A few minutes ago I was sitting in my office with a co-worker discussing the 66, in the course of this conversation he brought up the fact that we have basically done a "ground up" rebuild of the 66. For one reason or another, this made me consider the project as a whole, and caused me to realize that we have replaced virtually everything involved with the drive-train, suspension, steering, and brakes, with the exception of the rear leaf springs....in addition we have replaced the entire wiring system. I guess I had not really thought of it in this way beforebecause it all got done as a combination of completion of smaller projects....

Which gets me to the title of the post, "Might as Well". It seems apparent that I have fallen victim to the "might as well" mentality, where we would fix or replace one thing and then come to the conclusion that as long as wehave things takenapart, we "may as well" replace this part too..... or as long as we have a 351, we may as well stroke it out,,, or as long as we need a tranny, we may as well put in a 5 speed,, Well that happened over and over....

Well I guess I am a sucker, but IMO, we have ended up with a whole lot of car for not much money when compared to what a similar car would cost new (if such a thing were available).... To me this is a testament to the simplicity of the car itself and to a very good selection of affordable aftermarket parts available from many fine vendors that specialize in these early Mustang parts. Without these two "resources" this build could have never been done....

And while I am at it, I do want to thank everyone here on M/F for their help and assistance, this has been absolutely invaluable. Extra kudos to Glen for contributing to the Classic section in such a manner that this resource was available when I needed it. The knowledge contained in this forum is a wonderful tool to have at ones disposal,, I don't think I have seen a question that could not be answered here....

I know that there are others here who have fallen into the "might as well" trap, and who like me have changed a simple project into an all out assault... I would like to hear some of these stories here, so I don't feel like the only fool here..... :D:D

Here's my "Might as well'....from the beginning, ans it is still ongoing! My divorce cleaned me out years ago, as far as cars go..68GT500, 68 Coupe...Now my son is 16, (when we bought HIS car)...He is now 17...He was always intertested in those "cars in the pictures"...So here we go...we find a 65 fastback...it was like going to look at a puppy...we weren't leaving without it. Deal was, he had to put as much in it as me...Get the car home..."Might as well" install the floor pans the guy gave us with the car...so here we go.. "might as well.. install that nice 1 pc floorpan we saw in the catalog..."Might as well".. go ahead and change the firewall..."Might as well change the whole lower cowl pan instead of the patch panels..."Might as well do the cowl side panels too...Might as well do the wheel house while the 1/4's are off....I can go on..especially when we started our "wish list" of parts..that's a whole new MIGHT AS WELL!...

So easy to fall into this trap. I will keep mine short, but since I had a new motor I thought new gas lines, well then the crap in the tank would corrode it, filler neck, etc. Same with the brakes. Long story short: not a drop of gas nor brake fluid will touch anything used or mot rebuilt. The only thing I did not do this on was my manifold which I had in storage for years (Dual plane high rise). Once we started the engine we noticed that the bottom waterneck bolt was stripped. Once I removed the manifold and started to retap (Found it was repaired previously) I noticed 3 hair line cracks in the other bolt. Well as I should of to begin with...Might as well get a new one (Dual plane Weiand). After this post I think back how mahy times I said that and didnt realize it. Thanks JMD

shooooooot, yall got nothing on me

i started out with 1 mustang, the top was rotted off, so i bought a complete parts car for 450 bucks (66coupe 6cyl auto)

well my 1st mustang with the rotted top also had rotted quarters and rotted trunk pan so i figured "Might as well" just clip the car (thought my front end was in good shape) so we cut 2 cars in half and welded them back together

THEN we found out my front frame and shocktowers were cocked to one side and had some rust issues so we figured "might as well replace all that" so we got left an right side fender apron, shock tower, framerail assemblies got a radiator support and frame rail extensions and pretty much rebuilt the ENTIRE front end of my car

so pretty much all that is left of my original car sheetmetal wise is the firewall, dash, and cowl, and some of the rocker panels

kind of sucks dont it? [:'(]

Just look at it this way, if you decide to ever sell this beauty the buyer may as well spend a little more on such a nice vehicle!!!! I know you'll never get what you put into it labor wise but you should be able to turn some type of profit on the materials end of the rebuild?? Just a thought to make you feel a little better!!

I didn't do any body work on mine because it is a west Texas car with zero rust. My cowl is still as strong as it was in 1965 if that tells you anything. My quest was to replace everything in the interior, so I started with the dash pad, then the seat covers, then the doors then the carpet. All of that took me about a year to do because I was teaching and was whipped on the weekends. Marching band directors exercise more than football coaches.

Soaring
That's why band directors make the big bucks!!!!!!

ORIGINAL: restomod66

Soaring
That's why band directors make the big bucks!!!!!!

