Another good weekend of progress!

It's been an absolutely beautiful weekend here in central Florida. As an old friend of mine used to say: "This is why we live here!"
The annual Turkey Run was another beneficiary of the beautiful weather. Daniel and I visited on Friday, and although the day started out chilly, it was blue skies and upper 60s all day--perfect for trolling the aisles looking for obscure parts for our Mustang. We had a list, which was mercifully short, and I think we got everything on the list and only strayed off topic once. We came across a complete set of hubcaps correct for our model year, and the guy was willing to take $50 for them. We now have, I think, two and a half sets of hubcaps for four wheels!
One of the highlights of the weekend for me was getting to spend time with an old Chevy enthusiast/good friend from Atlanta. When I met Gary we were both members of the Atlanta Classic Chevy Club, and he was immensely helpful with the rebuilding of my 1957 BelAir. We became fast friends and have stayed in touch over the years. Gary has moved on to restoring early 70s Chevelles, and this year he brought his crowning achievement to the show, a frame off 1970 convertible SS454. He had the car up for sale and it was a regular feeding frenzy all weekend as people waved cash and offers in front of him. It was exciting to see such interest, and I was really happy that my friend was reaping the benefits of his hard work and attention to detail. By midday Friday he had half a dozen firm offers, and ended up selling the car for a nice profit.

One more hole closed up!

Daniel and I got a little wrench time in this afternoon, and focused on some tedious details that had been hanging over my head. We got our trunk finished, and I must say it looks better than I had hoped.We're also working on reinstalling the rear side glass, with the goal of closing the car up so we can begin painting and sanding.

Daniel exploring our little motor

At the end of the day, we rolled the six banger our from the corner of the shop and began looking it over. We took the valve cover off and I was pleased to note that there wasn't much sludge or debris in the top of the cylinder head. We'll pull the plugs out tomorrow and if they're not rusted, We may just put a new set in and see if she cranks over. We'll definitely replace the water pump, fuel pump and alternator, and hopefully that's all we'll have to do. However, given some of the roadblocks we've encountered, that's a slim possibility at best!

Taking the little pony out for a walk

Daniel tries out the ride--sitting on the floorpan!

It's a beautiful Thanksgiving day here in central Florida. Since we had some time this morning before the feeding frenzy, Daniel and I decided to take the little car out into the sunshine on her own four wheels for the first time in 19 months.
When we installed the trunk lid last week, it became apparent that the taillight panel, which had taken a beating in the past, was in sore need of alignment. The whole panel curved in at the middle, which makes the trunk seal miss the trunk lip across the back, and causes the rear valence to not fit tightly against the body. Some sort of adjustment was needed.

The front of my dubious stretching system...

I came up with the idea of "stretching" the car between two stationary objects (other vehicles), putting just enough pressure on the taillight panel to facilitate a good beating to try and pull it out. As you can see by the photos, my methodology leaves quite a bit to be desired, but it did seem to work. Once we cranked the come-along just enough to get everything tight, I commenced to beating with a sledge and a block of wood. It appeared that the plan was actually working, as evidenced by a fairly straight trunk lip against a straight edge. We still couldn't beat the lower part out at all to make the valence fit any tighter, but since the bumper hides that area, I'm not too worried about it.

..and from the rear

Once we disassembled our stretching system, the trunk lip sprung back in a little, but it's still better than it was, and it means a whole lot less bondo to make it smooth. We made a few adjustments on our trunk alignment, and now the trunk closes fairly easy and lines up to an acceptable degree--at least for us. Given the abuse this car has suffered in the past, combined with our limited skills, I think we'll come out OK.
We have made some visible progress this week as well. The front and rear windows are back on the car. I decided that it would be prudent to turn that task over to a professional, so Auto Glass Master, who services the glass on my company vehicles, was called in to make sure the job was done right. Matt and his father were really excited to lend a hand on our project, and the results were better than I had hoped. The installation and workmanship were tight and clean, and we can be assured that our little car will go for many years without leaks or rust around the windows.
Today is also the start of the annual Turkey Rod Run, and Daniel and I are looking forward to walking off our calories tomorrow at the Speedway. Hopefully, these two pilgrims will come home with some bounty of our own. Happy Thanksgiving!

