As I said in the previous post, my Dad wanted the car out of his garage. That meant that after 5 years of sitting, I had to get it started. This was not an easy task. We tried just about everything to get the fuel flowing short of replacing the whole system. I think we had put so many additives in the tank we could have fueled the Space Shuttle. My Dad worked on it a bit. He blew the gas lines out with compressed air and used a lot of carb cleaner. This allowed it to run, but extremely roughly. I lost count of the number of times it died between his house and mine. And that is only 5 miles. We did eventually get it to my house. It sat, collecting dust, for roughly 6 more years. Then one day I realized what a great car I had sitting in my garage and got the bug.
First thing I did was to try to clean the carb. I broke it down and cleaned it. And cleaned more. It was extremely gummed up. Then I went to buy a rebuild kit. This is where trouble began. None of the local auto parts stores could identify the carburetor. It was a Holley, but nothing standard would fit. I finally got it identified after contacting Holley Tech Support. Come to find out the carb that was on the 289 was actually for a marine 460 engine. No wonder I could go through a tank of gas in a day! After thinking about where this came from it hit me. We use to have a big Daycruiser jet boat. Yep, you guessed it. My Dad didn't want to lose the brand new carb he had put on it right before he sold it. I guess he thought that if a small 4 barrel carb was good a higher cfm was even better. So he put it on the Mustang. He couldn't remember where he got the carb from until I asked him about it. I figured after rebuilding it I could trade it for the carb the car needs. Well, by this time the carb had set in pieces for months. I forgot how it came apart and the rebuild kit I finally got was missing a small O-ring. I gave up. It is still sitting in pieces in a box in my garage. I figure it's good trading stock for work on the car later on.
I broke down and decided to just replace everything. I ordered a new tank, fuel lines, and the correct 4 barrel carb. I was surprised how easy the tank was to install. I had a friend help me with the fuel lines. Apparently those go on before anything else during manufacturing. Those where a bitch to install. Nothing physically challenging, just took a lot of thought to figure out how to thread solid lines through the little spaces I had to work with. Installing the carb was easy (sort of). After I got it all installed I filled the tank with 5 gallons of gas. I didn't realize until I stopped pouring the gas that the 'filling' sound I heard was not from the can to the tank. It was from the tank to the ground. That's right, the sending unit wasn't sealed correctly. So, I scrambled to find something to catch the 5 gallons of gas that was quickly flooding my garage. After some reassembly using some tips I found online (white grease is great stuff) it sealed.
In the process of installing the carb I notice the distributor housing was cracked. So I installed a new one before I started it. I also did an oil change. Once it was all done, I tried to start it. It took a long time to prime, but once it did it started and ran great. Of course this was about 1 in the morning. Have I mentioned that it has glass packs. My girlfriend was very concerned about a neighbor calling the cops. I didn't care. I was too excited to hear it running after so many years.
This was not the end of it though. The electric choke on the old carb had never been hooked up. That meant that the electric choke on the new carb had to have wiring installed. After looking under the dash and hood for a long time I came to the realization that there really wasn't anywhere good to splice into. I decided to just add a second ignition on fuse box. This sounded simple to me. In theory it was. In the end I had to remove the left fender to get access to the new bolts of the fuse box. That was a lot more work than I expected for just a fuse box. However, I think the time was well spent. I now have 4 extra ignition on circuits. Future additions will be much easier. I'll describe the electrical in a later post.
You are probably wondering how it drives after all these years. Me too. Have I mentioned my extreme ability to not finish projects. Well this has become one. I still need to bolt the bumper on, install a few fender parts, and put the instrument cluster back in. I'll get there, but with winter upon us it's hard to make myself get out and work on it. Maybe I need to buy a garage heater.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
In The Beginning....
So you probably want to know how a computer geek came across a classic mustang when he has no knowledge of cars. Well, let me try to explain. Hopefully I can keep this short.
When I was a kid my Dad decided to reclaim some of his youth. You see, he had a 1965 Fastback as a young adult. Once my Mother became pregnant with my brother they decided it wasn't a good family car. I think my Dad has regretted the decision to sell it as soon as he did. It was many years before he was in a position financially that he could buy a car to play with. Once he did, it soon became a major hobby. A friend of his picked up on the hobby around the same time. They helped each other rebuild mustangs. I'm not sure how many they finished, but I know my Father and Brother (more on him later) completed at least 2. One was a 1965 Mustang Fastback with a 289. The other was a 1966 coupe that my brother drove... until he totaled it... twice. ;) Ok, so his wrecks weren't that bad... on the car. My brother on the other hand had a few surgeries to rebuild his upper gum because he found out that Mustang steering wheels are not forgiving when you bite one in a wreck. My Dad had the good foresight to not allow him to have a big engine. So he was stuck with a 6 cylinder.
