Mustang Road Racer - Fiber Glass

Two reasons to get back to work on the mustang. The emails to finish it are clogging up my computer and the rust is about to make a permanent home. We still got a ways to go the roll cage and tin work needs to be finished

along with the electronics and cooling system.

Those are things that I can do. Brent's poison. Ready to do the body work. Regardless. This thing isn't leaving the shop unless it's doing a power slide.

These tires protrude 5.5 inches. The largest flares available for racing. A wimpy 3.5, the local awning company wouldn't even come out and check out our dilemma. So once again, we're on our own and we're gonna do something that we've never done before. Fiberglass construction.

We learned enough to know what to buy the fiberglass sheets and the resin we were told to get

and that's about it. We made a lot of calls and talked to a lot of people and like all self proclaimed artists,

theirs is the only way to do it, but they did agree on one thing. You got to have a mold to build on

all resins, use an activator or a hardener. This stuff. It's like a bad marriage when it's mixed together. It slowly destroys everything around it. It is an acid and it'll eat away the foam and generate enough heat. It could actually warp it. Now, there are some foams that could resist this better than others,

but you got to pay for it.

One guy had an option. We liked Floris foam.

His pores are finer of the sand. It's light and simply generates that warm and fuzzy feeling.

It starts with a template as a base. We figured a two inch gap will be plenty for the limited wheel travel. This car has

two sheets glued together will be a good start.

Five hours later,

if you think you're gonna learn some expert tips today, you're wrong right out of the box. Our glue research failed and the sweet little old lady at the hobby shop was not the right expert to ask. So we burned a day testing seven different glues, but we found one.

I'm not telling which one work best because we're not done yet.

The foam is only two inches thick. So we started with one sheet at a time.

The first block needs to mimic the contour.

This foam was the right choice. So far,

we have total control with the simple cheese grace

sandwiching more boards will create the thickness. We need

to help hold the mold on the car. A stud gun

and more glue

mount the mold in place against the fender.

This layer has a smaller radius and hangs lower to hug the shape of the tire.

Once it's all in place, tape it down, let it dry.

A can of expanding foam comes in handy to fill in the gap.

Now, we're ready to start cutting

the bigger chunks drop right off with the help of a hacksaw blade, a little slice here, a little shaving there and the flare is starting to take shape.

Brent's in his zone again and I know I just have to leave him alone.

In fact, that's pretty much been my involvement.

The final contours are done with the grinder.

Just don't take too much off or you'll have to do some filling

these pieces once they're finished will give the stang a sleeker profile.

Drying time is enough to get some coffee

and finish it off.

It's not bad for an experiment. I think it's about time for some glass.

But first, we need to keep our fiberglass from sticking to our foam. Now, our expert advisors and I don't mean a little old lady down the street at the hobby shop told us about some cheap releasing agents. You can use silicone cooking spray, wax paper. Our choice aluminum foil,

the foil needs to be stuck to the phone. Since we're working vertically. We don't want the fiberglass to end up on the floor like your underwear after a long hot day.

Once you mix your resonant with the hardener, you've got to work fast. So have your fiber cloth cut and your brush ready

start by brushing a section,

then lay on the cloth

and then slather on a thick labor resin.

Make sure you work in a well ventilated area. This stuff can get nasty.

And if you don't want to end up with hairy palms, like Brent

wear some gloves,

air bubbles will weaken the structure.

So if we're building a boat, we'd be worried about it.

But this thing will never be near a lake.

So it's not really a concern.

Brent's not gonna let me play

and I don't know why and I'm feeling a little threatened by this. So after the break, I'm gonna dazzle you with my mad skills at tin work.

I'm glad you're back so far, we've made a lot of progress with our experimental fools

for our fender flare.

We cut them, tacked them, shaped them and even got the first layer of glass in place.

While Brent worked his glass off, I cut out more body parts from around the rear wheels making way for the tubs.

