Mustang Rebuild

Carol Shelby (1923-2012)

Jason — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:53:09 +0000

Where would the Mustang be without Shelby?

Rear Drum Brakes Drivers Side

Jason — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 04:01:34 +0000

I spent the day compiling information on the installation of the rear drum brakes for my 66 Mustang.
It took a while to get a complete picture of how all the brake hardware was supposed to be installed.
It wasnt so easy since my mustang didnt have all of the hardware isntalled in the 1st place.

I took pictures of the drivers side brakes after it was all installed. I hope this help someone who’s installing new hardware and needs a reference other than some exploded line drawing of how it all fits together.

I installed all of this with the axle already installed. Every example I saw on the internet had no axle. If your rebuilding your brakes, why on Earth would you remove the axle too. Yes, its does get in the way at times but seriously if your just working on your brakes, leave the axles installed and just work around them. It’s not that difficult.

Drip Rail Possibility?

Jason — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:08:16 +0000

Having removed what was left of the original drip rails and welding the seam up I’ve decided I don’t really like the ‘shaved’ look over having the rail. Unfortunately drip rails are not made by any 3rd party, at least not for a coupe. I picked up a couple of small sheets of 22 gauge sheet metal at Home Depot and using a small bending brake managed to make this simple replacement piece. It’s certainly not exactly the same but close and definitely looks closer to the original than nothing at all.

Unfortunately my brake is much to feeble to make a single one piece rail and it really needs to be so that it’s uniform in size. I’m still undecided if this is the way to go. Basically I’d bend the new rail to fit the window radius and tack it into place where the original rail was. Feedback is desired if you have ideas or an opinion.

Doors

Jason — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:26:45 +0000

I removed the doors a few weeks ago. The skins are rusted out in the bottom front corner. Of course, nothing a pint of epoxy and a nice 1/2″ thick coat of body filler wouldn’t hide until the first bump came along.

Once I got the doors off I also noticed the shell was also comprised.

It looks like new doors are the way out of this mess.

That’s my oldest boy Zach working the sander but I stopped him once I decided I was not reusing these doors.

Rear-end Now Installed

Jason — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:34:00 +0000

Its been a long time in progress but the rear end of the car is finally back in place where it belongs.

The leaf springs, u bolts, and retaining plates were installed on the housing first. Then the entire assembly was transfered to my creeper and rolled into position. I inserted the front bolts first to hold the springs in place. Then used a floor jack to raise it all up so I could install the shackles.

I ran into one problem. I have installed the towing tie downs on the wrong sides. So i have to swap them because they interfere with the springs when they have no load on them. I’m still looking for the torque specs for all the bolts but otherwise the install is done.

All of this work could not have been done by myself. This is a lot of steel and having someone to help move it all around will save you time and save your back. I tried but strained my back moving it by myself. Thanks to my son and wife for the assistance.

REMEMBER THIS? The way it was??

Finally, I’ve included a picture of the drivers side tie down bracket installed. These were supposed to have been removed after the factory shipped the car to the dealership and before being sold. From what I gather from forum posts it was not always done. Many mustangs still have them installed.