In case anyone in the future wants to replicate this I used the following stuff plus two weeks of nights and weekends:
From Home Depot : 1/4" birch ply. Bondo brand fiberglass resin & mat. 2" long stainless pan head screws with stainless washers. I got all that at home depot. The screws fit the shifter pre-drilled mounts & are 10-24. I used stainless nuts for the boots & drilled & tapped the other mounting holes. The frame is made up of 1/2 square steel tubing. I picked it up when working on my seat rails since I needed to raise the inside seat rails 1/2" and had a bunch left over. The cross straps are 5/8 wide by 1/8 thick steel bar. They bent easily enough in the vise with a hammer to make fairly crisp corners. I cut those to length when I welded it to base which I did in the car to get it the right height. Home depot is fairly close to my wife's job so it was convenient for that stuff.
Autozone: Blue Magic/QuikSteel epoxy putty. Since I ran out of resin and had just enough for the glass I didn’t have any for glueing on the nuts for the shifter boot. This worked great. If I had more resin though I probably would have just used that. I also picked up a few electrical connectors there for the Bluetooth controller.
Who knows where: The blanket was just a generic fleece blanket. You need to use a fleece blanket, t-shirt cotton is too thin & not enough material for the resin to attach to. The shifter came in the car but honestly it's the one I would have choose anyway. I really like B&M shifters & have had them in previous cars. B&M StarShifters 80675 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing Other than using longer bolts the only other mod to the shifter was using a socket screw in place of the shorter indicator the shifter comes with. I painted it red and screwed it into place it was a 6-32 and 1.5" long. I picked it up from the local hardware store. It's not seen in these photos since I put it in last night but as soon as I finish the carpet install I'll show in in the pics I post.
Sonic Electronix: For my Bluetooth Audio controller/receiver I used the JL Audio MBT-CRX. This allows me to power up my amp separate of another switch. It also allows me to control the volume & switch tracks as well as pause the music coming from my phone. It's small, unobtrusive, at hands reach, easy to use, and keeps my phone out of my hands while I drive for music selection. Since my phone has my entire music collection & can stream from online radio services it beats the heck out of a traditional radio unit. I also don't have to cut up my dash, or hide it in the glove box. My stock unit is in place but nonfunctional. The JBL is also a marine unit so if it gets splashed with a drink it will live. JL Audio MBT-CRX (mbtcrx) Universal Marine Bluetooth Audio.
I'm getting close to being done for this season & ready to drive the car. I just need to do a few more small things first. I need to make a date with the alignment shop soon & then order my weatherstripping for the glass shop to install. I try to do most things myself but I'll leave the fragile glass to the pro's and the guys with expensive computerized equipment to do the alignments.
Well I've made quite a bit of progress since my last post.
Mocking up the next part of the project the Monte-Carlo or strut tower brace bar. No one makes these for Fairlanes only Falcons & Mustangs. At least not in a style I like, so I'm making my own. Mock up done in Rattan since it’s easy to cut.
Just clears the HEI on my 302
Bracket made from 14ga mild steel. Don't ask me the grade it's scrap from a generator housing.
Need a straight level surface to get my angle readings.
The readings come to an even 70° or the inverse of that is 110°.
I used a cut off wheel to cut the tubing which isn't the most accurate tool in the world but it works good if you sneak up on your cuts and you plan to grind to fit like I do.
My first test fit. We are getting there.
Arkansas safety shoes. Hot sparks & Crocs suck but it's hot in the south. Don't be a dumbass and wear these when grinding and welding like I do.
Second cut made and sitting in place. It's a little wide but that was done on purpose so I can sneak up on the fit with a flap disk. It's a whole lot easier to take it off than put it on & it's easier to weld with a tight fit.
A tight fit makes for better welds. Sorry about the glare.
The method I used to determine the spacing after I got it ground down to fit. I used a 3/16 drill bit between a socket to determine the fit. That way I can get the socket in & out to bolt it down. Notice the beveled end of the tube. This is to get full penetration.
After I did that I realized I needed to cover everything from splatter so in went the blankets & cardboard as shown in the 2nd picture. I don't have a welding blanket but this thing worked fine and I didn't even have a fire. A Magnet was used to hold the bar in place & I did have to relocate the bar after putting the blanket down.
