Well I haven't had much time lately but I am finally getting back on the Mav. I have both upper control arms built and I have the brackets made and one side tacked on. I ordered the coil overs yesterday, part number DR4855B, made by QA1. They were 169.95 each thru Summit. The springs are 10" long, 350# rate/in. They are 36.95 each. The spring rate is just a rough guess till I get the car completed. I purchased the upper coil over mounts from S&W Racecars, they were designed to weld to rear axle housings, but all I need to do is shear them at the correct angle and weld them between the upper control arm mounts. Bought two Goodyear Eagle slicks off of Ebay for 60.00 delivered. I will use them to mock uo the rear tubs. The tires are 29 inches tall and 12 wide. I purchased a JD squared tubing bender finally. I used one that a friend had and they are excellent! If you can find someone in your area that is a dealer, they are 266.00 with the degree ring. This is for the model 3. http://www.JD2.com. If you buy one direct from JD Squared it will cost you an additional 125.00 freight. I purchased two sets of dies, 1 3/4 and 1 5/8. NHRA will allow you to run 1 5/8 so Iwill do the whole cage in that. The dies run about 200.00 a set, so for about 700.00 you can get a nice deal. Also built a frame with 8 inch casters to roll the car on. Should have done that from the start.
lower control arms I ordered a set of lower control arms from Global West in California. http://www.globalwest.net/mustang_1964 -73 catalog.htm#Front Lower Control Arms They are the stock control arms that have been boxed in, have aircraft spherical bearings instead of rubber bushings, and new ball joints installed. They are 299.00 a set, but that is only 200.00 more than new stock ones. For 100.00 an arm, I don't want to spend the time on the mill putting in the bearings and plating the bottom. Started to step up to the tubular lowers, but at 469.99 I have a couple of better places to put the money. They look nice though.
Mocking Up Tubs... Steve, Are you planning on installing full wheel-tubs? If so, let me pass on this handy tip that I picked up on after installing my third set of tubs. Go to your local Wal-Mart or equivalent, and get some wooden or plastic "pick-up sticks" from the childrens toy section. Then get your cardboard that you are going to use for templates and make some pieces that fit flush with your frame rails. On the other end (the fender side), just get them close. Then take the pick up sticks and stick them into the edge of the cardboard, in between the corrugated ribs. The sticks fit perfectly. After you do this, you can place the cardboard into the wheel-well again and secure it to the frame-rail side...take a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull each pick-up stick into place against the fender side of the opening. You can then remove the cardboard, lay it out flat on your material for the wheel tub and run a pencil along the outside edge of the sticks to make a near-perfect template. Be sure to measure and check it several times to be sure. But I can assure you that this method works and will save you numerous aspirin purchases. Hope this helps.
pick up sticks Thanks so much for the suggestion!! I am in the process of cutting the sheetmetal out as we speak.
New shop built finally I am going to get it home this weekend and try to start working on it. I finally got my shop done, 50 x 36, and I have been racing my dragster, but I plan to get on it.
BAck on car soon I have been busy trying to get my shop built and get tooled up. I sold a house so I used the money to buy a CNC plasma cutter, a tubing bender, a 40 ton iron worker, TIg welder, and a really nice mitering head bandsaw. Now I can get down to business. The dragster is fun but you can only drive it one place. Going to sell it and put the money into the Mav. Got some really good ideas I think on some things. I will put some pictures up as soon as I can. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.
Re: Business Actually this is stuff at my home, I am a helicopter pilot/mechanic for a living. The business I was speaking of is finally getinng my Mav. going! Just always got tired of trying to build things with out the right equipment. Hey, you only live once right?:bananaman
I understand...I got my comet in the 1st part of 2003. I just got all my plan to get started in July of this year. I took three months on just rim, tires, & the complete front end. Only thing remains is the gas tank. 2005 I start on the 302 under the hood...YEA
