The beast lives....

I went through the wiring harness and fixed a couple of shorts. One wire had almost no insulation on it and the copper was green. This was the wire that ran from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid. I cut it out and put a new run in. I put all the connectors on and turned the key. Just a click. I check things again. I put new cables on positive side, but negative is the old one. Changed cable out and car cranked good. Cranked it until gas hit carb. It fired and purred nicely. The carb needed no adjustment and the timing was almost dead on. I filled the radiator and let it run. When I shut it down, it hadn't occurred to me to dig up the radiator cap, so coolant flowed onto my garage floor. I put the cap on and started her back up and let it run for a while. After I was happy that all was well, I shut it down and taped the harness back up. After taping, I snaked the harness back through all the holes and plugged everything back in. Once again, I start the engine up. She is running fine and I start checking the lights out. Headlights and taillights come on fine. Try the turn signal, the engine dies. Turn signal off and restart engine. Try signal again, engine dies and smoke comes from light switch area. Had enough fun for one day. Engine runs. I will have to check the light situation tomorrow. I did not have the lights plugged in earlier when running engine, so I am hoping it is just a short in the harness that is only a foot long and runs from turn signals to the harness that I worked on today. Maybe it shorted out while I was plugging in back in to main harness.  Well, at least it runs and no fluids leaked out of engine or trans so that is good.

Found elecrical gremlin

A little work with the meter and I found the starter has a dead short. Disconnected it and checked all the fuses. Fuses were all intact. I still did not have lights, radio or any electric anywhere. It dawns on me that the new negative cable is not grounded to chassis, just the engine. I run jumper to chassis, all electric works.Starter is only $45, but the sticker on it shows it is only two years old. It worked fine when removed so I don't understand what the deal is, but I will swing by tomorrow and pick up a new one tomorrow. Should be able to crank her up then unless it finds something else to puke out. Should be running out of old components. I checked all the lights and need to troubleshoot the back up light switch which shouldn't be a big deal. All other lights and blinkers work fine as does radio and interior. 

staying on course

Got home and went to work on car. Got the trans filled and topped off the oil. Finished plumbing the coolant lines and finished wiring starter and solenoid. I go to crank it, battery is stone dead. I charged the battery and hit it again. It kicks the breaker and had to wait for it to reset. Tomorrow I will have to look for short in system. There was one wire in loom I did not like the looks of and after looking at schematic, I will just run a new wire to replace it. There was also a couple wires down by the steering column that I forgot about that someone had twisted and taped that were coming loose. I wanted to splice them after determining their function, but forgot about until now. Nothing else, tomorrow I can just bypass the ignition switch and hotwire it under hood to check engine function. I am going to be pulling steering column to replace toe board, so that will make wire splicing and IDing easier. The clown who put the column in spliced the wires coming out of column and taped and twisted wires. Not a whole lot to the wire harness on this car, so it shouldn't be too bad to patch up the mess.

Almost ready to fire up

Managed to get the driveshaft installed after replacing u-joints. I found the card from the vendor that was at Frog Follies with the mustang stuff. He has some genuine new old stock ford parts. Some items I have not been able to find anywhere. I bought a new torque box and toe board for the drivers side. I welded the new battery tray insert in place. I will not do anymore welding of sheet metal until I get tank. I used the flux wire and it is some horrible stuff. I figured I would try it on a panel that was not structural. I will re weld battery tray when I get tank. Finished wiring the coil and distributor, installed battery, installed radiator, and shifter. Tomorrow, I will top off oil, fill trans and radiator, and hopefully start motor. Can not drive it without seats in, but I can verify it runs and let it idle for a while. I am going back next week to get the carpet kit and sound deadener. He actually has brand new still in box ford 3 speed chrome shifter handles. I can not find them even in reproduction anywhere else. The torque box is really beefy. Found out my car did not come with passenger torque box from factory but I am going to install one since I am this far in anyway. It is suppose to firm up the ride quite a bit.I measured and the new torque box looks like it will fit perfectly and it has welded in reinforcements as well as stamped in reinforcements. Much nicer than the ones I have seen offered anywhere else and I can pick them up a few minutes from my house. I was hoping on welding them in without pulling fender, but this is impossible. Guess I will start pulling fenders during the week. Toe board look perfect except for lacking hole for parking brake cable. I will have to measure old one for hole location before cutting it out.

Did not get to the machine gun shoot this time around. Figured I would stay focused on the car this weekend. Practiced with some scrap pieces with the welder. I think I will like it when I get the CO2/argon tank for it.  Welds nice, but the flux core spatters and does not lay a nice bead.  The machine itself feeds really smooth. I am use to stick welding so the concept of a trigger fed wire is really cool.

Progress on floor

I made some progress on the floor and hit a temporary roadblock at the same time. After cutting out the bad metal on the driver side floorpan, I found I had overlooked the rust in the toe board  and I decided to change out the torque box while I am in there. Bad part is I have to wait for them to come in to weld floor in place.  The passenger side is in real good shape. After cleaning it, I primed and painted it. With the floor cut out of the way, I can easily weld the new parking brake brackets to the frame rails from inside car as opposed to hanging underneath.

It's finally the weekend.....

I came home to find the subframe connectors I ordered waiting for me on the stoop. Managed to get quite a bit done during the week. I snaked the new prebent gas line into place. Not an easy task seeing as how it is almost the length of the car and has to run over the rear axle, around muffler and around several obstacles. I had to drop rear exhaust, but the line is there ready to install once I drain tank. I ran my work vehicle low so I can transfer fuel over to it. I need to check the fuel gage sending unit as well before reinstalling the line.

I finished removing the carpet on the inside and the floor is in decent shape other than the driver side front which I am replacing. A good sanding,  priming and paint before installing carpet should take care of floor.
Once floor is done,  I can install the frame rail connectors and weld them in place. It should stiffen the ride up somewhat. Once that is done, I can run the new brake lines and parking brake cables. It has been real pleasant weather lately making it nice working in the garage.

They have a gun show at the armory tomorrow, so that should be a nice start for the weekend. Next weekend is the fall machine gun shoot. Should be able to restock my ammo for the Garrand. Nothing beats the smell of gun powder and flame throwers. Throw in a gun show and it is a great weekend. I believe Indy gun show is this month as well.