I am looking for a schematic for the tilt away steering. Anyone have an idea where to find some basic info on what makes this work (or not work as the case may be.)
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#2
1968 Shelby GT350/500/500KR / T5 in my 68 GT350
September 09, 2018, 01:54:09 PM
Question for you guys. My new 2017 GT 6 speed has me spoiled when it comes to RPM at highway speed. Some of the members of my local SAAC club tell me they have swapped out their TopLoaders with a T5. I have been doing some reading which makes me ask some questions. I know there are different models of the T5 and I would want to use the Z series. Have those of you that have made this swap had any issues with that transmission? I just street drive my GT350. Dyno'd at 260 HP at the rear wheels. Might bump that up eventually.
The other question I have is about that first gear in the T5. My car has a 3.89 rear. There is a big difference in the 1st gear in my TopLoader compared to the T5. Does that make first pretty worthless? Can I swap out to a higher 1st gear? Has anyone done that? Can you do that? Is there a smaller ratio gear available? The close ratio Toploader comes with a 2.32 gear. The T5 gear is 2.95.
The last question concerns the different pieces needed for this swap. CJ Pony offers a pretty broad kit that seems to cover all that is needed including a shorter drive shaft. Is that the way to go? Anyone know which T5 CJ offers?
thanks
Dennis
The other question I have is about that first gear in the T5. My car has a 3.89 rear. There is a big difference in the 1st gear in my TopLoader compared to the T5. Does that make first pretty worthless? Can I swap out to a higher 1st gear? Has anyone done that? Can you do that? Is there a smaller ratio gear available? The close ratio Toploader comes with a 2.32 gear. The T5 gear is 2.95.
The last question concerns the different pieces needed for this swap. CJ Pony offers a pretty broad kit that seems to cover all that is needed including a shorter drive shaft. Is that the way to go? Anyone know which T5 CJ offers?
thanks
Dennis
#3
1968 Shelby GT350/500/500KR / John Chun and Shelby American
July 31, 2018, 02:10:37 PM
I had the good fortune of running into John at a car show some years ago. Thought I would share something that he told me. As most of you probably know John was hired by Shelby American to work on the design and engineering of the 67-68-69-70 Shelby Mustangs. He had many great stories. But one thing he told me is a good perspective on us and our cars.
One day someone John was talking to in his wife's Asian restaurant, told him he should go to the Muscle Car show the Local GTO club hosts each year, that he might see some of the cars he helped develop. So he convinced his wife to carry his bag of Shelby Stuff on that 100 degree day to the event. That is where he ran into me and my car. Apparently he had no idea or expectation that most of these cars still existed. Back in those days Mustangs were expected to be disposable cars with maybe a life expectancy of ten years or less. John was not connected to the hobby or even attending the Shelby reunion events. He was amazed that people like us had saved these cars and many if not most were still around. In his last years, John did attend the Shelby employee reunions in Vegas.
A couple of stories John told me you might enjoy. When I first met him he walked up to me while I was talking to the GT500 owner beside me and said something like "I designed that car." I mean I am in at a Motorplex in Chanhassan MN. A small Asian fellow walks up to me and says what? I am sure the look on my face suggested surprise. He said come with me and took me to the rear of the car and pointed at the taillights. "65 Thunderbird taillight. I picked them out for this car." he said. Anyone that knows this year car would know about those taillights. So I was not real impressed. So I started asking him questions. He knew all the answers plus some. It was John Chun, ex Shelby American employee.
I talked with many times. I'd have lunch at his wife's restaurant. I had a several car books that actually had pictures of my car in them taken by Nicky Wright. I gave a couple of extra copies I had to John. You would have thought I'd given him a million dollars.
Many stories but one other that stands out is I asked him about his story. He was from what became North Korea. As a teenager he got to South Korea and ended up working on a freighter to get to Japan. He managed to go to engineering school in Japan. When he got to California someone said he should learn auto design so he signed up for a well known school near Los Angeles, the name escapes me right now. It was at that school that he saw an ad on the bulletin board from Shelby American looking for a designer with an engineering background. He said he could barely speak English but got the job. His first task was to finish the design of the 67 Shelby Mustang.