Back to the car...
Around the time that I became old enough and interested in learning how to work on the cars is about the time my Dad got tired of working on them. Which means I learned virtually nothing about them. My Father was and still is a great teacher. He has taught me many things. He is a wizard when it comes to fixing things. Some fixes aren't nearly by the book, but that's not a bad thing. Whether he meant to or not, the best thing he has taught me is there is always a way. If you don't know what your doing, figure it out. How? By simply getting in there and start doing something. You'll eventually find a solution. Of course, as a kid, I drove him nuts disassembling things around the house. Mainly because I was very bad at putting them back together. It's not that I couldn't; it was that once I figured out how it worked, I got bored with it. On a side note, I was the kid in school that would only do 7 out of 10 problems because he knew those where right and just didn't care to do the last 3. C is still passing, right?
I think my Dad must have known that I wanted to learn about cars, but he was just tired of working on them. But that worked to my advantage. To this day I don't know what he was thinking, but in my junior year of high school he let me use his pride and joy as a daily driver. Granted, I had to pretty much swear my life away. But he actually let me drive it. That is when I truly fell in love with that car. I will add that I was extremely responsible with it. I never got a ticket in it, never raced anybody, and babied it a lot.
After I stopped driving it after my senior year he parked it. And I mean that's ALL he did. Didn't drain any fluids. Didn't lubricate anything. DID NOTHING! He didn't want to get rid of it, but he didn't want to work on it either. Well, about 7 years ago he decided he wanted it gone. I forbid him from selling it. So, he made me store it at my house. He hinted at the fact that it might officially become mine some day. That day has come. Two weeks ago he signed over the title. I feel like I've stolen it. I still don't know how to thank him or even show my gratitude.
Now on to me...
I am a lazy person. I don't have a problem admitting it. Not much gets me off the couch. My weight and health are proof of that. It took me 9 years to graduate college. Not because I was a 'special' student, but because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I don't even remember all of the degrees I declared during college. After working as a medic for 6 years I finally decided to do something with computers. Yep, I know; that's kind of a big switch, but I couldn't take it any more. Besides dealing with the worst of society at their absolute worst moments in life, the management sucked. They could care less about their employees. So I had to get out. I went back to school and finished up an MIS degree. Now I am a programmer, well, more specifically a desktop applications analyst. What does that mean? Basically the department I'm with can develop small applications, usually MS Access, very quickly. Our IT department is massively behind. Close to 4 years behind. So we are the band aid. Apparently a band aid that isn't going anywhere. At the rate my company lays people off, there is a huge need for automation. I'm not going to say who I work for, but it rhymes with 'hurtz'.
By no means am I completely ignorant about working on cars. I have always had a major curiosity in how the world works. Anything mechanical has to be dissected or at least researched. Same goes for cars. I understand most of the concepts in how cars operate. But I don't know exactly how all of those systems work together, as you will soon find out while reading this blog. I don't know proper names either. I'm sure the parts store guys get a good laugh at me when I come in. But that is what this is all about. I am on a mission to get this car running again and more importantly to LEARN. Beyond that, who knows, I have some ideas. But will have to lay out my plans at a later date.
I'm not going to sugar coat what I do. If I take 12 hours to remove a front fender and scratch the paint really badly in the process, I'll tell you. Hey, that was my first confession. ;) It may not have taken that long, but it did take way too long and I did scratch the paint. I guess it's good that I already plan on repainting it.
I think that just about covers it. My Dad has given me a huge opportunity to learn about this car. I plan on taking it as far as I can.
Oh, that responsible driver thing I mentioned earlier... I'm an adult now and can make my own decisions. So it's time to play!
When I was a kid my Dad decided to reclaim some of his youth. You see, he had a 1965 Fastback as a young adult. Once my Mother became pregnant with my brother they decided it wasn't a good family car. I think my Dad has regretted the decision to sell it as soon as he did. It was many years before he was in a position financially that he could buy a car to play with. Once he did, it soon became a major hobby. A friend of his picked up on the hobby around the same time. They helped each other rebuild mustangs. I'm not sure how many they finished, but I know my Father and Brother (more on him later) completed at least 2. One was a 1965 Mustang Fastback with a 289. The other was a 1966 coupe that my brother drove... until he totaled it... twice. ;) Ok, so his wrecks weren't that bad... on the car. My brother on the other hand had a few surgeries to rebuild his upper gum because he found out that Mustang steering wheels are not forgiving when you bite one in a wreck. My Dad had the good foresight to not allow him to have a big engine. So he was stuck with a 6 cylinder.
