Dan's '68 Mustang Restomod Project

Welcome to my Mustang project. I will be adding pictures and info as I work on it.

Starting out as plain Seafoam Green 1968 Mustang 6-cylinder Coupe.

Some of the mod list: A 377 stroker (351W) built by Bliss Performance in Spanaway, WA, Holley Commander 950 4 barrel 700 cfm Throttle Body Injection (TBI) system, MSD 6AL ignition, ProComp Billit TFI distributor, Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers, Dr. Gas X-pipe, Lakewood bellhousing, Stan's headers, mid-eye rear 5-leaf springs, Granada front brakes, Stainless Steel Brakes rear disk brakes, custom black aluminum diamond mesh grill, custom Autometer silver Sport-Comp gauge dash, 20 gallon fuel tank (from '69 Mustang) for those long trips, 3.50:1 gears, Detroit TrueTrac, Shelby style traction bars, Edelbrock 454 wheels with spinners (I don't think they make wheels anymore...), Firestone Firehawks, Sonic Blue paint with white Shelby racing stripes

Dark Horse Performance: 5-speed Tremec 3550 w/ 1" spacer plate, McLode dual friction clutch

Total Control Products: power rack-n-pinion, upper 'A' arms, subframe connectors

Branda Shelby and Mustang Parts: '67 Shelby style short hood, Shelby style spoilered trunk, 68 Shelby tail panel

The list goes on and on!

Installed the TBI and got it tuned so that it runs. I need to get the O2 sensor welded in so I can finish off the tunning.

I wend to the Bowen Scarff Show and place first in the modified category and also put my car into my car clubs annual show. I didn't do a lot to the car, but I started laying out the TBI harness to be installed.

Went to the Vintage Races the first weekend in July. I missed one day because my carburetor was flooding out. Too much fuel pressure was the culprit so I got a regulator. But I got a chance to go the second day. It was a blast running around the track for the parade laps! But I discovered that cornering at high speed isn't much fun as the power rack-n-pinion doesn't give a lot of road feedback. I think if I were to do it over, I would have got the manual rack. But since I am not going to be racing it, I will keep it the way it is. More street drivable anyway.

I did the annual Pony Trails and went to the Bellevue show later in July and I also ordered my Holley TBI--good bye carburetor!!

I converted the brakes over to manual and thy work fine now. I think I messed with them for two or three weeks. Other than that, I didn't do too much to the car.

My trip to the alignment shop was an adventure! After going to one close by and taking all back roads (within 2 miles of my house,) the Firestone couldn't put it on their alignment rack because my car was too low!! They told me to go to this other one that had the better rack--but that was 10 miles away! So I had to go over there with my front wheel squealing (I had a lifetime alignment plan at Firestone so I didn't want to go elsewhere.) Then I had a 2 mile detour due to road construction. Anyway...the car is drivable!! Now I am just working out the bugs. Things like: I have too radical of a cam to keep my vacuum high enough to properly operate the brake power booster, so I have go manual. The '95 Mustang GT brake master cylinder doesn't operate my rear disc brakes adequately enough so I am going with a '93 Cobra master cylinder. Door windows need minor adjustment so the power window motors don't strain when getting to the top. The front wheels rubbed the inner part of the fenders so I had to get new wheels. I went with ones with a 4.75" offset--the old ones had 4.25". They look nearly identical, but are not Edelbrock's.

After longer than I had hoped since my last update (because of not getting a lot of weekends to myself) I drove it on Sunday, April 30th for the first time in EIGHT YEARS!! I wanted to bed in the brakes and make sure things were working before taking it over the alignment shop. I did it EARLY (like 6:15AM early) on Sunday morning so that I could avoid traffic. I swear I woke up half the neighborhood when I fired it up! With tires squealing (from non-alignment, not from getting on the throttle!) I drove it about 5 miles. I still need to finish a lot of things, but it is nearly road legal, so at least I can drive it!! I need to finish installing the door windows, some more wiring, the carpets, dyeing the rear seat and seat covers on the front seats (until I get around to getting them all recovered,) the custom mirrors, tail pipes, and a bunch of other miscellaneous things.

Well, its home! After months of bodywork (and I probably could have done another months worth to really get it good) I got the thing painted. Not flawless, but not bad either! Painting your own car can be very intimidating. Especially when it is your first one and painting it a metallic color to boot. I had some issues with an exhaust fan kicking up some major junk and some blue paint dust getting into my white stripes on my first clear coat. I had to repaint the stripes and then finish clearing. I got some "tiger striping" in my color that is for the most part unnoticeable, but I have seen as much in some professional jobs, so I can't complain too much. Anyway, now the fun part really gets going--putting it all together!!

As you can see, I have the engine in--and it runs!!! I decided to get the drive-train in order before finishing off the body. It's therapeutic and motivating!! I will have the drive-train and brakes all done by the end of May and then it is time to work overtime in getting the Stang ready to paint. I have a deadline of August to have it out of my brother's shop!! I am pretty much done with the major mods, though I still have to fabricate the grill and fit up the front fiberglass valance.

April 1998	August 2006