Project Insanity

[Bobby Amato]

I called this thing project Insanity because I really didn't want to get into something that was this involved. I just wanted to scoop up a nice daily driver that had a little more power than my POS 4 banger in case I wanted to take an occasional cruise.The thing that I couldn't pass up was the t tops. Although I've had plenty of mustangs, I've never owned a pre 87 car nor a t top car.

So here is the car after arriving at it's new home.

I started to gather a lot of parts for it.

After I bought the car I started searching craigslist for parts to make this thing better. First thing I stumbled on was a set of t tops in better shape than the ones on the car. For $50 I couldn't pass them up. Plus having an extra set wont hurt.

A friend of mine in L.A. picked up some black 86 door panels from a guy that I found on craigslist for $75

I drove to Corona today and grabbed this gem for $200. The one on the car was cracked in like 4-5 different places.

I've been searching for black interior parts, but everryone is either too far or wants too much for them. I'll keep looking, but in the mean time I've decided to just paint what I have. The other hatch quarter not pictured was in the garage drying.

Ben did a great job on the headliner, so sorry if this offends anyone, but I pulled it off and painted it black.

Here is the inside before I switched the carpet. I will fix the driver's side seat mounting point. Looks like someone tried to braze it. Not sure if this was Ben, but I'll get a new piece made and welded up.

used the black carpet that I had in the garage for my race car. Came out of Jesse's old coupe.

I also ordered some procar seats for it and I'll be putting the other ones in my 4 banger to get rid of my current gangster lean. The rear seats will be upholstered to match the procars.

 

[Bobby Amato]

I started disassembly of the mangled mess. Car was in rough shape.

This got bent when Ben had to come and save me the day I took it home. The battery was shot and it left me stranded 2 miles from my house. Ben showed up with his truck and a tow strap. The fog lamp and core support didn't fare well. This just added to an already tore up support.

Here is some stuff I'm doing at work. The core support repair and seat mount shouldn't be a problem. =)

 

[Bobby Amato]

While at the junkyard one day I saw a lincoln and right then decided I was going to get a 4v to throw in it. I hate modulars, but it was about the challenge and being a little different. Not many around me have done it.

Say hello to the new powerplant for Project Insanity

 

[Bobby Amato]

Along the way I also decided to go hydroboost.

 

[Bobby Amato]

I decided to buy a set of heads off of a 96 cobra since they had better cams. I also decided to buy a 97 cobra computer as well as a complete cobra wiring harness.

 

[Bobby Amato]

I tore down the mark VIII motor and cleaned it up

During assembly of the motor I found out why the driver's head wasn't sealing. It was out of time due to this!

I put on a new oil pump, bolted the cobra heads on with some better chain guides and tensioners and all is well and engine is sealing nicely.

Started taking things to work for blast and paint

Started to look like a motor now. Valve covers are being painted this week. Complete 97 cobra wiring harness showed up today and team z swap k member is on order. Should be pulling the 5.0 soon.

 

[Bobby Amato]

A little more progress today. I hot tanked my overflow bottle, power steering pump and power steering reservoir. My valve covers were dry, so I brought them home. I only had a chance to get one of them on. I'll get the other one installed tomorrow along with some other small things. Manifolds should be ready tomorrow as well.

 

[Bobby Amato]

pulled the motor from the 86. Man was it nasty!

 

[Bobby Amato]

picked up some mac 1 5/8 ceramic coated longtubes with matching H-pipe new in the box for me today from a guy on svtp. I sold a few things today, so easy come easy go.

 

[Bobby Amato]

Well I did some more work on the car today in the blistering heat. I have to say this is the filthiest piece of shit I've ever worked on. I pulled the dash out an decided that there is no way I'm going to use it. It's cracked just about everywhere there is a screw that goes into it. I was going to try and disconnect all wiring instead of cutting, but the more I looked at the harness the more hack jobs I saw, so to make my life easier I started cutting the shit out. I guess I'm going to end up using the black dash I have for sale. If I have to fab up some brackets so be it.

I also pulled the k member and all of the suspension off the car. Took a bunch of wiring out of the engine bay as well. Next step is to completely strip everything out of the engine bay and clean and paint it. Then I'll start on the hydroboost and wiring.

 

[Bobby Amato]

Well I pretty much finished stripping this thing down. Soon it will be time to build it back up.

