Road Race Mustang Build Up Part 1

Hey,

are you guys ready to spend a half hour of your time with me? I promise you it will be worth it because today we're starting a new project. Everything we've built to this point was made to terrorize the streets.

But the shell of the 65 Mustang has a whole different faith.

Back in the day, you would see a lot of pre muscle and muscle cars on the track, especially NASCAR

big blocks and small block VA S were making serious horsepower and taking names in the race car world.

In 1966 race fans were taken by storm with a new endurance road race created by the SCCA called the Transamerican Sedan Championship series.

This would allow muscle cars to compete with their European counterparts on American turf.

By 1968 the big three were not only award the dealership don't pass any deal on the 68 Mustang get your free stuff down with these appraisal.

They were award the track. The raceways were also proving grounds for pony cars

challenges, cooters, Camaros

Mustangs Cougars and Jam

between the years 68 and 72 the muscle car was king

guys like Roger Penske, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney and Mark Donohue were just a few of the names in the Trans

Am world that helped put Detroit muscle on the map.

Eventually these cars were retired and a new modern breed of race car began to surface. But that didn't mean that these old war horses of the track were forgotten. As the years passed, the love for these cars and the passion for racing them grew. Once

again, these now vintage race cars were brought out of retirement to tear up the road. The birth of a new sanctioning body for motorsports racing finally happened. The SVR A,

the popularity of these cars and races got bigger and bigger.

So here's what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna build a car that looks like a vintage road racer but doesn't run like a vintage road racer.

The sanctioning body that will allow me to build it is the N ASA or National Auto Sport Association. There's performance touring,

super unlimited

time trial racing.

American Iron, American Iron Extreme and American Iron vintage. This is exactly what I'm looking for. These classes are what I like to call from what you brought.

Here's what I'm gonna bring. There's a 351 Ford punched out the 408. Now, there's a lot of theories about how to build an engine for road racing who better to ask than Mike Galley.

He grew up in the pits, helping his dad with their circle track cars. Then he landed a job

is a technician and R and D specialist for BBK and Brothers Performance Warehouse. Of course, everything was tested at the track.

He also built and drove cars in the American Iron Series. So he's no stranger to the needs of a successful road racing.

So, Mike, what was your reasoning for building this engine the way you did? Well, it's pretty simple. The lighter the rotating assembly, piston crank and rods, the faster the engine's going to accelerate. So if it's going in a road race car, the faster it comes out of the corner and down the straight away faster the times it's going to turn

the rouse racer. 401 started out with a Ford SBO block with four bolt mains for strength.

Then we threw in a lightweight forge rotating assembly for reliability and quicker acceleration due to the lighter rotating mass.

The pistons are flat tops and they're capped off with a set of kinetic head gaskets to seal the rouse cylinder heads that have given us a compression ratio of 12 to 1.

We went with a hydraulic roller cam shaft using 16 stud mount roller rockers for minimal parasitic power loss to the valve train.

Finally, it was time to seal up the engine and we wanted something different that would be reliable, repetitive and have great throttle response. So we went with an eight stack electronic fuel injection system with eight milla

valves that act, sort of like small one barrel carbs

and all that was worth it. On the

dyno. It kicked out 534 horsepower and 533 ft pounds of torque.

I'll tell you what lou the motor's yours. As long as I get some seat time in that car, no sweat.

There's a lot of work that has to happen before this can go in his new home over there.

And it all starts with this rusty jig, this pile of metal stock and a few miles of welding wire because this car was built for everyday driving. It's gonna require a whole new frame and I'll show you how to do that after the break.

Hey, welcome back. We're in the middle of stripping out this 65 fast back to turn it into a serious road racer. But before we do that, there's a few more measurements that I gotta take.

Remember this for 351 Windsor punched out the 408. We'll be throwing this mustang around the track. So a stronger frame is today's project

being that we're running outlaw races. Safety is really important and that safety starts with a good chassis. So your choice of metal is really important.

Weight is an issue as well. This two by 3083 wall tubing is plenty strong enough but will keep us in the weight class. We want

all three sanctioning bodies recognize the SCCA for safety specifications, for building a road racer, everything from fire systems to frames. However, you vintage racers, you have a lot more rules and regulations that you need to follow. That's why I'm going out law. All I gotta worry about is the safety.

I'm using a chop saw today to speed things up. So early, I created some leveling blocks to keep the cut square.

The rulebook says little about the chassis strength is your priority.

Another important tool is this frame jig. It may not be much to look at, but it's really hard to get the job done with that one. I've even made them out of wood before you just gotta make sure it's solid and don't catch it on fire when you weld on it,

I leveled the jig before I started

and I'll recheck everything as we go. This little bubble is your best friend

with the second side rail in place and level

two temporary cross members will keep it square,

these plates will hold them flush.

Now it's time to start the front end. There are endless measurements and calculations to get this right.

But the simplest and probably most accurate method mimic an original frame

and raise it some to accommodate your larger wheels and tires that you plan to run.

I'm angling the kick ups at 37 degrees for additional strength

and now for the frame horn, which is the mounting point for the bulk of the front end.

I've told you guys before how much heat can move metal. Here's a prime example. These frame horns were level when I started out one bead pulled it out that much.

It's about an inch.

I gotta fix that.

So I'll cut out any tack welds,

add additional clamping to the frame

and with the jack, I'll force the frame rail where I want it to go and try it again.

