Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

There's also another issue... the radiator won't even fit with the stock clutch fan without modification...

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

So I slit both sides of the core support so it will fit. The driver's side already had a convenient hole, so I just cut the area out. On the PS I bored a matching hole and cut it the same.

This allows the radiator to slip "behind" the core support. But that create's another issue... it won't go down far enough.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Not wanting to slice on the car anymore (core support) I needed to trim the brand new $$$ radiator so it would fit farther down and fit flush with the core support.

First pic is uncut, how it came.

2nd and 3rd pics are after I cut a couple inches off the bottom of the mounting flange. This flange is separate from the radiator and can be cut up as long as you're careful.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

With that done, the radiator fit nicely down into the car. It even has the same amount of space between the fan and radiator that the old radiator had. The new one is over an inch wider.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Also test fit the new shroud. It's going to need about an inch trimmed off... but it fits!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

So it will be ready for a ride when I get to G'ville Saturday? :devil: :lol:

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

great job

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

*I highly doubt it* It has no shocks, tower braces, and the brakes still need more bleeding. I'm ordering a bunch of new suspension components today. I'm not sure if I want to slap it all together for a Sunday drive and tear it all back apart, or just finish the radiator, get it all working and checked, then start taking the suspension apart on sunday.

What will you be doing in Greenville?

Thanks! I'm sneaking away from work at noon today (that's supposed to be when I'm done on Fridays, but I've worked late AND weekends that past month!) to pick up some stuff to finish the install. I think I'm going to "JB Weld" the nuts to the backside of the radiator so it's easier to install. With the A/C condenser in the way, there is almost no way to get to the nuts and I'm not moving the condenser!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Visiting my daughter at BJU. The wife and her are going to go over wedding plans. Ugg! We are staying near Paris Mnt.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

You're probably 15-20 minutes from me. I drive by BJU on my way to work every day.

There's a car show tomorrow that's literally minutes from you at a place called Lil Rebel.

5:00pm
to
9:00pm LIL' REBEL CRUISE IN
(CRUISE IN)

ALL VEHICLES ARE WELCOME, WITH MUSIC, FOOD, DOOR PRIZES, TROPHIES, FUN FOR ALL, WE WILL BE COLLECTING FOOD AT ALL EVENTS THIS YEAR FOR THE LOCAL FOOD BANKS, ALSO BENEFIT THIS MONTH FOR TYLER TUCKER,.. COME CRUISE WITH US HWY 101 RESTAURANT 864 879-1042


Location: 2608 LOCUST HILL ROAD, TAYLORS, S.C.

I've been to this show quite a few times. Being that it's going to be BEAUTIFUL here tomorrow, I would guess 30-40 cars will show up. If you can sneak away from the family for an hour, you'll enjoy it. The most cars will be there around 6. Great food too.

I'm going to be really sore tomorrow... I must have lifted the radiator in and out of the car 50 times.

So I was trying to figure out how to bolt this thing down... then it hit me... duh... use those body clip thing a ma jiggies... Worked perfectly.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Mocking up the shroud. From the pics before the shroud was too big. I removed about an inch from the top part and about 1-1/4 inch from the bottom. They looked pretty rough after cutting them with a dremel cut off wheel.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

FINAL mock up. Wohoo! Also cleaned up my cuts and scuffed up the plastic.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Final paint. Also added my new overflow tank.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

So, the fit is SUPER TIGHT with all the mounting locations, so to hopefully prevent any rubbing damage to the radiator, I cut vacuum hose and used it as a buffer around the edges.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

And after removing the fan a couple times... was about to lock everything down when I noticed the fan/water pump shim laying on the bench... :dohh: everything went into the car for hopefully the last time. It all goes together like a puzzle... not fun to put together, but it all fits.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Mounting it like I did also kept it really low. With factory mounting the radiator cap supposedly bumps the hood. Plenty of clearance now.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

I've been cleaning up the garage as I go, trying to clean it out, get all my crap put up, put parts that won't be needed "soon" in the shed, etc. Doing so I un-buried this:

It's only sitting there, the grille needs to be painted.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

As I've cleaned up areas of the garage, I'm also trying to paint/hang up signs. Been making some progress.

