The car has been home for a little while, but I've been recovering from foot surgery. Thanks to Alan and Ronnie (A&R owners) for delivering it home since I couldn't drive. Here are some before and after pics.
Before


After - hinges removed, hidden hinges installed, fenders reworked for clearance


Before


After - worked in wiper posts, cowl vent filled, one piece windshield installed


Before


After - bumper bracket holes filled, tail lights installed, license plate box, gas tank door, third brake light


Mark kept sending me home with rusty steel that he cut out


Taking some shape - time to start installing the guts

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The car looks great, I'm looking forward to seeing it finished and on the road, Have you picked a color yet?
Your thread had given me some ideas and a bad feeling lol
I picked this 35 up a few weeks ago and it was a project someone started and hadn't touched in decades. It has a fresh 327 30 turbo in it now but I have a few LS motors to choose from should I go that route.
I already knew I was going to have to do some extensive mods to make it fit but your post is showing me there is even less room than I anticipated . My car still has a straight axle but it has been updated considerably. The problem I'm running into is the steering box location makes it damn near impossible to run exhaust between the motor and frame and nobody makes fender headers in the shape I need. I wanted to keep the straight axle but I may have to go IFS.
I'm torn between finishing the car as it is since literally every piece is already there including all seals/wiring/gauges/motor/trans/rear end and it's all either new or rebuilt, Basically it just needs paint and interior and finish assembly.
The other options are to drop in a mild LS and 4l60e or go nuts and drop in a roots blown 408 and 4l80e combo, That would also mean dropping the current 8" leaf spring setup like yours in favor of a 4-link narrowed 9" and drastically altering the firewall/trans tunnel and truck area. The car is almost to nice to cut up, Other than the glass rear fenders the rest is all original and never had any rust.

 

Yep space was/is the biggest challenge with my build. If you decide to post pics on your build I look forward to following along.

 

Next problem to solve....getting wires through the door jambs. Sounds simple enough, but the hidden hinges make this one a challenge. I had a heads up from my friend Bill Arnold that a normal wire loom would just kink because the original door swing geometry has changed so much when the hinges were moved inboard. He was exactly right as always and it took me a while to figure this one out. First off the space available between the door and the jamb itself was less than 1/8". I couldn't believe how thin my Playdough got! Newer cars have huge pockets in there for all this stuff I found some door looms made for suicide and hidden hinges so I decided to give them a shot. Took some doing but I made them work.....here is how I got there.

I would need to recess the part that goes in the door jamb so I created this die. It's small and can be done in a vise. No fancy tools just carved out by hand.


Now this piece is recessed 1/8"...basically flush.


Now I can cut it out and mount in the door jamb post.


Welded in.


Next the door would need to be slotted. Its unbelievable how much the door doesn't swing on a true arc anymore. That's also the reason the front fenders had to be reworked to eliminate the interference. Anyway made this little tool with some 5/8" wheelbarrow shaft solid rod I had leftover so I could make a slot and weld it in. The tool helped make the part and hold it in place for the install.


This slot will allow side to side movement during the opening of the door.


Final piece of this little puzzle. A bracket that will hold one end of the loom stationary.


The center point has to remain the same through the door and the post so all this stuff lines up of course. Thanks to my son Brett for helping hang the doors SEVERAL times . This door loom works like a charm so far. I have 5 pretty good size wires run through the loom and with the door wide open the wires are very free and not in any bind whatsoever. If there is an easier way to do this I would be curious about it, but at least I'm working the ol' brain because I had NOTHING to go off of .

 

Any updates? Got the engine back in it yet?

 

I appreciate you posting up about the door wires. Had a very similar situation with a 49 Chevy truck my buddy has.

 

No engine yet...trying to knock out some of this wiring first. I've not tackled a wiring project this large so bear with me

 

That's the neat thing about these forums. You can learn a lot and hopefully help people as well.

 

LOL! Wiring is fun!

 

Things moving .
Video works on my computer, but I had to convert it from MP4 to MOV to post it. Curious does it work?

 

It made me download it, but then I was able to see the video.

 

Playing catch up on my posting...Cleaned up the firewall inside and out










Motor/trans/harness is in - lots of puzzle pieces left, but installing it to run this time


Probably numerous ways to do this, but I found this fitting that allows you to split the engine oil pressure for the factory harness and an aftermarket gauge

 

Looking good! But doesn't the BIM module give you oil pressure? I know on the GenIII stuff it doesn't, but I thought in the newer stuff it did?

 

My buddy whose done a couple of connect/cruise package deals like mine told me he got all info with the BIM module except oil pressure. So I was just going off his experience making sure I was covered. I've also read a little on here and other places about EOP not being used with certain setups, but I don't know enough about it to know what I'm talking about LOL

 

Ah, I see. I wonder if that's a Connect and Cruise thing?

 

I missed a lot of your progress, and you've made a lot of it too. The body and paint looks great.

 

I’ve been learning from this forum for decades…and driving my 35’ LS for decades.

 

Just curious, Looking at the pictures it doesn't seem like there is a very easy way to connect the steering to the rack?
I may have missed it in an earlier post, What IFS kit do you use? I've been shopping around and don't want to spend top dollar for a kit but don't want to run into problems with some of the junk people are trying to sell.

 

TCI Mustang 2. Also did some fab work for a shorty column and made a stand to attach to the frame with some heim joints. Much work BUT straight shot to the rack and feels smooth so far. The IFS install was early in the build. There is a little info on page 25 and 32 about the steering. I also used stock exhaust manifolds which helped in this area as well. PM me if you have more questions and I'll try to help.

 

Wiring and .........more wiring. Sometimes wiring on a street rod means creating the circuit yourself. Thanks to Bill Arnold and Kramer (sp?) from Watson's Street Works for helping me merge my fuse panel with a pushbutton start ignition module.


Here is the relay harness shown above installed under the driver seat. The larger relay will help take load off the ignition module.


Got a few things working - long way to go