Let Me Try That Again…

My previous attempt and many hours of fiddling with things and more plugins didn’t get me very far. Some of you kindly gave me some feedback on what was happening. I agreed with pretty much all the little suggestions that came my way.

I got a little bit cute this time and picked a WordPress theme that I sort of liked. Again I got onto the Chat team and told them what i wanted and they sent me an additional CSS code to paste in. Now it does what I want, mostly. I have been fiddling again with that bit of code customise a little more to my liking.

I have managed to get a menu that scrolls with the blog, a header Image I can use now, A site title and tag line which was missing but added to the header image before.

It looks like the third party theme was a bit flaky and sort of did what it wanted. This WP theme seems to be much better and the help guys will help you fiddle with it.

I have added and amended the sidebar to make it look more up to date while I was at it.

Again please let me know if there are any issues and I will get onto it and fix it. Thanks again for the feedback and patience while I try and sort this lot out.

With any luck tonight I will get into bed before two in the morning!

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A Refreshing Look?

Yesterday I had tried to add a couple of items to my menu bar and I ended up breaking it. 🙁 I managed to get it back again to a normal state but’s not how it was. I was getting constant ‘gateway errors’ and the menus wouldn’t update. I have since been in contact with WordPress Help a couple of times, and they informed me that the theme that I had been using is now eleven years old. I nearly fell out of my comfy office chair when that flashed up on my little chat window.

The task for today was to hunt through all the themes that are out there to see if I could get one to work. I had a priority list of must haves; the image header, custom text colours, post options and of course how it looks and feels.

I found a few but settled on this one. I have been able to edit everything I needed with a the help of a couple of plugins that I need in order to make it all work. So far so good.

Except the header image which is playing me around. 😡

The image I’m trying to use is this one from the pro shoot in Cambridge, which has my blog title and tag line on the picture. The heading space wouldn’t allow both a picture and site tittle for some reason.

The heading looks fine on a couple of browsers Chrome/Firefox and the occasionally on Edge. It works on the mobile phone with the menus via a drop down so it’s much cleaner look too.

If you look at the new design can you please let me know if you have any issues with it, either half showing or heavily cropped like this;

I got a nasty feeling I may have to change this all again. I hope not.

Why did I mess with it? Well, I wanted to add a little ‘For Sale’ heading as I have a little supply of some parts. The addition of the extra menu tab was just to much and the theme had a bit of a frothy fit and wouldn’t play ball anymore.

What I have for sale is a little supply of the genuine Summit Racing Universal Engine Lift Plates. These are aimed at the carburettor guys on any make of engine. at £14.00 + P&P its a right steal. Click here for more pics and details.

In the very near future I will be selling something quite unique for classic Mustang owners. The prototype works and I’m now in collaboration with Mustang Maniac to get them made in volume. It’s all very exciting so watch this space!

Back to this post, I think this is much needed update and clean modern look now. The menu bar should be at the top on a PC so it’s easier to navigate around. There area few little tweaks to the side bar and social media buttons to like and follow.

If ANYTHING doesn’t work or looks rubbish let me know and I will amend it. I’m still playing with some of the settings and I may need to change bits around.

Please let me know if you like it or you want the old back. I can take criticism and take it like a man.

I do have two car shows to post and I haven’t forgotten them, it’s just that I have been busy trying to sort the theme mess out. Funny how a hour or so has turned into nine hours already!

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A Freshen Up

My first proper post of the new year comes at the end of the first month, yes I know that is pretty bad, but there isn’t anything to really say when there are no car shows, (lame excuse time). Is it too late to wish you all a Happy New Year? Anyway, towards the end of December last year I had an email to say that the old blog theme was a bit too dark and sometimes difficult to read on a cell phone. That got me thinking about a very valid point. I hadn’t changed the look in years, so I thought I would update the theme to a lighter and much fresher look. The title for this post was going to be a “A Quick Freshen Up”, unfortunatly it wasn’t anything like as fast as it could have been, so I dropped the “quick”. The process started off with me sifting through lots of themes to see what they looked like, can I have the menu where I wanted it, pictures, widgets etc. I found one that I liked and had created the new header pic. Alas all was not good when I checked the look on other browsers and page sizes. The header image was resized with the page style, that just caused havoc with the title I edited onto a photo itself, what that actually means is that the top part of the header picture couldn’t be seen on wide-screen versions, then only half of the title on the mobile screens. After looking at other various themes I have settled on this one along with another revised new header pic. The old header was based on the car being built with the lights on and the grill. As my car has been completed for a year now (which is still being enjoyed by yours truly), I thought why not have a nice pic of the car, so there it is. I have kept a nod to the old blog pages with the background “pony” image just being an inverted version, with a slight tint added now. I hope people don’t turn away thinking it’s the wrong blog. 🙁

So it was out with the old, and in with the new!

