Adventures in Kansas/Mustang Blog
May 12 - Almost There
I got a bit more done on the Mustang. I got my rear axle bolted to the new springs and my rear brake lines installed. I even finsished putting the carburator back together and put that on. Now I just have to bleed the brakes and finish hooking the carburator up and I should be good to go.
May 5
The carb is mostly back together. I lost the spring on one of the mixture screws, so I'll have to rob that from the parts carb. I primed and painted the area around the front of the leaf spring and started putting them in. I even got both exhaust tips on. My two tailpipes are angled different, so I have to lower the passenger side to get the tip to clear the bottom edge of the rear valance/cowl panel and match the driver side. This means making an additional bracket for attaching the passenger side out of the old exhaust hanger. I should just get an oxy/propane welder/brazer to heat and rebend my tailpipes. Then I wouldn't be prying them into place and making new brackets, but then I should pull the gas tank out and drill the holes for putting the tail pipe brackets in the proper place instead of using the holes for the rear tie down brackets.
May 1
I managed a bit more work on the Mustang carburator. I got the choke mechanism out and the throttle plates out. Once I get vacuum driven choke pull-off apart, I'll clean everything and start reassembling. With a little luck, the Mustang will be ready for registration next weekend.
April 28
Did pretty much nothing on the Mustang this weekend. I cleaned up the surface rust around where the rear springs attach and sprayed it with rust converter. I also took the carburator off and started tearing it apart. I wasn't sure I had the right rebuild kit. My car can have either a Ford 2100 or Holley 2300 carburator. My rebuild kit is for the Ford carburator, but the carburator has a Holley rebuild sticker on it. Fortunately when I checked my parts catalog, my carburator is nothing like the Holley.
April 24
On the way home I stopped to get a 15" length of brake line and a carb rebuild kit for the Mustang. Stupid AutoZone doesn't sell lengths of brake line. I would have to buy a whole brake line kit for $70. I still have some brake line tube and fitting that fit it, so I ordered a double flaring tool instead and will use my stuff.
Later, I managed to get the last spring bolt off the Mustang. Now I'll just clean up some of the surface rust and prime and paint it using spray paint before I put my new springs on.
April 22
I removed the rear brake hose and grinded off the driver side forward spring bolt and bushing.The brake hose came off relatively easily. All the attaching lines, but one came off without rounding off the nuts. I have a short one still attached to the hose that I'll replace because it's pretty rusted.
April 21 - The Springs are Sprung
I picked up my new leaf springs and all attaching hardware Friday afternoon from a local spring shop. I paid twice as much as I would have from the catalog, but atleast I got all American made stuff. I managed to get axle unbolted and the rear shackles removed Friday night. The bolts at the front of the springs are rusted into the bushings and are being a bit of a problem. I had to cut the springs off at the front eyes and cut the eyes in half to remove them. I still have the bolts and bushings at the front that I need to remove. I have to decide how much work I want to do now that the springs are off. I need to replace my rear brake hose and install my tailpipe turndowns, but I should also sand off some of the rust and prime and paint everything using spray cans. I should also cut out the rust holes in the frame at the rear shackles and weld those up. If I went crazy, I would remove the gas tank and my recently installed exhaust, sand blast everything, prime and paint using a paint gun suitable for painting the bottom of the car and undercoat it with professional grade rubberized undercoating. I've already gone crazy a couple times. How crazy should I get?
April 16
After messing with the truck yesterday afternoon, I went to work on the Mustang. I painted the hinge for the glove box door then fired the car up and took it for a drive up and down the road. The transmission seems to work pretty good. I even did a brake stand on the cement in front of the barn. My gasket change must have work, because my coolant wasn't bubbling this time. The engine is running rich and might be burning some oil on the side I took the head off. The exhaust was a bit smokey on that side, but didn't smell too oily. I had to keep my foot on the gas until the car warmed up. I opened up the idle, but ended up setting it back again once the engine got hot. The car still stalls when I step on the gas too quickly and even stumbles while I open it up slowly. I was going to just readjust the mixture screws, but I think, I'll have to go ahead and rebuild the carb. Hopefull that'll fix both the stumbling and the cold idle problems. The brakes are also spongy, so they need to be bled before I drive it much. I was going to get the VIN inspected this Friday, but I might hold off on that. The only reason to get it registered was to test drive it and I've just done that.
April 15
I managed to strip the rust off my glovebox door hinge and spray it with rust converter, but that was about it for last night.
April 14
I tried to get the Mustang registered on Friday, but being an out of state car, I need to take it in to get the VIN number inspected first. That means getting a one day registration and driving it into Newton next Friday. I'll try taking it for a short drive this week to make sure everything works before getting the registration and making that first trip. Other than that the only work I did was hook up my other oil pressure gauge so I can compare the two. I also checked my accelerator pump to make sure it's working now that I cleaned it out.
April 11
I got the Mustang insured yesterday. Today I'm going to get it registered, but I have to run home and grab the plate for it. I knew I forgot something.
April 8 Ready for the Road. Again.
I got the Mustang fired back up on Friday. I put new oil in it and some more coolant. I couldn't find the coolant I had taken out, so I had to put in some new stuff and water it down alot. I got the cross braces in for the strut towers. One of the cross braces has a cracked flange. The cracked flange looks too wide and the other flange looks to narrow. The steel sheet must have been misaligned when it was put in the press. It's probably an original Ford part. If I got a cracked part in the mail or at a parts store, I'd be sending it back. I wonder if there's a good-will warrantee or something that covers obvious manufactering defects. I'll have to take my car back to Ford to see if they'll cover that. The dealers don't even have parts for my car anymore, but everybody else does. It ran pretty smooth, but I had to take apart the carburator to free up the accelarator pump ball. I had some carb cleaner, so I cleaned up the accelerator pump port and a few other bits. If that helps, I run some carb cleaner through the carb, otherwise I'll have to rebuild the carburator. Now that it's running, I'll have to get it insured and registered for some road tests.
On Saturday and Sunday I started some interior work. Washed some of the chrome parts in the sink and got the glove box in and the rear veiw mirror on.
April 4
I managed to get the sparkplugs back in the Mustang and the new PCV hose on. Other than that, I mostly cleaned my workbench
April 1
I got my brother to help me on the Mustang. We got quite a bit done on Sunday. Got the rocker arm nuts all tightened down right. It nice to have two people working on that for a little extra peace of mind. I turned the engine over using a breaker bar and socket while my brother checked to make sure the lifters weren't moving. The intake manifold went on next followed by the water pump. Now all I need to do is put the distributer cap and wires back on, fill it up with oil and coolant and I should be running again.
March 27
I put the oil filter on the Mustang and loosened the rocker nuts, so I can adjust them properly. I should get an old valve cover that I can cut the top out of. Then if I hear any chattering valves when I first run the motor, I can tighten them up without too much oil spraying every where. Of course that's my brother's advice and he is mostly GM which needs that sort of stuff.
March 24
I picked up a couple replacement tie rod boots Friday after work and got the oil pan back on Friday night. Saturday I torqued up the pan bolts and put the steering linkage back together. I couldn't find any cotter pins, so I'll have to put them in later. On Sunday I took my water pump off. I'll have to get another gasket for that. It has a backing plate between the engine and the pump. The gasket I have is for between the pump and the backing plate. After the pump was off I cleaned out the cylinders the best I could and put the head back on with the new gasket. I cleaned the bolts with a die and dipped them in engine oil before putting them in and torqing them up, just like the gasket instructions said. 80 ftlbs for the long ones was pretty much the limit for my torque wrench. Last night I put the push rods back in and tightened the rocker arm nuts down a bit to hold them in. I'll have to go back and turn the engine over to each TDC to set the rocker arm nuts right according to the manual.
March 21 - Got the Rod Off
I got my tie rod ends off. Or at least I got the inner tie rod ends off the cross member since those are the only boots that are cracked. The fork didn't damage the boots as much as I thought it would. The cross member was able to swing clear of the pan, so I dropped that down and started scraping gasket. My paper towel trick worked when drilling out the dipstick tube. There were no filings in the pan. The timing chain had a lot of slack and I could some end play at the piston rods. I'll have to go through my books and see how the oil pan gasket goes on. It come in four pieces (two cork sides and two rubber ends. I probably need to stick the cork sides to the bottom of the block using a bit of sealant and put the rubber ends over top in their grooves. Hopefully I can start putting stuff back together this weekend.
March 20
I picked up my oil pan gasket and a tie-rod fork last night. I removed all the cotter pins and castellated nuts from my tie rods and sprayed everything with liquid wrench. I tried the fork on one of the tie-rods, but it didn't budge it. That was after I hammered on the stud (with the nut on) to knock it out. The last time I tried that, the stud crushed at the cotter pin hole. I didn't want to pound on the fork too much since only the boot is damaged. I'll try to squish the tie rod end studs out tonight by putting the sledge hammer head and my hammer on either side of the lug at the tie rod end hole. If I remember right, that and applying heat to the lug were the best ways to get the tie rod ends out.
March 19
I removed my idler arm last night only to find that the ball/socket joint between the steering arm and the cross link is not flexible enough to lower the link enough to get the pan out. I removed the nut for the joint at the steering arm, but that ball joint is as stuck as the one at the idler arm. I saw in my parts catalog that can buy replacement boots for the tie rod end joints, so tonight I'll try removing both side tie rods (with the cracked boots) and hopefully my cross member can swing clear of the pan. I won't be worried about damaging the cracked boots, so I can use a tie rod end fork to break those joints apart. I was going to leave them alone until I had to replace them, but I might as well fix them now and save the money for disc brakes or something.
March 18
On my way home last night I ordered a new oil pan gasket and bought a 11/32" drill bit and a set of punches. I managed to drill out the rest of the dipstick tube. After that I worked at removing the oil pan so I can clean it out and remove the old gasket (or lowering the steering linkage so I can drop the pan further down). The steering mechanism which is just behind the front wheels consists of cross linkage between the steering box arm and the idler arm. The adjustable tie rods are both attached to the cross linkage. I got the castle nut off the cross linkage at the idler arm, but the ball joint is still frozen in there. I'll tap on it more with the hammer tonight. If that doesn't work, I'll unbolt the idler arm from the frame.
