Black Gold 380R's 65 Mustang Build Thread

Grabber70Mach

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You definitely have some skills and a great amount of patience. What you are doing is very tedious. It's something I'm not sure if I could do as patience isn't one of my strengths. It does look great.

On another note I went to the Ford Nationals in Carlisle this weekend and saw this, it made me think about you and your car.
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Black Gold 380R

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You definitely have some skills and a great amount of patience. What you are doing is very tedious. It's something I'm not sure if I could do as patience isn't one of my strengths. It does look great.

On another note I went to the Ford Nationals in Carlisle this weekend and saw this, it made me think about you and your car.

Thank you Grabber! Always appreciate your comments.

I don't know if you have seen my 03 Cobra. Before I started to paint I took my Cobra to the body shop for a custom paint job. I actually laid out the checkered design on my quarter panels. A friend of the painter was watching me a told the painter "This guy has a lot of patience."

I don't feel like I have a lot of patience as little things irritate me. However, when it comes to cars I tend to focus on the task at hand and kind of enter a state of zen lol.

My wife always tells me she wishes I was more like that when interacting with the family lol....

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CobraBob

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.....However, when it comes to cars I tend to focus on the task at hand and kind of enter a state of zen lol. My wife always tells me she wishes I was more like that when interacting with HER lol....

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Fixed that for ya! LOL. JK, of course.
 

CobraBob

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LOL. My wife would really relate to what I posted. Sometimes I DO zone out. Or zone into my out thoughts too often.
 

Black Gold 380R

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You definitely have some skills and a great amount of patience. What you are doing is very tedious.

Hello Grabber! Just wanted to pass on a little story concerning your statement. I was working on the car this weekend (as if I was doing anything else LOL) and my wife came in to the garage and was looking at the car and talking to me about the build. She told me she was proud of me for everything I have accomplished so far. She also pointed out something I knew, but never really thought of. She said all the car shows I watch the guys have a team to help with the build and I'm doing everything basically by myself.

I started to think about what she said and realized just how much I have been doing and learning. All those shops have an owner/designer, shop foreman/assistant, parts runner/purchaser, tear down team, metal shop, fabricators, paint and body shop, mechanics, electrical, assembly team, interior shop and final detail team.

Besides interior I have covered every other part of the shop listed above. After thinking about it I began to feel proud myself LOL. I know a lot of you say I have skills and a lot of you have been VERY kind with your words, but it's funny how my wife's comment really got me thinking about what it is I'm actually accomplishing here.

It is tedious. It is hard work and it does require a lot of dedication and patience. Very nice to know a lot of people have noticed and can appreciate what I'm doing.

So, thanks to my wife and all of you who have been with me on this build/journey. Greatly appreciated!!!
 

Black Gold 380R

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Hello Everyone,

Okay, it was a great weekend for me. I feel like I accomplished a lot, but more importantly things feel into place for me. Always love when things workout as planned :D.

First I got my bellhousing aligned. I was stressing this process as the guys on YouTube make it look simple. Not so much when you are doing it yourself LOL.

After I installed my dowel pins I got everything set up and redid my measurements. Based on my set up my points of interest on the bellhousing were at 2, 5, 8 and 11 O'clock.

I was nervous and wanted to make sure I did this right. So, I measured this 4 times. Every time I was within .001 of my previous measurement. So, I was pretty confident it was right. Or I measured wrong 4 times in a row LMAO!!!!

8 O'clock was my 0 measurement/starting point. Every measurement from here has to be at plus or minus .010 divide by 2 to get me to .005 or less.
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Rotated the crank and 5 O'clock measured out at +.006. Good to go here.
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Rotated the crank and 2 O'clock (180 out from 8 O'clock) measured out at +.009 (Very close, but within spec). Good to go here.
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Rotated the crank and 11 O'clock (180 out from 5 O'clock) measured out at -.006 (exactly opposite of 5 O'clock). Good to go here.
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Went back to 8 O'clock and hit 0 again. All is within spec. Thank God. This was a pain in the _ _ _! LOL.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Okay, after my bellhousing was aligned it was time to install the clutch.

This was a lot of fun too. Since I'm going with a hydraulic clutch I had to do more measuring. This one was not as difficult as the bellhousing.

Okay, flywheel was already installed due to bellhousing alignment process. Just cleaned it up a bit.
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McLeod instructions were very easy to understand and straight forward. All components are clearly marked and had orientation marks on them. However, after I figured out how the floater plate aligned with the flywheel I put silver tick marks on the flywheel so I wouldn't have to fight with it while holding it in place. On the disc marked bottom (for bottom disc) the other side was mark FW for flywheel. Very easy for me to understand how to assemble this LOL. BTW, this is my very first clutch install. Always had a transmission shop install my clutches up to this point. It really is not difficult at all. Then again the engine is out of the car so that might have something to do with it LOL.
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Installed the rest of the floater disc bolts and then installed my top disc and torqued the floater plate to spec.
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Installed my pressure plate and torqued to spec. Then removed the alignment tool and insured it would go in and release smoothly.
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Then it was time to tackle the throwout bearing. I installed the throwout bearing by itself and took my measurements. According to American Powertrain the throwout bearing has to be within .125 to .175 inch from the clutch fingers (i.e. an 1/8th of an inch). So, I took my measurement and with the throwout bearing by itself my space measured out to .860. Holly crap that's over 3/4 of an inch LOL. In my throwout bearing kit there was a blue spacer labeled Ford and it was about 3/4 of an inch thick. I was like "Maybe this needs to be installed" LMAO!!!!

