[huntnwater]

My 15 yr old is wanting to do a restomod.. Now we have a shell. It does have a 9" rear end, 3.55 gears, w/o brakes. The guy had stripped it to set up as a drag car. The body is 85% solid. We are looking for a 87-93 Mustang donor car.
My boy wants to put the 5.0 efi with a T5.
What do you recommend for steering upgrades, front and rear suspension?

[fatoeknee]

I did that with my dad when I turned 16 ...I still have the car at 24 now (pretty much same project too got an EFI swapped into my '68 with an AOD). All dads should do something like that with their son imo ...teaches them the ropes. As for the steering box get a quick ratio one... and as far as suspension goes - depends on the amount of cash you are willing to spend on it. I'd do the mustang II front end - I still have my shock towers in mine and it sucks.

[chris66dad]

My father son project with my son was a lot of fun and bonding. Make sure you get buy in and commitment from him because there will be LOTS of days you have to the "bad guy" and MAKE him work on it. But if you can remind him he promised he would do it then it gives you some leverage.
We went with a 289 in the 66 and I wish we would have gotten a roller 302 motor instead so we did not have to worry and flat tappets and cam issues. Seems lately everyone in wiping lobes on them.
We went with Mustang plus Grabber suspension kit because they were local and we got it for no shipping. We used 4 1/2 rear leaf springs with mid eyes (lowered rear 1 inch) and 620 springs in front to lower the front 1 inch also. Gas shocks all around. Bigger sway bar in front and added 1 in rear. Car rides firm but not harsh, handles great and corners flat.
Our project took 2 1/2 years from the time it was found in a field (since 1978) and Chris driving it to school during his senior year. I think it was a WIN for father son projects.
Link to our website with pictures and details on all stages of the restoration:
Christophers 66 Mustang Restoration and Modification

Good Luck and Be Safe
Ron

[huntnwater]

Originally Posted by fatoeknee I did that with my dad when I turned 16 ...I still have the car at 24 now (pretty much same project too got an EFI swapped into my '68 with an AOD). All dads should do something like that with their son imo ...teaches them the ropes. As for the steering box get a quick ratio one... and as far as suspension goes - depends on the amount of cash you are willing to spend on it. I'd do the mustang II front end - I still have my shock towers in mine and it sucks.

What kind of quick ratio steering box do we need?
The mustang II front end conversion is real pricey. What is bad about leaving the shock towers??

[huntnwater]

Ron, your site is very nice and inspirational.
My son and I spent about a hour on it last night . Seems you had a very good plan layed out and also a good craftsman to boot. We were not going to tackle the body and paint but now he is wanting to do it too. How would you like to be our mentor for a 68 coupe rebuild???

[460brevill]

my father@son prodject never happened as my son is to busy chasing women.i dont blame him.but i did end with a father@daughter thing.we still work on it and go drag raceing when we arent on our motorcycles.most of you guys have seen it ,but just one pic.

[chris66dad]

Originally Posted by huntnwater Ron, your site is very nice and inspirational. My son and I spent about a hour on it last night . Seems you had a very good plan layed out and also a good craftsman to boot. We were not going to tackle the body and paint but now he is wanting to do it too. How would you like to be our mentor for a 68 coupe rebuild???

I would love to help you out. I miss the weekends working on it to be honest. The website has my real email address (last page) and we have made about 100 friends from around the world who have asked questions and wrote emails. Please feel free to email and i will do my best to help!!!
I know I did things that would drive the 100 point purist car owners crazy but our goal was to do a restomod car with modern improvements. For example we replaced most of the Ford bolts and nuts with all grade 8 fasteners so now the bolts are not correct color or proper markings but they are twice as strong.
I recommend the experience for any parent and child who has a interest. Take LOTS of pictures. Do something on it everyday to keep it moving forward. AND never cover the car and stack "stuff" on top off it (same as digging a grave and burying the car)
Good luck and BE Safe
Ron

[fatoeknee]

Originally Posted by huntnwater What kind of quick ratio steering box do we need? The mustang II front end conversion is real pricey. What is bad about leaving the shock towers??

I believe flaming river makes a gearbox - there isn't anything bad really about leaving the shock towers but the mustang II suspension setup is a bit more recent and leaving the shock towers in makes it a lot tighter in the engine bay. Plus it looks a lot cleaner w/out the towers...

Here is link to what I did recently - I would recommend getting a rebuilt motor or a performance build to start out with ...when we first did the car we didn't have that much money so we bought everything used. Everything eventually came back out (motor was smoking) and since now I was able to afford it, I built a nice motor for it.

Pictures by fatoeknee - Photobucket

Oh ..and plan on relocating your battery to your trunk and practice on your brazing rod skills to sump the tank...

[BA Mustang]

Originally Posted by chris66dad Make sure you get buy in and commitment from him because there will be LOTS of days you have to the "bad guy" and MAKE him work on it.

My dad has to make me stop working on mine. I worked on it 1 day for almost 8 hours straight after school then he made me stop to go to sleep. my reaction:

I'm also only 17 and had it since I was 15. I do my own body work(except painting) and fixing.

After almost 2 months of working I got it to this stage of redoing I guess you could say this past week.

Link to my body work album: body work pictures by Super_assassin - Photobucket I still have a little left to fill in.


Paint hopefullly Nov 7th, then rims, engine, interior.









I wouldn't recommend mustang II suspension, not as good as people say. Just get good UCAs, LCAs, sway bars, 1" drop coils, shelby drop, and roller perches. For the rear I would just leave the 9in rear end.

[Countryboy_99]

Get yourself a 94-95 5.0 if at all possible. They're quite similar to 93's and down, but they use a MAF (Mass Air Flow) system instead of the SD (Speed Density) system. Speed Density was Ford's first EFI system and in retrospect it really kinda sucks when held in comparison with MAF and whatever new system they have.

[fatoeknee]

Originally Posted by Countryboy_99 Get yourself a 94-95 5.0 if at all possible. They're quite similar to 93's and down, but they use a MAF (Mass Air Flow) system instead of the SD (Speed Density) system. Speed Density was Ford's first EFI system and in retrospect it really kinda sucks when held in comparison with MAF and whatever new system they have.

SD was 86-88 ...Mass air was 89-93 on the foxes

[BA Mustang]

Who is going to pay for the mods/parts?

[Countryboy_99]

Originally Posted by fatoeknee SD was 86-88 ...Mass air was 89-93 on the foxes

Oh, ok. I was informed they didn't switch to MAF until 94. In that case look into an 89-93 model 302 because then you can use BBK SSI intake manifold (BBK offers one as a kit where you get the upper manifold, lower manifold, AND new performance fuel rails and as far as price goes it pretty decent [$500-570]). It looks bad ass sitting on top a 5.0.