Black Gold 380R's 65 Mustang Build Thread

[Black Gold 380R]

I was watching Bitchin Rides. After seeing what they do and realizing how much they charge just for labor, I wanted to figure out where I am right now in the cost of labor for my build so far.

Here is my formula.

I started this build in May. I counted 25 weekends from when I started up to this past weekend. Multiply that times 2 days per weekend equals 50 days (This does not include 3 day weekends or the time I was on vacation). So, my days/hours will actually be low.

I do not burn the midnight oil. I work between 4 and 8 hours a day on my car. So, I averaged it and decided to say 6 hours a day.

Multiply 6 hours a day times 50 days equals 300 hours.

I figure shops charge between $70 to $90 an hour. So, I went with the lower end of a shop that would charge $75 an hour as their labor rate.

Multiply 300 hours times $75 an hour equals $22,500 for labor up to this point in the build and I'm not even half way done.

Damn, I have saved myself $22,500 just in labor by doing it myself. Pretty cool...…

 

[Skitzerman]

Not only did you save some bread by doing it yourself, the experience you gained is priceless.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Not only did you save some bread by doing it yourself, the experience you gained is priceless.

That's true Vince. I have learned a few new skills as well.

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[Black Gold 380R]

Woo Hoo!!! Look what the man in the brown truck dropped off at my front door yesterday...…………

 

[01yellercobra]

Christmas came early.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Christmas came early.

LOL, if you ask my wife Christmas started in May Bob...……… But, yes, yes it did.....AND.....I got exactly what I asked for LMAO!!!!

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Hello all,

Since I posted updated pictures of the undercarriage and some rear end goodies that arrived this week, I wanted to show everyone what it "USED" to look like.

As mentioned before I did not build the car to the level I wanted to last go round. You can see here where I took a serious short cut.

This area of the car is currently being addressed. Should look WAY better this time.

These pictures show my leaf springs, axle housing, rear drum brakes and some of the undercarriage. Just want you guys to see how it WAS (i.e. all wrapper and no complete detail). YUCK LOL...…

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Okay All,

Continued working on the rear end this past weekend. I got my leaf springs powder coated and had the aluminum bushing from the Calvert kit pressed in. I then needed to mock everything up for test fit purposes.

I actually ordered my rear end 1 inch shorter on each side. I did this in order to reduce my back spacing and give myself a wider lip on the outer portion of the rear wheels.

I did some research and people online said you could not remove 1 inch from each side of the rear end "without" mini tubing. I am "NOT" trying to put wider rims/tires on the car. I'm merely trying to gain more outer lip on the rear wheels. I also installed longer studs on the rear axles so I could have some form of adjustment. This way I can put a spacer on and run my current wheels until I can custom order a new set.

So, here is how it turned out. As you can see my caliper has plenty of clearance from the leaf spring. I also used this time to mark my axle tubes for my brake line brackets. No picture, but got those welded on this weekend as well.

I left the leaf springs in place, but took everything else apart. I dropped my axle housing off at the powder coater's on Sunday. Hopefully it gets done this week and I can assemble the rear end next weekend.

NOTE: For those of you who have an eye for detail and say my "U" bolts are way too long, I did this on purpose. I may need to adjust the rear end for proper ride height. So, I may need to install 1 or 2 inch lowering blocks. Once everything is set I'll cut off the excess if there is any.

 

[ToddW702]

Looks good. Your making great progress.


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[Black Gold 380R]

Looks good. Your making great progress.

Thank you Todd! Really appreciate you taking the time to comment.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Okay all,

Made some decent progress this weekend. Didn't do as much as I wanted, but Veteran's Day is coming up and I can use that day to make up some ground.

I got my rear-end back from the powder coater. So, I wanted to set it up a little more. I also finished up my metal work. I needed to add some tubing to run my wires through and I had to weld on a metal plate so I can mount my horns. I don't want then in the grill area like it was from the factory.

Here is the welding process:

Here I drilled a hole in my frame rail support tubing to run my wires through, but needed to weld on an extension tube.

Here the tube is welded on and welds cleaned up. It is welded in a down angle because this is where the hole in my fender is for my wires to attach to my head lights.

Here the plate is welded on for my horns. The wire sticking out of the tube is my wire snake. I inserted it to make sure I could run it through the tubes in order to pull my wires through when I'm ready for that step. It worked great.

I also finished up my hood pins. I needed to weld some nuts to the radiator support in order to ensure the hood pins where high enough to stick out of the hood.

Made sure they were lined up.

And level. Everything looks good.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

And here is the work I did to the rear-end.

Rear-end as I received it from the powder coater. I went with hammer tone as my front suspension parts came in a hammer tone finish.

DRIVER'S Side. I'm using -3AN fittings for my brake lines. Here I installed bulk head fittings on my brake tabs and oriented my factory brake line hose on my vent tube.

PASSENGER Side.

Here you can see I re-oriented my factory brake hose as the other way there was no way I could have bent brake line to fit. I also decided to remove the bulk head fitting on this side and run my brake hose directly to the fitting on the factory brake hose.

Here you can see the passenger side worked as intended LOL.