Yeah, right. :D I made a few thousand more than a classroom teacher, but I started marching on August 1st in the heat, and didn't quit until after playoffs most of the years. So, we marched in the heat, and in the ice. I remember one year at the state marching contest in Austin that my kids came off the field with icecicles hanging from their hair. It was raining on them and freezing at the same time. Damnest thing you ever saw, but we won. :D

That's why band directors are dedicated to what they do the best!! Teach/instruct, perform and excell in what they do to make themselves and their students standout in the public!! My hat is off to you and i know that you have done a commendable job with your program and your students' accomplishments from one educator to another!!!!

Thanks. I've been retired now going on 2 years. I am absolutely loving retirement. Mustangs and golf is all I have to worry about now. :D What do you teach and where?

yea, at my school we have gone through several band directors in the past couple years (im not in band, but some of my friends are) but the new guy we got seems to be really cool, ive talked to him a couple times

but the teachers that i think put in the most work would have to be my 2 FFA advisors, they get to the school early every morning and usually dont leave until 5:30-6
and they are there on saturdays and just about every day over the summer

I still havent really been able to do much "Might as well..." stuff. Most of my repair/replace is due to necessity[:@]

ORIGINAL: bluovalguy

I still havent really been able to do much "Might as well..." stuff. Most of my repair/replace is due to necessity[:@]
It is just over the last couple of years that I have been able to do this either.... that is why my long term project never really got done.....

Now that my kids are old enough for their own projects, I finally have the money, + my son has contributedfinancially to a substantial degree to his car, so neither of us are all alone trying to float a project of this size....

Now my younger son's project is a different story,,, I have had to make most of this one happen financially... but he is still a "youngster", and his project has been a lot less involved, and less expensive...but still with it's "might as well" stuff.... ;):D:D

Yea it is hard to balance a family budget and to have a project vehicle at the same time,,, the problem has been that Wal Mart, albertsons, and Dillards were in competition for that car dollar for most of my life, and it seems like food, clothes, and shelter always trumped that new intake and carb,,,, that sucks!! I can relate..

My wife is being SUPER cool with letting me get stuff. She says that I should get what I can "within reason" while I am still in the army, cuz when I get out things are gonna be tight for awhile, so the big ticket items will cease until we get set up and financially secure. Hope it dont take to long.

ORIGINAL: bluovalguy

My wife is being SUPER cool with letting me get stuff. She says that I should get what I can "within reason" while I am still in the army, cuz when I get out things are gonna be tight for awhile, so the big ticket items will cease until we get set up and financially secure. Hope it dont take to long.

Are you retiring from the military, or just getting out? I only spent 3 years in the Army and that was enough for me. :D

Just getting out. I will have almost 9 years done. I was gonna get out in 04, but I got stop lossed. So after a year of involutary service, I re-enlisted so that I could stay in Germany for 3 more years. Got screwed there also. 9 months into the 3 years I got sent to Ft. Sill. I am hoping to get out next April,but my unit has orders to deploy, so they may try to stop loss me again[:@]

ORIGINAL: bluovalguy

Just getting out. I will have almost 9 years done. I was gonna get out in 04, but I got stop lossed. So after a year of involutary service, I re-enlisted so that I could stay in Germany for 3 more years. Got screwed there also. 9 months into the 3 years I got sent to Ft. Sill. I am hoping to get out next April,but my unit has orders to deploy, so they may try to stop loss me again[:@]
By the time the Iraq war is over, you may have your 20 in. Sorry JMD for robbing your thread.

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!!

ORIGINAL: Soaring

ORIGINAL: bluovalguy

Just getting out. I will have almost 9 years done. I was gonna get out in 04, but I got stop lossed. So after a year of involutary service, I re-enlisted so that I could stay in Germany for 3 more years. Got screwed there also. 9 months into the 3 years I got sent to Ft. Sill. I am hoping to get out next April,but my unit has orders to deploy, so they may try to stop loss me again[:@]
By the time the Iraq war is over, you may have your 20 in. Sorry JMD for robbing your thread.


I know, that I why I am tryin to get out now. The upcoming will be my fourth deployment, once to Macedonia/Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and soon to be Africa. Who knows where else in the future.

ORIGINAL: Soaring

Sorry JMD for robbing your thread.
No worries,, I enjoy reading the thread regardless!!

Father-in-law hands me an opportunity to restore a stripped to tub, metal already-welded, primed and ready to reassemble '65 convertiblefor $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.

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

Clutch fork on the Toploader failed, so "might as well" do the T5 conversion while the tranny is out. And "might as well" add thatcable 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 electricfan, 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.....

yeh, but look where your car is today - wanna swap for the fairlane?? It would be a pretty unique car in the US:D

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:D:D... To think it all started with wanting to stop.... disk brakes were a necessity... and I used hat excuse from there on out:D:D

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 :D

Great responses everyone, I was, and still amlaughing my ass off, but I was not laughing at anyone, considering my position, the best I could do was laugh with everyone!!:DIt is good to know I am not alone!! :D

Cheers!!

i did the might as well 4whl disc conversion[8D] 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

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? :D