Tag: cleaning

Lockdown

So here I am under government instructions to stay at home to stem the spread of the Covid19, as is the rest of the country. Some are taking this enforced lockdown more seriously than others I might add. All the car shows I had lined up to go to and have been looking forward to have been cancelled, I can accept that if it’s short term, as long as I can at least get a few in before the end of the year. But what can you do in the mean time? To while away the time I have just finished my mini project which I was going to make last when I have a little time over the weekends. Now I have more time than I actually planned for. So not only have I completed my project, I have written about it too. You will be pleased to know that it’s Mustang related of course, but in the form of Lego. So if you were wondering is it worth it and what’s involved let me explain;

The Sales Pitch from : Lego

Discover the magic of an iconic 1960s American muscle car with the LEGO® Creator Ford Mustang, featuring dark-blue bodywork with white racing stripes, bonnet scoop, printed mustang grille badge, GT emblems and 5-spoke rims with road-gripping tires. Developed with input from Ford, this authentic replica comes with optional add-ons for customization, including a selection of license plates, supercharger, rear ducktail spoiler, beefy exhaust pipes, front chin spoiler and a nitrous oxide tank. You can even adjust the lift of the rear axle for an extra-mean look! Remove the roof panel or open the doors and you have access to the detailed interior with handsome seats, radio, working steering and a mid-console gearshift. Store items in the trunk or lift the hood to reveal a detailed big block 390 V8 engine with battery, hoses and air filter detailing. This advanced building set has been designed to provide a challenging and rewarding building experience full of nostalgia and makes a great centerpiece for the home or office.

– Authentic replica of a 1960s Ford Mustang featuring dark-blue bodywork with white racing stripes, air scoop, 5-spoke rims with road-gripping tires, and a selection customization add-ons.

– Open the doors or remove the roof panel to access the detailed interior with handsome seats, radio, mid-console gearshift and working steering.

– Open the trunk to store items and lift the hood to reveal a detailed Ford Mustang V8 engine with battery, hoses and air filter.

– Includes a printed mustang grille badge and 2 GT emblems.

– Customize the Ford Mustang with the included supercharger, rear ducktail spoiler, beefy exhaust pipes, front chin spoiler and a nitrous oxide tank.

– Choose from a selection of license plates.

– Lift the hood to check out the realistic engine detailing.

– Adjust the lift of the rear axle for a real mean look!

– New-for-March-2019 special elements include 5-spoke rims, 2×8 brick with bow, 1×3 mustang logo tile, 2×4 bow with ‘GT’ Emblem.

Measures over 3” (10cm) high, 13” (34cm) long and 5” (14cm) wide.

Source:  https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/ford-mustang-10265

What You Get:

You get a big box and a lot of smaller plastic bags inside, an instruction manual and a sticker sheet.

What’s In The Box?

You get eleven plastic bags of parts although they are labelled as one to six with all but bag five having a smaller bag with the same number. A total of 1471 parts for you to try and sort out.

TIP:

Don’t open all the bags at once, only open what you need!

Instructions:

The instruction book starts with a brief background to Ford and the Mustang with time lines. A nice little addition it must be said.

The start of the instructions tells you which packets to use for which section build.

The instructions are all diagram based with the parts you need counted out and shown to you before assembly. Where the similar looking parts and colours are used the instructions has a 1:1 check to make sure you get the correct part. Some of the differences are very subtle.

Building the Model

This is the first time I have touched Lego in about forty five years or so. Oh how it’s moved on. The tolerances are still perfect, things fit together and don’t fall apart. A huge leap forward to building cars and houses when I first played with it and stood on the bricks!

The hours just rush by when building this. I challenge anybody to spend only what they think is an hour doing a build without anything to tell you the time. When you think it’s been an hour it’s a lot more than that. I found it addictive to do a page, then think ‘I will quickly do that bit as well’, it draws you in.

You start at the back of the car building the suspension, lots of little cogs seem to be placed for no apparent reason, then a few pages later it suddenly comes together. The sense of achievement is well thought out and makes you want to come back for more.

