That Warm Glow

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The trip to Mustang Maniac was as long as ever, in fact it’s a sixty mile trip each way for me. It’s feels like it takes longer to get there because of the anticipation to get there. On the way back home it’s a gentle trip with the cruise control on, I just take my time thinking about what I am going to write about on Sunday and the time flies by. This week’s post is going to be a bit of a mixed bag. The under wings and out-of-the-way splash guards and the other was going to be the centre piece (literally) of the dash area, the radio.
I will start with the splash guards, of which there are four in total, smaller one behind the headlight and a longer one that sits at the back of the fender.

Each of the splash guards can be purchased with or without the rubber edging around the fender facing edges. To be honest by the time you buy the cheaper splash guards and the rubber edging and you fit them, it’s just as cheap to buy the “deluxe” version with them fitted and the cost is hardly anything. I got the deluxe versions and started on the front sides under the fenders.

It took me about five minutes to realise that it makes life so much easier if you take the wheel off. I started on the right hand side and offered up the guard. The first thing I noticed was that the fittings will only go on one way round.

The edging faces towards the direction of the splash, in other words the rubber faces inwards towards the wheel coming from the back of the guard as it were.

I went to screw the guard on behind the headlight mount and found that the original screw holes had been made bigger than they were supposed to be.

This meant that I had to use the biggest fattest metal screws that I could find. A few weeks ago I realised that this was going to be the case in a few fittings so far that I tried to fix, so I went out and bought a wide selection of imperial screws and technical bolts (which has the self tap threads, and a hexagonal bolt head). I found the three largest bolts I had and they were just enough to grip the original holes. The splash guards have quite large holes that allow for adjustment during the fitting o allow the rubbers to git into the contours of the fender.

Some people prefer to fit the splash guards to the fender and the rear splash guards to the body before the fenders are bolted on. There is room under the fender to do the work either way, but I would prefer to align the fender gaps correctly, then fit the splash guards to the those gaps and fender positioning. I have heard that some after market fenders had been fitted and the splash guards had to be moved to allow the correct gap alignment. I also fitted the splash guards with a larger stainless steel washer and filled the hole with a gasket sealer to prevent the water getting to the holes. The edging is cut so that the corners will overlap and form the water barrier.

The rear and much longer guards are in an inverted “L” shape which fits on top of the main body frame and secured via a single self tap bolt from inside the engine bay, the vertical fittings are also from inside the to the outside so that a small socket and wrench can comfortably tighten the fasteners.

The left hand side was much easier as it was a new fender and the holes were the correct size and the correct bolts were perfect fit.

The only extra that thing that I done was to fill the metal to metal gaps with a generous bead of silicon beading to stop any water ingress. All this seems a little irrelevant in some ways as the car will not be driven in the wet, but any protection provided against rain or water can only help.

The radio on the other hand is a key central part of the dash and is seen all the time you are in the car basically due to its location. The story behind my radio is that I didn’t have one when I got the car. The whole in my original dash was butchered like most were at the time and cut wider to take a modern and the new fangled gimmick stereo radio. My old dash with so common “conversion”.

Reverting back to the original radio size involves welding in a replacement patch and grinding it down, prepping and filling with a colour spray match up. Here I was looking at how the patch would fit on my old dash.

My dash was completely replaced due to the damage and rust so I had the correct the sized hole, but without the radio.

I had been looking around for a while now for an original or period correct radio. I found plenty of radios the were either broken or in a pretty shoddy state. I did of course have the option of a modern radio with the old style shape, but that didn’t interest me either. Fussy I know, but I can’t help it. Anyway I found a radio in the USA and it was listed up as an original and working radio. I had to wait for five days for the auction to end before I found out if I won it or not. It turned out I did win it and for a reasonable price. The import and shipping costs to me were more than the actual radio cost in the first place. The radio arrived with a tiny cracked plastic front, not a good start but you can’t really see it. Although my new (old) or replacement radio was not a genuine Ford part, (thanks to Chris for checking this out for me), it was an aftermarket radio from the correct time period. The general opinion is that it was from a Ford Falcon, based on the numbers and make. The genuine Mustang radios had chrome dials at the time, but the radio I now have has black and chrome fittings. This was what I was after considering I had a black gauge dash and black glove box it would blend in the middle quite well, so I would hope anyway.

