[PETESGT]

Originally Posted by Silent_Shark08

Love the car, im new to forum but have had a few stangs, anyway awsome car keep up the good work.

ty!! keep checking back and feel free to post away on this thread

[Silent_Shark08]

Which 347 kit did you go with? That is what I am thinking about build but I dont want to have to buy a new block, dont want to put all the money into a kit and then crack it.

[PETESGT]

Originally Posted by Silent_Shark08

Which 347 kit did you go with? That is what I am thinking about build but I dont want to have to buy a new block, dont want to put all the money into a kit and then crack it.

I didnt go with a "kit". As in everything was in one box....BUT my set up from looking around is pretty basic I used "reptile ressurection" in MM&FF as my initial general direction. And then kinda went from the "experts on the ground" , Reggie and Feen

check this thread
http://www.allfordmustangs.com/forum...er-budget.html

if u need ANYTHING let me know I'm glad my thread might reach out and help someone

[RLG34750]

Originally Posted by Silent_Shark08

Which 347 kit did you go with? That is what I am thinking about build but I dont want to have to buy a new block, dont want to put all the money into a kit and then crack it.

if you are looking for a stroker kit check Pro Prower they have a kit that will fit budget concerns....

Pro Power : The engine parts professionals :

[biglew]

Hey Mike, I just wanted to drop you a line. I'm new to the sight, not really new just kinda lurking, but read your whole thread yesterday and couldn't stop until I had read it all. I've got a couple of stangs and have always wanted to do a build like the one you are currently on. I just wanted to say thanks for the great posts, info, ect,. I've really enjoyed keeping up with your progress and wish you and your wife good luck and GET THAT STANG ROLLIN'. Thanks, Lewis.

[noble steed]

Real racers don't street race? LOL I agree. But anyway, Pete, glad to see the car coming together so quick. Do you have any videos of the car when you first had it? Make sure you put up some vids if you don't have any! I want to hear that beast run! See ya bud.

[PETESGT]

Originally Posted by biglew

Hey Mike, I just wanted to drop you a line. I'm new to the sight, not really new just kinda lurking, but read your whole thread yesterday and couldn't stop until I had read it all. I've got a couple of stangs and have always wanted to do a build like the one you are currently on. I just wanted to say thanks for the great posts, info, ect,. I've really enjoyed keeping up with your progress and wish you and your wife good luck and GET THAT STANG ROLLIN'. Thanks, Lewis.

LMFAO....Mike went that way----> with his orange 78 Pinto Station Wagon think he's stuck in the engine mount conversion from 4 to 8 cyl.


But hey no bull....looks like bussiness is starting to pick up around here


STEED...the only vid I have of the car is the one on page 3 of this thread

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URPa84G5p-w

cut and pasted just for you bud.


All Ya'll

[lilgrneyes]

So today, there I was.....

We started putting the front end back together this afternoon. This was right after I put Pete on a plane to fly back to California.

Randy, the Big O, and I put the new bushings into the new rack and pinion, and got it mounted back onto the K member. Then we bolted in the new A arms....this was all in the midst of both of us scratching our heads trying to figure out wear a single set of bushing was supposed to go....o well, left over parts. We got the new spring isolators on the old springs (I did clean them very well first), and started to put the spring back in the driver's side first.

I learned a new lesson today!!!!! Having the engine and transmission still in the car makes a huge Huge HUGE difference in how far you can use a jack to compress the springs!!!!! Even with manual spring compressors. We were replacing the end links also, and I still needed another inch to inch and a half to get the end link threaded into the sway bar. HA HA HA HA HA

O climbed into the engine bay and stood on the K member....I still needed another half inch. So I climbed myself into the engine bay, he stood on the K member in the middle but more towards the driver's side. I stood on the bracing that protects the steering linkage in the stock K member, and played acrobat trying to thread the nut onto the end link bolt. Me in the engine bay didn't make a darn bit of difference.

Finally we got the endlinks threaded and bolted in... BUT the sway bar is still sitting all c**k-eyed because we just can't get enough weight on the springs to bring the A arms up to the right place. The new struts barely show through the strut tower (can't possibly get the caster camber plates bolted onto the struts....not enough thread to get the bolts started)

GRRRRRRRRR!!!! I really wanted to get the front re-assembled this weekend....and after today, I wanted to fight the stupid thing but I decided against that....due to some good advice from a friend.

So the plan for next weekend.....
O is going to bring his sandbags over next weekend. He has about 400 lbs that he uses during the winter months to weigh the rearend of his truck down. Our other buddy, Kirk, should also be free to lend his weight and expertise. Between all of us and the sand, there should be close to 900lbs! If that doesn't do, nothing will!!!

