06 Mustang build

BigBlockRanger wrote:Man, I had high hopes that those would be close to working.

I was too. If they will take these back I think I’m just going to wait out having a set built. But I believe I have talked myself into putting a tubular K member in so they have more room to work with. I’ve looked at the hooker BBc swap headers and I’m am pretty sure they are the same as the dynatech I have so I don’t think it’s worth trying them.

The big block gods may have smiled on me today. I should have a NOS set of hooker foxbody headers this weekend!

A set of 6224 Hooker foxbody headers. These should make things a lot easier once I get the new K member in.

Well finally got all the parts and had some time to start putting it back together.  I bought an AJE tubular K member, and their motor mounts. I swapped the rack onto it and started bolting it in and the spent a good 45 minutes trying to put the motor mount on the wrong side and wondering why the bolt holes weren't lining up.  After I got that straightened out and everything bolted down it ended up moving the motor forward 1" maybe a little more, then I started on the headers.  The drivers side is hitting the control arm mount and the passenger side is close but the collector is hitting the floor I have a 3.5' V band so I think I'm going to cut the 3 bolt flange off and weld the V band on. Next time I get a chance to go work on it I am going to try taking the motor mounts and dropping the engine down and back where it was and see how the headers fit.  If I can get the fit close I will build new mounts and go from there. I actually have a bolt in each side holding the header to the head so they are pretty close to fitting just going to have to do a little work.  

WE HAVE HEADERS!!!!!  I decided that the first thing I would do today was to remove the AJE motor mounts and move the engine back where I had it originally.  I took them off and pulled the engine back and hooked the trans crossmember back up and started working on putting the headers on.  I started on the passenger side and it was simple 15 minute as everything hooked up pretty easy, I may have to reroute my starter wires,  I'm not sure how much room they need since they are wrapped in heat shield but I can barley get my finger between them.  Then I moved to the drivers side, I removed the #6 & #8 tubes and the header went in easy, #6  went in and bolted up then I had to remove it to get the steering shaft back where it belongs and had to massage the tube to clear the steering shaft.  I pulled everything back out and went to the trouble tube #8.  I had 2 options either completely rework #8 and try rerouting it or notch the frame to clear the tube.  I had some pics that were sent to me where they had notched the frame then re worked it and decided to go that route.  I put the tube in and marked the frame and started cutting in & out 3 times to trim more out I got it to clear and pulled it out and started putting the puzzle back together, take the steering shaft loose and tubes out and piece it all back together in the car. Everything went in and cleared the steering shaft once hooked up! The shaft is pretty tight but I think it will be ok. if not I can clearance it a little more.  Now I have to build new motor mounts and get the frame boxed back in and that hurdle will be behind us.










I had previously worked on getting my pulleys on and lined ups while back and needed a 5/8" spacer for my crank pulley.  When your brother in law is a machinist you get a nice aluminum spacer built.  I got the balancer reinstalled and set the radiator in to make sure I had clearance.  I have right at 1/2" between the pulley and the fan motor.  

Isn't it nice when you make progress FYI not sure if you knew this but the 5.0 Mustang Crank Pulley bolts right onto a 460 harmonic balancer!!And my water pump pulley is also from a 5.0 Mustang with the water pump hole reamed out larger to fit 460 water pump!!

Mark Miller wrote:Isn't it nice when you make progress FYI not sure if you knew this but the 5.0 Mustang Crank Pulley bolts right onto a 460 harmonic balancer!!And my water pump pulley is also from a 5.0 Mustang with the water pump hole reamed out larger to fit 460 water pump!!

It will bolt to a factory balancer. This ATI uses 3 bolt instead of 4. And I needed to space it out 5/8 to line up with the water pump pulley.

The AJE mounts wouldn't work the way they came so I had to cut them apart and redo them. The drivers side basically had to slide forward 1" and the passenger side had to be slid forward and cut shorter. I got them all welded up and bolted back in place and set the engine down, I have between 1/4-3/8" clearance from the rack to oil pan so everything is good there.






Then I started on getting the headers done. I pulled the passenger side and added the O2 bung and cut the 3 bolt adapter off and went with a V band thinking it would give me a little more floor clearance. Gave everything a quick shot of stove paint and pulled the drivers side while it dried and put the O2 and v band on it. When I first put the passenger side on it was hitting where the trans mount bolts, I was hoping that the V band would clear but no such luck. So after I scratched all the paint back off putting them in and out so I could clearance the floorboard I got it where the v band would clear but I couldn't put my 3.5-3" adapter on without it hitting the trans cross member. I finally cut the front bolt boss off the cross member so everything would go in but there's still no way of getting more pipe on it. Looks like I will have to redo the trans crossmember and use steel so I can get it thinner in there. I really need a 3.5-3 or2.5 adapter that is offset to the bottom of the pipe then everything would clear I think. Once I got it bolted up I decided to quit. I actually will be able to work on it most of the day tomorrow so hopefully we have some good progress.

