= Jim's Mustang =

15 August 2003

Not much going on... just at transmission swap (to AOD) and a center section swap (to a 3.89 gearset and a built traction lock with a steel cover).  Nope... nothing to see here... move on...

05 July 2003

Wow... been awhile since I updated.  Since last update, I have finished the engine, got it running, and driven to Iowa and back.  We did well on the Iowa trip, but as soon as we got back, I lost 2nd gear in the FMX.  Darn.  This means I gotta get a new transmission!?  Shucks.

The radiator worked flawlessly!  I never even had the concern that it might overheat!  The filter is catching a lot of crap (JOY!!).

My fuel system worked flawlessly also.  I got between 15 and 20 MPG depending on the leg and how many times we had to stop to fix TFOB's car!  His fuel system was not so reliable. We stopped 4 or 5 times on the way to Iowa because his car just plain shut off... because his front fuel bowl was empty.  Everytime, we would tinker with it and it would start working again. We believed it to be a stuck needle set, so he replaced that the next day.  All was well until Saturday and the trip to the lake for lunch.  Did it again.  We decided it could only be the fuel pump (kinda made me wish I had let him change it like he waned to the day before).  He had already purchased one, so we stopped right there in the middle of the street and changed it. The old one came out in two pieces... the pump and the arm.  Never a good sign.

Back to my transmission.  So here is the plan.  I originally intended to do a Toploader swap, but that has since been squashed.  I drive this car too much to lose the gas mileage that a 1:1 final transmission gear and a 3.89:1 rear gear would cost me.  So, I am gonna toss in a 3.89 traction lock rear, 31 spline Moser axles, and an Art Carr AOD with a custom built torque convertor.  In the end, I will have a tranny and rear combo that will absolutely SCORCH on the street, and yet will cruise at a lower speed than my FMX/3.00 gear combo.

I have also been having carburetor tuning difficulties as of late.  It still runs fine, but it doesnt like to run HARD.  I am still in the midst of trying to make it work, but I am wearing short of patience.  If it doesnt start working better soon, I will be cutting my losses and swapping to a 650 or 700 Speed Demon.

05 April 2003

Can you taste the fumes yet?  I can!  I worked ALL DAY on it.  Most of it was small stuff... cleaning and painting the voltage regulator and the solenoid, fixing some wiring, cleaning the inner fenders... but then there was progress towards the meat of the project.  Yesterday I received a package from Jim Wiederman (jawstang on VMF).  He sent me a set of late model 5.0 Mustang pulleys.  This will solve my pulley problem I developed when I decided to switch to manual steering.  The water pump, crank, and alternator are all in line and share a belt.  You can see all this on the third page of my radiator project.

01 April 2003

Been busy!  I have the engine back together, the radiator and fan fitted, new pulleys on the way, and I am about 3 hours away from refiring the engine!  WOOHOO!!

17 March 2003

I have decided that since I have the parts to try it, that I am gonna switch to manual steering. The power steering performed just fine, but it always leaked on me, and robbed my engine of power.  I want to try it out to see how it feels.  I will be retaining the original power steering parts just in case it is a total flop.  This will also negate my potential lower radiator hose problem - I didnt have enough clearance to get the PS belt in there cleanly.

This does, however, present an additional challenge.  I need to find pulleys that will line up properly.  The water pump pulley shared a belt with the crank and the PS pump (the tensioner), and the alternator was on a seperate belt altogether (with the alternator as the tensioner), as seen here.  Eliminating the PS pump takes away the tensioner on that belt.  The way manual steering 351C cars were setup from the factory, they had a different water pump pulley that lined up with the alternator, and they all shared a belt.  I can get the proper pulleys from March Performance, but that is big time $$$.  I either need to find the proper water pump and crank pulley, or find a jumk yard alternative... suggestions?

11 March 2003

Worked on the car again today... got the engine repainted.  It looks a THOUSAND times better.  Here is the result.  I also got my coolant filter today.  Very cool!

05 March 2003

I have the new radiator!  See it here.  It is a very nice piece from Summit Racing, and with the Proform 16" electric fan I picked up off ebay, I dont forsee any heating issues in the future.  I also have the temperature sending unit, now all I need is a relay, and someplace to mount it.

WOOHOO!!

27 January 2003

I started a new job today!!  I work for Stumps Party in South Whitley, IN now.  I am doing the same stuff I did before (accounting), but this place, being a party company, is wicked fun!

I have the car back.  I havent done much with it yet.  My next step is to get a new radiator, and get the cooling system hammered out.  This will allow me to drive it back to the bodyshop for the final buff.  It will also be nice to get this out of the way so I am not working around new paint and trying to lean over the grille and such.  I am going to get a Summit Racing house brand aluminum radiator, 16" electric fan, and I will be controlling all this with a thermocoupler and a relay kit.  Should be fun!