The blog may have a new look and yet I tried to make it still feel the same, so what’s the best bit of the blog now? It’s still the same ol’ me writing about anything however tenuously related to Mustangs. 🙂 Please let me know what you think of the revised blog, did you prefer the old style or like the new lighter version?

Towards the end of last year was interviewed Dennis Fletcher and he posted it on his blog. The last couple of posts from me were reblogs from his site: Customs N Classics, I hope you liked the reads as much as I enjoyed doing it.

The car got a treat over the Holidays, as I asked for donations to the “help keep the Mustang warm” fund. I had been saving up for a while and these came up as a real cheap deal so I ordered them and laid them in the freezing cold. These were 7mm solid PVC, coin top, click together style tiles at half a meter each tile. I ignored the fitting guide (as men do), and made sure that the car’s tyres would run down the middle of the tiles and not across the joins.

The tiles have made a big difference to the temperature in the garage, now it’s not as dusty, non-slip and so much easier to clean up. Not that I spilt anything on the new tiles when they were less than twenty-four hours old! 🙁

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Friday The 13th

No, this post is not about a horror film psycho running about generally being a pain in the ass, but more about the horror of a hangover I had this morning! The hangover was from the team night out that was a real good evening and to be with work colleagues that I also call my friends. I had a day’s holiday owning to me which was just as well because the older I get the more light weight I seem to be getting where this hangover lark comes into the scenario. Alas my self-inflicted pain started to ease at about ten o’clock(ish) this morning. I decided to make good use of my time off by making some small but subtle changes to my humble little blog, this obviously meant that the car had a break just for today. As for the new blog? Well everything is still there and no unexpected changes for the style, layout and functionality, but I wanted to freshen the pages up a little if that makes sense. The blog should now be a little easier to read while maintaining the darker theme and background. The side bar has been tidied up with a few little tweaks made as well. If you can’t tell the difference but it somehow looks a little difference, then I think I have achieved what I set out to achieve, plus it also gives me an excuse to use this picture I found on the net which I quite liked. The changes were not just for the sake of it but it’s something that has been personally bugging me and just looked cramped for some reason. I still haven’t managed to put my finger on it as for the reason why it looked cramped but the feel of the blog just felt like it. during my search for the right theme many were trawled through, some even reminded me that the residual effects of the hang were lurking in the background when faced with gaudy and garish designs! I think I have chosen well from the WordPress themes.

I hope the new (more subtle) design is better, but please let me know if I should revert back or keep the fresher looking style.

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Happy Birthday To One Man…

One man and his Mustang: One year on…

I would like to say a massive THANK YOU to every single one of you who have looked at my pictures, read an article or just laughed at some of the daft situations I have found myself in. Those of you who have “liked”, followed, subscribed, tweeted, contacted me or left a comment I would like to say an extra special: Thank You so much for your time. I appreciate every single one of you.

It was a year ago today that I sat in front of this PC with a fledgling idea in mind that I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. That idea is what you are now reading, my blog. The initial point was for me to store all the work I was doing on the car for my own little online diary if you like, the pictures and words of what I had done on the car, these would allow me to look back on it all one day, or show somebody, anybody who was remotely interested in my car and what had been done. If somebody else wanted to read the blog brilliant, if not I wasn’t going to be upset about it as I had nothing to lose, who wants to read about my ‘ol Mustang? But all that has changed, I started to get emails about similar things I had done, a few questions and few ideas off people to go forward with my car project. I even got a few messages for things they would like to see on the blog. As a result my blog has evolved into a project almost as big as my car restoration so it would seem, and I am very pleased and proud to be able to say that. Now I see my blog more of as a personal “blogumentary” to get this car on the road and maybe help others while I am at it. I have reviews from my own honest point of view, articles and links that interest me and hopefully others too. I now receive “hits” each day looking at all sorts of different things, like photos, reviews, tools, diagrams or an old advert. Those views have come from all over the world; USA, Canada, Australia, Russia, UK, Aruba, Monaco, Iceland, Hong Kong, Kenya, Saudi Arabia to name but just a few, along with some countries I have never heard of before or even imagined would be interested. If I have helped a single person or given somebody an idea, or the confidence to have a go, then I have achieved my own secret little goal, not so secret now though!