I originally cleaned up the radio and stored it away until this point in the restoration where I could fit it back in. Yes, before anybody comes back to me, I do know that would be about nearly four years later on then! I gave the radio to Mustang Maniac to have their magic worked on it, as the band was only AM and the USA spec version at that. The mod the MM guys offer is to have an additional MP3 player circuit added inside the original case. The MP3 player functionality is engaged when you press the far side preset button. The guys at MM informed me that although the radio turned on, the inside radio tuner was dead. The option was a new radio again, or make it a single MP3 player. I was happy with that option as it was only a single mono speaker and I wasn’t going to listen to the single radio station that I might pick up if i was lucky. The simple reason was that I had a 289cid orchestra under the hood with Flowmaster exhaust so that everybody else can enjoy it too. Anyway Adam has kindly let me use the photo’s of the radio being worked on.

They mentioned it on their blog last week as well. The only give away is that there is a quite a long 3.5mm jack plug lead that emerges from the same hole as the speaker cable and power at the side.

This cable will plug into any MP3 player or the phone in my case. Perfect scenario as far as I was concerned, and I threaded the cable up to the glove box just for now.

For the fitting the radio it was a very simple twist and rotate allowed the radio to slip straight up to the dash.

Behind the dash

The fitting to the dash was done with a tiny mod of an exact washer to nut size. This would stop the retaining nut marking up the paintwork. Yes I know it wouldn’t be seen, but I know I might possibly replace it a later date for a Ford model, I will see how it goes in the mean time.

I have no intention of fitting front kick panel speakers or rear speakers so Adam provided me with an updated middle speaker, just like the originals that I didn’t have. The radio was spliced into the existing loom so I could remove the in-line fuse as that was supplied on the main fuse panel now.

The speaker was connected to the new bullet connectors and dropped into the dash space. There are no pics of the speaker in place as some daft plank (me then) hit delete instead of copy during the transfer process.

The radio turned on and a single soft warm glow appeared in display, I plugged in the phone and randomly selected a tune. What started to play was Fats Domino with his classic – Blueberry Hill, and what a song that is. The first line “I found my thrill….”. I sure did, I had sounds and a classic radio in a classic car. If I didn’t know any better and hadn’t of watched John Carpenters classic film “Christine”, I think the car was trying to tell me something.
Amazing sound and just so cool that it looks stock too.

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No Spelling Mistakes

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The alarm woke me up with a start again, not the normal during the week alarm for work, this is the much more pleasantly sounding Saturday Mustang Maniac alarm which don’t give the hump when I hear it. I struggled to wake as the air was already muggy and hot. I eventually got in the car and set off, already the air outside was hot and the aircon was on. I arrived to see Yogi in the forklift moving tool boxes about and having a brutal clear out of his old work shop. Adam was opening up the workshop where my car was and I handed over the standard payment of the cakes, these were taken straight to the boys club for an early morning cup of tea and doughnuts. The discussion was had about my tasks of the day. We decided carpet and lettering on the hood. I was given the keys to Adam’s lock up where the carpets and cushions are stored and he simply said “pick your colour of carpet”. For some strange reason I felt like a little kid on the way to a sweet shop with a pocket full of change to spend. There was about thirty boxes of carpet to choose from, years and body style to their variations of colour. The colour I picked was “Ford Blue” and it just happened to be at the bottom of the pile!