Here is a close up of the driver's side. You can see I placed a grommet in the tab to reduce brake line rub.

I then installed the third member studs into the housing. Man, having air tools makes this much easier LOL.

Here you can see where I finished off on the axle. You can also see how the brake line was ran and how close I was able to get it to the housing. I'm using Nickle/Copper brake line. This type of brake line is very easy to bend and work with. I recommend this type of line for those who ever want or need to do brake lines. Also, the -3AN fittings are really nice. With this set up you have a nut and a sleeve. So, you do NOT need to do a double flare. You do a single flare with a 37 degree angle tool. Then the sleeve works as the support/crush to hold the brake line in place. So, technically there are still two pressure points on the connection (tube and sleeve).

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Nice, your moving right along at a good pace. It's looking very nice.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Nice, your moving right along at a good pace. It's looking very nice.

Thank you kind sir! Yeah, I work on it every weekend and make "some" progress. COVID is actually helping me out a little. My wife does not want to go out and be exposed. So, she is content staying home, which allows me to work on the car every spare moment I get.

I really want to ensure I get it done by September of next year because their is a huge Mustang show I would like to go to. Provided things are semi back to normal.

I have the rear-end. My engine is being built right now. After Thanksgiving I will order my transmission set up. Then after the holidays I will get to work on completing my brake and fuel systems. Lastly, I'll wire it up and get all the detail work sorted out. Then I'll take the front end apart again, paint the engine bay and do a final assembly.

That's the plan anyway. We will see how it works out ………

Thanks again for your feedback Grabber70Mach!!!

 

[01yellercobra]

You're going to need to bring mirrors to put under the car Glenn. I'm not joking either. Or you can borrow my jack and jack stands.

 

[TK1299]

Great job Glenn, it looks great brother

 

[ToddW702]

That rear end is so nice. I like how you ran the wiring. I’m watching your progress and it motivates me to work on my 68. Your car will be a stunner sir. Good work.


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[Black Gold 380R]

WOW! You guys sure now how to make a guy feel good about his project and work. Thank you!

You're going to need to bring mirrors to put under the car Glenn. I'm not joking either. Or you can borrow my jack and jack stands.

I appreciate the thought Bob, but there is metal on the underside that I did not fix. I just cleaned it up and painted over it. So, although it does look good overall, it is far from show quality. Unless I just put mirrors on its good side LOL.

Great job Glenn, it looks great brother

Thanks Todd! I was wondering if you were checking in here. Sure do wish I had a garage like yours. Would give me some good elbow room to work on this project LOL. Thank you for the positive feedback my friend!

That rear end is so nice. I like how you ran the wiring. I’m watching your progress and it motivates me to work on my 68. Your car will be a stunner sir. Good work.

Thank you Todd! Really appreciate your comments in my thread and providing feedback on things like the wiring. That's one thing I look forward too is feedback. Always nice to here the perspective from other car guys (good or bad). I'm no expert, so the feedback really helps in letting me know if I'm on the right track or if I should give something a second look.

 

[Skitzerman]

Great idea with the hidden wiring. Just make sure to smooth out the blind transition holes before you weld it up, to avoid wire chafing. Where possible, rubber grommets should be used. You're making significant progress on a large undertaking. Many kudos for you.

 

[Black Gold 380R]

Okay everyone,

As mentioned earlier I wanted to use Veteran's Day to catch up a little bit on the rear-end. I was able to get my center section painted and installed in the housing. I was even able to get the rear-end mounted under the car.

Damn, was this a little bit of an under taking. That center section is HEAVY LOL. When it was delivered they placed a warning label on it to say it weighed more than 70 pounds …..

My brother said he was coming over to help, but I got a little over zealous and managed to get everything done on my own because he was busy himself.

I'm going to try and finish it up this weekend (i.e. install brake lines back on, then install inner axle seals, the axles themselves, the emergency brakes housing/calipers and rotors and then put the rear wheels on). I then want to remove the rear jack stands and place the car on some ramps I have. Should be pretty cool having the rear wheels back on.

They shipped the center section in this bucket. So, I cut out the bottom and used it as a stand to get the center section painted.

Got the yoke covered up and applied some primer.

Then I applied some Duplicolor high heat paint. I was going to go with the factory oxide color, but thought silver aluminum would look more custom.

I then brought out the engine hoist so I could lower the center section on to the housing evenly as it was recommended by the manufacture to just use RTV and no gasket. So, I wanted to ensure that thing sat straight down. And I knew I was not doing that by hand weighing over 70 pounds LOL.

And here she is mounted to the housing. Had a difficult time getting it to lay even since the yoke is off center. But I ended up getting it by installing a couple bolts to force the top side to lay down.

I used the grey RTV. Directions said to lay the part on top of the housing. Let the RTV ooze out and sit like that for an hour. Then torque to spec. So, I did that and cleaned up the excess RTV.

Then I installed it in to the car. I had to use 2 jacks and a couple 4x4 blocks of wood. I also laid down some micro fiber towels so things would not get scratched up. Came out pretty good. As mentioned above I'll get her buttoned up this weekend.