Man, I hate when a plan doesn't work out!

I guess it just has to wait til next weekend, but that means the list of stuff to get finished each day gets longer.

List for next weekend:
Finish the front suspension
5 lug conversion front and rear
rear suspension (upper/lower control arm, shocks, sway bar)
Rebuild the rear end with new gears and differential

Pretty much....my goal is to get the car back off the jack stands, so I can move it again so we can get the engine back in and the wiring run. Might be a steep order, but I am determined!

I will take some pics of the newly attached items on Wedsnesday.

H

[RLG34750]

Its a car ......

always expect the unexpected......

sound like you have a good plan for next weekend

but......you always do the sway bar after you get the motor in.....

[302Feen]

I would have loved to have been there to see yal climbing in and out of the engine bay like that!

Just remember, stuff like that probably shouldn't ever be THAT hard to do. If you're having to fight with it really bad then you're probably doing something wrong... I have learned that first hand a few times! Usually I end up breaking something.

But I'm with Reg on this one. I would think the engine needs to be in to set that sway bar in place.

*Pete, PM sent.

[lilgrneyes]

I guess with your input, guys, I am at a loss. Reg and Feen, you guys say to wait on the sway bar until the engine is in.... how do I get the springs compressed enough to get everything else together?

Feen, a spring job, I thought, is all about weight and pressure. Maybe I am really missing something!

Unfortunately, at this point, I have to find an alternative to the engine going back in to make this car a roller again. The engine is being built somewhere else, and the trans and install equipment is at the other location.

Even if I tried to reinstall the old parts we took off, the springs won't allow for a roller without additional weight in the engine bay. That is why we thought of the sandbags. I can't get the struts bolted in without weight, even if the swaybar goes in last. I am guessing that the springs relaxed from the compression they were under when they were strapped into the car. They came out easy enough, but God only knows how long they had been in there.

Suggestions?

I really don't see that we are fighting anything right now other than our own ignorance of bushing location and a lack of weight in the car. If I am way off.....PLEASE tell me.


H

[lilgrneyes]

Well, today Randy and I were back at turning wrenches. I still haven't received my 31 spline axles or the Auburn differential, but we had to get the rear axle back under the car.

Randy will be out of commission for the next 2 to 3 months, so I have to abuse him while I still can.

We popped the seal on the differential cover, and the horrible smell of burnt up grease hit me. I have smelt very few things in life that turned my stomach that badly...LOL.

We took out the all the guts along with the 4-lug axle shafts and added them to the every growing pile of homeless parts. We had to put the old differential back in so the 28 spline 5 lug axle shafts weren't just flappin' in the breeze. I will of course have to remove the rear axle again up at the Auto Craft shop to clean everything out and put the new gears, differential and axle shafts in.



It really irks me to do the same work twice, but my parts not being here is outside my control at this point. Lost purchase orders are really a drag!

The Steeda upper and lower control arms went on, and not very easily. We both had a duh hour or so! It sucks when you forget that normal installation for bolt on suspension parts happens with one side of the axle jacked up at a time.

When the light bulb came on for both of us, things went much more smoothly.

We ended tonight with the rear calipers mounted and the e-brake lines run and connected. We used the old 18x9 rims and tires from the 2000 so the rear was off jack stands. It looks like a 4x4 even with the larger rim on there because the lower control arms are adjusted pretty high.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we will start on the front end again.

I will let you know tomorrow how that all turns out, and get some more pics to post.

H

[noble steed]

That rear end looks badly abused. Good thing your going through everything. My 93 GT went through what yours is going through and is still getting new stuff added daily. I am still waiting on my heads and block to get back to me so I can get it short blocked and up on the engine stand. BTW, where are you getting this endless budget from? lol I want in on some of it too

[RLG34750]

i hear you on doing things twice, it really bites ....

the lovely smell of old gear oil.....

[lilgrneyes]

Originally Posted by noble steed

That rear end looks badly abused. Good thing your going through everything. BTW, where are you getting this endless budget from? lol I want in on some of it too

The rear end definitely needs some TLC! I found RTV all over the place, and definitely in some places where seals should have just been replaced. We pretty much knew that it all needed to be reworked, so.....

I guess the not so "endless" budget is thanks to Pete's deployment to Iraq. I would have rather had a smaller budget and my husband home to be perfectly honest.

We are on a "Run to the Parts store" break currently. We finally got enough weight in the front to get the struts threaded into the caster camber plates, but the design of these struts isn't well thought out I guess. The lock nut doesn't thread down far enough for me to get a wrench on the only flat spot they provided. So the strut shaft is spinning....LOL. <SIGH> It can't ever be easy....except for the installation of the lower control arms. When that went easily, we wondered what we were doing wrong.....

H