For A Good Cause

Earlier in the year I submitted a photo to ‘Frost Restoration’ Who were running a competition for a calendar. Frost is a company who offer all sorts of tools and sundries for car restoration projects and maintenance. Before you ask; no I’m not on any sort of commission or retainer. Yes, I have used their services a number of times in the past where they have provided me with excellent service. Anyway back to the photo I submitted. The mini competition was for a charity calendar that Frost produce in aid of a good cause ‘Rosemere Cancer Foundation’. If you win – the prize was to be in the calendar, simple as that. I’d forgotten about it until I was contacted a few weeks ago about winning a place in the calendar. I’ve been waiting for the calendar to be released before I actually got too excited about it. Well it’s now available here if you wanted to by one, or click on the top image.

I made it into the calendar for the month of September 2022

I have bought two copies of the calendar to help support a worthwhile cause. A great present for a classic car fan and helps a good cause in the process. (No I’m not selling them.)

This picture was taken a couple of years ago before I swapped my registration plate over to 1966 OX.

For Sale..

When it rains at a car show I often get asked a question, where did you get that cowl cover?

This got me to thinking; could I even get to sell some for a little pocket money?

I looked into sourcing the materials and got to work on the design.

A few months later, I’ve now just had my first small batch of some rather cool covers. These covers provide an answer for the age old ’64 – ’66 classic Mustangs problem; rusting cowls!

The vents under the windscreen are responsible for a fresh air feed into the cabin. Unfortunately it’s also a place where water can pool up if the drain points are blocked. Eventually you will get a foot shower of leaks when it rains.

How do I know? Simple, this was my car!

There are various fixes on the market like solid screw on covers which are expensive, can crack and they can even leak when the foam seals fail. The most common sort are the screw in Scott Drake style plastic covers. I personally think that they spoil the clean lines of these cars and they also say; ‘I have a leaky cowl.’

My solution is simple and different; it’s a magnetic cowl cover. I currently have a few of both styles in stock; black carbon and plain gloss white. The white style you can add your own stickers or vinyl wraps.

These covers aren’t designed to be a permanent fix for the problem, they are there to protect your car from water or other undesirable debris like leaves entering into the cowl space. Once in this space it’s almost impossible to clean them out. These magnetic covers are placed on the vents in seconds and removed when protection is no longer required. This allows the fresh air back into the car. The magnetic backing conforms to the contours of the cowl forming a nice seal. I always use my magnetic cowl cover when washing my car, just to be on the safe side.

When you have finished with the magnetic cowl cover, just dry them with a wipe over, then stick them somewhere flat. I store mine inside the truck, stuck on the inside of the rear quarter where it’s a flat surface. It’s out of the way and easy to grab when you need it also keeping the magnetic material working too.

Other covers can be square cut with no cut out for the wiper arm as it’s cheaper obviously. My covers are cut to the contour of the cowl’s sweeping lines along with the wiper cut out. If you want to move the cover, lift up and reposition, don’t drag it!

For more information on the product click on the for sale menu or click here for the link. Or email me on the “Contact Me” menu on the mail heading.

Ideal for simply washing the car, or for getting caught out in the rain at a car show, like me – many a time. These covers make great presents for the ’64 to ’66 Mustang owners from £21.50 to £24.00 (inc P&P), for the standard UK postcodes. Ask for details on other regions.

My Webpage

My menu heading on the webpage have been a bit of a pain recently and causes errors when I try to save them for increasing the drop down list for ease of browsing. After more calls to WordPress they advised I list the heading and make a submenu page. I have taken that a step further to make it easier on the eye.

I have started to list the pages for the sub menus which is now an on going project. I will slowly work my way through most of them to make them all similar.

When you click on the new worded sub menu, it will take you to a page where all the pages are now shown with a picture and description. I think it works, but any feedback would for the new style would be a help to me whether it’s good or bad.

Hope you are looking forward to the Holidays, I know I’m looking forward to the time off more than anything else.

