Gee's 68 Mustang

[Gee]

So I recently sold my XD Fairmont (below)

and bought a 'new' 68 Mustang.

I got it sight unseen off Trade me from Christchurch and thought 'I've watched a lot of Roadkill, but really what could go wrong'.

The car is a factory C-code V8 which is a 2 barrel 289 base model but it has power steering and 3-point seat belts so a bit of an upgrade. I think the vented bonnet and fog lamps are an add on by a previous owner and also the dual exhaust with 66 GT cutouts in the rear valance.

Luckily I made it home to AK with no major issues but being fussy I have made a list of things to sort.

• Shudder at anything over 60MPH
• 'Digital' steering at highway speeds, mint at low speed
• Rust in both A-pillars and possibly C-pillars as well. Not sure how it got a warrant on the first but the second could be a reaction to the lead filler
• Scrape marks in the left rear tyre sidewall. Probably scrubbing before they rolled the guards but again not sure how thing passed a warrant
• no washers. The squirters are missing and the pump has no electrical connection. Again, warrant
• Strong smell of petrol fumes with a full tank. 
• Ripped driver seat
• Drivers seat does not tilt forward
• no trans kickdown
• rear windows don't wind down

Probably some other stuff I've forgotten but a bit to keep me busy. 

 

 

[Gee]

Car nerd stuff, the door plate shows a code of 8R01C139128 but the chassis stamp on the front guard is 8R01C121772. Decoded means:

8 = 1968

R01 = manufactured in San Jose

C = 2V 289

plus S/N of car. Car Jam agrees with the guard stamp but the actual VIN is on a plate on the dash that always gets covered by the dash pad when people restore them. I'll have to see if I can dig it out carefully.

The Bottom numbering means:

65A = Coupe with standard interior and bucket seats

Q = Brittany Blue (not the current colour)

088 = Not sure

71 = Los Angeles

2 = 2.79 Diff

Will have to take this with a grain of salt for now as the plate may have been changed with the door at some point.

[Gee]

To add to my list:

• Shudder at anything over 60MPH
• 'Digital' steering at highway speeds, mint at low speed
• Rust in both A-pillars and possibly C-pillars as well. Not sure how it got a warrant on the first but the second could be a reaction to the lead filler
• Scrape marks in the left rear tyre sidewall. Probably scrubbing before they rolled the guards but again not sure how thing passed a warrant
• no washers. The squirters are missing and the pump has no electrical connection. Again, warrant
• Strong smell of petrol fumes with a full tank. 
• Ripped driver seat
• Drivers seat does not tilt forward
• no trans kickdown
• rear windows don't wind down
• No choke - Don't care, it's wired open. Will be irrelevant with a later mod.
• Dash lights don't seem to work
• Oil and temp gauges may work but not accurate, not sure about oil as the needle is straight down and never moves.
• Random extra wire on starter solenoid that apparently shorts the car out and kills it. I think this is a ballast bypass wire and is not needed due to having a pertronix 

[Gee]

Pics of the A-pillar rust. I chatted to Mosele P&P and they said they'd have to paint the whole rear of the car which would also deal with the C-Pillar issue. I didn't bother taking a photo of that as it is really hard to see. It would need to be paint matched though as it is not a Ford colour, more fun.

[Gee]

Here's some random pictures of the front seat belt cause someone asked how they worked.

[Gee]

Productive morning. Chucked the muzzy on a mate's hoist to look underneath and take a wheel off for a look. Found quite a lot.

First up was looking a causes of vibration over 60mph. Better check the drive shaft.

Quite a lot of output shaft showing and a bit of play but this is at full droop so... ok maybe?

 

unis seem ok, bit of gunk on the diff housing. What up here...

Shit photo but at one point the drive shaft has played panel beater. No way this could happen normally (I don't think) as the pinion snub should stop this but I think the car was a lot lower based on the sidewall damage on the right rear tyre and maybe the uni shat the bed and made a mess. Otherwise it all looks ok. It seems to have a new driveshaft. I forgot to take a photo but it still has writing on it from the place they got it.