March 17
I was going to put the head back on Sunday, but I had to remove the broken dipstick tube first. When I moved the dipstick out of the way when I was removing the head it broke off at the bottom where it goes into timing chain cover. I wasn't too disappointed. The dipstick was always hard to pull out, because the tube was bent. I tried to grip it when vise grips, but there wasn't enough end sticking out. I ran a tap throught it, but when I put a bolt on it, it just pulled through. Figuring I could tap it out from underneath, I jacked up the car and tried to drop the oil pan. After removing the starter and all the oil pan bolts, the pan wouldn't drop far enough because of a bolted on frame cross member. I went at the moster bolts that hold that on, but the pan still did not drop down far enough to come out thanks to the stearing linkage behind the cross member. I was able to access the bottom of the dipstick tube, but it doesn't extend beyond the bottom of the hole in the timing chain cover. I put a paper towel in the oil pan to catch the filings and drilled out the top of the tube. I would have just drilled out the whole thing, but my closest drill bit (3/8") was still about 1/32" too big in diameter. Then I used the old tube as a punch to try to knock the rest it into the oil pan, but that didn't work too well. Tonight I'll pick up my new oil pan gasket, a 3/8" diameter punch and a slightly smaller drill bit and have at it.
I'm still deciding whether or not to change the water pump gasket. When it didn't leak when I last drove the car, I was going to put it off. Since everything else is all apart, I think I might just do that too. My upper ball joint boots are torn (along with tie rod boots), but I'm definitely putting that off.
March 13
I got all the valve springs back on the removed Mustang head last night. Hopefully tonight I can clean the old gasket off the block and run the tap through the head bolt holes. Then on the weekend I can put the head and intake manifold back on.
March 11
I got my last two valves lapped last night. Now I just have to put the springs back on and clean up the block surface and hole threads before the head goes back on.
March 10
Late Saturday afternoon pulling a loaded horse trailer on the interstate 100 miles from home. I saw smoke pouring out from behind my truck. I pulled over and saw oil burning off my exhaust pipe. Engine oil was pouring out between the back of the engine and the transmission. I blew my engine rear oil seal. The engine oil was down about a litre. It took about a mile to loose a litre of oil. I had the truck towed to the nearest town. I'm pretty close to giving up on Fords. I'll put the Mustang together, sell it off and buy an old Chevy.
Sunday, I lapped most of the valves in the removed Mustang head and cleaned it up. Maybe I can do a bit more tonight.
March 7
I picked up half the stuff to put the Mustang engine back together. I got my head gasket, intake manifold gasket and a scotchbrite drill disk, but they the only tap and die set they had was metric, I would have to order in the valve locks and they didn't know what grinding compound was. I saw rubbing compound for paint, but that was about it. I'm not sure about the valve locks. Maybe I can reuse the old ones. I could see replacing the head bolts before the valve locks.
March 4
I have to make a list of all the stuff I need to get to put my motor back together. Grinding compound, scotchbrite rotary pad, new head gasket, intake manifold gaskets. I want to stick with a Felt-Pro gasket like the one that was on there. I'm not sure who does or doesn't carry Felt-Pro. My exhaust manifold gaskets and valve cover gaskets were still good. I'll re-use them. I need to get a tap and die set too. The one I have is metric.
March 3
On the way home Friday I picked up a female end for the air line off my compressor to hook onto the hose for the compression testor. The male end of the testor hose is slightly longer that the male ends that normally fit the air line (Automotive versus Industrial, or something like that). When I got home, I found that I grabbed the one I already had. Since I couldn't my pressure test, I removed the valve springs from the other head instead. The keepers came out pretty easily with a hammer and a socket.The valve seats no longer have the nice 45 degree angle like they show in the book. The valve stems are also pretty loose in the guides. Considering the wear to the heads, the rest of the engine is probably pretty bad as well. A rebuilt 302 is looking better all the time.
On Saturday I tried to get the right female again, but it still didn't work. I got the right one, but the compression testor has an end that doesn't fit anything. It's slightly wider at the base. Fortunatly the gauge itself just had a pipe thread on it, so I was able to remove the matching female end and screw in a male end that matches my airhose. I put air pressure into cylinder #8 to find where it was leaking and no leak. It held 90 psi. Either the hydraulic valve lifters where holding a valve slightly open possibly due to worn seats or the piston seals better at the bottom of the cylinder.
February 28
I didn't get much done last night. I measured out some wood to build a cylinder head holder so I can tap out the valve retainers. Then I started working on the driver side head. I wanted to use my air compressor with the hose for the compression gauge to see where the air is leaking out of cylinder #8 before I take that head off. I got the exhaust manifold off, the valve cover off and the push rods out and stored only to find out that the end of the compression gauge hose doesn't quite fit the end of the airline.
February 27
I picked up a valve spring compressor last night. A little cheap one that just compresses the spring instead of clamping the whole valve. I could use it to remove valve springs with the heads still on the engine. That's if it did work. I couldn't get the top of the valve and retainer to pop out from the spring. I tried both the intake and exhaust valves on my leaky cylinder. I didn't want to beat on it too much with the hammer.
February 26
I got my head off last night. I could see the cylinder that was leaking coolant, but I could not see why it was leaking coolant. The head gasket looked good and there was no obvious damage to the head itself. No noticeable cracks, nothing warped. The cylinder looked good too (no cracks, hardly any ridge). The head bolts came out quite easy. My only thought was that they weren't tight enough, but I've been told that if it had been leaking through the gasket, I'd be seeing a destroyed gasket. Maybe I should get some valve spring compressors and take some valves out to see if I have a crack at the valve seat. Poor valve seats might be causing my leakage.
February 25
Friday afternoon I did an oil pressure test and started on the compression test before realizing I was doing it wrong. The engine was supposed to be at operating temperature for both tests. The oil pressure was nice and high, around 50 psi above idle. After disconnecting my oil pressure tester I realized I had a pressure gauge for my well water with the same pipe thread as on the engine. That could have saved a big headache. The compression test was interesting. Cylinders 5,6 and 7 all got up to 70 psi and would hold some pressure for awhile after cranking. Cylinders 1, 4 and 8 only got up to about 60 psi. Cylinders 2 and 3 were only about 30 psi. According to the manual, I should have about 135 psi, but that's with a hot engine and the throttle held open.
On Sunday I started removing the heads. I managed to get the passenger side exhaust manifold and intake manifold off. Last night I got the passenger side push rods out and the head bolts loosened (all nicely organized in a perforated cardboard box). I was suprised how easy it was too loosen bolts that should have been torqued above 60 ftlbs. Maybe that's the cause of my problems. I was hoping to get the head off, but realized I would have been out there awhile admiring my pistons. Considering that I had three cylinders that seemed to hold pressure pretty good and my oil pressure was good, I'm thinking the bottom end should be in good shape.
February 22 - Off With The Head
I got an oil pressure gauge installed now. If the oil pressure is near the specs, I won't bother with the bottom end unless I have low compression everywhere due to bad piston rings. The gauge in the dash is slow acting and doesn't have any measurements on it. To make the oil pressure gauge, I had to pick up an aftermarket oil gauge for in the cab and a pipe thread adapter.
February 18
I got the exhaust pipes installed on the Mustang yesterday. The only thing I have left, is to put the tailpipe turndown tips on (once I order them). I was going to replace my rear brake hose as well, but although it is old, it doesn't have any big cracks or blisters. With nothing left to do, I started it up. I had to open up the carburator and loosen the ball for the accelerator pump again. Once I get it on the road, I'll have to run some carb cleaner through the gas to see if that helps. It sounded pretty good, so I unjacked it and took it for a drive. I hadn't unjacked it since putting the fenders on. The first thing I noticed was that the front end was much higher than the back. I'll probably have to replace my rear leaf springs pretty quick, atleast before I get a wheel alignment. Then I heard the radiator bubbling. I thought it was only a big burp, but it kept coming. Then I noticed that I had some steam coming out of the passenger side tailpipe. It wasn't overheated, so I drove it around the yard. The brakes were spongy, so I might replace that old brake hose and bleed everything sooner after all. I considered taking it on the road to see how the transmission shifted, but without insurance or registration I couldn't risk having it quit on me.
I now have to decide whether to just replace the head gasket or do a whole engine rebuild. I'd hate to spend alot of money on a new head gasket only to replace it in a year when I do the engine. Can I take the head off without damaging the gasket? I should measure the oil pressure and check the compression. If the compression and oil pressure are both low, it will make the decision to rebuild the engine at this point easier. I'll check how worn the cylinder walls are as well. If I take the head off and see a big lip at the top of the cylinders, I'll be tempted to do a rebuild.
It was funny pouring gas in the tank before the test drive. It says, "Think Safety" on the gas can. What part of safety is driving around in a 42 year old car that I rebuilt myself in my barn? After the drive my wife was preparing to roast a chicken, she poured in some wine that her parents left. "Are you putting in too much?" I asked. She said no, put the chicken in and went to have a bath. I was downstairs when I heard a loud boom that sounded like a very big door being slammed. I stood up to look and saw the oven door open. Then the smoke alarm came on. Nothing was damaged, but it scared the hell out me.
February 14
I checked my new brake line to make sure it fits and tried out my new torque wrench on the transmission oil pan bolts. It leaks a bit even with the new gasket. I guess I should have read the directions instead of blasting ahead and using gasket sealant.
February 13
I picked up my rear brake hose last night. Looks like I'll have to order my exhaust tips from the catalog. To avoid shipping charges I'll have to order $300 of stuff. If I get the door panel kits, door lock knobs, trunk lock, exhaust tips and anti-stall dashpot, I'm only up to $178. I'll have to add on sunvisors and some other stuff to bump it up.