Fully covered
My ugly tack welds. Keep in mind I'm using a flux core & I am not a pro welder. It will look good in the end though.
Back to bench for the rest of the welding. I welded it all the way around with full penetration though both materials. Since my welds look like crap I built them up so they could be ground down. I'd probably be a better welder if I used shielding gas & if I had more practice but this works.
Just got done reading your thread, very impressed with all of your mods and upgrades! Especially that center console, it looks awesome! I wanted to ask you about your 1 ½” drop springs. What tire size are you currently running upfront with it? Do you happen to have a pic of the tire/fender gap that you could post?
Keep up the posts, so stoked to read and see all of your work.... especially since it's a 65! Have you found any other 65 builds online?
Sorry I don't have any pictures of the wheel clearance now. I have some pictures I posted earlier with it on the ground but I din't take any close ups. The tires clear but they are tucked in there. I have installed all the interior and it is at the shop now to see about getting an alignment. I'll post pictures of the interior later.
It drove pretty good over to the shop but the steering felt a little notchy & it it seemed to wander a bit. The car rode great though and the brakes were spot on. Considering it had no alignment on it the wandering was no surprise. I got a call a little bit ago & apparently the universal joint on the intermediate shaft is hitting the mounting bolt on the rack (the notchy feeling) and the rack ends are higher then the center which is causing bump steer (the wandering effect). I went out & looked at it and I could see the issue on the lift that I could not see at home. I had the option of them working on it in their down time and them getting it done in a couple weeks or me doing it at home. Since I'm working on ramps and couldn't even see the problem until it was on a lift (its fine with no weight on the wheels like when on stands) I elected to let them do it. When I spaced the steering column shaft (as shown earlier) Marc mentioned the intermediate shaft may need to be shortened. Well it does and I didn't do it because it looked fine on the stands. That and the rack will need rotated to correct the droop and the binding in the universal joint that is also contributing to the notchy feeling. Like I said I could do all this. And I might be able to even do it within 2 weeks but then I would just have to drive it back out there with no alignment & hope I got it all right this time. This way there is no guessing. Sometimes working out of a 2 car garage sucks. The power steering is nice & the car was WAY easier to turn but the installation has got to have been one of the biggest P.I.A. of the whole build. So much for a "drop in, bolt on" kit.
I can tell you I am running 215/60R15 Kelly Charger GT tires on American Racing Outlaw I wheels. The wheels are 15x7 with 3.76" of backspace. The tires are 25" tall and 9" wide on those wheels. The tires clear lock to lock just fine on the ground and did not rub the 9 miles to the alignment shop. They tuck into the front fenders and to do the alignment they will have to measure off the wheels and not off the tires since the machine wont fit on the tires with more backspace you'd be better off. Before all of this my brakes, suspension, & steering severely limited performance on the car. I think now the tires may be the limiting effect after the alignment & steering fix. I'll test it out once I get back to be sure but usually you can get a whole lot more out of a car on max performance summer tires than on all season performance tires. If I do that I'll keep the diameter the same and go with a 17" wheel so I have a wider tire choice. I'd probably do more offset in the front so I clear & go with more off set in the back so I can go way wider. When I get the car back I'll try to remember to get close ups of the front tires.
The 65's are pretty cool I agree. Nothing else looks like them. The 62's & 64's are mostly the same car though under the exterior sheet metal so check out the builds in this forum on those cars as well. Here is a link to another cool 65: http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/makin-progress/499094-my-65-mini-bolt-6.html I look forward to seeing a build thread on your car!
Sorry I don't have any pictures of the wheel clearance now. I have some pictures I posted earlier with it on the ground but I din't take any close ups. The tires clear but they are tucked in there. I have installed all the interior and it is at the shop now to see about getting an alignment. I'll post pictures of the interior later.
That's exactly the look I'm going for on the front end, tires tucked. Look forward to seeing pics once your car is back from the shop.