I found it easier to get all the parts I would be using for that little build located into an area to save looking for the parts as I went along, which I found could delay my build of that little section. Find it, collate it, then build it and repeat. No matter how you do it, the whole process is enjoyable. It actually started to upset my OCD in the end and I had to line the bits up I was about to use and separate into little bub piles of parts.

Next you move to the middle of the car for the transmission tunnel, adding the gear shift, radio and dials to the bricks. Parts seem to be built modular style then applied to the overall model itself.

Steering and engine next, considering the level of detail in this model I found my first grump. The engine only has four spark plug leads. They could of made it eight and just gave it that little bit extra detail.

Nice detail touches on the engine due to the name and the oil cap etc.

Building the body work is interesting how it comes together.

The door hinges caught me out as I had a little bit round the wrong way. The supplied brick separating tool is great and saves digging your fingernails between the bricks.

The design of the model has taken a lot into account for the assembly. They get you to place some round white bricks under the front corners of the car. When you press the bricks onto the model, these corner blocks means that it doesn’t flex or come apart when you add the little sub sections of build. When the car is finished the round white bricks are then removed, fitted together to make the NOS bottle for the trunk, providing you want that of course. How cool is that to reuse bricks in order to make your build journey enjoyable?

Just like restoring a real car, seeing the seats go in and the rear ‘glass’ starts to show the model is nearing completion. The hood offers the option for the stock scoop look or the opening for the super charger. It doesn’t matter if you change your mind later, it only takes around five seconds to swap it over.

The roof is designed to be a single section so it’s easy to remove and see the detail inside the model.

The other options for the model are the side pipes, front spoiler, rear spoiler and NOS bottle.

The completed model looks just as mean as the real thing.

I mentioned earlier about the two engine options; the standard or the hot rod version. The super charger will poke out the opening in the hood, or use the stock pan and the scoop. I built both just because I could and can swap them as I want.

The Super charger option works well and looks in proportion to the rest of the car.

The underside of the model shows the level of detail you can’t see, it also allows access to the thumb adjustable wheel to raise up the back of the car’s stance.

The completed model looks quality and withstands being handled without falling apart.

There is a third party option to add LED lights to the model. It does involve some disassembly, but the instructions and video show you how to do that and only take fifteen minutes or so to upgrade. If you want your car to be on show with the lights then it could be worth fitting that kit at the same time to save a bit of hassle later.

Results:

An amazing model and sits nicely with my other model. I need to get a little case for this one as well I think

It was a joy to make, and is a pleasure to look at. The parts are real top quality as you expect from genuine Lego kits, everything just works together. I had no missing parts and everything was there.

Rating:  9 out 10

An excellent model as I said, but there was just the number of spark plug wires that let the detail aspect down a bit as a model for me.

The instructions are very good indeed and well paced, the printing was fine and clear. The colour definition between the lighter coloured parts could be confusing and I would liked to have seen a bit more colour definition. Those are the only two reasons I marked it down.

Ease of use – 8 out 10

Finish – 10 out 10

Conclusion:

A lot of money for a Lego kit, but I was impressed. On the other hand you do get a lot of good quality model for that money. The price may put this kit out of reach for many to buy and build. As with all things Lego the price seems to stay put and not vary much.

The age range to start this is suggested at 16+ which I personally think is a little harsh, perhaps a petrol headed 14 year old into cars would like it, 15 years old on should be fine. Sometimes the small fingers do help, rather than my big hands getting in the way. This build will keep you quiet for a good few hours either as a young adult or a middle aged man like me.

The instructions take you on a journey that you’re not aware of, and completing each little bit leads gives you a sense of achievement enough to make you want to complete the next section. The Lego look with the little bumps and strange lines works well on the model and certainly doesn’t detract from the over all look. You can see it’s Lego and will appreciate that somebody has gone to good lengths to complete it and enjoyed it at the same time.

When it was finished I was a bit gutted that I didn’t have any more to build to be honest.

Would I recommend it? Yes. But, it’s expensive.

So there you have it, a good many hours spent working on a Mustang, all be it a much smaller, modular version of the real thing. I will be writing some more car detailing reviews soon, so keep an eye out for those. If I can’t drive my my car at least I can still clean it, even though it’s already clean. It also keeps me out of the way being indoors with the wife. The more I get under her feet the more she will find me “jobs” to do. She is trying to teach me to cook as well, me and kitchens don’t go well it has to be said. Yet when I try and get her to clean, polish, wax and detail her own car, the same levels of (non) enthusiasm I showed to cooking is reciprocated and more.