I think one of the neatest things was hanging the Pennzoil sign inside of my Jimmie Johnson NASCAR Sprint Cup used tire :D

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Found the car show. Spent a out an hour looking. Thanks. I'm staying at Half Mile Lake subdivision just off of State Park Road.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Glad you enjoyed it. I really wanted to go but we had a prior commitment with friends over in Easley. My friends and I usually meet there (lil rebel) a couple times a month for dinner. The staff knows us by name. I love that place. Their tater tots and slaw are awesome. How many cars showed up? I've seen as few as 15, but other times the lot was full, the hill above the lot was full, and there were some at the station across the street and the one next to it.

A local show that get's pretty big is put on by the Mustang Club at the Texas Roadhouse on HWY 29 (maybe 5 mins from BJU?) It's the 1st Saturday of each month, and for a local show, if the weather is nice like today, I've seen 150+ cars show up. Next weekend is a decent sized one at the Chic fil a on 29 next to Home Depot (use home depos parking lot). That one can get pretty big too. I hope to have the 65 done to go to that one next weekend. I probably won't though, I'm tearing the front suspension apart soon. I placed an $$$ order with Street or Track yesterday. This car is killing my wallet. My truck was NEVER this $$$. I have to have this crap done by the 50th show in April. I paid a $100 registration fee and she's GOING!!!

Give me more of a heads up when you're heading down next time.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Forgot to post pics of my shims. I couldn't get them to turn out, the camera kept focusing on the wrong thing. I picked up the spacers at Lowes and cut them down to size with my dremel cut off wheel.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

I don't know why, but I think she looks cool all wrapped up in plastic!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Boring pics... wheel wells sanded down and in epoxy. I've also cleaned the crap out of and rust encapsulated the area "behind" the rolled fenders, because the undercoating cracked off when the fenders were rolled. I'm amazed at how rust free this car is still...

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

More boring pics... this time in black... the black is more flat and blends in better when it dries.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

I've been waiting to take this shot for a long time. I've been running the car with only the new wheels on the DS since last September (stupid, right?) That's because of the slight rub issue. Looka' dat 'phat 'azz!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

lol

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

...and I want to once again complain about these cars... Who puts the radiator hose at the same height/above the damn filler neck? I had the same issue with the old radiator and forgot about it.... I left the system open to let it circulate and fill... then all of a sudden, WHOOSH! Water/antifreeze come blowing out of the radiator (again, I did this before, I swear I never learn...) so I quickly capped it off with only a minimal mess. I then had to slowly burp/fill the system using the small new overflow I added. I think after about 20 times the motor/radiator are finally full. I love this car, I have ZERO intention of letting her go, but I honestly think this will be my only classic Ford, unless I find a good deal on a 40 Ford Pickup. I've wanted one of those since I was like 8, but you can bet your ass she'll be CHEVY POWERED!!!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

:D

Man, I used to have NO interest in these coupes, the only early mustangs I ever wanted were fastbacks. Take away the value part of the equation, and I don't know if I would trade mine for a fastback... I'm really diggin' how the old girl looks!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Ford tough with Chevy stuff!:lol::lol::lol:

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Crap... what did I just do... this car has to drive to Charlotte, WHEN? Oh yeah, I'll be "out of town" in Raleigh for a full weekend, so I really only have this weekend and next to have it painted, done, and aligned.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Look ma! 4 Piston Calipers!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

This pissed me off. Toyota of Asheville is where the car came from. They said some of the steering components looked unsafe so they replaced them... hey thanks! HOW ABOUT PUTTING SOME DAMN GREASE IN THEM? I guess it's my fault, I should have greased them when I got the car home. They replaced all the tie rod ends and the drag link. I was hoping to NOT spend ~$140 on tie rods, at least the drag link they installed ($65) should be OK. They were actually MOOG ends too... damn it. NPD's getting ANOTHER order...

