John has Kevin join him in the shop to save this classic 1967 Mustang Coupe from the crusher at a local junkyard to turn it into a great weekend cruiser. They start by upgrading the suspension with a Heidts Mustang II up front and a new four link in the rear.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 This time on Car Craft TV,
00:07 we are working on a 1967 Mustang Coupe.
00:10 Back in the shop with me is Kevin Tate
00:12 because he loves Mustangs so much
00:14 that he saved this one from the crusher
00:16 after it was dropped off at a local scrap yard.
00:18 (upbeat music)
00:21 This is a car that actually came out of the junkyard
00:25 and you see that headline a lot on articles
00:28 on stuff we do or had done in Car Craft in the past
00:30 and currently do in Hot Rod.
00:31 Came out of a junkyard, came out of a bar
00:33 and this thing actually did come out of a junkyard.
00:35 They called and they didn't have the heart to crush it,
00:37 they didn't have a heart to put it on the yard
00:39 and let it get picked over by everybody else.
00:41 So I asked them to set it aside at one of their work areas
00:44 and I was amazed that with a little bit of work
00:46 and some fresh gas, I was able to get it running
00:49 onto a trailer and back to my shop.
00:51 No crusher for this classic.
00:53 Mustangs basically began as an economy car
00:55 and you could get it with an inline six,
00:57 that's what this thing had, an inline six
00:59 and a three-speed manual transmission.
01:00 And I think for this build and what a lot of readers
01:04 and viewers would do is just keep it simple.
01:07 Put a push rod V8 in it.
01:09 We'll keep it manual but with a newer five-speed,
01:11 also from a junkyard.
01:13 We will refresh the suspension, brakes
01:15 and install new rear axle, updating what needs to be done
01:17 to this Mustang to take it from crusher to cruiser.
01:20 (upbeat music)
01:24 (drill whirring)
01:27 Today, we're gonna get rid of all the existing
01:29 suspension components because frankly, they're worn out
01:32 and they don't fit the V8 application.
01:34 (drill whirring)
01:37 We're changing the suspension to remove the dependency
01:39 of the suspension to the upper part
01:42 of the really weak spot welded assembly.
01:44 (upbeat music)
01:47 (drill whirring)
01:50 Step one is removing the factory Mustang shock towers
02:05 and all the original suspension pickup points.
02:08 What we're after is a clean frame rail to build off of.
02:11 (upbeat music)
02:13 (drill whirring)
02:16 We're gonna use a Heights independent front suspension
02:23 Mustang II style, that's basically the geometry
02:26 that it was pulled out of and transpose it into this car.
02:30 We got some trimming to do, we've got some grinding to do,
02:33 bear the frame rails, set the cross member in place
02:35 but it's really an easy system to install.
02:38 (upbeat music)
02:40 (drill whirring)
02:43 I'm absolutely blown away at how rust free this vehicle is.
03:05 Part of the reason for that is because it's been puking oil
03:08 and fluids for its entire life and it is coated underneath.
03:13 It's like the world's best dinosaur Z-Bart.
03:15 It's preserved this vehicle but not kidding,
03:17 underneath the battery box, you Mustang guys know
03:20 that there's prone areas in these vehicles that always rust.
03:22 Floor pans, the top hats, underneath the cowl,
03:26 it's all solid.
03:28 This is a unicorn in the vintage Mustang world.
03:31 I think it came out of South Georgia in a really dry region.
03:34 The odometer only shows 58,000 miles
03:36 and I'm guessing that it might be original miles on it.
03:39 (upbeat music)
03:42 While Kevin is cutting the shock towers up front,
03:47 I'm gonna move to the back and remove the rear suspension.
03:50 The Mustang left the factory with leaf spring suspension.
03:53 Leaf springs can cause axle wrap and wheel hop
03:55 if you toss a bunch of power at 'em.
03:57 So we're gonna ditch the entire rear suspension
03:59 and replace it with a bolt on upgrade from Heights.
04:02 (upbeat music)
04:04 (upbeat music)
04:07 Going from an I6 to a V8 means a big jump in power,
04:31 so our tiny rear axle had to go.
04:33 In its place, we're gonna be putting a nine inch rear axle
04:36 and we're gonna be installing it
04:37 with Heights 4-Link rear suspension kit.
04:40 It is a parallel 4-Link design with a panhard bar
04:43 to locate the axle within the chassis.
04:45 And to suspend it,
04:46 we're gonna be using coilover springs and shocks
04:47 to give us better ride height adjustability
04:49 and we get rid of the leaf spring
04:50 so we'll have better handling because of it.