Like I said earlier,

triple check, everything.

All three are sanctioning bodies require a log book for inspection.

Nothing better than a photograph

while I was busy.

So was Brent stripping down the Mustang

even though we're using very little of this shell, we're gonna have it media blasted. So it's easier to cut up

now, back to our frame before I go any further, I've got to have an engine in place to determine the rest of the build. So I'm gonna use this shoe box to fill in for my oil pan

that I've got on order and I'm gonna use this plastic block to mock it all up.

The goal here is to get the engine as close to the ground as possible by doing this. When you're throwing it into those turns, you decrease your body roll, which improves your traction and your control

being that there's no rules on engine placement in the outlaw classes. I'm gonna shove my back as far as I can for better weight transfer.

It's gonna be about two inches into the firewall.

Now, some additional bracing

and some temporary mounts to hold the engine in place.

First thing is the cross member. Now, I don't want it to be any lower than my frame rails and I'm using one by two stock and I've got plenty of room.

This one by 2065 wall tubing will be the mounting point for our lower control arms.

I'm cheating a little holding half of the cross member in place and level

Brent can market for the next cut

right there.

Now, at this point, I've only tacked in my cross member because when I build my front suspension, it's gonna dictate exactly where it's gonna go. It's time for some more documentation. We're gonna see how far we can get on this frame later on in the show.

Today's show is all about keeping Trans

Am racing alive

back then. The Ka

was on the showroom floors but it wasn't until Dan Gurney got his hands on one and decided to go racing.

That's when the A Ar Ka

was born.

Today's muscle car flashback. The all American racers. Trans Am

Ka.

A ar

Exactly

that you need for nice quiet food. Most muscle cars would rather not go around turn.

But this one is a sweet version of Trans

and race car

along with the corporate cousin of the Challenger RT. The A Ar Ka

low

car's first small block six pack

Chrysler built just over 2700 a

ar

so they could go racing in the Trans

Am series

that requires a small block pony car that could run hard on the road for it. Perfect price is brand new.

It was wide for a car that size built around a beat by the c

so there was room for a 440 or

if you

want

high rear corners and a low roof gave it that crouch down dangerous look, side exhaust. And that strobe stri came standard and the tires were small in front though, it would sit just right.

The A ar name came from all American races. The shot that built the coa

race car

Chrysler built the A AR for about five weeks in the spring of 1970

that

it

Barracuda buyers had a lot of choices that year, nine different engine packages,

everything from the 340 to 383 the 440 A 318. But when you believe

even the slant six and the

hemi,

the A Ar

Ka was right in the middle and maybe the best road racer of the punch,

not the most powerful but strong enough and built to handle,

not having a big bar create on the front wheels means the car actually does turn. It's, it's uh actually our car

that six pack 340 win 32 barrel hauler

that'll

rock aluminum manifold.

The block was set up to take four bolt man

with a little modification

inside a collapsible steering column

and a pistol grip per shifter on a four speed torque flights were optional. But who would want one of those

just like the trans

am car. The street six pack was built for high speed power, not low speed torque,

but the A ARQ

could still turn him over.

Came back in the seventies. The big block challenges got a lot more attention

but the A AR was more civilized, more comfortable on the street.

You might even call it a muscle car that's gone. The ch

school,

the dealer version may not have won any races but on the streets, it was still a serious contender. We'll be back.

All right. Sit down, hold on. I got a lot more work to do in case you just joined us. Let me tell you what you missed.

We're transforming this 65 Mustang into a road race monster.

It's been stripped and sent off to be blasted

since we're running in the N ASA outlaw class. This punched out Windsor will throw it around the turn.

I started a frame to hold this all together and photograph everything for tech inspection.

And I've already made my cross members a platform to mount my lower control arm and my standard engine mount.

But being that this thing is gonna be suffering a lot of stress and G forces front and rear engine plates are a must.

These are from comp engineering

eight inch steel plates for our Windsor.

I'll recheck the positioning of the mock up block and with some standard 316 gusted from A and A,

I'll mount it to the kick ups.

These plates are oversized so just cut out what you don't need

again, recheck everything before and after you will.

Some of you are probably wondering what this is for being in our midplate mounts between our engine and our bell housing this space. It will compensate for the added distance to the tranny.

Everything on the front of the engine is aluminum such as the water pump. So what I decided to do is go on an aluminum front plate. It keeps the corrosion down to a minimum. Now, remember it goes on just like the mid. So pay attention to your levels when you're putting it on,

now, I can stop right here and these engine plates would do the job just fine. But for added peace of mind, I'm gonna use these stocks style engine mounts from protein

and they'll mount to the cross member once it's secured

at

this point. The engine is right where I want it to be and there's a good starting point for the front end.

So let's move on and stiffen up the center of the frame.

The goal for this next step is to triangulate your frame because that's where your strength comes from

one by two inch. So

will leave us some room underneath the frame for fuel and brake line.

And with the inner side rail, 7.5 inches away from the outer, we'll have plenty of room to tuck the exhaust up. Nice and tight. A

temporary cross member will keep things square.

We'll tie the inners to the outers

and then triangulate the inside, front and rear.

I can't do anything south of here until I get the front end in place. Once I get that in place, that'll tell me where the rear end is gonna go all in, all,

not bad for a few days worth of work later.