We have boots on the ground!

OK, so not boots, exactly, but the little Mustang is off the dolly and back on her wheels!
It's been a busy couple of weeks, with lots of parts going back on and even some painting. Before we took the plunge and lowered the car to the ground, I wanted to make sure everything we could possibly do under the car was done. It's a whole lot easier to work when you have a couple of feet of space to work in.

Last night on the dolly

First, we reinstalled the emergency brake system, which came together nicely and looks good as well. Next, we completed the installation of the new brake lines. This took longer than I expected, but this is something you don't want to hurry through. Once the lines were all installed, we bled the brakes, and this is where I began to doubt my wisdom of making our own lines. As we pumped new fluid through the old girl's veins, it seemed like every fitting was leaking to some degree. Most were solved by a few more cranks of the wrench, but I had one in the engine bay (the most inaccessible one, of course!) that just wouldn't stop weeping. I finally decided to pull the line out and start over with my flare block. It was a good thing, because the flare had gotten gnarled up in the distribution block and never would've worked right. The repair didn't take too much trouble, and finally things seemed to be nice and tight. We bolted on our restored wheels with new rubber and, after adjusting the rear drums, we seem to have a really good pedal. Moving on!

Back on terra firma!

Last weekend, again in an effort to inspire Daniel, I decided it was time to put on some paint. There are a number of spots that could be painted in advance that would not be accessible on the final round of painting, so I decided to get a can of (relatively) inexpensive acrylic enamel and shoot the underside of the hood and trunk, door jambs, trunk lip and rear corners. These are all areas that will be out of sight, so quality wasn't as much of an issue. My hunch was right about Daniel, though, because the application of a little color has gotten him really excited. I think he can finally see real progress and a glimmer of light at the end of our still-long tunnel. We're going with Ford Wimbledon white, and I have to say it really looks good!
This past Wednesday, after wracking my brain, I couldn't think of any reason not to put the car back on the floor. So, after school, Daniel and I winched up the car (using a very dubious method that The Wise One wouldn't approve of) and carefully pulled the dolly out from underneath. For 19 months it's been high in the air, so after slowly lowering the car to the ground, Daniel couldn't get over how small it seemed!

The fresh paint looks great!

Next on the list was to reinstall the trunk lid, and this
is where the past abuses of the car again came into play. The lid closed fairly well, and our new trunk gasket seemed to line up quite well--except across the rear, where the beat up rear taillight panel showed it's ugly scars. I knew that the car had taken a hit in the rear at some point in the past, so I wasn't too surprised to see a gap of about an inch between the trunk gasket and the rear lip of the trunk. The whole rear panel has a slight bow (which was much more than slight before we beat it out many months ago. After reflecting overnight, I decided that we needed to pull that back panel out some more. My plan doesn't include any more banging or beating, but I'll hold off on describing it until we try my idea.
Yesterday, we finally opened up the box containing our new gas tank. So nice to see shiny new parts! I believe the tank has some sort of galvanizing or some other rust preventative, but I decided to go even further by applying a good coat of aluminum-colored epoxy paint to the bottom. It came out really good and I think it should last

New gas tank ready for install

for many years. We installed the new sending unit and bolted it in, finally filling that vast opening in the bottom of the trunk. One more bite of that elephant!
It's a rainy, dreary day here in central Florida. My hope for today is that I can rally Daniel to finish the trunk area. I want to put a good protective coat of our Rust-Seal black on the inside portion of the gas tank, and then finish the whole area with a good coat of trunk splatter paint (I know, not correct for Ford, but I like the look and it hides a lot of blemishes).
We're coming up on the annual Turkey Run next week, so I'm looking forward to another fun day of hunting for parts with Daniel. I know we need all of the trim for the front and rear windows, as well as the trim panels that go around the grille. I hope that Daniel's enthusiasm stays high, because I need his sharp eyes to spot those obscure little parts.

Why I enjoy this hobby

One of the things I enjoy about working on old cars is getting to meet lots of interesting people along the way. I can honestly say I've never met anyone who was crabby or rude. I've never met anyone who couldn't take the time to talk or brainstorm, or share their experiences with you, either.

