I know that you never get your total value that you put into your vehicle, but I am curious. What would my 70 GT be worth? Rebuilt original 351C, "M" with OD automatic. Buckets with console floor shifter. New Heidts front end. Everything done mechanical, paint is original with just a little surface rust(floor had no rust, still had factory paint overspray with new carpet).
Part of the problem is the particular things you did. For example, it has bucket seats. The next guy wants a bench. I'm looking at a '65 Falcon, but the guy put in a floor shifter. I don't want a floor shifter, so the PO spent money on something that I would have to un-do. That costs money and time to weld in the hole, get a new carpet kit, and replace the column shifter. That makes some of this valuation difficult. Not so much if it's original. Joseph
Had to do modifications to make the oil pan fit. After the tear down, found the difficulty with the oil pan room. Heidt’s website said a perfect fit, but when we called they said “ oh, that would only work seamlessly if you had a 5.0 Coyote motor installed, not the original 351C”. Had to cut and reassemble the front end to make it work. That said, the steering is now great, no more “wandering” from the old Factory cylinder steering.
1. I absolutely despise the Mustang II swaps in these Fords (Mustangs included), as these kits utilize the lower 'frame rail' to hang the MII crossmember. The problem is that the frame rail was never designed for that type of side-loading, front-loading, and twisting (the MII crossmember tries to rotate out from under the car under heavy braking, fatiguing the rail and causing cracks (I've seen four). Fatman Fabrications refuses to do a MII kit for these first-generation unibody cars (remember, this is only the first decade of unibody cars from Ford), instead preferring to do a Mustang SN95-based Macpherson strut front end that still utilizes the stock shock tower. To that end, removing the factory shock tower arrangement only reduces torsional strength, and given that these cars aren't that strong anyway, cutting up the front isn't technically all that great of an idea, in spite of what Heidt's and other outfits might tell you. 2. Disregard everything that I just typed out up there, because ANYTHING is better than the stock "dead spot" steering arrangement, even a Heidt's MII swap.
I plan to do a Rod and Custom MII on my '65 in the not too distant future (by a gentleman who has done 30+ with no problems), however I do plan to keep my Monte Carlo bar installed and make a modified version of the export brace that will be welded to the Monte Carl bar at its attachment site on the inner fender which will help negate torsional stresses. Because the coil-overs upper attachment are much lower than the stock upper suspension's it does change the geometry but, like it was said, there still remains torsional stresses.
Unless you're going to be autocrossing/track day running it, I would suggest doing the Fatman SN95 macpherson strut kit instead of removing the shock towers, 1999-2004 Mustang GT disc brakes work really well for lightweight cars (with easy/cheap options for Cobra brakes), and you can keep 15" wheels. Beyond that, I'd actually suggest doing a tube-frame setup under the entire car, but that's obviously a bit more involved.