It drove pretty good over to the shop but the steering felt a little notchy & it it seemed to wander a bit. The car rode great though and the brakes were spot on. Considering it had no alignment on it the wandering was no surprise. I got a call a little bit ago & apparently the universal joint on the intermediate shaft is hitting the mounting bolt on the rack (the notchy feeling) and the rack ends are higher then the center which is causing bump steer (the wandering effect). I went out & looked at it and I could see the issue on the lift that I could not see at home. I had the option of them working on it in their down time and them getting it done in a couple weeks or me doing it at home. Since I'm working on ramps and couldn't even see the problem until it was on a lift (its fine with no weight on the wheels like when on stands) I elected to let them do it. When I spaced the steering column shaft (as shown earlier) Marc mentioned the intermediate shaft may need to be shortened. Well it does and I didn't do it because it looked fine on the stands. That and the rack will need rotated to correct the droop and the binding in the universal joint that is also contributing to the notchy feeling. Like I said I could do all this. And I might be able to even do it within 2 weeks but then I would just have to drive it back out there with no alignment & hope I got it all right this time. This way there is no guessing. Sometimes working out of a 2 car garage sucks. The power steering is nice & the car was WAY easier to turn but the installation has got to have been one of the biggest P.I.A. of the whole build. So much for a "drop in, bolt on" kit.
Well, it will for sure be worth the P.I.A once you pick her up and she's all dialed in.
I can tell you I am running 215/60R15 Kelly Charger GT tires on American Racing Outlaw I wheels. The wheels are 15x7 with 3.76" of backspace. The tires are 25" tall and 9" wide on those wheels. The tires clear lock to lock just fine on the ground and did not rub the 9 miles to the alignment shop. They tuck into the front fenders and to do the alignment they will have to measure off the wheels and not off the tires since the machine wont fit on the tires with more backspace you'd be better off. Before all of this my brakes, suspension, & steering severely limited performance on the car. I think now the tires may be the limiting effect after the alignment & steering fix. I'll test it out once I get back to be sure but usually you can get a whole lot more out of a car on max performance summer tires than on all season performance tires. If I do that I'll keep the diameter the same and go with a 17" wheel so I have a wider tire choice. I'd probably do more offset in the front so I clear & go with more off set in the back so I can go way wider. When I get the car back I'll try to remember to get close ups of the front tires.
The 65's are pretty cool I agree. Nothing else looks like them. The 62's & 64's are mostly the same car though under the exterior sheet metal so check out the builds in this forum on those cars as well. Here is a link to another cool 65: http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/makin-progress/499094-my-65-mini-bolt-6.html I look forward to seeing a build thread on your car!
Still waiting on getting the rack straightened out but here are the pics of the inside.
One of the many thinks I had to fix right was the seat rails. The car was originally a bench seat car with column shift and over the years it was changed out to 1965 Mustang Buckets with a ratchet shifter. Using 2x2 square tubing for a seat rail is fine. Leaving the ends open, clamping them down instead of bolting them down, and using a piece of plywood under the carpet for a spacer is not ok. I bought new tubing since the guy who mounted the seats apparently had no clue & drilled a bunch of holes and made it too short (the reason for the clamps). I also used some ½ square tubing to level the inboard seat rail since there is no original mount there. Seats are mounted with grade 5 bolts and washers with flanged grade 5 nuts. I painted the rails with truck bed liner for durability. The holes were elongated sideways for adjustability in mounting so I could get the seats positioned just right. When torqued down with the flanged nuts and lock washers they don’t move.
Still a couple wrinkles but they will be worked out.
My wife stripped the vinyl off the old broken up original paperboard parcel tray. I got a thicker stronger hard board and cut it to shape. She then recovered it & I mounted my 6x9's to it. Because of the stripes and the fact they are supposed to line up with the back seat it took several attempts to get it just right. The speakers are kicker KS 6x9’s. Amazon.com: Kicker 41KSC694 6x9 inch Coaxial Speaker: Sports & Outdoors My wife did an awesome job I think.
I also put a rubber cover over the dimmer switch so it’s a cleaner look. Scott Drake Headlamp Dimmer Switch Covers C5ZZ-13533 - Free Shipping on Orders Over $99 at Summit Racing No that’s not the stock location for the dimmer. It had to be relocated because the kick panels stick out further with the speakers. I sat in the seat with everything installed but the dimmer and then decided where I wanted it. I then marked that area with tape and cut the hole. Once that was in I mounted the switch to go where the hole was.
