Author Topic: 72 Cuda g-machine - 2016 update (Read 221075 times)

Travis72 · « **Reply #15 on:** December 25, 2006 - 11:08:05 PM »

Once that was installed I was able to install the brakes. For the brakes I went with a custom kit from TCE Performance Products:

http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/

Todd at TCE is local to me here in AZ and his main business is to take stock Wilwood kits and substitute or upgrade parts (he also puts together big brake kits for a number of late model cars). So I started with the Wilwood 13" 6-piston kit for the Mustang II (Part Number 140-7018) and made a couple of upgrades. The stock kit comes with 12.9" diameter x 1.10" thick rotors and I wanted 1.25" thick rotors (1.25" adds more thermal mass for fade resistance and it's the stock thickness of most modern performance cars).

From there Todd educated me on the number of different variants of Wilwood calipers, even in the 6-piston Billet Superlight line (BSL6). The stock Mustang II kit comes with the Billet SuperLite Six Narrow or BSL6n. It's is a narrower version of the BSL6 and uses a 0.650" thick brake pad. The BSL6n is used for wheel clearance, but could not be used with the thicker rotor. So instead Todd recommended the BSL6 narrow OUTER body caliper. This caliper uses the full size 0.800" thick brake pad and is only machined differently on the outer body of the caliper for wheel clearance. There is a good listing on his website of all the different calipers that are available. The other "upgrade" I did was the red powdercoating for some bling

I know... I know.... but I love the look of red brake calipers.....

I borrowed a stock 17" Bullitt rim and tire from a friends 2006 Mustang GT just to check how it fits. The 2006 Mustangs use a lot more backspacing then the earlier Mustangs, so I knew it wouldn't clear everything. Bill Rielly only recommends a rim with 5" max of backspacing and the 2006+ Mustangs have like 6.75" or so of backspacing. It clears the brakes just fine (in fact I probably could have used the full size BSL6 caliper).... but it does hit the upper control arm when turned hard the one direction. You can see that in the pictures.

Travis
72 Cuda

p.s. This was also the first time I ever safety wired anything.... so it took like a took like 6 or so before I started getting OK at it....

Jacksboys · « **Reply #16 on:** December 26, 2006 - 12:29:54 AM »

That car is looking great, keep up the hard work.

cudabuyer · « **Reply #17 on:** December 26, 2006 - 05:02:53 AM »

super super bad 2 da bone

Ornamental · « **Reply #18 on:** December 26, 2006 - 06:06:01 AM »

Excellent thread!
Great pictures, and informative as well!
Interesting to read about your choice of brakes.

SilverChally · « **Reply #19 on:** December 26, 2006 - 12:45:48 PM »

Nice work, I like the direction your going with it. I'm thinking those parts aren;t too cheap! Read the painting part, painting you'll learn is the easy part, its all the work before that matters.

Travis72 · « **Reply #20 on:** December 26, 2006 - 10:49:02 PM »

Yeah, you aren't kidding on the body work part... painting is a piece of cake compared to body work. Even that little bit that I did on the firewall made me realize why quality body work and paint cost so much. It's just time consuming, manual labor mixed with an artistic touch....

Well since I have the week off from work, I started poking around on the car.... and basically went backwards in my progress

A couple years ago I had used POR-15 on all the interior floorboards. I had taken everything down to bare metal then used the 3 step process (marine clean, metal ready and then paint). Lately I've been taking the steering column and seats in and out a lot and I noticed that the POR-15 was getting pretty scratched up. What's worse is that in some spots if you put a screwdriver to the scratch you could peel the POR-15 away.

I used to be a big fan of POR-15, but not anymore. In one of the spots where I had scratched away the POR, I covered it up with Rust Bullet just to try it. The Rust Bullet seems to have a LOT better adhesion. I guess POR just doesn't stick that well to good clean sheetmetal and it truly is meant to go over rust.

If you look at the pics you'll see what I mean. In the valleys where I can't get the stripping disk in there, I would just poke out the POR with a screwdriver. In the one picture you can even see where there was surface rust under the POR.

So I hemmed and hawed for a while and thought about just going over the spots where the POR didn't stick.... but then I realized I'd start obsessing over it, so I decided to start over. So I broke out the drill and 3M rust stripping disk and after a couple of hours I had most of the drivers side back to bare metal. I guess I'll keep going tomorrow and do the passenger side as well. Now I need to figure out if I want to go back over everything with Rust Bullet or just PPG epoxy primer.

The Rust Bullet seems pretty tough and seems to stick to clean metal very well.

Thoughts?

The Rust Bullet would be a lot easier to apply since I would brush it on and wouldn't have to mask anything or worry about overspray. Of course the epoxy primer is meant to go right over the bare metal and provide a corrosion barrier and I know it will adhere well although it's a pain to apply and I'll have to mask everything. Hmmmmmm

Travis
72 Cuda

SilverChally · « **Reply #21 on:** December 26, 2006 - 11:56:42 PM »

I hate por-15 and I won't use it anymore, I use similar stuff, but other brands. I had the same problem, redid my 69 runner and did the suspension with por-15 as directed, even sandblasted and it peeled!

