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Mustang Project

ok this mornings update. The tick is gone. We went out this morning and fired the car up. Started on the first try. It ticked for about 3 seconds and then it went away. My father figures it was air stuck in a hydraulic lift that finally worked its way out. The engine sounds very strong. It went right to a high idle and after about 5 minutes came right down to a normal idle and was running perfectly.

So we rolled the car out on July 29th and working just about every weekend, mines the first weekend in August and one day last weekend we where able to get the motor installed and running and the car can move under its own power.

Next up is to get a working parking brake so that we can safely move the car around under its own power. This way we can move it into the garage and start working on the suspension and brakes, and the remaining body work that needs to be done, which is re-installing bumpers, etc onto the car.
 
just thought I would share these two clips. I need to upload the one where we cranked the engine over for the first time. It took about 6 trys to get it to kick over and stay running.

clip 1

clip 2
 
Very nice! Sounds pretty solid!
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hey brapple, i read that you guys fixed your radiator...this is good news cause the one i thought i had kicking around my parents garage is no where to be found :shrug: ill keep an eye out in case it does pop up incase you guys want a back up cause the one in my car is pretty much new
 
RespectTheContour said:
hey brapple, i read that you guys fixed your radiator...this is good news cause the one i thought i had kicking around my parents garage is no where to be found :shrug: ill keep an eye out in case it does pop up incase you guys want a back up cause the one in my car is pretty much new
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that would be appreciated. The repair will definately work for us for now as the car will not be on the road until next year. My father was able to solder the crack closed. Checking the radiator and the upper radiator hose with a inferred thermometer showed that everything was working very nicely and correctly.
 
Dang, that's a nice idle in the second clip! I had to arm myself with a vacuum gauge, a tach, and a screwdriver and fight with my idle screws for a good part of a weekend to get my V8 not to shake so much. Well worth it, though, 'cuz now the off-idle transition is perfect...

Keep up the great progress.
 
well Pony Carburator rebuilt a very nice unit that was ready to go. I think it pretty much was dropped on out of the box and only the idle set screw needed to be adjusted.
 
long long time for an update.

well alot of other things have kept us from working on this project so far this year. The biggest one was my grandmother falling back at the end of january and breaking her leg. After a stay at a nursing home and some therapy she is back home and almost independent again. But this still takes up alot of my parents time.

So anyway yesterday we got back to working on the Mustang. While my father took car of some other things I got to work. Since the engine had not been run since last fall that was the first item on the list. I completed an oil change, pulled the plugs to inspect and dropped alittle oil down each cylinder, rotated the enigne and did a basic check of everything. My father then pulled and primed the engine and reset the timing. It didn't want to turn over at first. The coil must have been lazy or something as it wasn't sprking at first but after testing it to a ground it started working. Engine fired right up and runs solid. After playing with the timing it was puring away like normal.

After that we started looking into getting the parkign brake set back up. After that should be the brakes so its drivable. That would leave the suspension and the rest of the body to put back together.

So I have some more detailing to do on my mothers escape today but after that hopefully we can get some more done on the mustang.

oh what Po said before was right on. I replaced the oil filter from up top. No spills, no mess at all. Also the three basics stand, air, spark and fuel, get all three and it will run :crazy:
 
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so alittle more progress was made today. We where able to install the parking brake system. this consisted of new front and rear cables as well as reinstalling the parking brake handle.

I was also able to assemble one rear drum brake setup. I would have gotten the other side done but I ran out of time to work and it was starting to rain etc.

So in not to long we will be able to move the car under its own power from the cover it on the side of the garage into the garage under its own power so we can work on the car more. This will be done at first with the parking brake but getting the brake system completely together shouldn't take long. Then we will be able to setup the suspension and finish some other details off.
 
made some more good progress yesterday. Finished up the rear brakes and got the parking brake working. Then we rolled the car out of the car port under its own power. Stopped for lunch and then put the car back in the car port. The struts where also installed yesterday too.

So now we have a moving and stopping car. This will allow us to drive it into the garage to work on it more instead of on the rocks in the car port.

next up front brakes/lines/master cylinder. Then the front suspension control arms will all be removed with new arms and set up.

When that is done all that is left is to finish assembling the rest of the car. This would include things like the bumpers, grill, low valance, etc.
 
to bring this back up since I was reminded about it .... it appears that we will have a good chance to work on things over the winter. my parents are going to rent a storage unit for the 06 Mustang so I can only guess that the 66 will move into the garage so it can more easily be worked on. More so since we have a nice heater we can use in the garage. I will update as I find out more.
 
Well I was correct. If its warm enough tomorrow the 06 is going into storage and the 66 is moving back into the garage so we will be able to work on it over the winter. Hoping that its warm enough tomorrow so that it will start since it has straight 30 weight oil in it ....
 
BrApple said:
need to finish installing the brake system and finish assembling the body. I also believe the rear end needs a new set of gears and the suspension some setup.
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Cool beans!

So the 289 is all stock? In a way, that's even cooler than modded, since it's getting pretty hard to find a stock Mustang nowadays:cool:

Good luck with it, I hope to see the thing at some shows in the spring:cool:
 
yup the original 289 was machined and we rebuilt it. Its 100% stock including the original exhaust manifolds and a reproduction stock exhaust.
 
BrApple said:
need to finish installing the brake system and finish assembling the body. I also believe the rear end needs a new set of gears and the suspension some setup.
Click to expand...
Cool project Brian, just saw it.
My dad has a '66 GT350H and a '67 GT500 and the GT500 is out getting paint over the winter. My mom also just sold her '67 coupe.
My dad's side job used to be building 8/9" Ford rears and selling '60s Ford parts, mainly FE stuff so my brother and I were always the manual labor at swap meets :laugh:
Anyway, if there's parts you need, PM me and I can ask my dad what is left.
Looking forward to the updates.
-J
 
the thanksgiving update.

car was moved into the garage so that it can more easily be worked on. It became a slight ordeal to make that happen. as we go to start it I am watching the engine for anything and note gas coming out of the carb in a spot it shouldn't be. so we kill the engine and know the float was stuck. disconnected the fuel line and ran the carb dry hoping that the float would become unstuck. Tried again and the same. So my dad popped the top off the car and he removed the float and pin and put it back together. After that it was all set to go.

So later on in the day it saw the road for the first time in over 27 years. No brakes yet but the parking brake worked well, just went up and down the street once.

The great part of all of this was my Aunt got to ride in the car. That is a big thing because the car was purchased new for her when she left for college, iirc. So it was her car first, ordered and built in New Jersey and delivered. Then it was purchaced back from her and given to my father when he was in high school.

So depending we will be continuing work on it this weekend.
 
have fun and nice update...I'll be helping my dad change spark plugs on his '92 Mitsubishi 3000 GT-VR4. Car only has 50k miles on it and he's never done them, so it should be fun...especially the three by the firewall under the uim...:help:
 
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