68 Mustang Memorial Day Weekend Thrash

[Drew Pojedinec]

Oh... you just had this car sitting around for the last ten years?  Yeah... umm... guess ya probably couldn't see it with the GT, Shelby, 64 Galaxie, and whatever else in the way.
*shakes his fist at jay brown, swears in Polish, and throws a hammer against the wall*

That is nice.  Good luck with the FE swap!

[ScotiaFE]

Oh... you just had this car sitting around for the last ten years?  Yeah... umm... guess ya probably couldn't see it with the GT, Shelby, 64 Galaxie, and whatever else in the way.
*shakes his fist at jay brown, swears in Polish, and throws a hammer against the wall*

That is nice.  Good luck with the FE swap!

You forgot the really kool square Bird.

[427Fastback]

I just did a T56 conversion on a 67 Camaro..It is a heavy trans..I used the stock clutch linkage and a dual disc Mcleod clutch set up...Lots of dicking around to get the shifter in the sweet spot on the oem hole.Car has a console..

I am putting a TKO 600RR trans in my 68..Trimming the upper floor brace is generally considered to be mandatory.Most just cut a window in it but as mine is still on the rotisserie I welded in all new pcs..



Frame connectors will be mandatory..
I always use old school traction master style bars.I make my own and put a adjustable end on the frame end of the bar.I also weld ears on the floor (torque box) so it is in double shear..I am strictly a road car guy and bunny hop just doesn't happen



My list of stuff is endless but you only have 4 days.......Cory

[thatdarncat]

Jay, the spring perches should be in the same location on the '57 Ford housing and the '67 Mustang. You might want to check before you go to the trouble of cutting them off.  Fairlane / Comet are different spacing.  You do have to use either the '57 Ford lower shock plates or slot the u-bolt holes in the '67 Mustang shock plates since the Mustang uses a housing that necks down at the ends and the '57 Ford uses straight tubes. You may want to box in the spring perches though for strength. Knowing you, somehow it may wind up with more power some day lol.

[jayb]

Cory, why are frame connectors mandatory?  Something to do with the transmission?  Thanks for the tip on cutting that crossmember by the way, I think I might get in there and do that before the  test fit even.

Kevin, I measured the distance between the leaf springs mounts on the car and came up with a narrower dimension on the 57 Ford axle housing by about 1.25", but maybe I measured wrong.  I will find out on Sunday, which is when I'm tackling the rear end...

[jayb]

Oh... you just had this car sitting around for the last ten years?  Yeah... umm... guess ya probably couldn't see it with the GT, Shelby, 64 Galaxie, and whatever else in the way.
*shakes his fist at jay brown, swears in Polish, and throws a hammer against the wall*

That is nice.  Good luck with the FE swap!

Wow, I've never been sworn at in Polish before!  English, French, German, and Danish yes, but not Polish.  I'll add that to my list 

[427Fastback]

The car is going to twist on you and there is quite abit of unnoticed bounce in the Mustangs...
I don't speed/power shift the 68...The constant loading and unloading of the chassis will take its toll.When I stripped the 68 the bottom of the drivers door jam (latch side) was cracked.Paint/clear coat was cracked on the upper left windshield pillar.Left drip rail paint/clear was cracked for a foot and the left rear inner fender(hood hinge one) had released it self from the cowl at the top...All the spot welds were broken...

I put the frame rail connectors in before the FE conversion...My glove box still pops open torqueing on it in 2nd...

Its a lot of torque for these cars .....but I wouldn't have it any other way....JMO.....Cory

[cobracammer]

I love mustang fastbacks. Sadly I had to sell my twin paxton 68 fastback to buy the cammer engine. Guy who bought it was in australia.......  Miss her already. Really nice car Jay!

[jayb]

10:00 on Friday, and time to call it a night.  Just finished painting the engine compartment:



Its not perfect, but it will do.  It actually looks better in person than in the photo.  Some of the parts, like the shocks, sway bar, and master cylinder will be replaced so I didn't bother to paint those.

Its been a 15 hour day in the shop, but I've actually only been working on this car for 10 hours.  This morning I went to start my Mach 1 and move it away from the lift so I could pull the 68 in there, and it wouldn't start.  Took me three hours to figure out that all my fuel injectors had been stuck shut.  These are a brand called Injector Dynamics, and they are supposed to be extremely linear in their response, especially at the lower pulse widths, to provide better idle while allowing a very large injector.  But I had one of them stick on me once before, and after pulling them out of the car this morning I found that all four that I checked were stuck.  I didn't bother to check the other four; fortunately I have another set of injectors from Ford Motorsport that will work, so after a call to my EFI pal Scott to coach me on the changes to the EFI software with the new injectors, I got them installed and the engine fired right up.  Scott also mentioned to me that over the last year he had heard of a bunch of people having problems with the Injector Dynamics fuel injectors.  So, for future reference, my recommendation would be to stay clear of that brand.

