export brace help - 66 GT350H

Re: export brace help

Hi,
First, the export brace re-enforcement was not put on by Shelby
with 3 exceptions, first cars in 1965. The rest got it at Ford's San Jose factory. The export brace parts for 65-66 were:

1. Brace itself with equally spaced bolt holes.

2. A welded bracket at the cowl with 4 equally spaced holes to match the
brace.

3. Shock tower brackets with welded washers.

4. Bolt, washers and nuts to bolt the brace to the cowl.

Hope this helps,
Texas Swede

 

Re: export brace help (not all even spaced)

I saw 66 a hertz car 199something with the brace with holes that were paired (like the replacement part). I can't remember if it had the welded bracket underneath it (but I doubt it).
jimbo

 

Re: export brace help (not all even spaced)

Some used a replacement export brace, a rebody ... or maybe just not a real one.

 

The car was real and not a re-body. It may have been a replacement but I don't think so. The car was a roach, Everything else was original and beat to near death.. welded back together T-pan (2 different explosions) worst looking non working original tach I ever saw. Original steel hood w/rust issues I cant imagine the export brace being destroyed and the hood surviving (this was in 1981-3) somewhere in there.
Where is Jeff Speegle he'd know?
jimbo

(edited later..)
OOPS!.. whatever you say snake pit. I defer to your judgement. You are the man. To make my case I do know something about these things. I have been convinced for 25 years that the newer braces came on the last numbers of shelbys.. maybe the car was put back together in 67??(after a wreck??) I ask you is it possible that it was original?
Thanks,
jimbo

 

Whoa..... never said anybody and everyone had something to offer. The function of these forums is to share what we've seen and our experiances. Sorry if you took it otherwise.

There are a number of possibilities of what an export brace might have been changed. One thing to look for (if your attempting to prove that there was a running change) is a pattern. Surely Ford did not make one (changing the stamp and related supporting brackets) just for that car. On challenge is that since the cars were not assemblied at Shelby in the same order as they were from Ford documenting will be a little more difficult.

We can IMHO assume that in general there is less of a chance that any car set around for many months before it was converted.

If you can find other original cars assemblied at Ford at the same time then you've got something. Until them you have a conversation piece

How late is the car you've got?

 

Snake pit,
I was not being sarcastic. I was paying you genuine homage. .
If you say they didn't have the newer brace originally on any 66 cars I believe you. There are plenty of opinions about some of these details, many of them are wrong. Your word on these things is the gospel IMHO. Does anyone know when the changeover happened..
jimbo
BTW.. I owe you a tremendous amount for the info you provided on VMF in the old days..
thanks

 

First thank you for the kind words.

The current belief is that the change over was at the start of 67 production. Its odd IMHO that Ford engineers took so long to find out that the first style cost additional money and effort on their part.

Maybe it wasn't a big thing (only a few hundred export Mustangs were built a year) until the additional volume added by Shelby production made them rethink the first style

 

Where specifically did the cowl brace support weld to?

 

It is welded to the sheet metal that the export brace bolts to. Underneath the back of the hood. It is perhaps the worst looking welding job you will find on anything outside of 9th grade shop class. To cover the mess they spread some kind of body filler goop over the whole thing and painted it. I think the job was done outside in the rain, while it was dark, after two sixpacks with a portable gas powered AC welder. Would love to hear the story that goes with how ugly they seem to be. The hole that gets chopped where the 1/4 windows went was done with a similar philosophy
jimbo

 

Ken,
You have asked the biggest question of all about these cars.. "How should I do it?" It is your car and only you can answer that question. I made a clone out of a perfect fastback.. The fastback was a one owner driver car. It burned and leaked oil and the muffler was noisy.. I could tell that the car had probably never had the radio turned up past 25%, the gas peddle had never touched the floor or the door slammed hard. I could have started with a real Shelby but it would have cost ten times more to start $7000. vs $700. My decision was based part on cost but mostly on the fact that every Shelby I had ever seen was already in a condition not conducive to a nice redo. IE rust, bondo, beat to hell, With the clone it is easy. I made it for me.
Look at similar market items and their history. The deuce coupe. A concours perfect example.. with original tires, might possibly be worth as much as the car that won the oakland roadster show first prize 5 years ago.
But I don't think so. Which owner is happier with their car? I think it is a tie.
I would use your aftermarket trunk and fender extensions with pride.. Tell you painter he has rocks in his head. tell him "It is my shelby and I like it my way."
jimbo

 

I assume it was welded underneath that pinched area at the cowl, so that it would go in order from bottom to top: the reinforcement plate, then the pinched cowl, then the brace, then the bolts?

 

see picture..
The bracket goes on TOP of the pinch welded cowl to firewall metal.
the export brace bolts to the top of that.

 

Have a pretty similar car (first or second owner between 67 and 72 added one of the first fiberglass trunk lids without the lock cylinder and with the mold on extensions) may have been done by the first dealer. Anyway our car will go back as it left Shelby.

As for after market and original intakes... take a look at the mating surface fro the carb. Is there one, two or four openings ... is a start

 

Hello folks! Just a few comments...If you have a choice for the trunk lid/fender extensions..why not paint both while you are makeing up your mind? then the paint will match no matter what you decide.Most original intake manifolds will have the BUDDY BAR logo cast into the underside,and will show their age with pitting around the thermostat opening,it would be an easy change later if need be.The comments about the reinforcement are very accurate--it always looks to be someones first attempt on learning how to weld! Most likely caused by a poor ground,and made to look even worse with the seam sealer applied over the top.And are you replaceing these pieces because of accident damage?or cowl rust? hope this helps keep us posted.