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Issues On Tap

This weekend has definitely not turned out how I expected it to that’s for sure. Saturday lunchtime was a good time as I wend to visit Adam at Mustang Maniac to catch up on the hot news from SEMA 2013 that he went to, I have seen some nice stuff he has bought some samples back of and I dare say he will post them in due course. I was given a nice new Scott Drake Catalogue by Adam and was going to enjoy reading that when I get home. But while I was on the way home the wife informs me that “the tap has gone”, like you mean it gone walkies? It turns out the replacement kitchen tap of the same design I replaced about a year ago is worse than the one it replaced that lasted four years. I knew the tap was leaking a little bit from the bottom, but when I got back there was a stream of water that was flowing around the back of the sink onto the work top only to be mopped up by a pile of wet towels and dish cloths. If any local law enforcement officers are reading this I was going quickly but all within the speed limit. The small leak had turned into big leak. First job turn the water off and open the tap to let out the pressure. The rest of Saturday afternoon was now spoken for, as I was now going to be spending time replacing a knackered kitchen tap. It goes without saying that I would need to re-plumb some connections as they were different to the existing fittings, why would I want it to be easy for me for a change? So I was not in the best of moods as I wanted sit down, read my Drake Catalogue, after which I was going to start marking a few items off ready for my Christmas list. So the conclusion is that the little bleeder gremlin that had stolen my brake flaring die has now ventured into the house and causing me agro, because of this little herbert I have not managed to do what I wanted on the car today.

The job that I wanted to do most was treat the inside roof metal as I have no headliner at the moment. This would stop the rust and get ready for the paint shop. The other job is to clean up the inside panels that have bits of torn headliner stuck to them. That will now have to wait for next weekend now. Instead I have done a little tidying up under the hood on the Holley carburetor with the Gibbs Brand. It has taken some tarnish off and bought it back to nicer colour but still the shiny lustre is missing. Shall I or shan’t I repaint it? That is my new dilemma at the moment. There will be a large chrome pancake air filter that will sit on top of this 600cfm so you wont see much at all. Any ideas for now, leave it well alone till it breaks or do it now ready for that first day out?

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Like buses…

They say that buses don’t turn up and when they do there are two of them! I never really understood that as they should be on a time-table, but it does happen. Anyway the point is similar with me on the blog this weekend. I only posted a little quote in the last couple of weeks and this weekend I am posting twice with a full set of photos for work I have been doing on the car. OK so this post will not be as long as the last one but it here never the less.

Today was a day in the garage, I was going to finish up the hand brake cable on one side, so far the other brake has been restored yet. Then I was going to get in the engine bay and treat some light surface rust I had in there. I was on a roll and got to work the hand brake was dismantled again and some grease was applied to the parts that were metal touching metal. Although this sounds simple, it wasn’t as it required a certain technique, the car is on axle stands at the rear but not very high up. So as I needed to get to the back of the gear box effectively there is not much room to slide under the car. So the technique is lay sideways onto the car, turn the head sideways and shoulder shuffle untill the shoulders are under. Then bring the arms above the head then in the same manoeuver place the feet against the wall. Timing is now crucial, exhale and push with the feet while doing the shoulder shuffle thing. Once under, the tunnel provides a little welcome space and the rib cage is now able to move a few shallow inches at a time. Everything has to be to hand in order for this to work mind you. At this point I’m trusting those axle stands can really hold two tons as they say they can, if they fail, I am gonna get crushed ribs and all sorts of other unmentionable injuries, if I am not killed anyway that is. Getting out is a reverse shoulder shuffle out and slowly turning the body a few degrees so you exit sort of parallel to the car, those next few deep breaths feel so good. I do have bruises to prove that it was honestly that tight under there. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but I got it off to a fine art now. So the hand brake was in place it works (sort off) as the new parts are linked up to where they should be but not yet adjust correctly. Next job was the engine bay, I got my new stuff Rustbuster FE-123 that I am using to see what that is like. I am planning on doing a comparison test with the Granville Rust Cure and it’s all underway now being left to the elements as I type. Hopefully that will be a video review and then blogged later with my comments. The de-rusting painting was going well, the sun was out, the birds were singing and I was enjoying myself. A couple of kids went past on the their bikes and I watched them go past thinking nothing of it. A few minutes later they were back this time there were four of them, varying from eight to twelve I would say. They stopped in the road (it is a tiny little dead-end where our house is so they were safe enough) and looked at the car in the garage. The first one and the eldest said “Woaaah, Is that a Mustang? Yep it is”, the second said “Go and ask that bloke how much he wants to sell it for, and then tell your dad and he can buy it”. I was taken slightly aback as I didn’t reckon they would be able to pick out a classic Mustang from a done up Jap Ricer with a fake exhaust and a fluffy dice in the window! I was well chuffed.