I do know that my time is already being allocated to redecorating the house, even though it did some of it just over a year ago. I have spotted the delivery of a few large tins of paint. So I need to keep busy, keep scarce in order to put off the the job that I seriously detest – decorating.

I think I need to get another model though to keep me quiet in these unprecedented times of forced isolation. Or I may end up cleaning walls and applying paint rather than applying extra layers of top quality wax to my pride and joy. Who am trying to kid? It’s not if if decorate, it’s a case of when!

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Double Wash Out (part 2)

Following on from the last post which was about the Fast & Loud show on the Saturday this is a post about the Sunday; Stonham Barns Spring Break. After cleaning the car from the stop home on Saturday I sat in the arm-chair slightly deflated and checked the weather app, OK I checked all three of my weather apps and one of which I even paid for. All of them said that the Sunday was going to be a better day with overcast conditions, only a thirty percent chance of rain at midday from just one app. I decided to take a chance for a second day, after all the odds were in my favour right?

So I got up next morning and the sky was clear, but a little breezy that’s all. I fired up the freshly cleaned beast and took a what is usually an enjoyable ride out to the show just a short half hour away. I jumped on the dual carriageway and started to relax and enjoy the drive. Then there it was, the first drop of rain. The air turned the colour of my car, the rain fell heavier and soon it was pouring, again. I had the choice to turn around in a few minutes at the next junction and go home or carry on hoping it would pass. I continued with my now somewhat ruined drive. The further I drove the less the rain fell, decision time. I continued on towards the clearer skies with a little hope. Some twenty minutes later I made the turn of to the show and I followed on behind the conga of classic cars waiting to get into the show. We can’t all be wrong can we? It was going to be OK. We were ushered in efficiently and I parked up, got out and the sun was starting to make a show itself.

A few tiny very fine spots of rain filled the air just a little damp, nothing to worry about. I dried the car and spoke to few familiar faces and we discussed the weather for a little while. Within the space of half an hour that thirty percent turned into one hundred percent rain. Within minutes the car was wet again and now so was I.

I was so miserable I even took a video of the rain sitting on my freshly waxed car! 🌧

Yet more of the same ol’ choices for the weekend to date, do I go home or stay and see if the shower passes. I decided to look around at the other cars as they all seemed to be staying too. I recognised a lot of the cars from yesterday at this show, many sitting inside them with a flask of coffee and steaming up windows.

There was a few Mustangs there too, including this distressed Mad Max look-alike, which has fake side up exhausts that were just plastic plumbing pipes just behind the real ones, even spotted a sweet wrapper a the bottom of one of them. But lots of time and effort spend on the car and fair play to them.

There was a strong showing of American classics at this show as there always seems to be.

There were some traders that had covered their tables with ground sheets to protect their stock, but the trouble is that you couldn’t see anything to buy. I didn’t even buy anything to cheer myself up.

After three hours of relentless rain I decided to go home. Which would involve a more thorough clean as the car was no going to stand until the next show. I used cloths to wipe inside the wheel arches to remove dirt and debris from the inner side bend of the wheel arch on each corner of the car. What a terrible start to the show season, it can only get better I guess.

Here’s the thing, I don’t need apps or Google as my wife said to me as I walked out the door; ‘you do know it’s going to rain?’ She was right, AGAIN!

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Bookings

The car show season is almost upon us now and I must admit that I’m suffering from PMS, that’s ‘Parked Mustang Syndrome’. I would like to take credit for that, but I can’t as I had seen it on a Meme and thought I would reuse it.

Over the last couple of years a source of frustration trying to find car shows and what needs to be done to get into them. It used to be a case of turn up on the day, show your car and talk to lots of lovely like-minded people. Now to get in the shows – you have to fill in forms, pay upfront, provide your insurance details and sign all sorts of stuff to say you won’t leave before a given time etc. Is it just me or have things gotten very busy? I have booked three car shows so far that are local to me and particular favourites of mine. I have a list of a few more that I want to attend so I hope I can get into them.