I cleaned the car from all the old bits of wire and dirt that had accumulated in the grooves of the Dyna-Mat. The rolled up carpet was pulled out of the box and laid straight into the car. I unrolled the carpet which was in two parts. The rear and front which has the nicer finished edge.

The carpets have a sound deadening material on the back which sits in the footwells both front and back. Unroll the carpet and press into the footwells.

The front section was a little different and required some minor modifications due to the carpet being Fastback and Coupe and manual and auto gearboxes. The main difference was the way the carpet fitted around the gear selector. this had to have about an inch cut away at the front. Once done it was easily pressed into place around the selector.

There was a rubber grommet inside the box which has be cut out for the foot operated headlight dip switch. The back of the carpet has a cut out for position. You cut the hole and press fit the grommet into place. Make sure the carpet is in the correct position where you expect the switch to be mounted before cutting. This wasn’t so important for me as I had the multiple attempted holes all patched and I made two new ones where I wanted them.

Lay the front part of the carpet over the rear section and your pretty much done apart from making the holes for the seat studs to be fitted.

Yes there will be some trimming around the edges a little later but the MM guys advise to leave the carpet to settle for a week or so first. The front kick panels will hold the carpet in place and keep it neat.

The next part I was looking forward to and at the same time, very nervous about.

The hood already has the holes drilled out ready for the letters. The letters have two prongs on the back of each letter and is held in place by two tiny grippers only a couple of millimetres long and are sprung fit into the hood holes.

The grippers were test fitted into the holes but there was no way they were going to fit.

I had to get a sharp Snap-On rat tailed file and oh so carefully remove the excess paint from the holes to fit the grippers in the holes. One slip here and I could have gone across my gorgeous paint work. Needless to say this took me quite a while to do all eight holes.

opening the holes

hole opening

With the holes opened just enough I lightly pressed the grippers in and tapped them down with a rubber part of my pliers. (Shh, don’t tell Snap On that bit). They were curved enough and not to heavy to lightly tap the grips down.

The letters were next aligned to the holes make sure the legs on the back of the letters would fit. Once you are happy press fully home. At this point you need to make sure you can spell “F O R D”. In actual fact this is a bit of a myth, as the letters all have slightly different places for the holes and can only fit in the right place on the hood.

There was another optional extra at the time that I wanted to have fitted to the hood, this was the leading edge trim. The trim just gives the grill the extra edge finishing touch. The trim is held on by a few screws under the hood and makes quite a difference.

Next week I think it will be the radio and the splash guards. I just can’t wait till next weekend already!

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Gettin’ A Grillin’

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The weekend arrived and the anticipation of what awaited me at Mustang Maniac was almost too much to bear. Last week was the dash pad and trunk this week unknown. The first plan of action was the trunk which needed re-gapping. Yogi was at the yard working on a car in the panel shop that needed some welding and a floor. I managed to grab Yogi to show me how the final alignment of the trunk is done. He asked for the half inch socket and ratchet and said undo the two bolts that hold the trunk lid on my side. He did likewise, but he put a tiny pinch on his side after he pushed and pulled it a bit, then done similar my side. He lowered the lid and spot on first time. We tightened the bolts fully and the trunk looks fine again. The only difference this time was that the trunk is sitting slightly proud of the rear quarters. The new rubber seal will need to bed down and the trunk will seat back down correctly again. He made it look so easy! Yogi asked me what I was up to and said I didn’t know as Adam was on a guided tour of the yard and cars with some customers. I said I would like to get the front wings sorted so I could get on with the front end. The half hour that he intended to spend with me lasted the best part of three hours of his own time. Thanks for that Yogi. I learned that the alignment is fine until you put the last few bolts in and it pulls the fender the wrong way. So we had to make adjustments, bend a couple of bits back in place and re-hang the right hand wing. The fenders will need splash guards fitted too, but I didn’t get round to those as the aerial had to be fitted first. The aerial hole in the wing is smaller than the standard Mustang one. I am a little paranoid about leaving the aerial up and some scrotum coming along and bending it over. So I went for a fully retractable version. This will help with the car cover when in storage. Trouble is that the base is not as big and in your face as the original aerial bases. It’s something I can change at a later date though.