February 11
I managed to get the vise bolted to the work bench Friday afternoon, but that was about it. Putting the rest of the exhuast on the Mustang proved to be quite difficult, especially without instructions. I painted the attach bracket on the back of the mufflers to keep it from rusting off, but then found that the mufflers actually fit better backwards. On Saturday I picked up a new water pump seal, oil and oil filter and ordered a rear brake hose and looked into ordering the exhaust tips. The generic exhaust tips looked crappy, so the O'Reilly's is going to get me an estimate for ordering the tips specific to my exhaust. While I was there I looked in their catalog for exhaust parts of the same brand as my muffler and saw that they showed the muffler installed the same as I had finally put it on. I got everything mostly together on Saturday only to take it all apart to rotate the intermediate pipes. I finally got the intermediate pipes and mufflers positioned and clamped. I just have to put the muffler brackets on the car, bolt the mufflers up and then pry the tailpipes into their proper places.
February 8
I finished building my workbench last night. Now I just have to attach my vice. Hopefully this weekend, I can get my exhaust on the Mustang. Then I can jack it down and drive it around.
February 7
I picked up my mufflers last night and started cutting the legs for my workbench.
February 6
I picked up all my attaching hardware last night. The mufflers should be in today. But I just realized I don't have the turn down exhaust tips. Maybe I'll just pick up some generic ones from CarQuest or some place like that.
February 4
I had a pretty good week off. I picked up my exhaust kit Friday after work, but I was missing the mufflers and all attaching parts. All I managed to get done in a week is bolt the H-pipe to the exhaust manifolds and slide on the intermediate pipes. The attaching hardware should be in today, but there is no date for the backordered mufflers. I did some work to the carburator and got the accelerator pump working again. There's a little ball in there that was seized in place. I dislodged it with a wire and now it works fine. I ran the engine for awhile. I'll have to change the water pump seal some time, but I'll put that off until I have it on the road and see what else I need to fix. For some reason it seems to have pressure in the radiator after it's been run long after it has cooled off. On Sunday, with no new parts to install, I started building a workbench.
January 24
I finished putting in my new door locks in the Mustang. At one time somebody must have tried prying out the lock with a screw driver because the edges of the hole were pulled out. A steel bar on the inside and a hammer on the outside straightened that out. Tomorrow I pick up my dual exhaust kit complete with resonators. That will have a nice sound to it.
January 21
This weekend was pretty cold. It was down around -10C at night and barely cracked above freezing yesterday. I replaced the transmission gasket and filter and greased up my window mechanisms, but that was about it. If I had an afternoon to do some work, I would have fired up the wood stove in the shop, but I only had a half hour in the evenings.
January 17
I got the front seats in the Mustang last night. It's pretty much ready for the road. I should put an exhaust on it though. I have the Y-pipe for the single exhaust on it now, but that's it. I have to decide whether I should just put the rest of the single exhaust on or replace it with a dual exhaust. I'm looking at $150 versus $400. Eventually I'd like to get headers. Hopefully, I could install a pair of shorty headers without having to change the exhaust around again.
January 14
I had a pretty good Mustang weekend. I got the front end all put together. It's beginning to look like a Mustang now although I still have to adjust the fenders. The hood is rubbing on the headlight covers. I picked up some springs for the passenger seat track and was putting the seat in last night when I broke one of the bolts. Those seat bolts aren't very strong. I wouldn't want to be hit from behind in that car. Whiplash would be bad enough, but the seat would probably come out and I'd break my neck slamming head first into the back seat.
January 9
After getting my headlights in, I started on a broken bolt that holds the front bumper brackets to the frame. There wasn't enough shank to get the vice grips on, so I had to use my extractors. I drilled a hole in the center of the bolt, but it was too far to the side and went into the nut in the frame. I'll have to take a punch to it and see if I can flatten it a bit and remove it that way. You think I would have done this when I had the car jacked up with the fender and front wheel off.
January 8
I managed to get out long enough to put the front stone deflector on and take apart my extra carburator to see how the accelerator pump comes apart. I have a broken bolt holding the bumper bracket on that needs to come out.
January 7
After burning a pile and cleaning up horse crap, I was able to get a bit of time to work on the Mustang. After getting the fenders on during the week, I put the fender extensions on along with the cross member connecting them beneath the grill. Then I put the front lower cowl on and front bumper only to realize they have to come off to get the stone deflector on behind the bumper. I guess the secret is to work from the top down. After taking the cowl and bumper off, I tried to get the grill in, but it wouldn't fit unless I loosened off the fender extensions. I then tried to put the grill trim in only to realize my passenger side fender was too far out, so I loosened the bolts and readjusted it. I managed to get the fender extension on and tight along with the grill and grill trim. I even got the hood to close right, but it still seems too far back. The driver side of the hood is slightly bent, so it doesn't close right. The new driver side fender also needs to be "adjusted" at the headlight bucket, but I'll do that when I'm getting ready to paint (along with a new hood).
After all that fun, I decided to start the engine and let it run for awhile. The outflow from the accelerator pump on the carburator is plugged. When I pumped the gas, the overtravel spring on the linkage was barely moving the pump lever. I pushed it further by hand and saw gas spray out around the pump gasket. After pouring in some chainsaw gas into the carb, I got it running. I must have still had air in the coolant system. As it got warm, the coolant started overflowing soaking all the cardboard I was laying in beneath the front end. At least my waterpump isn't leaking anymore.
January 4
I picked up my fender to rocker nuts last night and got my passenger fender on. Attaching the bottom of the fender to the rocker panel extension via the nut allows a nice even gap between the fender an the door. The first time I put my passenger fender on, it didn't fit right and I bent the front of the door. It's not too screwed up, but I will need a bit of bondo there. I tried the driver side fender, but had to take it back off and fix up the flange at the back. It's a new aftermarked fender. I've been told that not only will I have to bend the flange, but I might have to remove and reweld the headlight bucket as well. I'm hoping I don't have to do any welding, but it would be a good excuse to get that wire feed MIG I was looking at.
January 2
I got the rear window into the Mustang. The rear window was a pain. Putting the windows in is a two person job. The person on the inside has to pull the lip of the rubber gasket over the flange on the car by pulling out the wire while the person on the outside has to gently push to keep the rubber lip from sliding back. Who would have thought a pregnant woman could push so hard. Normally you have to push on the outside of the window to get it to set into the opening, but both the windshield and rear window were set in once the wire was all pulled out. I also had the front fenders on, but had to take them off again to put in the fender to rocker nuts. My mother in law thought it was funny that I was missing my fender to rocker nuts.
December 21
I picked up the last of the window clips last night along with the windshield washer motor. Now I have all I need to put the Mustang on the road other than a muffler and tailpipe. I should figure out what my first modifications will be. Paint job, electronic ignition, dual exhaust or finish the interior?
December 20
I puttered in the shop for a little while last night. Just enough to tighten a couple bolts on the waterpump and stick the passenger fender on. When I last run the engine I had another coolant leak at the waterpump. I figure it must have been from the bolts I removed to replace the leaky frost plug. I'll have to start it again and see if that solves my leak. If not, I'll have to replace the gasket.
December 13
I got out to the shop just long enough to drill a hole for the passenger side seatbelt.
December 12
I finished putting my steering wheel on last night. The horn works pretty good. A nice loud horn that says get out of my way, not one of those tooty excuse me horns.
December 11
I put the new steering wheel on the Mustang last night. Now I just have to put the horn button on.
December 10
Since my dad was around, we put the doors on the Mustang. I was hoping to put the rear window in too, but I couldn't get the clips for the trim.
December 6
I hooked up the lines for my windshield washer. Not that it's a priority, but I wanted to see if the pump worked. It makes a clicking sound, but doesn't pump. The resovior bag is also cracked.
December 3
I had a pretty productive weekend Mustang wise. On Friday I stopped in and picked up the clips for holding the trim on around the windshield and rear window. I need to go back in a week and pick some up for the rear window. From what I've read they're easier to put on with the glass out. I put them in Friday night. The first couple were a pain to get in until I figured out how to bang them in with the screw driver. On Saturday I trimmed off the excess headliner around the rear window and put my interior panels in on either side of the rear seat. I also got my sheet of aluminum trimmed to fit behind the rear seat. My dad was out on Sunday so we put the windshield and front dash in. The dash was a pain, but the windshield went in suprisingly easy with the wire. The adhesive holding the headliner to the rear window let go so I had to pull that back and glue it in with stronger weatherstripping adhesive. Last night I got my aluminum panel screwed in too. I was too lazy use any sealant between it and the steel, so I'll pretend it's my sacrificial anode to keep the car from rusting. Hopefully this week I can get the interior in so the rear window and doors can go on next weekend.
November 28
Last night I picked up my sheet metal for the back seat. I picked out a sheet of galvanized steel, but then I had to check out the aluminum as well and found a sheet of 2024-T4. I figured I'd make my trunk panel out of polished aluminum attached using some cadmium plated blind bolts, but then I came to my senses and realized a shiny panel at the front of the trunk would probably look kind of stupid. How do you polish aluminum to keep it from corroding anyways? There must be somewhere else where the aluminum would look cool.
November 27
I got my windlace in last night and measured out the back seat to see how big of a sheet of steel I need to get. Tonight I'll stop by The Yard and pick out some steel.
November 26
My headliner is finally in. I just have to put in the windlace and the windows and I'll be all done. I started glueing the sides in last week. On Saturday I got the rest of the sides done and started on the rear pillars. By Saturday night I was finishing the front corners and installed the front pillar retainers. Hopefully tonight I can get the windlace in. Once the windows are in, I'll start putting the interior in then the doors and fenders. I'll have to get a sheet of steel sometime to cover the back of the rear seat from the trunk.
November 19
I got a bit of work done on the Mustang. I got the back of the headliner glued in and I primed and painted the roof sills where the sides of the headliner will be glued on. Yesterday I put the rear fender extensions and rear bumper on. Something is wonky at the back of the Mustang. Who ever replaced the rear quarter panels screwed up. They welded them in too close causing the fender extensions to stick out about 3/16" on the sides. I'll have to reweld them before I do the rest of the body work and painting. If I'm doing that, I might as well replace the rear panel between the tail lights. My bumpers are crap too. The rear is all dented and pitted and the front has two big bare patches where the chrome has peeled off.
November 14
I managed about half an hour in the shop last night. Just enough time to look up the price for the window seals, realize they're cheap enough to replace and then remove the old ones without damaging them. Removing the side window seals and retainers makes it easier to install the sides of the headliner, but I noticed a bit of rust beneath the retainers that I need to clean up and paint over with Tremclad (Rustoleum in the U.S.).