Now, they're gonna be complicated to put in because you got a lot of things in the way the roll cage, the shocks, the rear end, you gotta work around all this stuff. But the tubs have to go in first because everything else builds off of them.

We're making the tubs from three separate pieces. This angled piece will hold the side and top together.

It's gotta fit just right. Since the rest of our tin builds off of the tub,

we measured our side to be two inches longer than the tires and made cut outs for the axles and shocks.

We added a couple of extensions

and with the shocks removed, we can go ahead and tack the sides in a place,

slide, the top portion into position

and tack it in

one more piece to go. My tubs need to join up against the quarter panel and following all these contours can be a huge pain.

So I fed

up this tool with a hole for the marker.

You can run it against the contours while tracing the pattern on a template.

Now, if this were a show car, I would have done this to the main section for looks, but for a race car,

two pieces work best

a

few t

is all they get.

Silicone, keeps them from rattling and seals them up.

And here's why they're the first things to be crushed in a minor fender bender. If it was permanently attached to the tub, it could destroy the whole thing ruining your day at the track. These, you just rip them out and you're running. Hence the name crush panels.

We're not even mentioning the word crush to Brent. He

hasn't been around to experience the carnage of racing

and I doubt he'll want to watch the first time. This thing kicks in the wall

with three layers of glass and two gallons of resin.

It's time to see if the tin foil will let us have it back.

Man. I love that old lady at the craft store,

cutting and sanding. Fiberglass requires some thinking and planning.

Those tiny airborne fibers can create several serious health problems,

airway and lung damage, topping the list, skin and eye irritation. Second

and not just for you but anyone around it.

So use proper respirators in a small confined area. And a very thorough cleanup is a must

fitting. A custom part just doesn't get any better than this look. Ma no brackets.

Well, not yet. Anyway,

simple sheet metal and pop rivets will keep them there.

The first step in finishing it off is a fiberglass filler

stronger than body filler. It strengthens the piece and fills in the larger imperfections.

Another test fit for the final positioning

and the body brackets can be added.

Brent's moving on pretty quick and he still won't let me help.

So I fed

up the side panels, finished up the tub

and I'm getting ready to box in the fuel cell.

Chris is finishing up the custom headers. I started a few weeks back.

The flare is far enough along for Brent to get back to a familiar territory. The body filler,

the fiberglass finishes rough, too rough to sand smooth.

This mud is a polyester base which means it's thicker than latex.

Of course, in Brent Town, things don't move too fast.

He did this two or three times. I never saw the difference,

but he did some glaze and a layer of guide coat, kept him busy for another hour

when he was happy,

a couple of coast of prime.

All that gave me just enough time to put in the second tub.

Like every serious race car, the fuel cell needs to be isolated from the driver. This simple box will do that

looks like I still have time to cut out the rest of the fence

you

done with your science experiment

here, put it on and see what it looks like.

Outstanding.

You see problems in the foreseeable future,

do the other side.

Another skill under our hats and it was pretty cheap to make too floral foam. $60. Resident fiberglass, 80. So for less than $200 we've got one side done. We're gonna make a mole of this thing. So the spares are quick and easy to make because we all know rubbing is racing. If you ain't rubbing, you ain't racing. Now, Brent's got an idea for the front end. You'll see that in a little bit

this week's muscle car flashback, the 69 Yanko supernova.

Don

Yanko also worked his RPM magic on the Nova.

In 69 he took 36 of them with factory 396 making 375 horses. Then put a 427 in it, transforming them into Yanko Supercars.

First of all, grab hold of the steering wheel because with these tires, the, the back end is going to go a lot of different directions

and

it will push you back in the seat.

They were super because the L 72 that was dropped in was rated at 425 horse, but in reality, it probably made more

0 to 60 in a four second range. Some collectors believe it's the fastest Yanko ever built.

Don called them Lethal because the car only weighed 3400 pounds with stock suspension.

