1968 Ford Mustang - Eleanor Replica

"Currently under Construction"

This is the donor car for the Eleanor Replica Project. It is pretty straight and in decent condition. Not much of the original car will be used in the build, so it got stripped down to the shell and stuck it on a rotisserie. We Hydro-Blasted it to clean off all the years of grim and some nasty old undercoating.

The Owner is having "Blue Oval Performance" in Denver, Co build a 750hp Ford 427ci FE Side Oiler, backed up with a Tremec TKO600 5speed. With all this new horse power/toque, the old '68 uni-body needed a little help. Specially since Ford really did not do much to the chassis when they turned these into convertibles. Basically the whole body flexed real bad when I raised it up on the rotisserie, needed so bracing to keep it straight. We ordered a full TCI Suspension kit for it, complete with A=arm from suspension, Ford 9" Rear End with Triangulated 4 link Bars. All four corners have adjustable coil-overs, 12" rotors, and 6 Piston Wilwood Calipers. 
So my first task was some serious 2 1/2" tube steel sub-frame connectors. I cut the floor pan front to back and welded in the tub steel.

Along with the sub-frame connectors, I welding up the torque boxes and supports to help with flex. Then started work on bracing for the front frame.  1 1/2" tubing was used to brace the front frame back to the firewall and through the A-post back to the frame. 

All of the original suspension was removed. The new TCI kit was very nice quality with good instructions.  I would hate to do this kit on a garage floor, the rotisserie made this project enjoyable and manageable. I could pull all kind of dimension to double check locations, square, and center. All of the original front suspension is removed and deleted. The kit also re-enforces the the frame  rails to handle the A-arms, mounts and new motor mounts.

Th rear suspension was equally as straight forward. After all the fitting and welding was completed, the underside was painted with a good gloss chassis paint, along with all the suspension parts.

The fiberglass Eleanor kit was one that was purchased by the owner some time ago. It was built by a company long out of business now. The kit parts were lacking in any kind of mounting flanges, so these had to be fabricated so the new parts could be glued to the body. I used 3m Panel Bond Adhesive, which is a two part epoxy the industry used to fasten body part to frames on newer cars. 

The exhaust system is odd in that it is one of the few where the exhaust enters and exits from the front of the muffler. Kind of convoluted to get all the piping to work out. The trick is to get them tucked up as close the body as possible to aid in ground clearance. I custom made the exit tips that run through the body panels, later we will chrome them.

The project in on hold til the motor is built. it is a 427FE motor mated to a Borg&Warner T56.  Blue Oval in Denver has all the parts to build the motor, we are just waiting for him to complete it. When it will be done......I have no idea. I have another high end builder ready to step in and take over, if and when the client pulls the trigger.

​Hurry up and wait !!!