I'm going to break up this quote and try and answer it bit by bit. But in all honesty, I love this post from Horseplay, you guys are "real" and it seems like a great community so far.
Very ambitious plan to say the least. As the new guy here we know little about you or your skill sets. Your plan will entail a fair amount of welding, for example. Are you good to go there or will you need training and/or equipment, etc.? How about your electrical/electronic skills? Fortunately Ford (and others) has made available a "swap kit", if you will, for dropping a Coyote into just about anything (harness wise) but there is still a good bit of electrical integration that will be required. Are you electrically savvy? I could go on but just wanted to put this out there to draw your awareness to it for two reasons. One, if you have tools to buy or will be farming some work out...plan on lots of $$$ outside the actual car parts cost. And two, if you are new to much of this trying to do some of what you plan will likely take MUCH longer than expected as you take one step forward and two back often as your learning curve. Not trying to dissuade you just making you clearly aware. Depending on your readiness (skills and cash), this could easily become a very long term project. As in years.
Certainly a fair comment, some newb jumps on and within a few days has posts asking dumb questions about gaps and distances, and in another post discusses his grandiose "plans" for the car. So let me give you a little background on me...
My father was a mechanic for a living and helped my uncle with his race and show cars in his off time. I was rewiring and working on cars from such a young age I couldn't even tell you when I started. I'm that guy that can't have anything "stock", and modifies everything even my kids power wheels. I have personally had multiple "project" cars/trucks over the years, rebuilt a few engines (everything from small stuff like Chevy 2.2L, Mitsubishi 3.0L to a Ford 351M and GM 90's era LT1). I have a drag race car that I have done all the work on myself, including fabricating parts (everything from alternator brackets, sheet metal panels, custom switch panels, to control arms and the roll cage). On the drag car I traced every wire, and pulled circuits I didn't need and rewired the EFI harness to relocate a few things and it hasn't skipped a beat and even broke a few class records (for a few weeks anyhow, there is always someone out to do better than you), you just have to approach it methodically. Hell, even when I spent a crazy amount of money on a new truck (2017 F450), I was the guy that within a week of taking delivery I was reprogramming the body computer and repinning the wiring in the door so that the power fold in mirrors would fold in automatically when I locked the truck, and fold out automatically if I unlocked the truck and got in the drivers door. As for welding, I have the tools and skills, albeit I haven't touched my welder in 3-4 years and my plasma cutter hasn't been used since, well before my son was born and he turned 8 a few months ago. So it will not be a learning curve to overcome, more like getting back into practice. My life got turned upside down and all the car stuff was put on the back burner after my son was born, not the normal "oh we have kids now and no time for hobbies", but he had a lot of medical issues including heart failure and open heart surgery at 7 weeks old. As a result, we felt we needed to move cross country to be closer to my wife's family, most of my "workshop" on the east coast was boxed up or sold off to make the move and no reason to unpack it as there were no real good racing series out here and I destroyed my race trailer during the cross country move. We overcame a lot, and my son is now my helper and wants to help with the mustang project. I joke, knowing inside it really may not be a joke, with him that the car may be done by the time he is driving, so we have 7ish years to finish the project. I'm not the guy that thinks this will be done by the end of summer for the next cool cruise, more like summer of 2022, if I'm lucky....
All that being said, I have welded body panels, made patch panels, but I have NEVER been the finish body work guy. This is an area in which I am doing a lot of research, and something I want to "try" to do on my own. But at the end of the day I may have to outsource that finish work if I really cannot get it how I like it. But I have confidence that it is not out of my grasp at this point, but also know it will be a few years before I have to really deal with some of that. First will be the mechanical, welding, wiring type work, and I know I can handle that and teach my kids how to do it as well.
My suggestion to you is fire up Excel and create a spreadsheet which lists all the parts you will need to purchase, all the tools and any other ancillary stuff you know you will need. List out vendor part numbers and prices. I like to break things out into separate areas (think engine, interior, body and paint) to arrive at sub-categories and their costs. Do this to understand your budget requirements. EVERYBODY way underestimates their project costs. Things change, new costs develop...it just is. You must do this to know what you are up against. I promise you it will open your eyes. For example, I would make a good guess at your project cost, as laid out, to be in the neighborhood of $30k easy. That is with you doing 100% of the work. Body and paint, electrical, drivetrain...everything. That doesn't include any necessary tools you may not possess now. Honestly, it will be more but maybe you save some cash by using a junkyard engine and trans or something like that.
Oh I have had spreadsheets going for years now, lol. and you are pretty close because with parts, sheet metal, fiberglass, misc materials and shipping costs (you can't forget after purchase costs like shipping) alone are well over 30K, but as stated above, this is spread over 3-4 years (in my plan, but may go longer), and that doesn't include the finish body work which I have already gotten quotes for and see that being 5-12K depending on the level of finish I can do myself. So Yes, thanks for bring this up, and I am not caught of guard by it. Like I said, you guys are trying to keep it "real" for guys who have high hopes and seem to be just jumping into the water and not realizing they are in the middle of the ocean, I like that.