Here you can see that spacer behind the throwout bearing. Remeasured and now my measurement came out to .168. On the high side, but within spec. Good to go here. Time to assemble.
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With the throwout bearing installed it will not fit through the opening in the bellhousing. So, the bellhousing needs to be installed on the transmission and then the throwout bearing installed. Due to this I decided that I will connect the transmission to the engine and install them as a unit instead of installing the transmission from under the car. My Dad and my brother will be helping me do this engine/transmission install so I should have enough hands to get this done with minimal problems.
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Since the engine is on the floor dolly (i.e. moto feet) I decided to put my floor jack under the transmission and install it on to the engine. I got it close enough and then installed the bolts to make sure everything was lined up.
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Floor jack is a little on the high side. Lowered it and the transmission went right in. SWEET!!!!!
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After I got the transmission on to the engine I decided to look through the clutch fork opening to see how close my throwout bearing is. An 1/8th of an inch is not much at all. Looks good to me.
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Here is a zoomed in look. I can't get a straight on shot. So, my phone is at an angle which is why the top and bottom of the throwout bearing looks closer to the clutch fingers.
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Black Gold 380R

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Once that was done I took a break and kept wondering if I really did everything right.

Call me paranoid, but I really don't want to install this and then hear grinding or some other metal to metal contact.

So, I installed the shifter handle and made sure the transmission went through the gears. No problems here.
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Ha Ha, this looks cool LOL.
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Next was to make sure everything rotated and operated smoothly. So, I installed the driveshaft and then put a breaker bar on the crank.
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I put the transmission in first gear and began to rotate the crankshaft with the breaker bar. The driveshaft rotated and there was no noise, no binding and no problems. It was VERY smooth. Woo Hoo...... I feel very confident that the drivetrain is installed properly and is in fact operating properly.
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Black Gold 380R

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Okay, once I reached this point I realized the next step is to install the engine and transmission. So on Sunday, I needed to make sure it was ready. The last thing I needed to do to the transmission was ensure the shifter was installed.

So, time to get that done.

Shifter bolts were already loose when the transmission was delivered.
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American Powertrain was kind enough to place a tag with instructions on it. SWEET!
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Removed shifter and got it put together properly.
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RTV added and everything torqued to spec. She is ready to be installed in the car.
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Black Gold 380R

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Okay, you guys know my OCD is always kicking in LOL. There is no way in hell I want to risk scratching my engine bay during this installation.

So, I have been saving carboard boxes to use as protectors.

This is what I accomplished. I'm pretty confident my Dad, brother and I can install the engine and transmission without scratching anything.
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Black Gold 380R

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Random picture....

I know a lot of you seen this car when it was all trashed out, but I found a picture of the car when I purchased it in 1989. I went back into the military in 1991. This car sat outside at my brothers house and my parents house for years while I served So, it got tore up by the weather/sun.

It actually looked pretty good in 1989....
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geoffmt

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Big changes in that cars lifespan! Excellent work!I have installed clutches and transmissions before but never have measured for center, guess I have been lucky as I haven’t ever had issues but will have to do that from now on as a precaution (I am replacing the engine in my cobra this winter because it’s currently running perfectly)


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Black Gold 380R

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Big changes in that cars lifespan! Excellent work!I have installed clutches and transmissions before but never have measured for center, guess I have been lucky as I haven’t ever had issues but will have to do that from now on as a precaution (I am replacing the engine in my cobra this winter because it’s currently running perfectly).

Hello geoffmt! Thank you for your positive feedback sir!

I'm not sure if you will need to measure for bellhousing center. They say this is needed when you are putting a newer manual transmission in an older car. They say the older transmissions had a round input shaft bearing and could tolerate side load. The newer transmissions have a conical bearing and they cannot tolerate side load.

So, if you are not changing anything you should not have to check for bellhousing alignment in a newer car from my understanding. Now, if you change your transmission or go from a stock bellhousing to say a Quicktime bellhousing then it might be a good idea to check it.

If you do decide to do this my only recommendation is to get a very good dial indicator holder. I bought a cheapy one and it moved a lot on me. And you know when you are talking about measuring a thousand of an inch any movement is not acceptable. So, I had to modify mine to get it to not move. After that the process went smoothly.
 

Black Gold 380R

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Okay,

Even though it was a 3 day weekend I only got one major thing accomplished :D.

And let me tell you it was a fiasco. Let's just start by saying, when you mock things up make sure you assemble them the way you mocked it up. Changing things during the assembly process can provide you with unexpected challenges and make MORE work for yourself.......

So, on Friday I did not do anything as I was not expecting it to become a federal holiday.

Saturday my Dad and brother came over and we installed the engine and transmission.

Sunday was Father's Day. I did some real minor things to the car, but overall I just hung out with my Dad and family at my house. We had a BBQ. It was pretty cool.
 
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