The Green Monster

You gotta do what makes you happy, but I'd tear 'em out in a New York minute, due to the fact that they're 4-d00r panels and they're a hideous green color. If those were desirable parts that are hard to come by, it would be a different story, but door panels can be obtained pretty easily, especially if new backing panels are bought and re-covered.

 

I don't discount the interest of the rare "4 door enthusiast". My 23 year old son wanted a classic 4 door from the beginning, so his friends could ride along. He was happy with the build. We sold it to a young man that has built many hot rod imports and wanted an old Ford to work on. If he spends the same time and effort that we did, he will take it up several levels from where we ended and have an awesome car.

I still have the 3 door skins from the 75 4 door (driver front was missing when I bought the car.). I thought they would make excellent templates if they don't clean up well. The Masonite seems to be in good shape and I think all of the spring clips are in place. There some kind of white mold/fungus/algae stuff growing in spots...welcome to Florida! The land of rust and rot. I haven't tried cleaning it yet.

I am such a packrat...
I saved everything that wasn't damaged and wasn't sheet metal.
I saved the trunk lid because I have a rear deck spoiler from a 98 Mustang GT I want to install and if I don't like it I still have a trunk lid with no holes.

 

My point wasn't to bash the 4-door. It was simply that personally, I'd put more value in using those emblems for a custom project than saving those green door panels. I don't envision those panels bringing enough money from potential 4-door owners to make them worth saving. 'Just an opinion, and as I said before, do what makes you happy.

 

It is truly a horrid color...the same as my 74 Mustang II interior. I think its called "Puke Green" or "Baby's First Poo Green" , Mine had shag carpet and matching green vinyl non reclining seats that are too close to the firewall for someone 6'2" tall. I had to remove the driver seat and drill 4 new holes 4" back from the factory holes. When I slid the seat all the way back, it touched the back seat.
mine looked like this but without the stripes and mine was a 4 cyl and had no V8 fender emblems.


It was fun to drive on twisty roads, but had no real power. I loved it, but the colors were awful.

 

It's a 70s thing, first house I bought in 1971 had a avocado kitchen... Forever burned me out on those shades of green....

 

Progress made in the last couple of weeks:

here's the difference in tires from the 1975 4 door Maverick 14X6 steelies to the 2006 Mustang GT 17X7 mags.



The tire sizes are 235/55-17 next to 185/65-14. Bald on the left, and dry rotted on the right! (looks like the 75 needed an alignment...)


We took some measurements and ordered a set of 2" wheel adapters off the ol' interweb thing.


The rear fit great with no problems.



The front looks good while the wheel is straight, but rubs on the rear inner edge when turning all the way to the steering lock in either direction. It doesn't rub in front of the tire on either side turning either way.



I thought we were pretty close to where we needed to be and just a little more might do it, so I swapped out the 235/55-17 tire for a 225/55-17 I saved from my wife's car.

It was close, but we still need maybe a 1/4 inch behind the rearward side. We ordered a set of 1/4 " spacers and will update when we try them on.

Other developments:

Our Edelbrock 1403 arrived!


We did our first test fit of our 5.0. The 2x4 and chain are there to hold the back up, we didn't try it with the AOD trans bolted up yet. I'm sure we will have to do some adjusting of the trans tunnel when we get to that stage.



The location of the Explorer power steering resevoir may be too high and interfere with the hood, we couldn't tell with the 2x4 in the way.

We are going to have to switch back to the 2 door, 200, no A/C coil springs.
The front suspension feels like a new F250!!

My Dad and I together couldn't compress the front suspension with the motor in the car, and it looks the same as with no motor in the car, like a gasser coming out of the hole at the 60' mark.

I need to drop the front about 3-4 inches from where it is now.

It looks like this with no transmission, starter, windshield, hood, coolant, oil, grille, turn signals, drive shaft, seats, sound deadening mats...etc....

I think it will look good after we switch to the light springs and everything is installed back in the car.
I don't want to cut springs because it will sacrifice ride quality which is VERY important on this build.
If the light springs from the 70 200 don't get it down enough, I'll order some lowering springs.

Transmission:
I talked to the transmission shop that built my son's 65 Falcon C4. They did a good job and I will use them again.
I asked him about doing my custom AOD/4R70W hybrid build job.
He said no problem, bring him both transmissions and $500 and it comes with a warranty!
VERY COOL!!!
Begin OPERATION FRANKENTRANS!!!

I already had my AOD from a 1991 Mustang GT I got for $250, I got this 4R70W from a 93 Lincoln Mark VIII with 85K miles for $100 off Craigslist.


I will use the 4R's gear set with the stronger gears and lower geared 1st and 2nd gears, the 4R's stamped steel drum instead of the AOD cast iron drum, the 4R's wider O.D. bands, and also modify the 3-4 shaft so that the Trans doesn't lock up in 3rd and bog down.

I will use the AOD case that bolts to my 99 5.0, the AOD .67 OD, and have completely mechanical controls, no computer or external controller of any kind.

And I got a TransGo AOD HP shift kit new in the box for $30 off CL to install in it too.