November 5
On Friday afternoon, I managed to get a tail light shell changed on the Mustang and a rear window mechanism working smoothly. Friday night I got the front of the headliner glued in place. Stretching it forward and to the sides, sort of like stretching Brandy's painting canvas seemed to help. I still have a few wrinkles that hopefully come out when I glue the sides. I'm hoping that when I use a heat gun on the shipping creases that any remaining wrinkle will come out too. In addition to the sides, still have to glue around the back window and down the rear pillars.
October 31
I had half an hour last night to clamp up the headliner with clothes pins to see how it would look. I'm not sure how I'll be able to put it on without wrinkles showing. The instructions say to bond on the front and then the sides and back, but that's about it.
October 29
Not a very productive Mustang weekend. It must be the bad karma from being unfaithful. On Friday after work I stopped by a garage to look at '65 Mustang convertable. It was in pretty good shape. It needed a bit of interior work and I saw some painted over rust underneath the rear bumper. They were asking $18g. After that I picked up fuses, a door lock set, tail light shell, windshield washing kit and some gaskets. I was going to order an exhaust kit as well, but the guy at my parts place recommended I take it in to an exhaust shop for that. I might still order one though. On Saturday I picked up a spare carburator and a vintage license plate at a swap meet. I guess in Kansas if your car is older than a '72, you can register it using a license plate from the year the car was made. So I picked up a plate from 1966. On Sunday I managed to get one of my seat belt reels in and started putting up the headliner. I got the bows in the right holes, but that was about it. Maybe tonight I can clamp everything up and start glueing.
October 26
I fired the Mustang up last night to try out my new tach. The tach works pretty good, but I do have another coolant leak. The water pump is leaking around a bolt that attaches the alternator bracket which I had to remove when I replaced a leaky frost plug in the head. It's also a pain to start. I probably have to pump it more. Maybe opening up the choke a bit would help. Maybe it would idle smoother too if I adjusted my timing and reset the mixture screws. The carb seems to have fresh gaskets on it, but I don't know if it was recently rebuilt.
October 25
I snuck off to the shop last light just long enough to get instrument panel back together and confirm that it's only a fuse I need for my windshield washer. My parents are in town, so hopefully tonight I can fire the Mustang up for them while I check my new tach and a few other things.
October 24
I got my tach wired to the instrument panel lights and checked the wiring diagrams for my windshield washer to see what fuse it's on, but I didn't get a chance to check the fuse.
October 23
I put my new dimmer switch on Friday night and picked up a bunch of light bulbs, lug nuts and a tachometer kit on Saturday. I've got all my lights working now including the hazard lights and the interior curtesy lights. On Sunday I had to tear everything apart to put in the tach, which was probably a good thing since my speedo cable was interfering with the windshield wiper mechanism and I wasn't getting power to the windshield washer motor (probably just a fuse). The tach is almost in, I just have to wire it to the instrument panel lights and put everything back together then it's time to test.
October 16
Got my trunk lid put back on last night and taped up the soldered joint for the headlight connector. My headliner insulation looks pretty good. Hopefully tonight I can pick up a new dimmer switch and get that wiring finished.
October 15
Got a few things done on the Mustang this weekend. Friday night I put in the underlay in that goes underneath the carpet. I did it at night incase I had to use adhesive that I didn't want the kids getting into. On Saturday I got my tail lights and carpet in and my horns on. The carpet already has an underlay stuck to it, so I really didn't need the new stuff I put in, but the carpet is pretty worn out and will likely be replaced, if I every do the interior over again. I tried out the tail lights and had one signal light working. Once I get the headlights in, I'll have to test out all the lights. The horn worked pretty good though. On Saturday night I glued up my headliner insulation and soldered on a new headlight connector. I still need to wire up the dimmer switch. My soldering is getting a bit better, but, like my painting, still not good enough.
October 10
Saturday night I got the last painting done on the Mustang before reassembly. The results aren't the best, but it's only the trunk and some dented panels. The paint seemed quite runny and wouldn't ionize when I was trying to set the gun. I thought I mixed the paint wrong, so I set it the best I could and started painting. When everything was done, I tried messing around with the gun some more and it started working great. I had some small stuff I'd forgotten about, but as soon as I started on that the paint ran out. Despite all the crap I run into, I'm still considering trying to paint the body myself. With the painting out of the way, I put the hood back on, bolted the gas tank back up and put the signal lights in the front lower cowl. I also started getting ready to do the interior by getting the headliner ready to go in and figuring out how to put the seatbelts in. The headliner might have to wait.
October 1
I picked up another quart of gloss black paint Friday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon I primed the trunk and the outside of the front and rear cowl panels. My primer must be settling a bit after I mix the two parts. I have all the adjustments open as far as they go on the paint gun, but the primer still barely comes out and goes on as a splater. Once I get about a 1/3 into it, it starts to flow nice. I actually got some runs on the front cowl panel. Last night i dug through my new seals and weatherstripping and replaced the hood to firewall seal. Hopefully tonight I can get the trunk painted and then I'll be good to go to start putting the interior in and the rest of the car together.
September 27
I got only about 20 minutes of Mustang time last night. Just enough to take the tape and paper off the doors and put my paint gun away. I started to clean out the trunk to get ready for painting, but it was getting late. I'll have to pick up more paint tomorrow and hopefully some better lights too.
September 24
I got a bit of work done on the Mustang this weekend. On Friday I replaced my leaky frost plug. I drilled a hole in the old one and used a screw to pull it out. It had a deep rust pit that was likely causing the leak. Sunday was my big painting day. I got around the doors, the rocker panels, around the trunk lid opening, the back panel, hood, trunk lid and headlight buckets. I figure I should get the trunk all primed and painted too before I put it back together. The paint is quite orange peeled where I started around the rocker panels and rear panel, but the underside of the hood looks really good. I'd probably have better luck once the weather cools down and the humidity drops.
September 21
I did some more priming last night. This time it went a bit faster. I think the primer must settle a bit making it a bit thick to ionize completely when I start. I might have to get a thinner for it. Hopefully I can paint Saturday night and then start putting stuff back together on Sunday.
September 17 - Picked up my Fender and Steering Wheel
I got pretty much nothing done on the Mustang this weekend. On the way home Friday I picked up my steering wheel and fender. I was hoping to pick up some more primer on Saturday and get more priming done Saturday night, but the store I'm getting my paint from is only open on weekdays.
September 10
I went and bought most of my seals Friday night. I also ordered a new steering wheel with horn, a front driver side fender and seat belts with shoulder straps. Not cheap stuff. I applied the bondo to the panel between the tail lights and let it cure overnight. After sanding it I realized that the panel was alot more banged up than I thought. I should really be replacing it, but that would require welding. Last night I went out to do some quick priming around the door frames, doors etc. There's no such thing as a bit of quick priming. I didn't clean out my sprayer properly after the last time I used it, so the primer was barely coming out and when it did it was all splotches. I put my mixed primer back in the can and ran some thinner though the sprayer. When that started working good, I put the primer back in, but it did the same thing. It wasn't until I was priming the hood that it started working really well. At first I thought I'd gotten stoned off the fumes. I was wearing my resperator, but the filters probably need changing and I do need better ventilation in my shop. But my back was killing me, so I figured I was still safe. When the primer finally ran out, I made sure I took the sprayer all apart and cleaned it out. I didn't get out of the shop until 1 am.
September 6
Seeing that the trunk and door seals are only $10 each, I figured I'd scrape the old ones off instead of painting around them. I also had to check what grade of sandpaper I needed for the bondo (80 grit and 160). Maybe I'll my bondo tonight. I have some small dents to fill in the rear panel between the brake lights and fuel cap.
September 4
My transmission seems to work pretty good now that I added more fluid. The only problems I'm having now is that the accelator pump doesn't seem to work and one of the frost plugs in the engine is leaking. I'll have to get those fixed when I start putting things back together which I should be doing once I get all the inside parts painted. In the meantime the hood, trunk and doors have been taken off. I still need to put the headliner and glass in.
August 30 - Crappy Transmission
I took the Mustang for its first drive around the yard last night. Unfortunately the transmission wasn't too cooperative. It would barely catch in any of the gears. I'd put it in gear and rev the motor and the transmission would only briefly engage. It took three tries to get enough momentum to roll up the ramp and back into the shop. It might be something simple such as the fluid being too low. I need to check it warm with the engine running. Or maybe the shift linkage is out of adjustment. I had it in park when I put it in instead of D1 as they say in the manual. I'm not sure how much it would cost to rebuild, but I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.
August 28
I got my seat back done and installed Sunday night. Instead of the hog rings I used baling wire which is a bit thicker than the wire I used on the splash shields. It should work. I figure the vinyl will tear before the wire breaks or opens up. I could have ordered the hog rings and hog ring plyers for $10, but then I'd be left waiting for it to arrive. The vinyl on the bottom of the seat is a bit worn on the edge and the cardboard backing on the seat back is crumbling after I took it off and put it on again. Eventually it will all have to be redone.
August 20
I finished putting the new splash seals on the splash guards for inside the front fenders. I had to cheat. Instead of the original style staples that came with the replacement seals, I used softer wire and looped it around. I'll likely have to do the same with the seat back since the hog rings are basically the same thing as the staples for the seals. After reinstalling the splash guards, I disassembled and cleaned my cowl panels and fender extensions in preparation for painting. I'll have to stop talking to my brother. He hangs out with the wrong crowd, serious hot rodders. He suggested that I do everything right from the start, no short cuts. Professsional paint jobs, etc. The front driver side fender will need replacing. Even with bondo, the dents will stand out, especially on a black car. But now I notice that my front are rear cowl panels are dented and most of my chrome is either pitted or peeling and covered with primer overspray. None of it is very expensive to replace, but replacing all the iffy stuff will cost a fortune.
August 13
Not much Mustang work. I removed some of the hogg rings holding the seat back vinyl to the frames to swap out the broken frame. Damn those things are strong. I need to get some bolt cutters or something.
July 25
I got the driveshaft with the new u-joint installed on the Mustang last night, so after the kids were in bed I went out and fired it up. The transmission seems to work, but I won't really know until I can drive it around which won't be until I get back from vacation.