Everyday I look at my stats, comments or emails I have been sent, it’s still a buzz to know that somebody has had a look at my blog for what ever reason. This little blog has now become part of my life and I hope to continue and grow that relationship with my fellow bloggers and peers online. I now follow lots of other blogs too and no, not just the petrol head blogs either, lots of photographic blogs, and some funny blogs that I have been introduced to which have broadened my outlook on life because of this site.

One day, I will post a video of the car on the road and me at the wheel with a silly grin the size of the hood !!

And I hope this little pic I found on the net says it all to the rest of the world.

A special personal thanks goes out to:

Adam at Mustang Maniac and his guys for their generous knowledge and help.

Will from Park Garage who was there at the first turn of the key.

My work colleagues who put with me regarding what I have done on my car every week!

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WordPress Family Award

Again I have been caught slightly off guard with a new award which has just started making the rounds. I am always left a little speechless that: A) I am nominated in the first place. B) I have regular visitors to my little ‘ol blog that to be fair has a rather limited market of appeal.

With pleasure I can say a big thank you to Dana from http://atlastracer.wordpress.com who kindly nominated me for the award.

As with all these awards the rules are quite simple:

1. Display the award logo on your blog.

2. Link back to the person who nominated you.

3. Nominate 10 others you see as having an impact on your WordPress experience and family

4. Let your 10 Family members know you have awarded them

5. That is it. Just please pick 10 people who have taken you as a friend, and spread the love

It’s hard to single out just 10 that I wish to award, I know that at least one of my nominations already has this award. So if you’re not chosen it’s nothing personal and the others I would like to nominate don’t accept awards. If I have nominated you and you do not wish to continue with the award, or don’t have the time to do this award thing then I take no offence at all. I just wanted to show 10 blogs that I appreciate them, it’s a shame I can’t award all of the blogs I follow. I really don’t like doing this list thing as I follow all my blogs and read them for a reason, so I have chosen the list below on the basis of interaction and the general feel-good factor of the blogs in no particular order. Yes there is the petrol infused car stuff as you would expect but a few surprises too.

1) Dana from http://atlastracer.wordpress.com/ – I know you nominated me, but if I had this from somebody else I would have nominated you.

2) Debbie from http://hoodscoop03.com/ – my blog buddy from across the pond who shares the Mustang love.

3) Ron from http://ronscubadiver.wordpress.com/ who takes some superb photos and shows me places I wanted to go from all angles.

4) http://stagownersclub.wordpress.com/ – I always wanted a Mustang, but I said if I couldn’t have a Mustang I would have a Triumph stag, I can feel the passion from these guys and their cars too.

5) http://www.rodalena.com/ – just an enjoyable varied read who has followed me for a long time now.

6) Alicia from http://aliciabenton.wordpress.com/ – I just reading this blog.

7) Karen from http://karengadient.com/ – some wonderful things with Photoshop.

8) http://f1superswede.wordpress.com/ – If I ever need info on the F1 scene here it is.

9) Jim from http://harbin77.wordpress.com/ – A genuine nice guy who owned a Mustang!

10) http://storysmitten.wordpress.com/ – A great set of snippets from stories here.

A special mention to all the photo blogs I follow too, the world becomes a much smaller place when I see your pictures.

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A little R & R

The weekend is almost over and that is the last Bank Holiday before Christmas I am sad to say, an extra day for a weekend now and again makes all the difference.

Rest. A little bit of relaxing was the order of the weekend. There was a little shopping Saturday and me pottering around in the man cave rearranging my tool chest and just trying to make it a working space again instead of my cave becoming a storage area for garden tools and rubber boots. Sunday was a day out with the wife at a big hall near us, each year they wear period costumes with role play for the Tudor era. All the characters were brilliant, sewing, weaving, making felt, cooking, archery, hand making wooden beams for a roof etc. I tried my hardest to break their characters into the modern-day English, they weren’t having none of it, instead I was greeted with things like “Master, I know not this word”, Did they really speak like that? My wife reliably informs me they did.

The car, today was all about the other “R”, Rust. I pushed the car out the garage on such a nice day and pulled the carpets up, pulled the old sound proofing out and cleaned the floor pan. The was a little light surface rust on the bulk head so I decided to treat that little bit, then another little bit, before I knew it I had gone back to the seat mounts with the anti-rust agent. It was not bad at all, just a few little surface patches here and there. The replacement floor pan still looked like new. I also replaced my original plenum today and put new pipes in too for the demister. The old plenum had an issue with the flap not working properly inside to divert the air around, but I was going to put up with it. That was until I moved the lever and the flap inside made a cracking noise and nothing moved, the air direction plate had broke off completely. I got a replacement from Mustang Maniac of course and it’s now a much stronger version. A bit of a pain job to get in and out, but worth the hassle. Nothing looks any different in the car apart from being dark patches where the rust used to be. With that in mind the photo’s I took you couldn’t see the difference, so I didn’t post any today.

