BDRAG, JUST CHECKIN IN....

[BDRAG]

UPDATE 11/01/2022

Well I have 1800 miles on the car now. Surprising that there have only been a few very minor issues. I have a coolant seep at the timing cover to block gasket. That's a Ford built part not on me. Lol. It is very minor.

There is a very minor trans fluid seep at the tail shaft housing to main body. I mean it just has a film now and then. Few drips on the cardboard under it.

I had one over heat incident in heavy traffic as the highway came to a stop at a traffic light. The car had been running 80 mph for 30 minutes. Temp was 185. As I slowed and got in between some semi's and heavy traffic and a long stop light it hit 250 degrees and started puewking fluid. I got off the road finally but it got hot!

I installed a new, real catch can and flushed the muck that had been in the coolant since day one. We added water to test fire. It sat for a month. We drained and filled and ran it. The coolant was always rusty looking. So we did a real flush, drain, flush and re fill. Changed out the thermostat from a 195 to a 180 and all has been better. It has seen 220 but that's it.

After researching the issues we found we had very hot engine compartment air being pulled up from underneath the air dam, coming straight from the hot engine area. So I closed out the sides and bottom of the air dam and now ALL the air comes from the front through the radiator. That did the trick.

This cooler weather the car runs 180 all the time. The radiator I have is a 3 core but the tubes are only 1/2" wide. So I have ordered a new radiator that is only a 2 core but the tubes are 1-1/4" wide. So this should get me a 30-40% better cooling ability with more surface to cool it. I had to buy a lower profile electric fan which has a 1100 CFM flow rate compared to the 1300 CFM in there now but with the added cooling I think I will be set. Fingers crossed.

I am averaging about 12 mile per gallon if I drive very friendly. I have seen as low as 8 MPG. I sucks it down if ya play hard. lol.

This has been a very fun time in my life. I hope and pray for good times, safe times down the road.....

BDRAG

 

[Roxasuras]

Congrats, nice build.

 

[Dan H.]

Outstanding Job. I just started tearing down a 73'Beetle. Prolly won't get the stares you do.

 

[Arizona Johnny]

That 73 Bettle is just about as much fun to drive as a Roxor. Was the car I learned to drive during high school drivers education class! Of course it was brand new then?

 

[BDRAG]

That 73 Bettle is just about as much fun to drive as a Roxor. Was the car I learned to drive during high school drivers education class! Of course it was brand new then?

Lol. I hade a 75 olds cutlass salon as my driver's Ed car. Only got to drive it after 2 weeks in the summer heat in the simulator trailers in the high school parking lot. Lolol.

BDRAG

 

[BDRAG]

Outstanding Job. I just started tearing down a 73'Beetle. Prolly won't get the stares you do.

You will get just as many looks, it just may be a different crowd. Lol.

BDRAG

View attachment 11702

 

[BDRAG]

11/22/2022 UPDATE:

Got my new radiator and lower profile electric fan in the mail today. Not that I have a cooling issue in November Lol. I did have issues back in August.

So after talking to the old school hot rodder's I have meet since building the car I have learned tons of info. I have learned I did a lot right. Lol. Also I learned a lot about radiators which I thought I already knew but didn't know Jack *hit about.

Back in the 70's when I first started messing around with hopping up a car, increasing HP we knew the engines would run hotter and you needed more cooling. This was achieved by going from a standard 2 core or 2 rows of cooling tubes to a 3 or 4 core. Back then you took your radiator to a radiator shop and they would rebuild, core your radiator and add extra rows of tubes or cores. Cost back then was between $75-$150 painted and ready to re install.

So when I was buying parts for my build I bought a 3 core aluminum radiator with electric fan and shroud. Turns out it was just not quite enough in traffic and hot weather. I over heated once. I think I talked about that back in September.

So talking to the pro's they suggested first, use Evens waterless coolant that does not boil until 375 degrees. If the motor ever gets over 250-270 it's going to be damaged most likely anyway. But in the 225-250 range it would give you time to get off the road and not boil out the coolant and avoid catastrophic damage.

So I have learned that not all radiator tubes or cores are the same size. The one I bought was a 3 core with 1/2" wide tubes. So a total of 1-1/2" of tubes x 40 rows of tubes.

The new one I bought has 2 core or rows of tubes but they are 1-1/4" wide giving me a total of 2-1/2"s x 40 rows.

So in my simple minds rough calculations this gives me another 35-40% more tube surface area for cooling or an increase of 35-40% cooling ability.

The radiator is 1" wider front to back which was going to interfere with the water pump pulley. So I found another electric fan that's 1-1/4" thinner or shallower. So fingers crossed it will all fit correctly without having to rework the core support.

And speaking of cold weather and warm up time, back in the old days if you car takes a long time to warm up to temperature, one would stuff a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator. Well I took it a step farther. I made my old school radiator blanket from a folding windshield sun screen. Slide it right down in front of the big screen and surround shroud.

