Filed under: Aftermarket, Coupes, Sports/GTs, Tech, Ford
Mustang mash-up - '65 Fastback and '03 Cobra
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Just when we thought that combining Queen and 50 Cent was the pinnacle of mash-ups, along comes Robert Julian and his "SN65". The motivation behind this project is clear - the '65 Mustang fastback is drop-dead gorgeous, where as the '03 Mustang Cobra's 390 HP (highly underrated) provides a combination of robustness and power that simply didn't exist four decades ago. And while the previous-gen SN95 Mustang platform may seem a bit crude when compared to modern vehicles, it's light-years beyond the underpinnings of the original pony car.
OK, so the concept is simple, but how to best execute such a combination? Many other builders would have resigned themselves to a custom tube frame with the appropriate mounting pickups for the Cobra's four-wheel independent suspension, but Bob took the rather unique approach of slicing and dicing the '03's structure and splicing it into the shell of the '65. It's the sort of project that defies explanation in a few words (or even a few thousand, for that matter), so we recommend cruising on over to Bob's SN65 site and let his build pictures tell the story.
[Hat tip: Ozmotear]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christian J 12:00PM (3/19/2006)
This is a popular type of project actaully and a number of people have tried this, the reason being the availability of low cost 96+ Cobra parts, DOHC motors. One of the more difficult aspects I have heard is trying ot fit a 4.6L MOD engine where and old school SCJ 428 or 429 would have fit. Interestingly it doesn't fit because today's Ford motors are actually wider (and lower) than the giant 7.0L motors of old. I don't remember what the fix is, but takes some changing of the inner fenders.
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WolfgangNC 3:11PM (3/19/2006)
I've heard of guys takin' modern part and putting them in an old platform, which is popular; but I've rarely heard of someone taking a new platform with all it's parts and basically re-skinning it with old parts. Good idea, I would rather deal with just modifying to body work than dealing with modifying new parts to fit or connect to the older parts.
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KT 3:53PM (3/19/2006)
That's a hella good splicing job (from what can be seen in pictures). Did you go to the vid download section and DL the "car in action" vid? Pretty freakin cool!
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Bob Julian 8:18AM (3/20/2006)
Hi Christian,
When you say "This is a popular type of project actually and a number of people have tried this...", are you referring to this installation of a modern Cobra drive train into a classic Mustang? Or Do you actually know of someone else who has intermingled the uni-body structure of a classic car with the uni-body structure of a late model? We looked long and hard for a similar project before we started this and could not find one. It would have been helpful to talk to someone who had completed this type of project before we started just to point out some of the problem areas.
Bob
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x23 10:12AM (3/20/2006)
"Do you actually know of someone else who has intermingled the uni-body structure of a classic car with the uni-body structure of a late model?"
the '65 Mustang was a unibody? seriously? i always assumed it was body on frame.
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Bob Julian 3:03PM (3/21/2006)
Yep, the 65 mustang is all uni-body. We had to dissect the two different structures, engineer all the interconnecting / reinforcing structure and then fabricate all the proper interconnecting pieces. All this had to be dead nuts if we wanted to end up with one functional uni-body structure.
We would pick and choose which portions of each structure to retain and integrate that into the other structure.
This is different than dropping another body on a different frame. Every piece of the uni-body adds to the structure. If we miscalculated in any way shape or form, the entire project would have been scrap. Also, this is more difficult than it actually looks. Getting two totally different structures to function as one is a complex proposition. Imagine totally disassembling any two mechanical assemblies fabricated 40 years apart and then grafting them together as one. On top of that, every electrical and mechanical function of the 03 Cobra is now functional in the 65 fastback body. Cruise control, traction control, antilock brakes, air bags, everything functions as designed at the factory. This is one of the things that we are most proud of. We did not build a minimally functioning automobile. We built a fully loaded, high performance sports car that is designed to run hard all day long.
Wayne said that he had nightmares for about a month after we started cutting the two structures apart. If we were wrong in our calculations, we would have just totaled two cars.
Bob
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