But, to make up for it I was sent this little funny via Twitter, it did make made me laugh and I shared it with the wife. My better half just gave me “That” look again. But I have just got to share it!

I have had a request for the blog layout, I was asked to do a little something with the menus of mine. I thought they looked OK, but I will move them about and make them a little more user-friendly. Let me know if they are any better or go back to how it was.

(Thanks for the feedback Sam.)

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Unexpected Bouquet Award

There are not many things that cause me to be speechless because I like to think I have an answer (or a point) for most things. Today was one of those moments. I was nominated for the Bouquet of Three Award! I write my blog about my passion for the restoration of my Mustang and I enjoy doing it. I never expect to receive any award for that reason as it is quite a niche subject, but if anybody takes time out to read my blog then I am grateful that they have kindly given up their time to share my passion. There are some really great blogs out there and I was lucky enough to find a great blog by Alicia Benton http://aliciabenton.wordpress.com/ Her blog has made me laugh, reflect on and look at things from a slightly different perspective too; it really is worth stopping by to have read. I am humbled to be nominated for this award. I would honestly nominated the award to Alicia if she hadn’t already got it.

Thank you Alicia so very much.

Here are the rules:

1. Proudly display the Award Certificate on your blog page!

2. Announce your win with a post. Be sure to link your post back to me as a “thank you” for the nomination.

3. Present up to 15 awards to fellow deserving bloggers.

4. Let them know you’ve nominated them for this awesome award.

5. Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

There are nearly 50 plus blogs that I follow and I wish I could give them all an award. But I am restricted of course, so it is a difficult decision I must choose, but here goes –

My nominations in no particular order are as follows:

http://hoodscoop03.com/ – I love this blog and we have become good friends through our mutual love of cars.

http://ronscubadiver.wordpress.com/ – This guy has a true talent for photography and wouldn’t mind parting with money for some of his photos. My favourite photography blog.

http://karengadient.com/ – This is a refreshing bright and colourful blog that keeps me coming back for more.

http://cruisin2.wordpress.com/ – This blog makes me think, I don’t always agree with everything he says, but is that not the point to make us think? A great blog

http://dr1ven.wordpress.com/ – A great petrol heads blog. A wide variety of subjects keeps me informed and educated.

http://julieriso.wordpress.com/ – A great blog to travel around the world with some great posts.

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/ – Another great around the world blog, photos and posts are top quality.

http://quattroporte3.wordpress.com/ – I have only been following this blog for a little while and it does inspire me, when I think I am grinding to a halt I can see the hard work that has gone into this guys hard work. I can really relate to it.

http://www.rodalena.com/ – A bright refreshing and informative blog, I’m not sure why I like this blog but I do, but it’s a Well written blog.

http://f1superswede.wordpress.com/ – I love the Formula 1 racing and this guy gives me everything I need, if I miss a race and I need to catch up – this is where I will be.

http://thejigglybits.com/ – This is a great blog and cheers me up no end. Well written and I look forward to the posts.

http://theverybesttop10.com/ – This guy has awards all over the place and it’s easy to see why. A few more won’t hurt.

http://superkonr.wordpress.com/ – A blog dedicated to restoring a classic Mustang.

http://oversteergarage.com/ – A varied video blog of all great American cars.

http://atlastracer.wordpress.com/ – Another great travel blog with some great photos.

Seven Interesting Facts about me:

1) I polish my tools before I put them all away in my polished tool chest

2) I have a sleep disorder where I wake up at least once every night

3) I love gadgets

4) I read the manuals for all the stuff I buy except when I make a flat pack of something. It’s a man thing!

5) I made myself sick once by go-karting for to long without a break

6) I have fallen asleep in shop doorway in London after a heavy night on the town. I woke up with some small change in my lap!

7) I honestly like the Nick Cage movie – Gone In 60 Seconds

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She Moves!

Epic news from the garage.

