Father-in-law hands me an opportunity to restore a stripped to tub, metal already-welded, primed and ready to reassemble '65 convertible for $4,500. Everyone that saw what he was trying to sell was afraid of it... My whole project was a Might as well... Brought the car 250 miles back to our home in two trailers; one for the car and big parts and the other for 20+ apple boxes of parts he'd been collecting for the 20 years it sat stripped. It was a 1 1/2 year long game of concentration. I hadn't been there when it was taken apart. It was, "look at the manuals, and find a pair of parts that look like those... I know I saw that in one of these boxes..." Completed the project restoring it to the original I-6. ANTI-MUSCLE! Wife is attached to the girly car, but she likes a little get up and go too, so.... I stumbled onto a 289... Might as well. Opened it up to check it... engine was a wasteland of about to fail parts. Rebuild it?? That's when "might as well," evolved into "what the hell". That V-8 led to a C-4 which turned into a T-5 and different rear-end ...and granada front discs, jeep rear discs, power brake booster, master cylinder, wheels and tires, suspension upgrades... $15,000 worth of do-it-yourself later, it is a cool car. And if I'm being honest, (don't tell my wife), I can imagine some future "mightaswell-ing"... rack and pinion, and the air conditioning up and running... it's only a matter of time...... oh ya, and money. My car owns me. He kindly allows me to believe I own him.
Posts: 2035
Joined: 9/5/2006 From: Barossa Valley, South Australia Status: offline
haha, great thread I inherited a 1971 Australian Fairlane with a tired 302. Bought a 78 Fairlane with a 351C running on LPG for the engine. It had a 9" - Might as well. Rear disc brakes - might as well. It had later model power steering (powered box not ram type) - Might as well.
Anyhow, the LPG had to be basically replaced. The power steering box involved chassis rail mods for mounting and then the box crapped out and had to be replaced too. I had to convert to a floor shift which cost me the middle seat on the bench effectively. Rear discs werent compatible with the parking brake - still havent got that right. 9" diff was totally shagged. New drive shaft needed to fix the vibration (it didnt) 8" diff (in perfect condition) got "lost" by the shop. As did perfectly working c4. FMX that is now in it needs rebuild. Linkages dont work properly and torque converter pretty sure is out of balance (the vibe that still wont go away)... thousands spent. No end in sight and then i discover just how bad the rust is in the rear quarters.
Moral - KISS
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A 2007 study found on average Australians walk 900 miles a year. We drink 26 gallons of beer. That means, on average, Australians get about 34 miles per gallon. Not bad hey!
Clutch fork on the Toploader failed, so "might as well" do the T5 conversion while the tranny is out. And "might as well" add that cable clutch and ditch that nasty mechanical clutch linkage. And, what the heck, "might as well" just pull the engine and tranny together to fix those engine oil leaks and replace gaskets - and oh yeah - "might as well" paint the engine bay while I'm at it and hide those electrical wires! Oh yeah - did I fail to mention that "might as well" convert to an electric fan, which brings on the "might as well" convert to a 3G alternator! The headlight relay harness might also get the "might as well" treatment while I'm in there as well! I'm sure we can all go on and on and on and on and.....
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Daily driver with a 351W, T5, 3.55, 3G, R&P and other ridiculously described mods that only we can understand…
Posts: 2035
Joined: 9/5/2006 From: Barossa Valley, South Australia Status: offline
yeh, but look where your car is today - wanna swap for the fairlane?? It would be a pretty unique car in the US
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quote:
A 2007 study found on average Australians walk 900 miles a year. We drink 26 gallons of beer. That means, on average, Australians get about 34 miles per gallon. Not bad hey!
Posts: 984
Joined: 1/19/2007 From: New Mexico Status: offline
The 66 has been a "might as well" project from the start as JMD said, but I fun replacing every part.... Hey it gave us something to do on the weekends and reasons to sneak away from work early... To think it all started with wanting to stop.... disk brakes were a necessity... and I used hat excuse from there on out
Posts: 1423
Joined: 7/5/2006 From: Long Beach, CA Status: offline
mine isn't so bad, but has happend twice. When I was redoing my engine/engine bay, we (my dad and I) first took off the heads to get a valve job, found out one was cracked in two spots so we decided to rebuild the bottom end as well since we don't know what kind of shape it would be in. So once the engine was out I decide to start cleaning up the engine bay, it went from chemical remover and sanding, to sandblasting the whole thing. And then we decided to remove the booster and master cylinder and brake lines to make it cleaner, turns out i needed a new booster and master cylinder anyway.
Then recently I started restoring my trunk compartment to which I soon found tons of rust eaten through along where the gas tank is. So then I knew it had to be redone somehow so I yanked the gas tank to only reveal more rust under that. I also knew my passenger floor pan was rusted out so I decided to strip the whole interior, front to back. Next think you know i'm removing the chrome, scoops, glass, and everything inside and out. I had the hole car sandblasted and its now in the body shop getting new floor pans, door skin, tons of patches, and a grade A paint job
Posts: 3148
Joined: 1/18/2007 From: Las Cruces, NM Status: offline
Great responses everyone, I was, and still am laughing my ass off, but I was not laughing at anyone, considering my position, the best I could do was laugh with everyone!! It is good to know I am not alone!!
Cheers!!
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66 Coupe I-6 Conversion, 408 Windsor, Tremec TKO 600 Wilwood fronts, SSBC Rears 9" Track Loc.
Posts: 6862
Joined: 10/10/2005 From: brunstank ga Status: offline
i did the might as well 4whl disc conversion instead of just the frnts and then i mights as well upgrade to 13inch kit for the fronts to fill up my might as well bullit rims
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Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
Posts: 2051
Joined: 11/9/2006 From: South Shores, CA Status: offline
quote:
ORIGINAL: restomod66
Soaring, I have been teaching since 1986 in the industrial arts/technology education field. I started off teching at the HS level in North Kingstown, RI or Quonset Point(military base). I am now teaching at the middle school level grades 6-8 basically woodworking and manufacturing based curriculum. I enjoy my job greatly as I am sure that you did when you were in action. I have a great shop set-up and do community service projects to help our community with their various needs. It is great to be able to talk to a fellow educator and mustang enthusiast. It would be nice to meet you in person some day!!!! I would like to see old yeller in person!!
About every three months or so I say the same thing, "I'm getting out of engineering, moving to a small town in Minnesota and becoming a shop teacher and hockey coach at a high school". Is it as fun and rewarding as I daydream it to be?
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RE: "Might as Well" - 
instead of just the frnts and then i mights as well upgrade to 13inch kit for the fronts to fill up my might as well bullit rims