My own job to start with after all the gap work was the plenum. This involves in assuming the “Mustang” position, on your back shoulders twisted forty-five degrees, both arms in front of you, head is supported by the T-shift gear selector that fits nicely in your left ear! Yoga experts need to come and watch the way mechanics have to contort their spines in order to see what is going on under these dash areas. The plastic plenum slips over the metal heater fan box and is held in place by four tiny self tap bolts. Easier said than done as the fire wall padding covers the space where the back bolts should go.

The two diffuser outlets at the top have a hose that goes up to the windscreen diffusers that was clipped into the dash last week. These replacement hoses are clever in that they have a clip that snaps shut around the openings.

open hose

in place

clip shut

The hoses have to be kept away from the wiper arms. The hoses are tight on the left side up to the dash, but fine on the right hand side.

right hand side to dash

left hand side

The fitting of the plenum took a stupid amount of time to fit, mainly because it all done by feel as you can’t get your head in there to see. But once fitted they look quite good.

Back to the outside now and Adam came down with an arm full of goodies for me. New front grill, front trim and fittings. The grill was a major part I wanted to get on. I worked out that the grill has to be slid into place behind a light bucket then worked carefully around to the centre as the grill sits behind the light fittings. I did it and was quite pleased with myself, up until the point when Adam said I am better of getting the Corral in place first. Dohhhh, I had to take it all back out again. The work requires two hands and concentration not to drag the grill across the paint work. Thus there was not much in the way of photos for the fitting process I’m afraid, there are a few after though of the end result.

There are two visible bolts on the top that hold the centre and hood catch, at the bottom there are four self tap screws that go into the trim. A long extension screw driver with a bolt driver is best her with the magnetic holder making things so easy. The Corral itself has been through the wars, it’s a little tarnished but almost as good as the replacements. But, I wanted something very original from the old car, and there is nothing more original than the identity of car, the Mustang Pony in Corral. I might replace it at a later date I’m not sure yet. For now this is a cross over link between the two cars. Bad choice to keep the old or get a new one? The old one certainly doesn’t look out of place.

Something missing? Yep the wheels. They were taken of to make it easier to align the fenders gaps up. Here is a clue what I could be doing next week. It could doing the front bumper, or it could be something else, I never really know till I get there.

All this doesn’t look much as so much time was done on the smaller adjustments to make it look right. But, I have taken some fancy art shots of the corral, just to make me feel better.

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A Little Padding

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This week things look as though they have moved on quickly at Mustang Maniac, when in fact the process took a little under a couple of hours for the main project. What am I bangin’ on about? My new dash pad of course. Adam had some of these in stock, but he has pulled the stops out to get me in a Ford tooling dash pad, I have been spoilt. I saw the box and realised that the project was going to take a big leap today. Lots of pictures this time to make up for the previous weeks where I couldn’t take to many as I had my hands full.

The new metal part dash itself has been painted and as yet there is no further hints of the colour scheme inside. Me and Adam have had some long conversations and eventually sorted the colours out and the style. Some of it has been custom-made which have already arrived, but won’t be fitted just yet until all the adjustments have been done.

The Dash itself in place by two threaded studs, two in the middle and one on each end of the dash. The washers supplied are quite small so they were replaced with a larger set to spread the tension around a little more evenly.

threaded end bolt

main centre bolts

pack of fittings

smaller washer replaced

The dash pad is not very heavy at all but care needs to be taken when fitting to make sure that the pad bolts don’t scratch the metal work. The pad is pushed over the upper supports of the dash to take the weight.

The two centre studs locate just above the radio space. a slight pull down on the pad to open it up a little allows it to slide over the top part of the metal dash. The two end studs will need to be pulled down slightly as well to locate into the holes.

