Finnish project that never seems to finish

Friday, great. Been way too busy with all the non-Maverick related things for many weeks. Still had time to continue on the pedals one night. Now I have clutch and brake pedals approximately where they should. After all the cutting there is not so much left of the Fox3 column but the original is almost untouched. Almost. The right foot rest is a bit of a squeeze but it will fit as soon as I remember where I put it while disassembling the donor Mustang...
Made some pedal test fittings with steering wheel and oh boy, it would have been soooo nice to switch the fuel pump on and hit the starter. I made some garage test drive noises though since I was alone.
Driving position will be "compact" but luckily I like it so. No stretched arms for cruising in this one.

Here is a sideview picture. Lifted old rear axle with Mustang wheels and tires in place just to take some measurements for our 8.8"/9" hybrid axle setup.

Got the slip-on connectors so at least the headers can be finished when I have time for Mav. That's gonna be a headache I know but summer is also time for barbecue and beer so no worries. I hope that the next update will have picture of those. Headers not the barbecue...

No reply from Wilwood so I think I'll fit the brakes as they are. Delicate hand feel tests resulted equal friction so I guess they're just different color.

Keep those wrences turning

 

Summer, the less snowy time of the year...
Just kidding, few warm days already but lots of rain. So many other things to do that Mav has been hanging on the grill almost untouched.
Still finished drivers side header tubes and only one tube to do on the other side. I ran out of bends and the exhaust shop didn't order new J-curves after I bought the last one. Is that what you guys call morons?? Well, should get it this week so latest on the weekend the headers are ready. Of course have to sand them and think of some coating. Maybe just spray some "fireproof" el-cheapo from the can and wrap them up with Thermo-Tec to get really racy smoke hazard when (if) engine is fired. Too expensive to get decent coating and after all those are prototypes.
Quite interesting puzzle to have separate tubes and even though you know which goes to which port, it is still a limbo to get them all in place. But the feeling when they meet each other in the collector, that's worth a refreshment. After all those moments of missing at least 2 extra hands to keep everything in place for tack-welding...

Few pics of the drivers side tubes attached. I don't know if there is anything to see really but sent them anyway. Also there is a box that I made for covering upper control arm. Don't ask, I really don't know why I made it such a box. Some vision caused by seeing the grass grow maybe. Not welded in yet, have to fix the front floor (only really rusted section of the front end) and firewall first. I think after the headers are ready I'll check the place for driveshaft loop and then engine-trans can be lifted out to weld everything together in the engine bay. And finally make the roll cage front section ready.

I might even get decent condition radiator support frame and rear wheel opening sections from US if I'm lucky. Would help a lot since there is enough sheetmetal work to do even with some "weld-on" parts...

But that's it. Slowly going but still going. Hope you guys and girls have fun looking, fixing or even driving your blue ovals

 

Been quite lazy on Mav lately but at least headers are ready for painting. Just need to find some good flameproof paint for them. It was a little tricky to sandblast them in the quite small blasting cabinet but got it done. To add some challenge, I ripped (accidentally) the protective glove inside the cabinet. Realized that when first sandshower hit my arm, not very nice feeling.
I think that I'll make some funnel to heat the tubes after painting using some flamethrower. Just to burn the most of the first time smoke out of them before wrapping up the Thermo Tec.
Maybe before that it might be a good idea to check the port matching and possibly grind some aluminum out of those China-performance chunks... Maybe make the water passage changes for the heads at the same time.

Finally the rollcage work continued also. In few flicks of the wrist with the bender the door hoops are now ready. Just need to make mounting plates for them on the floor. Tubes line up with the body quite nicely, of course they are not like a mirror pair. I really need to get some angle thing to attach on the tube to get bends with rotation to hit the values from the software.

I hope to get something done next week. Weekend is time for senior hockey tournament. Yes, we actually play some games too

 

Now I need your help, well, at least few opinions or ideas would be nice.

Fact is that the rollcage tubes go down so that dashboard will not fit. I would like to have at least some original look inside too, even though it is heavily modified, so aluminum dash is not the first option.
Idea that I got is to cut and paste original dash to narrow it. Instrument cluster needs to be in place so I was thinking of cutting the heater control section out and place that where the ashtray is. This would cut approximately 80mm from the driver side leaving gauges where they should and moving light and wiper switches right next to them. Seam is almost an easy to fit since there is not so much curve on the dash. Of course there needs to be similar cut done other side but I thought to do that around where the ashtray used to be. There is some smashed hole there anyway so I could get rid of it too.

Does this sound like: a) I need medication, b) so and so or c) go for it?

Yesterday I opened up 2 holes to the roof to get welding access to rollcage main hoop to side bar connection. Yep, the tubes are a bit too close to the body but all the space inside is needed. Now it looks like there are 2 cans opened on top. I might not put a picture of that in here since it might rise some blood pressure in case one is a restoration fanatic. I respect those guys huge, don't get me wrong, I think that is the most demanding thing to do. That's why I'm not trying it yet and especially not for this car...
At least I dropped the idea of installing some air vents on the roof. Made a small "scoop" and even how low it would be it would stick in the eye like a carrot in the a... So roofline will be smooth curved coupe like it is originally.

Tomorrow short trip to see rallycars fly on a very narrow roads through forest. If you have time, check out some videos from Ouninpohja special stage. That will explain a little how grazy we are here

 

Can you put up a photo of the bars that prevent the dash from fitting?

 

Again, delay. Went to Nurburgring last weekend for AVD Historic race to see Cobras, E-Types, Mustangs and all kind of other cars go around the track as they were ment to do. Awesome just awesome.

Some pics of the front cage bars attached. I almost started to cut the dash but I think I'll wait for some input from the pros and that means you my dear forum friends.
Found also the right foot rest of my donor Mustang so now I can also start to finalize my pedals section.