Bought 66 Mustang, Advise is Welcom

firststang · 06-27-2004, 10:41 PM

I bought a 66 Mustang. I have never restored a car before but I am mechanically inclined and willing to complete the project. My knowledge of what to do is limited to the basic understanding of cars. I have already begun to diassemble. When I go to rebuild I want to do a few improvements, as follows. Disc Brakes (front & rear), Airconditioner, power sterring, new engine, trans and rear end. I have looked at a stroker 302 for a crate engine, but was told I need to update my trans and rear end as well. Any suggestions are welcome as to what you would do to make this a car nice. What type of rear end, trans, suspension, brakes power sterring etc. Help me with my ignorance.

[IMG]local://upfiles/7651/Lj241343671.jpg[/IMG]

stangsrdashit · 06-28-2004, 09:23 PM

IF your car is a stick, then a T-5 tranny is a virtual bolt in. If its and automatic then an AOD would be something good to look at. As far as rear end goes, a fresh limited slip or posi unit would do nicely, also think about upping those gears to somewhere in the 3.50 range is a good idea. A place to check out for breaks is Baer racing. With the suspension some mild upgrades would do nice for your ride, such as gas shocks, a little stiffer front springs, bigger anti sway bars etc. I'm in the dark as to the power steering, as ours are manual steering. Hope some of this helped.

meich75 · 06-29-2004, 06:14 AM

For power steering you might want to look into the mustang II conversion. An original power steering setup for a 66 is very expensive. Mine cmae with power steering and went it went bad it cost me over $600 in parts. That was after searching for a month to find the parts since no one makes them anymore.

Darrin O · 07-10-2004, 03:10 AM

My suggestion for restoring is not about what parts or portion of the car to tackle. My suggestion is that before you tear into any portion of your car, get out your digi cam and take pics from every angle so you remeber how it went together. then a whole bunch of ziploc baggies and other organizing methods...tape with marker to remind you what went where.

Darrin

horseshoeing · 07-12-2004, 05:58 PM

Start with the drivetrain and end with the bodywork and paint.

horseshoeing · 07-12-2004, 06:00 PM

And the T5 works great. Your might try a 3.89 readend gear. You do have a OD with that T5!!!

firststang · 08-22-2004, 01:18 AM

Used your advise, lots of baggies and lots of pictures.

Thanks

firststang · 08-22-2004, 01:24 AM

appreciate the advise

302240Z · 08-26-2004, 04:13 AM

Whe all else fails and you are at wits end, call me and I'll come pick it up. Your worries will be over.[8D]

Frank_Bullitt · 09-01-2004, 10:06 AM

I have lots of books and other parts and such around so if you need some help I can look it up for you. Good parts places is Mustangsplus.com, but I find the best price so fare is Mustangsunlimited.com they have everything you need.
Also a good thing to look into if your redoing it from the ground up is a fire stopper for the divider behind the back seat. also might be good to put in a Fuel cell and get ride of the old tank. Those are some of the most high risk problems the old mustangs had to deal with when getting hit from the back end. (as much as a hate thinking about a mustang getting into a cash.)

If you got any questions for me get ask, I also am working on doing some new things to the car like rack and pinion, power brakes, power windows and so on. Trying to make it more safe/useable driver.