I’m one of the luckier owners of these cars, I have an incredible history including complete documentation for the car. The day this car was first sold it truly was “one of a kind”. Red with white stripes, dual quads, spoilered deck lid and Thunderbird tail lights, and a shoulder harness for the driver. The car was finished to that configuration by High Performance Motors (Carroll Shelby’s own dealership). Purists want these cars correct as it left the Shelby American assembly line, but this car was enjoyed by the first and second owners for 20 years as a hopped up modified GT350. I’m carrying on that tradition in a way, and if I was to do a correct restoration I would shoot for the way it was sold to the first owner, not the way it came off the assembly line.
I agree with you. It's your car, you do with it what you want. I put a Mustang II front end in my 65 Coupe. I know a lot of people would find that controversial too but I'm doing the car for myself, no one else.
The only difference is the rarity factor. There were millions of Mustangs produced but relatively speaking, the cars Shelby had a hand in are pretty rare. Modifying any of the more common cars shouldn’t be a concern, and no one should take offense to your use of the Mustang II IFS. I don’t have an issue with guys LS swapping the early Mustang, but I wouldn’t LS swap mine. The choices we make regarding how we finish our cars are personal and when other people try to tell you what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your car, it crosses a line, it’s like disciplining a stranger’s kid in public for swearing, all you can or should do is quietly disapprove, keep your hands and your opinions to yourself, and walk away. I’m glad you’re enjoying your car your way!
Thanks for sharing! It’s Your Car. The modifications will in No way be detrimental, if anything. It will make it stronger. I’m looking forward to the process of making the repairs! Be well and Best Regards 🐍🐍🐍
Hey Walter, I like what you’re doing there with the Shelby. I totally get the blow back you’ve gotten with the build, however it’s your car and if it’s going to be a drivers car the have at it brother, make it better 😀. Question, what did Shelby do with the track versions? Did they add the torque boxes or something similar back in the day? Same width the subframe connectors? You’re absolutely right about the unibodies twisting under load with these old cars. Keep it up my friend, I’m excited for this build
Hey Ruben! Back then the rules didn’t allow for many changes to the car. They could modify the engine or the suspension from the street car, so they made the suspension on the street car work the best they could, and they built a higher performance engine for race use. Also, Ford didn’t want to warranty a “race engine”. Back then the extent of the bracing was the use of “export braces” to the shock towers and the Monte Carlo bar. There wasn’t nearly as much understanding about the importance of chassis strength and its impact on the suspension performance, also the race tires back then were not as good as a set of soft compound radials are today, so it was kind of the dark ages.
Just take your time and do it right. I spent a ton of time on my floor and actually polished it with 3m abrasive sponges. Had the floor looking like stainless steel before I did anything. Since mine was raced there was lots of extra bracing for the rear torque boxes and strangely lots of rust. Removed all of that and then got to the stock stuff to return it to original. I spent 3500 hours on mine and would say at least 150 hours just cleaning and polishing the floor and frame rails before restoring them.
If I was looking to make the car a show car, it would be different. But I’m aiming for excellent example of a performance minded driver. I’m barely able to spend 20 hours on the car in a good week, at that rate a 3500 hour restoration would take me 5 plus years and the car wouldn’t be what I want, it would be too nice to enjoy driving. I’ll get it clean and highly presentable, pound out the major floor damage to get it appropriately straight, and with the addition of torque boxes and subframe connectors the car will still outwardly appear stock because only weirdos get off on looking up at a car’s bottom side.
As a subscriber I'm disappointed with your comments, they were not balanced. I too previosly visited the SAAC site and read the thread you mentioned before you posted this video. Several SAAC members were supportive of your decisions. It is your car and yes you can do what you want with it. The SAAC FORUM is a great wealth of knowledge and supporter of GT350's. Wish you mentioned in this video some members supported you too.
