My Post Lightning Build

Hey Brian, Ive been following your progress at the turbo forum. Flying along as always. Looking forward to the mechanical part of the build now that your wrapping up the sheet metal work.
I'm just curious, if you don't mind answering this.

Years ago you sold your mustang because it got too race-y (not comfortable/easy to drive on the street).
You built the lightning nicely and you were very thoughtful to keep it street friendly.
You liked that the factory five car would do it all, go fast, far, straight line or curvy roads, and cruise nicely.
Then you changed your mind and went all out drag car. What changed your mind? I love seeing your builds either way, just wondering why the big change.
 
BlackFlareSide said:
Hey Brian, Ive been following your progress at the turbo forum. Flying along as always. Looking forward to the mechanical part of the build now that your wrapping up the sheet metal work.
I'm just curious, if you don't mind answering this.

Years ago you sold your mustang because it got too race-y (not comfortable/easy to drive on the street).
You built the lightning nicely and you were very thoughtful to keep it street friendly.
You liked that the factory five car would do it all, go fast, far, straight line or curvy roads, and cruise nicely.
Then you changed your mind and went all out drag car. What changed your mind? I love seeing your builds either way, just wondering why the big change.
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Thanks,Gary. I'm having fun with the build,but dam it's a lot of work! This is the biggest undertaking for me for sure.

All good questions! The simple answer is,I don't know what I'm doing! Just flying by the seat of my pants! :D

The Mustang is tough, loved it. But,the non synchronized straight cut gear trans was just annoying on the street. Thought about trans swapping to diff manual trans or an auto, but just wasn't feeling it. The Foxbodies are great cars,but after owning that one since new,1985,I was ready for something else. That of course was fueled by acquiring the Lightning,something I had wanted since they came out.

Had a lot of fun with the Lightning,and really was happy with the way it turned out. Definitely liked that it was less common than a Foxbody. Negatives were, I like to shift gears, but a stick in a truck just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. Then there's the 4000lbs+ weight. I just kept thinking about how good the 351 combo in the Lighting would run in the 2650lbs Mustang. The difficulty of fitting an 8.50 cage in the truck was another prob.

The FF Car is still a build I'd like to do, but just didn't fit with me at this time. I've been reading drag chassis books for over 30 yrs and have wanted to build a full chassis car for a long time. Now seemed like a good time to go for it. The Fairlane IS pretty much a race car, but the T56 will be granny friendly compared to the G101 in the Mustang,LOL.

It's funny that you ask this today, because standing the shop a few hours ago, my future son-in-law, and buyer of my Mustang mentioned something about the Fairlane ending up "over built", like the Mustang!
 
sequares said:
Any update on your build? :)
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Been at it hard. Glad to be done with most of the fab work and in the assy stage. Will be slowing down a bit once it's a roller with steering and brakes. Need to catch up on some $$ and have some other things going on.

Did a 4" sleeve through the rocker for 3.5" exhaust:





Limiters since using motor plates:



Painting all done,hated doing that!




Did Rustoleum Bedliner spray in the interior and trunk. Steering hooked up and the brakes almost ready to bleed - this weekend :tu




 
I understand the motor plates but what are the limiters for? Keep the tail shaft in line with the flex of the plates?


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BlackFlareSide said:
I understand the motor plates but what are the limiters for? Keep the tail shaft in line with the flex of the plates?


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The plates are very good at locating the motor left/right,but not at front/back. The limiters stop the motor/trans from moving rearward on hard launch.
 
looks great! simply out of curiosity, if i may ask, what is your daytime occupation? designer, fabricator, machinist, engineer?
 
bobwhite said:
looks great! simply out of curiosity, if i may ask, what is your daytime occupation? designer, fabricator, machinist, engineer?
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Elevator Mech by day. But that's just so I can work in my shop at night! Less than a yr away from retirement, then it'll be in the shop all day! Looking forward!

Thanks,guys
 
Brian, I was showing your progress to John Webb, who's a long-time NLOC member. He's building a later-model Galaxie with a supercharged Coyote.
 
Wow, that is very squared away. Nice neat work.

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fairlane looks really innocent from a distance at first until you look closer. when i see your falcon 6 cyl, i feel like Charlie Brown and i want to wrap a warm blanket around it like he did the little Christmas tree he selected on the Christmas TV special.
 
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