[Gee]

Next check was the wheels

shit photo and hard to measure the pilot hole. 

It is not a nice machined face in these as they are never meant to be hub centric. Not sure if I can even use a hub centric ring here. but measured the hub pilot anyway

 

 

Will see what I can get but not sure if anything will improve. 

[Gee]

Had a look for leaks and the engine is surprisingly clean. It may have been cleaned up prior to being sold to me but I've done over 1000km now and the donk is bone dry. Power steering ram, no so much.

Again I didn't take a photo but the you can almost see the boot on the ram. There was a bit of new fluid there and these hoses are buggered. Warrant fail again? Old mate Ted says sometimes they get a mobile warrant guy who checks most things but doesn't use a hoist so wouldn't spot this. It works and not a bad leak but will need to be added to the list.

Also found a bit of a leak on the trans

Oh, and I do have a kickdown. I'm used to 'newer' Fords that have a kickdown rod. This comes of the throttle shaft on the firewall not the carb. But loose maybe? Not sure how effective the spring is either. Good enough bro?

Also noticed the cooler lines are a bit close to the header

Pretty normal but maybe I'll wrap them somehow when I can be bothered. The hose at the front was also smashed between the sway bar and the lower radiator hose on the hoist (again no photo). Probably ok under load but could be routed better so I cut about 4" out and now it is much clearer.

Ted also noted the trans mount is a bit skew, not sure if this is normal..

seems fine apart from being not straight. Maybe we are just a bit OCD.

[Gee]

So, list now:

• Shudder at anything over 60MPH
• 'Digital' steering at highway speeds, mint at low speed
• Rust in both A-pillars and possibly C-pillars as well. Not sure how it got a warrant on the first but the second could be a reaction to the lead filler
• Scrape marks in the left rear tyre sidewall. Probably scrubbing before they rolled the guards but again not sure how thing passed a warrant
• no washers. The squirters are missing and the pump has no electrical connection. Again, warrant
• Strong smell of petrol fumes with a full tank. 
• Ripped driver seat
• Drivers seat does not tilt forward
• no trans kickdown has one. Probably needs to be tighter and the spring should go to something a bit more legit
• rear windows don't wind down
• No choke - Don't care, it's wired open. Will be irrelevant with a later mod.
• Dash lights don't seem to work
• Oil and temp gauges may work but not accurate, not sure about oil as the needle is straight down and never moves. Oil gauge actually does work, finally saw it move from none to some pressure
• Random extra wire on starter solenoid that apparently shorts the car out and kills it. I think this is a ballast bypass wire and is not needed due to having a pertronix
• Power steering ram could use a rebuild with new lines
• Fix trans leak

[Gee]

Picture of tyre damage

Fronts are ok but on the hoist were reall close to the upper control arm at full droop. Fine down.

Fronts are 225/60R14's and rears are 245/60R14's. I'll probably go down a size when I have to replace them as they don't need to be this big (words rarely heard). There is no rubbing now. I may also consider some new rims but I like the SS look and don't really want to spend the coin just after buying the car. Bit harder to justify to the Minister of War and Finance. Bit rough, she was dead keen on me buying this, but might have to spend a bit on her hobbies first.

You can just see the P/N on the wheel 7JJX14  which I assume means it is a 14" x 7" wheel and JJ? I think this might be the offset, so says Google.

[Gee]

As if after 25 years fixing shit I needed a reminder of how to fault find I noticed smoke coming from the right side on the motor way. After googling likely causes and thinking head gaskets or rings or valve stems I thought, 'what did I muck around with last?'

Red shit everwhere. I had tried to tidy up a trans cooler liine that was getting squished and caused a major leak. A new bit of line later and hopefully no leak or smoke.

Also got a reminder of why I don't like Supercheap.

'I'm after some ATF'

"what is your rego?'

'68PQNY'

'Mustang?'

