Tag: keys

Making Headway

Looking forward to the long weekend as I could get to Mustang Maniac on Saturday and rest for a day on Sunday then do some homework which I had in mind on the bank holiday Monday. Saturday morning I loaded up the car and went to the garage to pick up my sockets and tools bag, I walked in picked up the stuff and put them in the boot and shut the garage door. Realising I forgot the ratchets I went to open the door Again. Locked. I searched my pocket, no keys. I went to the back of the car and checked the tool bag, no keys. I then had the cold sweat feeling, I put the keys on the service trolley in the garage. Now I always unlock the garage, lock it again and put the keys in my pocket. That way when I shut the door it’s already locked and so I don’t forget. Get the spare key, there is no spare key! When we bought the house there was only one key for the garage and I have been meaning to get one cut ever since for a number of years now should we say. At this point it’s dilemma time, do I try to get into the garage or leave it until Sunday? I decided to leave it, and went to say goodbye to the wife who could hear me havin’ my own little rant to myself out the front. She didn’t laugh (yet), but used some of the words that I was using previously to describe my stupidity back to me. Her stifled laughter didn’t last to long as I got in my car with the right hump. All sorts of things were running through my mind, locksmith? Replacement door? I just didn’t know what to think, all the way to the yard I was fretting and nothing on the radio calmed me down, cyclists two abreast down country lanes gave me the hump, getting stuck behind a bus down country lanes gave me the hump. Eventually I got to MM and bumped straight into Adam and Chris. I explained what I had done with my garage, they explained the best way to “re-gain entry” back into my garage when I got home. How do they know these things? Anyway, Sunday I tried their techniques to open the door. Now I needed a replacement part, I took the old one with me and took it to place I know who stock all that sort of stuff. Got home and replaced the handle and lock with a stronger quality one. All fixed again and now I have two keys.

Tip:

If you need another key, get one cut before it’s to late!

I unloaded half the tools I normally take to the yard and went to the workshop. Where Adam showed me the head liner that had been fitted. It looks great and gives it new lease of life. There were a couple of fold marks near the edges that would drop out shortly under the pressure of the headliner bows. I was well pleased and decided to go for a celebration Cherry Bakewell cake with the guys in the boys club.

Next was some exhaust work, as the parts had been sprayed last week and they were waiting for Yogi who didn’t get a chance to re-hang the exhaust as he was busy on other cars. So as I watched him last week I had a go myself, I soon realised it’s not as easy as he made it look. I eventually got it all back in place and aligned it up best I could get it. Just in case Yogi wanted to move bits I didn’t clamp it up hard, but just a tiny pinch to hold the brackets in place. There was not a lot of room to manoeuvre under there but it’s hanging in place and ready for Yogi to do his thing with the three-inch headers to the main pipes. I know they are not aligned up square and neat, but they will do just for now.

The next part was the carburettor fitting, I removed the old tape from the inlet port that kept the area clean. I rubbed the area down clean ready for the gaskets to be fitted back in place. John joined me and we worked out the sequence of gaskets to be fitted. The first gasket was to seal the intake to the carb spacer.

intake ports
First gasket
in place

Then comes the carb spacer, not essential but these give extra torque and power to the engine and make things run that much nicer. This spacer sits on top of the previous gasket.

The next part is the gasket for the bottom of the carb and then the car itself.

carb bottom

The sits on top and is bolted down for bolts each corner.

carbfit12

With the carb in place the throttle linkage was connected to the butterfly controls of the carb and the vacuum advance line. I’m not sure I like the pipe and may change that to look neater.

throttle link
vacuum line

Adam joined me late in the day we got to grips with the pipe work. We fitted up the new black silicon pipes with my new clamps which turned out to be a real pig to fit in position due to the bulk of the T-bar fittings at the top. We eventually got there but I needed to order two more clamps for the top hose. The clamps should have fitted, but they wouldn’t fit over the pipes and the ridge at the end of the water pump. I will order the next size up they should be with me by the time I get to MM next week.

heater hoses
top hose

Feeling a little worse for wear at 7.30pm we decided to call it a day. I had forgotten all about my locked up key, that was until I got on the dual carriageway, put the car in cruise control and reflected on the day, what a stupid boy I had been I thought to myself. OK I didn’t use those exact words but it sort of means the same thing.

My homework? Well that was to bring home a wheel and tyre from my collection. Adam tells me I had different steel wheels from different cars and only one of which was a Mustang wheel. The wheels were welded on some, riveted on others, different sizes and slightly different designs all that I hadn’t noticed. The only good bit about it all was that the Mustang wheel had the best tyre of the bunch on it. I will clean up the wheel and use that for my spare should I ever need it that is.

