Rear Axle goes in the Mustang

The completed rear axle assembly complete to the disc brakes has been installed in the mustang. As you look at these pictures, you can see how the Heidt's 4-link fits in the mustang. The last picture is of the car sitting on the final wheel and tire package with one exhaust tip mounted. The stance is very "mean" looking I dare say!

Rack and Pinion Steering

The mustang is going to be getting a rack and pinion system. I purchased about half the kit from Steeroids, and fabricated the rest myself. I also aquired the rack itself from a different source. The Steeroids kit, like most for classic mustangs, is a j-car rack made by GM. This particular rack is a 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier rack. These picks are of the mock-up, with the rack just sitting in jack stands. I will have more pics on this in the future...

Front Suspension

The front suspension of the mustang is going to be completely custom. The first component is Global West tubular upper control arms. These have a negative wedge already built in, which lets you lower the arms like Shelby did in the 60's. I lowered my arms a full 1-3/4". I welded the factory holes up during engine compartment metal work. This makes the installation look very clean. I have also used QA1 coilover shocks and spring in the front. Custom outer shock tower braces were built to show off the new suspension. They were finished with a rally silver powder coat finish. This makes the front suspension completely adjustable. The lower control arms are a stock arm that has had the Open Tracker spherical bearings installed to replace factory bushings, and boxed with sheetmetal. The sway bar is a full 1-1/8" diameter. The combination of these components is going to make the mustang handle like a moden race car. You can see in the pictures that the lowers were powder coated after completion and look very nice. The spindle was also powder coated. This just makes for a very durable build.

Finished Engine Compartment

These pictures show the engine compartment finished in chassis black, and you can see how good the shaving looks on all the panels. It is just enough, without going overboard like I see on some hotrods. In a couple of the pictures, you can see the subframe connectors that are welded in. A bolted connection just can't mimic a proper welded connection in this application. The mustang will also have an "x-frame" that goes between subframes.

Back on Rotisserie/Undercoating

When the mustang came back from the body shop, she was put back onto the rotisserie. The entire car was covered and taped off. The frame rails were also taped off, and would be later painted chassis black. I then had truck bedliner sprayed onto the entire underside of the car. As you can see in the pictures, this turned out very nicely. This will deaden sound and protect the bottom of the car from corrosion. It also just looks great, and is much more durable than a painted underside.

Body back from Paint

At this point in the build, it was time to send the car out for paint. Amost everything that needed to be, had been mocked-up. We built a simple wooded cart with casters to transport the car to the body shop. The paint color is shadowy granite mica, and looks great with the lines of the mustang. The doors on the mustang are very tight, and are going to close nicely. I want to re-iterate that everything on this car is either new, or rebuilt. Also, everything on the car that can be is powder coated. Paint was only used in situations where parts could not be disassembled to level needed for the powder coating process. Wow, look at that paint!

Front End Modifications

I did extensive work to improve the front end of the mustang. I "boxed" the front radiator support. This is a flimsy area that typically gets bent on mustangs. This particular mustang didn't have any cracking or pulling on the shock towers, which was good news. I made sure it stayed this way by welding the shock towers solid, and then smoothed them before paint. Big block cars had shock towers that were spot welded from the factory, I just took it a step farther. While I was doing metal work in the engine compartment, I also shaved and smoothed the firewall, and several other places on the inner fender walls. This will make for a nice clean look, but not take away from what this car is...a classic mustang.