I have one booking which I am looking forward to very much and has taken a few emails to arrange, however it’s not a car show as such, but obviously will revolve around my car. The booking will be at the end of March this year and I hope to bring the full story on that for you shortly after. It should be a good post with lots of pics maybe a video or two.

I have not been idle in the mean time, I have been reviewing lots of car cleaning and detailing products. All have been listed under the ‘Car Detailing Reviews’ menu at the top. Snow foam, glass cleaners, wheel cleaners, decontaminate, glue removers and more all under each manufacturer’s name. As you can see, the reviews are not done just in the Mustang, but also our daily drivers. Some reviews have been great, and there has even been the odd over rated product too. Remember all my reviews are independent and purchased with my own hard-earned cash.

Hopefully the post should be more regular now the show season is ready to roll.

I can’t wait. 👍🙂

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The Classic Car Code

My first trip of the year in my car was fine, but I had a few scary moments there and back. There were idiots with no consideration slicing across the front of my car, the other was to avoid all the trenches or pot holes in the road. The roads in the UK are complete joke right now to be honest after the snow, sun and rain. I think that I compressed my spine by an inch and shook a filling out my tooth due to all the mega craters in the road. I guess that’s what you get when stiffen the suspension in order to make the car handle a bit better.

During the round trip I had a thought to myself wondering if these people realise what us Classic Car owners are thinking while we drive along? So, I had a little fun and came up with this little list in my head then wrote it down before I forgot it;

  1. We treat everybody on the road as somebody who can’t drive properly.
  2. We seriously believe that other road users want to crash into us at every junction.
  3. Pulling out from a junction at the last-minute in front of us really is a problem.
  4. We never trust somebody’s indicator as being their true intention.
  5. We give ourselves extra space to the car in front to allow us time to slow and stop as our brakes may not be as good as modern cars.
  6. We give ourselves extra space to avoid the chance of any stones being flicked up causing a stone chip on our paint jobs.
  7. Our paint jobs can cost as much as a small family car.
  8. Stone chips may look tiny to you, but to us they look as big as a satellite dish and just as ugly.
  9. It may look like we are drunk while driving although we’re not. We are avoiding the pot holes in the road, you normal car drivers wouldn’t give a second glance to.
  10. Pot holes are like moon craters or trenches for classic cars.
  11. We spend as much time looking at the road conditions as we do predicting traffic.
  12. If you wish to overtake us we don’t mind, but don’t chop across the front of our car, give us space, see points 4, 5 & 6.
  13. We will avoid a crash at all costs and we will take extra care.
  14. We will avoid mud. That mud stores moisture and starts the rust process off.
  15. We are paranoid about rust. We can hear our cars rusting in the garage!
  16. We don’t drive close to side of the road where there are hedges as they are a potential for paint damage.
  17. We will stop rather than drive past or through a bush or hedge.
  18. We will slow down for large puddles.
  19. We don’t like rain.
  20. We will do everything we can to protect our cars from water damage.
  21. Tailgating makes us nervous, we won’t speed up just because you want to go faster.
  22. Because we tinker around on our cars doesn’t mean anything is wrong.
  23. If you see our car and you don’t like what you see, don’t tell us because we don’t care.
  24. We are happy to talk to anybody about our cars, but please don’t tell what our cars should look like or what we have done wrong in restoring it.
  25. We will drive around endlessly looking for a safe place to park.
  26. If our car is parked somewhere you can guarantee we can still see it.
  27. There is no need to touch our cars.
  28. Finger prints on our paint is a problem for us. We will clean it off.
  29. Leaning on our cars is definitely not acceptable.
  30. The tinkle of zips, belts, buckles or the metallic sound of a ring will damage our paint.
  31. Young children with ice creams are a potential for more unnecessary cleaning.
  32. Dogs using our tyres as a mobile toilet is not acceptable. We will clean it off.
  33. We don’t like parking under trees because tree sap can ruin paint. We will clean it off.
  34. Birds mess on the car will cause serious damage to paint work. We will clean it off.
  35. Dead insects on our cars is unsightly and can cause damage. We will clean it off.
  36. Cleaning our cars is a pleasure and some of our cleaning products can cost as much as a tank of fuel.
  37. The “You missed a bit” cleaning joke isn’t funny, honestly.
  38. No we won’t clean your car when we have finished ours.
  39. Yes we do need to clean our car if its been in the garage, it gets dusty.
  40. We tend not to thrash our cars around just to prove a point for you.
  41. The grip from our tyres may not be as good as modern-day compounds.
  42. A set of traffic lights is not a cue for drag race with you.
  43. The interior of our classic cars are cleaned with the same care as the outside.
  44. Adding fuel to our cars means we will wipe off every single spilt drop.
  45. We carry spare fluids in the trunk for all eventualities under the hood.
  46. We sit by our cars at car shows to keep an eye on our cars.
  47. No you can’t sit in it – don’t ask.
  48. No we won’t start our car up just so you can hear it, wait untill we leave.
  49. There are two prices for our classic car parts, the proper price and the price we tell our partners.
  50. A classic car is not “just a car” to us, it’s a way of life.