I’ve alluded to this elsewhere in the comments, but with regard to a group of individuals on the SAAC Forum, sometimes when you don’t like something, or when you wholly disapprove of something, it’s not your place to voice your opinions, to nitpick, to act in a manner of superiority or judgment. Most of you on there are completely unaware of my automotive background, my upbringing, or the fact that I’ve been associated with SAAC directly or through my father since the early 1980s. I am now and forever a former member of SAAC, thank the curmudgeons, which is a shame because the club was once something incredibly special. But I’m finding that as the baby boomer generation is aging, that many of them are becoming exceedingly monstrous through social media and virtual communication. Dealing with a lot of these folks on the internet is a lot like being in a restaurant when a child is acting out. Most respectable people realize that it’s wildly inappropriate to discipline someone else’s child, and to then publicly admonish the parents over their parenting skills. You have no insight into what may be happening short of taking the time to talk to them and learn about their immediate and long term situation, and that is where another crucial point must be made, which is that by not taking the time to have a discussion and learn about the person and the situation at hand, a person making wholly uninformed critical comments, like the ones aimed at me on the SAAC Forum, are completely out of line and without merit. To say the SAAC forum clearly has an issue with grumpy old over opinionated men talking crap about younger owner’s decisions is an understatement. They should be ashamed of how they’re treating the next generation of curators of these cars, the multiple threads bashing, belittling, and berating Tyler Hoover over his ‘66 GT350H purchase is a prime example, the comments that were made about Tyler are horrendous, and I’ve seen the comments in the thread about my videos since I disabled my account, inappropriate comments from an MCA/SAAC concourse judge no less, I was an nice as I could be considering how angry I remain over the way I was being treated there, and I did not name names or go out of my way to direct people away from SAAC. I truly don’t care if those guys approve of what I do with my car, I’m done associating with an organization that condones treating anyone so poorly. The reason I’m done with SAAC extends beyond the primary club to it’s offshoots, because I’ve encountered similar problems with similar individuals after I acquired the car in 2015. When I walked into the Shelby Bash kick off in Gardena back in 2015, I was treated like I was some loser with a talk tale to tell, they universally dismissed me as possibly owning a real ‘66 Shelby. The Los Angeles SAAC group can be an uppity high and mighty group as well. I try to avoid letting the way I’ve been treated cause me to have a chip on my shoulder and I try to maintain an appreciation for the concourse level cars as much as the altered “driver” cars. I want nothing more from anyone than to simply acknowledge that it’s my car, and for them to not tell me what I have to do with my car to gain their approval. That’s the issue, and because SAAC effectively condones that behavior through the Forum, I have no use for the forum or SAAC. If that doesn’t clear things up then I don’t know what to tell you.
Yo, that underbody neon is like so 20 years ago, it’s color LEDs now fool! And spoilers are out, it’s hood and trunk wings for mad grip from a dig! While I’m at it, here’s a spoiler: the engine is gonna get some old guy pop up pistons and a three-quarter race cam.
I’m interested to see how you put the torque box in. I have to replace the passenger side one on my 68 Cougar, and am still researching the best way to go about that.
The torque box is fairly straightforward, but I’m not sure I’ll be doing them anytime soon. Too many other priorities to get done first. On 65-66 that doesn’t have them, it’s fairly straightforward to just fit them in place and weld. But on a ‘68 that had them on both sides, you’ll need to remove the spot welds and get the old ones out, correct any corrosion that’s present, then install the new piece in place of the original. It’s a daunting task the first time you replace any sheet metal, but it gets easier and easier as you do it. My advice is don’t use overly aggressive removal techniques that will make extra work in the long run, and if you aren’t the best welder, take a semester of welding at a local community college or practice on similar materials until you feel you’re comfortable with the process and can get the result you want.
@@TheGT350Garage Thanks for the advice. I’ve been taking my time working on my car. Doing a lot of figuring before I cut into something to try not make myself more work. I do not bad welding as long as the metal isn’t too thin that I’m trying to weld. I enjoy your videos and learn a lot about these cars. Thanks for all the info you share.
