classic car – Page 2 – One Man And His Mustang

This weekend has been all about getting stuff off.

This weekend I am not sure what has come over me, I don’t know if it was the sunshine for most of the week and now it’s the weekend that got me in this mood. I think I have taken more bits of the car now than when I got it! The front valance is off (click here), the radiator valance is off, the hood catch is off (click here), the front drums are off again (click here) and then I started on the inside.

So the inside, has not got a headliner, no dash cover, no driver seat, steering wheel off, no rear parcel shelf and no dashboard again. The seat was removed as I needed clear space to get to the wires and under dash work. The seat frame had collapsed and my mate Will at Park Garage repaired it for me. The headliner, will be one of the last things I get for the inside. The dash is now out again so I can get to the wiper motor a lot easier. The wiper motor was burnt and melted, which I knew about when I went to look at the car and took a look under the dash. The bloke I bought it from said it wouldn’t take much to put right. Oh, how little I knew then. The fact this classic car restoration thing is supposed to be a learning curve for me turned out to be a reinforced concrete wall that I had run into head first just after I got the car. I now have manuals and I now have people in the know at Mustang Maniac who help me out with parts, advice I need and parts I should have but don’t even know it – yet. Sometimes it feels like trying to run up the playground slide in the wet! Don’t tell me you never don’t that as a kid. 🙂

What am I on about this weekend? I decided that the next job is going to be the wiper motor replacement, the fact the wipers are stuck half way across the screen annoys me and the fact I have not tidied up the wires since I re-wired her annoys me. The reason I have not tidied the wiring as I knew the wiper motor had to come out sooner rather than later, this weekend was that time. My research tells me it was going to be a difficult job so I put it off for as long as possible . At the Enfield Pageant I purchased some stubby spanners with this job very much in mind as well. Armed with my selection of spanners, screw drivers, pliers, various assorted ratchets & sockets, WD40, torches and just about anything for four bolts or three if I was lucky! The wiper motor is held to a bracket by three insulated bolts to a bracket. The bracket is held in place by four bolts. Two bolts at the top behind the dash and two at the bottom right up under where the brake pedal is located. Plan A: Wiper motor off, job done. Plan B: Bracket off not ideal but it won’t come to that.

So I sat down crossed legged on the floor pan and started to investigate. It was dark – torch (Snap On magnetic) sorted. It was very tight in there and I couldn’t see where I needed to go, extending mirror – sorted. 7/16ths stubby spanner to the inside of the bracket – nope! The arm of the back of the motor was sitting right on top of the nut I was trying to get too. Plan B was lookin’ ominous for implementation. Idea, Plan A/2, remove the arm then I could get to the bolts, I went to remove the nut on top, job done. Just had to lift up the arm of the motor spindle and I was in there. Nope, it weren’t gonna move. Poxy Plan B it was going to have to be. Remember what they said on YouTube – clips at the bottom and clips at the top. They will be a pain but can be done. There it was clip at the bottom, screwdriver in second attempt to open the clip success. I smiled. Then the top wiper arm pivot clip. What clip, there is no clip. So I cleaned the top up of grease and grime and repositioned the mirror. Moving the fingers to the top I felt it and my heart sank. A C-clip was on the top. It was turning quite freely and laughing in my face of concentration and patience. I tried long nose pliers and circlips pliers. No way, so I had to resort to improvised Plan B/2. This involved a weird contortion of the left arm and a small screw driver to lift the clip up on one side. But I had to have my other hand through the radio hole to hold the clip still from spinning. So there I was hands in the dash head trying to look through a letterbox of a dash-board and a steering column jammed just under the collar-bone. Eventually after an unknown amount of efforts one side lifted up and then it pinged up into my hand. Ha, who’s laughin’ now then clip? There is no way that little swine that still has my flaring tool part is gonna have this bit as well. OK, so I bent it a bit but it was off, I straightened it with pliers and it is fine again. The wiper arms came of no problem after that, they were able to be moved quite freely once they were disconnected. Now the four bolts for the bracket top two were simple and the bottom two were a bit of a pain. To cut a long story short I have posted a guide on the process here, or go to the Photos – Inside Car – Wiper Motor 2 Speed Project. Once I eventually got the bracket out it was time to take it back to the man cave, I uncrossed my legs and then it hit me, cramp in my leg. I couldn’t stand up or get out the car, I had to spin round on my back an straighten the leg up towards the rear window with my head under the dash next to the brake pedal. The pain subsided and it was time to get out of the car. I was crossed legged for almost two hours according to my clock on the wall. I knew my legs were getting a bit numb but my concentration had taken my mind of it all.

