Gee's 68 Mustang

[Gee]

I got the tail shaft back from the shop so I thought that was a 5 min job and the car would be back on the ground and driveable. Wrong again.

The 'new' shaft is made from a second hand Falcon drive shaft. 1.75" tube, second hand yoke and new unis and bearings. It is heaps lighter than the old one and pretty much everything was unusable on the old one. The new one is also about 25mm longer which it needs.

 

I climbed under to slip it in and got this far...

I tapped it back out to check it and the spline is exactly the same as the old one but without the extra 30mm or so of counterbored part. Basically it should fit better than the old one but does not. At the back I have this...

I measured both ends and the 35mm gap shown is pretty much what I need to get it in. Once fitted it will have a good amount of back and forth.

Talking to the shop he said the problem is likely due to the second hand yoke being twisted which is why it is hard to fit and remove. The old one slips right in. We'll either replace the yoke or counter bore it so it fits. It will depend on getting enough engagement.

I refitted the old shaft and got it back on the ground so it was at least driveable. I went to start it to take it for a test drive aaand, nothing. Cranks but wont light off. I put my hand under the fuel filter and it came away covered in varnish so I thought a new filter was a way to go. I got a nice new filter from Repco, cheap and see through so I could see if there was gas.

Looks nice and clean. I'd prefer full of gas but. So I either have a blockage or dud pump. Either could happen as the car sat for ages before I bought it so the tank will be full of crap. It runs well normally though.

[Gee]

I disconnected the fuel tank line and got the expected run of fuel down my arm, in the eye, etc. Plenty coming out there. Disconnected the filter and blasted the line out with Contact Cleaner. Not sure if any gunk came out but plenty of fuel there too. If fuel was getting to the engine bay but not getting drawn in surely it is the pump.

Got a new Carter mechanical pump for $54 and decided to throw it in.

That is the view down. Bit of a prick to get at and can't swing a spanner in there so off came the power steering pump.

As with everything this was also a bit of a prick. The top attachment is a threaded rod with a nylock nut. The whole rod came out so hopefully it would go back in. Later problem.

Next came the fuel lines, easy enough from below.

Then the pump itself. For some reason it had a 9/16" and a 5/8" bolt because of course it did. Cleaned up the mounting face as much as possible and had a look inside.

Some v8's have a extra pushrod on the cam for the pump and it will drop out and end up in the oil pan if you don't secure it first. Hopefully mine does not. I did look up a few videos of 289/302 pump replacements and they didn't mention it so hopefully I'm good. If not, engine out.

New pump went in much easier than I thought. I got the lever under the cam and managed to get the bolts started then wound them in slowly to seat the pump. Again hope I haven't caused an issue but I'll find out.

I managed the get the power steering pump back in ok but it is probably a bit loose, again later problem. The battery is on a regen cycle so once that is finished I'll give it a crank and see if it goes. I did notice when actuating the old pump that air seemed to be coming out the side so it could have a dud diaphragm. Hopefully that was the problem and I'm good to go now. I'm saying hopefully a lot in this post.

[Gee]

It's alive! Took a little bit to pump some gas through but started sweet as.

Good seeing fuel in the filter.

Good to confirm it was the pump and that I fitted it properly.

Took it for a test drive and something tinkled and fell on the road. I went back to find it and it was some random clip. When I got home my wife thought the wheel nuts were loose and so I checked them and noticed something missing.

This thing goes in there.

Fixed.

I had also noticed a clunk in the boot when going around corners. Turned out to be the wheel brace.

It is still a pig to start hot but I had ordered a new Pertronix coil (to match the rest of the ignition) as that might have caused my non start. I figured I may as well throw it in, coils don't like being hot and the original chrome one is probably old. Started right up but the proof will be road tripping to Americarna. A few more things to do then we are off.

[Gee]

Went for a warrant and failed on the front left wheel bearing. Got a warning last time so fair call. It'll be fixed this week along with the rear suspension.

A little wary about my new power steering lines. I had fitted some heat sheathing as the original lines were burnt and the new line is probably not fire proof but this seems to have some damage now. It only contacts at full lock so hopefully it won't be a problem but I have put some ally tape on the area for some extra protection. Ally tape fixed most problems. 

Took the Mustang to Kumeu, don tell the fuzz. I wanted to get it out a few times for 'testing/shakedown'. Bloody good event this year. Hotter than the face of the sun but the shady bar was good.