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The Key

Another good weekends work on the car with an added bonus of a trip to see the guys at Mustang Maniac on Saturday. After looking around the cars again I can see the KR replica is looking like a serious motor now, and I love the lights at the rear, in fact I want it! I believe they will be posting the updates for that soon. I have seen a sneak preview of the new website which is almost ready for launch and it looks pretty damn good I must say. It will be a huge leap forward for them as the parts ordering will become automated with online ordering with photo’s and stock availability etc. You won’t even have to call them to order the parts, just checkout, pay and wait for the order to turn up. It was great to see the guys again and have a laugh in the boys club. After speaking to Adam about my car and what to do next, I was advised to get the rear loom out and all the “shiny bits” from the dash. So I did.

First job was to take out the heater controls and the non-original cigarette lighter that had been fitted. The fact I had to be double jointed to get to the two nuts holding the heater control face plate in place didn’t help. More thought was required and produced the solution by removing the ashtray mounting, then trying again made life so much easier. Next up was to get the heater matrix and motor and pulled out through the firewall. The only tricky part was going to be making sure the pipes didn’t leak any water onto the inside and make everything sticky as antifreeze tends to do. The whole process was simple enough and no spillage I’m glad to say. Once the motor and matrix was out-of-the-way the next job was the rust treatment which was going to be a pain, just because of the places I had to get to now that I could get to due to the clear space. Two brushes were used, sorry, destroyed during the process, one softer for all the curves and tight places, the other harder brush for the larger areas that were visited later after I got my head out of the way. A few missed patches from an earlier attempt were spotted and were linked up so all the surfaces are now treated. The ultimate position should be entered into the yoga handbook for men. In order to do it was on my back with my head jammed up against the cowl, with the centre tunnel under an arm pit, not ideal but my long arms helped. Note to self – next time I must tape a thick cloth to the top of the shifter as I managed to draw a little blood on the back of my leg as a result of a sharp plastic fitting that has the skin shredding capability of a golden eagle talons. In fact if I Pulled myself right up, I could look out of glove box. I tried to take a selfie but my arms just weren’t quite long enough, shame though. Removing the loose rust and all the dust produced a couple of nice surprises as I was brushing it all out clean. But more of that in a bit. The idea was to paint right up inside the dash into all the nooks and crevasses that I could get a paint brush into and work down towards me. For once I wore some safety goggles in order to stop any splash backs of the anti-rust liquid getting in my eyes. I looked like I had just borrowed Buddy Holly’s specs as they are a bit old, but do the job. However, I needn’t of worried as none splashed on me for a change. But of course, if I hadn’t of had the safety glasses on, the brush stroke would have flicked the lot in my eyes, with a handful of rust dust to make it worse – guarantee it! The pictures here are quite unique as they are inside the dash looking towards the truck, I personally haven’t found many of these on-line to be fair so I thought I would share them, just in case anybody is interested.

back of dash ashtray area
back of dash glove box
different angle
back of dash behinde the guage area
above the pedals
behind the heater matrix
lookin left ot right behind the dash

I mentioned earlier that I got a little surprise as I was brushing the dust and rust out. Well, this key fell out and landed on the floor pan. I have compared it to the other keys that I have and I looks like a single sided ignition key. As there was no ignition tumbler in the car when I got it I don’t have an original key to compare it too. The ignition key I have now is almost the same from the shoulder of the key to the tip of the key. The shape at the top is a little odd though and doesn’t look like the standard keys I have seen. Can anybody give me an idea of what it is or what it would have looked like? Strange place to find it on the back of the dash where the gauges would have been. Or is it not even a Mustang key, I don’t know. I also found a Dime as well  which I think the date says 1964 or 1984 I can’t quite tell.

key

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Picture requests

Due to popular demand (OK, it was only a couple), I have uploaded a few more pictures of the day the Coupe arrived. Go to the button for the pics or click here.

It was on the back of a low loader and by the time I got my camera ready it was unceremoniously dropped onto the drive. The car was locked and the driver presented me with the docs for the car but no keys! It turned out that he had dropped them in the gutter outside, about a foot away from a drain. At the time there was one set of keys; needless to say I was not a happy chap at that point. We found them shortly after, so all was well in the end. As the car was dead; no brakes, no wiring in it and no steering wheel fitted, it was an interesting hour or so to move her about- out of the way. The car was stuffed with parts in boxes so I had to find the steering wheel in order to move her. Ever tried to push a car when the steering wheel comes off in your hand? I wouldn’t recommend it.

So I missed the big moment of the delivery on the truck I’m sad to say. But, I do have plenty more where these came from and I will upload them as soon as I get the chance.

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