Undercoating is protective, but in this case, there is so much under the car that nuts and bolts for disassembly have to be cleaned off to be able to GT sockets or wrenches on them. Undercoating is also flammable and since I plan to take the car to some limited open track and autocross events, it adds weight and presents a potential fire hazard under the car, so it needs to be removed.
@@TheGT350Garage Ah, makes sense. Love watching the progress on the car. You have a great way of clearly explaining what is going on for us non-mechanics.
I had a little chuckle at the condition of the underside of your car as mine looks about the same. Thick undercoating and a couple dents on the floor. Biggest one on the passenger side. Is the best method to remove the undercoating just to chip it off?
Propane torch and a putty knife makes quick work of the heavier part of it. Then you can come back with a wire wheel on a drill or die grinder and buff the remaining thin layer off. I should probably do a quick undercoating removal video.
@@TheGT350Garage I did a search and this guy found a great way to get that stuff off. You should take a look! th-cam.com/video/ttgPtvdlogU/w-d-xo.html First he tried the heat and a scraper but then he went to an air scraper and wow!
So, there are two differences, I’m using a plastic scraper so it doesn’t leave scratches and gouges,and my preferred heat source is a propane torch, it’s quite a bit hotter than a heat gun and more concentrated, that lets me work faster than the heat gun method. Smells a bit more, and you need ventilation, but it works when blasting isn’t an option. The air scraper looks good for large flat surfaces though.
Good decision here. I really liked the cooling system series. That was very well done. Keep it up.
Thank you.
Your Shelby will be one of a kind! Keep going your path.
I’m one of the luckier owners of these cars, I have an incredible history including complete documentation for the car. The day this car was first sold it truly was “one of a kind”. Red with white stripes, dual quads, spoilered deck lid and Thunderbird tail lights, and a shoulder harness for the driver. The car was finished to that configuration by High Performance Motors (Carroll Shelby’s own dealership). Purists want these cars correct as it left the Shelby American assembly line, but this car was enjoyed by the first and second owners for 20 years as a hopped up modified GT350. I’m carrying on that tradition in a way, and if I was to do a correct restoration I would shoot for the way it was sold to the first owner, not the way it came off the assembly line.
Don’t listen to the “haters”. It’s your car. I’m also doing torque boxes and subframe connectors on my ‘65 for similar reasons.
I'm in the process of going over my 65 with a fine tooth comb 👍👊🔴💪💯🇺🇲
I agree with you. It's your car, you do with it what you want. I put a Mustang II front end in my 65 Coupe. I know a lot of people would find that controversial too but I'm doing the car for myself, no one else.
The only difference is the rarity factor. There were millions of Mustangs produced but relatively speaking, the cars Shelby had a hand in are pretty rare. Modifying any of the more common cars shouldn’t be a concern, and no one should take offense to your use of the Mustang II IFS. I don’t have an issue with guys LS swapping the early Mustang, but I wouldn’t LS swap mine. The choices we make regarding how we finish our cars are personal and when other people try to tell you what you should and shouldn’t be doing with your car, it crosses a line, it’s like disciplining a stranger’s kid in public for swearing, all you can or should do is quietly disapprove, keep your hands and your opinions to yourself, and walk away. I’m glad you’re enjoying your car your way!
Thanks for sharing! It’s Your Car. The modifications will in No way be detrimental, if anything. It will make it stronger. I’m looking forward to the process of making the repairs! Be well and Best Regards 🐍🐍🐍
Thanks!