I hope I haven’t missed anything and made a few people smile and say – “yep that’s me!” If I have missed something that needs to be on this list, please let me know and I shall amend it. Although this is a little bit of fun, there is also a serious note to the points too. When I see any Classic Car on the road and I am in my daily workhorse car; I give them plenty of room now.

I just couldn’t do a post with no picture of a car that wouldn’t be right.

 

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Back On The Road

Now that the weather in the UK has changed from pretty dismal to a sunny week or so. It was time to get the Mustang out and get it all ship-shape and road legal. Since November last year my car has sat in the garage just waiting for a nice day out. The car’s MOT had run out at the beginning of December, which means that until my car passes an MOT I can’t get any road tax to allow it back on the road, all be it that the road tax is free as it’s classed as a historical vehicle.

Earlier last week I arranged with Adam at Mustang Maniac to get my MOT booked in on Saturday (just gone). Friday evening the car was given a check up, to make sure fluid levels were where they should be and that I had no leaks. There shouldn’t be as I check my car every other week at least.

Saturday morning had arrived and it was starting to get sunny as I backed the car out the garage. It was a strange feeling being on the left hand side and it took a few minutes to get used to it again. The drive was great going to the Mustang Maniac yard, dual carriageway and some country roads to enjoy. The worst part was the pot holes or should I say craters in the road that had not been fixed. I spent most of my time totally focused on tarmac, when there was some rather than the traffic. I arrived at the yard after a ninety minute drive and sat in the office chatting to Adam for a while. I “borrowed” this pic from The Mustang Maniac blog Park & Pic section.

I was given verbal instructions on how to get to the MOT centre along with my faithful Sat-Nav. I was given some banter by Yogi warning me that the “Test centre closes at three, best you get a move on”. So off I went to the test centre fifteen minutes away, I parked up and waited for the guys to take my little lady into the testing bay.

What seemed like hours later (but it wasn’t), the tester came out with a clean sheet MOT pass. It’s such a relief to know that all was OK and safe with the car. Walking out to my car there was a couple of admirers looking at her and asked me a few questions about how long it took to restore and where was it done etc. I noticed a tiny drip from the water thermostat housing that needed a little tweak with a spanner to reseal again when I got back to the Mustang Maniac yard.

Now I can look forward to the dozen or so car shows I have in mind this year. My journey home was not so nice due to nutters on the road that got me nervous, so much so that I intended to make a little fun post shortly about it. Anyway I got home safely and parked the car up ready for a clean on Sunday. The car was dusty from the dry weather so I decided to get the Snow Foam on the car for the first bubble bath of the year.

Of course a rinse, snow foam, wash, rinse and dry is not enough, so I needed to give her a little wax top up to keep her shiny. Oh and polish the chrome wheels, and the glass, and the chrome trim etc.  I must say that she didn’t look any different after the wash to be honest, but at least I know she is clean again.

I’m ready and waiting to get to the car shows now.