'Yep'

'Manual?'

'Er, no. Auto'

'ok, ATF Type F'

Me not trusting him much now 'can I just Google that to check'

'sure'

"open Google'

'Do you want the Supercheap site'

'No, just Google, type in C4 Trans fluid'

much dicking around later confirmed F Type fluid

'I didn't see it on the shelf, can you show me'

He grabs LS trans fluid

'That's not F type, have you got any F-type?'

he asks a mate who checks and says 'none in stock'

Yeah, good chat lads.

[Gee]

Finally found some Type F and topped up the trans. It took around 1.5l so was definitely low. Did have a wee issue topping up with the car idling in park to check level...

Plastic funnel and hot headers not a good mix. Muppet.

[Gee]

Automotive archaeology. I need to fix the rear window winders which means removing the back seat so  I pulled the base for a look.

Seems a previous owner though pink bats was a good sound deadener? Maybe the passengers arses were getting hot from the exhaust?

Also since purchasing I've been having debates about the colour. The door plate says 'Brittany Blue' but my eyes say something else.

Maybe it was Brittany Blue at one stage. Now I need to decide what to do with the paint. If the current issues pass a warrant should I leave it till I do the lot and then restore it back to original? I do quite like the original colour but the current one is more unique. I may also see about the dents and if they line up with the ones from the driveshaft.

 

 

[Gee]

Investigated the reason behind the drivers seat not tilting forward. It seemed to be just sticky, you have to wiggle it to release where the passenger side just works. Has a weird extra tab with an eyelet that doesn't seem to do anything though and is not on the passenger side.

Crap photo but not sure what the eyelet does. I also removed the seat back as I thought it might be stuck in there. It wasn't but interesting for a look. The seat cover is not original and the holes don't all line up. Nice to see how it is attached as I need to recover the drivers seat at some stage and I may just order some foam and a cover from TMI but I'll need the clips and pliers.

I think someone added in some extra foam behind where the cracking is on the front.

 

[Gee]

More automotive archaeology, WTF is this thingo?

It is mounted beside the radiator, that is the washer bottle on the left. Haven't had time to trace the wiring yet.

 

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

Old regulator I think, prob redundant if newer alternator has been fitted...

[Gee]

Muzzy is still wetting the bed with the red stuff so I had to have a look

Nothing on the trans lines I repaired and the marks are too far back on the floor

Found some drips on the end of the power steer ram. I thought this system was leaking but I might need to remove the whole system up to the pump. Oh, and there seems to be some creative parts usage. You'll know it when you see it.

I also checked the wheel security while it was on jacks. There seems to be a bit of play vertically but not laterally in the front wheels. I pulled one to look and looked at the bearings. Plenty of grease (maybe its been serviced) but I can't check further. I might get a pro to check at some stage.

 

[Gee]

Oh, and a bit more automotive archaeology, Found a durrie in the ashtray. A previous owner must have been a smoker.

[Gee]

Took it for a run at our tarmac sprints the other day. Little autocross and 1/4 mile. No timing gear so no idea on times but did a nice wheel hopping one wheel peel with about 85mph at the finish. Must have looked like a mad man spinning the wheel in the autocross, not really suited for that but fun. Have to assume it is all good as none of the gauges are reliable.

Tried to track down some action shots but all I've got is this:

 

[Gee]

Drove down to the Old School Drags. 1hr drive down 2hrs back in traffic. I don't think the car overheats (guessing as the gauges are more faith based than accurate) but it did die a couple of times and I needed to get pushed off the motorway. Wouldn't restart until it had cooled down but ran mint once restarted. My running theory is that the fuel gets too hot and once the carb cools enough it will restart and run. I need to see if I can fit a 1/2" phenolic spacer beneath the carb and I might remove the braid off the fuel line. I never hit this issue with my Fairmont but the water temp would get too hot in that and I'd get nervous well before it overheated. The gauges were much better though, ironically for an XD.

No mustang pictures but I did get some of other cars