I stripped the rest of the behind the dash junk. Heater box, pedal assembly Steering etc. I'm going to pull the carpet back out, so I can run all of the 97 cobra wiring.

I also pulled the remaining wires from the engine bay. I also pulled the fenders off in order to get the crap out that was behind them. There was also about 40lbs of dirt in them and a socket that definitely wasn't mine I'm going to weld in the new core support and then scuff the engine bay and then lay down some paint. Once that is done I'll start on the hydroboost and suspension.

 

[Bobby Amato]

Well my goal for today was to get my core support welded in and I was able to do that.

I started by cutting some strips on the shear at work this morning.

Then I did some trimming on the core support. When I was happy with the measurement I had I drilled some holes in order to plug weld the plates to the inside of the support in order to make it a slip fit.

Once that was done I went over and fit it up on the car.

Drilled some holes on the car side of the support in order to plug weld the new piece in place. Once it was plug welded I zapped it all the way around. I'll grind the welds smooth tomorrow when I get home from work. The engine bay should be primed tomorrow and I should be able to paint it Wednesday.

 

[Bobby Amato]

Last night I scuffed, primed and then "spatter painted" the engine bay.

Today I did some small things that took a while. I had to grind out the holes for the hydroboost and the CC plates, so it took a while , but they are in there. I also got the team Z k member in, but the bolts are loose. I want to take some time to square it, but before I do that I have to grind the head of the stock bolts in order to clear the k member. :rollseyes:

 

[Bobby Amato]

K member is bolted in and A-arms are on. I pretty much have all of the new front suspension in. Strange 10 ways, coil over kit and 175lb springs.

I installed the new Ford Racing proportioning valve and started on the hydroboost lines. I'm not going to do much more on the lines until the motor is in, so I can route them and decide how long to make them.

 

[Bobby Amato]

Well I've been chipping away at the little things that most of us don't think about. I bought all of the adapters and fittings today that I needed in order for my brake lines to work with the hydroboost. Just have to finish installing that stuff.

In an effort to keep this car as much plug and play with the 97 cobra wiring harness I picked up a few things at the yard last weekend. I grabbed tail light harness for both sides (were supposed to be in the box of 97 wiring I bought ), a SN95 washer reservoir and an SN95 wiper motor with bracket.

The bracket for the SN's are way bigger than the fox, but the arm to connect the motor to the wiper arms is the same. I cut up the fox and SN95 brackets and used parts from both to make my new bracket. Sorry I didn't take before and after pics, but this bracket is actually 3 separate pieces welded back together.

Newly fabbed bracket (I still have to paint it )

Rubber bushings fit perfect

Motor needs to be cleaned, but fits nicely

 

[Bobby Amato]

Brake lines are done and wiper motor is mounted. I start school again next week, so the updates will slow down once again until weekends.

 

[Bobby Amato]

This is just a mock up, so I can make all of my power steering lines and to get some stuff mounted and located. The motor will come back out, so I can route the wires and plug holes on the firewall etc.

 

[Bobby Amato]

Well my friend Anthony came down from L.A. and helped me pull some parts from the yard today. We spent almost all day there running back and forth from yard to yard, but finally came home with some good stuff. I bought a complete SN95 dash, center console and 5 spd pedal assembly.

When we got back we were able to get the heater box installed. I had to modify 1 mounting bracket. Other than that it bolted right up.

This shit was nasty and full of cigarette butts and sticky stuff :look: , but after some simple green and some elbow grease it all cleaned up pretty nice. I'll go over it again before I put it in. It's going to be a chore to get some brackets fabbed up to mount the dash, but it should be well worth it when it's finally installed.

 

[Bobby Amato]

After getting an idea of what had to be done a started a grueling 2 day cutting and fitting affair that still isn't finished. I have a pretty good rough fit and now I'll have to do some fine tuning and start making the brackets and getting things welded up.

The dash is just sitting in there right now, but you get an idea of what it's going to look like. This is a lot of work! hew:

 

[Bobby Amato]

I picked up the wrecked 96 cobra with built motor for $1500! Now I have all of the parts I need and a blueprint! That will be going in and the lincoln motor that I converted to a cobra motor (heads/cams and intake) will be going up for sale.

I pulled the cobra motor out after getting it fired off.