Mustang makes the man

I've been a bit slack, but only because I've been very busy ripping bits out of the engine bay.  I'll post an update on the weekend.

In the meantime, some light relief in the form of a Ford advertisement from the late 60's...

lol... (true but)

Tackling the engine bay

Yeah, way too much time on my hands...

Ok... interior is too expensive at this stage of the game, so I'm going to focus on the quick win stuff that shouldn't cost too much. But remember I did say that about the interior. Sigh...

Anyway, I gotta toss the over-sized, giant, mega radiator and put in our new 1966 repro. This will allow me to put everything back where it belongs and basically tidy up the engine bay.

So I drain the water, disconnect the hoses, remove a couple of bolts and tada... out she comes.  Now I've been told a billion times I exaggerate too much, but check this out.

The radiator on the left is what should be in there. Ok... maybe I exaggerated a little, it's not quite twice the size.  Well, excuuuuuuuuse meeeeee.....

Unfortunately, they had to alter the engine bay a bit to fit that monstrosity in, here's the result.

Nice....  so looks like I've got a bit of patching to do.  You notice the plate of scrap metal sitting on top of the platform in the 2nd photo?  That's what's left of the old battery tray.  Why unbolt it when you can slice it off and hammer it back out of the way?

Oh, did I mention the custom battery tray they replaced it with?

That is a piece of plywood held up by two shelf brackets... I kid you not.  You can see some rust bubbling up above the tray (battery acid), so that's going to have to be cleaned up.

Anyway, talking to the experts at Caloundra Brake and Clutch, it would be much easier to do all these renovations if the engine was not in the way.  So although redoing the engine bay was low on the to-do list, I've gone this far so I might as well bite the bullet and just get it out of the way...

So stay tuned for our next exciting episode when I attempt to dismantle the engine.  What could go wrong?

Stripping the Interior -- Part II

I think I mentioned that there is a bitumen-like substance that has been painted over the metal of the car interior.  It was painted onto the metal, then covered with corrugated cardboard (WTF?).  Which is why I'm having to chip away at this crap with a paint scraper to get the embedded cardboard (and dirt, carpet fibres, insects, etc) off so I can protect it.

I assumed this stuff was a rust-preventative or something like that, which is why I was happy to see it coating the surface of the front seat pans. Unfortunately, it's not all that crash hot at preventing rust, although it did an excellent job of protecting the rust that was underneath it.

While not as bad as the back pans, it's still fairly thin in places.  I haven't taken a grinder to it yet, but I'm sure when I do some of those thin places will magically transform themselves into holes (nothing up my sleeve).

So looks like I might have to just bite the bullet and get the entire back and front pans done on both sides and be done with it. Unfortunately, this will triple the costs and blow out the meagre pre-Xmas budget, so I'm gonna have to put the floor on hold for a little while and turn my attention to other things.

It's not like there's nothing else needs doing...

Yet Another Cunning Plan

Not that there was anything wrong with the last couple of cunning plans...  I just need to tweak things a little to account for the latest exciting surprise... rust.

The first step is going to be to get everything out of the interior. Seats and carpet are already gone, but as you saw last time, I need to find something like a Tactical Particle Accelerator to strip out the years of crap that hide the floor... ok, maybe a wire brush on the end of a drill might work. I don't know, I'm making this up as I go along.

Once I can actually see the floor, I'll need to grind back the rusty bits to give me a better view of the structural integrity... or lack of therein. At the minimum, I know I'll need floor pans for the rear. My fear is that the surface rust in the front pans is hiding something more serious underneath.

I know all you seasoned restoration gurus from the forums are right now laughing and slapping each other on the back, saying "remember how we told that newbie it was easy to change floor pans?  He actually believed us.... ha-ha-ha...".

Yeah... I'm onto you...

That's as far as my cunning plan goes for now. If it all goes well and I don't discover something like the firewall missing, I'll tackle the metalwork on the rest of the interior. From the size of the holes in the dash and doors, I'm convinced the previous owner had installed a plasma TV with surround sound rather than a stereo.

Stop sniggering, you lot...

Stripping the interior

Well, I guess this means I've officially started the restoration now.  I've decided to start ripping out the interior to get a look at the floor pans and prepare for the rewiring exercise.

So I jacked up the car and removed the seats by unbolting from underneath. Not much of the seat cushions left, the foam has almost completely disintegrated.

