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.
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.
Posts: 38
Joined: 2/3/2004 From: United States Status: offline
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.
Posts: 32
Joined: 1/13/2004 From: United States Status: offline
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.
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.
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One mans mustang is another mans dream... One mans EVO is....wait....where did that mustang go!? Did you see where it went, No?....Damn!
Appreciate the input, I have the car about 80% disassembled. I am a beginner when it comes to complete restoration, and reading is not something I like to do. I have bought a few restoration books, but prefer video, do you know of any restoration videos? Below are a few items I want to attempt to complete. It is alot of work for a beginner but if you are going to spend the money and time you should do it right the first time.
New Transmission (Not sure what to use) 347 Stroker Engine New Rear End (Not sure what to use) Disc Brakes front and Back Convert to Power Sterring (questionable) New Strut System New Wiring (This is scary)
And of cource new body work and interior, all though there is not alot of body work required for its age.
for the rear end I would look for a modern 8.8 from a mustang unless you're looking for extreme heavy duty use, then go for the 9" ford rear end with a good posi differential. either way you can get front and rear disks from the salvage yards that will fit either one of these rears. you can also check out www.stangparts.com for all kinds of used Mustang parts, although most of what they have is the more modern 5.0 and 4.6 stuff. you can get complete wiring harnesses from Painless Wiring at www.painlessperformance.com. Flaming River makes a nice manual rack and pinion steering kit for stangs. don't know if they do power stuff though. Before I would invest a lot in the car, I would go over the undercarriage and body looking for signs of rust and lack of structural integrity first and fix any problems you find here. If the damage is extensive, you might want to look for another car instead. good luck with your project!
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retired and drag racing all I can now that I have the time! 13.533 @ 96.24 mph w/1.780 60', ALL THROTTLE, NO BOTTLE! 13.557 @ 98.24 mph most recentl
Posts: 2
Joined: 8/3/2004 From: Milledgeville, GA Status: offline
I am brand new to this forum. I am in the process of a ground up restoration of a 65 coupe. If you are not sure about the metal on the car, I would recomend having it dipped to remove all paint, rust, bondo etc. I did this in Atlanta at a place called Unpaint. I am sure that most big cities will have a place like this. it exposed a lot of things about my car that I would not have known until later. it was cheaper than sandblasing also. I have to agree with someone's earlier advice.......lots of pictures and ziplocks. I bought a wreck also to be able to look back at how it all goes back together. salvaged some parts but the big help is having a model to look at. good luck. we are all in this together.
Per request here are some pictures, I have over 200 pictures. I have been taking pictures from every angle. I have completely removed the engine, front end, trans. interior and the wiring will be completly removed soon. I still have the rear end, gas tank and pipes to remove some misc rear parts. I am leaving the rear end for know to be able to roll the car in and out of the garage, this is to ensure I do not run my family out of the house during sanding and priming. I found three arear aroung the gas tank that are going ot need to be cut out and replced but other than that the rust is not bad. a couple of bondo areas, again not to bad. These pictires are only a snap shot if you want to see more, let me know. When it is time to start spending money the time line will slow down.
Would love to hear about your sucesses abnd failures and any othe advise. Are you in a club? I am from Hiram, Ga, I noticed you had your car dipped in Atlanta, do you also live in Georgia. Would like to talk further.
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Bought 66 Mustang, Advise is Welcom - 