The windscreen part of the dash will need to worked into place under the rubbers to make sure it lays flat. With the studs in place it’s a case of fit the washer and bolts and tighten them up to pull the dash into the metal dash itself. Do not over tighten the nuts.

under the windscreen rubber

stud inside the dash

That is basically it, the next part is to fit the demister vents, these are held in place by two clips each side which are sprung loaded. align the loose material from the dash over the holes for the vent and press into place.

The large hole in the centre is for the original speaker which I will fit. I am not bothered about a noisy sound system, I will have a v8 symphony at my beck and call. On top of all this there is a metal grille, the flutes each side direct the air to the screen. I have not had this colour coded just yet, so it’s still bare metal with only a coating of Gibbs Brand to stop it rusting. The grill was lightly pressed in place not all the way in just o give an idea of the look.

The Ford tooling part fitted like a glove, the before and after comparison.

Next on the list was the cowl to hood rubber seal, this is a simple clip in place with two screws each end on a bracket to hold the rubber up. Offer the strip up and apply a screw to hold it in place. Space out the rubber to the other bracket and make sure it’s even.

no trim

part and brackets

holding screw

The clips have a little movement once in place but could damage the paint work if you are not careful. CLip them into place and add the other screw and tighten up.

Moving to the back of the car there needs to be a sealing strip to the trunk. This has two purposes, one for the rain, two for the fumes that could be vented back into the car. With the trunk in place and the gaps spot on Adam told me to mask up the location of the brackets on the truck. This would be top and sides on each bracket. Chris gave me a hand to undo the bolts and remove the bolts and flip the trunk onto a the ready-made work table.

The special weather strip adhesive is applied like a contact adhesive. The rubber can only go on one way which is a “c” shape looking at it from the end on. This should be fitted with the opening facing inside each of the contours. Adam advised to mask up the paint work before applying the glue. This will stop the mess getting onto the paint and save many careful hours of removing it without damage to the paint. I had my doubts as I was going to be careful.

A thin-film was added to the rubber and the paint and allowed to go tacky. Chris was holding as I was squeezing the tube onto the rubber and smoothing it out with as gloved finger. No matter how careful you are this stuff goes all over the place. Adam was right the masking tape was taking a bit of a battering at this point. Make sure the adhesive does not get inside the “c” or on the outside as this should be allowed to move to make the seal correctly. At this point as we were working quickly there was no time for the photo’s here. But the rubber was applied from the front to the back following the curves of the trunk. While we were sticking the two together we taped the corners down to stop them moving around until the glue had a chance to set a little.

It was at this point that I started the cowl to hood trim fitting while the glue set. It’s all about the forward planning! When the glue had set a little the masking tape was removed from the paint and re-applied to the corners again just to hold it in place. The rubber is longer than required by around six inches or so, so I cut the rubber as a dead butt fit and glue the ends together to form the seamless join.

While waiting again for the glue to go off again I fitted the door rubbers from a replacement pack.

Last week I mentioned that I would get some pictures of the weather strip seal around the doors. So as promised here they are.

Next week I am not sure the plan of action, but the Trunk will go back on then mess around with the gaps again. The dash will need the glass to dash trim fitted. which will require some drilling! Slightly nervous about drilling so close to glass and on top of my new dash.