Even with the lower 1st and 2nd gears, I think I am still going to have to switch my rear gears. I think with my current 3.00:1 rear end and a .67 O.D. I wouldn't get out of the idle circuit of the carb till over 60 mph.

Next week: body work while we wait for the "back-ordered" timing cover to get shipped.

 

That's a lot of progress. The wheels look good. Those tires are pretty tall, but as long as you like 'em, that's all that matters.

 

Yeah, I really don't want giant tires like 20's or anything, but any kind of respectable sports car in the last 30 years has 16 inch or larger tires. Little tires and wheels really make a ride look cheap and crappy.

I passed over many good deals on 18's before I found the wheels I bought.
I didn't see any 5 lug 16's that looked good to me for sale
I don't want to go with a profile below 55 because the ride quality would suffer too much.
I may end up with 225/55-17 like my wife's car has if the spacers we ordered do the trick.

Its tough balancing performance with ride quality, I'm getting a glimpse into Lincoln's world...

 

Good news! The Ford Racing GT40P headers came in!!! Wow are they pretty! They bolted right on and cleared the spark plugs with no problems....


But the total outside width of motor with headers installed is 25 1/2".

The distance between my shock towers is 22" at the elevation where the headers are the widest.
I could squeeze or massage a 1/4" or maybe even a 1/2" but not 3-1/2".

Ford Racing GT40P headers are NOT going to work, unless we change the front suspension and lose the shock towers.
Still working on this problem.....MII front end would fix this foolishness....plenty of space for any size motor/headers.

And now for something completely different:

This is what my driver's door looked like when I got the car:


And this is what it looks like after a half ton of bondo was removed: some spots were over 1/2" thick


Some grinding and needle scaling finally revealed how big the hole was:


The other side of the door didn't look much better:
This whole bottom corner is a fiberglass patch...
Except where the bondo and rust are:


Looking for doors now...

Dad saw 2 white 72 Maverick doors on eBay in Milford Illinois we may try to get for $150 each.
They looked solid and rust free (obviously NOT from Florida!) and had decent door skins and bullet sport mirrors.
Just not sure about how to handle the logistics of pickup. Seller listed local pick up only.

We will see what happens.
If we can't find some good doors pretty cheap, we'll have to fix ours.

We should have the 3"wheel spacers this week to try them. I'm hoping the front will fit and not rub with 225/55-17 tires.
I may end up going with 215/55-17 in the front just for wheel clearance purposes and stay with the 235/55-17 in the back.

 

Got the doors!
My son and I drove 2200 miles in 35 hrs with two 40 minute stops for food and 6 fuel stops from our house to his shed and back.
The doors are in Amazing condition! Pictures to come soon.

I wish old cars and old car parts looked like that in Florida, wow!

 

Pics of the doors I had:








And here are the doors I got:







Clearly not a Florida car, I could take off that kind of rust with a scotch-brite pad in seconds. These doors are so solid!
They look like they came off a 10 year old car from Florida.

 

Recent progress on the monster:
The pulley system from the Explorer motor was incomplete and won't fit our setup.

Back to my favorite toy store, the U-Pull-It!

I found this 94 F150 with a 5.0 that was still mostly complete and got a few things from it:

Here's my big score from the F150!:
Both accessory mounting brackets and the complete serpentine pulley system,


and...
all these goodies too!


We have been waiting for weeks to finally get our water pump issues straightened out and this is as far as we could go for a while:


Last Saturday our water pump finally arrived and we were able to put everything together. Poppa Randy does amazing work!! Look at those brackets! Wow! It involves some kind of labor intensive special process he learned painting aluminum boat out-drives. Something called alodine, He said "Paint doesn't stick to aluminum worth a crap, but alodine sticks to aluminum great, and paint sticks to alodine pretty good" It's the same process Mercruiser and Volvo Penta use. Again, I have to say, wow dad!


This is the most complete we have had the motor so far, its automotive porn...
We got the carpet and pad stripped out. The Foxbody floor shifter Dad ordered off eBay for my AOD/4R70W Frankentrans came in too:


Repairs to the door skins started, fiberglass resin and glass mat should be stronger than the factory luan board:


We are planning on dropping the motor into the car this Friday.

 

Motor in!


Here's a good couple of shots showing header clearance:

 

Poppa Randy got one of the armrests from the 75 donor car painted with the special vinyl stuff from KEM and it looks like factory new!

I am very happy with the way it looks when finished and dry.


Last week we got both of the old doors off.

Dad also painted the interior of the new passenger door last week.



Here's what it will look like with the repaired door skin installed and all of the hardware in place.


When I got to the shop this morning, he already had the passenger door ready to hang, so we got busy right away.



One door installed, one to go...

Installing and aligning doors is a total bitch with the fender installed.
If you need to replace your doors, it is easier if you have the fender off.
So much stuff is attached to the fender, we didn't want to take it off, but I wonder if we saved any time or labor by fighting it with the fender on.

 

Access to the door hinge bolts isn't to bad if you remove the rear splash shield inside the fender. It looks like you are making progress though! Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks, I'll try that when we get to the driver side.

 

i like the way the car is coming together!