got a chance to get over to the storage space and take a few detailed pictures of the new car. They are on the photos page. There are a few areas that are a little questionable and there are a few spots I forgot to take photos of, like the cowl and the hood. But for the most part, it's all there--good or bad. Compared to the other car I have, it's pretty much all good.
15 February 2006: My cousin Justin and I went to the auto show yesterday. I thought it was pretty good. I can't say I was too impressed with the Ford exhibit, but overall everything was really nice. I took a lot of pictures (around 160) with our new camera. A few pictures turned out nice. You can check out the photos page for those.
I've got pictures of the Ford GT obviously, and also the 2007 Mustang Shelby GT500, the Reflex Concept and the Super Chief Concept. The GT is just incredible. I really wish I had the money. Just an awesome car. The new Shelby GT500 looks pretty cool, but I can't believe they only had one at the show and the guy said he couldn't open the hood for us to see the engine--stupid. The Reflex Concept was small, but had some good styling and some really cool features. I love the lighted Ford emblem in back. The Super Chief Concept was big and very cool also. There are also pictures of a 1967 Mustang Shelby GT500E from the Volo Museum.
For the other manufacturers, I've included pictures of the Chevy Camaro concept and the Dodge Challenger and Charger Concepts.
That's about it. I'll get more done later.
9 February 2006: We FINALLY got our new digital camera on Monday the 6th. It's very nice. Of course the memory card it comes with is useless. So I ordered a new one yesterday from Amazon. It's supposed to come on Monday the 13th. I hope it isn't late because I'm going to the Chicago Auto Show on Tuesday the 14th. I wouldn't want to be limited to 7 pictures at the auto show.
I'm not sure if you've seen this, but it's amazing. It's called the SN65 project. They've taken a 1965 fastback shell and put a 2003 Cobra under it. Absolutely amazing and beautiful. I'm planning on going to the open house later this month. I can't wait to see this thing in person!
Julie's transmission went out on her '99 Taurus Tuesday morning. We can't afford to get a new car now, so we're fixing it. Luckily she was close to home when it happened. I don't have much else to say today, except that I'm tired and glad that tomorrow is Friday. So I'll write more another day.
21 January 2006: Went out to the storage space today to show the new car to my cousin. He likes it. Looks like it's in pretty good shape. Unquestionably better than my old one. Opened the trunk and found that the gas tank was there. I wasn't expecting to see that. Checked in the cowl area because it was supposed to have a leak on the passenger side. Yea, we found out why. Half of the passenger side in the cowl area is missing. That'll need some new sheetmetal. But the other support pieces look good. The engine compartment is nice and looks like it needs a bigger engine. The 302 looks a little small in there.
The weather has taken a turn here. We had about 11 inches of snow last night, so we had to shovel a little to get into the space. It's exciting to know I actually have a car that's made of metal and not just rust. I'll get working on my bookcases tomorrow first thing since we went to church tonight. Just for the record, I'm picking Pittsburgh and Seattle in tomorrows conference championship games.
20 January 2006: The car is here! It came today by transport and I've got it tucked away in a storage space. Now I'm ready to start working on it as soon as I get my woodworking project out of the way. I'll be able to take and post some pictures after our new camera comes. I've ordered it, but we don't have it yet. Hopefully soon because I really miss having a digital camera.
Anyway, about the car, I'm planning to order a Marti report on it to determine exactly what the car originally had. But just from looking briefly it has drum brakes and air conditioning. Almost everything is missing on the car. The engine compartment just has the A/C condensor and the engine. Interior is just the seats, dash and steering wheel. So it's just a glorified shell really. My thought so far is just to strip everything out of the car, get it media blasted and go from there.
What does this mean for the car I already have? Looks like we'll need most everything we can get out of it that's useable since this new car doesn't have much as far as being a complete car. So I'll need an engine stand, and to borrow a cherry picker to get the engine out (of both cars actually). Then I can start removing everything and seeing what's salvageable from the old one.
That's enough planning for now, my woodworking project is calling.
15 January 2006: I can't believe I'm saying this, but I bought my donor car today off of E-Bay. It's a 69 fastback with a 351. Now my plans are coming together! It's very exciting. I'm trying to get a place to store it for now and decide exactly how to get it home. It looks like shipping it home through discountautotransport.com should be about $350. But driving up to get it should only cost $100 in gas. Maybe more if I need to rent a trailer. I have a few more days to decide. We'll see.
17 June 2006: Did an almost complete tear down of the car in the storage space today! About all that's left is the engine and the rear glass. I took everything else off.
3 June 2006: Shelbyfest in Volo. Really cool! Lots of cars, even a 69 Mach 1. It was a really nice day and there were a lot of Shelby's, quite a few Cobra's and a few "other" cars mixed in. Plus with admission, you could look at all the cars in the museum. I'll add some pictures to the photos page when I get a chance.
27 May 2006: We all went to the SN-65 Open House today. I got to take a test drive and WOW was it cool! Bob and Wayne did an excellent job. The only sad thing I heard (or maybe good if you've got money) is that it'll probably be at Barrett-Jackson in January of 2007. But they're going to sell some of the parts they had to fabricate if you'd like to add some of their touches to your 65 Mustang. They are available on their website.
20 May 2006: Went back to my storage space today and started to tear down the front end. Got pretty much everything off of it: fenders, fender extensions, cowl, condenser, and the lower valence. I'll add some pictures of this to the photos page.
6 May 2006: Went to a Griot's Garage Open House at Lake Forest Sports Cars today. It was really cool. They had a few nice cars at the dealership, but the demonstrations were really cool. I learned a lot and had fun, got some free product and of course had to buy something. I'll put some pictures on the photos page so you can see some of the cars that were there and some of the demonstration stuff maybe. Although pictures of a demonstration really aren't so exciting.
15 February 2006: My cousin Justin and I went to the auto show yesterday. I thought it was pretty good. I can't say I was too impressed with the Ford exhibit, but overall everything was really nice. I took a lot of pictures (around 160) with our new camera. A few pictures turned out nice. You can check out the photos page for those.
I'm not sure if you've seen this, but it's amazing. It's called the SN65 project. They've taken a 1965 fastback shell and put a 2003 Cobra under it. Absolutely amazing and beautiful. I'm planning on going to the open house later this month. I can't wait to see this thing in person!
