Frame Mods to Type 65 Coupe

[Tom Mauldin]

Looks great Jacob!!! I can't wait to get time to work on mine again, but it gives me time to watch what you do and copy some of your improvements.

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks Tom. It sounds like you in the same situation as many of us - trying to find time to build despite a litany of other things competing for our time.

Here are a few more pictures of the driver's footbox, now with the last two panels installed. I have to say I am pretty happy with how the fit came out; making three panels was the right choice here. I also managed to get the steering rack installed. Next will be the tie rod ends and the upper steering bearing, which will make it a roller, albeit without tires.

Driver Footbox 5.jpg

Driver Footbox 6.jpg

[Hankl]

Jake,

That is great work, glad to see that you are making progress!!

Guess what this is......



Hank

[Tom Mauldin]

Looks good Jacob!

Hank, I would say you have a pretty set of uppers!!!

[John Dol]

I'm with Tom on this one Hank!

John

[Jacob McCrea]

Yes, I agree that it looks like you now have custom upper control arms, to match the custom lowers if my memory serves me correctly. Very nice!

Here is all I can offer up right now, but with heavy rain in the weekend forecast I may be stuck in the shop, rather than biking, so maybe I'll get more interior paneling and the radiator shroud finished.

Steering Bearing Final.JPG

[Gav]

Love your alloy panelling, gives it a very original look.
What's better is that it won't mark or corrode!

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks, the cheap clear coat came out much better than I expected.

Here are two photos of today's progress. I got the stainless heat shields on (1) the driver's footbox and (2) the rectangular space behind the engine installed. I will add another one in the tall, thin space between them before too long. Also, I'm happy to report that the car steers. I will post photos later, but I got the rack and tie rod ends installed, installed the steering shaft and added a quick-release kit from Breeze. Now not only can I sit in it and pretend to drive, but I can turn the wheel and pretend to drive. Good times!

Driver Heat Shield 1.jpg

Driver Heat Shield 2.jpg

[Hankl]

Jake,

How's the emergency brake set up doing?

Hank

[Jacob McCrea]

Hank,

I haven't worked on that system for a while, but will return to it shortly. A while ago I bought an -3 AN line and completely mocked it up, but didn't install the hydraulic handle because the fluid reservoirs for those cheap Chinese master cylinders are too wide to fit where I want the handle to go. So, I need to get a Wilwood compact master cylinder with the integrated reservoir, mount that to the handle, and set it up. I will do that in the next few weeks, in conjunction with mounting the seats.

Here are a few more pics, namely a better shot of the driver's inner heat shield and the radiator shroud I threw together this week.

Driver Heat Shield 3.jpg
Fan Shroud 1.jpg
Fan Shroud 2.jpg

Can someone tell me if the way that the fan shroud sticks up above the radiator will cause a problem, namely interference with the hood? I can put the overhanging part on the top or the bottom, but I went with the top to not interfere with the aluminum paneling down there. Should I reverse it? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

[smithtlw]

Good to see your progress Jacob - looks good! I really like the adjustable height steering.

Todd

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks Todd; I hope you are doing well.

Hank, here is how the hydraulic e-brake setup ultimately looks. I switched the original master cylinder to a Wilwood with an integrated reservoir. I had to put the original master cylinder's push rod on the Wilwood to maintain the correct (metric) threads for the brake handle. A banjo-to-AN bolt and fitting at the master cylinder let me run the line exactly where I wanted, and it hooks up to the caliper nicely. The caliper's pads aren't perfectly flat against the pinion rotor, but I will have to adjust that after the driveline angles are set. Here are a few photos:

E Brake 1.jpg
E Brake 2.jpg
E Brake 3.jpg

Next is finishing some interior aluminum and mounting the seats. I also found a company making kits to install 14" 07-12 GT500 front rotors and the accompanying Brembo calipers on SN95 spindles. The same kit also lets you use the bigger and dramatically cheaper 2015+ GT front calipers with those rotors. So, it looks like I may get front brakes on the car by the year's end as that fits my budget much better than Wilwood's racing brake kit.

[Hankl]

Jake,

That really looks great, keeps us posted on your progress.

[Tom Mauldin]

Jacob,
I think you may have a clearance issue with the shroud up that high. I'm in the middle of putting a roadster radiator with dual fans on a Daytona for a friend. There's not much vertical real estate there. For that matter, not much real estate at all.

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks Tom; I ended up flipping the shroud upside-down and hopefully it will clear. Hopefully I won't need to move the top of the radiator forward.

Here are the rear brake cooling ducts I threw together over the last few days. A friend's unfortunate marital woes resulted in (among other things) me storing his fabricating equipment, one of which is a Dynasty tig. This was my first attempt at tig welding aluminum, after a half hour of practice. It's not a stack of dimes (more like toothpaste flattened with a fingertip), but it should get the job done.

Rear Brake Duct 4.JPG
Rear Brake Duct 3.JPG
Rear Brake Duct 1.JPG
Rear Brake Duct 2.JPG

Edit: Happy Thanksgiving to the everyone and their families.