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

...and she's nekked,,,

The springs, shocks, perches, upper and lower control arms, tie rod ends, idler arm, and strut rod will ALL be replaced. I'm pretty much only keeping the spindle, rotor, and caliper.

This suspension was WORE OUT! The upper and lower ball joints are TOAST! The rubber in the spring perch was all chewed up/rotted. Even though there was very little play in the rotor, the bearings/races need to be replaced as well... it looks like they've been run a little on the dry side. The lower control arm bushing was shot, but the uppers actually looked OK.

...and the upper control arm bolts only took a "bump" to loosen.

...and I removed the spindle nut by hand... I've put over 4,000 miles on this car.

What's funny is that with what I've described the car should have been shaking going down the road, wandering all over the place, and chewing up tires. Tires had even wear, the car has almost no vibration at any speed, and she never wandered. Weird...

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

wow craziness. ??? Did you need a spring compressor to remove the spring safely? Do you need one to put it back in?

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Yes, and yes. I used the $35 Autozone one. I could have rented it, but I'm going to need it for this, my C10 drop, and my firebird...

Turns out the shaft is too long??? I ended up removing the shock tower caps and bolts, and using an old harmonic balancer as the top plate and just used the bottom part of the compressor. Worked well, but was a little hairy as the spring was still under a little tension when I reached the end of the threads, but just barely. I ran a steel cable through the A-Arm bolt holes to hold it just in case.

I just placed my remaining suspension parts order with NPD. Comparatively, they actually have pretty good prices. Their MOOG ends were ~$15 cheaper than O'reilly (only one I could find that carries them) and competitive with fleabay prices.

I also picked up some TIMKEN USA made bearings at Autozone, only place that still sells Timken locally. If the original Timken's made it 50 years...

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

dang, I need to replace my springs as they are i6 springs and since the rear leaf install they bottom out and rub here and there..BLAH!

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

That sucks. I was looking at old original 1965 mustang pics (from 1965), with "new" springs the cars look similar to how mine does now. Not sure why your back raised up so much? Maybe it will settle some? I'm going to put Eaton springs back under it, they were the original mfg for the springs for these cars.

I'm putting the "GT" springs in mine (front and rear). Supposed to have same ride height, but slightly firmer. VMF has been a huge resource for me.

When I reinstall the springs I'll go to Lowes and pick out some steel pipe that just barely fits over the rod, some thick washers, cut it down, and use that to "shim" the compressor tool. for the new springs.

It will work fine in my C10 and firebird because there is a hole and space for the rod to go through, on the mustang, the bottom center of the spring is the spring perch, nowhere for it to go?

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

im guessing 40 year old i6 springs. So I know the i6 springs had way less weight and were probably sagging. The bushings were pretty bad too! I did upgrade to 4.5leafs but standard eye.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

I got my adjustable bars and roller perches today... quality products. Very cool looking too. They came from Shaun at Street or Track. However, I also ordered a 1" sway bar, GT coil springs, and cups (the rubber isolator piece.) I sent a message to be sure nothing happened. He said the stuff he makes comes directly from him, but the other stuff is drop shipped from his supplier and should be here by the end of next week? (I ordered last Friday). Piss. He had really good prices on the springs and bars so I just ordered it all from him. I would have paid NPD a little more, I would have it by this weekend.

Had to take a break tonight. My old ass is a little sore from crawling around this car so much. I'll get the PS off tomorrow and start cleaning parts and drilling holes for the Shelby Drop.

Re: 1965 Ford Mustang
 

Got the passenger side disassembled tonight. The next two pics show how little room there is to work in these cars. NONE of my ratchets would fit on the upper A arm bolts with a socket. Thank God for Gear Wrench. I was only able to go back and forth a couple inches at a time. It took about 10 minutes, probably would have taken an hour with a regular wrench.