There will be some repair work to fix up the springs and frame, but if I can get the individual bits and pieces (e.g. - springs) hopefully I can reuse the frames.

Ripping up the carpet, found there is an underlay underneath and a couple layers of cardboard beneath that.   But a pleasant surprise under the cardboard... the front floor pans are actually not too bad... a bit of rust, but most of it on the surface. A big sand back should hopefully fix them up no worries.

You can see that whoever put in the carpet used lots of glue, so a lot of crap is stuck to the floor that will take some elbow grease to remove.

The bad news is there's some half-serious rust in the rear passenger floor pans. Here's a close up view of the worst spot... you can see it's started to crack, so may need replacement.

I know, shock and horror... a Mustang with rust in the floor pans...  I'm just surprised only because it can't be seen from underneath.  After I get it cleaned up and sanded back to bare metal, I'll have a better idea of what it will take to fix.

So overall it's not too bad. After all, it could be a lot worse...

A comment on comments

Apparently comments have not been appearing on the blog... and here I thought you guys just didn't care.

Ok, I've had a fiddle with the settings and hopefully have it resolved.  So leave another comment and I'll see if we're up and running...

The new and improved "Cunning Plan"

Well, after a couple weeks poking around under the car I finally have a clear plan of attack in restoring the old girl.  And as expected, that plan bears no resemblance whatsoever to what I had in mind when I first got the car.

Remember, boys and girls, the initial objective is to get her on the road, I just have a few more steps now to get her there.

The first cab off the rank is to fix up the engine bay. As mentioned in previous posts, the extra large, giant radiator has got to go, all the cables, hoses and battery put back to where they belong, repair the body rails and install the new repro radiator.  After that, the bay should be much tidier... and legal.

Next is to rip out the interior, seats, carpet and dash. There are 2 reasons for doing this; 1) I want to check the floor pans for any bad rust and 2) I'll need everything out of the way for the "Big Job".

The "Big Job" is installing the new wiring harness.  While the process itself doesn't look overly complex, there is a fair amount of planning required before I start ripping out the old harness.  I have the 66 wiring diagrams and I'll need to work out what wires will go in which cable assembly. That'll be fun.

After that will be the interior... at the bare minimum I will restore the dash and paint it white while everything is out of the way.  I'll have to weld in a new radio plate as the holes were buggered up sometime in the past for an after market stereo system.  Appears to be such a common problem that they actually make a plate just for the radio assembly.

So stay tuned...

I would like to thank...

I have been completely remiss in acknowledging my significant other who, while not exactly actively supporting the decision to purchase a mustang, has accepted my new hobby with a stiff upper lip.

So I would like to take this opportunity to say...

... and thank you.

I was thinking of showing my love by getting her a nice tattoo...

or maybe not...

Wiring Part II

In last week's episode, our intrepid refurbisher found the dash wiring in his beloved 1966 coupe to be completely r@sh*t.

Where would we be without the Interweb?  All the answers are out there, you just got to sort through the rubbish to find them. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth I have uncovered 3 options:

1. Install a new fusebox.  Well, to be honest this isn't really a viable option as many of the dash wires have been changed and it would be a very hard slog to identify what is missing, where it was supposed to go and then replace it.  Too hard for this feeble mind.
2. Install an OEM wire harness. This involves replacement of the entire wiring harness for the car. There are a number of reproduction harnesses made for this specific car and all that's really required is to rip out the old one and then plug in the new. This is probably the easiest option, but also the most expensive with harness kits beginning at $700. I would prefer this option, but my bank account doesn't.
3. Install a universal harness. This is the cheapest option with manufacturers supplying harnesses to fit generic cars and models. These work by supplying the basic wiring inherent in all motor vehicles, e.g. - every car has brake lights, headlamps, turn signals, etc.. It requires a bit of electrical nous as you have to cut the wires to length and attach the appropriate connectors. But with prices starting at $250, this becomes an attractive option for me.

So being a totally cheap b*stard, I'm going with the universal harness.

Note that this option may not be for everyone. As I said, you'll need to be a bit handy with the soldering iron and know the basics of electricity. You'll also need to be very careful, checking and double-checking your wiring prior to powering it up.  I heard a story about some poor bloke who installed a brand new repro instrument cluster and associated wiring only to have it destroyed by fire starting from a short in the wiring... ouch!