Back to the car...
Around the time that I became old enough and interested in learning how to work on the cars is about the time my Dad got tired of working on them. Which means I learned virtually nothing about them. My Father was and still is a great teacher. He has taught me many things. He is a wizard when it comes to fixing things. Some fixes aren't nearly by the book, but that's not a bad thing. Whether he meant to or not, the best thing he has taught me is there is always a way. If you don't know what your doing, figure it out. How? By simply getting in there and start doing something. You'll eventually find a solution. Of course, as a kid, I drove him nuts disassembling things around the house. Mainly because I was very bad at putting them back together. It's not that I couldn't; it was that once I figured out how it worked, I got bored with it. On a side note, I was the kid in school that would only do 7 out of 10 problems because he knew those where right and just didn't care to do the last 3. C is still passing, right?
I think my Dad must have known that I wanted to learn about cars, but he was just tired of working on them. But that worked to my advantage. To this day I don't know what he was thinking, but in my junior year of high school he let me use his pride and joy as a daily driver. Granted, I had to pretty much swear my life away. But he actually let me drive it. That is when I truly fell in love with that car. I will add that I was extremely responsible with it. I never got a ticket in it, never raced anybody, and babied it a lot.
After I stopped driving it after my senior year he parked it. And I mean that's ALL he did. Didn't drain any fluids. Didn't lubricate anything. DID NOTHING! He didn't want to get rid of it, but he didn't want to work on it either. Well, about 7 years ago he decided he wanted it gone. I forbid him from selling it. So, he made me store it at my house. He hinted at the fact that it might officially become mine some day. That day has come. Two weeks ago he signed over the title. I feel like I've stolen it. I still don't know how to thank him or even show my gratitude.
Now on to me...
I am a lazy person. I don't have a problem admitting it. Not much gets me off the couch. My weight and health are proof of that. It took me 9 years to graduate college. Not because I was a 'special' student, but because I didn't know what I wanted to do. I don't even remember all of the degrees I declared during college. After working as a medic for 6 years I finally decided to do something with computers. Yep, I know; that's kind of a big switch, but I couldn't take it any more. Besides dealing with the worst of society at their absolute worst moments in life, the management sucked. They could care less about their employees. So I had to get out. I went back to school and finished up an MIS degree. Now I am a programmer, well, more specifically a desktop applications analyst. What does that mean? Basically the department I'm with can develop small applications, usually MS Access, very quickly. Our IT department is massively behind. Close to 4 years behind. So we are the band aid. Apparently a band aid that isn't going anywhere. At the rate my company lays people off, there is a huge need for automation. I'm not going to say who I work for, but it rhymes with 'hurtz'.
By no means am I completely ignorant about working on cars. I have always had a major curiosity in how the world works. Anything mechanical has to be dissected or at least researched. Same goes for cars. I understand most of the concepts in how cars operate. But I don't know exactly how all of those systems work together, as you will soon find out while reading this blog. I don't know proper names either. I'm sure the parts store guys get a good laugh at me when I come in. But that is what this is all about. I am on a mission to get this car running again and more importantly to LEARN. Beyond that, who knows, I have some ideas. But will have to lay out my plans at a later date.
I'm not going to sugar coat what I do. If I take 12 hours to remove a front fender and scratch the paint really badly in the process, I'll tell you. Hey, that was my first confession. ;) It may not have taken that long, but it did take way too long and I did scratch the paint. I guess it's good that I already plan on repainting it.
I think that just about covers it. My Dad has given me a huge opportunity to learn about this car. I plan on taking it as far as I can.
Oh, that responsible driver thing I mentioned earlier... I'm an adult now and can make my own decisions. So it's time to play!
Purpose
I am new to blogging so I'm not exactly sure what is going to be on here. I'm going to use this basically as a journal of my progress. I'm sure there will be random thoughts not related to the rebuild thrown in. In the coming days I will be posting how I got to this point and where I plan to go. I'm not planning on this being a guide on how to rebuild classic Mustangs. Just an outlet for me to vent, brainstorm, and update my progress on the project. I am open to criticism and suggestions. So if you read that I'm doing something completely counterproductive or just plain stupid, let me know.
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