New exhaust for the little Mustang. Thanks Len!

Yesterday was a beautiful fall Veterans Day here in central Florida, perfect for a road trip to look at a complete exhaust system for our little '66. It was advertised on Craigslist, and the price was good, so it was worth the three hour round trip drive. Of course, skipping out of work and taking a drive in the country made it all the more enjoyable.
The gentleman I had been corresponding with, Len, is a fan of early-90s Fox body Mustangs. In fact, he's a walking encyclopedia of the special models of that body style! When I arrived at Len's house, he happily took me through the gate and, after presenting me with the object of my quest, regaled me with stories of how he acquired his many Mustangs that were parked around his house. I had a great time talking with him, and walked away with a great deal on a brand new exhaust system. It's people like Len who make this hobby even more enjoyable!

Little by little, piece by piece

Work continues, in spite of the delay between posts here.
Things have again slowed down, however, due to a combination of roadblocks--namely, shoulder surgery for me and a busy marching band schedule for Daniel. Daniel is also suffering again from apathy, brought on by the feeling that "it's like we're putting parts back on, and then someone comes in overnight and takes everything back off." But we're still eating this elephant, one bite at a time!
We've got all of the front suspension together, and it looks really nice! I just hope that the frame trauma that we discovered when sandblasting doesn't hinder getting a good alignment.

New front power disc brakes

We've also go the rear suspension done, after suffering another of those roadblocks. When we took the car apart, I thought I was careful in saving every nut, bolt, spring and clip to be either reattached or replaced when the time came. Unfortunately, if I did, I can't seem to find any box that holds a bunch of missing pieces. For the rear brakes, we started to reassemble them, but could find only a few of the springs and such needed to put the new brake shoes on. After a few frustrating days of no progress while I searched, I gave up and ordered all new parts (which was probably for the best). As of this weekend, we've got all four corners ready for the road again!

New rear brakes too

Out of deference to our "budget", which is quickly falling by the wayside, I decided to make all of our brake lines, instead of purchasing a pre-formed set. This has turned out to be a good decision, because after wrestling in place our pre-formed fuel line (which was on sale and a lot harder to reproduce) I feel like our homemade ones went in better than the pre-formed ones would have. It's also been a good opportunity to teach Daniel how to use a flaring block.
In between these frustrating moments, we've tried to do some little things to keep the project moving forward, as well as give Daniel a sense of progress. We've installed our new windshield washer system and a new wiring harness for the engine bay. I also decided to re-hang the passenger door, rather than try to restore it off the car. I think it will be easier to ensure a good final fit if we have the lines of the car to help as we smooth and patch the outer skin.
We also removed the entire heater system, which has turned out to be very fortuitous. The little

Daniel vs. the fuel line....who's winning?

defroster box on our car was crumbling, so we purchased a reproduction with new ductwork. In trying to take the old box off, we realized that the only way to do so was to remove the entire heater assembly, which is only held on by four nuts and a bolt. I also suspected, correctly as it turned out, that if the engine cowl was in such bad shape, the heater box must be as well. When we opened it, it was full of leaves and debris. There was no way the fan motor would ever be able to turn. In addition, the leaking cowl had allowed water to permeate the heater box, so the bottom half of all the metal components were mostly rusted away. The final insult was the heater core, which revealed a complete rupture down one side once I gave it a good cleaning. I can only imagine what a mess we would've had in our new interior when we started the car up for the first time!
Coincidentally, there had been a complete assembly at a really good price advertised on our local Craigslist for months. Unfortunately, once I finally was able to make contact with the

The heater box....full of surprises inside!

seller, he had sold it the previous day. Again, in the interest of budgetary constraints, I think I can rebuild the components, at least sufficiently to make the system function somewhat properly. If so, then we can continue to look for a replacement down the road.
The biggest swap meet in our area, the annual Daytona Beach Turkey Run, is again coming up in three weeks. This time last year, I had expressed to Daniel the possibility that we might be able to drive his car this year. Alas, committments, surgeries, travel, and a (somewhat) apathetic teenager has killed that dream. However, we're definitely over the hump, and each day sees us coasting down the other side faster and faster to completion.