Weeeeelllllllll... I've finally found the motivation I have been looking for. Gettin' her out the other day and rockin up to 50psi really stirred up somethin under my ***... or it could have been the Dirtymax that tried rolling coal at me... idk. Or, it might be the marathon of fast n loud and counting cars I've been watching... Either way, gonna go back to the parents next week and get rockin' on her once more. I didn't pass my nursing boards, so I have to wait til late July to take em again, meaning I can't start working til mid August at the earliest, so I have time, might as well be productive.

Gonna cut up the front bumper and tuck her closer to the front end.
Make the custom radiator support and install the electric fan.
Wire up the windows.
Install the valve springs.
Install the gov spring.
Relocate the intercooler.
Mock up the AC Condenser (Gosh I hope this works)

Yeah, ok, you get the point, lots of little shitty **** to do.

Oh, and might take her on her maiden insane road trip (I'm somewhat famous for my 19+ hour single person driving stints).

---AutoMerged DoublePost---

Well, tried asking this on the facebook group and got more questions as to why I am doing what I'm doing instead of answers to what I am asking, then when I said just answer the question people got their panties in a bunch and got snippy, so eff em... I'll ask here and some other places...

I want to put the AC back on Rusty, but I am too tight on space. I am redesigning the radiator mount and mounting an electric fan in an attempt to move the radiator back to fit the intercooler behind the grill... that's the easy part.

The question is about the AC condenser. The OE one for the truck is a little thick, so I was wandering around the junkyard today and saw an Audi with one that was quite thin. My question is, could I make this condenser work on the truck?

I'm not worried about mounting or anything like that, just would it cool effectively, and would I have to look at fittings and what not? I think the original system is R-12, new would be R134a, so would that be an issue? I assume I could have custom lines made for it...

 

awesome thread!

 

Well, the next project keeps lining up... Just got the first part in my 1200hp mustang build... That means Rusty will get finished very soon

 

Forgot I got some pictures last time I took the ol' girl out... Enjoy! Will be going to work on her tomorrow, dad will probably fix up the fuel filler and I should be able to get the radiator installed in the next couple days. That's the goal anyway!

 

Slick!

 

Well, been making decent progress the last day and a half.

First things first I wanted to get the front of the truck tore apart to see how I could make the radiator support. Turns out I was vastly overthinking it and will be able to use the stock mounts!

But, to get everything to fit tighter in the truck I had to make a few minor modifications (first gen purists, take your panties off, this is bound to get them wadded in a bunch) :

First I cut the support out of the core support. This will be getting braced in other ways to prevent the hood from popping up:


Second, I took the fan clutch off and had to cut the threads off of the pulley to clear the electric fans:




So, since that was mostly done and I had access to the timing cover, I pulled it (again) in order to advance the pump. I went ahead and advanced the pump two teeth at the gear and retarded it about 1/4" on the back for a total advance of about 10-12* of timing. The reason I went two teeth is to be able to move the pump away from the head (and get more timing, if needed).


And in order to get the pump loose, I had to make my own tool, pretty proud of it (and it has some revisions since the pic was taken).


Today I am buttoning up the timing cover and the bracing on the core support. Dad has been working on the fuel fill all day and is nearly finished with it and has been plinkinig around on wiring in the window switches. We also got the 3800rpm (374) spring in without incident!

So, it's been a really good couple of days. Sadly, I have to go back to the apartment with the truck yet unfinished, but I will be back soon to wrap up the last few things!

 

Sneak peak:

 

Got some time to work on the truck today... got the radiator mounted so I can figure out the hose routing. Since the old radiator was a top to bottom flow and the new one is a cross flow, it's been difficult figuring out what I need to do... I'll figure it out though!

I got the brackets welded on the radiator and clamped it into place to get an idea where to drill the holes in the brackets...





Its a real close call to the pulley, but there is JUST enough room I'm not worried about it, too much.



But, overall, I did clear up 1.5" of clearance to move the intercooler back, and HOPEFULLY that's enough room to cram the stock grille on without cutting it.



I know some people are questioning this part of my build pretty bad, but it's just that... MY build.

 

Thats tight. Lol. Real tight.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

Yeah it really is, but the picture doesn't really show it. I have about a 1/4" clearance, maybe more. The motor should torque the other way, so it would move away from the fan, so shouldn't have an issue. We'll see.