Reaper's Mustang Project (abridged version)
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Super Cereal Admin
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,081
From: Lexington, KY
I know, I can't even count the times I've b***hed about the repair job on the car. I'll probably clean everything up and weld some new metal in there sometime this summer... from what I can tell, the (sort of) straightened out the bent sections, threw a metric s**t-ton of bondo on it, and painted everything... not bothering to paint everywhere there's primer. To top it all off, the paint on the front end doesn't even match the rest of the car. But it's all right... the whole car will be re-painted within the next year or two, most likely summer/fall of '10.
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Super Cereal Admin
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,081
From: Lexington, KY
Okay, well I finally got the driver side header on... it was simple to get it off... getting the longtube on was a different story altogether though... it took about 3 hours of wrestling with the header to get it on the studs with the nuts started. For now, I extended the passenger side O2S wires using butt connectors; when I get my next rent & living check from the school, I'll cut the splices out and solder everything, as well as extend both secondary sensor wires (the sensors are turned off, but I'm thinking the car might not pass inspection with two of the o2 sensors unplugged lol).
I should have the new cats on the car tuesday... I'll probably get the 2.5/2.5 exhaust adapters and clamps monday and throw it together until I can have a friend weld it... after the h-pipe is welded, it'll get exhaust wrapped so everything looks nice and pretty. As it happens, the cats are going to fit almost perfectly
Anyway, pics from today:
the car in the garage
like I said, you can't really see the nice shiny passenger side header =[
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
Again, which one looks like it flows better?
The nice shiny new header in place
You can see where the LTs come down, and where my h-pipe starts; there's just enough room to put my cats in that space. They should be on the car tuesday.
I probably won't get what I wanted accomplished (I'm kind of broke and I'm not driving the car around open-header anyway), so maybe the next weekend I'm home I might get the wheels and spoiler painted, and hopefully I'll have my rear sway bai by then so I can paint them both bronze... Also, I still need to get the VCs painted, but I'll wait until I paint the sway bars to paint the VCs. I still plan on giving the car a hardcore cleaning... maybe I'll get that done monday.
*edit: also, monday I'm going to call American Muscle and get two new tunes ordered... a 93 octane performance tune (rear o2's turned off) and an 89 octane economy tune (rear o2's turned on to monitor catalyst efficiency)
*edit #2: Just checked the weather, apparently we have a chance of snow monday... so I'm not going to be doing all that cleaning monday... I'll probably wash the car up tuesday or wednesday though.
I should have the new cats on the car tuesday... I'll probably get the 2.5/2.5 exhaust adapters and clamps monday and throw it together until I can have a friend weld it... after the h-pipe is welded, it'll get exhaust wrapped so everything looks nice and pretty. As it happens, the cats are going to fit almost perfectly
Anyway, pics from today:
the car in the garage
like I said, you can't really see the nice shiny passenger side header =[
ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US
Again, which one looks like it flows better?
The nice shiny new header in place
You can see where the LTs come down, and where my h-pipe starts; there's just enough room to put my cats in that space. They should be on the car tuesday.
I probably won't get what I wanted accomplished (I'm kind of broke and I'm not driving the car around open-header anyway), so maybe the next weekend I'm home I might get the wheels and spoiler painted, and hopefully I'll have my rear sway bai by then so I can paint them both bronze... Also, I still need to get the VCs painted, but I'll wait until I paint the sway bars to paint the VCs. I still plan on giving the car a hardcore cleaning... maybe I'll get that done monday.
*edit: also, monday I'm going to call American Muscle and get two new tunes ordered... a 93 octane performance tune (rear o2's turned off) and an 89 octane economy tune (rear o2's turned on to monitor catalyst efficiency)
*edit #2: Just checked the weather, apparently we have a chance of snow monday... so I'm not going to be doing all that cleaning monday... I'll probably wash the car up tuesday or wednesday though.
Last edited by reaper2022; Mar 28, 2009 at 01:41 PM.
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Super Cereal Admin
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,081
From: Lexington, KY
Meh, doesn't have to be winter to snow here in the arcti... I mean, Pennsylvania. We've had snow in June before... I don't see it snowing too bad (I'd say no accumulation at all, the temp is supposed to be like 40*/27*, so i doubt any snow will lay).