So today started with making sure the passenger side header was tight because I didn't think I got it tight enough last night, my shoulder torque was really low this morning it kept popping way before I needed to quit. After a couple times it straightened up and we got them all tight. Now to the drivers side, I had cut a notch in the frame to clear #8 so I had to get it patched up. I took a piece of 2.5" pipe and split it and made the hole fit it got it all welded back up I sprayed some paint over it after the pic when it cooled down. (I really wish I had learned how to make stuff look good. It'll work and I have no doubts in it but it could look better.)




I installed the drivers side header and got everything bolted up and was looking good, plenty of clearance steering shaft slid on (halfway) and we were ready to go. I then started putting the front control arms and struts off my factory k member to the AJE I just snugged everything because I'm replacing the hardware with grade 8 stuff tomorrow everything was going smooth until I tried to put the steering shaft the rest of the way on. Then the headers started laughing at me because I obviously had not taken them off enough times. the steering shaft would slide on till the bottom of the collar would get to where the bolt should be and stop. Hitting #6. I had this problem originally and had smashed the tube to get it to clear. Well somewhere along the line it decided to not clear any longer. I've had the headers off 2 more times trying to get them to clear with no such luck. I think I will pull the motor mounts again and see if it will clear then, if so I will be redoing them again.





It looks like there is going to be exhaust clearance issues on this side also. I'm going to get a couple pieces of pipe and see if I can make something that will clear.

Don't give up that Mustang of yours is altogether different than the Fox Body and SN95 Mustangs!!To bad no one made a 460 Swap header for that year Mustang then you would have been all set!!

Mark Miller wrote:Don't give up that Mustang of yours is altogether different than the Fox Body and SN95 Mustangs!!To bad no one made a 460 Swap header for that year Mustang then you would have been all set!!

I’m either too stubborn or too dumb to let it win.  I’ll get it figured out.

I went to the shop this morning with intention of only cleaning the shop....  Then decided I could put all the G8 hardware in the control arms. Got that done and then took the motor mounts off (header still wouldn't clear steering) then I took the trans crossmember loose and put a jack under it. I ended up pulling the header again and took #6 to the air hammer, where it needed dented was on a hump I created from denting just below it and the regular hammer wasn't doing any good.  So I put the header back on (they don't seem to go on the same way twice always a different tube fighting you) then hooked the steering shaft up, put the trans mount back on and everything still cleared.  So I went to the passenger side motor mount put it on and tightened it to the motor, still clears,  put the bolt in, still clears, tightened bolt, still clears.  Now on to the drivers side, put the mount on the motor, still clears.  Tried to put the bolt in, needs to go up just a little pry it up slide bolt in, rubbing real hard. I'm not going to call success just yet but I think if I take the die grinder to the mount and get it to where I can get the bolt in and tight were it's at all will be good. I then decided to call it a day and clean everything up and get it back where it belongs.  Hopefully I have some evenings next week to work on it and get that mount done.

I found some 3.5-2.5 reducers laying around in the shop so I cut the 3.5-3 off the v-band (Tip of the day. Tacks work perfectly until you’re sure that’s what you want.) unfortunately I didn’t take my tip the first round. I think these will work but I’m going to have to redo the trans crossmember. It’s 3/4” aluminum + washer + bolt head. I think I can use 5/16 steel and it necessary I can counter sink the bolts some.

I like the body style and with a 385 , it will be very fun Mustang! This project makes me want to search out a 05~10 for a toy.

Anyways, keep up the good work!

Finally made some progress today. Took the mount off the drivers side and ground the slot so the bolt would go in while the engine was where it needed to be. Bolted it up and took the chain hoist off and everything worked. Engine is solid steering shaft still clears so all good there. (No pics)

I needed to redo the transmission mount so I picked up some 3/8 steel and cut one out. Got it installed and it works great, just need to get some countersunk bolts and countersink the holes and the exhaust will clear with out and issues.





I finished up the day sitting the carb back on and remaking the fuel line to the rear bowl and getting the linkage hooked up. I failed to take pictures again. One of these days I'll get better about that..

Got the trans mount painted and countersunk the holes and installed the new bolts. I will sink them a little more next time I have the mount out of the car to try and get them flush. Now I can clear 2.5” exhaust without hitting.