July 24
I picked up a chassis manual, an unbroken used seat back and the correct rear u-joint. I got the new u-joint in and am ready to install the driveshaft. I'll have to get some transmission fluid tonight because the transmission is pretty much dry (probably ran out the back when the driveshaft was out).
July 23 - Nothing to Brag About
I was hoping to be driving the Mustang around this weekend so I could brag about it to my brother when I see him. I got the front suspension back together Friday afternoon, but then noticed that my rear u-joint was still the wrong one. The one I needed has different diameter end caps. I didn't realize this until I cleaned off all the oily crud built up on the differential yoke. Turns out both u-joints I had were for the front. I'll be picking up the correct one tonight.
I got the transmission linkage in as well, but I still need to get a cotter pin at the transmission end. I still need to hook up the vacuum line and kick down cable. I'm not sure how these are attached so I will need the chassis manual for that. I've got the manual back-ordered, but nobody seems to have the one for my year. I'll just have to break-down and buy the one for the '67.
The driver seat also needs a repair. It must have had something heavy placed on it forcing it flat. The arm for the seat back is bent and cracked. I might have to replace the seat back frame. When I first saw it after buying the car, I thought it just need an adjustment.
July 16
To drive the Mustang around the yard, I need to put my front spring and lower spring mount back in, hook up the transmission linkage and put the seat in. Hopefully I can get that done by Sunday. We'll be going back home in a week, so I'd like to be able to say that I've atleast driven the car around the yard. It will look pretty funny though without the front fenders on.
July 16
I got the broken spring mount off and started painting underneath the fenders. I also got the throttle bracket swapped. The car looks more torn apart now than every before, but I should be able to drive it around soon.
July 11
I got my transmission parts, fender splash shields and spring mount. I even got the 3/4" plugs. I should be busy for awhile.
July 10
I picked up some sealant last night to plug the pinholes in the floor. I should really get under the car to clean up and paint the chassis and unibody, but I don't want to get into that, yet. I'm almost ready to put the interior back in as soon as I pick up some 3/4" plugs.
I did check the paint code. My car is a Z, which means it was painted some fancy gold color that is actually beige. I didn't see it on the paintscratch website (www.paintscratch.com)), but it would be close to that desert color. I'll try to stick to black and look at choosing a final color later. How hard would it be to paint a burgundy over black? They're both pretty dark.
Ryan:
If you paint your car "Sauterne Gold Metallic" I will kick you in the n**s. That is a terrible colour. I'm thinking you should probably decide on your colour now before you get too far into it, it'll save a lot of effort later going back over everything, and you can do a better job when everything is apart. As for black, the only thing you might want to consider is that black shows up paint defects more than any other colour. White shows defects the least. For your first major paint job, I might recommend going with something a little more forgiving (but not necessarily white). It's hard to picture a colour on the car without seeing it, so I'd suggest going to www.cardomain.com, narrow your search down to 1966 models, and start flipping through to see what cars stand out.
July 9
No tranny parts yet, but my shift linkage and throttle kick down lever should be in tomorrow. I'll still be waiting for the vacuum modulation line. Once I have the transmission linkage set up, I'll be starting the engine to set the idle speed and will find out then if my head gaskets are leaking.
I picked up a couple snap rings for my rear universal joint. When I was putting my driveshaft in, I didn't see anything that would keep the endcaps in place on the differential yoke, but I did see a snap-ring groove on the endcaps. I shrunk the snap-rings down and got them on the endcaps only to find a small retaining lip on the differential yoke and noticed that the snap-rings interfered with the yoke. I pryed the snap rings off and installed the drive shaft only to find 1/16" of u-joint play in the differential yoke. I'll have to get the manual to figure out how that's supposed to be put together.
With no tranny parts, I took the front fenders off to paint underneath them. I need to replace some of my mud shields and one of my front spring mounts in toast.
I'll start putting my interior back in as soon as I get some sealant for the pinholes in the floor.
July 5
I didn't do much on the Mustang last night. I put in an overflow bottle (Ocean Spray Cranberry) for my coolant. I was about to finish putting in the driveshaft, but noticed that I didn't have the snap rings for the rear u-joint. Hopefully tonight I can get my transmission parts and drive it around sometime.
Ryan:
OK, I have to ignore the questions for a moment and ask, did you actually just install a juice bottle in a 66 Mustang? Holy crap. I assume the Mustang didn't come with an overflow bottle, since most cars of the day just pissed overflow into the street, but I'm sure if you looked around you could find something a little less conspicuous than a juice bottle. At least if you're going for a redneck look use a mini-keg or a 40 ounce Whiskey bottle.
Crey:
To attach it I drilled four holes and secured it with wire. It's in good and solid. The last thing I want is for that to come loose and hit the fan. I was hoping to use a square olive oil bottle, but decided to stick with plastic under the hood. Eventually, I'll have to get a real aftermarket overflow bottle. That will be the last final detail before the car is finished and gets rear-ended.
July 3
The Mustang slowly moves along. I've had it running three times now. I reinstalled the water pump to replace the broken bolts and to seal it up better. I also had to take off the exhaust manifold to install the lines for the choke stove. I have a part broken in my choke assembly, but it should work okay without it as long as I'm not trying to start the car in very cold weather. I was looking to buy another carburator off a friend of a friend, but he never got back to me. The last time I had it running the coolant started coming out of the radiator cap when the thermostat opened. I'm hoping it was just trapped air, but I suspect I might have to replace a head gasket. I have a small coolant leak that seems to be from between the head and the block. I'm waiting on some transmission parts, so I haven't ran it in a week. I should finish painting the interior, so I can get all that installed. Last night I got my heater fan running again (bad ground).
June 26
I pulled the choke apart Thursday night and found the tiny piston missing, but no worries, I'm told that the piston evens the choke out a bit and tends to break off on all the carburators. If I back off how much the choke plate closes, that won't be a problem.
Since my transmission parts weren't in, I picked up the lines for the choke stove on Friday. On Saturday I took off the exhaust manifold to clean up the choke stove (I should have done that before I put the manifolds on in the first place). On Sunday I got the manifold back on, the choke lines hooked up and the water pump sealed up.
After I put the coolant back in, I noticed a bit dripping out from the engine (I'm not sure where, but I'm hoping it's not a head gasket. I set the high idle and started the car. When the choke came off, I set the low idle. When the engine warmed up my coolant started coming out the radiator cap, so I had to shut it down before I made too much of a mess.
I did get my oil pressure figured out. The guage is slow. The needle moves slow when I disconnect and connect the wire to the sender. Atleast I now know that my oil pump is good. But I did have some smoke coming from the oil cap. I knew I'd be rebuilding the engine eventually anyways.
June 20
I fired the Mustang up last night. It started pretty good considering how long it's been sitting. I did take the top off the carburator and filled the bowl with gas. That helped, otherwise I would have been cranking it over for along time. I'll have to adjust the carburator to get the idle set right. I had to keep my foot on the gas to keep it running. You were right about my high temperature paint on the exhaust manifolds. The smoke was just pouring off of them. I'll have to do some sealing work on my water pump. Some of the bolts holding it on are broken off and I could see trapped air bubbling out around the gasket where it's not fully attached. The oil pressure came up slower than I'd have liked, but that was probably because it had all drained into the pan while it was sitting.
The engine noise of the old 289 sounded really good. There is nothing to compare to the throaty exhaust note of a carburated engine. A set of headers and a noisy dual exhaust will be a must have modification. Starting a project car for the first time is like holding a newborn for the first time, just more manly.
June 18 (No Bang on the Stang - Yet)
I figured out why I wasn't getting any spark when I was cranking over the Mustang. All I had to do was clean the points with a bit of fine sandpaper. I think my first mod will be electronic ignition.
I picked up my oil pressure sending unit on Friday. You can get them from pretty much any car parts place. Unfortunately, the sending unit for the pressure gauge is bigger than the switch for the oil pressure idiot light and needs an extension between it and the block to keep it from interfering with the fuel pump. I'll have to pick that up this week. I considered starting the Mustang without the oil gauge and using a ohm meter off the pressure switch to make sure I had oil pressure, but to get the switch removed I have to remove the fuel pump and I didn't want the lines full of gas when I did that.
June 15
Did a bit of Mustang stuff last night. I picked up some vacuum line to plug some ports and to replace the old vacuum advance tube. I tried turning it over to check the timing, but didn't get any flash from the timing light. I am getting power to the coil in run, so the problem is one of the following:
- timing light not working
- no power to the coil in start
- points not closing
I'll stop in tonight at Kansas Klassics and get my oil pressure sending unit and hopefully I'll be ready to try starting the Mustang this weekend.
June 14
I got the exhaust pipe on the Mustang last night and put some gas in the tank to see if anything leaks.
June 11
Did a bit of work on the Mustang. Put power to it and checked the lights. I've got power to the headlights and the dash lights work. I turned the engine over to make sure the ignition switch and my crappy soldering worked. The oil pressure and temperature guages were working too. Now I just need to pick up my oil pressure sending unit and hang the exhaust before I try firing it up.
June 7
Just a bit of Mustang stuff last night. I removed the reverse light switch for the manual transmission and hooked up the wire harness that ties the automatic transmission into the reverse lights and starter circuits. I also hunted around for the wire that is supposed to feed the hazard lights and cigar lighter.
June 6
I haven't done much Mustang work in the last couple days. I hooked up a couple more gauges and my fuel line last night.
To start up the Mustang, I need to put in the proper oil pressure sending unit, solder a couple wires and put some gas in the tank. I'm also going to put on the exhaust pipe and take the top off the carburator to add gas and check the float. Since I've been working on the wiring, I might check to make sure all the electrical is good while I'm at it. To drive around the yard, I need to finish bolting up the drive shaft and finish the transmission stuff such as putting in the shift linkage, the kick down bracket and the vacuum modulation. I should also get the dipstick tube installed right and bolted to the engine along with the grounding strap.
June 4
I had a good Mustang weekend.
