1965 FORD MUSTANG TRUCK FRAME RESTOMOD
AKA THE TRUCKSTANG
AKA THE TRUCKSTANG
Preface:
Since the days that this car was in IL and I had started working on it, the years have passed with very little done to the car as a whole. I did manage to do the typical engine/transmission overhaul, with the added bonus of installing some power mods to the engine in the form of a Duraspark ignition system, high lift cam, headers, larger dual exhaust, Edelbrock Performer 4bbl carb and Holley high flow electric fuel pump, performance 4bbl intake and even a higher voltage coil from a newer Ford powerplant.
Even with the powertrain in good standing, the only things that were done to the car in the later years was minor patching on the frame and floors, nothing really serious, but from that point not much else was done on the car. It just sat for years, degrading in condition more and more until I reached a point where something had to be done before this car returns to the earth from which it came. I did put a battery on the car to verify that the engine still turned over, making me feel better that the powerplant did not freeze up. Oil also looked fine, no milkshake indicating the danger of water in the oil. At this point, I had to figure out a plan for this car since the body was in horrible shape along with the subframes and floors. The only option I had that would break the bank was to mount this body on a truck frame.
Since the days that this car was in IL and I had started working on it, the years have passed with very little done to the car as a whole. I did manage to do the typical engine/transmission overhaul, with the added bonus of installing some power mods to the engine in the form of a Duraspark ignition system, high lift cam, headers, larger dual exhaust, Edelbrock Performer 4bbl carb and Holley high flow electric fuel pump, performance 4bbl intake and even a higher voltage coil from a newer Ford powerplant.
Even with the powertrain in good standing, the only things that were done to the car in the later years was minor patching on the frame and floors, nothing really serious, but from that point not much else was done on the car. It just sat for years, degrading in condition more and more until I reached a point where something had to be done before this car returns to the earth from which it came. I did put a battery on the car to verify that the engine still turned over, making me feel better that the powerplant did not freeze up. Oil also looked fine, no milkshake indicating the danger of water in the oil. At this point, I had to figure out a plan for this car since the body was in horrible shape along with the subframes and floors. The only option I had that would break the bank was to mount this body on a truck frame.
Shot of the 289 powerplant.
Interior of the car as it was back around 2010.
After doing some research, I found that this type of project was actually pretty common. It was more common with specific truck frames, like Bronco or K5 Blazer frames, based on the idea that many cars had the same wheelbase with these frames. I later found that the short bed/single cab Ranger frame shared the same wheelbase as the vintage Mustangs so this would be a logical start, given the idea that the frame is small enough that a build on this platform wouldn't have the vehicle looking too "trucky". There was also the idea that I was easily able to get my hand on a Ranger frame for pretty cheap, so this is where we're making our stand.
The first thing that would need to be done is strip the car down. This means everything has to come off of the unibody. This includes panels, doors, seats, gauge cluster, wiring, exhaust, everything. If its attached via nuts and bolts, it comes off. This will even include the front suspension and the rear end. To get ready to move on to the next phase of the project I have to have nothing left on the body but the body. Of course the first thing I did was pull the hood off, since I will be going in and out of the engine bay.
The Rustang after removing the hood. One can see the level of decay on this car.
To get things ready I had to strip the car of pretty much everything that could be removed, and some that normally couldn't be removed. All the body panels, doors, trunk lid, bumpers, etc all had to come out. A lot of these components were pretty rusty but would unfortunately have to be reused as we do not have the resources to replace these things with fresh aftermarket metal. Body panels would have to be patched and new attachment points fabricated to make up for the broken bolts and tabs and other rusty points where multiple components were bolted together. The car's wiring was gutted as was the interior. As for things that weren't normally removable, large sections of the rusty floor were cut out just to get ahead of the game when I would be cutting out the floor in the process of mounting the car body to the truck frame. The entire powertrain also gets removed, leaving just the mount perches and radiator core. No exhaust, driveshaft, hangers, fuel lines would remain. Once all was said and done, we were left with a rolling chassis void of a front clip, rear components or interior. The dash, being spot welded in place, had to remain. For the time being the steering column would remain to allow us to steer the rolling chassis to its new spot to begin the transformation.
The rolling chassis is relocated to the new worksite. The plan is to support the stripped chassis on a pair of large boards resting on a pair of drums for each board. This will raise the body high enough to allow for the truck frame to be rolled under the body to allow for the grafting of the two bodies.
The first video shows how I stripped the chassis down further, removing all suspension components and the remainder of the driveline. With all of the larger components removed I was able to jack the body up using the engine crane so I can place the board and drums under the rear and front, raising the body high enough to allow me to roll the Ranger frame underneath. With the body now staged, I turned my attention to getting the Mustang's powerplant installed on the Ranger frame. Using the original motor mounts and the Ranger mounts I was able to fabricate a pair of hybrid mounts that would allow the V8 to sit in the Ranger's original 4cyl engine bay. Along with the engine mounting, I had to fabricate a transmission crossmember using a salvaged crossmember from another vehicle. With the powertrain locked in place on the Ranger frame, we can move forward with getting the frame staged under the raised body so the real work can begin.