[Hankl]

SWEET!!!

Hankl

[Jacob McCrea]

"Huge brakes" and "dirt cheap" are usually mutually exclusive, but here is a custom rear brake setup I finished today. We have cheap 14" eBay rotors from a 2012 GT500 ($137.00 for both), Aeroquip 3AN lines and related fittings ($50 or so), 4-piston front calipers from a 2015 Mustang GT, which are the size of an NFL regulation football ($140 each including core charge from Tasca Ford), and custom brackets made from $20 worth of 1/4" cold rolled steel. It took a bit of time and care to get the fit perfect, but I think it was worth it. The same parts are going on the front, with an adapter kit for SN95 spindles. Let me know what you think.

Rear Brakes 1.JPG

Rear Brakes 2.JPG

Rear Brakes 3.JPG

Rear Brakes 4.JPG

Rear Brakes 5.JPG

[jkrueger]

Where is the like button! Great job.

JC

[CraigS]

Great work. I am convinced that having the same brakes front and rear is the setup for these cars.

[FMJ]

Jacob,

Drove past a few months ago but no one was home. My brother knew where the garage was.

-Fred

[smithtlw]

Brakes and cooling ducts look great! Sounds like a great solution. I will have to check in to those especially for the front. 14 inch rotors are huge - what wheels are you running?

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks for the compliments; I thought some folks would enjoy seeing 14" brakes for under $500 an end.

Todd, I will use either Ford wheels for a Boss 302 or GT500, or a set of RTR Tech 7 19 x 9.5" wheels. Those wheels clear the 14" Brembo brake setup of that era (aka the Ford M-2300-S brake kit), but my 2015 GT calipers are even larger than those Brembo calipers, which creates a problem. The 2015 GT rotor is recessed in from the hub face quite a bit to make up for this. So, I will likely need short wheel spacers to make even those high-spoke-clearance wheels fit. I could've avoided the problem by just installing the M-2300-S calipers, or getting remanufactured M-2300-S calipers, but I elected to try this to save some money. The adapter kit for the front is made by Fully Torqued Racing in California. I will let you know how the wheel situation turns out.

Fred, thanks for trying to visit, stop by any time, and say hello to your brother for me when you see him. He was a great guy to work with on acquiring the adjacent property.

Here is a seat brace I welded up from .120 aluminum; it is not fully bolted in as I am waiting for some tube clamps for it and the harnesses. Slowly but surely!

Driver Seat Brace.JPG

[Hankl]

Jake,

That is a really great execution of your idea! Those calipers are MONSTERS!

Hank

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks, I thought monster brakes for dirt cheap would be well-received!

Fred J. was kind enough to reach out to me and check in, and I promised I would post up some pictures of recent, albeit modest, progress. I am going to finish the interior panels and start on the wiring in the next month or so.

Having more argon, electricity, time and aluminum than disposable income, I welded up a battery box, rather than buy one. I also bought wheels (RTR Tech 7s, 19 x 9.5"), split and mounted the dash, and finished a few other little things in the interior. From here on out I am trying to make everything as simple and by-the-book as possible as I would like to keep this under a ten-year project!

Battery Box 1.JPG
RTR Tech 7 1.JPG
Seat & Harness Brackets 3.JPG
Split Dash 1.JPG
Split Dash 2.JPG
Split Dash 3.JPG

[John Dol]

Jacob,

Great progress, however I have to warn you that the cover plate for the emergency handle in the last picture infringes on the patent I have for making that exact cover many years ago!

John

[Tarmac]

Hi Jacob,

I have been following your build since you started, but rarely if ever comment on threads... You have excellent fabrication skills, and am glad you have kept the build going.

Paul

[Jacob McCrea]

John,
Just send me a licensing agreement for that patent!

Paul,
Thank you for your kind words, and I'm glad you are following along.

This build has been going so long that I've watched (very talented) people buy kits, build them, race them, win shows, sell them, and move on to the next project. I'm surely not alone in this regard, but it's always a challenge to find large blocks of time to devote to the project. A lot of time that could go to the coupe goes to bike riding and skiing with my wife, taking proper care of multiple pieces of property, helping my parents with their fading ability to maintain their property, trying to maintain old friendships and make new ones, maintaining a fleet of things that roll about on wheels, and ten other things I could list.

I'm not complaining; I just find myself in a constant state of motion, and the coupe project isn't in my "critical path" on any given day. But I'll keep plugging along, and I appreciate you and others following along and offering kind words of support and encouragement.

[John Dol]

Jacob,

Agreement sent!
But on a serious note, you are indeed not the only one. I've been at it for longer then I really wanted, but the good thing is it's there when you have time for it. And your doing a great job at it so it will get done when it gets done.

