My 66 Mustang - mild hot rod - project

[Chris289]

Boot lid and MOT time:

OK I got the boot lid back from the painter and was very pleased with it, let the paint dry for a few days, fitted a new seal to the boot lid and then got on with fitting it, I also fitted a new chrome boot catch and the boot opens via an electric solenoid and switch which replicates the original remote boot release from back in 1966. To finish the boot area off I bought an original style boot mat and matching bag to keep a pair of jump leads in and a can of tyre weld since im not running a spare wheel. Then I took it for MOT which is passed without a single thing being said, got my TAX then took it for a drive. I had 2 problems, the 1st was the chrome thermostat housing wouldnt seal properly the pressure of driving it, so I dug out the original one, painted it with some nice shiney silver paint, made a new gasket and swapped them over, no more leaks here. The 2nd problem was the exhaust, were I didnt have a pipe bender, the X pipe and cherry bombs are scraping on the slightest bumps. If i had half an inch more clearence they would be fine, so the car is now at an exhaust specialist have the centre section off the exhaust custom made and I will hopefully have at least 1 whole inch more clearence. I took a load of photos once I had finished the car, these were after a quick wash and mainly for the insurance stuff, so once i've given the car a proper polish and cleaned the engine bay i'll take some more. Overall im very very pleased with the final result, I will of course do more to the car in the future, but for now I can enjoy it for the summer again:



















Mallory Park 2009:

OK I know its been a while since the actual show, but just found all the pictures of my car from the show photos. I didn't take any of these photos as I forgot my camera. These are photos of my car that I found from other peoples photos of the show, so many thanks to the guys and gals who took took these photos. Overall I had a wicked weekend, and driving round the track was a right laugh. Only issue with the car was it was getting very hot on the way to the track, but never actualy overheated. As im typing this I currently have the car in bits again, im replacing the radiator again as its bloked up, changing the chrome thermostat housing for another one with a different design of seal, putting another new thermostat in for safe messure as I think mine has been cooked and replaced the crankshaft balance pulley again for a better one this time as the one I replaced it with originaly has been poorly machined and is rotating off centre. Once all this work is done the car should be good as gold engine wise and then once winter time comes it will go back in the garage and I can start restoring the interior. I'll keep you posted, anyway, heres the pics from my car at mallory.

[Chris289]

OK update time, its currently the 8th of November 2009, but i've had the car back on the road since early October 2009. I've just been very busy driving it to bother updating this. Well new radiator is fitted, new chrome thermostat housing, new thermostat, new harmonic balancer and new auxillery drive belt. The result, perfect! Im so pleased with how the car performed all last month I just love it, I wanted to take the car on a real road trip without having to constantly worry about anything, so I took it for a drive down to Brighton and then part way to Portsmouth. I left home at 11am, went to the petrol station, got a tank of fuel and then got home at 6pm that night. In those 7 hours i only turned the car off 3 times, once was for the first tank of fuel, the second was for an extra ten pounds worth of fuel so we could make it home and the third time was when we stopped off for dinner. The car was perfect, on a long strech of road I had the car flat out for about 5 minutes, the car was amazing, sounded lovely, held the road well, wasn't to unstable, pulled well and stopped well, couldn't have been happier with it or asked for any more. (well mayby a bit more bhp, 5 speed gearbox and 9 inch rear end!) Now I have no leaks, no overheating, no squeeky belts and no funny vibrations or knocks. Mustangs really do rule!

So whats next?

Well winter is here again and its time to pull the car off the road again for more improvements. The plan this time is to fix the little bugs I currently have, restore most of the inside of the car, add some form of heating and idealy replace all the suspension bushes. But the interior, heating and little bugs are my main concern.

As for the car itself, i've finaly decided where I want to go with it in terms of what im doing with it. Im not going all out muscle or drag or anything. The best way to explain what im doing is the late 1950's custom/hot rod but not too excessive, im going to be keeping the outside as it more or less, a few details will change but im keeping that quiet for now, the engine bay will be getting smoothed off in a few places just to make things a bit tider and the interior will have some nice hot rod touches to it, but nothing to excessive. If later on in life I do decide to throw more money at the the car, then I will be replacing the engine, drivetrain and suspension for alot more modern stuff, but for the time being, this old girl still has loads of life in the mechanical side of it. I wont go into to much details of what im doing with the inside of the car, because alot of my ideas on paper might cause a bit of a stir, but I know in my mind they will work, and when people see the pictures of it once completed then they car see my vision.