The Carpet now goes all the way up. It used to be cut much shorter and looked like crap. It pays to take the time to do things right.
Fuzzy dice are overdone I think but every car needs something. Mine needed a stuffed poodle. :grin2:
Plenty of room to hop on in the back.
It always is harder to get your work done when you have to watch your back with those tricksy squirrels and robins trying to sneak into your workspace. You also need to be alerted when the mailman / UPS dude comes with parts. That’s the job of Ace the Bat-Poodle. He is a good shop partner even if he can’t get me beer or tools. He just wanted a nice place to lay in the sun for all his hard work so he claimed the old car carpet as his. I’m glad to let him have it. :laugh:
When I drove out to the shop to get the alignment done the car was a whole lot quieter than before. I think this is due to a few factors. #1 all the holes were filled and the torn up floor & firewall gaskets were replaced. #2 The sound deader I applied all over the floor and side-panels. #3 The carpet that now fits properly and goes all the way up over the bottom of the firewall insulation so there is no gap in coverage.
Once I get the car back I'll post more pictures. Only thing not shown from the interior is the clear cut-to-fit floor-mats I tossed in right before I drove it to get the alignment. I still have a few more things I want to do with the interior. It's missing the trim at the bottom of the side-panels & I can't find it anywhere so I may have to make some up. Also the armrests need refreshing. Some cleaning and a dye may do that. I'll do that when I replace the tired door cards/ side panels and tired looking cranks and handles. That was not done at this time for 2 reasons. #1 I am out of money. #2 The weather stripping needs replaced and if they are going to come off again for that and could get damaged when that happens and by any weather between now & then. So I will wait until I replace the weather stripping. Hope to get that done this summer. Then the rest I can do over the winter after I pay off the credit card! :wink2:
Well the rack is on it again and it's still not right. I have a call into Marc @ Unisteer & am waiting on him getting back to me. It binds in the center of the rack and is looser near the ends when steering. It wont return to center & it has enough caster that it should. The car turns but it takes more effort than it should & you have to steer it back. I'm not real enthused at the moment since I just spent $500 on them to fix it & do an alignment & before that I spent hours upon hours of me trying to get it to fit right and playing phone tag with Marc to try to get this straightened out. When you spend nearly $2000 on a steering system it should work out of the box.
Well latest report: I drove the car a bit & it loosened some & became easier to drive. I talked to Marc & he talked me though a rack adjustment but also wanted to go small on the adjustment so it didn't lose mesh. I loosened the adjustment some & it helped on the extreme ends with some return to center but it is slow & there is none in the middle still. Steering effort is further decreased. He now wants me to put 200-300 more miles on the car of low speed driving with lots of turns & then see what it does. Basically he wants me to wear in the rack & suspension components. Honestly not enthused with this but we will see how it does.
Just got done reading your thread, very impressed with all of your mods and upgrades! Especially that center console, it looks awesome! I wanted to ask you about your 1 ½” drop springs. What tire size are you currently running upfront with it? Do you happen to have a pic of the tire/fender gap that you could post?
Keep up the posts, so stoked to read and see all of your work.... especially since it's a 65! Have you found any other 65 builds online?
I've been working out the return to center issue on my rack. I posted about that a bit earlier. I did have a small bit of rubbing when fully loaded & going up the driveway at full lock. I rolled the fender (took 1 1/4" wooden rod & rolled between tire & fender with no weight in the car & the car flat. This helped with the rubbing and didn't do any damage to the fender. The rub was slight just enough to hear it you can see the slight mark on the tire in the pictures below after I started to roll the edge. If I had better back spacing (like maybe 4") this wouldn't have been an issue. With the greater track width of running disc breaks in the front & the small amount backspacing on the wheels it puts the wheels closer to fender. Like I said though not an issue now.
As she sits now wheels are 15x7 with 3.76 backspacing. Tires are 215/60R15 Kelly GT Charger's. 1.5" lowered coils & stock height HD 5 leaf rears.
Nice work Magnus, I went to many shows up here last summer, I think I saw one 65 Fairlane!