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A Very Big Week

I have been sent a batch of photo’s from Mustang Maniac which are of my car being loaded onto their transporter to be delivered to the paint shop where her new home will be for a number a while that could be around six weeks we are thinking at the moment. I am so excited that my car has got to this stage. The guys were on hand to make sure she was loaded onto the loader OK. As the yard was a little flooded due to the recent heavy rain fall, a plan to get her loaded during a dry spell was created. Cars had to be moved around in order for the shell to be moved from round the back. Like a parting of waves the synchronised moving and parking was all completed without a hitch. A celebratory cup of tea and a Jaffa Cake or three was in order after the well executed plan came together.

John & Terry hiding behind the car
Terry gives the thumbs up
easy does it
ramp up
tied down
wrapped up

What next till she’s back?

Mechanics for engine, drive train, suspension and steering cleaning and polishing of all the bolt on bits and pieces, pretty much the same as before but on a smaller scale now. Well smaller scale compared to the chassis at least!

The first of those will be the engine of course which has already been started this week. The engine has not been run for around a year now, and the guys mounted it onto their test rig, lightly attached the three-inch headers without the gaskets for now. The bell housing was bolted on, starter motor bolted on, fuel was piped in from a large jerry can standing to the side, a portable jump-start unit was connected then she was hot wired to start. The timing was well and truly out and the distributer needed a good twist to pull it back to the 6deg that is should be for idle instead of the fluctuating 30deg we currently had. We tried again then she barked into life. The engine was allowed to warm up and the oil pressure was checked, water temperatures were checked from the top and bottom hoses in and out of the radiator, the carb balance was initially set up and allowed to run after the timing was set. The engine was now running a little lumpy, the spark plugs were changed to the proper Motorcraft spec instead of the NGK I had previously installed. Fired her up and then she run without any misses at all. The engine was warmed up, rechecked and then given a bit of a progressive high-speed run up. At this point I took a video which has been uploaded to YouTube here, or click on the quick link below for “Ford Mustang Flaming Exhausts”. There were flames from the exhaust which was quite good fun, and no this is not a Photoshopped photo.  Turn up the volume and enjoy the sights and sounds from a v8 289cid engine ran in anger!

Snapshot flaming exhausts

After the engine was run for a few minutes it was allowed to cool down and taken of the test rig to be mounted onto the engine stand. In my excitement I forgot to take pictures of the engine on the stand, but I will rectify that next week don’t worry. We took all the bits of the engine such as the headers, carb, HT leads, coil, the full distributer removed from the block, starter, water thermostat housing, fuel pump, power steering pump, vacuum lines, crank pullies etc. The engine was now just the heads and block, we drained the oil and as much water as we could. We turned the engine upside down and the damaged oil pan we knew about was unbolted. This is a very common damage to the oil pan which is due to the car being jacket up via the oil sump pan. If you look you can see the circular pattern of the trolley jack.

damaged oil pan
engine code

The next job was to remove the core plugs to see how the water has been flowing around the block and if the water ways are furred up or not. We suspected that they were fine as the engine was not running hot from the previous tests.

Terry used the video scope to check deep inside the block and all looks to be OK so far. I have taken some pics through the core plugs to show the gaps are still open between the cylinder jackets and in very good condition, I even managed to get a shot of a valve through a manifold bore.

water case
valve

The oil pick up gauze was clean and no bits of metal were wedged in there.

oil pick up
oil pump

We checked the oil for any debris and again was fine apart from being very weak. We then checked the timing chain for play which was fine. the engine was cranked over by hand to watch the motion of the pistons were as they should be.

timing chain

Terry then cleaned up the gasket from the oil pan and decided that now was a good time to put everything in containers that should be there. It was getting dark and we didn’t want to lose any bits. Terry put up with a barrage of questions from me and answered all of them and even showed me where I looked a little blank when we got seriously into the engineering!

gasket-rem

 Thank you Terry for the tutorials.

Quick Links:

“Ford Mustang Flaming Exhaust v8 289ci” from my YouTube channel: OnemanandhisMustang

Click the YouTube icon for the quick link:

click here for the link
Mustang Flaming Exhausts v8 289ci link

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Deleted!