So first up, bug fixing, I fitted Ford Racing classic style gauges in the car (first part of the hot rodding process) and they look awsome, only problems are the speedo is reading well too high and so is the fuel gauge. First job, fix the fuel gauge, I achieved this by fitting a 36ohm resister in the sender wire inside the trunk comparment. Job done. (obviously there was alot more working out and mathes involved here but I wont go into that) Next job will be to sort the speedo out and also fit the trunk lid springs that i've had sitting under my bed since June 2009. I had these powder coated along with the trunk lid hinges but just never got round to fitting them, but both of these jobs can wait till next weekend. I also made a start of flushing off the engine bay, this wont ever get done properly until the engine is out, but for now im going to do the welding bits before I put all the interior in. First job was the hole were the original heater blower fan sticks through, I cut out a large square out the bulkhead, made up a piece of flat steel to fit in the hole, welded it in and then ground the welds flat. Next I removed the original screen wash bag bracket. I have yet to get rid of the holes for the coolant pipes that feed the heater but thats the next job on the list to do. Another thing I have started is repainting the ash tray. I have a little supprise that im doing with the dash area of the car which I think will look great but i'll let the pictures speak for them self once its done, but so far I have bare metaled the entire ashtray inside and out, welded up a hole that had been cut in the back off it, sprayed the inside of it with black hammerite and sprayed the outside in primer. Hopefully next weekend i'll get the colour on it if I get a chance.

No pictures of anything yet as not one of the things i've actualy started are finished, but as soon as something does get complete i'll post up pics and continue to update this thread as allways. All in all, I do have quite a bit of work ahead of me, and really want it finished by next may at the latest so that I can actualy enjoy the car all next summer. Thanks for reading and check back soon.

April 2010 - Updates!

OK after a nasty cold winter i didnt really feel like touching the car at all in the cold weather so just left it sat untouched in the garage from november till end of march, unfortunatly the garage roof decided to start leaking so the car got in a right state, i got ****ed off with it all and just let it sit there. Got my new roof a couple of weeks ago, got the car out and spent a day cleaning it, looks perfect again now and im smiling again. So to start where I left off, I finished welding up the engine bay in march and also changed the speedo drive gear for a 20 tooth item as aposed to the 16 tooth one that was in there, speedo seems to be reading accuratly now so thats all good. Had a few weeks away from the car again because the weather got cold but mid april I took a week of work to crack on with the interior. But first here is some pics of the new harmonic balancer and the welding I done in the engine bay, the paint here is just tempery, one day I will get the engine out and strip the bay completly and paint it all properly.......one day.

This is the new balancer, its a Powerforce plus 28.4 ounce harmonic balancer, at the same time I fitted another new radiator, same one as I was previously running, its a scott drake item, highly recomend this, bolts straight in and cools the car lovely, also fitted a flow kooler 180 degree high flow thermostat which is also doing a great job:


Here is the welding i did in the engine bay, decided im not going to run any heating, i dont use the car at all on cold days, its a summer toy so thought id just get rid of the holes:








OK with that out the way was time to rip the inside to bits and start sorting that out. Allways wanted a dark red interior in the car so having to change everything from black to red was going to be time consuming, but also got a few little pieces that will be getting a custom touch to it. First job was to strip the dash down, get it rubbed down and then painted. The main dash and steering column are getting painted the correct 66 dark red but i've added flame red metal flakes to it and finished it with a high gloss laquer, the rest of the painted parts inside the car like the A pillers, will be getting painted just the standard 66 dark red with a satin laquer same as the factory finished. Here are the pics of the dash, your really cant see the colour all that well, but in real life its amazing and needs to be seen to be appreciated, im very very pleased with it.