04:52 (upbeat music)
04:56 The great part about this Heights 4-Link rear kit
04:58 is that the brackets bolt into the Mustang chassis.
05:01 After a few measurements, Kevin and I drill
05:03 our new holes to get the front link brackets
05:05 and panhard bar in place.
05:07 (upbeat music)
05:09 after a few measurements, Kevin and I drill our new holes to get the front link brackets and panhard bar in place.
05:10 (upbeat music)
05:38 We've got our Heights 4-Link rear suspension
05:41 mocked up in the back of our Mustang.
05:42 So the next step is to get our nine inch axle housing
05:46 set into place, get our driveline angles set up,
05:49 and then we can weld the nine inch to our axle brackets.
05:52 The brackets index off our new axle housing.
05:57 And once we ensure that it is centered under the car
05:59 and the 4-Link bars are in the same angle at ride height,
06:02 I will tack the brackets in.
06:03 (upbeat music)
06:06 (upbeat music)
06:09 At ride height, we want the panhard bar to be level.
06:15 This minimizes the side to side movement
06:17 of the axle during suspension travel.
06:18 (upbeat music)
06:21 (upbeat music)
06:24 At the front of the Mustang,
06:44 we've got everything stripped down to the stock frame rails,
06:47 all the suspension pickup points and mounts, it's all gone.
06:50 Frame rails are ground bare,
06:52 and there's a ginormous hole
06:53 where the shock tower used to be.
06:54 This is the plate that covers it in,
06:57 and it's single wall, not very strong.
06:58 Doesn't have to be.
07:00 The reason is that now the strength
07:01 that used to be derived from the whole assembly
07:03 is all contained within the Heights Mustang IFS crossmember.
07:08 It comes with all the boxing plates
07:10 that you need to reinforce the rails
07:11 and let it handle that strength,
07:13 upright mounts, and the IFS frame itself.
07:16 Comes with upper and lower control arms.
07:18 The lower control arm's fixed,
07:19 the upper one is adjustable,
07:21 and it comes with everything that you need
07:22 to put this Mustang II styled suspension in.
07:25 Now Mustang II geometry is contained within itself.
07:28 That's what makes it so popular
07:29 amongst several different platforms,
07:31 and it's gonna work great on this Mustang.
07:33 (upbeat music)
07:36 The Heights frame rail reinforcement plates
07:38 will box the factory Mustang stamped sheet metal frame.
07:41 I'll fully weld the plates to strengthen the frame
07:43 where our new crossmember will live.
07:45 (upbeat music)
07:49 (welding)
07:51 Heights gives us key points to measure from on the car
07:58 to locate the new Mustang II style crossmember.
08:01 And once in the frame, we can tack it into place.
08:04 (upbeat music)
08:06 (welding)
08:08 Finally, we can assemble the upper and lower control arms.
08:33 Mock up the drop spindles
08:35 and then toss the front fender on
08:36 just to double check that our front suspension
08:38 is in the right place and centered.
08:40 And it looks perfect.
08:41 (upbeat music)
08:44 Front and rear suspension is mocked up and put into place
08:58 and everything sits exactly where it should be.
09:00 Of course, we're gonna blow it apart,
09:02 finish fully welding everything,
09:03 and I wanna get it painted properly
09:05 so we don't have any corrosion issues down the road.
09:07 And so it looks nice.
09:09 The bare brake system is on front and rear.
09:11 We've got a big brake upgrade.
09:12 This is made for Mustang II style spindles
09:15 and it's a beautiful kit.
09:16 Two piece rotors, aluminum hats, four piston calipers,
09:19 and it all just fits in there great.
09:22 Our goal was to get this thing down on new wheels and tires
09:25 on the new suspension
09:27 and see what our newfound real estate looks like
09:29 under the hood with that 351 Windsor.
09:31 (upbeat music)
09:34 Our cross member kit works
09:57 with all popular Ford motor mounts.
10:00 We simply told Heights we had a 351 Windsor
10:02 and the engine drops into place and bolts up.
10:04 (upbeat music)
10:07 Toss on some new 17 inch wheels wrapped in Continental tires
10:26 and we can see what our Mustang looks like
10:28 sitting on the ground.
10:29 This is a great start to a cool project.
10:31 (upbeat music)
10:35 (engine revving)
10:37 (upbeat music)
10:40 (engine revving)
10:43 (upbeat music)
10:45 (upbeat music)
10:48 (upbeat music)
10:51 (upbeat music)
10:53 (upbeat music)
10:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]