The view they saw?

Photos:

I have added a photo set of my Drive shaft removal and refitting with oil seal change or click here for the quick link. I am in the process of writing up the Rear Brake Drum refit Parts 1 & 2 as well. There are links to those pages from this photo set, but they are being updated over the next few days or so. I have been able to get a fair bit done on the car and taken plenty of pictures to so I can add them to the blog.

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Dodging the rain

Dodging the rain again today.

The sun was out for about 3 hours. Ok, I exaggerated a bit, I should have said it stopped raining for a couple of hours. The break in the rain allowed me the hour or so of quality time on the car. I decided to fit the Scott Drake fan shroud on the radiator. It was a nice hassle free project for a change. I have written a review of the parts and a step by step of the fitting. The fitting start to finish took no more than an hour all in. The next part for me to do is the Bumper stone guard paint or top side.

The New Year seems to be charging towards us rather than creeping up on us.

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What Have I learned?

What have I learned about Christmas 2012?

Just what did I learn? Bearing in mind that I have already been given my Chrome Bumpers for Xmas, I wasn’t expecting anything else for christmas. I had accidentally gave a few presents a prod under the tree, just as I happened to be turning the tree lights off. It was all a big coincidence really 😉 Anyway, Xmas morning we sat down to open our presents, I opened a few items, like new pliers, club hammer and a spirit level (make a mental note 1. at this point). Then I got a Fuel cut of clamp, Interior trim screw set, Headlight Trim kit, Headlight mounting kit all from Scott Drake. I also got a full Brake hardware kit, Radiator shroud with mounting bolts and a Monte Carlo bar. All awesome stuff. (Make mental note 2. at this point). How did she know? Well I have a spread sheet on my PC of everything I have spent so far, what I intend to spend in the way of parts going forward and a wish list. I know it’s sad, but the blog is a visual and a written record of what I am doing and then the spread sheet is for the finance manager, my wife.

Ok, so it goes like this, (mental note 2. to be recalled here), while I was at work and working on the car (parts) in the shed, it appears that the missus, my better half, has been studying my spread sheet. I have been so particular about it all, I have a hierarchy of projects I need to do and what I need to do them. I have noted down who has the parts and from where. Mostly from one place, but I will get to that in a moment. So, as I was saying, she has contacted my good mate Adam at Mustang Maniac, who she has been in contact with and arranging things with for a while. Adam was kind enough to open up especially for her to pick the parts up from him so I had them in time for Xmas. Now me, being daft as a brush, I hadn’t twigged any of this until I got to the second or third present, thinking to myself – this is all just what I wanted. It was after I realised what had been going that she told me the full story of what had been going on. So, if you’re reading this Adam – Thank you for looking after her and sorting out my most excellent Xmas presents.

The not so good bit, (mental note 1. required now), as I was in a moment of weakness admiring the new parts for my beloved classic, she slipped in the immortal words, “for the rest of my Xmas present you can paint the bathroom for me.” Before I knew it – I had agreed. As Homer Simpson would say, and I had just said – Dohh! To be fair it does need it. So there you have it. I have given up valuable Mustang time, while still full of mince pies to paint a bathroom. Considering what I got and the effort she had gone too – it’s more than a fair deal. 🙂 The silver lining of this darkest of clouds that looms heavy above me, it’s not a to big a room to paint so it shouldn’t take to long.

So did I answer the question? I don’t think so. To re-emphasize the point, the wife is a lot smarter than me at playing these secret games than I am, or ever will be! To top that she knows how to play me. Women, who would have ’em? as long as they were all like my wife – ME!

The car:

My car now has a new radiator shroud to go in, new headlight hardware, mounting kits for the headlights, full set of brake hardware to go on, a set of interior screws to go in and a front end strengthening Monte Carlo Bar. I cant wait to get out there and put it all on. I can feel a review of shroud coming on! The car has had a good Xmas, as have I.