The parts were taken back for photographing for the steps. Sunday I managed to get out the power assisted steering pump as well as this has a leak from the seal at the front of the pump, I will need a new one of these too. I have also got a set of photos for steering pump removal here, or go to the Photos – Engine Bay – Power Steering pump. So If your reading this Adam, I think you know what I need, a two-speed wiper motor, wiper under dash loom and a power steering pump for an Air Con fitting car. The wiper motor was worse than I expected, here is a couple of pictures of the damage to the wiper motor, other parts of the wiring loom were like this as well and can be seen in the original wiring pictures.

They don’t tell you in workshop manual give yourself a break to avoid getting cramp! The do’s and don’ts of wiper motor removal.

Do take a break, and don’t sit there too long with your legs crossed. Will I get the clip back on? I hope so and to be honest a bit worried about it, this time I will not sit crossed legged for too long, but I will keep my fingers crossed!

Quick links:

Wiper 2 Speed Motor Removal – here

Power Steering Pump Removal – here

UK Registration Plates & Dates – here

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Another productive weekend on the car

The sun was out when I got up, thanks to the inconsiderate neighbour who decided that revving his engine up would be an ideal way to warm it up. Don’t you just love those people? Anyway I was all excited to get the last brake set on and the drive shaft back in. True to form out to the man cave got all my tools out and lined up the parts like a load of soldiers on parade. I assembled the brakes in record time, and came up with a little tip. If you have the drum brake spring removal tool there is a one end of the leg that will allow you to slide the spring onto the center pivot, apply a little grease or oil on the leg and the spring will just slip straight over onto the pivot. Simple, but effective! So the brakes were with the drive shaft now out in the garage with me. Everything assembled fine, nuts done up fine and the drive shaft went in no problems at all. You can see the whole process here or go to the Photos section Drive Shaft. The last part of the jigsaw was the hand brake. This was missing off the car so I need a new one. Thanks to Adam at Mustang Maniac again, he provided me with all the parts I needed when I was there last. The cable was fitted into the backing plate and the cable was bent a little to make the route correct. Assembling the front end linkage was a breeze. I have now written up the process and posted the link in the Photos section under Wheels and Brakes, Hand brake replacement or click here for the quick link. During this work it had started to rain but I was unaware of that as I was sort of wedged under the car again. Once I got out from under the car my next job was going to be postponed. So while I had all the tools out I decided to the rocker covers of the engine, they were going a little surface rusty and didn’t look to pretty. So like a man possessed I took the bolts out and removed the rockers. Then it hit me, the mixture of engine oil, fuel, metal and old car. That’s the smell of a classic car, or is it the smell of something leaking? I have mentioned it before, Eau De Mustang. I cleaned up the rockers and they have been rubbed down, treated, primed and painted, I’m not sure if it will work or not, but I will give it a go. I have pics and I will post them as soon as I have sorted them out, hopefully this week sometime. My postponed job i mentioned earlier, I manage to start today (Sunday) which was the inside of the front valance anti rust treatment. Again I have pictures of that little project ongoing as it stands at the moment, click here or go to the Photos Body Work section.

On another note, my new back gate. Yes it looks nice, but now it does not shut properly, it does if you push it at the bottom. The reason is it has warped badly at the bottom part. There is the thickness of the gate that it has moved about two inches. So if left on its own without shutting it properly via the latch you can see through the gap. I am not happy about it. I can’t complain as it’s wood and a natural substance. Does anybody have any ideas on how to get the gate back into shape? It’s gutting as the gate was perfect for about three weeks, then all of a sudden it has moved which is probably a result of the rain. Give me a classic Mustang any day to work on.

I just thought I would post a pic picture of the old set of shoes from the drivers side rear brakes, they say a picture speaks a thousand words. I had only three: OMG!