And these harnesses are normally colour coded to GM standards, primarily because Ford did not really have colour standards until later in the 60's. So if you plan to enter your car in a concourse event, it would not be the original wire colours. But for me, I'm building a cruise-mobile and could care less what colour my wires are... as long as they conduct electricity reliably.

So I have placed an order with Ez2Wire in America to take delivery of a new Ford universal harness.  I have no doubt this choice will generate oodles of entertaining adventures for myself and my readers, so stay tuned.

You Can't Wear Electric Shorts

Electric shorts... get it?  lol... I crack myself up...

Anyway, as Homer would say...

I seem to have hit my first unexpected problem with the car.

It would appear that something is amiss with the dash wiring.  A large knot of wires and electrical tape are all that remain of what was once the fusebox.  Of the box itself, there is no sign.  A few lonely holes in the firewall mark what must have been it's final resting place.

Who would do such an evil thing?  Are fuses overly expensive in America?  Was it too hard to work out which way the things went in?

I can only guess that over the years various electronic and kitchen appliances had been installed in the car and when they were removed, a small piece of the wiring harness went with them.  Then someone eventually discovered that there were no longer any wires going to that funny little box with the glass tubes in it.

Mind you, all the wiring is now direct connect... I pity the poor bugger that's sitting in the car when the courtesy lamp shorts out.  The resulting surge of power will likely fry the remaining cables, ignite the vinyl interior and irradiate the driver in a fashion to rival Chernobyl.

Unfortunately, that poor bugger is now likely to be me and while I don't intend to have any more kids, I would like to avoid irradiating myself if at all possible.  And surviving a car fire is also fairly low on the bucket list...

So, I need to retreat to my Thoughtful Spot and think up a new cunning plan...

First things first

And we're off...

I've decided that the very first thing that needs doing is to get the motor running smoothly.  Right now it's a bit rough and hard to start.

So here's the plan:

• Drain the old petrol out of the tank (gawd knows how long that's been in there).
• Replace the filters and dodgy fuel lines.
• Replace the spark plugs
• Put in a new air cleaner.
• Regap the points.
• Adjust the fuel mixture.

After that, I'm sure she'll purr like a kitten. Let's find out...

• The spark plugs weren't too bad... a little dirty, but they had a huge gap... obviously not adjusted before installation.
• There were two petrol filters, now there's one new one.
• Points were pretty spot on.
• Added air cleaner and...

It won't start!  Not even a single cylinder fire... hmmmm... something's up.  Check voltage to the coil and... nothing!  WTF?

To make a long story short, after 20 minutes of tracing wires, I found that someone had installed an authentic California anti-theft device.  A floor switch hidden up in the corner that turned off power to the coil.... doh!

Turned it on and... HUZZA!  She doesn't purr... she roars.

But while tracing wires I've discovered that the harness is... bastardised!  Various bits and pieces have been added and removed, leaving bare wires and dodgy cables.  And the fuse box is missing.... yikes!!! Hopefully they've just moved it and not removed it. 

 But... I had the time of my life... grease and oil up to my elbows, it's brought back a lot of memories.

First Impressions

Homer said it best...

Mmmmmmmustang...

Let's just say that I am delightfully unsurprised. She's got a few issues and there's some work to be done, but nothing overly surprising.

There's probably more work required to get her on the road than I had expected. I knew there were issues to be resolved but I didn't expect them to impact getting a roadworthy, so I'm gonna have to spend more money up front... sigh.

Here's the list...

• Someone installed an extra large, giant sized radiator... seriously, it's twice the width of the original. This necessitated moving the battery and other things around the engine bay, and it's really, really dodgy. So a new radiator, hoses and battery tray is on order.
• They had to chop holes into the body rails to fit the new radiator, so I'll have to weld some metal back in to make it look good and give it strength.
• The custom exhaust system, while sounding awesome, may not be to code.  I'm checking into that, but may have to replace the exhaust for roadworthy.
• The seats are r@sh*t and will need to be replaced or fixed. I knew that but...
• The horn fell off the steering wheel, so the obvious fix is to wire a giant button into the middle of the dash... oh dear
• I may have to to paint her up front for registering (???)... if that's the case, it will be a temporary job until I can strip her back properly.
• Then the L02 compliance stuff, new seat belts, headlamps and child restraints.

Let the money drain begin...