@@TheGT350Garage She is an Amazing Car! And She is in Very Good Hands! 🐍🐍
Hey Walter, I like what you’re doing there with the Shelby. I totally get the blow back you’ve gotten with the build, however it’s your car and if it’s going to be a drivers car the have at it brother, make it better 😀. Question, what did Shelby do with the track versions? Did they add the torque boxes or something similar back in the day? Same width the subframe connectors? You’re absolutely right about the unibodies twisting under load with these old cars. Keep it up my friend, I’m excited for this build
Hey Ruben! Back then the rules didn’t allow for many changes to the car. They could modify the engine or the suspension from the street car, so they made the suspension on the street car work the best they could, and they built a higher performance engine for race use. Also, Ford didn’t want to warranty a “race engine”. Back then the extent of the bracing was the use of “export braces” to the shock towers and the Monte Carlo bar. There wasn’t nearly as much understanding about the importance of chassis strength and its impact on the suspension performance, also the race tires back then were not as good as a set of soft compound radials are today, so it was kind of the dark ages.
Just take your time and do it right. I spent a ton of time on my floor and actually polished it with 3m abrasive sponges. Had the floor looking like stainless steel before I did anything. Since mine was raced there was lots of extra bracing for the rear torque boxes and strangely lots of rust. Removed all of that and then got to the stock stuff to return it to original. I spent 3500 hours on mine and would say at least 150 hours just cleaning and polishing the floor and frame rails before restoring them.
If I was looking to make the car a show car, it would be different. But I’m aiming for excellent example of a performance minded driver. I’m barely able to spend 20 hours on the car in a good week, at that rate a 3500 hour restoration would take me 5 plus years and the car wouldn’t be what I want, it would be too nice to enjoy driving. I’ll get it clean and highly presentable, pound out the major floor damage to get it appropriately straight, and with the addition of torque boxes and subframe connectors the car will still outwardly appear stock because only weirdos get off on looking up at a car’s bottom side.
As a subscriber I'm disappointed with your comments, they were not balanced. I too previosly visited the SAAC site and read the thread you mentioned before you posted this video. Several SAAC members were supportive of your decisions. It is your car and yes you can do what you want with it. The SAAC FORUM is a great wealth of knowledge and supporter of GT350's. Wish you mentioned in this video some members supported you too.
I’ve alluded to this elsewhere in the comments, but with regard to a group of individuals on the SAAC Forum, sometimes when you don’t like something, or when you wholly disapprove of something, it’s not your place to voice your opinions, to nitpick, to act in a manner of superiority or judgment. Most of you on there are completely unaware of my automotive background, my upbringing, or the fact that I’ve been associated with SAAC directly or through my father since the early 1980s. I am now and forever a former member of SAAC, thank the curmudgeons, which is a shame because the club was once something incredibly special. But I’m finding that as the baby boomer generation is aging, that many of them are becoming exceedingly monstrous through social media and virtual communication. Dealing with a lot of these folks on the internet is a lot like being in a restaurant when a child is acting out. Most respectable people realize that it’s wildly inappropriate to discipline someone else’s child, and to then publicly admonish the parents over their parenting skills. You have no insight into what may be happening short of taking the time to talk to them and learn about their immediate and long term situation, and that is where another crucial point must be made, which is that by not taking the time to have a discussion and learn about the person and the situation at hand, a person making wholly uninformed critical comments, like the ones aimed at me on the SAAC Forum, are completely out of line and without merit. To say the SAAC forum clearly has an issue with grumpy old over opinionated men talking crap about younger owner’s decisions is an understatement. They should be ashamed of how they’re treating the next generation of curators of these cars, the multiple threads bashing, belittling, and berating Tyler Hoover over his ‘66 GT350H purchase is a prime example, the comments that were made about Tyler are horrendous, and I’ve seen the comments in the thread about my videos since I disabled my account, inappropriate comments from an MCA/SAAC concourse judge no less, I was an nice as I could be considering how angry I remain over the way I was being treated there, and I did not name names or go out of my way to direct people away from SAAC. I truly don’t care if those guys approve of what I do with my car, I’m done associating with an organization that condones treating anyone so poorly. The reason I’m done with SAAC extends beyond the primary club to it’s offshoots, because I’ve encountered similar problems with similar individuals after I acquired the car in 2015. When I walked into the Shelby Bash kick off in Gardena back in 2015, I was treated like I was some loser with a talk tale to tell, they universally dismissed me as possibly owning a real ‘66 Shelby. The Los Angeles SAAC group can be an uppity high and mighty group as well. I try to avoid letting the way I’ve been treated cause me to have a chip on my shoulder and I try to maintain an appreciation for the concourse level cars as much as the altered “driver” cars. I want nothing more from anyone than to simply acknowledge that it’s my car, and for them to not tell me what I have to do with my car to gain their approval. That’s the issue, and because SAAC effectively condones that behavior through the Forum, I have no use for the forum or SAAC. If that doesn’t clear things up then I don’t know what to tell you.