You know the scenario by now, I go to Mustang Maniac for the day and work my arms off. (Yes, I did say arms, for those that think I may have said something different). It was raining and chucking it down and not the best of days to travel. Yet as I was getting close and closer to my own little paradise the sun was getting brighter. When I pulled up – full sun, what more can a man ask for? I was greeted by Adam who was just coming out of the refurbished workshop. I was given the tour of the new interior and it looks so much better and dare I say it – organised. The new racks, shelving, and inner panels made it look so much bigger. I was shown a few of the cars they had been working on as we walked to my car. I was shown what was needed to be done this weekend, the other side of engine bay and the inner fender all in red oxide. We rolled the car over and I got to work. I am getting quicker at this angle grinder clean up now and the amount of work to be done today was more than last week. Clean till it gleams, rub down and paint. Adam had removed the original welded shock tower bracket for me along with the botch job of a hand brake cable bracket in the tunnel, the bracket was only held in place by pop rivets. So I have pinched a few pics from Adam where he had done the work.

pilot holes
weakening the spot welds
the neat holes
bracket being drilled
original hole

The normal process is that I take the photo’s of the before, during and after of what ever I get up too. I get home and upload the pics to the PC and crop them and upload ready for the blog. In a moment of madness I clicked on “Delete” option instead of copy from the SD card. As the SD card has no recycle bin they were gone simple as that. Yes I have some special recover tools but it’s not worth the time and effort to retrieve them. However, the were a few choice words uttered under the breath, over the breath and out load. I was not a happy bunny at this point. The only good thing is that the batch of pics I deleted were the after pics of the red oxide and a couple during. I will be able to get some more when I am down there next week, so it’s not a problem just more annoying than anything as I can’t show you the results of hard days labour. I will load the new pics next week with the next post. Am I the only plum to do the delete thing?

Sunday I have started on project which one of the bigger ones, the steering section. I have started to clean it up and remove the tie rods and idler arm. I have started to clean up the valve end as that was really greased up bad. The pipe fittings were only finger tight which might explain the state it’s in. I will create a Steering Rack page this week with any luck and the step by step process.

finger tight fittings
tie rod

The idler arm has been completed today but it was seized up big time. A little Gibbs brand sorted that out though and was able to get it out, with the help of a brass hammer of course. The colour of the rust was so bright it almost looked like it had been heated up and was glowing orange.

Thanks Adam for letting use some more of your pics. 🙂

 

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It’s A Wind Up

Saturday was the now usual routine, up breakfast and then bolt out the door!  Two reasons, one – I won’t get collared for any “little” jobs before I go, two – I can’t wait to get down to the Mustang Maniac guys. Unfortunately I didn’t quite make it to the car before I heard the words, can you clean… “Yeah I will do it tomorrow” loaded the boot and I got in the car, did I really just promise something I thought to myself. Anyway, I was going to start of by cleaning up the engine bay to see what little goodies was in store for me this time. The same technique of stripper, remove and add more till you see metal. This was going to be difficult due to all the profiles that had to be rubbed down, wire wool was used more than the scraper this time. This made my hands cramp up a few times, but the results are really good I must say. There is a question mark of the right side inner wing where the battery tray sits. The wing under the battery tray had been repaired with a large ugly plate. The rest of the wing looks sort of OK but could be a little thin and may be better to replace it. This is the before shots of the engine bay.

battery tray plate

And after the fire wall was cleaned up.

I worked counter-clockwise around the bay and this time I took a few more intermediate pictures as I got a bit carried away with the fire wall part and forgot to take intermediate pics.

The end results of the days hard work looked to have paid of nicely and you can see where and what I have done.

With any luck I may start on something different next weekend, but that will all depend on if Adam is happy with what I have done so far. I know we have a little more to do around the rear chassis rails. Perhaps the rear chassis legs will be on cards so I will have to wait and see. The results are amazing that there is so much good metal under there for a nearly half a century old car.