But I can't wait to graduate and move down to Lexington, KY... no snow, glass-smooth roads, and no inspections
But I can't wait to graduate and move down to Lexington, KY... no snow, glass-smooth roads, and no inspections
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Super Cereal Admin
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,081
From: Lexington, KY
Something I just thought about:
Several things I plan on doing will require pulling the engine to easily do (ie, cam swap, valvetrain, stroker, etc). So the way I see it, I have three options:
1) Pull the engine three or four times to do the mods seperately
2) Be patient and hold several thousand dollars worth of fun parts and pull the engine once to build it when I have everything
3) Get a spare engine and build it while I keep DD'ing the mustang. Then when everything's done, swap the engine in
Personally, I'll go with option 3 before the other two. In other words, from the looks of it, my next big purchase will be a new engine. I could either go with a mustang 3.8 or a 4.2 from an F-150. Personally, I'll go with the F-150 engine, since they're larger (displacement-wise) and more than likely cheaper. I'm not sure how much power the 4.2 can hold, but I'll find out. At any rate, the connecting rods and pistons are getting replaced anyway.
Several things I plan on doing will require pulling the engine to easily do (ie, cam swap, valvetrain, stroker, etc). So the way I see it, I have three options:
1) Pull the engine three or four times to do the mods seperately
2) Be patient and hold several thousand dollars worth of fun parts and pull the engine once to build it when I have everything
3) Get a spare engine and build it while I keep DD'ing the mustang. Then when everything's done, swap the engine in
Personally, I'll go with option 3 before the other two. In other words, from the looks of it, my next big purchase will be a new engine. I could either go with a mustang 3.8 or a 4.2 from an F-150. Personally, I'll go with the F-150 engine, since they're larger (displacement-wise) and more than likely cheaper. I'm not sure how much power the 4.2 can hold, but I'll find out. At any rate, the connecting rods and pistons are getting replaced anyway.
Thread Starter
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Super Cereal Admin
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,081
From: Lexington, KY
haha, I do too... I'll be lucky if I finish the car in the next two years considering how broke I am... the transmission I'm going to put in is $2000 for the swap kit, the rear end I'm putting in is $1500, and the TT kit is $5600.
Honestly, here's how it's going to go... I'll probably have the 4.2L engine sitting in my garage on a stand by late spring/early summer. By that time, I'll have graduated and hopefully have a good job. Mid/late summer I'll probably have the cam and valvetrain in the new engine, and by late summer/early fall, I'll probably have the forged bottom end in. After that, I'll have the heads port/polished (or just get pp heads). Over winter I'll probably get the transmission, and we'll see where I am with the heavy mods after next winter. I'm hoping to have the 4.2 ready to go in the car by next spring.
(also, I'm figuring the 4.2l long block will probably cost somewhere around $300)
*edit: who am I kidding? I'm never going to consider this car finished... I'm always going to be planning something for it... I'll probably be 25 before I run out of things to do to it and find another project... as it is I already plan on going back and re-doing things... I mean, I already have good seats but I plan on replacing them with better seats, I plan on getting Rotas and then replacing them with Volks... this car will never truly be finished
Honestly, here's how it's going to go... I'll probably have the 4.2L engine sitting in my garage on a stand by late spring/early summer. By that time, I'll have graduated and hopefully have a good job. Mid/late summer I'll probably have the cam and valvetrain in the new engine, and by late summer/early fall, I'll probably have the forged bottom end in. After that, I'll have the heads port/polished (or just get pp heads). Over winter I'll probably get the transmission, and we'll see where I am with the heavy mods after next winter. I'm hoping to have the 4.2 ready to go in the car by next spring.
(also, I'm figuring the 4.2l long block will probably cost somewhere around $300)
*edit: who am I kidding? I'm never going to consider this car finished... I'm always going to be planning something for it... I'll probably be 25 before I run out of things to do to it and find another project... as it is I already plan on going back and re-doing things... I mean, I already have good seats but I plan on replacing them with better seats, I plan on getting Rotas and then replacing them with Volks... this car will never truly be finished
Last edited by reaper2022; Mar 28, 2009 at 06:44 PM.
Recognized HCF Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 11,203
From: Brownsburg, IN 46112
ya me to... i only have 15bucks in my bank account and dont get paid till next friday 
at least i have almost a full gas tank in both my vehicles.
i was going to spend my work vacation time to paint my civic but now my parents just bought a house down in florida and they want me to come down and help them fix the house up. so looks like ill have to do my civics paint just on the side when i can.
at least i have almost a full gas tank in both my vehicles.i was going to spend my work vacation time to paint my civic but now my parents just bought a house down in florida and they want me to come down and help them fix the house up.
so looks like ill have to do my civics paint just on the side when i can.
HCF Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 137
From: Independence, Mo
Meh, doesn't have to be winter to snow here in the arcti... I mean, Pennsylvania. We've had snow in June before... I don't see it snowing too bad (I'd say no accumulation at all, the temp is supposed to be like 40*/27*, so i doubt any snow will lay).
But I can't wait to graduate and move down to Lexington, KY... no snow, glass-smooth roads, and no inspections
But I can't wait to graduate and move down to Lexington, KY... no snow, glass-smooth roads, and no inspections
kinda off topic but it snowed 8in here in missouri and places in kansas got 18-24in