I found the source of my ground. The continuity to ground went away when I disconnected the alternator. I checked the alternator wiring and found that one of the wires I connected to ground should have gone to the battery. I have three wiring diagrams for the alternator (which are all slightly different) and none show this wire, probably because the alternator is off a Falcon along with the engine. I hooked everything up and still had a ground through the alternator. I unplugged everthing and found that the ground was through the other battery wire going to the stator terminal. I took the alternator out and disconnected the wire from the stator (which since the Mustang has a guage instead of an battery light, I didn't need.) I put the alternator back in, checked everthing and still found a ground. After taking the alternator out again and removing all the wires, I found that the stator and field wires were switched around. Now everthing is wired up with no unexpected grounds. That's how I spent Sunday, installing and removing the alternator.
The thing that has me kicking myself over the alternator wiring is this is the second thing (after the choke stove on the exhaust manifold) that I slapped together without really figuring out why it is the way it is.
May 31
I had some time for Mustang work last night. In preparation to starting the Mustang, I figured I'd better have the oil pressure guage functional, so that means putting the instrument panel in. Because the instrument panel covers the switches, I put the wiper and light switches in. Attaching the wires to the instrument panel was going well until the ground and power wires to the instrument panel voltage regulator looked too much alike, so I tested them to see which one was grounded. They both were. I went to the battery terminals and found continuity, something is either shorted or switched on. I have power to the coil even though the ignition switch is removed, so that circuit must be involved. The assessories circuit might be hardwired to the circuit to the coil, so that might be screwing things up. I've had the battery connected before, so it must be something I've done recently. I must have removed the wrong bits of electrical tape. More debuggering tonight hopefully.
May 29
I got some Mustang work done over my three day weekend. On Friday I got the heater and steering column in. The rest of the weekend was spent hooking up the heater and cleaning up the blasting grit around the wiring. I also got the coolant in the radiator and the throttle return spring on.
May 24
I was talking to one of my neighbors last night. He used to work at a garage where they'd occasionally restore old cars and has helped a couple buddies with their Mustangs. He has a painting set-up in his shop where he's painted quite a few cars. Not only does he drain the pressure tanks of water before he paints, but he has a filter on his compressor and another at the sprayer. He's worked on a few that he's seen the costs spiral out of control. He helped a buddy with a '49 Chevy truck that was supposed to be a daily driver working truck, but now after $25g invested, doesn't even see a gravel road. I was thinking I could get him to paint the Mustang body to save me the pain of learning the hard way. The problem is when I look at all my pitted and dented chrome bits is that if I had the perfect paint job, I couldn't put my old chrome back on. I remember seeing an old Mustang when I was a kid and thinking that they were ugly. Girls were gross and the wine we had with Christmas dinner tasted horrible. Mustangs aren't ugly anymore, but they still aren't the perfect car. Why did I buy a Mustang then? My goal was to have an old muscle car to drive around in, not the perfect show car that I'd be afraid to drive. So my orange peeled and pitted dash paint job is a perfect match for my old peeling instrument panel and glove box door.
May 22
I had a bit better luck with the paint last night then I did with the primer. It still didn't atomize very well until I turned down the paint knob. But by then I had the doors and dash painted. It came out alot more orange peeled then I wanted and has tiny air bubbles in a few spots. I'll put the heater in and decide then whether or not to try another coat. The area I oversprayed onto the roof looked pretty good. Maybe the orange peel in the primer caused the same in the paint.
I'm not sure if I'll repaint the Mustang dash and doors right away. The door panels are slightly textured, so the orange peel should still look okay. I'll have to think about the dash. I might have contaminants in my air line. I didn't have a filter on it, but I did take precautions to keep any moisture out. I drained my compressor tank before spraying and kept the airline off the cement floor. If I do redo the painting, I'll get a filter for the air line along with a short hose for between the filter and the sprayer.
May 21
I got to do some priming and painting on the Mustang. I got my sandblasting and cleaning done Friday, so Saturday night I started priming. I couldn't find the instructions for my sprayer, so I had difficulty setting the air to get the primer to atomize. It came out pretty splotchy. Good thing I'm only working on the inside of the doors and dash. I have another book on automotive body work, so I read that. It suggested I get the sprayer set right using a peice of scrap metal. Remembering the fridge that washed up a couple weekends ago after that storm dumped all the rain on us, I figured I had a good peice of scrap metal. Brandy went to see a horse on Sunday so I put the kids in the truck and drove down to pick up my scrap fridge. When I was loading it (with the kids still in the truck), I found a big black snake. I don't think it was venomous, but it still freaked the crap out of me. After a bit of mowing, I spent the rest of the day putting the heater together and connecting the transmission cooling lines. Hopefully tonight I can get the dash and doors painted.
May 14
I got some good sandblasting done on Friday. The secret is to wait until the air compressor shuts off to restart blasting and to shut off both the abrasive flow and airflow to the nozzle while you wait. I was hoping to get some cleaning and priming done, but with running errands, going out for mothers day and messing around with the Mazda, I didn't have much time.
May 7
I picked up 100 lbs of Black Beauty abrasive blasting pitch, black paint and primer along with a set of 3 HVLP sprayers Friday night. On Saturday I did some more sandblasting, or Black Beauty blasting. It seemed to work okay. The gun plugged up a few times, I had loosen and tighten the nozzle nut, but that was mostly due to having to start and stop alot due the limitation of my compressor. I figure the easiest way to remove the surface rust is to take most of it off by hand using sandpaper and go at the pits with the blaster. I managed to clean up most of the rust and spray a few spots with the rust converter. Hopefully I can get the heater box all painted up (with a spray paint can) and the interior ready for primer during the week.
May 1
I tried out my sandblaster last night. It works pretty good, but I do have to wait around for the compressor to charge things up. The sand didn't last long either. I'll have to vacuum it up and sift it out. I think I might clean the surface rust and paint off with a wire wheel first and only use the sandblaster on the pitted areas. I'll have to buy paint and a sprayer pretty quick. Maybe this Friday I'll drop into the automotive paint shop.
April 30
Not much Mustang work this weekend other than vacuuming out bits of dried out seam sealer I scraped off and taking out the old seatbelts in the back.
April 24
I finished putting up my plastic sandblasting wall and sweeping out around the Mustang. I did some vacuuming in the cab before calling it a night. I'll have to scrape some of the old seam filler and sound proofing away and vacuum some more before I can sandblast.
April 19
I got a big box of Mustang parts last night. $300 doesn't really get you that far. The dash pad was pretty nice though and the assembly manuals, although thin, are a big help too. I didn't get any actual work done. After going through all my new parts and flipping through the manuals, it was time to go in.
April 11
I spent a bit of time under the Mustang last night. I think I know why it wouldn't crank over when I turned the key. The neutral safety switch isn't connected. Actually, I have two of them. One is mounted on the transmission, but the wires aren't connected and a plunger type switch that looks like it would be for that purpose that is connected, but is just hanging underneath the car. I'll have to check the warrantee plate again, but I think my car might have originally had a standard transmission. The transmission shift linkage I have is also too short and I'm missing most of the linkage and bracketry for the downshifter. I'll have to call Michael, the guy I bought the car from, and see if he has any of that stuff.
Troy:
What kind of shifter do you have, a column shift or floor shifter? Maybe
you should go whole hog and get a Hurst shifter for it.
I'm not sure what you'd have for safety switches on that. The standards
didn't have anything in '66 did they? The automatics may have, but I'm
not sure. Remember you should have a reverse light switch on the car (I
think, what year did they start that? Bugs didn't get one until late
'67). That might be one of the switches on the transmission. You need to
get a multimeter so you can check the switches and circuits for
continuity. Otherwise, its a lot of guesswork and trial.
If you originally had a standard tranny, there should be some evidence
of a clutch pedal or something under the dash, unless everything was
changed over. Or maybe the car the engine was in previously was just
shaped different enough to make trouble. It is ford after all.
Crey:
The switch on the transmission has four wires coming out of it, so two of them must be for the reverse lights. From the diagrams, the clutch pedal is just off the side of the brake pedal bracket and replaces the brake pedal pin. There are other brackets that should be underneath the car which I didn't see.
April 10
Not much car stuff last night, but I did order my pressurized abrasive blaster with inline water seperator. I also ordered some glass bead and the strainer. I should be blasting in a week.
I managed to Canadianize the Mustang last night. I was putting the shifter in, but only had three of the four screws. I went into my collection to look for an extra and found four perfect Robertson head screws. After that my progress halted. The link between the transmission and the shifter is not only too short, but it doesn't kink out around the transmission. From the pictures in the parts catalogs, I might have one from the standard tranny. I'm not sure why I'm putting the shifter in if I'm going to sandblast and paint the interior.
I'm also unsure about the forward U-joint. The seller said it was the wrong u-joint. The transmission yoke is too wide for it causing the joint caps to be short of the end of the lug bores, but the inner snap rings fit for some reason. I took a close look at it last night and noticed that the bores in the tranny yoke have a slight counter bore just past the end of the u-joint caps, so longer caps would have nothing to bear on. The guy I bought the Mustang from has enough of his own cars to know whether or not the driveshaft is right. I might have to get a picture of it and put it on a Mustang forum, but putting a picture of my shaft on the internet for other guys to tell me if it is normal or not seems kind of wrong.
April 9
I got a bit of Mustang work done. I managed to break the ignition switch Saturday night trying to seperate it from the ignition harness. I needed to see if there still was a resistor in the circuit to the coil and there is. I need to take it out now that I have the fancy high voltage aftermarket coil. On Sunday, I put the radiator and radiator hoses in. The hoses were a bit of a pain. I had to trim 1" off each of them to get them to fit right and still had to use some red instant gasket so they'd slip nicely over the radiator and water pump attachments. After that I jacked the car up with my new floor jack and crawled underneat to hook up the transmission linkage. I'll have to get a sandblaster and painting equipment since I find myself doing lots of work arounds in lieu of that. I really should be putting heater box and rest of the interior back in, but I need to paint the floor, firewall and dash first.
Troy:
How did you break the switch? Do you have to take it apart just to
trace the wires? That doesn't make sense to me. I'm surprised the
resistor wasn't out under the hood on the firewall somewhere. That's
where I've always seen them, mostly because they tend to get hot.
