65' Mustang GT - Page 14 - Ford Muscle Forums : Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum

n2omike · 01-04-2013, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gydyup

Did you move and weld up your spring perches? Not sure I am that good, or trust myself. Freind of mine lost a beautiful 67 Camaro because his spring perch broke going into second gear.

I'm no pro, but all you need to do is weld a plate across the open area to box them in. That makes it pretty much impossible for the perch to fold over under high torque. It's a really basic modification. You should be able to do it, no problem.

Good Luck!

dennis111 · 01-04-2013, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gydyup

Did you move and weld up your spring perches? Not sure I am that good, or trust myself. Freind of mine lost a beautiful 67 Camaro because his spring perch broke going into second gear.

Yes I did. Not knowing if I would be able to reuse my old ones, I bought a pair of Calvert heavy duty ones and located them inboard 3" to accommodate the relocated leaf springs.

First I setup the housing upside down with 3 jack stands so that the old perches were level. Then I set the new ones in place level too, before tack welding. When I was happy with the locations, I welded it up. You can see both perches side by side in this mockup before I cut the outer one off (it was strapped by me in the past:

Welding wasn't the problem, but heat induced warpage to the axle tube is indeed possible. I wasn't concerned though because I was having the housing narrowed afterward and straightening is part of the process.

If you go this route, you may want to enlist the help of a place that narrows rears and let them weld it. A good place will have the fixture that can tell if the axle tube faces are true to the case PLUS they can straighten the tubes if needed. The place I used is a semi-truck repair shop that does a lot of custom machine work on about any piece of machinery. Some driveshaft shops have the capability too. You shouldn't have much more than an hour's labor if everything goes well.

As a side note, if you are not confident in welding the spring perches, then you might want to farm out the welding on the new front leaf spring frame supports too. The frame is just a little thicker sheet metal that you butt the 1/8" supports against and then weld in place.

This following 2 photos are not mine. The first shows the cut needed by the torque box to support the new front spring hanger:

The second shows the new hanger in place:

I feel I did a better job cutting mine straight.

Here's mine installed after modifying it for the Caltracs:

They are welded to both the torque box and the subframe connectors (as seen above.)

The basic Crites spring relocation kit:

If you could round up someone who can weld, its not a horrible project. Both sides could be done in a couple of hours-just do one side at a time.

The spring perches included with the kit and pictured above would need to be boxed. I didn't use them as I already had the Calvert HD ones. The other parts above stuff is just something to work with-the front hangers will need to be modified if Caltracs are used. One could build all this stuff themselves (especially when I take into account that I ended up modifying every piece--including the aluminum bushings which were the wrong diameter for my car.)

Although the work in installing the Crites kit was a pain in the ass, I have no regrets. I am very happy with the results and would go through all of it again.

dennis111 · 01-06-2013, 04:55 PM

Believe it or not, for all that I do, I still procrastinate on doing some things to the car. The worst one of late has been relocating the battery to the trunk--I've owned the complete kit for over 3 years. I've taken the kit off the shelf each winter, but couldn't decide how I wanted to run the wires so it never got done. Also slowing me down was the fact that I thought my little battery weighed only 15-20lbs. I just didn't have any incentive to do the job.

Over the Christmas holidays I finally put the battery on the postal scale and discovered that it weighed 32.75lbs!

Commence Operation Battery Relocation

First I stacked a bunch of 3/8" washers to make the trunk floor level:

Then I added a metal plate to attach the battery box and cutoff switch too:

Used 4 countersunk 3/8" bolts to attach the plate to the floor:

Installed the switch:

Used the tail light housing to route the battery cutoff switch push/pull lever to the outside of the car:

Next it was time to do some wiring:

Soldered and crimped 2/0 from the positive post of the battery to a breaker, then to the cutoff switch, and finally routed 1/0 to the starter solenoid in the engine compartment. I also routed a 6 gauge wire for the alternator the same way. A separate breaker will later be added for it too.

Wires were covered with corrugated plastic loom and draped over the wheel wells to the passenger compartment. Then it was routed below the rear window regulator:

It passes into the rocker panel via the normal wiring hole, but this one has been enlarged and lined with a hard channeled grommet material:

Up the rocker:

Next it went through the frame of the kick panel into the fender area:

P clamps were added behind the rear fender apron to keep the cables from flopping around:

Next the cables passed through the rear apron:

That is were I left off for now. I need to locate some type of clamp to hold the cable at the top of the wheel well.

The 2/0 ground wire was attached to an original frame nut after cleaning the threads and removing the paint around the nut:

You can also see the 4 body washers with nylocks that secure the battery plate to the trunk.

The ground cable passes through the trunk near the gas tank via a hole that is needed to remove the upper shackle bolts after relocating the leaf springs:

It was also covered with corrugated plastic.

The vent was installed at the side of the battery box and then routed through and existing body plug:

Completed trunk:

The push/pull lever is threaded and it is easily attached or removed from the push/pull switch:

Then all that is needed is to screw on the lense and we are street legal:

In the future I will also put a hole in the red tail light lens to improve the appearance at the track.

In making the cables, all ends were soldered, crimped and heat shrink was used to complete the connection:

67fairlane4dr · 01-06-2013, 07:16 PM

Dennis, I have to take a moment and say thank you for a very informative thread. Although I will not be building a race car, alot of the info and techniques you have shown here will be extremely helpful! Myself, as well as others I'm sure, are all thankful for your level of detail and willingness to share it. This is exactly the reason I joined this site, thank you!