[Gee]

Got the wheel bearings replaced along with the rear shocks and bushes, and front brake pads. Apparently both bearings were toast so both should have failed a warrant so I'm glad I planned to do both sides anyway. Got The warrant and headed to Orewa for the Rodders Beach Fest.

The bearings must have been FUBAR as it seemed to be a lot more steady around 60MPH, the rear suspension was much better as well. Didn't sound like an old trailer any more.

Found the Mustangs older topless brother

I asked about the colour and they said it was painted by a previous owner around 1992 in a Chevy colour that has been brightened up a bit. Ours was imported in 1991 so maybe some guy imported 2 cars and painted both to match.

I'm always partial to an XD as well

And I like a good fairlane. One of the few American classics that would get me out of the Mustang

And I found this nice HQ Premier with a 253. I like the double lights but the nerd in me thinks the coolest part is the AA badge.

[Gee]

I finally got the new driveshaft back from the shop. It required a few trips back and forth as the first yoke was twisted and so I was given a second yoke to try which fitted and had to be returned. The shaft now has a new (second hand) yoke and is rebalanced.

It is a 2.75" falcon shaft and yoke with a rear uni for the 8" diff. It has new bearings and is balanced. We could have used new parts but the driveshaft guy doesn't like the new ones as he thinks the old ones are made better and are cheaper so the whole thing cost just over $800 rather than over $1k if I needed more power or new yokes.

The new one is a lot lighter than the original, due to smaller diameter I think

The yoke slotted in nicely with not much fluid loss but I probably need to recheck my level anyway.

The bearings look a lot better than the originals

The rear was a bit fiddly. Ineeded to slack it off and wiggle it a bit to get it to line up but didn't take long. Put a bit of mid strength threadlocker on so hopefully this will be nice and secure.

Now for a test drive...

[Gee]

We made it down to Americarna after months of mucking around. We headed down to Puke on the Thursday afternoon and headed off to New Plymouth from there.

First stop, gas and coffee at Hampton Downs

The Mustang runs really nicely on the motorway and Waikato Expressway. No problems overheating in traffic and cruises at 60mph easily. No more vibes and it is nice having the steering wheel centered again.

Without aircon we got a bit toasty ourselves so from Hampton Downs we had the windows cracked to let in some air. It's a bit noisy and the wind is almost as noisy as the (not subtle) exhaust. Also noticeable with the exhaust though were the fumes. You don't notice so much on a normal short cruise but after 4hrs we were smelling of burnt dinosaurs. The steering is still pretty notchy around centre at speed. Low speed it is not noticable and through the twisties on Mt Messenger it was great, apart from getting a bit sideways on a crappy pot holed corner.

Made it in good time though.

Got ourselves a hotel with a secure carpark too

Put the muzzy to bed and off for a beer.

I've only been to the Beach Hop but Americarna was great, didn't feel as busy but still heaps of cars. We got a beer from a local micro brewery and stood on the curb outside watching the cars go past in the Friday night parade. We did get fumed out for the second time in the day. 100 big v8s doing laps on a city street will do that.

Came home after dinner and found the mustang had good company

And some cool ones up stairs too. The truck is an original flathead from Rotorua.

[Gee]

Americarna day 2 (for us at least) and the cars were all parked up on the main street. Heaps more people around but still plenty of room to move and look at cars

I'm pretty sure this on is an original GT

Nice galaxy. I should have taken a picture of the chev in the background, turned out to be a mate. Imaculate everything and 600hp 510.

I quite like the notch back Barracudas

We headed home on the Sunday after a false (non)start. Not sure what drained the battery but I didn't even get a click. To make it worse I had spent 3 days trying to charge my jump kit to no avail so it was worthless as well. Luckily a local had some leads just up the road so he drove home to get them and came back to give us a jump. Good bugger. I was a bit nervous stopping at the servo a few minutes up the road but it started first pull. Lucky.

Enjoyed the scenery on the way home and used the quarter windows for ventilation rather than the main ones. Quite a bit better on the fumes front. Still some work to do but when is there not? I might give it a rest for a while but I think the steering will need to be sorted before the next big road trip.

 

[Gee]

I think I might know what the starting problem is...

Pretty sure that should be something over 12VDC. Charged it for another 24hrs with it disconnected from the car and still 9.8V. This has dropped at least one cell, probably shorted since it had none volts before I charged it.

I haven't checked the alternator voltage but I'll get a new battery and check it then. The car could still have a short draining the battery but easy enough to check if there is current draw when I fit the new one.

[Gee]

Went to Repco and got a new battery. Then went back to Repco to get the correct battery, (Repco branded) Century 68MF if anyone is interested.

