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67 Mustang Fastback S Code

65K views 98 replies 25 participants last post by  v8Billy 
#1 · (Edited)
Here's the 67 S Code Mustang Fastback I just bought in January of this year that I am restoring.

This is the pic from the original ad on Craig's List. It had been parked in the barn behind the boat since '82. It was a stock 390, manual 4 speed, 9" 3.25 Equa-lok, dark moss green w/ black interior car.

Unfortunately the engine was long gone but the original rear end and tranny were there.

The guy I bought it from swore it was rust free and was VERY firm on the price....



This is when we finally got it home.

 

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#3 ·
There was some damage on the right side fender aprons that I saw when I bought the car. I figured we would be doing some sheet metal work anyways at some point.



The extra holes in the rear valance, the car had the lower back panel grill option as well as the exterior decor group. Both pieces of the panel grill were in the trunk and were in really good shape.



I originally intended on stripping the entire car but, after the body shop started sanding the typical trouble spots all we found under the primer was metal. Perhaps that long drive to California to buy the car was going to pay off after all.

This is pretty much what the car looked like where ever it was sanded.



The original hood was pretty hammered. After looking around a bit and crawling through a couple barns I found an original turn signal hood that did not need too much work.

 
#4 ·
Here are some progress pics at the body shop. Not necessarily in order.









The front valance was pretty hammered, and the rear was missing altogether. I bought mine from a local Scott Drake dealer. I heard that it is pretty common for the rear aftermarket valances to be short. Aside from the right inner fender aprons this was the only sheet metal that had to be replaced.



 
#5 · (Edited)
Since the car did not come with an engine I had to get one. I searched around and talked to a lot of people and ended up finding a guy that only generally works by referrals. He is supposed to be a FE guru and builds engines as a hobby.

He told me to come by the other night since all the parts were back from the machine shop so it would be a good photo op.





I had no idea he was going to have me hang out and put the engine together with me watching.





He pointed out the number on the crank to me and said that I wanted to take a pic of it.



I don't know much about the part numbers and what all this means so I came home and looked it up on the internet.

http://www.cartechbooks.com/cartech/contentfiles/13.pdf

It's from a truck?? WTF??

I'm waiting for him to call me back and explain.

Maybe someone here might know more about this?
 
#8 ·
Best advice I got was join a car club, I would have never found the body shop that I am using if it was not for a recommendation from someone there.

Another thing, everyone is going to have their own opinion and way of doing things. Remember it's YOUR car and build it the way YOU want to.
 
#9 ·
Congrats on your find, my friend. My own interior/exterior decor group, S-code 67 fastback was in similar condition when I got it 20 years ago, although it did, in fact, run well enough to drive it home from across the San Francisco bay. It's been a learning experience, to say the least.

Similarly, mine was equipped with a '75 390 truck engine that had been rebuilt by the now-defunct Automotive Eng'g. There's a reason why they're no longer in business. Enough said. But don't fret about the truck crank. It should give you good service. The truck blocks, by the way, have stronger webbing in the bearing saddles and should give good service, too. I couldn't tell from the photo whether your block was out of a truck or not.

As for rust, I only had to deal with swiss cheese floor pans from a leaky cowl vent, and the inner passenger fender apron which the battery had eaten up. Nothing my trusty MIG welder couldn't fix.

If I can answer any questions for you, email me at schaefer_don@hotmail.com
 
#12 ·
The fastback came home from the body shop 7/25/09



I didn't get a chance to work on it until the next day. First thing I wanted to do is get all those remaining old parts off the car.



Big difference in the new vs. old springs.



This is all I got done, it was 100+ in that shop. I really wanted to see some new parts hung but, it just didn't work out. I did get the old brakes and suspension out though. Maybe next weekend I'll get a chance to get some parts on there...

 
#13 ·
The weather finally cooled off a bit so I was able to do some work on the car this weekend.

When I first got going this morning I noticed on the passenger's side of the car.



It would have been nice to have been taken care of while it was still in the body shop.

I took the old steering out......



And put the mostly new steering in.





I got 1 strut rod bushing replaced. I'll need a new nut to finish the other one. The nut did not come off very nicely.



Hopefully I'll get to work on it again next weekend.
 
#14 ·
Nice find and great progress. I am just now getting back around to catching up on you guys. Man, that brown diamond interior - you got to keep that, the 80's are calling - how groovy!

Kidding, what were they thinking. I notice yours, like mine had interior painted with a gun. I just had my rear interior panels soda blasted then I rattle canned them with Mustangs Unlimited interior paint - I am amazed how well they came out and the grain of the metal shows nice like the original without all the shine.
 
#15 ·
I ended up going to a wrecking yard and having a passenger shock tower cut out of a donor car. I took it to a friend that is a mobile welder. He came out and removed the lower portion of the old shock tower and welded the replacement part in.



You might notice that there is a weld on the left part of the shock tower even with the upper control arm mount holes. There was a hairline crack that was revealed when the paint was burnt off from the welding. I heard that this was pretty common in these big block cars.

If you are also observant, you might notice the top factory hole was welded too while I was on the phone....

During clean up.



After pics





Here is another after pic that I noticed when I went to start installing my suspension.



I was thinking about doing the upper arm relocation anyways. I'm not sure how well that would work out punching that part of the hole.
 
#17 ·
I think I got the shock tower / upper control arm issue taken care of, that is at least until I get the engine in. I sure hope the motor mounts line up okay. I may get a block and drop it in to see how everything fits before I try and drop my new engine in.