That is definately one beautiful Mustang btw!!! Look forward to your future updates.

dennis111 · 01-07-2013, 02:21 AM

Thank You 67fairlane for your kind comments.

ford88 · 01-07-2013, 01:24 PM

Very nice work dennis mounting the battery in trunk is something I have to do when I get that far car looks great.Is there any races in penn for the 4-speed class you run would like to make one...ED

dennis111 · 01-07-2013, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ford88

Very nice work dennis mounting the battery in trunk is something I have to do when I get that far car looks great.Is there any races in penn for the 4-speed class you run would like to make one...ED

Thank You Ed. Take note that it will be easier to do it while the car is apart-especially before the front fenders are installed.

Although I race about every Friday night from the end of March to the end of October at Beaver Springs Dragway in a small local stick class, the best stick racing that you will find in PA are centered around a traveling group that I am a member of called Prostick. With them we both Saturdays and Sundays during Memorial day and Labor day weekends-again at Beaver Springs (in central PA.) Even better is the event at Pittsburgh Raceway Park where our group joins up with the Ohio based UMTR group-that event will be Saturday and Sunday Sept 28 @ 29. The schedule for 2013 is not finished yet, but normally we have a couple of dates at Quarteraces (near Carlisle) and perhaps one at Cecil County, MD. Which is directly below where you live.

Hope to see you at one of the events.

Pro Stick Racing

dennis111 · 01-12-2013, 04:49 PM

Added an 80 amp circuit breaker to the 6ga run to the alternator:

Notched the vent hose so that it will always vent, even if pushed against the battery case:

The trunk is now complete.

Added a P clamp above the wheel well to keep the cables high:

Added another one behind the rear window regulator and used it to attach a tie strap to cut down on cable movement:

Attached P clamps under the front fender to route the cable to the front of the car:

Ran the 0/1 to the solenoid:

Welded a nut to the frame for the 0/2 wire for the engine block ground:

Now I can clean and add a fresh coat of paint to the engine compartment.

dennis111 · 01-21-2013, 04:13 PM

Received my cam from Flow Tech Inductions and started the installation.

Full details can in the following link:

http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/stro...ml#post1719606

dennis111 · 02-10-2013, 02:57 PM

Received my rebuilt slipper clutch back from Hyatt Racing Services. Once again Tim did a topnotch job on it:

I sent him a new flywheel and clutch disc and had him work his magic on the pressure plate. Tim needs all these parts to properly setup the clamping pressure.

When I sent the assembly to him, I had some concerns about abnormal wear on the pressure plate (lack of contact wear toward the center

And he found this upon disassembly:

There were a few cracks all around the inner diameter, next to where the springs ride. The cracking was due to excess heat of countless runs at the track. Eventually it could have come apart! This is the reason that slipper clutches should always be used inside a SFI rated scattershield.

After speaking with Tim, I decided to have the cast steel friction backing plate shown above replaced with an aluminum one. Not only is it 3lbs lighter than the steel backing plate, it will dissipate heat better and, according to Tim, will probably never need replaced again.

Note the thicker but lighter aluminum plate on the right and the old cast steel plate on the left:

Here is what the cast steel backing plate weighs:

While it was with Hyatt, I had Tim recheck the balance on the flywheel (that was neutral balanced by CNC Motorsports.) Tim took out 3grams of weight on the opposite side of where CNC did theirs, even though 3 grams should be within the margin of error:

For the heck of it I threw the whole assembly (Ram Aluminum flywheel, sinterned iron disc, and pressure plate) on the postal scale:

Less than 34lbs for the assembly. In contrast, a Ram billet steel flywheel of the same diameter weighs 30+lbs by itself!

dennis111 · 02-10-2013, 03:18 PM

Did a little assembly of the 428w:

The SHP block has the cast location to use the stock Z bar pivot, but it is not drilled for it. The location is properly machined flat though:

I determined the exact location for the pivot from an original 72' block:

And made my own threaded hole (after installing the heads, intake and valve covers to keep metal shavings out):

dennis111 · 02-10-2013, 03:34 PM

Currently waiting on a pushrod length checker from FTI, so I decided to put my weekend to good use doing something that I hate-detailing the engine compartment:

ford88 · 02-10-2013, 03:53 PM

Nothing like a fresh coat of paint

The motor look great what times do you think it will run? will it take you into the ten's.It won't be long now soon you will be rowing through the gears...ED

dennis111 · 02-10-2013, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ford88

Nothing like a fresh coat of paint

The motor look great what times do you think it will run? will it take you into the ten's.It won't be long now soon you will be rowing through the gears...ED

Never was much into detailing the engine compartment as it quickly gets dirty. Even so, I just can't bear the thought of putting a fresh and pretty motor in a dirty bay.

We're shooting for 10's. I've been knocking on them for a couple of years (with the best so far being an 11.00x.) Conceivably the car could be on the road the first week of March (parts and salt/weather permitting) and on the track the end at the end of the month.

BTW Ed, the traveling Stick Club that I run with has a race date in NY this year-- Skyview, Tioga Center on Saturday June 15th. Not sure if I will make it though due to work considerations.

montybrown · 02-10-2013, 10:23 PM

Looks great!!!

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