The last one

and just like that, the last fender apron is swapped.

Next step is to get that shock tower into play, then I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished something. Not really.

The left tower is a repeat of the right and pretty soon I have two Boss 429 type shock towers sitting in my POS Mustang. Outstanding!

Beyond the magazine article I started off with, I have no further guidance on what to do. These towers don’t share the same register type marks as a regular replacement unit so I’m on my own about proper placement and alignment of the towers.

I find various holes and notches on the towers that seem to coincide with holes in the frame. I’m trying to line things up hoping to crack the code on where these things want to be. After spending hours, even days taking measurements and comparing the left to the right, I finally get the idea to get a hold of Kevin Manley and find out what information he can give me. I end up talking to Kevin’s shop foreman and the answer is so simple. Bolt the export brace to the towers and then bolt the brace to the cowl. After that it’s a simple matter to clamp the towers down to the frame and then weld everything into place.

Old brace over the new one. New one’s a bit wider.

Excuse me while I pause for my self realized Duh.

DUH!!!!!

Of course it's not that simple.

To start off, the tops of the towers use studs that are very similar to a carriage bolt.

It took a little massaging to the tower’s key hole slots to keep the bolts from spinning but they got there eventually.

But wait! There’s more!!!

With the export brace and clamps holding everything in place, Another misalignment was exposed.

I’d already seen how one apron had a 1/4” gap between it and the top rail of its shock tower partner but this was way worse.

The left side saw the rear apron sit flat to the top of the tower but the front apron just stuck at an odd angle in relation to the tower top rail.

Compare the far rail to the closer one. Close one is ugly.

The shock tower was not sitting right. The top rail, instead of slanting down back to front was near level horizontally. Why? Tried all sorts of measurements and comparisons and couldn’t find any obvious reasons.

After, I don’t remember how long, I had a series of photos of the towers and notes so I put everything into an email and sent it to Kevin and his shop foreman. After a week I got an answer. The tower had been assembled wrong and that I needed to send it back for them to correct. Not the answer I was hoping to hear but it was an answer.

Boxed that bad boy up and sent it back. It would be about three weeks before I saw it again but when I did, the tower went in and the apron top rails laid out exactly as they should have.

It was now time to weld everything into place.