Crey:
From the wiring diagram, (I thought) the resistor is under the dash where the color of the wire changes. It's a stupid spot for a resistor considering the heat it likely generates. The switch unplugs from the wires without much effort if you pay attention to what you're doing and pry at the right spot.
April 4
Now that I got the engine grounds in the right spot, I put the coil back on the passenger side of the front of the engine. I then tried to figure out why I couldn't turn over the engine from the ignition switch.
Troy:
So the mustang wouldn't start? Or wouldn't turn over? How could you
start it with the ignition without putting power to it? Or is that the
whole point? Hooking up a battery for the first time is always a bit
nerve-racking. That reminds me, I have to pick up fuses sometime. You
could always just hook it up to the starter, run a wire to the coil
directly and bypass the rest of the wiring for the car, just to test
things out, but its nice to have power to your oil and temperature
guage. Particularly oil.
Crey:
I hooked up the battery a couple weeks ago and nothing sparked, so that's good. I also cranked over the engine over, but it was by jumping the solenoid. I need to find out why it didn't crank over by turning the key. The ignition switch doesn't look to be wired right. There is an extra wire coming off the harness that looks like a ground (black with green stripe), but isn't grounded. I need to order some good wiring diagrams.
April 3
I got the alternator on the Mustang wired up and bolted in place and put the water pump pulley and fan back on. The radiator should be going in soon.
Troy:
Does the mustang radiator fit now? How did you get the lines to fit
under the fan?
Crey:
I had to drill some new holes in the radiator to make it fit. I dropped it down about 1/2" so the fan clears the transmission lines.
April 2
I did a bit of work on the Mustang last night. I took the steering column out along with the heater controls. I should be ready to paint the dash and firewall pretty quick. I should get a small pressurized sandblaster to clean up the surface rust before painting though.
March 29
Troy:
How long before you think the mustang will roll out onto the Kansas
roads under its own power? Have you had it fired up yet? That will be
the moment of truth, and the moment you find a bunch of other things
that need fixing. Then again, if most of it was apart, you;d see
anything serious. As long as the carb isn't gummed up or anything from
sitting, you're ok. Nothing else would be a bit deal. Fuel pump or lines
maybe, but that's cheap stuff and easy to do.
Are you painting it before driving it, or spending the first summer
rat-rod style? then paint it next winter. Painting it will take the
entire summer if you do it yourself. Well, maybe not, but it takes a lot
of prep time. And if you pull the windows and replace the rubber, you
might as well do the headliner too, etc etc.
Crey:
I was really hoping to get the Mustang fired up and the windows in while my parents were here. I could use help putting the windows in even if it does come with manditory free advice.
Should the headliner be put in before before the windshield? I have the new headliner for it, but it's still in the box. If that's the case, I should put the new dash in as well.
Troy:
I didn't realize the windows were already out. If that's the case, I'd
be painting it first, then putting them in. It makes masking easier and
does a much neater job. My experience with headliners is that they wrap
over the metal lip and are glued there, and then the windshield rubber
flips over that and helps secure it. So windows go in last. I'd put the
dash in first too, since plopping the window in should be pretty
straightforward. Provided your rubber isn't stiff and a bastard like
that white stuff I used. That was nasty stuff to work with. I did the
other bug easily by myself, and the truck windshield last summer alone.
Its better with extra hands though, to gently hold the glass in place as
you pull the lip over inside. Get a roll of #14 automotive electrical
wire. It works great, since its a bit stiffer than normal string or
cord.
And to glue the headliner, use good adhesive. Spring for the proper
automotive stuff that 3M makes. the regular contact cement won't last in
the heat and will let go in one season. I had to reglue my door panels
this winter in the '68 because of that. You can get spray cans, but the
tubes work well, and can be less messy if you brush it on.
March 22
I did some work last night, but wound up further behind than I was before. I got the alternator spacer and other goodies from Mustangs Unlimited, so I put the spacer on. I found out the hard way that a bolt attaching the alternator bracket to the water pump and engine was too short. To put a longer bolt in I had to remove the water pump pulley and radiator. I'm wondering if the original bolt was aluminum. It seemed pretty soft. It would make sense if the water pump is aluminum. I'd better check it all out before I go willy nilly changing materials. If it is aluminum, I'll have to make sure I stick with a cad plated grade 8 bolt heavily greased on installation.
March 21
I finished dismantling the heater. Now I just have to clean and paint it. Hopefully the defrost plenum I ordered arrives. I'm also waiting on a lower rad hose support spring. I did manage to unseize the driver side air vent.
From the parts catalog and my repair manual there is a choke stove on the exhaust manifold. Clean air from the carburator goes through the stove and filter then back to the choke on the carburator. It likely needs to be cleaned up and the filter replaced. That would have been nice to do two weeks ago when I had the manifolds on the bench while I was painting them. I wondered what that thing was. I was pretty stupid two weeks ago.
Troy:
how's that work again? Clean air from the carb goes through the stove
and back to the choke? Where does the pressure come from to push it back
to the choke? I'll have to try to find a picture of one of these. I
can't recall seeing one. The comet was just a line to the choke, which
was jerry-rigged, and that's why it killed the choke mechanism. It would
have been better to not have one at all.
its amazing what you can buy for mustangs. Is there anything you can't
get?
Crey:
The air to heat the choke is sucked through by vacuum in the intake manifold. If the comet used exhaust air to heat the choke, the carbon would have gummed everything up. The engine in my Mustang had headers on it which don't have a choke stove, so the choke was likely just disabled. My goal is to eventually get a 4-barrel carb, headers and a dual exhaust, so I might just leave the disabled choke as is.
There is even a rear independent suspension kit and rack and pinnion steering for vintage Mustangs. They do cost a bit though.
March 20
Crey:
Didn't do much last night.
I told Brandy I needed the P/N off the carburettor and that it would only take 5 minutes. Then I bolted to the shop as fast as my skinny legs would carry me. I don't think the carburettor is adjusted right. The choke plate is open and the accelerator pump isn't moving much when you open the throttle. I'll have to do a bit of work on that before the Mustang will run.
Troy:
What's it got for a carb? I assume it has an electric choke. The comet
had a line to the choke to feed exhaust gas, I assume to heat it
slightly so it closed when things got warm. But after 30 years, the
carbon built up and seized everything in the choke body. I just took it
apart and stuck a manual choke kit on, which worked ok with some
fiddling. Its not as convenient, but cheaper than a new electric choke,
and gets you by. The accelerator pump lever might be seized too, or just
needs to be adjusted. That one had to be bent to a certain point so it
gave the right amount of squirt when you stepped on it.
Make sure you don't have any vaccum leaks either. That could cause real
starting problems.
The other thing, was the timing ever set on the engine after it was
rebuilt? If it wasn't, your hope of starting is diminished. Or gone
entirely. Get yourself a timing light. They're cheap. Hook it up to #1
and mark a white spot on the pulley so you can see it. Then get someone
to crank the engine, or hook up a wire so you can do it from the engine
bay. That should let you see if the timing is close or not.
If its not, then set your engine to #1 tdc and hook your light up to #1
wire. Turn on the key to power the coil and then rotate the distributor
slowly past #1 on the cap until the light flashes once. You;ll get one
flash, but that will get you pretty damn close to #1. I set all my
engines this way initially, and then fine tune it once its running and
warmed up and the carb is set. Usually, the adjustment needed is very
small.
Crey:
I'll have to check around for an automotive or hvlp paint gun and paints. So far I'm looking at the Endura paints and Rust-oleum rust primer. I'll probably just start with Rustoleum on the floor and inside firewall.
From the repair manual, the carb has a line from the exhaust manifold to heat the choke into opening. I'm not sure the manifolds are right then because I can't find the port. I did see what I thought was a ground terminal that might be the port. I should have looked closer when I was cleaning and painting the manifolds. The Pontiac had an electric choke. That was nice. The accelerator pump wasn't seized, but the linkage isn't connected right. Maybe a previous owner did some screwing around.
March 19
Didn't do much car repair work on Saturday. Instead I went to a petting farm to look at some ponies to keep my wife's horse company. The ponies where in a number of pastures on neighbouring properties. There was a falling down machine shed in one of the pastures. As I was watching the ponies run around, I noticed a car in the shed. I got out to look and sure enough, it was a Mustang. A couple years newer than mine, but a coupe too. I didn't want the owner seeing me nosing around his car, so I kept my distance. I'll still inquire though. I did manage to get pony slobber all over the clean Mazda and had to drive quickly away from a pushy bull, but that happens to everybody.
On Sunday I got the radiator in, the heater assembly out and the ground and starter cables on. I put the battery in and tried turning the engine over, but no go. I'm getting continuity at the coil when I have the key on, but no juice to the solenoid. It did turn over when I jumped the solenoid though and what a sweet sound that was.
I'll probably have to paint the interior firewall before I put the heater back in. What sort of paint gun should I look for? I'll probably order one from Harbour Freight since they have the best deals on pressurized sandblasters as well. I'll have to take a look at the CCFM site to see what advice you gave Troy for that last year.
And one more thing. I used a trouble light to look down a diaper for poopies.
March 16
I trial fitted the altenator only to find that I need a $13 spacer. I marked the radiator to drill new holes to lower it and tried testing the coil. The resistance through the primary circuit seems to jump around a bit so its hard to get a good reading. I tried to measure the resistance between the secondary terminal and the "+" terminal and couldn't get a reading. The coil is dented, so I think it might be dead.
I'll likely be getting the pertronix ignition as one my first upgrades. Can get the high power coil and use it with my original points or do I have to upgrade everything at once?
Troy:
I'd go module and coil together. I wouldn't risk ruining the coil for
the price of a module, plus why deny yourself the instant satisfaction
of a smooth running engine?
March 15
My Ford factory repair manual came in along with a good parts catalog. The basic stuff is pretty cheap, but the fancy stuff is expensive. I figure to upgrade to a boosted dual master cylinder and front disk brakes will run me around $1100.
Last night I got the lower pulley, upper pulley and fan on along with the spark plug wires. I put the radiator in, but it sits too high relative to the engine causing the fan to hit a cooling line for the transmission. I'm still not sure where my grounds are supposed to be. I could find a place for them, but it might not be the correct place. The good thing about non-decent cars is that you don't worry about where things are supposed to be and just slap them in or leave them out.
