Doug's 65 Cyclone build

[lavron]

A lot of the vendors sell the pieces but I have material so I built my own.

Two thumbs up from me on making your own

they look as good as any store bought ones I am sure

See Ya,
Mike

[DesertRat]

The PO cut the shock towers bracing to fit headers so I had to fix it. In the process I decided to shave the shock towers and get ready for the new upper a-arms with drilling for the Shelby drop and figure it out as I went. The first couple photos show what I started with. The feature that enabled me to accomplish the next couple posts of work is having the car on a rotisserie. Without it I probably would have took the easy way out and not done everything that follows. The first couple are what I started with-------------------


I started slow and easy with the obvious things needing done.

Below is the new Opentracker upper arm sitting in the drop location, the stock holes showing above the top of the arm.

I welded the stock arm mounting holes closed in preparation for boxing and cutting the towers.

This is where I start measuring and thinking about how I am going to do this and keep it strong enough with enough clearance to use the basically stock front suspension with the Opentracker upgrades.
More to follow----------------------DR-----------------

[A/FX]

Good progress. Using a rotisserie make life so much easier, (and helps with back ache)
Are you planning to change the steering box? Just about any Mustang Box will bolt in, you may have to get creative with the pitman arm if you are converting to ‘65 style steering. I was able to use a Cougar column, Cougar box (16-1) and ‘65 style steering by mix and matching factory parts.
Looking forward to more updates.
Jim

[DesertRat]

Good progress. Using a rotisserie make life so much easier, (and helps with back ache)
Are you planning to change the steering box? Just about any Mustang Box will bolt in, you may have to get creative with the pitman arm if you are converting to ‘65 style steering. I was able to use a Cougar column, Cougar box (16-1) and ‘65 style steering by mix and matching factory parts.
Looking forward to more updates.
Jim

Jim: I have the proper Borgeson power steering kit on the shelf and the car is a 65 with 65 V-8 steering already in it. I am expecting it to use the pittman arm off the factory manual steering box. (which was a $@^-#! kitty to get off the original box but is now beadblasted and on the shelf) The downside to the power steering conversion is it will now interfere with the Z-bar so I am problem solving that issue as I work on the car. I am planning on changing the entire steering column as the original was too far gone to re-use.

[lavron]

Cool I like it when someone uses a mix and match of factory parts,glad you have posted what you are doing, so many will look at that, we have a lot of traffic here that are not members which means they are discovering some of the best stuff on the internet for doing this, I know at times it doesn ot seem worthy to post but I think these are the best, not stuff sponsored by a big corporation of company where guys were paid or given stuff, don't misunderstand I wish someone would give me everything I wanted, mostly money however the info on this site is some of the most honest car building and customization out there I have seen, I got so soured on car magazines I won't even look at them any more (why would I when I have Comet Central to look at?) on my Comet the only free stuff on my car came from other members here giving it to me if they had extra, I really appreciate when guys do that, I try to do the same when I can (I am the worst at telling someone I have something they need and they are welcome to it and then forgetting about it or I am not able to find it, one day I will get everything organized better and will be able to help more guys out. I think Pops said it best one time at the Gathering when he said the forum is about as close on the computer to a digital garage where a bunch of guys gather to help each other work on cars so the talk is not always car stuff but other life lessons are learned. You all know I am a big supporter of rotissing a big project in some form (even if it means bolting wooden rockers to the car and flipping it up on its side.

My Comet project is the first time I have ever done anything like this, most likely I will never do another but if I do it will be a smoother process, so hopefully I can be help to others at some point as well.

keep posting and giving information on what you are doing, it helps others so much, I know the builds in this forum inspired me to attempt building my Comet finally. (Groovers build comes to mind)

See Ya,
Mike

( I will never forget using Google to search for something and Lou's build showed up at the top of the results

[Joe Travers]

The downside to the power steering conversion is it will now interfere with the Z-bar so I am problem solving that issue as I work on the car. I am planning on changing the entire steering column as the original was too far gone to re-use.

Have you considered a power rack and pinion conversion? You can kill a few birds with that stone. I love mine but there is a slight downside. Steering radius is a tad larger. Not a biggie for me, considering the driver's side under the hood is still very cramped but manageable for pulling plugs and making clutch and brake adjustments.

JT

[DesertRat]

The downside to the power steering conversion is it will now interfere with the Z-bar so I am problem solving that issue as I work on the car. I am planning on changing the entire steering column as the original was too far gone to re-use.

Have you considered a power rack and pinion conversion?
JT

Joe: I looked at everything for a long time including the R&P. Everything is a compromise but my plans for the car seemed to work best with the Borgeson kit. It doesn't bother me to deal with the clutch issue-just another thing----------------Thinking hydraulic or Hydraulic T/B. Lot of runway. The shock tower mod I'm doing will explain a lot.