Dash before:




All stripped appart and rubbed down:







And here it is in colour, still needs a flat a polish, well doesnt really need it, but still going to get one to make it shine even more:









Here is the ashtray, I know I mentioned this ages ago, but never actualy got round to finishing it, all done now:

Before:

[Chris289]

After:





Well my old i-Pod was full so I needed a new one, saw this 8gb new style nano and couldnt resist, matches the dash lol:


Next up was to make a start on painting all the removable bits of metal trim, first one was the top dash vent:

Before:


All rubbed down ready to paint:



Now painted in the correct 66 dark red colour, spent along long time getting the correct paint code for this, very happy with the finish:



Next was the metal trim that goes accross the bottom of the windscreen and holds the back of the dash pad down:




Rubbed down:



Painted:



Next was the small metal tags that go on the top of the A pillers that hold he headliner in place:

Before:


Rubbed down:


After:


Well thats what I managed to get done in 4 days, today im just doing nothing for once. Next job is to strip the steering column tube appart and get it painted, then I can move onto getting the glass out the car, painting the A pillers and changing the headliner. Will post updates as soon as they happen, thanks for reading.

End of april 2010 to start of may 2010:

OK bit of an update, bin quite busy, things probably moving a little slower than i'd like but everything at this stage is about prep and paint so cant be rushed. First job was to strip the steering column down and make a start on getting that painted the same colour as the dash, so far i've only painted the main column tube:










Next job was to remove the front windscreen. Got that out quickly enough but someone had made a right mess when they fitted it and there was sealer everywhere. Also when the car was painted in the USA they never botherd to remove the stainless mouldings or glass to paint the car so i was left with a silver window frame coverd in surface rust and now areas of bare metal after scraping away the old sealer. I decided to rub down the whole area and paint it with hammerite brush on satin black, this will stop any future rust problems and has left a nice flat surface for the new screen rubber to sit on. Might have to touch up some of the black with the correct orange paint once the stainless mouldings are back on but we will see. In general I was pleased to find a nice solid windscreen frame without any rust issues:

[Chris289]

Next job with the front glass out was to repaint the inside of the A pillers. Gave them a rub down and painted them the correct 1966 dark red in the correct satin finish:








Next up was time to remove the rear windscreen, again same situation as the front one here but still a nice solid frame. I have only put one coat of paint on so far but will take some pics of the finished item once its painted. Thats all for now:





Update 11th May 2010:

Rear window frame all finished and ready to go:




Next job was to change the headliner, so out with the rest of the interior, removed the seals on the sides of the roof pillers and the stainless mouldings, will polish these before they go back on and replace the rubber. Removed all the old roof insulation. I wanted to fit a dome lamp same as the 67 onwards cars have so bought the kit offerd by scott drake. The kit was ok but its made of quite thin plastic, I personaly think the base should be made of metal because once its bolted up it bends a little bit but overall the fit is ok. I ran a power supply along the roof support and down the C piller behind all the insualtion, havent got it connected up yet but that can be done another day, as for the earth i just earthed it on one of the mounting screws for the actualy dome lamp. So with the wiring ran for the lamp, I installed new insulation on the roof panel and the C pillers. Now the headliner is ready to go in, I got new headliner bows, new bow retainers and a new dark red headliner. Didnt exactly enjoy doing this job, im no upholsterer but i had my dad helping me the whole time and we managed to get it looking pretty much spot on, still need to get it steamed to get rid of the creases in it but pretty confident it will come out ok, after the headliner was in I installed the A piller trim pieces and then fitted the new dark red vinly windlace to finish it off. Also fitted the new rear view mirror holder but may have to remove this when I refit the front windscreen so wont actualy fit the rear view mirror just yet:

[Chris289]

The next job to be done is get the glass back in but before that I thought i would fit the dome lamp and sun visor end brackets as these wont affect the glass fitting, will hopefully be getting the glass back in this weekend then can start re-assembling the dashboard:







Wana say a big thank you to my Dad for doing the headliner with me, was a long job and alot of messing about that tested my patence, couldnt have got it done without him, thanks Dad!

Update mid May 2010:

OK next job was to get the front windscreen back in so I could start re-assembling the interior. I got a new rubber seal, the correct windscreen sealer, new stainless mouldings, new moulding trim clips and some glass primer. Fitting was fairly simple but hard work. Big thank you to my good friend Ben who was a massive help and assisted with the fitting. No more leaking windscreen now. Still gota fit the front wipers but that can wait:





OK well after the front screen was fitted it was getting late so we decided to leave the rear screen for another day, but with the front in I could crack on with assembling the dash back together, but before I could do that I had to change a couple of bits on the wiring. Needed to attend to 3 wires, first one was I had to run the power supply for the new dome lamp from behind the dash to the back of the car so I found the correct wire and ran a wire from there down into the drivers footwell for now, next since it looks like the car will be staying an automatic for a while and that when I originaly re-wired the inside last year I never ran any wiring to the shifter lighting so I ran a switched live from behind the dash down to under the dash so I can connect it to the shifter later on. The last wire was for the rev counter, im going to change the rev counter I had last year for a new one, little supprise here but it should have a permanent live instead of a switched live otherwise when you shut the car off the rev counter needle just stays at whatever RPM the engine was shut off at, so I changed the live feed supply for a different one. All the wiring loom was then re-tapped up and sealed up again in a proffessional way, now I can re-assemble the dash.