Sunday was more cleaning, I started by finishing the other front quarter vent window click here for the full process. After that I decided to clean up the main door window winders on both sides. The driver’s side was in a much more dirtier condition than the passenger side. The process here was to clean the grease off and remove the hardened dead grease and make sure the mechanism winds both ways. I used POR Marine Clean in its strongest mix 1:1 and got to work. I ended up having to use a scalpel to remove the harder parts and more recessed areas. Eventually it all came off and looked pretty good. I did notice that one of the plastic washers for the winders to locate in the rails was missing. I will have to get a replacement before I re-assemble it.

left before clean
left side
left
left reverse side
Right side before clean
right side reverse

After the clean up the mechanisms worked well again. I did not grease at this point as I will do that nearer the installation time to avoid the fresh grease being contaminated. I just both complete mechanisms a coating of Gibbs Brand to stop any rust and allow the lubricant to work its way into the rusted joints.

left cleaned
left
left reverse
left
right reverse
right full mechanism

After cleaning up the window mechanisms I then got the window cleaning stuff and started to clean the windows in the kitchen. I did promise I suppose but now my arms and hands are killing me. I was hoping that the wife was only winding me up, but no. It seems that If I can clean all day on a Saturday then I can a few windows at home. Fair point I guess and there’s not much I can say to that is there?

Quick Links:

Photo Menu – Glass Work – Door Window Mechanism Clean up or click here for the full set of pictures.

Photo Menu – Under The Car & Chassis – Under Seal Removal or Click here for the full set of pictures.

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Raise a Glass Or Two

The good lady wife cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and moved a load of things around and found some bottles of drink we were given when we got engaged. We decided at the time to keep them for a special occasion as you do, and we put them right out-of-the-way for safe keeping and we promptly forgot about them, out of sight out of mind as it were. That special occasion day was today – they went down the drain as they had corked and smelt like vinegar when they were poured away. There is a message here, if you are given a nice drop of plonk – drink it while it’s still good. The others are OK but that’s not he point. I do however plan on opening a nice big bottle of champagne once I am holding that elusive MOT certificate for my car, then I can drive it legally, not after the drink of course, but you know what I mean. Oh, in case you are wondering – now things have been moved around, I can’t find anything!

The title suggests that I have been on the ol’ vino apart from what went down the drain, sadly that is not the case, but more about getting the rear quarter windows out of the car.  For the past two weeks I have taken a complete side of glass out, which includes the frame, brackets and bolts all of which were cleaned up, then the whole thing repeated for the other side. The task itself sounds pretty easy, but the main issue is getting the glass out through the top of the quarter panel opening. Once the glass has been separated it’s not to bad a job at all, the technique seems to be unbolt the frame, undo the glass and separate it apart inside the frame. The dexterity of hand and eye coordination is put to the test where you have to hold the glass, lift it out of the frame rack itself and then guide it out the top. The glass is not heavy but I am aware of the age of the glass and I didn’t want to knock it and crack it or worse still drop it. The fact that the winding gears had dried solid grease, Waxoyl all over them and general lack of maintenance sort of explains why nothing wanted to move very much. The cleaning was a nightmare getting the guide rails clear and removing the caked on Waxoyl. All this hard work nobody will ever see once it’s fitted back into the car.  As a result, my shoulders and neck ache for constantly looking down at it all, poor ol’ soul! But here is what I have been up too:

frame in place
one of the guide bolts for the glass
right inside before clean
track guide
track for the window
right inside close up
untreated
finished

I have added a couple of before and after pictures as well. and I have added the full process under the Photos section or click here for the hyper link.

Right side glass

right inside before clean
right outside cleaned
right inside cleaned

Left side glass

left side
left inside cleaned
left outside cleaned

Left side glass track and frame

Left side bottom uncleaned
left side top uncleaned
frame Insides cleaned

Both side winder mechanisms

both sides uncleaned
other side uncleaned
both sides cleaned
mechanisms cleaned

The other thing I have tidied up today was a couple of boxes I had in from the USA a while ago which were some replacement dash gauges. These were in small boxes all over the place so I decided to make a little storage area for them. I had a sturdy box and created a cut out for each and placed them inside for safe keeping. A nice little idea, which I may turn into plastic instead of cardboard.

wropped up
protected

Quick links:

Photo Menu – Glass Work – Rear Quarter Window(s) Refurbishment or click here

Special Mention:

A special thanks goes out to Dana http://atlastracer.wordpress.com/ who has kept me laughing and motivated over the weekend. Pop over to check out her amazing blog.

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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!

decision made

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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