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slow progress, 66 sedan

Thought I'd share, not that anyone cares :)

So my wife buys this 66 mustang a few years back, that didn't run. Parked outside in the elements, windows open even. After an engine fire. Paint ruined, interior ruined, engine room looking pretty rough. Rust damage in the body.

Well fast forward a number of years, I only a couple of weeks ago started working on the car for real, when we trailered it to my work, where I have a small workshop for building maintenance.

I found a carb rebuild kit in the wife's pile of junk in the bedroom as we were moving a while ago, and I used it. The carb on the car was supposed to be rebuilt by the previous owner, just before the engine fire. Hmmmmm.... Right. Not a single gasket anywhere near the carburator! On top of that, it had gummed up and full of dirt, after sitting for so long, with no air cleaner too.

I spent a lot of time on the carb.

New fuel lines, filters, fresh fuel, oil change, tranny oil change, new plugs, static timing the engine, etc.etc...

The beast now runs! For the first week or two the idle was really rough and hard to find, but yesterday I finally realized where one of the big breather hoses from the valve covers go. Umm.. to the large port in the intake manifold! DUHH. I had a massive air leak without the hose in place. Engine immediately started purring smooth. I was pleasantly surprised, and ashamed to have missed that obvious hose fitting. (I am no newbie when it comes to cars, but I am new to mustangs and I can't find my repair manual).

We have a big parking lot at work too. I was able to drive it around some, but only to discover that the engine leaks oil from the bellhousing, between engine and transmission. Ugh.

Before I found the disconnected hose, the tranny didn't want to work much at all either. With the problematic idle, it was impossible to even check the ATF level. I flushed the tranny with some stuff by TransX or something, to try to free up possibly stuck parts. I'm back to using straight up type F ATF. Next I will drop the oil pan and see what I can find. Wish I had my book...

With the engine air leak fixed, I hope the tranny will start working better too. I think it uses intake manifold vacuum for some sort of control signal. I haven't had time to really look into the tranny yet, more concerned about the engine and the brakes. Had a front brake cylinder leaking.. a lot. Bought a repair kit (could not find the correct one so I used only some of the critical rubber parts) and hopefully fixed it yesterday.

I'm off work today (Mon) so tomorrow, work permitting, I can take her out for another test drive :) I did leave some long black tire marks on the pavement behind the building already.. oops. Careful with that throttle ;)

Anyhooters. I'm excited.

Jan Orlando,FL

Reply to
Jan
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Jan sounds to me like a really fun project. how bad is the rust? Are you going to redo the interior like new?

Reply to
Les Benn

The car is going to be somewhat of a custom, but probably nothing outrageous. I like the stock interior, and at the moment I am leaning towards redoing it just the way it was, maybe some hidden stuff added. Like a modern stereo system out of sight, and minimal amount of gauges, perhaps hidden too until they are needed. I won't reveal all of the ideas here... but think about a boost gauge for the twin turbos popping up from the dash only when there's boost pressure ;)

Oh yea, I am seriously considering turbos. The increased power comes with better brakes and suspension, I want to lower the car somewhat and make it handle much better. Quick steer kit, perhaps a rack and pinion setup too. Hmmmm.... but all of this is a distant, hazy dream at this point. No time, no money, no decent place to work on the car. I miss my workshop.

Oh yea, we'll be having a baby too in May, I'm sure I will have even less time for cars. That's why I want this thing in running, safe condition for now, so I can at least enjoy driving it and move it around as needed. First things first.

The body rust would look bad for most people, but I ain't skeered :) Some holes through the metal, and some very rough spots. I will eventually get rid of all rust. Hopefully do a body off rustoration.

Big talk, based on previous experience with cars in another country, with 2 garages and tons of tools, big house.... now I'm stuck in a condo with no garage, and minimal hand tools. Argh. I hope I can back it all up and show some results some day :)

Jan

Les Benn wrote:> Jan sounds to me like a really fun project. how bad is the rust? Are you

Reply to
Jan

What you feel is totally understandable.... Like a kid at Christmas :0) Soooooo......

PRIORITIZE FIRST

  1. What you need to make it streetworthy
  2. Where you want to go with it:
  3. How to get from 1 to 2:
  4. What you can afford to do and in what order you need to do them.

If you expect to carry a wife and child, I recommend SAFETY over LOOKS.

Personally, I went with the stock exterior look, with tweaks. It's a light restomod. Then did the Cobra Drop, 16" mag style wheels and BFG tires, surround sound stereo, halogen headlights, and LED tails and parking, etc. Everywhere I go, it draws attention. And it's really not radical. Right now I'm doing the most radical change and that's from stock manual steering to power rack and pinion along with a tilt column with cruise control.

Here's to you and your new toy. Remember, when the wife won't speak to you, the Mustang will :0) Go for it and "git 'er done".

Reply to
Spike

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