As you know for the 68 Shelby Mustangs, the whole operation was moved to Ionia MI. John was with Shelby when that happened. He told me they had huge issues getting reliable and quality fiberglass for the 67's. None of the hoods fit the cars. The Ford guy assigned to Shelby American was sent to solve this issue. So happened he knew the people at AO Smith and knew that AO Smith was no longer going to be doing Corvettes for GM. And knew AO Smith has production lines already in place. Plus quality fiberglass parts were available through AO Smith. The decision was made to move the production to MI. All the Shelby American production team was laid off including John. The employees were encouraged to apply for a job at AO Smith. John did, was hired and moved to MI.
When the Shelby dream ended they were all going to be laid off again. John went to Ford thinking that Ford would be happy to hire him from Shelby American. He said Ford offered him a job but they could care less whether he worked for Shelby American. One of the other Shelby people went to Chrysler and they were delighted to hire ex Shelby people. John got a job at Chrysler for more than what Ford had offered him.
I asked him what he did at Chrysler. "Designed cars" is what he told me. Ok like what cars did you design? John was in the performance car division of Chrysler.
He said to me "did you ever see one of those Plymouth with that huge wing on the back of it? That was my idea." It was John's idea to put the big wing on the Daytona's. He also told me if I look at a 69 Charger the front radiator screen is the same as my 68 GT350, said he designed both. Chrysler was losing money on their performance cars so they laid the entire department off shortly thereafter. John got a job designing toys for Tonka Toys in Minnesota which is how he got to MN.
I attached a couple of pictures I took of John. The next summer after I met him he called me up and I thought he asked me to bring my car to a car show on July 4th in Delano, where they lived. Sure John, be my pleasure. When I showed up it was not a show it was a parade. I don't do parades in my car. It idles faster than a parade moves. And he had these HUGE banners. We would have been taped inside the cars if I had put them on the doors like he wanted. We compromised and put them on the fenders. I did ok in the parade until we got to a small hill. I couldn't let the clutch out completely since we were going too slow. I smoked my clutch getting up the hill trying not run over the marching band in front of me.
One day someone John was talking to in his wife's Asian restaurant, told him he should go to the Muscle Car show the Local GTO club hosts each year, that he might see some of the cars he helped develop. So he convinced his wife to carry his bag of Shelby Stuff on that 100 degree day to the event. That is where he ran into me and my car. Apparently he had no idea or expectation that most of these cars still existed. Back in those days Mustangs were expected to be disposable cars with maybe a life expectancy of ten years or less. John was not connected to the hobby or even attending the Shelby reunion events. He was amazed that people like us had saved these cars and many if not most were still around. In his last years, John did attend the Shelby employee reunions in Vegas.
A couple of stories John told me you might enjoy. When I first met him he walked up to me while I was talking to the GT500 owner beside me and said something like "I designed that car." I mean I am in at a Motorplex in Chanhassan MN. A small Asian fellow walks up to me and says what? I am sure the look on my face suggested surprise. He said come with me and took me to the rear of the car and pointed at the taillights. "65 Thunderbird taillight. I picked them out for this car." he said. Anyone that knows this year car would know about those taillights. So I was not real impressed. So I started asking him questions. He knew all the answers plus some. It was John Chun, ex Shelby American employee.
I talked with many times. I'd have lunch at his wife's restaurant. I had a several car books that actually had pictures of my car in them taken by Nicky Wright. I gave a couple of extra copies I had to John. You would have thought I'd given him a million dollars.
Many stories but one other that stands out is I asked him about his story. He was from what became North Korea. As a teenager he got to South Korea and ended up working on a freighter to get to Japan. He managed to go to engineering school in Japan. When he got to California someone said he should learn auto design so he signed up for a well known school near Los Angeles, the name escapes me right now. It was at that school that he saw an ad on the bulletin board from Shelby American looking for a designer with an engineering background. He said he could barely speak English but got the job. His first task was to finish the design of the 67 Shelby Mustang.
As you know for the 68 Shelby Mustangs, the whole operation was moved to Ionia MI. John was with Shelby when that happened. He told me they had huge issues getting reliable and quality fiberglass for the 67's. None of the hoods fit the cars. The Ford guy assigned to Shelby American was sent to solve this issue. So happened he knew the people at AO Smith and knew that AO Smith was no longer going to be doing Corvettes for GM. And knew AO Smith has production lines already in place. Plus quality fiberglass parts were available through AO Smith. The decision was made to move the production to MI. All the Shelby American production team was laid off including John. The employees were encouraged to apply for a job at AO Smith. John did, was hired and moved to MI.