Tomorrow my friend Steve is coming over to give me a hand with the installation, so with luck by dinner time all the issues will have been worked out, and my 68 will have an FE installed 

[427Fastback]

I pulled the small block out of my 68 in 1988 (I was 29) and installed my 427.I have never regretted it...One of my current projects is putting a 428CJ and 4spd in my brothers 66 Mustang Fastback.....Good luck with the install..

[Bolted to Floor]

This is a very ambitious weekend thrash. Will this be like an extremely shortened replacement for  Road to Drag Week? I have read all of the rest of 'em and was looking forward to this years saga.

I was hoping to find a weekend when I could install brake lines and a fuel line on my car. You're swapping out the entire drive train and brake system with modifications to the trans tunnel. And making time to tell us about it and show us pictures. Very cool. 

[Drew Pojedinec]

Wow, I've never been sworn at in Polish before!  English, French, German, and Danish yes, but not Polish.  I'll add that to my list 

Hahaha, all in good fun.  Seriously, very awesome car.  Can't believe you've had it hidden for a decade,  small block or not, I'd be driving that thing around all the time. 

[MustangGT]

Hey Jay.

I have a 67 Fastback with a 527cid FE. I put in a T56 Magnum kit from American Powertrain about 3 years ago. Twin disc McLeod RST and hydraulic clutch.
Not much cutting was necessary, just about what 427Fastback shows in his picture.
Maybe I can provide you with some help if you need?

I am actually in the really premature stages of concidering replacing this transmission with an auto but that's another story, hehe

[jayb]

Saturday morning and I've hit a major roadblock with this project.  This morning I started working on mating up the engine and transmission.  First thing I did was try to install the pilot bearing that comes with the American Powertrain kit.  Unfortunately, it just slid right into the back of the crank, with no press.  In fact, there was a bunch of slop.  This pilot bearing is a roller bearing installed inside what looks like a bronze pilot bushing, with the center hole of the bushing opened up to accomodate the bearing.  But measuring the outside of the assembly, it measures 1.820"; factory Ford pilot bushings measure 1.850".  This thing was 0.030" too small in diameter!  What a joke.  I checked a stock Ford bushing but the ID was too small for the input shaft of the trans.  I spent the next hour pressing the bearing out of the pilot bushing it was in, then cutting a factory pilot bushing on my lathe so that I could press in the bearing.

After fixing that problem, I went to install the new bushing/bearing into the back of the crank.  After getting it pushed most of the way in, I noticed that the bearing was not pushing in any farther, as I continued to drive the bushing into the crank.  The bearing is thicker than the bushing, so the back side of the bearing must be hitting the recess in the crank, and not allowing it to go in any farther.  When I had the bushing all the way in, the bearing was standing proud of the bushing by about a tenth of an inch.  Now I was worried that I would have interference with the input shaft.

To check this, I took the Quicktime bell and its backing plate and installed them on the engine.  I measured from the mounting surface of the bell to the surface of the pilot bearing, and got 4-1/4".  Seemed a little short to me.  I went over to the trans, and when I measured that I got a real surprise.  From the mounting surface of the transmission to the start of the pilot shaft, I measured 4-3/4"!  Even if that pilot bearing hadn't pushed out, there's no way that the transmission would fit.

So, now I'm wondering if I'm missing some parts.  If there's anybody here who has done one of these installs, can you tell me if there's a spacer that is supposed to go between the Quicktime Bell and the T56 Magnum?   It seems to me like there ought to be a 1/2" spacer in there, or else I have the wrong transmission, or the wrong bellhousing.  If you know something about this, please respond ASAP.  In the meantime, I'm going to be working on front suspension and rear end stuff...

[MustangGT]

Jay, I did not have the pilot bearing issues you are experiencing but I run in to a snag when I tightened the tranny/bell housing to the engine. The tranny yoke wouldn't turn unless I loosened up the bellhousing to engine bolts.
I ordered this spacer: http://lakewoodindustries.com/1-4-alum-t56-mag-trani-spacer.html
and problem was solved