Somethingclever's operation 65 Mustang DD - built and bought

[Martin0660]

Rings depends on how you order them. Shelf nothing special are usually right enough. We order mine as file fit sets because I run wide gaps (like what feels like stupid wide). Even with a filing machine they take a while to set that’s for sure

[somethingclever]

Since this engine had a reverse rotation water pump, EFI timing cover....that wouldn't work for my std rotation water pump and mech fuel pump approach.

Fortunately my paint buddy had a spare cover in nice shape so i was able to re-purpose that with a new timing pointer. 2

The double hump oil pan wasn't going to work so that also meant new front sump pan, pickup, and std vol/pressure pump.

Now I also needed a new dipstick for the front cover.

Also needed a fuel pump eccentric to boot.

At the end of the day....literally the only thing I used from the (buy a good one and drop it in) engine I bought was the block (now refurbished) the heads (now refurbished), the pushrods and rockers.

Like all educations before...this one came at a cost. :)



My helper came out one day to help me set the heads on the block and run some head-bolts down like a bauss.

[somethingclever]

The plan again is KISS and period correct appearing....

65 Ferd v8's were commonly black engines with gold valve covers and air cleaners.

I didn't have the gold bits when I took this picture but here it is with some go-fast paint.

Since I switched from the pan rail mounted dipstick tube to a timing cover mounted tube, I had a hole in the block to fill. Back in the day I would have RTV'd this deal closed but now I have a tool or two....since I didn't catch this before the pan was installed, last thing I wanted to do was drill the hole to the proper size for a plug and introduce shavings into the pan. This may be well known to some, but I measured the hole and found that it was close enough for reasonable thread engagement of a 1/8" NPT plug. So all I had to do was run a 1/8" NPT tap down the hole and voila - a proper solution to a likely RTV oil leaker.


Also I broke out my digital scale to check the weight as it is in this picture.

carb pad to pan, water pump to crank flange




Any guesses?




Winner gets bragging rights.

[somethingclever]

Not sure why some of the pictures are sideways?

[Dan B.]

395#.

Sideways pic.....mine does that also. Drives me nuts.

[GOT SVT]

417 lbs

[Ares]

406lbs since it doesn't have a dizzy in it.

[PaxtonShelby]

394 pounds

[somethingclever]

You guys have me thinking I need to check the accuracy of my scale..........

I was pretty surprised by this number to be honest.

Then again it does have the following in aluminum:

intake
heads
waterpump
timing cover

But even with dizzy (which is alum bodied), carb, and accessories (only alt)....i would still expect it to be under 400lbs.

[Dan B.]

I went sub-400 knowing the carb wasn't on it. Fluids may make up some of the difference also.

I'd been reading about engine weight lately since I'm considering a 5.0 swap into our 1973 TR6. An aluminum headed 5.0 is actually a few pounds less than the stock iron straight 6.

[turbo83coupe]

Lack of carb, no fluids and aluminum heads are a big thing id think.

Awsome car!! Love this thread, carry on... Lol

[PaxtonShelby]

So what do I win?

[somethingclever]

So what do I win?

See post #103 - Bragging Rights of course :)




I made a trip to Columbus with the engine/trans/bell/rear axle (I skipped ahead with the pics earlier of the rear axle - it was actually the last thing to install in the car) and recovered seats in my gas guzzling Ford pickup....really thinking about a 6R80 swap if I can sell the rebuilt C6 I already had built for it.

[somethingclever]

While I was working on the engine, he finished the body.

I wanted a GT style look...he added the stripe on the body to mimic the original GT cars.

[somethingclever]

Actually when I went out with the drivetrain, he already had the back seat, seat belts, and rear package tray installed so I must have delivered those on a previous trip.

Since I plan to drive the car quite a bit and many times with kids - safety first.

We had planned all-along for 3 pt belts front and rear for this car.

Unfortunately the "1965 Red" seat belts from CJ don't match the TMI interior color - I will likely just live with it but you would think this has been figured out already.

The front seat belts mount on the B pillar - which really doesn't exist on a first Gen mustang - but instead at the top of the body where the door closes where the B pillar would be.

You can see the front belts in the top picture as well as the rears.

The rear belts are also custom install - he mounted the retractors in the trunk and ran the belts through the rear package tray. The plastic belt inserts and the speaker grill are the wrong shade of red so I will respray those to match the darker red of the package tray.

Form aside, they seem to function really well for the little kids to buckle themselves.

Will need to only use the narrow bottom booster seats in the back and I already told them - NO FOOD IN DAD's CAR!

[2000GT]

John, this is shaping up to be a REALLY nice car. I cannot wait to see the finished project!

[07v6vistablue]

Looks Beautiful!

[PaxtonShelby]

Looking amazing John!

[somethingclever]

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Not shown but installed was also an MDF board behind the rear seat to help reduce interior noise, stick-on type sound deadening in roof/floors/firewall etc. Padding backed carpeting was used as well as the factory insulation for the firewall and under the rear seat.

The radio is a retro-sound unit with bluetooth and wireless antenna as you can see the original antenna hole was filled.

He picked the speakers as I am no audiophile - forget if they are kickers or something else...I am sure they they are good quality but I didn't care to have surround sound in this car so they were installed in the factory location - 1 in the front dash, and 1 in the back package tray- luxury!

In the name of sound deadening he also added the Pony interior kick panel carpets for the front which I had previously mentioned/shown. They also give the interior a much more finished look IMO.

[somethingclever]

Next up was filling the engine bay with the 331 and the trans tunnel with a new T5z.

He had a crossmember on the shelf for t5 conversions that I think he mistakenly bought before or came with a parts package or?....anyway we were able to use that for trans and I bought new replacement engine mounts from CJ Pony...I think they are Scott Drake versions. Anyway they are just a std rubber mount. I want to minimize the driveline vibrations in the car whilst I sip on my fancy coffee drinks or bourbon.

I probably would have went with an adjustable engine mount like Ron Morris which provides some flexibility up and down and fore/aft of the drivetrain.

I was concerned about 2 things with that though - header fitment, and those types of mounts only coming with Poly isolators instead of rubber. (don't want to spill that expensive bourbon on the way to work)

I will say the engine mounts worked but as delivered they would not - the rubber stand was too high for the through bolts to line up so we had to enlarge the slotted holes on the engine side mount.

The headers I selected are stainless JBA shorties which fortunately clear these mounts with no trimming required during a test fit.


A picture of move-in day below and a dusty engine bay from polishing compound.