Threw it in and checked current draw. None. All good.

Hooked it up and checked the voltage again, 12.6VDC, still good.

thought it was sitting a little low and then remembered the battery spacer that was in it. High tech piece of particle board.

Thought it could use a coat of paint.

Looks like it was meant to be there.

Last check was to fire it up and check the charge voltage. If it wasn't leakage current running it flat I needed to make sure the charge was within limits

13.2VDC at idle just after start, not too bad, needed a bit of a rev to see if it would come up to 14Vish. Got to 14V, then 15V then nearly 16V. Guess I know why the battery was toast. Guess I'll look at a new (internally regulated) alternator.

 

 

[Gee]

Finally got a new alternator, an Aeroflow AF4273-1100 100A 

 

I'll be hooking this up '3-wire' which uses the warning light  as an exciter and removing the stock external regulator. This gives me more ergs for upgrades later and the 3-wire hookup apparently makes it come on charge quicker. I may need to check the warning light later to see if it has a bypass resistor as without this the alternator will fail to come online if the bulb is blown.

I was originally going to use the stock wiring but decided to bin it as it was untidy and would not carry enough current if I start to draw more than the stock power. The car also does not have alternator or battery fuses so I might add them later too but I want to work out a tidy install before I do that. I got it wired up on the bench and then looked at the car.

First I took out the old regulator so I could work out what wires to remove

 

They were buried in the main loom and used a wired molded plastic thingo you can just see in the last photo. Pain in the arse as I couldn't separate the wires without cutting this off.

The loom was wire spaghetti so I also removed all of the wires from the started solenoid which is pretty much used as a positive terminal for everything.   

the wires I have are

Black and yellow - power supply to fuse box

Yellow - ammeter

red - ammeter

Red and blue - Starter switch

Brown - odd extra wire to the solenoid that shorts it out. Was disconnected but can't quite work out what it does. Something to do with the coil and starting but not needed

Black and red - ?

Orange - regulator (removed)

I could have thing wrong, the info online is a bit iffy and it changes with the year. I think the red/green wire from the regulator is the warning light but I can't confirm that. Might need a battery and a spare pair of eyes.

 

 

[Gee]

So slight change of plans. I don't have a warning light. I was right about the green and red wire but it goes to the ignition switch. sometimes this has a warning light in line but mine does not. The diagram below is from Motortrend for wiring a Ford 3G alternator but it is basically the same. It seems I can still wire it up without the bulb but I've got to work out how exactly. I may just 1 wire it and connect the rest later.  

 

[Gee]

How long does it take to change an alternator? I spent heaps of time waiting on parts and waiting on time to work on the car. Then it wouldn't start. I tested the solenoid on the bench and it didn't work so I ordered and fitted a new one, another thing to wait for.

This is handy as it has better connections on each stud but it doesn't have a lot of room for extra connections and the Mustang uses the positive stud as the main power connector for the whole car. I had to move a few to the battery positive terminal which is a bit untidy.

I still seemed to have odd power issues. The problem turned out to be a dead battery. Strange as it was new but does explain why I was having trouble with such a simple system. At least it is running but I have a bit of tidying up to do. Wire spaghetti always annoys me.

 

[Gee]

Warrant day and another fail, old car normal.

The park brake is unbalanced which is common with these cars but I'm not sure if it is a cable or just brake drum imbalance.

It also failed on the RH headlight. It works but is really dim.

I got a new bulb but should have tested the voltage input first.

Fitted the new bulb but no change. Turns out it is only getting 10Vdc where I assume the LHS is getting the full 12V. Must be a dodgy connection somewhere. 

I also got some side marker lights as the LH one was not working and actually had no wiring. I got both so they would look the same.

Old vs new

And good as with new lights fitted.

So as usual, made some progress and didn't fix other things. Old school car tax.

[Gee]

Got a bit of time to do a bit of wiring tidy up. I had left the alternator wiring a mess and ordered some fancy Painless Wiring split loom from Summit but I needed to get the light fixed for a warrant and ran out of time so I got the auto sparky to do it. they fixed an earth and another connector on the drivers side and i now have tow good lights. They also tidied up the loom without being asked. It looks ok but I'd prefer split loom to tape.

When my gear turned up I didn't want to waste the good stuff for the 40cm to the solenoid so I just used some other junk I had lying around

Put a boot on the alternator wire and a cover

Probably should put a boot on the exposed +ve terminal on the solenoid as that pretty much runs the car. It does look a lot tidier. I also binned a random spade terminal and 3" wire off the coil. Not sure why that was there, I just removed it and put a ring terminal on the black wire. Not sure where it goes or  why it follows a random route on the right hand side of the car. Maybe it broke years ago and was shortened.