EVERY thing is new except the custom instrument cluster assembly which was new 2009 and done less than 1500 miles and the radio unit which was new in 2008 and done less than 2500 miles, so these items were given a nice clean up before being re-installed. Two other items which were not new where the ignition barrel and the seat belt warning light, main 2 reasons for not replacing these were, ignition barrel, is the original and I have the original keys for the car, I want to keep using them for nostalgia reasons, so I cleaned the barrell up and polished the face of it with autosol and the seat belt warning light, this was a rare factory option, the originals have a hole drilled in the dash, the repro ones are just stuck on to the dash with double sided tape, mine is an original unit so I gave it a really good polish with autosol and it came out like new. So far I have fitted the following parts, again all of which are new, high quality parts that all fitted very well and would be hard to spot from the originals, Ford tooling dash pad, sun visors, deluxe interior mirror with day/night switch, heater control bezel and switches, switch bezels. Also fitted the instrument cluster, radio and the ashtray assembly. Also should mention I purchased a master interior fitting kit, so every single screw, nut, bolt and clip are all brand new, and the correct type. Every part is bolted in properly with no fixing being left off. Also fitted new glove box door and ashtray door rubber bumpers. I still have yet to finish fitting the dash back up but its a big start in getting the car re-assmbled and is looking very nice if you ask me:














Got all this work done and then it started to bucket it down with rain, so put the car away and went down to work to get the rest of the interior bits and pieces I had laying about re-painted. First up was the rest of the steering column tube assembly, all the parts were bare metaled, I removed the column top bearing because it was nackerd, I have a brand new NOS one to fit after its painted. Then the 3 ally parts where etch primerd then all 5 parts were painted the same colour as the dash with the metal flake in. The non standard part out of the 5 is part of my new steering wheel installion kit, all will make sence when I get the steering wheel on and you can see what I mean then:





Last job I decided to do whilst I was there was sort out the steering column to firewall seal bracket thing, mine was all rusty and bent so I bare metaled it and straightend it out before paint, also bare metaled the rusty windlace holders that bolt on at the lower part of the A pillers, these 3 parts were painted satin black as they were when they left the factory. Forgot to take a picture of them painted though before I went home so will do that in the week. Thats all for now, check back next week:




Saturday 22nd of May:

First up, here is a pic of the painted steering column to firewall seal holder and windlace to dash brackets:



Now then, its been quite a busy week, been doing small jobs to the car all week after work and had a busy day today, went down the see Phil King at C.A.R.S today to drop of my rear seat, phil is going to re-upholster the seat for me as I havent done something like that before and you cant buy the foam inside the seat new. Im not having the front seats done yet as I need a few more parts for those, but when the time comes may try giving them a go myself. After I got home from phil's I decided to get all the steering back in the car. Im using a mooneyes metal flake red 15 inch wheel, a grant installation kit, a shelby horn button and as for the indicator stalk, thats a new stalk which I had machined down on a lathe to accept a mooneyes teardrop knob. Overall im very very pleased with it, intallation was perfect, didnt mark or scrach a single thing. Also fitted a new top column bearing and cleaned the orignal indicator stalk up and re-greased it all. Fitted all new rubber seals on the column too:

[Chris289]

The underdash lighing on my car has allways worked but the bulb holder bits were all rusty and dirty, I got some new ones, instead of running standard bulbs in these I picked up some very high power wide angle red LEDs of the bay. These all went together quite easy and I must say when the interior is all back in, the red light will show of the carpet quite nicely:



Another job I was never completly happy with was the headliner, the lower corners in the parcel shelf area should be held down by a piece of card either side and some metal tabs which just fold over, when I removed the headliner these were all show, the metal tabs snapped off and the card was all broken. Not being completly happy with the headliner not being held down tight under the parcel shelf I had the idea of cutting up some small strips of wood and using self tapping screws to hold the wood to the parcel shelf sheet steel. Once the shelf is back in none of this can be seen. I do NOT see this as a bodge job, I see this as a better idea than the crappy factory design because now I can remove mine and re-install them as many times as I want unlike the factory ones which break off very easily. Big thank you for my dad to making these up for me and fitting them whilst I was installing the steering column, thanks Dad!




