Today is a pretty big day in the life of the Mustang. I finally got to drive it after getting it back out of the shop. I can't begin to tell you how fun it was. There is a huge list of things that were completed on the car.
The biggest hurdle of course was the brakes! All new drums were put on the car along with new wheel cylinders and shoes. (We decided to stick with the drum brakes and do the disc conversion later.) The rubber portions of the brake lines were replaced. The master cylinder was removed, cut, and welded to better fit against the firewall. Lots of components, such as stabilizer and control arms, were replaced.
I also made my first purchase from CJ Pony Parts. I picked up two headlights, a rear view mirror, and a shifter boot. They seem like a great company. They have very reasonable prices and shipping is always free!
Also we're still having some issues with the starter. At the garage they custom fitted a gear reduction starter, but it would always overspin and make a "zing" noise after starting. We ended up having the other starter rebuilt and went back with it. The trouble is after you drive the car and get it up to temperature it has a hard time starting. Hopefully we can just get a bigger battery and not have to continue dealing with this.
The car is really running like a champ. While in the garage the plugs were replaced and the valves were adjusted. The timing was also set. It's running very smooth now compared to some of the previous videos I've posted.
The next steps are eliminating a vibration, a bigger battery and radiator, and upholstery work. There's a slight vibration in the car when driving it. We're thinking it's the drive shaft and are going to try replacing it first. Hopefully that'll take care of it. The current radiator in the car is for a 289 motor, but we're concerned it won't be enough cooling. If you've ever driven a car that has a tendency to run hot, you know it's very nerve racking. It can also be very expensive if you don't realize it's gotten hot. As for the upholstery work, the carpet needs to be replaced and the seats need to be recovered. There could also be some body work to be done to the floor pan. We won't know how serious it is until we get the carpet and seats out. The rear seats look OK, so we'll probably just recover the front ones at this point. The carpet and seats are over $500 in parts, so that might be a while. Oh, and don't forget that it still can't come home until I get some sort of garage built for it. Until then, enjoy the video.
