Well the project is finished and the lights are on their way to Australia. Overall quite a quick and painless process.

This time I wanted to make sure that lights were extremely secure, and after seeing a cool HID Retrofit on an old mini and how they made an eclosure to protect the unit. With this in mind I had my retrofitter do something similar.

Take a look at the photos. You can see we’ve enclosed the entire unit in a PVC round enclosure. It looks great and solid, however we also did note that it would not fit into the the Mustang.

I know we’ll need to do some cutting and I can only hope we can get these in other wise it will be yet another expensive headlight exercise. Fingers crossed.

I’ll post up some more detailed photos when they arrive, probably next week sometime.

It was only a few weeks ago I posted about my second attempt at a superior headlight system for the Mustang, this time a Bi-Xenon headlight setup which would be a big step up from the single Xenon project I did a year or so ago. Well good news is it’s taking shape and looks damn fine! Check out the pics after the jump.

My mate who is putting them together for me is great. He’s quick and his attention to detail is great! Though we do have one problem which I knew we would encounter.

Last time with the single Xenon setup it was very tight for space in the car, you could maybe fit a few fingers in before you hit the fram of the engine bay which would make it extremely hard to change the globe but it was do-able. Now with the Bi-xenon projectors we’re hell out of room. The projectors themselves are longer. From the front of the headlight lens to the back of the projector without the ignitor cap on is about 5.5″ long. With the ignitor, we are probably looking at about 6″ at least. So all together with some type of rear covering, we are going to be looking at a total length of 6.5″ long at the very most and probably about 6″ girth for the covering of the projector in the rear.

But this is all ok. I’ve spoken to John, my builder, and if we must we can cut into the frame, I think that’s what it’s called. Now don’t freak out. We’ve seen this done before with other light setups. Just a small round hole to enable the back of the light to be accessible to change globes and what not. Anyway take a look at the photos. Looks GREAT!

You may all remember my HID Xenon project I had done last year. Basically I wanted a headlight system that retained the cars look but came with the modern output. At the time I was only able to purchase single xenon projectors as this is all that was available aftermarket for right hand drive cars. But now things are a bit different and Bi-Xenon headlamps are now available for right hand drive. Needless to say I’ve now scrapped my previous project and am now having a Bi-xenon set of headlights made up. This time only better.

Last time I had the inside of the housing finished in a matte black. Giving a modern look as you can see here. Though after this was done I had a niggling thought about how it takes away from the vintage look. So luckily I have a chance to do it again.

I’ve purchased a RHD FX-R Bi-Xenon kit from The Retrofit Source along with some Apollo shrouds. This time we’re going with the vintage look. Keeping silver reflective surface of the headlight itself and just dropping in the bi-xenon projector.

One problem though, these projectors are quite long, so it looks like we’re going to have to cut into the inner walls of the car so the back of the light can poke through.

So what’s the difference between the single xenon projector and the bi-xenon projector? Well to put it simply a single xenon projector is used just for the main headlight and your car would have a separate light for its high beam. Bi-xenon has the main light and the high beam in one projector.

This time around we’re going for a more professional job. We’re going to try and have the rear of the lights inside an enclosure and have the wires neat and clean. The last project was a little dodgy in that respect and my main reason by my personal piece of mind is if I ever have to sell the car and people find wires and heat resistant tape there it would not be a good look. For this reason we’re going for as clean as possible.

So stay tuned and hopefully I’ll have some cool pictures for you soon.

[Source]

We had a first today on the site. It’s been about five years and John, the builder of Toby’s car and my car, has never made a post or a comment but it seems the lure of 67mustangblog was too much. John has come out of the wood work and answered some of the questions I lots of people ask me.

John posted some comments in this post. However I’ll repost it here:

“Hi everyone,

Oh, btw guys. Give us some feedback on the grilles, do you think that the spacers should be painted Black to hide them a little better????”

So there you go. If you have any comments or more questions please post them in a comment below. John constantly reads the site.

You’re all probably wondering what is going on with my project and I don’t blame you, it’s been quite some time since anything happened so here’s the latest.

The last time I gave an update I mentioned October was the month things should start happening as this was when I was receiving my loan. Well October is here and I have the money! I spoke with John last week about where we will invest the ten thousand I have but the news wasn’t so good.

“I have spoken to the converters about a week ago to find out when I can slot the old girl in.
Hopefully it will be soon, the dash was going to be done for me to pick up but they hadn’t finished it last week. Not having a very good time with them, but I can’t really do much as noone does a better job

Hold the money for now, I will let you know. There is still some finishing off to do with the kit so I don’t what any money going to the guys until they have done that.”

So there you have it. I’m holding on to the cash for now while the guys free up some time. They are quite busy down there. Last time i was there they had a shed full of Mustangs so i can’t imagine what work they have to do.

That wasn’t it. John gave me a run down of where we stand.

“My plan at this stage is:
The Green Bullit will be going for the interior fit up in a week or so, so it will be out of my hair for a few months. I have a little blue 67 coupe that needs to be put together for paint and of course Toby’s.

Toby’s is ready for paint but the paint shop is telling me another 2 weeks
So I feel like I am hitting my head against the wall.

I will be putting the pressure on the converters starting tomorrow, I have two weeks off work and was hoping to be able to get started on a few other things but not the case, oh well.

Anyway, I will let you know. Hold tight just for now.”

So at least we know we have some work coming up which I’ll let you all know about as soon as it’s done.

Stay tuned.