Here are some updated pics from today. After much thought and talking to probably more people than I needed to, I decided to go with the upper control arm Shelby relocation. I figure that with the 390 in there, it's going to be hard to see the extra holes anyways.

I made a template out of 1/8" steel and bolted it into the factory location and then drilled the pilot holes using the template I made as a guide. The arms slid in and everything bolted in no problems at all.



Those are original spindles and upper control arms. Everything cleaned up pretty nice.












Maybe next week I will get the disc brakes hung on the front.
 
#18 ·
I ordered my power disc brakes parts from Chockostang eBay Store - CHOCKOSTANG CLASSIC MUSTANG: Power Steering, Disc Brakes, Factory 4 piston

I would recommend using them. Big thanks to Carol and Dan for all the help and time answering all my questions.

The parts were packaged very well, everything was there, and it was all labeled real nice.

If you need help with the installation there was a CD that was included with the order that had tons of pics and written directions as well.






The brakes look even better on the car than it did in the boxes.






 
#19 ·
I have been working on the car, it's just been going kinda slow. This is the first time I have attempted anything like this.

I was going to install a new firewall pad, then proceed with a few items under the dash.

I opted not to go with the $120.00 fire wall pad (that I heard fits really well) and go with the $50.00 version, that I had not heard anything about.



Well, it didn't fit so well.






I'm pretty sure they must have put the wrong pad in the box. If you look straight up from my father in-law's little finger in the photo you can see the rubber fastener for the pad that was included. I bought the pad from a local Scott Drake dealer. I asked him about these rubber push plug things and told him that they were definitely too big for the holes. He told me to drill the holes out, so I did.

So, I returned the pad and went to another shop and talked to them about what happened to me with the pad. They informed me that there is a smaller fastener for a '67, the plugs in the box that were included were for a '68. So, apparently I have drilled out my holes in my firewall for no reason.

Now I am waiting for a replacement pad to show up. In the mean time I have been cleaning up parts and got a few more parts hung on the front end.

New 1" sway bar installed.





Hopefully I will have something a little more exciting to post soon.
 
#20 · (Edited)
I brought home the engine today and dropped it in for a test fit.







Not much room in there.



Some pics of the parts used.

Intake, looks like i might be missing a number here.





Heads







Block





Timing Cover



I dropped the rear end out in preparation for the restoration of the rear of the car.



I could not find the tag on the rear end.
 
#21 ·
I worked on the cosmetic restoration of the 3rd member this weekend.

First I sprayed it with oven cleaner, then pressure washed it.



Then I media blasted it.



Some of the paint would not come off blasting so I had to use a scraper to remove it.

Here it is as I left it for today.



More updates soon.

I have lots of parts starting to pile up that need to get installed!
 
#22 ·
Busy weekend made for not much spare time to work on the car. I did manage to get a few things done though.

I continued where I left off last week at the rear end.



I went with stainless steel brake lines. I hear that they are difficult to get to stop leaking, of course as with most things that I get involved in; I heard that after I bought them.



I have heard that the stainless steel lines should be tightened down, then backed off, then re-tightened to help seat the flared ends.



If anyone has any input / experience / tips / tricks with the stainless lines it would be appreciated. Actually, feel free to chime in on anything that I am doing here. As I have said before, this is my first restoration so there is a lot of learning on my part going on here.

Well anyways, I got the rear end in and here's some pics. I decided after looking at a few other car's stances to go with the 1" drop springs.







Stock type shackles.

 
#24 ·
Thanks for the compliment!

I knew the intake and timing cover were not correct for a 67. That was disclosed to me when the builder and I were discussing parts for the engine.

Technically, I believe everything should have a C6 code as the car was an Oct '66 build.

The intake is supposed to be really nice from what the builder told me. He said that it is an upgrade from the stock one and it is cast, not aluminum so it still has a stock appearance.

Originally I looked into doing a completely date correct engine but, there were a couple of things I thought about. I didn't want to spend $6000+ on the engine if I didn't have to and I was not intending to build a concourse correct points car.

This engine only cost me $2600 and it is pretty much turnkey.

Thanks again and keep the comments coming, Chris.
 
#26 ·
Continued working on the rear of the car today.

I think I got the rear drum brakes together okay.

Please, if you spot anything that looks wrong here point it out.







I'm not sure if this is how the rear vent hose is supposed to look installed.



This is about all I got done today. Rear brakes, shocks, and started working forward on the new brake lines.



If anyone knows a trick to get these rear bumpers installed, I sure would appreciate that bit of knowledge.



Someone told me to squirt a bit of WD40 and work it in with a flat head screw driver. I didn't have much luck on my first attempt.
 
#27 ·
Some one told me the other day I should get the car jammed (spray the door jams, inside the trunk, cowl area, the rear and front window channels) before I do much more to the car.

To tell you the truth I'm not sure how much more I need to do to the car before it goes in for paint period.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris
 
#28 · (Edited)
After a long break I started working on the car again.

I had the clutch bearing mod done to my pedal assembly courtesy of Mustang Steve.



All brake lines, master cylinder, brake booster installed. I got the fluid in the system and bled them pretty good. I'm sure I'll bleed them again here soon.

After over a week and no leaks anywhere so far though.













I gave up on the firewall pad idea and went with Fat Mat insulation instead. I am just doing the firewall and doors for now. I'l do the rest of the car when it comes back from paint.





 
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