When the Shelby dream ended they were all going to be laid off again. John went to Ford thinking that Ford would be happy to hire him from Shelby American. He said Ford offered him a job but they could care less whether he worked for Shelby American. One of the other Shelby people went to Chrysler and they were delighted to hire ex Shelby people. John got a job at Chrysler for more than what Ford had offered him.
I asked him what he did at Chrysler. "Designed cars" is what he told me. Ok like what cars did you design? John was in the performance car division of Chrysler.
He said to me "did you ever see one of those Plymouth with that huge wing on the back of it? That was my idea." It was John's idea to put the big wing on the Daytona's. He also told me if I look at a 69 Charger the front radiator screen is the same as my 68 GT350, said he designed both. Chrysler was losing money on their performance cars so they laid the entire department off shortly thereafter. John got a job designing toys for Tonka Toys in Minnesota which is how he got to MN.
I attached a couple of pictures I took of John. The next summer after I met him he called me up and I thought he asked me to bring my car to a car show on July 4th in Delano, where they lived. Sure John, be my pleasure. When I showed up it was not a show it was a parade. I don't do parades in my car. It idles faster than a parade moves. And he had these HUGE banners. We would have been taped inside the cars if I had put them on the doors like he wanted. We compromised and put them on the fenders. I did ok in the parade until we got to a small hill. I couldn't let the clutch out completely since we were going too slow. I smoked my clutch getting up the hill trying not run over the marching band in front of me.
#4
1968 Shelby GT350/500/500KR / T-Bird Chrome rear taillight frames
July 31, 2018, 01:02:23 PM
Years ago when I started the process of restoration on my 68 GT350, I ordered a new set of taillight frames from T Branda. Huge improvement over the pitted original frames. But I noticed they were black along the outside of the frame. That is how the stock T-Bird frames were apparently. As you guys know the Shelby version were all chrome. I saw a 68 GT500 next to me at a car show recently and those all chrome are nice plus period correct. I checked into having these dipped and chromed and its FAR cheaper to just purchase new ones. Branda told me to remove the paint off the ones I have. I have not tried that yet. After years of working on this car, I have learned if it's not broken often it's best to leave it alone. Not sure what I will find under that paint. Anyone have experience doing this? Any suggestions on what to use to remove that paint?
#5
1968 Shelby GT350/500/500KR / Wilwood classic Front discs
July 30, 2018, 12:54:28 PM
I had a near miss in a panic stop coming back from a car show. Obvious to me it was time to upgrade the brakes on my GT350. I did the customary shopping to see what was available. Lots of Kelsey Hayes knock offs. Nothing wrong with staying stock but I happened to see that Wilwood offered a classic 4 piston replacement that was supposed to fit 14" rims. Wilwood told me is was a bolt on replacement, however they would not guarantee me these brakes would fit these NOS Shelby ten spoke rims. And made it real clear that if I put these brakes on the car and the rims wouldn't fit, they would NOT take the brakes back. CJ Pony offered the same Wilwood kit and it was a bit cheaper than buying directly from Wilwood. And CJ Pony told me to test the brake fit off the car, and if by chance they don't fit they would take the brakes back. Turns out this setup actually fits these rims better than the stock KH single piston did.
The only obstacle we ran into is apparently ALL these disc brake kits are designed to replace drum brakes. We had to drill out the spindles due to a much larger bolt than the stock discs had. Not a big deal plus the discs are secured with a huge bolt compared to the real small stock bolts. I love this new setup. Sure it doesn't stop as well as my 2017 Mustang GT PP, but the braking is MUCH improved. I ended up replacing most of the braking system including the brake booster and master cylinder. And they look real cool behind those ten spoke rims.
The only obstacle we ran into is apparently ALL these disc brake kits are designed to replace drum brakes. We had to drill out the spindles due to a much larger bolt than the stock discs had. Not a big deal plus the discs are secured with a huge bolt compared to the real small stock bolts. I love this new setup. Sure it doesn't stop as well as my 2017 Mustang GT PP, but the braking is MUCH improved. I ended up replacing most of the braking system including the brake booster and master cylinder. And they look real cool behind those ten spoke rims.
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