The first one I made was using an old chrome bubble type. Cut a hole in it for some cooling once thermostat opens. It worked great. So I found one that has the Ford logo on it and it was black. $5.88 plus shipping. Lol. Looks great, different. I have never seen one like it before. Lolol.

I'll take picks as I do the new radiator install in the next week or so.

BDRAG

 

[BDRAG]

Radiator swap was a 4 hour project. Hardest part converting over to Evans waterless coolant was getting ALL the water out of the block.

Pulled the large block plugs in either side, plumbed a shop vac on the exhaust side into lower radiator hose and ran it a few hours while I mounted the new radiator.

Started out by adapting the old fan shroud to the new Cold Case radiator. Had to drop from 5/16" bolts to 1/4" bolts. No big deal. Holes on shroud matched right up to the provided flange. Then I had to mount the new lower profile fan to the shroud. Traced it and added 4 new mounting points. I used the ole #8-32 rivet nuts.

The new radiator, a Cold Case has 2ea. Rows of 1-1/4" tubes. About 40% more cooling area than the Ebay special I had. The new one has side brackets just like the old one. I had to do a little trimming here and there on the new radiator flanges and on my core support to allow the radiator to slide into position. I also had to make some longer stand offs for mounting it. No big deal.

Once it was all mounted I reinstalled the block drain plugs, hooked the hoses up. Had to trim 1" off lower hose to fit new radiator. Wired the new fan in. Added the Evans coolant and fired it up. Oh man, the new fan is sooooooo quiet compared to the old vibration master that was in it. Lol.


Now the shop was about 65 degrees. Once the car got up to 180 degrees water temp the thermostat opened as it should. So we measured the temperature of the top radiator hose and the lower radiator hose. Temp at top was 179 degrees, temp at bottom hose was 139 degrees. Holy moly! 40 degrees drop. The old radiator only dropped temps by maybe 20-25 degrees. Wow!

So all in all, an afternoon of fabrication and install. All the research paid off. I lost some fan clearance to water pump pulley but I still have about 3/8" clearance.

Oh yea, was bored during the cold snap. Started to play with Photoshop on computer. I installed my car into a 1970 Trans Am race pic. Lololol.

BDRAG

 

[BDRAG]

01/24/2023 UPDATE......

Hey all, hope everyone had a great holiday. I did, I gained 15 freaking pounds. Lolol.

So the last thing I did was the radiator / cooling system mods. All that is working perfect. In the last three weeks I have made a few local car shows and got the fever to keep adding on to the project.

One meet I went to was a celebration of what would have been Carroll Shelby's 100 birthday. Lots of bad to the bone cars, cobras, a Daytona coupe and lots of old to new mustangs and Shelby's. It was held at Ford's Garage restaurant.

Another was a small show around a down town square which still had all the Christmas lights up. Took some nice pics. Now back to it.

FRONT BRAKE COOLING.
So I fiddled and thought about where to place intakes, what style intakes, round or aero tear drop type. So after spending a few hours looking at parts I decided on 3 inch inlets with 3 inch aircraft Skeet hose.

The raw inlet rings I found in an aviation parts catalog, the ducting I found in a race car parts catalog and the clamps I found at McMaster-Carr which is just a wonderful company if you've ever used them, they have everything, but you got to pay shipping but you get it in two days. They are usually pricey but we're the cheapest this time on the clamps that I could find.


So after deciding where I was going to place the intake rings I marked up the front air dam and use my hydraulic hole punch. I did it that way because the 3-in hole saw I bought had the stupidest arbor on it and I've ever seen. Never seen one like it. Thanks home Depot. Lol.

So anyway, I punched a two inch hole and then nibbled and nibbled and nibbled around the edge untill I was able to smooth off and round out the hole with a drum sander and rotary file.

Then I had to lay out the hole pattern on the raw inlet ring and then transferred that pattern onto the air dam. I then added the Rivet nuts into the air dam to secure the inlet rings. Then I added the deducting picking up one existing bolt for one of the hold down clamps and had to drill and tap a hole on the opposite frame rail for the driver side. Then just a few tie wraps and it was a done deal.

Wow I can't believe how much better the front of the car looks. You look at the inlets and it almost looks like twin turbo air intakes. Lolol. The raw aluminum rings broke up the solid black front end nicely by adding some highlights to the front. I think it came out great. Wish I had done it the day I installed the air dam.


The main reason I am adding the cooling ducts is to get fresh cool air to the front brakes as I am still planning on doing some track days eventually. I've been working on my wife about attending a few with very little resistance for some reason??? Maybe she wants me dead? Lol lol.

Well that's it for now. The next mod will be some pop in Lexan side windows for bad weather and cold weather. I have driven the car in temps down to 27°, wearing my old motorcycle gear and it's not so bad. But when you look like the stay puff marshmallow guy driving with all those clothes on it kind of detracts from the Johnny be cool look. Lololol.

BDRAG......