Have you had a chance to test out your p.steering? Wondering what you think of the Unisteer set up.
Man I'm still fighting with it! I fixed the staring column issue in march, then took it to get aligned & since intermediate shaft was binding. Marc from unisteer said this might be the case & if it was to shorten it. Since I couldn't see the binding on my ramps (but it was clear on the lift) I elected to let them fix it. Well $500 later ($130 for the alignment since it was no where near close coming in) and it still would not return to center. I played phone tag with Marc & he had me check some stuff. In the mean time I put on around 50 miles of low speed lots of turning driving just putting around trying to loosen it up a bit. Marc contacted me back & talked me though a yolk adjustment. That helped loosen it up a bit more & now I get a little bit of return to center at full lock but its still too tight to return freely on its own. I called Marc again & he wants me to put 200-300 miles on it & then let him know. I'm honestly not real impressed at the this point. I see the potential & perhaps it will be great when I get it working right but I don't like the idea of having to "break in" a rack to get it to return to center. This wasn't exactly a bolt in affair either with having to cut shafts & make things fit with spacers.
Thanks. I would guess I have somewhere around 10,000 in it plus the original cost of the car invested. That is of course out of pocket costs on improvements & repairs and doesn't take in to account money wasted on crap I didn't use, the value of my labor or those who helped, and free metal I could scrounge.
Well the rack was taken out & shipped back. Took about 2 weeks total shipping was most of the time. Nothing found wrong with it. They were real good about it & included shipping for the testing, and sent new lock nuts for the tie-rod ends and washers for the power steering lines. I checked my measurements on the rack before & after I shipped it. They didn't move the tie-rod ends so it can bolt back up with no alignment needed. I've delved into it a little more and it appears the Ball joints I've gotten from PST are too tight. At this point the car runs & drives & everything fine it just doesn't return to center because the steering effort is too high for it. I'll put a few more miles on it & if it doesn't get better than I'll contact PST to see if they'll replace them. Because it was supposed to be city mileage to break in the rack the 300+ I put on in the summer took a while. (I live in a fairly small town) Putting on some highway miles will be easier & I'm not worried about steering failure now.
Thanks. Yeah the it's self steering is fine. The fault is in the ball-joints. They are just too stiff. They aren't unsafe or anything, just means its harder then it should be to steer. Should loosen up with some miles. I'm just going to let it be & enjoy the car for now and after a few thousand miles if it doesn't fix itself than I'll replace them again.
I've got a few things though in 2017 I want to do first. I am going to install new weatherstripping to replace all the rotten stuff. I replaced all the rubber in the suspension & floors already. Now it needs all the windows & door stuff. And I'm going to put a sub-woofer in trunk. The Stereo system I installed is awesome & loud but has very little bass. I'm no basshead but I do like a well ballanced sound the & trunk is huge anyways. So I'll be putting a 12" sub in the corner of the trunk. I also might clean up my (new to me) rear bumper that while rustier than the one I have now is perfectly straight vs mine which isn't (the rust on it is just a bit of surface rust not structural) & install that along with the the missing gas door trim I've acquired this month.
Looking forward to seeing what you do on yours. I'll be glad to answer any questions I can for ya.
Stance came out nice, eh. Backend will drop once springs settle in.
Hope you get your steering worked out & it is balljoints, I know my buddies 64 had issues with unisteer rack too, not sure if he got the return thing worked out, will have to call him.
The Fatman kit uses a Escort p.rack & pinion, with the KRC pump & adjustable jet for feel, its awesome.
I had those issues with Grant wheel install too, did you use Grants install kit- #8264, I think it was?
I had my local hot rod shop have a go at signal cancelling issue & they worked it out, I know they came up with a solution, a collar that fits behind the wheel, they made for a bunch of other guys having the same issue.
If you can't find a fix, lemme know & I will call Bondis shop, see if they have anymore of the collar they made up.
Followed along with your console build, very cool, I took the easy way & copied the nova guys, picked up a Neon console & it looks like a perfect fit, gotta have the cup holders!
65 coming along nicely, your doing great work!
Stance came out nice, eh. Backend will drop once springs settle in.
Hope you get your steering worked out & it is balljoints, I know my buddies 64 had issues with unisteer rack too, not sure if he got the return thing worked out, will have to call him.