Next up is going to be to get the accessories Al mounted so I can button the front up. I’ve been working on mounting all my accessories from the V6 and I’m down to the A/C compressor and a way to tension the belt. Have been seriously debating scraping everything I’ve been working on and buying a complete setup.
Does anyone have any experience with this kit? Just curious how far out everything was.

PROGRESS!!!

I ordered an all inclusive serpentine kit from Chapp performance, and when they say all inclusive it came with mounts, water pump, AC compressor, alternator, power steering pump and all the pulleys/idlers/tensioners needed. And bolts. I got everything out and started taking all the old stuff I had been trying to build brackets for off so I could start installing the kit. I decided to not swap out the water pump since the one on there is new, it will go on the shelf incase it's needed later. I also decided to go back with a factory balancer so I wouldn't have to try and get the 3 bolt ATI adapted to the 4 bolt pulley again. In hindsight I probably should have tried it with the setup I had made for the ATI and see where it lined up, oh well may try that some other day. The plate bolts through the water pump and into the block with some long bolts and about a 2.5" spacer between the water pump and the plate, I ended up trimming the boss that is by the lower water pickup back because it was just touching the plate when tight.






Everything came in a package that was labeled and had everything needed in it. Pulley, cover, bolts and supports. The alternator and AC will go on either side and both have a bracket that bolts to the head to help support the back of them and reduce stress. I'm not sure if it's the heads I'm using or if they are just using longer spacers than needed but I ended up having to cut around 5/16" off the spacer on each side for it to fit




I all bolted together nicely until I got to the power steering pump. I am using the Holley mechanical pump and the housing is larger than the factory pumps so it just barley hits the pump and won't let it sit up correctly. It looks like there's plenty of material on the pump to grind a small notch to clear the pump and not have any issues. But that's where I ran out of time and it will have to wait for another day.

Those Brackets and parts look very Nice!!

Well I had a few minutes in the shop this morning. Got a notch in the PS pump and it now clears the fuel pump. And just a few more minutes and everything was on and tightened. Except the belt. I have to say this kit went together smooth and everything is lining up great.

curiousgeorge wrote:Well I had a few minutes in the shop this morning. Got a notch in the PS pump and it now clears the fuel pump. And just a few more minutes and everything was on and tightened. Except the belt. I have to say this kit went together smooth and everything is lining up great.

Looking good if you don't mind me asking what was the price for everything?Thanks

Mark Miller wrote:

curiousgeorge wrote:Well I had a few minutes in the shop this morning. Got a notch in the PS pump and it now clears the fuel pump. And just a few more minutes and everything was on and tightened. Except the belt. I have to say this kit went together smooth and everything is lining up great.

Looking good if you don't mind me asking what was the price for everything?Thanks

It was a little over $1850 to my door. It lists for $1755 I believe.

Well the belt they sent with the kit is too long (82.5”) so I emailed them and they said a 80 or 80.5 should work. Went to the local parts place 80-1/8”. Too short so I decided to see if the factory power steering line would work. It screwed into the pump fine then I took that end loose and put the other end in the rack and the fitting was pointing 180° from where it needed to be. I put the hose in the vise and twisted the pipe around. There’s about 12” of metal tube and it turned around nicely with out any issues then got it started and had to put a 90° bend in to and it fits like factory. Stopped and traded the belt for a 81-1/8” to try tomorrow.

Well the hunt continues for a belt. I have never received a definitive answer back from Chapp. They said they were going to put the kit on an engine and let me know but never have. 81-1/8 too short 81-5/8 too long. I have a feeling I’m going to have to get the 81-1/8 on there somehow and make to work. I think a 81-3/8 would be about right but I’ve not had any luck finding one.

curiousgeorge wrote:Well the hunt continues for a belt. I have never received a definitive answer back from Chapp. They said they were going to put the kit on an engine and let me know but never have. 81-1/8 too short  81-5/8 too long. I have a feeling I’m going to have to get the 81-1/8 on there somehow and make to work. I think a 81-3/8 would be about right but I’ve not had any luck finding one.

Can you heat the 81 1/8 belt up and try and stretch it to make it work?

Mark Miller wrote:

curiousgeorge wrote:Well the hunt continues for a belt. I have never received a definitive answer back from Chapp. They said they were going to put the kit on an engine and let me know but never have. 81-1/8 too short  81-5/8 too long. I have a feeling I’m going to have to get the 81-1/8 on there somehow and make to work. I think a 81-3/8 would be about right but I’ve not had any luck finding one.

Can you heat the 81 1/8 belt up and try and stretch it to make it work?

I’m going to pick it back up tomorrow and see what I can get done. I’m not real impressed with the tensioner setup at the moment. There may be some modifications to it before this is done.