Just read through this build..
Me gusta.. me gusta mucho.

 

Woah, my guy, thats SERIOUS ducting!!!

I love it.

 

OK, I lied, still not working on the driver's side. I will be lucky if I even get to it before DGRR. On the up side though I have all of the reinforcements, cleanup, seam sealing, and undercoating completely done on the passenger side. The only bit left is the outer cladding on the front portion of the fender and replacing the top of the quarter panel when I get a round tooit.
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Not to get too badly sidetracked, but I wanted to post a picture of the fuel injection pump setup that I plan to use while it is out of the vehicle. I wasn't planning to post this, however part of it came up in another thread and I have seen others asking about this problem as well.
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This solution is for those that are switching to fuel injection and wanted to keep their original fuel tank (which I probably should have done on mine were I a little smarter) or anyone that just wants to run an in-tank pump for their carburetor with an adjustable fuel regulator that returns the excess fuel to the tank. Replacing a first gen tank with aftermarket gets a bit ridiculous requiring extensive cutting and modification. Staying with your original tank is normally the better idea.
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This kit from Tanks Inc. will allow for that with a bit of fabrication on the tank itself, making modification to the body of the car unnecessary. This company uses Walbro pumps that come in a variety of pressures and volumes. This one is a 190 lph model which is overkill for what I need but has the correct pressure. The only pump I saw with lower volume was for a TBI setup that was just short on the 40psi that my injection system required. The excess volume will have to be returned to the tank.
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I am currently installing this kit as a fix for one of Ford's less than stellar ideas and wanted to show it before I put it in. The tray on the bottom of the pump stand is to keep the fuel from sloshing away from the in-tank pump. If you run an in-tank pump dry you will very likely damage it. Most, if not all, fuel tanks that used a carburetor (and my stupid fuel injection setup from Ford) did not have baffles or trays to accommodate an in-tank pump. I cut out the original opening and welded in the ring (it can be done without welding as well). I can now bolt in the new pump setup. You need to know the depth from the top of your mounting point and the bottom of the tank to modify the stand, keeping the tray at the bottom of the tank. I would recommend only making an opening large enough for the inside of the C-ring and welding it to the top of the opening. It is far easier and less messy than trying to match the ring to an exact hole.
Note: if you are going to cut and weld on your tank take precautions to fully drain and wipe out the tank leaving no gas fumes. I watched a friend turn his tank into a torpedo whooshing away down the street when he ignored this. You will also need fuel resistant gasket sealer and some sort of tank sealer for the inside of the fuel tank. Pinholes are a bitch.
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The pump unit is complete with pass through wires and hoses, but there is no way to mount the original fuel gauge sending unit to the pump stand. I had to use one of their standalone sensors and weld in a mounting pad for that as well (again it can be done without welding). You will need to know the depth before ordering as the sensor cannot be modified and must be ordered at the correct length. Ordering a C-ring for the sensor mount will be necessary as it does not come with the sensor. I used the reed type magnetic sensor as it goes straight up and down requiring little room. The float is unlikely to catch on anything and should be more reliable than the original. They have other sensors as well.
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My application uses a truly odd ohm range for the original dash gauge. I purchased one of their Meter Match boxes that goes in-line from the tank to the gauge. It can be used with any resistance type gauge (i.e. temperature, fuel, and oil pressure). This box allows you to set the empty and full settings so you can make the gauge read correctly. It also has high and low alarm settings for those with ADD while driving.
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An adjustable fuel regulator will also be required for a complete kit. I didn't need one for this particular application.
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It just gets wilder and wilder! I'm lovin it.

Excited to see everything tied together.

 

Awesome work, if I didn't know better I'd think it was a factory tank!

 

Don't rush it. I'm taking my sweet time too. Looks freeking awesome.

Thats an interesting fuel gauge sender. Most senders I've ever seen run off an arm.


I run a few carbureted setups with intank pumps. I've found the GM style TBI pumps to be the best. They are just a pump on a stick. They might be susceptible to running dry, but I've never had an issue. You can use a return style regulation to keep the pressure down to 2 to 10 psi. I don't know much about fuel injection systems like yours. That tank looks good, but yeah adapting any tank to the under side of an FB could be challenging if you want to retain the stock fuel fill.

 

More parts courtesy of BrettLinton7 and Ray Green prior. Thanks guys. An unfortunate incident for DGRR 2026 turned into a fortuitous opportunity. Maybe I can fix all my screw ups now.
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So happy some parts from Frankenrex will live on!

 

Excuse me?????! I'm not dead yet!

 

Hah! That was the nickname for that FB

 

My forum name is named after my ‘79, which has parts from every first gen Series, and a few FC bits. Guess it was inevitable that someone else would think of the same thing.

 

Careful. I may be stealing parts off of yours next.

You are a lot closer than Brett.

 

I mean, I have 5 of the things left... (mainly for spares for the '79!)

 

Rather than move to the other side I decided to finish up fitting the fenders and the quarter panels. (now that I have the parts that I was needing).

I did finish the Ranger. The fuel pump works great. The sending unit ... not so hot. It does work, but it responds very slowly and takes a long time to tell you how much fuel is in there. The gauge varies a lot. Not sure if it's the sender itself (likely) or the intercept box that is causing it. I will be trying the solid state sender in the RX7 when I get to that point as opposed to the sender I used in the Ranger. When I get done with the maintenance on my Dodge pickup, and chasing down the gremlins with the FC, I will get back to it and try reprogramming the intercept box again.

I finished closing in the front of the underbody for the fenders before I left for Deals Gap. The fit underneath the fiberglass wasn't quite as good as I would have liked but I will fiddle with it as I go along. I am trying for full support to the back side of the fiberglass, needless to say it is not an easy task to make happen.
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I used Rivnuts from BelMetric to bolt the fenders down after trimming the fenders the rest of the way to fit my mounting scheme. I have tried several versions of bolts that they offer but have settled on the counter sunk torx bolts as the cleanest solution. I considered using Dzus fasteners like the original cars but I don't really need the rapid release and the bolts make a far more secure attachment.

The piece that I have been struggling with for a bit now is mostly finished except for polishing and paint. It is a cap/clamp that will secure and protect the leading edges of the fender, The idea is to cover and clamp down the edges of the fiberglass protecting it from rock strikes and preventing any flutter or movement of the fiberglass, The cap also provides a clean grille opening, with screen, for the brake duct. I wanted to provide a reinforced step where the fiberglass fender meets the door. It is only a matter of time before some dumb a** uses that point as a step (namely me). If it is left as laid up, I would break it for sure.
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I do have to form the clamps for the bottom sides of the fender (before and after the wheel opening) as well as capping the rear duct opening. I can't do the bottom clamps until I get the wheel openings finalized. I plan to use the quarter panels from Brett's car to graft the original SA/FB wheel openings to the wide body fenders. Just a lot higher than they were. Believe it or not the stock SA openings were larger than the wheel openings used on the original widebody kit. I also happen to prefer the shape of the SA openings. It was probably not really necessary to change them but what the heck.

 

Some really nice engineering here. I really like that vent cap/"step" reinforcement.

 

Very nice work on the fender cap sir! Happy to see your progress