The Fatman kit uses a Escort p.rack & pinion, with the KRC pump & adjustable jet for feel, its awesome.
I had those issues with Grant wheel install too, did you use Grants install kit- #8264, I think it was?
I had my local hot rod shop have a go at signal cancelling issue & they worked it out, I know they came up with a solution, a collar that fits behind the wheel, they made for a bunch of other guys having the same issue.
If you can't find a fix, lemme know & I will call Bondis shop, see if they have anymore of the collar they made up.
Followed along with your console build, very cool, I took the easy way & copied the nova guys, picked up a Neon console & it looks like a perfect fit, gotta have the cup holders!
65 coming along nicely, your doing great work!
Thanks! The back has settled some. Not sure if it will settle more since I opted for the HD leafs. I'm cool with the way it is now. Handles like it's on rails with all the upgraded gear.
Yeah, I'm positive it's in the ball joints. Once I took the rack off I noticed they were stiff. Took too much effort to turn the hub with no steering attached. A few thousand miles will clear that up. Unisteer had already arranged to pick up & test the rack so I mailed it back. They tested the rack & it came back fine. Originally the rack was too tight also (which really made it a bear) but an adjustment on the gear mesh helped that. It was easy to do & one of the 1st things I did.
I used the grant 3294 kit & yeah no turn-signal cancelling. I'm used to it from my motorcycle so it wasn't a huge adjustment but if there is a solution I'd certainly be interested. I've only forgot a couple times but man it's embarrassing when you do!
The console was a bunch of work but it was a new experience so it was fun & didn't cost a ton of $. It's also something unique to the car. I hadn't thought of using a neon console & might have taken that route had I known about it. The cup holders rock! It's also nice to have someplace for my blue tooth controller. I use it every time I go out. If just for someplace to drop my phone. It also makes those burger runs a bunch more fun without worrying about sodas spilled all over my interior.
The correct Grant adapter is #4286 but, some guys have ended up with a 2" space from back of wheel to colomn,if you have a solid shaft with no rag joint, seems its an easy fix.
The Bondi guys came up with a collar to take up the space & also fixed the signal cancelling issue.
Not sure if this was a part of the collar fix or a separate part to fix signals, but, I know they made more of them for other F;lane guys, I will call Ted the owner, see if he can recall the fix.
Did you say what rear rim/tire size your running?
With the 8.8" I got 245/50 x 16;s with room to spare, may go larger but looks/rides/handles great for now.
Your console is way better looking than the Neon, the Neon front edge just, well, just ends before the dash, I think I will mount a 3 pod gauge cluster right there, give it a finished look.
then again, I may follow your lead & try to make a custom, more I look at yours more I;m envious!
Hi all,
My name is Axel and I've previously been hanging out at other forums discussing by corvette c3 ls1 and kawasaki tripple builds. The other day I walked into a american cars parts store here in Sweden during my lunch to get a new harmonic balacer bolt (those damn torque to yield bolts)...
I'm stuck. Bought a 71' F350 motor home with a 390. 77,000 miles. It is overheating but not all the time. Drove up a 5% grade about 3 miles long and it overheated. Two days later, same outside temp, drove up a 5% grade about 6 miles long. No overheating. I have replaced the thermostat. The...
Looks like I've been on here since 2014 and never made a single post. I'll just throw up some pictures and let you decide where It's going. I bought it for 700 bucks from a guy in Missouri who was thinking about scrapping it. It's thoroughly rotted
Hey, folks. I'm starting a new project as of today! I purchase a 1963 Mercury Meteor S-33 with a 260 v8 and 4 speed for $850. I'll be picking it up next week. I don't have a ton of information, as I decided that it was worth the jump once I took a look at it. It's very complete. I'll know more...
Hi everyone, I
To intoduce myself, my name is mike and I have a 1965 meteor rideau. I bought it about 12 years ago and drive it for a while until the 352 developed a rod knock and I parked it.
Just this last fall I began to work on it again. The 352 was gone by this point, the engineless hulk...
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Hot sparks & Crocs suck but it's hot in the south. Don't be a dumbass and wear these when grinding and welding like I do.
