Building a '1966 Pro touring Mustang Convertible.

Started life as a '1966 Mustang Convertible, straight 6 automatic, factory red, white top, parchment interior with bench seat, and wire wheels. NOT ANY MORE............

Full tube frame
Narrowed 9" rear end
Split and expanded stock wheel tubs
18X10 rear Coddington Smoothie II wheels
17X7 Fronts
Wilwood Billet Polished 11.5" Brakes
Custom Torque arm suspension
Panhard bar
BRC Anti-roll assy.
CM control arms
Billet QA1 front and rear adj coil overs
Aluminum radiator
408" Windsor
4340 Crank
H-beam Cap screw rods
Milodon pan /windage tray
KB pistions
AFR heads CNC ported
Lunati roller valve train
Weiand intake
Sheet metal valve covers
MSD billet Dist.
MAS 6 AL ignition
Arnett C-4 racing trans
PTC Torque Converter
Full manual valvebody reverse pattern
Billet pinion support
3.70 gears
Moser 31 spline axles
Auburn posi unit
RCI Aluminum 17 gal Fuel cell
Trunk mounted battery
Smoothed firewall and inner fenders
Shaved dash
Billet gauge pod

The '66 Mustang pro touring project is in high gear. First I disassembled the car to the bare body,sand and soda blast,order all new body parts, narrow the 9" housing, remove the front frame,expand the rear wheel tubs (soon), and fab up a torque arm. The bottom of the stock front and rear frame rails were removed. Then the floor pans and the seat platforms between them were cut out so the new frame could slide up into the slot and be completely welded to the car. To fit a 3" exhaust in the tunnel the center "vert" brace was removed and it will be replaced with 3 crossmembers including the front torque arm mount.

*** Special thanks to Mat Wright at BRC Racecrafts for all of the custom fabrication and chassis work ***

Initial mock up of how we want her to look

New frame rails installed and fully welded

Frame rails welded completely to the top and boddom of the floorpan

Narrowed 9" Ford housing, Moser axles, double rib carrier, Auburn posi, and Wilwood Billet bralkes

Finished front lower control arm mount and custom shock mounts.

Mat Wright working his magic with the tig while welding up the torque arm

Shaved the dash pad mounts off for a smooth painted dash later

Front Torque Arm mount finished

Panhard Bar assy. installed. Now on to the BRC Anti-roll assy.

The rear suspension is now finished and welded. I removed the rear end housing to take some pics so everything would make sense.

New Low profile spun aluminum air cleaner and K&N 3" filter

Welded the dash pad holes shut. Treated the cowl with POR15 and welded the cowl louvers smooth.

Chassis and suspension are complete. Front sheetmetal is mocked up. Now on the the new quarter panels, wheel tubs, trunk floor, and fuel cell mount.

Quarters and wheel houses as well as the complete trunk assy. removed and everything treated with POR 15

Driver side quarter completed now to the passenger,

Inner and outer wheel houses back in place with the tubs widened 3" to handle the larger tires. Notice the stock wheel house flange left in tact in the stock location. Now to modify the top of the wheel houses for the convertible top to lay down completely.

Everything in the rear valance area treated with POR15 and the valance fitted for welding. The valance will be welded and smoothed to the quarter panels.

Mock up of convertible top for fit with the new wheel tubs.

Cut the top off of the new wheel tubs to allow the top to lower completely.

Custom wheel tub top made and the top fits perfectly.

The billet battery mount is installed and the new aluminum fuel cell.

All holes in the firewall are welded and smoothed. The 3 piece lip where the cowl and firewall unibody meet has been rolled and welded. Now we have a smooth radius lip to work with.

New heavy steel torque boxes have arrived and will be installed this week along with steel inner rocker braces.

The torque boxes, inner rockers, and new floorpans are finished

The motor and transmission are mounted. Mat made some very cool custom motor and trans mounts.

The new Wilwood master cylinder is mounted and attaches to the factory pedal assy.

Notched and filled the frame to accommodate the exhaust system.

The inner fenders needed to be removed to fit the larger motor, however, the larger tires and wheels required the inner fenders to be moved in for turning radius. Mat Wright made some very cool custom inner fenders out of steel that will be completely welded and smoothed to the existing body.

Finished the front torque arm mount and added a little safety bracing just in case. (-:

Chassis and headers are complete. Car is on it's way to Performance Exhaust to have a custom stainless steel exhaust system made.

The exhaust was made with all mandrel bent stainless steel tubing, 18" stainless Magnaflow mufflers, stainless hangers, and crossover pipe. The exhaust is removed and completely tig welded using stainless rod. The welds are almost flush and the entire system should polish out nice.

Finally home again. Every seam and weld on the car is sealed with POR 15 and will recieve 3M seam sealer. Now it is time to build the paint booth.She is scheduled for paint in April. We will see?????

The framing and plastic part of the paint booth is finished. After the body work is finished and everything is clean again the air intake and exhaust systems will be added.

Now that all of the welding and grinding are finished the smoothing process with Evercoat filler begins. I am going to start at the radiator support and work my way back.

The firewall and engine compartment are finished and ready for paint

Removing the texture from the inner door panels with K36

Eastwood's rust system on all of the interior floor pans and firewall The dash is also welded and ready for the Autometer 5" gauges