Saturday, May 22, 2010

Frustrating Saturday


Started work on mustang this morning. Turn on air compressor and it trips breaker. Reset breaker and lights come on but outlets are dead. Trace problem to popped GFC outlet. Only problem is gun safe is bolted to floor in front of outlet. Was not aware at the time I installed safe that they not only wired garage to one lousy 15 amp breaker (lights, garage door opener, and wall outlets), but the idiots also wired all outlets through the one GFC outlet. Spent better part of an hour rigging a poking device to reset breaker and fishing around blindly behind safe to reset breaker. After resetting breaker, I made a trip to Lowes. Bought a couple 20 amp breakers, some outlets, boxes and wire. I will run outlets tomorrow so I will not have problem in future. May run a 220 line as well just to have should need arise. I do want a welder in near future.

I did manage to install new rear bumper and put voltage regulator on gage cluster. I will put most of dash back togeather tomorrow. I have a speaker coming so I will leave necessary panels off. I also painted the front valance below bumper to match car. It was chipped up pretty bad. I was trying to repair battery tray area when air compressor messed up morning. Hope to get back to that Monday.Supppose to be nice tommorow.  Think I will take a break from car and head to the range, I believe they have a big gun show in Owensboro tomorrow as well.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

New Dash Pad


I set the new dash pad in place to see how she looks. It fits nicely, and is made out of a more modern material. I have a power regulator coming in for the gage cluster, so I took the pad back off until I can put the cluster back together. Hopefully have dash back together by weekend. I have the car up on ramps and the bolts at cross member soaking in PB Blaster. Have to see if I can borrow engine hoist this weekend. I am suppose to be off Monday, so if I get motor out, I can drop it off at shop Monday.

Need to measure throwout bearing shaft diameter to see if cable conversion kit they sell will work on my car. I am hoping to get rid of all the old Ford brackets for clutch linkage. The kits get good reviews online. They are easy to adjust, and unlike the ford ones, are not suppose to need the frequent readjustments. They also look a lot neater. Parking brake is toast. Rusted pivot points, cut bracket. I am going to replace all cables and hardware. I do not like parking a stick shift car without being able to set a parking brake.

Monday, May 17, 2010

On to the Dash


Well, today I took a break from the engine bay. I got home from work and was greeted by a big box by my door. My new dashpad has arrived. The only things the interior needs are the dash pad and headliner. It took a few hours getting the old, nasty pad off. I followed factory manual to the letter trying to remove it. Had all bolts and hidden fasteners removed, and it still held with a vengence. I was looking for missed bolts and or fasteners. Finally chose the easy route. Out comes utility knife (can not possibly damage the pad as seen in pictures above, knife can only improve it).  It appears one of the previous owners went to the trouble of  tearing dash down far enough to ooze some sort of evil glue inbetween dash pad and steel dash to adhere the mess togeather. It would have been a vast improvement had he just ripped it off altogeather. The glue reacted with the dash pad as you can see in pics, and sort of melted it into a gooey mass in spots. I am going to slip dash pad on tomorrow temporarily to see how she looks. Want to leave it off for now so I can replace the front speakers and change a voltage regulator for the gages.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Waiting on the hoist

Stayed the course today, despite nice weather, and got the hood off and the engine stripped. Removed the clutch linkage ( hopefully to be refitted with modern hardware). Hopefully the weather is nice tomorrow so we can take a range day break. My buddy with the engine puller is not available until next weekend, but the engine is ready when he is. I just need to drop drive shaft and remove crossmember bolts tomorrow and all is ready. I ordered stainless steel gas lines to run from tank to pump, and pump to carb so as to have them in and ready for when engine is done. Still need to order new clutch set, but need to verify that it has the 9 inch and not the 8.5 inch clutch first. I will pull engine and trans as a unit.

Hopefully out to the range tomorrow after taking in the gun shows. They have one at the 4H center down the road, and a big one in Kentucky tomorrow. So it looks like it should be a good weekend all the way around. Next weekend is a three day weekend for me, so hopefully the car will be minus the motor, and engine compartment will be getting cleaned and repainted. Might rebuild front end while all the stuff is out in the open and the car is out of commision. Really looking forward to driving it.

I did manage to clean and organize workbench and tools. I got the cabinet sandblaster on a toolbox now, so it is off my bench. Still need to run air line to new location. I want to run pipe around wall for a air manifold setup like I did in my garage up north, but have not done that yet. Maybe tomorrow, I can drop off at Menards and get pipe and fittings. Need to replace my air tools too. My son wound up with my old ones, need to replace them to make life a little easier. Looking at mig welder too. Need to run a 20 amp outlet out of breaker box for garage. House is only about eight years old, but the contractor wired the outlets to the 15 amp light breaker. If the air compressor kick on at the right time, it takes out the lights, garage door and all power in garage. Makes it downright interesting if you are working in the garage with the door shut at night.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Out with the old


Motor overhaul underway. Small water leak leads to thermostat housing. Thermostat housing bolt snapped off in head. Pull head to get bolt out. Can't bring myself to putting head back on without refresh. Clutch needs replacement, so, tranny is coming out. So, this leads to block coming out and being refreshed as well. Block is coming out this weekend for rebuild. I also found an update for the horrid mess ford put in for a clutch linkage assembly. What a dismal design. They now make cable and hydraulic conversion kits for them, so new toys being ordered. Body and paint will have to wait for a few years. I am going to do drive train properly first.

Being a 43 year old FORD, I added a sandblaster to the garage( both a cabinet and freestanding model). Once engine is out, all brake and gas lines are coming out. Engine bay will be stripped and painted. New brake and gas lines throughout. Nice thing about the old mustangs is everyone makes everything for them and cheap. New Stainless brake line kits and gas line kits available with all bends to fit directly available at a really reasonable price. Beats having to cobble together brake line lengths to kinda fit. Really hoping to be driving her in June.

Og,  I hope this posting will wards off the threat of the dreaded bottled dogs breath  ; )