Hackster's Autocross Track Day Truck (Garage Build)

[hackster]

A few of you guys followed along with my ls swapped f100 build. The builds here are amazing and guys have more money into their wheels than I have into my entire builds.

But you guys do give some awesome feedback and have some builders on here that have some amazing talent and I appreciate your pointers.

Follow along as I try and get this thing done in time for Thunderhill OUSCA



Truck was found behind a friends shop with some locked up brakes and a little frontend damage but all in all, pretty ok.

Its a start and was extremely cheap.

Wanted to make sure I had a good straight and square frame so once I got it torn down, I sent it off to a local frame shop.



Donor car.....I am using everything from this car, engine, Transmission, rearend and rear suspension.



Stripping down the framerails for some new front suspension



Plating in the framerails before setting in the front Crown Vic setup.



Rear lower control arm mounts



Bolted in and ready to swap ends. Oh yeah, I am doing every last bit of this myself in my small shop with just a few tools, you could call it an extreme budget build.



Starting on the rear, I spent a ton of time on the back of this thing, good to go back and see where I started.



Thats a better working surface



Mocking up the mustang rearend and rear suspension



Rear end pretty mocked up and ready to weld it out. 3 link with a panhard bar. QA1 adjustables, double in the front, single in the rear Factory mustang Sway bar. Should handle extremely well.



Rear suspension all welded out, you can see the frame plate are in on this one and the rear shock towers are in as well. They should fit under the bed....should

[hackster]

Getting close to setting it on the ground again to hold up its own weight, but a whole lot lower this time. I am about 8" lower than stock now.



I built all of the suspension points from the good stuff that the mustang has. Those are b&r upper and lower control arms, poly on one end and adjustable heim joints on the other for some good adjustability. Also, have some separation height on the upper, lower and Panhard bar adjust-ability to be able to really dial in the rear suspension. The one thing that is poorly engineered on the mustang is the upper 3 link bar. Its rediculously short. So I chopped it up and made it about 5" longer at a total length of 75% of the lower bars much better geometry through the range of travel this way.



Then this happened....





Let the frame clean up and plating commence. Idont really have the budget for an aftermarket frame so trying to make this one as solid and clean as I can.







Close to ready to set the body back on.



Plumbing some brake lines...all Ultra Bend stuff, its amazing.





1970 mustang fuel tank, fit up to the old truck, hole cut for the Aeromotive Phantom 340 fuel pump. I will have enough pump, filter and delivery to support a supercharged setup in the future.



Starting to look like something. Coyote has a 6 speed manual attached to it at this point, motor and tranny are in for good, hydraulic pedal assembly is built from scratch and installed.

Wheels are what I could afford, Iforged 18x10 Square setup all around Dunlop Direzza tires in 275/35/18 ( i plan on running bigger but needed to start somewhere)

[camarodude87]

So cool!

[LS3 HQ]

Awesome work!! Love a good garage build.

[DBasher]

Ridiculous! You're killing it with these old trucks, nice work! Thunderhill....

[67XR7]

Amazing!!

[tubbed69]

I really like the other white truck,followed the entire build.So I will be watching another impressive build

[SSLance]

Nice work so far, I too love a budget garage build.

What year was the donor car? What are your plans for the interior? And you are leaving it patina too right?

[hackster]

Originally Posted by camarodude87

So cool!

Thank you!!

Originally Posted by LS3 HQ

Awesome work!! Love a good garage build.

Thanks man

Originally Posted by DBasher

Ridiculous! You're killing it with these old trucks, nice work! Thunderhill....

I know...working on getting it there. Would be super fun even if I could just show up.

Originally Posted by 67XR7

Amazing!!

=) Thank you

Originally Posted by tubbed69

I really like the other white truck,followed the entire build.So I will be watching another impressive build

Thats awesome that you followed the other build, it was a super fun truck, actually it is going back to the paint shop to get a few things fixed on it after the first of the year. Plan is for the wife to drive it to a few car shows and cruise ins this year.

Originally Posted by SSLance

Nice work so far, I too love a budget garage build.

What year was the donor car? What are your plans for the interior? And you are leaving it patina too right?

Thanks, donor car was a 2012 with around 20k on the odometer. It was in really good shape except for the front end damage. Once I tore into it I found that the wreck hit the engine harder than just about anything. I see why insurance companies total these cars. Oil pan, engine wire harness, dipstick tube, all 4 cam sensors, throttle body and body harness were all damaged beyond repair. I saw a few of those things when I bought the car, but not all of them. Still I think I got a good deal on it. $8400 for the car, I used a lot from it. Engine, transmission, shifter and shifter boot, rearend and all associated rearend hardware. I am selling off the parts I did not use. Sold the shell of the car for $1500 and should be able to get $750 or so for the wheels putting my total investment for the entire drivetrain at only $6,150. Pretty good for a 430 hp all aluminum engine, 6 speed manual trans and full rearend including brakes.

I am doing my best to leave the patina look but I find it very challenging. I am way too OCD for it.

I think what I am going to do is get it on the road for this season, then likely do a full tear down for revisions and paint next winter.

Interior is going to be nice. I Have some 65 mustang buckets I am using. They will get the TMI Sport Seat overs and dark brown leather cover with a double french stitch all around. Still torn on the door panels to keep them metal or cover with a pattern and matching leather. Dash will get the same leather treatment and stitching as well as the center console.

Thanks for the kind words fellas.

[waynieZ]

Another great project! I enjoyed your last build so I'll be watching this one for sure. Nice fab work.