Today was a great day. I pushed the car out of the garage and poured yet another gallon of premium unleaded into the tank. Turned her over for thirty seconds and let it settle. Turned the key again and she fired up. I let the car run for a few minutes with a little blip of the throttle now and again as you do. It was great to hear the sound again. The car has had the all the brakes done, the single master cylinder converted to a dual system and bled twice. I got in the car nervous, I put the foot on the brake, now it wasn’t as hard as it was. I Put the auto into “R” the revs dropped and I released the brake. She rolled backwards under her own power. Foot on the brake and not a lot until it was almost on the floor, but it stopped. I put the car in “D” and the revs dropped. I released the brake and she crept forward a few feet and sort of stopped going up the kerb onto the drive. A touch of the throttle and the rear wheels snapped into action and off we went. Ohh sh….t, I hit the brake and not a lot. I pressed hard and knocked into “N” I stopped. My heart was pounding and my heart was thrilled and my head was a little sad. I would like the brakes to have been a bit more, but, the brakes are new & not run it yet, rust on the faces of the brakes and the pedal probably needs adjusting a bit more. All these things will get better as time goes on and I guess I am expecting too much to start with. The car is just an animal to take of like that, I loved it! After I pulled up and got out with a smile I was pleased to see that the usual petrol heads had come round to see me while she was running. We had a catch up on the latest bits gone in and the next project to do. A new neighbour who just moved in down the road followed the noise and came up to me to say hello, another petrol head likes the car. A quick hello to David – a pleasure to meet you and talk cars for a while. 🙂

Over the course of time I have told people about this blog and they say they will look it up. When I bump into them again the first thing they say is “What is that blog address again as I forgot it by the time I got home?” This prompted me to do something a little fun, I got some business cards made up with the details on of the blog, email, Facebook and Twitter. The people seem to like them and I have had a few more hits after I gave them out. What do you think?

I am delighted with the day so far but I still can’t find that stupid brake flare adaptor! I was hoping it was going to drop out, but no that was too simple.

Today was a small drive for a classic Mustang, but huge step for the project.

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It’s in the can

Keepin’ the stock look

What is he bangin’ on about? Yesterday I spent a few hours down at Mustang Maniac where I was talking to Adam about my next project and what I needed, that project being my wiper motor. It turns out that my two-speed motor is like trying to find mermaid tears in the ocean. It seems a total nightmare, but Adam is on the case so I will just have to wait and see what happens. While I was down there I also took my power steering pump and we had a look at the issues, the main one being that the pump is more interested in squirting fluid out the seal than it should be pumping out the back into the steering ram! It turns out that the last Air Con version pump was fitted to another car and I was going to be without. But that wasn’t a problem for Adam as he said “I will swap the “cans” over for you, it will be better than a new one.” This entailed taking the old case of my pump, and putting it straight onto the new upright filler tube version. The correct pump was found with the in line fittings and we went off to the workshops with a couple of pumps and the usual escort of guard dogs. I was told that the fitting for the pulley was an “interference fit”, this was new one on me. It turns out that interference fit is where the bore is microns smaller than the shaft and so its a real tight fit, no key ways are used. The special tool was found and I was shown how to do it. There is no way that any of my tools would have done it without damaging the pulley wheel or damaging the case. Watching intently the process took no more than twenty minutes which included me saying “hang on, I want a picture of that”. The cans were swapped over, an I still have the original case and tag under the hood from the original factory fit and not a reconditioned one. How’s that for customer service? I have added the full process to the existing guide, click here, or go to the photos, Engine bay – Power Steering Pump project.

Fitting the tool in place — Fitting the removal tool in place

As we were walking around I was shown around the new additions to the yard. I was shown a customer car that was a complete nightmare that was purchased in good faith, but turned out to be a mess and was in need of some serious TLC. Speaking to Adam he will post his set of pics on the blog when he gets a few minutes. There is also some news he will post about a car he has just bought. I was going to spill the beans but you will just have to wait and see on his blog what it is. It’s a little bit special shall we say.

I got round to bleeding the front brakes today and I can say – I have a pedal. Ohhh, yeah baby! I press the pedal the drums stop, the fluid don’t come out. The pedal don’t go all the way down to the bulk head now and there is resistance. I started off with the Sealey vacuum tool, (review to foloow very soon), then when the final air was out the tried and trusted pipe in a pot method was to be used. All I can say is thanks to the wife who sat there pressing the pedal to command. I did say it will only take two minutes, but as I have a clock in the garage I was constantly reminded of how many minutes had elapsed since she got in the car. The funny side is that as I have no seat in the car, all I could see was a pair of eyes looking over the top of the door sill when I got back up to top the reservoir up again. I wasn’t laughin’ much, honestly darling. Next Weekend I will put more fuel in the car and reverse it out of the garage and drive it back in.

That will be a big day for me if it works, I may just have to get a beer out to celebrate or I will be crying in my beer!