57 fairlane 500 Convertible Build

[Stidham13]

I met Rich Muise at a car show in Lubbock Texas in March. With the project I have going I was immediately drawn to his car. We spoke for a good long while. He told me about this site so i thought i would post some pics here of my project. We pulled this car in the shop on November 29th 2022 and have been working on it pretty much non stop since then. Hear is a list of details and pics so far.

Front: TCI independent front suspension,Ridetech coil-overs, Willwood 12in disk brakes.
Rear: 4 Link, Ridetech coil-overs, Moser 9in differential, 35 spline axles, 3.70 gears, Truetrack locker,   12in Willwood brakes.
Drivetrain: Gen 3 Ford 5.0 Coyote engine, 10 speed 10R80 auto transmission.

[Stidham13]

More Pics

[Stidham13]

More Pics

[Stidham13]

This is pretty much where I'm we're at almost ready for bodywork and paint. Then start putting it all back together.

[thomasso]

Nice.  Hope your going to lose the toilet seat.

[lalessi1]

Very nice work! Welcome to the forum. I really like the frame mods. Keep the pictures coming too!

[RICH MUISE]

This post put a smile on my face. Glad you made it to the forum. I do remember our lengthy conversation, and enjoyed it very much. You're doing a heck of a job there..........obviously not your first rodeo. I forgot your first name, sorry, but guys, Mr Stillman is a farmer not too far from Lubbock. I know some of you can relate. And I looked thru the pics 3 times, and still have no clue what Thomasso was talking about.
Anyways, glad to have you aboard. Please PM me your phone number in case I get back to Lubbock, I'd love to see the build in person. One of our longtime members, Pat Fleishman,  is a Lubbock resident.
Equally impressive is the minimal amount of time since beginning...........just 6 months!!

[57chero]

I think he meant get rid of the continental kit.

[mustang6984]

I think he meant get rid of the continental kit.

WHY? Those are one of the things that made the car kinda cool! If I could find one I'd add it to my car!

[thomasso]

Sorry;  But right up there with screw on stars and portholes, dual rear antennas, lowering blocks etc. Actually I think a friend of mine still has one.  I can check if interested.  Each to his own.

[mustang6984]

Sure...if he has one he wants to part with. Thanks.

[RICH MUISE]

BTW, Courtney, I love the clean look you're going for on the dash.....or are you replacing old openings with new ones?
When you have time, the guys here would enjoy hearing what's involved with installing a Coyote.

[57chero]

I'm going to have to agree with Thomasso, I never cared for the factory continental kits, or the aftermarket add on ones. A 57 convertible is already long enough without adding another 3 feet to it. But like they say if everyone liked the same thing it would be a pretty boring world.

[Stidham13]

Well I'll start by saying I won't be using the continental kit. 
Rich the only openings in the dash will be 4 A/C vents the large opening for the screen and the two cast aluminum pieces that go on either side of the steering column. Everything else will be completely smooth. 

As far as the coyote swap is concerned it's pretty involved. I started with a totaled 2022 mustang GT as a donor. So it came complete with everything except a power steering pump. I already had plans for a new front suspension but it's pretty obvious the coyote would never fit between the original spring pockets. The new crossmember has a custom notch for oil pan clearance but even with that we had to have a custom oil pan for even more clearance. We ended up with about 1/2in clearance at the oil pan and 1.5in to the hood. The transmission crossmember from the mustang ended up sitting perfectly on the I beam X brace that the 57 convertibles have. These are the biggest hurdles. If anyone has any specific questions I would be happy to help. I finally breathed a sigh of relief a couple weeks ago when we put the body down on the frame for the last time. Got it all wired up and started it up for the first time in its new home.

[RICH MUISE]

Interesting assumption on the Coyote 5.0 not fitting between stock control arms. I may be wrong, but I'm of the belief that my 4.6 is wider at the bottom than the 5.0s, and the 4.6s fit with no mods to the suspension.

One thing you may want to consider....the closed-off cowl is probably going to need some ventilation. A past mod that I had done was replacing the screen on the OEM opening with a screen that was sealed off with rubber. I did that just to keep some of the water out of the cowl. On many summer drives, I was noticing a blast of hot air coming from under the dash. It turned out to be the cowl heating up from engine heat because of no ventilation. Went back to the original screen and never felt the heat blast again.
Had I been aware of that issue during my build process, I would have put additional insulation on the inside of the cowl instead of stopping it on the firewall at the cowl bottom. Not sure if it would have been enough. I will say my 4.6 runs almost too cool internally but generates tons of external heat. Obviously, I don't know how it compares with heat generated by the Coyote.