 

[BDRAG]

Have a couple of walk around videos of the mustang.

.

Pete did a few videos for his YouTube.

 

[BDRAG]

02/22/2023 UPDATE:

Well, the car has been on the road since mid August 2022. I have about 2900 miles on it. So far it's been a blast! Cool or cold weather has been a challenge since there are no side windows.

So I did some research, I took the car back over to my buddy Pete's place to beet the coming cold rain. I ordered materials and waited for them to come. The week of coming rain changed to snow and ice, that set me back a10 days. Deliveries in the area sucked!

Once I got started it didn't take long to cut out the rough windows from 3/16" Lexan sheets. I ordered 3 pieces 24 x 48. I had already made a set of temporary side close out for when I was painting the car and to pop in to just keep out dust. I chopped them up and fit them 100%.

My buddy traded 2 lbs of deer sausage to a guy for a 9" Delta table top band saw. Yep! Lol. Must be some dam good sausage! Lolol.

It needed wheel rubbers and a blade. Got that stuff and adjusted it out. It worked fantastic, made it way easier and less chance of damage from a jig saw.

Started on the right side, built base tie in angle, then started playing with bracing and such. Eventually got them built. Took about 50 hours. Cutting, sanding, routering straight edges, sanding the curved edges, torching the edges once complete.

I had to incorporate a sliding window for cooling, air flow and most important, ya gotta reach inside to open the dam doors. Lolol. Once they were all fit I took it all apart and had the parts black anodized.

It takes about 5 minutes to remove the 9 screws holding each window and brackets in. I found some table leaf storage bags on Amazon to store the windows in while off the car. I plan on stowing the windows in the truck on road trips, kinda like rain gear on the motorcycle! Lolol.

Well that's about it. You guys stay safe and keep building your stuff for your Roxors. I still lurk. Lolol.

Bdrag

 

[BDRAG]

04/15/2023 UPDATE:

Well all, it has been 2 years to the day that my buddy Pete and I dragged the 66 Mustang coupe from its resting place in a back yard in east Dallas.

So to mark the occasion I am posting a few pictures. One of how the car looked when it was dragged home and one from a big car event we went to last month.

The tribute picture, I call it that because the car is shown in front of an old gas station and on the billboards of the station is my buddy Pete's shops name, PM GARAGE. ....

Thanks for watching the whole build thread. I like sharing with those who have become friends through this forum for Roxors even though I no longer own one.

BDRAG

 

[BDRAG]

06/23/2023 UPDATE:

Well guys, been playing hard in the mustang. Going to local car gatherings a few times a month.

Well on 06/10/2023 I went to a car show at Macco paint shop in Plano. With a car painted with Rust-Oleum turbo spray paint I managed a 1st place trophy, at a paint shop! Lololol.

So as I left the event the only part on the car we did not replace, the Borg Warner T5 Wc transmission which has been a noisy POS since day one, the only unknown in the car because it was in the pile of parts started it's death clicking in second gear. Kinda sounded like when ya have a rock in your tire, click click click Sept I could feel it in the shifter.

Well drove home and told my wife the issue to which I get the rolling eyes. Lolol. I told her it's going to S H I T at some point but I'll drive it as is till it does.

Well last Saturday I was on my way to a local cars & coffee, rounded a corner in first gear, buzzed to 3500 rpm, shifted to second and rolled into it. Kapow! Grind, crunch, clatter clatter shudder, crunching. Sounded like I was dragging a washing machine on a rope behind me. Somdabitch! It S H I T!

I was able to still use 1st, 3rd and 5th kinda sorta. Oh the noise, rattles and just the feeling of hang in there for the ten miles to Pete's. Lolol

Of coarse I hit every stop light. Max speed was about 40 mph in 5th to keep the crashing of crap down to a crawl. After 25 minutes of shame when other cars would give the thumbs up only to give me wtf looks and raised eye brows! Lolol waaaaa.

Once hone that night I ordered a new Tremec T5 from Summit racing. $2000 + tax. Waaaaa!

Pete and I drove the 45 minutes to Summit Racing Sunday morn and we're back by 12:00 noon wrenching away

We had the tranny swap done by 4:00 pm. That included time to re figure all the clutch and hydraulic throw out bearing assembly positioning due to the different pilot shaft end plate to housing bring different lengths. But we prevailed. Lol.

Test drive went great. Very quiet, no gear whine like we had experienced from day one. Day one where we knew the 93 mustang tranny that came in the pile of parts had a limited life expectancy. Now we are set for long term fun.

Unfortunately the new transmission will be pushed to it's max HP and Torque ratings if I hammer it. Trans is rated to 350 HP and 300 ft torque. The motor makes 350 up and 365 torque. Fingers crossed. May put the may pop street tires back on to limit the load verses tire slip. The tires on now are very sticky.

Well here are a few pics of the side by side look and the damage. Lol. $2200 later we get back! Lolol.

BDRAG