Well thats pretty much all I got done today, going to get back down there tomorrow and get some more done, hopefully get all the glovebox installed.......hopefully

Sunday 23rd of May:

Well its been the hottest day of the year so far and I spent it laying upside in the car tidying up the wiring under the dash, great fun. First job I was planning to do was get all the glove box fitted back up, i've got a new door which is a ford licenced product and looks exceptional quality, also got a new catch and latch which seem to work fine too. First up I fitted the glove box light back in, then the actual glove box it self, then fitted the catch to the car and the latch to the door then realised I hadnt painted the old hinge, so left the door of and put the hinge to one side, I will repaint this and get it looking better than new, so for now here is a pic of the new door and catch and latch:



So next up I thought i'd fit the new handbrake handle, my original wasn't broken but the white paint had come off. A new one was around 7 dollers so thought I would chance it, the new one looked exact to the old one except the hole for the pin was in the wrong side, no big deal, just drill straight through the hole in it with a same size drill bit and then you have the hole in the correct side. The bit that was a big deal was getting the old handle off, lets just say what I thought was going to be a 5 minute job turned out to take about an hour and a half, but its done now and works and thats what matters:




OK last job off today was to fit the new rally pac I got for the car and connect up the wiring for that and the steering column. Last year I was running a rev counter on the side of the steering column, I thought this looked great but allways wanted a proper rally pac on the car, I just think there cool, so got a nice new scott drake item in 66 red. I must say im really impressed with this item, its one of those things that just looks and feels like its been made well. Fitting was really simple, I thought it would be a pain but was suprisingly easy. I recently changed the live supply for my rev counter from switched to permanent but decided this wasn't the greatest idea, so got back under the dash, stripped my loom appart again, changed the live feed back from permanent to switched, and put the thing back together again. Then connected everything up and hid all the wiring back away under the dash. Had the battery on charge today whilst I was working on it, fired the car up to make sure everything works, yup, everything works perfect, lights, gauges, horn etc etc. So thats a bit more done today, the next big job to be done is to get the rear screen back in, but thats all for now:







31st of May 2010:

OK been a busy weekend, first job was to get the glove box back in, as I previously said I wasn't happy fitting the hinge back in in the state it was in so gave it a rub down and painted it in satin black as it was the day it was made, then bolted it to the glove box door and fitted the hole thing in the car, spent some time adjusted the hinge to get the door sitting correct and opening correct and now im happy with it:






I still have to fit the trim that goes on top of the dash pad against the lower part of the windscreen seal but that can wait for now but appart from that the dash is all done.

Next job was to fit the rear screen back in, this was a fun job and made a right mess, sealer everywere as usual, but after a quick clean up and fitting the new stainless trims everything looked great:

[Chris289]

Next job is to fit all the sound deadning and the carpet, so I stripped the rest of the interior out, front seats, shifter assembly, sill mouldings, gave the floor a quick clean up and a fresh coat of paint, I originaly bare metaled the floor 2 years ago when I bought the car and painted it then, its lasted well, but having no carpet in the car the whole time has left it scratched and chipped, so I thought a nice fresh coat for the carpet to go over will keep my lovely solid floors nice for a few more years to come. In the last pic you can see the metal rear bulkhead shield I fitted last year when the car was in bits as opossed to the original cardboard design, also stuck some sound deadner on it to keep noise from the boot area out the cabin:





Last job for this weekend was to sort out the problem with my alternator belt. The problem is im using a universal type chrome 100amp single wire alternator and the standard style brackets holding it in place, this is ok but I could never get the correct adjustment on the belt, basicly the standard set up lower bracket wasnt long enough for me to take up the adjusment in the belt and when the fan used to come on the belt would squeek. I did originaly have a different problem with the crank pulley causing my belt to slip but I sorted that last year. So to solve this problem I got a lovely billet chromed bracket with a rose jointed adjustor, problem is the top bracket didn't fit my set up because im running ford racing underdrive pulleys and it would hit the water pump pulley. So back to the drawing board, looked at the original brackets and though I would just extend my lower bracket, so I cut a bit of the end, found a piece of steel the same size, welded it on, shapped the end of it, drilled a hold in it and then painted the new piece in silver with some laquer over it, if this modified bracket works out i'll get it chrome plated next winter, if not i'll have to sort out something else:






Well thats all for this weekend. Next weekend is going to be very busy because its the last weekend i'll get to work on the car pretty much so more or less I need to try and get it all done then, or at least most of it.