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Weather Proofing

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A nice weekend for a change and warm air made ideal working conditions at Mustang Maniac. The job was pre arranged for this weekend and it was all about weather proofing. Well, as good as weather proofing you can get on a fifty year old car! The first job was going to be the inside of door weather rail that holds the rubber strip in place to make it water tight. It was at this point of winding the handle of the driver’s side that we (OK Adam then) was not happy with the feel of it. The driver’s door has had a knock in the past right at the front by where the winder mechanism is located and the door was replaced due to the extensive structural damage inside. These are the pics after all the filler was removed.

before we started

line shows the damage

The window regulator was worn more than expected and Adam detected an unusual binding. In fact it was like watching a robber trying to crack an old style dial safe. He listen to the winder a few times, up and down then again. A decision was made to swap it out but it could be OK for a while. The last thing you want it to start taking the door cards off a few months after it’s all done to pull it all apart to replace the regulator. Now under a no load scenario when it was fitted the wear was not evident to me at least. But once connected to the weight of the window and the restriction of the rails it become more obvious. To me it felt OK, but to Adam it was not good enough. So I was tasked to remove the complete mechanism with the glass in place. A feat on its own! The mechanism came out with a bit of fiddling and loosening of the adjustment bolts. Taking the mechanism to Adam he looked it over and confirmed what he thought. Where the door was impacted it had placed a slight bend on the winding plate which has of centred the spindle to the winder handle. To replace it was a little easier as I could assemble the window scissor arms inside the door. This of course meant that all the adjusting of the windows a few weeks ago would have to be done again. Pictures? Nope – there would be no difference as everything looks the same still, it was all inside the door.

The second job was the original first job now, fitting the inside of the door recess trims. We looked over the stainless rails could see that the rails had been over tightened and the metal distorted around the screw holes.

These holes would have to be flattened out in order to lay flat inside the gaps. A block of metal was found that would fit inside the rails so that it would become the base of the makeshift anvil. A small piece of cloth was placed over the metal to soften the blows of the small leather faced hammer that would not show any hammer marks inside or outside. This took a fair bit of patience and the end result was pretty good.

A dry fit of the rail to the bodywork was fine as we wanted to make sure the very subtle twists to the metal were still where they should be. A layer of sticky foam was carefully laid over the back of the fitting to form a cushion against the bodywork and paint.

The rail was lightly screwed into position before we tightened it all up.

Next up was the sticky part – Impact adhesive. The rail has a slight lip each side and the weather strip is held in place. There are debates over it was stuck in place or not. I have seen factory original cars where I can safely say that they were stuck in place as well. The glue was applied to the rubber and the trim and we started from the front. You get one chance at it and we pulled it off. The fact is as I was helping hold the rubber to stop it twisting and sticking to itself I could get photos at this point. But I have found this picture of somebody fitting theirs, but you get the idea. I will get some of my pics next week.

With the strip in place it was time align the door glass all back up again. This took ages as I had to undo it all gain to get the new regulator back in.

top of door

rear quarter

The tops of the doors has a felt window scraper if you like to help take the damp of the car window and guide the glass from being scratched. There is a thicker strip and a smaller strip that clips into cut outs. In order to make the felt fit I have been allowed to let you into a trade secret in fitting them. Once these things are in they snap in place and area real nightmare to get out without damaging your paint, and you will destroy the felts. Dry fit is best to make sure the clips align with the holes. The top of the window will be right where the felts need to go. The tip is remove the bottom bump stop and wind the window down the extra inch until it’s just below the door skin.

removed lower bump stop

cut outs for the felt

Clip the strips in place making sure the chrome is the right way up. There is a about two or three millimetres difference at each end on the felts, if they are upside down they will not but up correctly to the edge of the door.

clipping in place

outside felt

both sides

Now raise the window up a little to the correct bottom position and refit the bump stop, the window will be seated correctly between the felts.

While we are on the subject of the water, we decided to fit a little more fancy stuff on the car, the windscreen wipers to be exact. The wiper motor has been tested to work fine and the wiper arm spindles stop in park. Adam told me a horror story of a guy who put new wiper arms on his Mustang and tried them out. The wipers were not in park and the wipers arms were gouged down his hood bending them up in the process. As such Adam is very cautious about this only half presses them on when he fits them. he will lift them off the glass and run the wipers a few times until they settle. Then he will position them correctly. The wiper arms only sit on a splined shaft and pressed on.