[Joe Travers]

It doesn't bother me to deal with the clutch issue-just another thing----------------Thinking hydraulic or Hydraulic T/B. Lot of runway. The shock tower mod I'm doing will explain a lot.

I've thought about hydraulic clutch myself but I don't think I have room for a reservoir on the firewall Haven't done a deep dive yet because I've been shaking out other things on my hit list. The clutch is near the top, though. I feel your pain concerning the Z bar. You can see I have a mess on my hands.



JT

[lavron]

I've thought about hydraulic clutch myself but I don't think I have room for a reservoir on the firewall

There are clutch masters with remote reservoirs, not sure all that they are on but someone here will be an encyclopedia on that in my situation the Landcruiser master fit right in there but I don't have power brakes or standard steering, visually I am not a fan of it

It works really well with both the original pedal and the Isuzu slave.

I am trying to keep my engine bay clean as I can, Spartan even


AC install will clutter it up more but I guess I am committed to that and will just try to keep the install as clean as I can. have decided I liked this silver valve cover better than the Bedliner black I have on there now, I am thinking about stripping it again and painting it body color when I paint the car which will be gunmetal gray (currently) Wondering if there was some type of paint I could paint that clutch master with that would not peel or get washed off by brake fluid spills? I might like it better then if it did not look like plastic at least <---OCD kicking in there. hink I painted the cast part of it with POR15.


See Ya,
Mike

[DesertRat]

I've thought about hydraulic clutch myself but I don't think I have room for a reservoir on the firewall

See Ya,
Mike

There are lots of options for the clutch including fighting through a modified Z-bar. (I'm not doing that) Your setup looks real nice Mike. It seems cleaner every time I look at it. I will have a little more room with the tower mod but I think I am going to add AC as well. No power brakes, they are hard to fit on our cars. BTW FWIW I am painting my engine bay body color like my 67 notch. It may be frowned on by the purists but I can see everything on my 67 and these black engine bays are hard on an old man's eyes. (which aren't the first thing to go BTW)

[DesertRat]

Well I finally finished my shock tower mod 100%. Here is the first set of photos of the step by step process I used.
To start with I had to decide how far up to cut reinforcement to plate and box. All material used for this is 10 GA steel plate.


You can see I welded the stock A-arm mounting holes closed the ones showing are the newly drilled ones.


I made a template to transfer the horizontal cap to the 10 GA plate.

I chose my depth of cut by mounting my new A-arms and spring perches and measuring the required clearance from inside the tower. Then I went up on a 45 and out another inch to get what I wanted. I cut a separate plate for the 45 angle box.

This is how it is shaping up. I had to pattern out the vertical large plate and cut it out with a torch as 10 Ga is too hard to work than much with a sawsall which is how cut the parts that are in now. The job is finished but I will download the rest of my photos and post up the finished product tomorrow morning. ------------------------Cheers--------------DR------------------

[Joe Travers]

There are lots of options for the clutch including fighting through a modified Z-bar. (I'm not doing that)

My Z bar isn't modified but mounted to the roller block with an aftermarket bracket. Mounting on the frame is stock location. If you check out the photo, you'll see the top of the Z bar with adjustment nuts on the threaded clutch rod, just below the black proportioning valve adjustment knob. Look below the knuckle on the steering shaft below that and you can see the stock pivot mounting plate for the Z bar bolted on the frame. The pivot rod of the bar is completely hidden by the Hookers from the top. I'll snap a picture from the bottom side for you when conditions permit. It's only a fight if you love headers.

JT

[DesertRat]

Lots of photos here, hope its not too boring. These are the last of the shock tower mod I did for "stock" suspension.
First I had to template the last two pieces and transfer it to 10 GA plate then cutting the pieces.


Then I fitted the pieces into the towers and tacked them in on both sides.


I then welded each side 50% at a time inside and outside of the tower working side to side.

Then I installed the Opentracker A-arm to check fit and clearance.



Then I let things cool off and put a little polish on the work.


This completes the series on the shock tower mods. I will start welding up holes in the engine bay and the rest of the car.
I will double check the entire inside and outside of the chassis for required repairs. I can't production grind the welding until the weather gets warmer and I can roll the rotisserie outside. The grinding makes my shop nearly inhabitable.
Next up will be the rotted out trunk gasket channel repair and fitting the front bucket seats.
Thanks for looking------------------DR-----------------out---------------------

[SASSY]

Great work!
I like how you angled the outter brace from the frame rail to the upper Aarm mount area. The mod looks very strong.
Fred

[Joe Travers]

Doug, that engine bay looks stout enough to handle a Cammer

JT