Took it for a test drive to Bombay and it ran mint. I'm not sure (of a lot of things apparently) what caused the fuminess when we drove to Americarna earlier in the year as we have done two big drives recently and had no issues. Runs mint and no abnormal smells, although that is relative in a 50 year old car.

[Gee]

Took the Mustang for a drive to Raglan with some mates, all went pretty smooth but was very fumey again. A mate in another car complained about it although his is a 2014 Challenger so maybe he is not used to the smell of a carby V8. I did think it was a bit excessive though.

Might have to do a bit of a check of a few things

• Tune. Never checked so it could be a bit rich
• plugs and leads
• vacuum
• PCV
• Headers. I notice the shop said I had a header leak around 18 months ago but I forgot about it and it has passed a warrant. Worth a look though.
• Windows. Don't at all and the RH rear quarter need a new regulator as it slides down. 
• boot seal. First noticed it at Americarna just after the paint so it might have been fitted incorrectly.
• other leaks around the boot and luggage divider
• tail pipe length. Ideally they would protrude beyond the bumper. Don't think this is the reason as I didn't notice it when we bought it.

I also still have a slight shimmy so I might check the trans output bush for play as I've replaced the other main culprits. Will have a go at a few things this weekend maybe.

 

[Gee]

Got some supplies:

Puled a plug

Not terrible but not good either. Been there a while I reckon. I would replace it with the new plug I got but...

Went to pull a plug based on the size of the new ones and wondered why my plug socket wouldn't go on. Got my smallest and it fit perfectly. Small v8, small plugs. Makes sense, not a lot of real estate in there. Big ass plugs don't fit. Bloody Repco.

[Gee]

I got some new plugs and have to give Repco a bit of a pass on the parts. My engine takes an NGK BP5FS but they have only listed an AP5FS which is a direct replacement for the Autolite 45 that is recommended online by some people. Some engines take the little one though and mine seems to be one. There will be some guys here who know more than me so feel free to comment but at least I have the correct parts now.

I had a hell of a time getting them out. I thought it would be a 20min job but 2hrs later...

These clearly have not been replaced for a long time. They were pretty tight and the hex face very corroded. No massive fouling so that was a good sign but I'm not a plug whisperer. The last one proved too hard to get out.

You can see how badly corroded the nut is and the hole is a bit tight. The header is also a bit close but that is not the real problem.

I can get the socket on but I can't get it far enough engaged to work. It also get too close to the header pipe to get an extension on properly. If engaged I'd be able to do it but it is close. I may have to pass on this one for now.

The leads were a pain as well. I haven't gotten a new set yet but they need to go. It gives a lot more confidence of a good connection when the boots stay in their proper location and the contacts click on and off nicely.

I also decided to whip out the RH rear window regulator. I didn't get any pics of the job but the regulator was buggered.

This was a brand new regulator which failed due to poor alignment by me. You can see the bent arm. The curves are too complex to try ans straighten out so I have a replacement. I got it fitted ok but then the RH front seat belt tensioner locked. Bloody deja vous. I thought I had freed it up and got the panel back together in time to head off and pick up the wifey from a friends place. She wanted me to take their kids for a drive so they piled in and the first thing one did was try and wind down the window, nooooo! Luckily I stopped that and then the front seatbelt locked again and won't free up. Fuckit. I'll need to swap it out. If I free it up again I can't trust it to work in future and I don't fancy having passengers with no belts.

 

[Gee]

The seatbelt guy turned up today. I actually freed up the belt by moving it 5deg but I replaced it anyway. Fitted in 1998 incase anyone was interested.

Put the car in on a jaunty angle to make it easier to work on...

 

Didn't take any photos of the install but it turned out better than my butchery. He had proper spacers and set it at a proper 60deg angle so it works without locking when it shouldn't. Mucked around to ensure it didn't interfere with the windows and all sorted.

Before refitting the seat I decided to rip out my failed rivnuts holding in the bottom of the seat back. They didn't line up and cross threaded. I fitted a bigger 13mm bolt with a nut holding it in place as per photo

Before                                                                                                                                             after

Chucked the seat back in and wound the nut on to hold it. The sheet metal is so thin I can realign the bolt with my hands.

Works a treat. Just need to work out why the seat base rocks now. Not clicking in place and seems to be held up on the trans tunnel.