'70 Fairlane - Punch List - PHR Project Car

There's light at the end of the tunnel. It's been over a year since we bought our big blue Ford off eBay for $8,100 and started turning it from grandma cruiser to boulevard bruiser. The last few stories involved the biggest transformation when we dropped in the stroker 408 Twister small-block, and bolted up a MagnaFlow exhaust system. But cars aren't just a collection of big-ticket items, they're also a ton of tiny details. Many of these parts aren't as glamorous as a 550hp engine, but they are critical nonetheless. Your first track day in your raucous-sounding ride could be ended because you didn't have a $40 driveshaft safety loop. The new mill under the hood could be turned into a doorstop because you didn't have an oil pressure gauge. The carb could get jacked up for lack of a fuel filter. All these things are good at killing a budget since they're often forgotten, and when added up, things can get pricey.

But not everything needed to finish this project had to do with performance. The Fastlane Fairlane was always envisioned to be a typical street machine. The plan wasn't for a ragged bracket car or a show car that can barely make it on and off a trailer. We were shooting for middle ground. This meant we tried to keep the car nice enough to take to the local cruise night as well as fast enough for the dragstrip, so we spent a little extra on aesthetics as long as it didn't hurt performance. With these final touches in place, we should be ready for the track and a few passes to see if we can get into the 11s. Hey, if we don't make it, at least we'll look good trying.

Ever since we bought the Fairlane, the dash has been covered by a blue carpet to hide the cracked and time-worn dashpad underneath. nobody makes a replacement dashpad yet, so we ordered a dash cap from Dearborn classics (Pn Dc100, $99.95) and some new kick panels to replace our broken originals (Pn KP104, $69.95/pr.). since they only came in black, we had John over at Best of show coach Works coat them in the appropriate hue.

When we installed the 408...        read full caption When we installed the 408 into the Fairlane, we knew we were forgetting something. That turned out to be a fuel filter. A quick call to Professional Products and we had this 3/8-inch aluminum fuel filter with a sintered bronze element (Pn 10205, $9.95).	It was a bit nerve racking...        read full caption It was a bit nerve racking to drive the Fairlane without a set of gauges, and there was no way we were going to run at the track without knowing the oil pressure and water temp. We also wanted an old-school look, so we went with classic chrome gauges from Auto Meter.	First up was mounting the...        read full caption First up was mounting the water temperature sending unit into the Edelbrock intake. Be sure to use liquid thread sealer to ensure leak-free operation.
The oil sender location on...        read full caption The oil sender location on a Ford smallblock is a bit of a pain, given its tight location. You can use a factory extension to allow room for the sender, but we felt that was pretty unattractive. Instead, we ran a braided Teflon high-pressure line from the block back to the firewall where we mounted the sending unit.	Here you can see where we...        read full caption Here you can see where we chose to mount the oil pressure sending unit. We then wired it to the gauge. simple.	We were going to mount the...        read full caption We were going to mount the gauges under the dash in the mounting panel from Auto Meter, but decided they would have a more factory look if mounted in the dash. using the Auto Meter mounting panel as a template, we carefully marked where we wanted to cut the dash.
After cutting out the holes...        read full caption After cutting out the holes with a hole saw and sanding off the rough edges, we installed the Auto Meter gauges. You're better off cutting the holes slightly small, and then using a file or Dremel to get them just right. After this, we wired the gauges per the Auto Meter instruction sheet.	The 8k tach was mounted to...        read full caption The 8k tach was mounted to the steering column in an easy-toview spot. next to it, we mounted the Auto Meter Quick-Lite shift light. This light required a control unit to program the light. To keep the interior clean, we mounted it out of the way in the glovebox.	If you want to run at an nHRA...        read full caption If you want to run at an nHRA event with slicks, then you need a driveshaft safety loop to pass tech. Besides, they're just a good idea. This unit from spectre Performance (Pn 6079, $39.95) fit the bill perfectly. since we had the carpet out of the car, we decided to weld the top of the loop to the trans tunnel rather than bolt it through the floor.
The bench seats were nice...        read full caption The bench seats were nice for cruising around and going to a drive-in movie, but they lacked any sort of support, so we decided to drop in a set of bucket seats. These Procar by scat Rally 1000 seats ($329.50 each, in cloth; and $279.50, in black vinyl) still have a vintage look, but they have modern support and comfort.	When we went to install the...        read full caption When we went to install the seats, we realized we'd forgotten to order the brackets (Pn 81118 and 81119, $64.95 each). A quick call gave us the bad news. It would be three to four weeks to get some made. Luckily, Tim Lee owns a nice welder and we had some angled iron lying around. After a bit of measuring and some fabrication, we were back in business.	With the loss of our column...        read full caption With the loss of our column shifter lever, we needed a new place to mount the switch for our line lock. This was no problem, since TcI makes this cool switch (Pn 618004, $34.88) to specifically fit on our TcI Thunder stick shifter.
With the Procar seats installed,...        read full caption With the Procar seats installed, we were able to move the TcI shifter back to a more user-friendly location. check out how rust free the floors are in our old Ford. We have new blue carpet and kick panels from Dearborn classics waiting in the wings once all the fabrication is done.	Anyone who's had a hood open...        read full caption Anyone who's had a hood open on them at speed can attest to how it ages you 10 years in a split second, so we decided to install some hood pins that fit the vintage feel of the Fairlane. The only thing we didn't like was the cheapo look of the flat scuff plates. Enter hoodpins.	The installed hood pins and...        read full caption The installed hood pins and scuff plates look great, and we'll never have to worry about our hood flying open and ruining the day. For the complete rundown on installing this kit, just visit www. popularhotrodding.com.
I decided I wanted a fullface...        read full caption I decided I wanted a fullface helmet for drag racing rather than the open-face one hanging in my garage, so I checked out what summit Racing had to offer for a guy on a budget.		This car is for the street,...        read full caption This car is for the street, so we don't mind a little extra weight if it results in a nicer ride. We picked up 50 square feet of sound deadener off eBay for $100 and figured this was the best time to install it.
With the sound deadener in...        read full caption With the sound deadener in place, we installed the new carpet from Dearborn classis (Pn cA104B-Bu, $179.95). The new carpet made the worn pedals look even worse, so we ordered a set of trick covers from Modo Innovations (Pn MI420, $129). This set is designed for a Mustang, but it fit our Fairlane with only minor modifications.	We loved the look of the cast...        read full caption We loved the look of the cast aluminum centers on our Vintage Wheel Works V60 wheels, but they were tough to keep looking clean. For an easy fix, we shot the centers in Dupli-color High-Performance Wheel Paint (graphite, WP102, two cans).