Apologies for the lack of updates, It’s been very quiet over here in Australia with a very cold winter work has slowed down. Unfortunately last week we had an accident in the shop. While working on my friend Toby’s Eleanor project one of the body guys almost severed his hand. I’m not too sure how it happened as I can’t get to the shop but work was halted for a while. Now while he recovers we are one man down.

It seems Toby’s car has caused a fair few headaches for the guys, so much so that they have dubbed the car, The Cursed Car.

As we stand now Toby’s car is the priority. We only have one group of guys and I think something around 4 or 5 cars in various stages of restoration. Toby’s car should, fingers crossed, be off to paint in the next couple of weeks which will bring my old girl out from the corner to have her right hand drive conversion started.

The RHD conversion could take some time though. Speaking with Toby this week I was almost crushed to hear that his conversion took almost 6 months. But I guess we can’t rush these things, although I would love to.

On the financial front I’ve put in for my loan and have just to send the contract in and we can be on our way, however I was offered the same loan from a family member at an extremely lower percentage rate, only catch, I have to wait until October. I think i might wait as the money saved on interest can be put back into the car, so a little bit of waiting here could mean a closer finish to the project.

Will keep you posted. John, my builder is due to give me an update shortly, though I don’t think there will have been any progress to my car, though if there is I will be sure to let you know.

So when I started out with this project I don’t think I knew what I was in for. I didn’t know how much money I was going to have to spend, but as always with me, I love a challenge and I know the money will be well spent. So for those of you wishing to do the same thing as me take note.

Probably the major factor in the cost of such a project is that I am located in Australia. So getting a car here was costly. The car itself, shipping, import fees, agent fees, taxes etc. came to about $AUD20,000. That’s just getting the car here in its unrestored stripped back form as seen here.

So after buying a lot of parts (just about every major part I need to build her up), having the kit fitted and having the body-work taken car of, I’m up in the region of the $AUD50,000 spent!

Now I’m sure other people could do it a hell of a lot cheaper if they did these themselves, but for me, I’m no genius mechanic so I have outsourced the build to my builder friend John. Someone with expertise in classic car restoration has been the best idea I’ve made.

Over the years, and it’s been quite a few, (something like 5 years with this project), I’ve paid for everything with my own hard earned cash and this is partly the reason it’s taken so long, I’ve had to save then buy something, then save and buy something. The other part of the reason is my builder, John, who is flat out himself with his other builds and his fulltime job.

What I’m getting at is I’ve had enough of the waiting. I’m past halfway I would thing and would only probably have $AUD25,000 left to spend. I need to finish the RHD conversion, paint the car, interior, put her back together and some misc parts like the transmission, rear brake kit and rear suspension package.

So I’ve decided I’m going to take the leap and get myself a personal loan. Now I’m always a believer of having no debt and paying with everything in cash, but it’s just too hard for such a project. I’m looking at maybe a $AUD15k or $AUD20k loan.

So that is where I am at financially. I’ve always wanted to be honest with everyone with this build as this is what helps other builders in researching their own project. So over the next few weeks I will search for the best loan and apply for it. Then we’ll get the ball rolling and hopefully bring the end date a lot closer.

So last week I said things were starting to move along and the car was going in for it’s right hand drive conversion. News just in is that the body kit has almost been removed so she can go in for her conversion.

The kit was fully fitted but not glued on as it needs to be removed for easy access to the firewall for conversion. Now with it all fitting well it is removed so the final small things can be done before we go to paint.

Spoke to my builder, John, yesterday and he said “we are stripping the car for the conversion guys so it is almost back to a bare shell again. I am keeping the pressure on the conversion guys, I don’t want to miss out.”

It seems the conversion guys are really busy, so if we hold off we possibly may have to wait another month or two.

No pictures to update you all with, nothing new to show really. The story picture is of how she looked before the kit was fitted which is somewhat what she will look like now.

More to follow.

Just a short update as to what is happening now with my car. Things are starting to happen again and hopefully will have a major update soon.

We’ve had a chat to the conversion guys this past week and the good news is they think they can fit in my old girl in the next few weeks and we could have the dash done fairly soon.

My friend, Toby, who is also having his car done is still having his body kit fitted up which is requiring most of the man hours at the shop, but this should be done in the next four to five weeks giving my car some well deserved attention.

I’ve also spoken to John, my builder, about the new A/C reproduction register kits, and he has assured me not to worry. We will look into this when we start putting the car back together. I tend to get excited and ahead of myself on these things.

Speaking of which, I’m starting to get excited about these new developments. I always get itchy sitting around while my car is in the corner of the shed gathering dust, but when things begin to happen I start to smile. I can’t tell you how happy I am she’s about to get some more major work done.

I’ll keep you posted as to how the conversion goes and hopefully get some good pictures.

Here’s the last set of photos I have:

It is coming soon! I promise. I’ve been receiving a few comments and emails about the lack of updates on my build and believe me I know how you all feel. It’s burning me that I have no updates on my car to post but I want you to all know there are things going on behind the scenes.

First of all of the body work I posted about a few months back came at a cost. My builders did the work and the bill was handed to me once they had completed it all. This was a sum of just over $AUD10,000 so you can understand that I’ve been working my butt off trying to pay that off.

Good news is that will all be paid by the end of May! Hurray! So now I’m just waiting on the latest schedule from my builder to see where we go from there. I’m assuming it will be prepping for paint, interior or the RHD conversion.

So apologies for my lack of project updates, it takes time to raise 10k without bank loans (Not a fan of taking out too many loans). But I assure you when we get this bill out of the way and get stuck into it again the updates will be coming thick and fast!

If you can’t wait that long, as always I’m happy to take donations haha.

So hang in there guys, I’m feeling it as much as you are.