John

[Jacob McCrea]

Alright, here is a little more progress: front calipers from a 2015 Mustang GT are installed thanks to a kit from Fully Torqued Racing. The big downside is that my wheel choices are almost nil due to the lack of offset between the hub surface and the rotor/friction surface, and even these 19" RTR Tech 7s required me to shave about 1/16" from the edge of the caliper. The dash is covered in thick carbon vinyl and ready for the gauges and switches. And I mounted up and partially plumbed a power steering cooler from C&R Racing, using a stainless bracket and -6AN lines from Breeze. If it rains this weekend I may get to bleeding the brakes and filling all those holes in the dash.

Front Brakes 1.JPG

Front Brakes 2.JPG

Front Brakes 3.JPG

Steering Cooler 1.JPG

Steering Cooler 2.JPG

Carbon Dash 1.JPG

Carbon Dash 2.JPG

Carbon Dash 3.JPG

[Hankl]

Nice wheels Jake,

Looks like you're making steady progress.

Hank

[Jacob McCrea]

Steady progress indeed! Here is the most recent of it, thanks largely to leaving the public sector (for the second or third time now) and starting my own business. We have a 22 gallon Fuel Safe Enduro cell with a 255 lph Walbro pump sitting in a surge tank. Getting the cell to fit the chassis was an exercise in measuring twice, welding and bending five times, and I'd put a smaller cell in it if I had to do it again. The engine is a new Boss 302 (Windsor) from Ford, with the "B" cam, a Quick Time bellhousing and a Ford Performance Parts 7 quart road race pan. Alternator bracket is from Speed Doctor, and the power steering bracket is from CFR. I'm still figuring out whether the GT40 intake will clear the hood without modification. The chassis and engine are about half wired, but overall it is coming along as my limited time permits. I hope everyone's doing well and enjoying the summer.

Fuel Cell 1.JPG

Fuel Cell 2.JPG

Cheap Hydro Clutch 1.JPG

Fuel Cell Cover 1.JPG

Boss 302 1.JPG

[John Dol]

Jacob,

When do you think first start will be?
I like the wheels you chose too.

John

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks John. Depending on free time I should get it to run around September. I need to make some braided AN and hard lines for the fuel, weld the O2 sensors into the headers, merge the chassis and engine harnesses, and figure out how to wire the kill switch to also shut down the 3G alternator. I also need to modify the homemade clutch slave cylinder bracketry to get more travel; it now sits too far from the transmission. It's taking a lot of pedal movement, even with a 1.125" master, to move the 7/8" slave enough to disengage the clutch. With those tasks accomplished, it should run, and even drive if I put tires on it and fit the parking brake!

[Hankl]

Jake,

Some really great progress. I'm welding up a cage for my fuel cell right now.
Having some of the same problems, but my inlet is on the passenger side of the cell.
I need to catch up with you!!

Hankl

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks Hank; I hope all's well with you and your family, and give a call any time.

Progress here remains steady, although "everything almost fits" is still the theme of the project. If I had a dollar for every part that just bolted on, without cutting, fitting, bending, welding, grinding, filing, or making a custom spacer, I doubt I could buy a sandwich and a cup of coffee at Starbucks. That said, I got the engine fully wired yesterday and pretty much figured out the rest of the wiring, and fuel lines should be done this week. I'll need to fab an angled throttle body adapter so that the hood closes, as FFR did on the old "Champ Coupe," and weld in o2 bungs. And with that the thing should fire up!

Finished Dash 1.JPG

Wired Engine 1.JPG

Defroster Box 1.JPG

[jkrueger]

Progress looks great!

JC

[smithtlw]

Looks awesome Jacob. Great to see the persistence.

[Jacob McCrea]

Thanks Todd. Persistence indeed.

Well, the thing now runs. In short, I had to fabricate an intake elbow to put the throttle body below the hood, and a bracket for the mass air meter. For the former I joined 2 EGR delete plates with some aluminum tube. The tig welds aren't beautiful but they are good enough. As for the headers and side pipes, they simply didn't fit together, despite breaking 2 exhaust pipe expanders and lot of oxygen and acetylene being applied to them. Both my patience and oxygen bottle were nearing exhaustion, so I cut the connectors off the side pipes and welded on ones that actually fit. Then the driver's side header physically impacted the footbox, and not lightly. So that got cut apart and re-fabricated, and now clears the footbox and the body nicely. This took a staggering amount of time.

Other than some fussing with the distributor, timing, idle and belt tension & alignment, the thing started and ran fine. Fuel pressure is perfect, the alternator charges, the kill switch seems to work, etc. Now I can move on to the body work, something I really know how to do, or at least knew how to do 15 years ago.

Thanks to everyone who has offered support, advice and encouragement over the many years of this endeavor; it is very much appreciated and will not be forgotten. I'll try to post a video of the thing running as soon as I find the patience to figure out YouTube.

Finished Engine 1 .JPG
Finished Engine 2 .JPG
Driver Pipes.JPG
Passenger Pipes.JPG

[John Dol]

Nice work Jacob, no guts no glory!!

John

[FMJ]

Hi Jake,

Maybe a Saturday or Sunday in September we can check out your progress?

-Fred