1979 Pacecar Mustang Pro Touring build.

[Steve]

Do you dig it?

Whats up gang. i have had some requests to start a build thread here so here it is, my build of my pro touring style Pace Car.

The formula for my build for this car is very simple, I want to build a pace car that mixes the new with the old, yet still retain the look and feel of what makes a 79 pace car a 79 pace car. I want to mix all the latest technology and performance trends with a little flavor of old school. The build will be a Pro-Touring style build like the new trend of many muscle cars being built today by some of the best shops in the nation. (I will go in more detail about the build below).

Because of the cost of the overall build and my relatively small budget, this thread will be somewhat slow. For the last year I have been purchasing the parts and peices as I find them and can get good deals on them. The build is also done in stages because the budget doesn't allow me to purchase everything at once.

So here is the car what the car looked like for 2010.



This is the rendering I did of what I am looking to do. As you can see body wise there is much more going on as the way it is is for the most part how it will look. However, the stance, drivetrain, and interior is where the high tech/pro-touring technology will come in.


Here are some of the parts I have either on the car now or going on over the winter.

Ridetech Shockwaves and struts


Racecraft 2" drop spindles


Roush Alcon Caplipers for the front


Wilwood setup for the rear






Minitub kit and rearend parts. My father is currently narrowing an 8.8 w/ 9" ends by 3" off each side of the housing. Also have custom 31 spline Strange axles for it.

[Steve]

More..

Delrin to make our own suspension bushings


These are the wheels I am going with. Budnik GTXs with the matte black centers and brushed lips. 20x12 in the rear and probably 18x8 in the front.


Also have a 4.6 DOHC that I will be building up and putting in the car. It will be NA with efi stack induction. It will be similar to this setup.


For now this is the 302 (basically stock) before the 4.6 is done for it.


The interior is basically done. ALL the plastic interior panels (except the console as I am going to custom build a new console with an Ipad in the car, then it will be covered) have been covered in a leather like material with black stitching. The headliner, dashpad and door inserts are suede and then trimmed out with carbon fiber. Like I said the other than a few things the interior is basically done cosmetically. Heres some progress and finished shots.

[Cooter]

dig it

[Steve]

More..















Here is the progress so far this winter. As I stated the rearend is currently being narrowed. I started doing the tubbing and torque box reinforcements.

[Steve]

More..

Here are some pics with the 20x10 wheels from the cobra that I used just for mockup before I order the budnik wheels. Keep in mind this is parked height. The car will roll down the road about 3" higher than this.




Well that is about the gist of it. I will update as I go but wanted to get this started as and introduction to the build.

[streetdemon70]

been following that thread on svtp for a while now. Love the car and think it looks great now that its almost finished.

[mstng86]

I dug it.

[Steve]

...

Small update:

After a being busy with a bunch of other things, I finally got out to the garage today. Just been a busy month with other things besides the car. Got the frame rail notched, the lower torque box reinforced and all welded up. Finally got the tub welded in place. I also dressed the welds and cleaned up all the edges (after I took the pics below). Crappy pics but but now this week I can seam seal everything and get some paing on it and then get the other side done starting probably next weekend.

[Z06killinsbf]

Bad ace!!

[Steve]

........

UPDATE. Had today off from work so I finally got the other tub in and the last of the torque box reinforcement plates welded up.





Just quickly shot them with some paint to keep them from rusting until I get the sound deadening material in and the dress and finish the wheel wheels. Sorry for the pic quality.





Then I started to disassemble the front suspenion. This is the last time to see the stock stuff up front. The tublular k member and a arms will be here this week. Then I can mockup the 13" Alcon brakes and RaceCraft drop spindles and measure for my custom front wheels.




I ordered an engine support bar to hold the engine up when I change the k member next weekend. The support bar should be here this week as will the front suspension components.

I also ordered the fuel cell. I went with a 19 gallon aluminum RCI cell. That should be here this week too.

I am supposed to get the mocked up narrowed rearend in two weeks or so, then I can measure for my custom rear wheels. I also ordered BMR adjustable uppers to set the pinion angle and steeda spherical bearings for the 8.8 housing. All that should be here this week too. I'll keep everyone updated with pics when everything comes in.

[Steve]

......

Well some parts came today and as promised here are the pics.

Steeda Spherical bushings. I went with these over other brands as this style uses a solid shaft rather than using spacers that seat into the center. Does it matter? I don't know, but I like the thought of these better. I'm hoping the BMR adjustable uppers show tomorrow.


