SO - Step one: I built me a cheapo Harbor Freight car dolly! My little shop is a detached garage, that's 12' wide, 35 feet long, so I'll have to be creative with where I stack and stow the body, frame and parts. I'll be moving things around a lot. So this set up really worked well during my build, until I could get tires and wheels on the ground.
A naked frame! Lets start sticking parts on it!
Our scheduled pick-up day was Friday November 23, 2012 - the day after Thanksgiving. My son Nick and I drove from Dallas, Texas to Lake City, Iowa - and back - all in one trip, no sleep. 28 hours round-trip. We were planning on staying overnight, but Nick needed to be back for the weekend; I was anxious to make the trip so we just made a quick turnaround, exchanging driving duties. My 2002 Toyota Tacoma was flawless.
Hurricane Motorsports started my build in July 2012. Here is the frame in the jig. Hurricane Motorsports started my build in July 2012. Here is the frame in the jig:
Read more: July 2012 - The build starts at Hurricane Motorsports
Why did I go with Hurricane? Well, I first heard of Hurricane Motorsports from our dear friend Jay Nordstrom. Jay was familiar with the original Hurricane company in Lee's Summit, Missouri, and had bought a few cobras from them over the years. Then he was involved with the transaction of Scranton Manufacturing of Lake City, Iowa acquiring the company. He was instrumental in recommending many upgrades to the now second-generation Hurricane 427 Roadster.
First order of business was the motor mounts. Due to the extra bracing around the motor mount bolt holes on the beefier Dart block, a stock style motor mount for Mustang 5.0 does not sit flush. Rather than cut material off the engine block, I notched the Energy Suspension motor mounts to clear the bracing on the block. It wasnt pretty, but it works. I am going to go back before I permanently install them and weld some extra material onto the opposite side from where the material was removed.