March 13
I picked up some heater hose and wires for the Mustang last night and got my exhaust manifolts on. Not exactly stock looking with those bright gold Grade 8 bolts, but then really how important is that to me?
March 12
I didn't get much Mustang stuff done this weekend. On Saturday we went
in to buy some gates to keep the horse in. I picked up my grade 8 bolts, hi-temp black paint and hi-temp anti-seize. On Sunday I got my gates up, harrowed the riding ring and painted my exhaust manifolds.
I hope that paint isn't too stinky when it burns off. I put on three coats. It should be alright with the high temperature though. It's supposed to be good up until 1200F or something and has some ceramic stuff added. We'll see.
My dad looked at the Mustang and figures it will be 5 years before it's on the road. He thinks I'm incredibly optimistic to be buying a battery for it. I want to be burning off my manifold paint long before that!
March 9
So far I haven't got much work done on the Mustang. I got the valve cover gaskets on and the spark plugs changed. The guy I bought it from should be dropping off the exhaust manifold bolts and horns today. I'll have to call him back since I'm also missing the oil cap and gas pedal.
I bought the battery for it last night. Bought it at Walmart. I couldn't believe they had '64 to '70 Mustangs listed in their book.
March 8
I'll have to go with the $100 pressure blaster and probably look into auxilliary pressure tanks. That might be awhile. I figure I can get the car running first before I really need to sandblast anything.
March 6
There's a picture of the car taken from the cell phone.
I haven't mail ordered anything yet other than free catalogs and the factory repair manual. I need to order a spring for to keep the lower rad hose from collapsing.
I might buy more car parts tonight. I need spark plugs and exhaust manifold gaskets. I should pick up the fan belt too.
I should start looking into sandblasters and paint sprayers. The aircleaner is pretty rusty on the inside. I need to blast off all that and repaint it. I'm thinking of looking for a little siphon blaster to start things off.
Troy:
As far as sandblasters go, they're only
as good as the compressor you have. Crappy compressor = frustrating
sandblaster. I've got a 60gallon, with a 30gallon tank from my old one
in line, plus the blaster tank (about 25 gallons) and sometime use an
additional 40gal hot water tank for extra capacity. It takes forever to
charge them all up, but once you get them all up to about 80psi, you can
actually blast like hell for 40 secs or so (down to about 60psi, when it
starts to become less effective).
He's a few things I've noticed with mine. My siphon gun worked great,
as far as it goes, but you need a lot of airflow. Its perfect for
smaller jobs like air cleaners and spot cleaning, but it also sucks a
ton of sand, so you need to have a tarp or something laid down to
recollect it and re-use it.
A pressure blaster works much better, mostly because the sand flow is a
bit more constant. I also found it was more effective since it had a bit
more blasting power. But, it takes a ton of air.
I'd go with the pressure blaster, especially if you can get one cheap
(I just built mine from an old tank and some plumbing supplies. Extra
work, but its bigger than the norm, and holds a shitload of sand. I
found the plan on a model T site somewhere. Pretty simplistic though.)
For a compressor, stay away from the oil-less type. They suck ass, are
noisy and suck ass. Spend the extra and go for the bigger model, at
least a 4 or 5 hp. Though mine is now the Coleman 60gallon 3.5 hp model,
and it seems to work fine. Its stationary, so I mounted it in the loft
and ran a line down to the shop and stuck my old regulator on the wall
down there. Its a bit of extra work, but it was worth it.
And get a proper water trap. Water in a sandblaster is a pain in the
ass.
As far as the sand goes, I visit the beach, load up a few buckets and a
kiddie pool on the truck, take it home and let it dry and then sift it
through an old window screen to get rid of the seaweed, pebbles and
other debris. I've also used regular sand you buy at the hardware store.
A bit more pebbly, but you can still sift it. I find I can usually run
it through the blaster 3 times before it gets too powdery to flow good
anymore and clogs up. My current batch of sand is clogging, so I'm going
to have to dump it. I should take it back to the beach, but I might use
it to smooth the paint booth floor instead. But the good thing, if you
have a siphon feed too, you can use the sand over that much more, since
they won't clog as easily.
So, for advice from me, here's the basics. Good compressor (within your
budget. Bigger is better.) lots of capacity (get an extra tank for
sandblasting, just hook it up with garden hoses or something, they'll
handle 100psi ok), get a water trap (helpful, but not essential) and try
to re-use your sand to cut costs. And for sandblasting itself. Get a
good quality respirator. Ask Ryan, sandblasting dust is a killer,
literally. You don't want to get silicosis. You'll need one for painting
anyway. Use furniture paint stripper (works fine) to strip the paint
from parts before blasting, it really speeds things up, and saves sand.
The time spent stripping is returned 3-fold. And get some scotchbrite.
The blasted metal gets "fuzzy" and needs to be cleaned afterwards or
you'll get tons of lint trying to wipe it down.
As for painting? Its not easy, but you can figure it out if you take
your time at it. The lesson is patience. Be fussy, don't be in a rush
and don't fuck with anything once its painted. Just paint it, clean up
your shit and shut the door. The more you fiddle, the greater the
chances are of screwing something up, or stirring up dust.There's a picture of the car taken from the cell phone.
March 5
The Mustang transport went pretty good. Buddy only wanted $3800 for it on Saturday which is $200 less than the week before. The seller was going to use his covered trailer to transport it, but since it was so full of parts they figured it would be easier to put the car together and transport it on a regular trailer, so the fenders and hood were on and most of the interior was in due a marathon build session the night before. It took only two hours to get the car loaded, transported and rolled into my shop. With enough pushers, I didn't even have to use my fancy wall anchor that I'd spent Friday night putting in.
After getting the car put away we had brunch and went shopping. I picked up a good floorjack from Walmart then the Haynes manual, rad hoses, distributer cap and wires, valve cover gaskets and the battery ground terminal from a parts place.
On Sunday I sorted through the parts in the trunk and put the valve cover gaskets in.
Hopefully today I can download the pictures I took of the new beast.
February 26
Well, I went to look at the Mustang Friday after work. Buddy want's $4000 for it now instead of the $3400 he told me back in November. He says he's got some other interest in it. Since I last saw it, he's put the engine and transmission into it along with the driveshaft. The bright blue engine looks pretty sharp surrounded by the flat back firewall and fenders. I checked out his body work. The car has some replacement floor panels, new rear quarter panels and the trunk drop down sills behind the rear wheels. The underbody has some surface rust, but no major holes. The cowl cover is spotwelded on the Mustangs, so I couldn't see condition of the cowl plate above the driver and passenger's feet. The best thing is, he's offering to deliver it and all the parts inside his covered trailer. Not having to worry about that is worth something. I should have the money by this Friday. I've basically made up my mind to buy it and am just trying to justify my decision. I also left my raincoat in his garage, and am willing to buy a $4000 car to get it back.
Ryan:
Standing ovation.
"I also left my raincoat in his garage, and am willing to buy a $4000 car to get it back."
Troy:
Crey is buying a mustang. I can't say the price is bad at all, if the
engine is rebuilt and by the sounds of it the majority of bodywork is
done for him. Hopefully it was done half decent and not just a slop job
to sell the car off. If he rebuilt the engine for it, that's worth a few
hundred in parts, at least, plus labour and time.
Yes, the raincoat excuse is thin, but valid.
What year was the mustang? Anything prior to '72 in decent shape is
probably worth what he's asking for it. Its hard to judge the price of
old cars. It basically comes down to whether you'll gripe about the
$4000 once you have it, or if you think its worth it. As far as value
goes, they're all worth nothing. I figure if a smoker and alcoholic can
blow thousands of dollars out the pipe each year to slowly kill
themselves, then having a hobby that costs the same, or less, is on par.
Crey:
The Mustang is a '66. I'm sure I'll be griping a bit about the price when I realize it takes longer to get it on the road than I anticipated. Once I'm driving it I will be happy. The engine is out of a Falcon. It had been running at one time, but other than that, I have no idea what the motor and tranny will be like. This one with the non-original motor will never be a true collectable. The old Mustangs have a phenomonal supply of aftermarket parts to make restoring and maintaining cheap. In the long run, it should be a good investment.
February 12:
I went out Saturday to look at that collection of $650 cars and
trucks.
It was an old guy in serious need of some dental work. Hard to keep
from
staring at his freaky teeth. He had about 15 vehicles ranging from '48
to '78. All sedans, station wagons, pick-ups and one tons. He bought
them cheap and drove them until they had a problem. Fords, Dodges,
Chevrolets and one Studebaker. They were all outside so the older
stuff
was pretty rusty and the interiors were gone. Some one was stealing
radiators for the aluminum so most were missing radiators and had cut
rad hoses. He had a '78 Chevy pretty much rust free that he parked
because it was running hot and likely needed new head gaskets. The one
I
liked was a '72 Ford F250 which was pulling to the side when he parked
it. It had a rust hole in the front fender and the battery holder was
toast, but that was it. The cab and body were straight and the mounts
looked good. He had a '53 Packard in his shed that was in mint
condition. He parked it because a buddy gave him an interest free loan
for a new car back in '68. That one was worth something and the old
guy
knew it. All you'd need to do would be clean it off and start it. He
was
waiting for an appraiser to take a look at it before setting a price.
Ryan:
You do realize, if you don't walk away from this little outing with
some form of project car, regardless of whether it's a 72 F250 or an
old
Studebaker, Troy and I are going to personally come down there and
kick
your ass. We'll do it, then we'll each buy a project car and bring it
home with us. And we'll slash your tires so you have to buy some
crappy
tubes too.
Crey:
I'm not sure if I should buy the '72 F250 or save up my money for the
'66 Mustang. The F250 is cheaper, but the '66 Mustang is more
practical.
I could load up the whole family if I go to a car show. Not that
either
of them would be show quality any year soon. The '72 F250 isn't $650.
He'll sell it for $700 or any two for $600 each.
What/Where is DUNDAS?
Jeff
More car advice
from the CCFM
Return to the Car Club For Men
For information or comments regarding this website please email :mybluepontiac@hotmail.com