But all that power made your insurance agent sweat

owner Cliff Ernst. No,

this car is a beast. It, it's the latest uh that they put the 427 in

and the cars we can be very difficult to handle when you really get into it.

The 427 was stuffed in the Nova but they kept the factory 396 heads and intake

giving an 11 to 1 compression,

an M 21 close ratio, four speed and a posit track with a 410 gear in a 12 volt housing

the usual badging front and rear and no strike letting you know it was a Yanko.

I it's a surprising car because it can be very docile and uh very easy to drive in traffic. But when you get out and really wanna get on the car it's all ready to go.

The interior is all business. No frills. Just black vinyl seats. A few Stewart wanted gauges and some headrest decals and that's it.

This baby isn't about looking pretty. It's about going back.

Competition in the day came from the Boss Mustangs and Dodge Darts, but they never saw the Sleeper until it was too late.

Don,

yo, cast a large shadow over the performance car market from 60 7-Up until 1982. When he retired.

I think he built some fabulous cars for the time. He

was really missed a performance for that period of time. There were certainly other dealerships that

were doing similar things, but the

Yanko was the one that people really recognized. You want to talk rare

out of the original 36 supernovas from 69 only

are known to exist today

and this is one of them for a car. You can drive off the lot for about 4400 bucks.

It's estimated worth today, 300 grand and higher. But for clips, it all comes down to one thing. Just a blast to drive. Yes, it's rare. But you got to have some fun with them.

We'll be right back after the break.

We're back. We've got the rest of today and next week to get this baby up and running

our first stab at fiberglass flares for the rear went surprisingly well. So Brent's redesigning the front,

we got these fiberglass fenders from Mustang, plus they were already flared, but we went a little crazy on our track with.

So we're cutting them up and redoing the flares.

This may sound stupid, but check your turn radius first,

more floral foam creates the awnings that act as mold.

We all know how long it's gonna take Brent to do that.

So I'm diverting the engine to hook it up

for the low ride height. We converted a dry sump oil pan to a wet sump which means the oil pump is now external. This one came from Peterson Fluid systems. It's a G rotor designed for racing.

A custom bracket is needed to get it where it needs to be added away of everything else and aligned with the crank pulling.

You want to keep the draw in the engine to a minimum. This one doesn't require much, but it puts out six times more than a stock. One,

only two things will draw off the crank. The second being the power steering pump, lightweight and small because the reservoir is mounted elsewhere.

The water pump is electric, zero, drain on the engine. This one's from Moroso,

it flows 21% more than stock and it's 12 volt or 16 volt compatible

and to cool all that water, a flex light aluminum radiator, two electric fans eliminate a manual one leaving more room to angle our radiator, more surface area,

more cooling.

Another part that's normally powered by the crank shaft is the alternator and those clever racers found a way around that too.

They started using smaller ones from foreign cars. They weigh less, they take up less room and Power master took that a step further,

using the drive shaft to turn. It isn't new.

But this kid's yoke with a pulley and brackets made for a specific rear end make belt alignment. A no brainer.

Most of the parts with weight are already in the car. These bars are for the main hoop and the doors. I'm not finishing it up yet. I'm just placing them where they will be.

No, I'm not lollygagging. We need to get close to the finish weight. So the correct shocks and springs can be ordered.

We tried to keep the weight balanced,

but these scales on all fours will tell us the results. Sandbags will act as the driver

and the fuel.

This is the total weight of the car. 2715. This is the weight over the front wheels, is the weight over the rear, but this is the number that's important. 50% of the weight over the front wheels. This is perfect. This is why we set the engine back as far as we did. Now, I'll take this info, call Bill Stein and with their charts, they'll give us the correct shocks for the application. After that,

I'll call Asco and we'll get our spring.

The electrics are too complicated to start today. Our driver's comfy

and Brent's moving on to his third coat, but I'm out of here for now. Next week we're gonna finish that thing up. Hey, how much longer are you gonna be here? About 32 to his,

that's house for the older crowd later.