1965 Mustang
Summary of changes
- Swap in manual transmission
- Shelby dropped a arms
- Boxed lower control arm
- Wheels and tires
- 3 point seatbelts
- Radio with bluetooth and sound deadening
- Rack and pinion steering and adjustable upper control arms
- 4 piston front brakes
- Electric cooling fan
- Repaint car (and fix door)
I am not a traditionalist. Keeping the car original does not mean much to me. When I learned my 65 Mustang had a 66 grille it did not manner to me. When I planned changes I wanted to make I was leaning much more towards resto mod than keeping it original.
The first change was obvious to chose that know me. I pulled the C4 transmission and replaced it with a 5 speed manual. The new transmission is a Tremec T5. It is what they call world class. This means this is the generation that had upgrades like carbon fiber lined synchros. It had some other upgrades like a steel bearing retainer instead of aluminum. A Mustang from 1965 would have had mechanical leverage linkage for the clucth. I used a hydraulic clutch. It simplifies packaging and feels better in operation. Most parts were purchased from Modern Driveline. I fabricated the transmission mount.
The next upgrade took a little bit of work but cost little. The mod is what is commonly referred to as a Shelby drop. The upper a arm is lowered where it mounts to the body. This improves camber change when the car rolls in corners. This in turn improves front end grip. Carol Shelby figured this out when racing Mustangs in the 60s. At the same time I put in new lower control arms to replace worn ball joints. I used metal from the old arms to make pieces to box the new lower control arms. This strengthened the lower control arms with the cost of tubular control arms.
Next I updated to more modern wheels and tires. The wheels were American Racing 17″ rims. The tires were 235/45R17
With the changed transmission, suspension upgrade, and new tires I began driving the car more, and more like I would drive any other car. It seemed like a good time to turn my attention to the inside of the car. First was replacing seatbelts with more modern 3 point harness. Next was updating the sound system. I installed a classic autosound with bluetooth for connection to phone. Then I installed sound deadening in the trunk, doors, and floor.
Next was finishing up the front suspension. For this I installed Total Control products manual rack and pinion. Additionally I changed out the upper control arms for adjustable ones. This allowed better adjustment of caster and camber. I installed the bump steer kit but still was not completely happy with the ability to completely eliminate bump steer. If doing again I think I would investigate other options.
After completing the front suspension I updated the front brakes to 4 piston including changing the master cylinder. The existing brakes were fine, but I had a use for them on another project. While I was under the hood I also change the cooling fan from a mechanical to an electric fan.
Now I was deciding if I should just drive the car or do something to improve the rear suspension. That is when a disaster happened. Not a disaster in the grand scheme, but in the ownership of the car. I had the car on a lift I and was lowering it. I forgot the driver side door was open. When lowering the car I damaged the door. By damage I mean essentially destroyed it. The door was bent such that the back of the door was about 6 inches high! After that the answer about what was next became obvious. Fix the door that I stupidly damaged and then have my brother paint the car. On the positive note, if there can be one, I learned how to re-skin a door. Actually it was not that hard. I cut the skin off. Then I straightened the door frame. Then I install a new skin. While at it I put a new window rail and regulator in the door which was never great. In the end the driver door was better than the passenger.
With all that I was done. I drove it a few times and sold it to a guy in Texas.