New temporary mounts to use until next year when I switch to the 4.6 dohc. Hopefully these work with the k member. If not I guess I will have to go with the later style. We'll see.


And last but not least the Team Z k member with 1" shorter arms. Nice peice, but I didn't have any doubts befor ordering it, LOL.




Picture of the coating.

[Steve]

...

Hope I'm not boring you guys with the parts coming in but I got another brown box today. My RCI 19 gallon cell showed up. I have to do some mods to the cell to run it the way I wan't as I plan to go under the floor and still use the stock filler door location. The 19 gallon with be alot nicer than the 11 or 12 gallon stock tank too.

Later on when I do the 4.6 dohc I can sump this cell if I want. Thats will be later though.


Set in place and it just barely sticks out the bottom. This about where I want it to sit.

So today I got the old k member out and put in the Team Z k member. Also put in new motor mounts while was at it.

Bought an engine support bar to lift the motor. Worked well. (Damn the car is dirty as heck because of all the metal fabricating I have been doing in the shop. You can see in this photo.)


K Member out


New K member in.







So if things work out with my schedule next weekend, I am supposed to pick up the rearend. At this point it has the ends tack welded, I will get it under the car, measure for the rear wheels and tack on the shock mounts and mockup everything else I need to do before all the final welding is done on the rear end.

The next bit of news is that I was going to run the front Alcon capilers on 13" rotors, well I have changed my mind and I will be going with a 14" setup. I will be using the Baer Eradispeed 14" 2pc rotors. So either next weekend or the weekend after that I will be mocking up the Racecraft drop spindles, Ridetech struts and the Alcon caplipers (don't know if I will have the rotors in by then but we'll see). Then I can start measuring for the front wheels if all goes well.

[Steve]

.....

Update:

So I picked up some of my parts on Saturday to start mocking up all the brakes and suspension to start making sure everything will work together, and to start measuring for the wheels.

Here are the front end parts. The only parts I have left to buy for the front are the 14" 2pc Baer Eradispeed rotors and I already have the Steeda bumpsteer kit on the way. Here are the front end parts.

New Ford hubs, nuts and dust caps, RaceCraft 2" drop spindles (based on 94-95 spindles) and the Alcon calipers, mounts and hardware. When I am done the calipers won't say Roush on them, so I have to get ride of that. Can't wait to mock it up with the rotors.




Here is everything mocked up as much as I can get. It looks like I will have to go with the standard length control arm as it seems like the 1" shorter ones that I have are going to cause issues. Hopefully they will just exchange them for me.




I also got the rearend back from my father. It has been narrowed a total of 6". For now it is just cut down and the ends tacked on so that I can get the shock mounts tacked on and again measure for the wheels. Then the rearend will go back to him to fully weld the ends, weld the tubs, refabricate the control arm pickup points (as we think we can do a better job than factory). We also have to clock the calipers so that they are at the 2 o'clock position, so they won't stay on top like they are now. Then of course we will clean up the rear end and get a good coat of paint on it.

The rear end utilizes 9" ends, custom 31 spline strange axles, HD FRPP diff and 3.73 gear set, steeda spherical bushings, BMR adj uppers and Drake girdle cover. And of course topped off with the 12" wilwood brake setup.








Here it is in the car.

[Steve]

.........

And cycled all the way up where parked height would be. Again, I just used one of the wheels off the cobra for the second picture as it is the only 5 lugger I have until the new wheels are done.




So this week I will be welding in the shock crossbar and tacking in the shock mounts. This is the stuff that is yet to go in.

[Steve]

.....

Update: Got some new parts in.

Steeda bumpsteer kit.


Standard length Team Z a arms. This way I can mock up both the 1" shorter arms and the standard length arms and see what works better for me setup then I will send the ones I don't use back.


14" Eradispeed 2pc rotors for the front.


So I finished mocking up the front end with the brakes. At this point it looks as though I can use the shorter arms but I will confirm this 100% next weekend when I get back into the garage.




Got the rearend under the car, set the pinion angle at ride height and then I had to weld in the shock bar, then hang the Shockwave shocks and tacked the shock mounts to the rearend. My father will complete the welding when I take the rear end back to him for final assembly and at that time I will have him reinforce the shock mounts with a bar between them. Also because this isn't a drag setup I need to run a conventional sway bar as an anti roll bar that the drag racers use won't be good for the street. So I started modifying the sway bar and mounts to let it clear the Shockwaves.






I think that is about it for now. Hopefully I can actually get more done next weekend.