Looks like you have nice metal, I'd epoxy it myself, but like you say, lot more work. I'd think the epoxy would stick as well as aything to it.

Tubbed440 · « **Reply #22 on:** December 27, 2006 - 11:18:56 AM »

Good looking ride, keep us updated! ....and Bill's AlterKtion is the deal, I've owned two of them so far and the fitment is awesome!

1BADFISH� · « **Reply #23 on:** December 27, 2006 - 12:18:28 PM »

I assume a stock 15" rallye wheel will not work with this setup? Will a stock rallye wheel work with an alterktion system with the normal brakes they supply, 11" I think? Or will the control arms still hit. Looks like a nice setup.

go-fish · « **Reply #24 on:** December 27, 2006 - 05:22:50 PM »

1BADFISH, The control arms and the wheels touch if there is more than 5" of backspace regardless of wheel diameter. Also, the Alter-k-tion doesn't have any "normal brakes" that RMS supplies. The Alter-k-tion comes without brakes so the cost is allowed to be dropped if you already have a source for brakes. I got the 4-piston Willwood kit that requires at least a 16" wheel and it cost extra.

Since the spindles are based on a Mustang II style spindle(not OEM MII, these have a stronger forge) you can use all brakes for MII's. The "budget" brakes are the 11" Ford Granada rotors and calipers. You can get these either from RMS, I believe, or locally(junk yard or auto parts store). They will work with 15 inchers.

There is alot of people that say the MII spindles are good for no more than Street Rod style front ends. This is very much true as an original equipment piece, an OE cast MII spindle can crack and fail when abused. Since people have been pushing the limits of automotive machines with borrowed parts from other cars, those parts have eventually been recognized as the "hot thing" and the aftermearkets will quickly take that part and refine/redesign it for sale to the public.

This has been what drives the street rod aftermarket. Look at the companies that are producing parts that are basically copies, like Jag IRS, Corvette IRS, Corvette small style brake boosters, and the ever popular MII spindle. When they get ahold of these parts they are obligated to redesign them to give them selling points over junkyard pieces. Why would you buy a Fatman IRS over a junkyard Jag IRS? Because, while being the same concept, it's improved in some way and shape.

Why, there are more MII spindles out there than what came out of the assembly plant.

Sorry to get off topic but I can see this issue with people thinking Alter-k-tion is so far inferior because it uses MII spindles when in all actuality, these MII style spindles are far stronger than a newer Corvette's alluminum ones.

moparnocar · « **Reply #25 on:** December 27, 2006 - 06:48:46 PM »

Ya if I could.... What were those paint and body forums u read over??? thanks and the car looks great.. I love seeing pics like that.. keep up the good work.. JAson

Travis72 · « **Reply #26 on:** December 28, 2006 - 12:40:07 AM »

Jason,

Here's some of the forums that I found useful:

http://www.camaros.net/forums/
I know it's a Camaro site, but if you go to the "Body Shop" forum there is a lot of good info there. Some of it is Camaro specific, but a lot of it is general paint and body info.

http://www.autobody101.com/
The "Basics of Basics" is a good read, plus there are how to articles and a forum as well.

http://autobodystore.com/forum/index.php
Good forum, plus they have a good selection in their store.

http://www.leopardsystems.com/paintucationforum/
Not as active a forum, but it's run by Kevin Tetz the guy that hosts Trucks on Spike TV and he posts on there quite a bit. He has his own line of painting how-to videos.

Travis
72 Cuda

p.s. Good post by go-fish. I agree... and there are tons of brake options for the MII spindle. All the major brake companies make brake kits for the MII plus there are options for stock type systems (just search for a 1976 or 77 Mustang).

BcudaChris · « **Reply #27 on:** January 02, 2007 - 09:05:59 AM »

Awesome thread Travis!

I've mostly been hiding from computers over the holidays, so just finally got more than a glance.

I didn't realize your project was realizing a childhood dream. Is it on the ground yet?

~Chris

Krazed · « **Reply #28 on:** January 03, 2007 - 12:16:51 PM »

Hey Travis,

Good work on the Cuda! Can't wait to see it finished.. Love them G-Machines. Will be doing something very similar to mine as well.

Keep up the good work!

Oh, btw.. my name is Travis too.

Street_Challenged73 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 03, 2007 - 07:51:08 PM »

Wow, awesome work with that 'Cuda!!!!

It's looking very sweet!!!!

Author Topic: 72 Cuda g-machine - 2016 update (Read 221075 times)

Travis72

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Jacksboys

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

cudabuyer

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Ornamental

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

SilverChally

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Travis72

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

SilverChally

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Tubbed440

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

1BADFISH�

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

go-fish

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

moparnocar

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Travis72

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

BcudaChris

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Krazed

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)

Street_Challenged73

Re: 72 Cuda g-machine build up (lots of pictures)