Widest wheels..."My plan for the sedan"

Awesome, another write-up to add to this one! I'm going to do a MII on mine, as well. Can never get enough of seeing it get done...
What motor you going to run?

The basic plan is to build a fun car with my kids for less than $5,000 total investment. "recession rod" style....

The highlights of modification will be:

390 / C6 - donated from my wife's grandfather's Galaxie
Mustang II front suspension with dropped spindles and air bags
Mini tubbed rear with air bags
Connected subframes with new floors
Modern tires and wheels or red painted steelies or both on rotation?
Tidy red vinyl interior using newer low back civic buckets and stock rear bench - reupholstered by me
Repainted white in my garage, satin black engine compartment and undercarriage

Although I will have to make my own motor mounts, I was thinking I will buy the trans crossmember from Crites and use that to locate the motor/tranny position.

Fun to cruise around in with the whole family, and just as fun to build

Most of the parts will come from craigslist or ebay - "where ever the deal is".
Pierre

I have a 1966 Ranchero that I'm running 245/40 tires on 18" X 9" rims front and rear. They fit very tight but don't rub at all. The springs and bushings are new all the way around which helps keep the tires centered in the wheel wells.

So I lowered the rear 3" and have started on the M2 IFS conversion. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic but my reg camera's batts were dead. The front will be about 5-6" lower than stock. This is the desired effect anyway. So far I have all of the stock suspension out and the shock towers and shock tower braces removed. This week I plan on getting the crossmember tacked in and attach the suspension and wheels to see if it is all good.
Pierre

I'd say you dang near got the stance perfect! Keep up the good work and it sure will pay off and you'll have the meanest low budget build I've seen!

(Oh, it looks like you have a devil growing out of your roof, FYI!)

This does not have much to do with the rear tire size much but...

I finished welding in the M2 crossmember and getting the front tires mounted. I managed to find some of the "135" width 15" radials to complete the bigs and littles look.

I have the stock front end components bolted on to make sure everything was correctly aligned before I welded on the crossmember on for good. I still have to box in the frame around where I cut out a little too much frame. Basically a little before and after where the crossmember sits front to back in the car.

I am happy with the welding and alignment of the crossmember. Something I was not so aware of before is that the crossmember hangs pretty low. At the lowered ride height I want which is not "slammed" the crossmember to ground clearance is only about 3.5". Once it was in position and tacked, I combed the internet to see if this was normal to have so little clearance and apparently it is? Oh well I suppose it is ok. There definatley is a TON of room in the engine compartment now.

I can now put on my new 11" 5 bolt rotors and finally bolt on the front wheels. I also bought some 2" dropped spindles incase the ride height is too high with the tires on, springs in and with the FE in there weighing it down. Not sure I will need them but at $99 for forged ones I thought I should just get them. Can always install or re-sell later.

Next up is to make the motor mounts, sheet metal in the shock tower holes and paint engine compartment.

As for the $5000 budget to buy and finish the car I am now at about $1800 all in. Doing pretty well so far.

Pierre

Originally Posted by 65falkone

As for the $5000 budget to buy and finish the car I am now at about $1800 all in. Doing pretty well so far.

Wow! How are you getting by so cheaply!? Did you get the car for free (or very nearly)? It would seem like a decent shell is hard to find for that kind of money, much less the car, wheels, IRS, brakes, etc. that you've got so far.

Just got to look around and be aware of what things should cost and what is a great deal and be ready to buy.

Some of the tasty bargains..

NOS Ford crossmember $150 on ebay
complete stock control arms, spindles, brakes and springs $50 at a swap meet
4 brand new Greg Weld chrome rims $399 shipped on ebay
Used rear tires $20
New front Tires $100
New Mustang II rack $60 at the same swap meet

Basically I am doing every bit of labour myself - that can typically be where you can spend alot building a car. I am keeping track of every buck I spend. At the end once finished I think it will be a pretty sweet car for under or around $5G.

Pretty ambitious to try to build a "mostly restored" 2 door, mid 60's, big block, IFS + disc brake, mini-tubbed, freshly painted, new interior'd anything for that price.



Pierre

Yes, but so far you're doing a bang up job!

Doesn't matter if it's rear- related...keep the build in this thread and updated!

Did some more beefing up around the crossmember and front subframe area. Don't want any surprises like crossmember coming off the car! I still have to weld along the bottom of the 2" x 2" .125" angle 20" long. The wheelwell side of the frame was boxed in with 3" x .125" x 8" long flatbar. I think this should now be good enough.