The decision has been made…… I’m gonna put a big spoiler on it and underbody neon.
Yo, that underbody neon is like so 20 years ago, it’s color LEDs now fool! And spoilers are out, it’s hood and trunk wings for mad grip from a dig! While I’m at it, here’s a spoiler: the engine is gonna get some old guy pop up pistons and a three-quarter race cam.
I’m interested to see how you put the torque box in. I have to replace the passenger side one on my 68 Cougar, and am still researching the best way to go about that.
The torque box is fairly straightforward, but I’m not sure I’ll be doing them anytime soon. Too many other priorities to get done first. On 65-66 that doesn’t have them, it’s fairly straightforward to just fit them in place and weld. But on a ‘68 that had them on both sides, you’ll need to remove the spot welds and get the old ones out, correct any corrosion that’s present, then install the new piece in place of the original. It’s a daunting task the first time you replace any sheet metal, but it gets easier and easier as you do it. My advice is don’t use overly aggressive removal techniques that will make extra work in the long run, and if you aren’t the best welder, take a semester of welding at a local community college or practice on similar materials until you feel you’re comfortable with the process and can get the result you want.
@@TheGT350Garage Thanks for the advice. I’ve been taking my time working on my car. Doing a lot of figuring before I cut into something to try not make myself more work. I do not bad welding as long as the metal isn’t too thin that I’m trying to weld. I enjoy your videos and learn a lot about these cars. Thanks for all the info you share.
I don’t know anything about cars, so I am curious why a lot of under coating wouldn’t be a good thing. Wouldn’t it just be more protective?
Undercoating is protective, but in this case, there is so much under the car that nuts and bolts for disassembly have to be cleaned off to be able to GT sockets or wrenches on them. Undercoating is also flammable and since I plan to take the car to some limited open track and autocross events, it adds weight and presents a potential fire hazard under the car, so it needs to be removed.
@@TheGT350Garage Ah, makes sense. Love watching the progress on the car. You have a great way of clearly explaining what is going on for us non-mechanics.
I had a little chuckle at the condition of the underside of your car as mine looks about the same. Thick undercoating and a couple dents on the floor. Biggest one on the passenger side. Is the best method to remove the undercoating just to chip it off?
Propane torch and a putty knife makes quick work of the heavier part of it. Then you can come back with a wire wheel on a drill or die grinder and buff the remaining thin layer off. I should probably do a quick undercoating removal video.
@@TheGT350Garage I did a search and this guy found a great way to get that stuff off. You should take a look! th-cam.com/video/ttgPtvdlogU/w-d-xo.html First he tried the heat and a scraper but then he went to an air scraper and wow!
So, there are two differences, I’m using a plastic scraper so it doesn’t leave scratches and gouges,and my preferred heat source is a propane torch, it’s quite a bit hotter than a heat gun and more concentrated, that lets me work faster than the heat gun method. Smells a bit more, and you need ventilation, but it works when blasting isn’t an option. The air scraper looks good for large flat surfaces though.
@@TheGT350Garage Yeah, I think this guy was less concerned about saving the paint underneath and just wanted to get the undercoating off.