UPDATE: 10th July 2010.

OK been very very busy with work and other things lately but managed to get more done on the car. Drivers side of the car is pretty much finish, just need to put the drivers seat back in, passenger side still needs the 1/4 panel trim doing and the carpet trimming, then its just the parcel shelf and rear seat to go in. Since the last update I fitted the modified alternator bracket and a slightly longer belt, problem fixed, no more belt slip, happy at last. I'll get this bracket re-chrommed over next winter. Back onto the inside, I rebuilt the shifter whilst it was out, stripped it down, gave all the parts a good clean, fitted new bushes and a new bright white LED for the small light which tells you what gear your in, put it back together and fitted it in the car with a new seal on the base of the thing. Next I fitted the new seals that go round the drip rail area on the roof, this should keep some of the water out from the sides of the car, also re-adjusted the 1/4 windows so they sit correct in the seal and dont go down to far and sit right against the door windows. Fitted new watershields to the rear. Then fitted new sound deadner to the floor. Then the new carpet went in, followed by the new lap belts, with the correct bolts that allow the belts to pivot, unlike the bolts that come in kit. Next up was the freshly trimmed driver's 1/4 panel with new window winder handle and protector. Once that was done I fitted some new windlace to that trim and the chrome cap that goes on top of it. Next job was to paint the throttle linkage and fit the new gas pedal and rubber grommet that goes in the bulkhead to stop the water getting in. Finished trimming the carpet on the drivers side and fitted the OLD sill moulding, new ones will come in the future but not just yet. Got a new headlamp main beam switch and rubber cap for the top of it, but decided to rebuilt my original one because the new one was crap, so cleaned my original one and got it like new and fitted the new rubber cap to it. Then fitted my new original style rubber floor mats in the correct maroon colour to match the rest of the interior. Thats all on the inside for now, drivers side is finished minus the door and kick panel, these wont be getting done till next winter, dont have the time or money now, and the front seats wont be getting re-trimmed just yet either because i've ran out of money for some of the parts. On saturday im putting the drivers seat back in, taking the car to work to MOT it, then changing my leaf spring bushes, loads of parts on the transmission and new strut rod bushes, then i'll crack on with getting the rest of the interior finished, here are the pics for now. Quick note, the one showing the 1/4 trim in the car shows some marks on the panel where I was pushing it in place, these marks have come out now, the material breathes in the head and streches back into place, looks great now.

[Chris289]

Rear Seat:

Becuase all the rear part of the interior was going to be red and fresh vinly I didn't want to put the old manky rear seat back in to rub against the fresh interior so decided to get this re-trimmed now rather than later. Im not doing the front seats just yet becuase I can't afford it but I have managed to just strech my budget into buying a full seat upholstry kit including both front seats and a new burlap for the complete rear seat. I allways wanted a pony interior which is pretty much what i've done so the obvious choice was to go for the pony seat covers. I wanted this to look perfect so decided it was best if I gave the rear seat to Phik K at C.A.R.S to re-do the seat for me. Phil has stripped both parts of the seats completly down, straighted the frames, re-painted them, repaired the foam where needed, fitted the new burlap and then the fresh upholstry. Phil sent me these pictures tonight of the finished article and to say im pleased would be an understatement. Im very happy with how it looks now and cant wait to get it in the car. I will be collecting the seat next saturday the day before the show. Would like to say a big thank you to Phil for doing such a wonderfull job on the seat and having seen some of the other work he has done I can really recomend him. Heres the pics of the rear seat:










Saturday 12th June:

Early start today, was up at 7am fitting the drivers seat to take the car into work to put an MOT on it and use the ramp to do some bits to the underside, so no interior work today. First job was to do the MOT, thats out the way for another year:




Next up was sorting out the issues with the rear suspension, when you accelerate hard the rear end of the car was twisting like mad, and at high speed when you let off the rear was twisting back the other way, really wasnt happy with this and I knew the leaf spring bushes were in a bad way so bought a urathene kit from NPD. I think this kit was great value for money and a doddle to fit. Took me about an hour to ge the springs off, old bushes out, new bushes greased up and everything back on. The old bushes all looked original and I thought the front eye bolts were going to be siezed in the bushes but they came straight out, again another reason why im pleased with my car, i've still not had a single siezed up bolt, everything has come appart easy on it. Havent driven the car yet but hoping it should make a difference, next on the shopping list is some new rear shocks:






OK moving forward now, the output seal on the transmission was leaking quite bad as was the sump, kick down lever seal and dipstick tube seal so got new ones of these along with a new filter for the box and some fresh oil. I think the modulator it self is also leaking but I didnt get a new one of these yet as NPD had sold out and need to source one from elsewere. Also im running total control products engine mounts now which are rather solid so I opted to get a proathene gearbox mount to. Whilst doing this little lot I cleaned the gearbox up, took the crossmember and some of the handbrake assembly off, degreassed it all and cleaned it all up and added a small ammount of grease to the moving parts. Also greased up the UJ's on the propshaft, this will hopefully stop the major leaking on the gearbox until I can get a new modulator. Note, some of the seals in the box were not for my car, only the filter kit, prop seal and dipstick tube seal were for mine. Also in pic 2 of the engine mounts you can see where I moved the body earth to, I didnt want it up on the bulkhead in site so I cut out a small section of the chassis, welded a bolt to the back of it, welded the section back in, ground down the welds and painted that area, now my body earth is out of site and the bay is a bit tidier. Whilst it was on the ramp I got another photo of my new harmonic damper:








Last job for today was to change the strut rod bushes, when you press the brake in the car before there was a knock from the front suspension and something just didnt feel right, I thought before I drive the car again i'll sort this out. I was shocked to see how bad the original ones were, they were 75% split in half, really wish I had changed this sooner and im glad they had held out instead of breaking completly. I used just standard rubber here as poly bushes here are a no no and can cause the strut rod to snap due to lack of movement. Thought id get a quick photo of my front disc set up too whilst I was here:







Well thats all for today, still havent driven the car yet, going to go and fill the box up with oil tomorrow and make sure it doesnt leak and then its a 2 minute drive back home from the workshop, then hopefully i'll get the passenger rear 1/4 panel trimmed up ready to go in the car. Also greased all the grease nipples on the front of the car whilst I was under there. Car will hopefully drive a bit nicer now.

Sunday 13th June:

OK didnt really achieve much today. But still made progress. Trimed the passenger side quater panel trim to match the drivers side and left it to one side for the glue to go off, will fit it tomorrow night. Then filled the gearbox up with oil, ran the car up, checked the level, about 4 or 5mm just over the maximum line, shouldn't cause any harm and will most likely leak out of somewere in the future, but at the minute the gearbox is the dryest i've ever seen it. Took the car for a quick drive and then went home. Seems to feel a bit firmer on the rear now, but I think the tracking is out now i've got some good strut rod bushes in so will need to get this done at some point. Can here some wierd noise from the back of the car to but think its now a combination of pretty much solid mounts on the engine, gearbox and rear axle and its just drivetrain noise being transmitted through the car. Also while I was on the ramp I tightend up the passenger front wheel bearing which had come a little loose. Last job of the day was to put my tax disc holder back together. I had one of those old richbrock anodised ones laying about and decided to paint it same colour as the interior, so pulled it appart, rubbed it down, etch primerd it and then painted it the correct 66 dark red. Put it all back together today with new tax disc, just need to put it in the car now but i'll do that another day, I think it looks ok:

[Chris289]

Saturday 19th June:

OK bin a busy week getting the car ready for the show tomorrow but its done. First job was to fit the passenger side quater panel interior trim and then finish triming the carpet and fit the passenger seat so got that out the way. Then came the parcel shelf, first up fitted the sound deadner to the back of it and then installed it in the car followed by the rear speakers. Next was a job I had been putting of for a while but it had to be done, the trim at the bottom of the windscreen that sits on top of the dash pad. Was a fidly job but got there in the end. Then stuck the tax disc holder in. The tyre pressure sticker that goes in the glove box was missing so got a new one and stuck that in. Then I took the car to work to adjust the tracking because it didnt feel right after fitting the new strut rod bushes so got that all sorted. Then it came to today (saturday) which ment driving the car over to Phil King's workshop to collect my rear seat and fit that. The seat has come out lovely and im very pleased with it, can't thank Phil enough for getting it done in time when he was allready a very busy man. After the drive home the next job to be done was to change the bonnet hinges for another pair I got hold of. These are original hinges but have been repainted, they also dont have any play in them like mine do. We decided to remove the bonnet completle, do some tidy up jobs in the engine bay with the hinges of and polish all the chrome on the engine and then re-fit and re-align the bonnet properly. Next job was to fit the inside of the boot area back together, there is a sound deadning mat that sits on top of the fuel tank, I also got a new boot mat and a tote bag with some break down and a couple of spare bits inside it that matches the boot mat, also fitted the sticker on the inside of the boot lid. Last job of the day was to give the car a proper wash all ready for the show tomorrow at Hylands House:





















Thats all im going to be doing to the car until winter 2010, the front seats need re-trimming, the doors need re-building and re-trimming, the front kick panels need the speakers fitting in them and painting and the chrome sill panel mouldings need replacing, but one, i've ran out of money and two, i've allready missed alot of the summer shows so plan on using the car as much as possible between now and november when it starts to get cold again. Overall im very pleased with the car, it drives ALOT nicer now, goes in a straight line, the brakes are lovely, all the wobble from the rear end has gone away, the steering feels firm, the engine pulls well, the interior is lovely like it should be and best of all the front and rear windows dont leak a single drop of water into the car.

Would like to thank my good friend Ben for helping me fit the glass back in and helping to change the bonnet hinges, Phil King for doing a lovely job on the rear seat, my Mum for putting up with the smell of glue and paint in the house and car parts all over the place and most of all my Dad for helping me out alot with the car and keeping me calm when I lost my patence with it and wanted to walk away, without these people it wouldn't have got done as nice or as quick as it has, oh and all the people who have read this and kept me inspired to finish the car, many thanks people.

Sunday 20th June:

Took the car down to Hylands House in chelmsford today to the classic car show there. Was an excellent day, weather managed to hold out, had a nice cruise there with some other members of the mustang club. Took lots of photos but havent had a chance to put them all online, but here is one I took of my car when I got there. Feels good to be cruising about again:



Saturday 10th July:

Well not much to report really, been using the car quite alot and really enjoying it, all the hard work is certainly worth it in the end. Little update though, have never been happy with how far the rear wheels sat in the arches, the fronts are fine as they are but the rear didn't look right. I wanted a set of 70 Mach 1 wheels to fit and luckly Mach 1 Dude (Ian) had 2 that he sold me. So today id thought id get of my ass and set about seeing if they fit, I opened the box that Ian sent them in and was quite shocked how much difference 2 inches was on the new wheels, original wheels on my car are 14X5, these ones are 14X7 and certainly look it. First pic is a pic of the new wheel against the old spare wheel from the car, you can see how much wider it is lol. Second pic, I took the tyre of the rim, now you can see how much wider it is in comparison to the rim. 3rd pic was to show of how much more dish you get on the Mach wheel. 4th pic I tried the rim on the car just to see what clearance I had, have loads on the back, will be a little tight on the arch though. And the 5th pic, I wanted to see what sort of clearence I would have with a tyre on, so thought id try the tyre of the spare wheel onto the new rim. This tyre is a 205/70R14 and my current white letter tyres are 205/60R14. With the tyre on clearence is tight on the arch on the o/s/r, have more room on the n/s/r as all these cars have an offset axle, but the main thing is I still have clearence and if I use my original white letter tyres then I will have even more, I sat the 70 profile and 60 profile next to eachother and the 70 profile is alot taller than the 60. I am concidering getting a 215/60R14 tyre to use on the rear but a 60 profile on a 215 is taller than a 60 profile on a 205 and being wider than a 205 the 215 may hit the arch on the o/s, so for now I could well end using my original 205/60R14 tyres that im currently using.

Annnnyywaaay lol knowing that it will work I took the new wheel back off and stuck the old one back on. Next job is to rub the rims down and clean them up and paint them to match my current ones. Will post an update when its done, pics for now:

[Chris289]

Thats it for now guys, that is up to date, feel free to comment, i'll post more updates when that happen, many thanks,
chris.