So Coop's build is well underway and I thought I would post some pics of the progress. Coop is used as a test mule and development for our Ecoboost harness start up, but it's time for her long term drivetrain and suspension to start getting installed. As she is a wide body build the fenders and quarters will need to be trimmed to fit the 18" rolling stock.
Coop was soda blasted and sprayed with sealer. I mention this as the severity and location of the rust has helped in the decision making and, somewhat, the direction of the build.
The frame rails, torque boxes, toe boards, rockers, cowl, front apron, roof, doors, fenders were all in pretty decent shape. The floor from the toe boards to the rear seat were Swiss cheese or "lace" as I put it. the trunk floor and drop offs are lace, the lower portions of the wheel houses are lace, and unfortunately, the lower portions of the rear quarters and both rear wheel arches were pretty bad and creased.
Some may remember that Coop was originally purchased to be cut up into a trailer so I'm not really worried about restoring anything and just building a cool one off play toy.
I'll start with pics from when we bought her and post a few along the way to where we are now, then I'll attempt to keep this post updated throughout the build...
Warning! The following pictures and text are not, I repeat, NOT purist friendly. Coop was headed to the scrapper and I did what I do, I rescued her, now she'll get reborn in my vision.
Now, as I said, Coop was used and is still used as a mule for our start up. She's had several powerplants between her rails for testing and development, but her permanent drivetrain will consist of the following setup:
She will be running a 2019 Mustang 2.3 liter EcoBoost engine and a 2017 Mustang 6 speed (6R80) automatic. The tiny 7.25 rearend is being replace by a narrowed Explorer 8.8 housing with a new Ford Motorsport LSD and 3.55 gears. We also plan to install a 2018 Toyota EPAS system on the steering column and connect it to our brand new Lares quick ratio box.
Front and rear suspension will be redone with an all tubular front end and rear 4 link with double adjustable coil overs in all 4 corners. Ridler 605s were my choice for rolling stock, this will change down the road as I have big plans, but little money and the Ridlers fit the bill for now.
Last edited by Turbocluck; November 5th, 2021 at 06:26 PM.
We decided on a 67-68 Mustang 1 piece pan for several reasons. Dimensionally it is nearly perfect, while it is very different in design. The 6R trans is huge and even though we managed to set the engine and trans very low in the chassis, we still needed a bit more room than the 65 tunnel provided. Keep in mind that the floors were fully rusted out and the interior was long gone, we decided on the later pan. Now we can use easier to come by Mustang stuff and enjoy a larger trans tunnel.
We spent a couple hours today working on the flares. We will be using a slightly larger 295/40/18 vs the current 275/35/18 rear tire so we sized the flares accordingly and then we left some room for the car to squat with a full tank. As you can see the fronts are tacked in and some of the front wire frame is covered in tape for clarity. I may change it up a bit there so I'm holding off on covering it in sheetmetal. Anyways... The rears are still under construction, I have to blend the lower portion into the car front and rear.
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