The 2nd video goes in depth into the extra work done to the body to help in mating it to the truck frame. Removing the shock towers, cutting into the subframes and adding some reinforcement to the core support and surrounding areas allowed me to get the front end of the body set up to sit on the truck frame enough to allow for a decent coupling of the two bodies. The stance is higher than the stock Mustang but not too high as would be the case with a 4x4 Bronco or similar truck chassis. The rear will need to undergo the same treatment as far as cutting into the floors and making patches and repairs as well as adding metal where applicable to provide anchor points for the Mustang body to the truck frame. The truck frame also provides some anchor points to work with in the form of the old body mounting points from the Ranger truck body.
In part 3 I have to do some floor panel replacement which is actually a combination of welding in replacement floor pans and sections of sheet metal to fill in areas that cannot be filled in with stock panels. Due to the angles of the truck frame and how the body sits on the truck frame, I had to fabricate about 75% of the floor from scratch. Only the lower firewall and the front section where the driver/passenger place their feet are stock replacement panels. One of the only cons that I have with this build is due to the truck frame and how the rear floor had to be constructed, we have to omit the rear seat section. All would not be lost however as the rear seat in a 65 fastback actually folds down to create a flat rear area for carrying stuff without getting anything on the seats under normal circumstances. I will be using that fold down seat back section to create the illusion of the backseat still being present. The folded down section will remain folded down. In the meantime with the floors done and the body pretty much mounted to the frame, I'm able to start reassembling the car as a whole, putting everything back in place. I even take a moment to weld crude sheet metal patches over the areas of the fenders and quarters where rusted out metal created huge holes. The patchwork kind of adds to the cobbled together wasteland/Mad Max theme of this type of car build.
In part 4 of this build series I wrap up things by hooking up all of the regular "car" stuff that makes up the Mustang. With the powertrain in place I had to hook up things like the fuel system, exhaust, and do a full rewiring of the car from front to back. Using an aftermarket fuse panel I'm able to do wire runs for all the pertinent circuits in the car, from engine management to lights and even the radio. I get the interior fully installed, incorporating that fold down rear seat as well as the interior panels, which were repainted with a shade of white that closely matched the shade of white from the original Mustang interior. The seats were even resprayed, which due to the paint not being optimized for the vinyl material, took a long time to fully cure. Our exhaust is a true dual system, tapped off of stock exhaust manifolds, since custom headers would've had to be made for this setup. I even had to build a custom driveshaft to fit the slightly shorter length between the Ranger rear end and where the C4 transmission sits on the truck frame. In the process of testing I ran into some hiccups with the transmission that prompted a rebuild. With the car sitting high like it does, removal and installation was easier than it would've been with a Mustang sitting at a lower/normal stance.
Like many projects of this scale, there's always going to be something that I will come up with to apply to this car to improve it in some way or fashion. I still have to add some form of HVAC to the car, which will really fall in the area of aftermarket hardware. I will be adding a generic heater box that will just have basic vents routed to shoot hot air at chest level. There are also AC kits out there that allow for an AC system to be installed that's independent of the engine, using a 12v motorized compressor. While components like the condenser and hoses would have to be routed in and through the engine bay, the compressor can be located either in the engine bay or even under the dash depending on the size of the compressor but most likely in the engine bay. Only thing I might have to do is increase the size of the alternator in order to handle the electrical load of the compressor.
Other improvements I see or the future on this car would also include drop spindles for the front end to at least lower the front a little bit to give it that 70's/80's hot rod stance while slightly lowering the front a little bit to aid in seeing ahead over the hood. I would also like to improve on the fuel system, adding a more streamlined fuel tank in lieu of the LUV tank that is oddly shaped, allowing me to restore the trunk space. The thought has also crossed my mind to even convert the car to a ute where the back is cut out, rear window removed and a bed and rear cab window grafted into what is the inner body, turning the car into a carry-all of sorts. I'd even visit changing the rear end gears to give me a better highway gear to coincide with the 3spd non-overdrive C4 transmission so the car can be a better road cruiser.
Other improvements I see or the future on this car would also include drop spindles for the front end to at least lower the front a little bit to give it that 70's/80's hot rod stance while slightly lowering the front a little bit to aid in seeing ahead over the hood. I would also like to improve on the fuel system, adding a more streamlined fuel tank in lieu of the LUV tank that is oddly shaped, allowing me to restore the trunk space. The thought has also crossed my mind to even convert the car to a ute where the back is cut out, rear window removed and a bed and rear cab window grafted into what is the inner body, turning the car into a carry-all of sorts. I'd even visit changing the rear end gears to give me a better highway gear to coincide with the 3spd non-overdrive C4 transmission so the car can be a better road cruiser.