13 January 2003

I have been updating the bodywork pages, but not this main page.  The car is painted and buffed, and VERY nice looking... better than I could have imagined.  I cant wait to get it back together. There are some minor flaws that Shannon will work out, but in the end it will be MARVELOUS.

08 January 2003

Paint tomorrow... the time has come!

02 January 2003

YEEHAW!!  A little LESS than a week and the brown beauty will be back with me!!  Body page has been updated again.

26 December 2002

WOW!!  It has been awhile since I updated this page!!  Let's see... what have I been doing. Well, for starters, I lost my job back in August, but I picked up a new job here right before Thanksgiving.  The down time (approximately 3 months) gave me time to work on the 1953 F100, and time to buy and part out a trashed Mach 1 car.  The profits and proceeds (as well as the parts I needed) of that endeavor have fueled my effort to get my bodywork done.

The bodyhop and I agreed on a $4000 price tag to do all my bodywork, repair the accident damage, and get the car painted.  This requires my disassembly of the car (which I had done).  I also need to get a new hood and quarter panel for the driver side.  As it sits, those parts should be here tomorrow.  The bodyshop has had the car nearly a week, and they have already replaced the taillight panel, repaired this God-awful mess, and repaired this hole.  They also have this scratch sanded down and looking MUCH better.  They have most of it in primer (except the hood and quarter panel that are not there yet).

So anyway, that is that.  They are projecting a finish date of next week.  That isEXTREMELY fast and MUCH faster than I need it.... and I dont yet have the balance I owe them (I am a set of 4V quench 351C heads away from having it all, and I have a buyer for those).  Then the heartburn and ulcers begin as I try to reassemble it without scratching it to hell and back!

Here is the updated bodywork page. It has everything current through today.

18 August 2002

I have begun tearing apart the car for its trip to the body shop.  I have all the broken parts off, and I have also pulled the passenger fender.  I decided that I would give in and do a few while-I'm-at-its.  I stripped the undercoating off the inside of the fender (before and after) and I will most likely POR the underside tomorrow.  This pricess will of course be repeated on the other side.  I found some stealthy rust under the rubber crap.  I used a small chisel thingy and a torch to heat and scrape it off, then I used gasoline to get the residual.

I think I am also going to make an attempt to make the tops of the inner fenders look better. When I repaired them last, I didnt know how to weld. I have a better understanding of it now, and I should get it better this time.  I would LOVE to yank the engine and redo the whole engine compartment, but I just don't think I have the time right now.

I will be adding a bodywork page soon!

16 August 2002

I have had better weeks!!  I crunched my car on Monday - ouch.  That is the bad news, and I mourned in the requisite manner!  The good news is that it is all cosmetic, saved for the punctured radiator (which was on its way out anyway).  The worst of the structure damage is a LITTLE bend in the core support.

More good news!!  I have spoken with the body shop again about doing the repairs, and I think we have struck a deal where I get the rest of the car painted for about $1900 (plus insurance money).  I never want to wreck my car, but if I do, this is the best break I could have hoped for!

The insurance settled.  They estimated the repairs at approximately $20 OVER what the shop estimated!  COOLNESS!!  No waiting to get the work done because we are quibbling with the insurance company!!  The MOST I will have to pay out-of-pocket is $1900, and every dollar saved on parts is going to reduce that.  I am currently looking at a parts car so I can get some of the hard parts, but I think we are in business!!

31 July 2002

I found a local body shop that JUST opened called Cruizers.  All they do is classics!  I got an estimate from them for $4600 to repair ALL body rust, the trunk panel, and repaint the whole car.  I talked to the boss (aka: Jen), and she said we could consider it for this winter.  WEEE!! Of course that price requires me to pull apart most of the car, but hey, I have done it before!

I also won an auction!  I found this auction on Ebay for a standard bore 351C block that had been shot peened and painted.  Total price: $46!!  I have to drive about 250 each way to get the block, but it will be well worth it!  I will try to post pictures sometime.

21 July 2002

A WHOLE bunch going on, but no time to post it.  This is just a test post to see if I have my web ring banner fixed.

30 May 2002

I drove the car after the flushing... wow... HUGE difference.  This will definitely cool my car down for the long trip to Iowa for Corn Feed 2 (a VMF function).

On my list before going to Iowa in June... hmmm... I think I might have a crack at loosening my steering up.  I am gonna get a oil pressure and water temperature gauge to mount into my dash (where an AC vent would be if I had AC).  I feel I need these as my dummy stock gauges dont tell me numbers... and being an accountant, I MUST have numbers.

28 May 2002

Been awhile since my last update, but I have been driving the car for a week.  It has been doing well, with 2 exceptions.  It doesnt cool very well, and the power steering is a bit funky.  I took the time tonight to flush out the radiator with muraitic acid.  I got a LOT of gunk out of it.  I think I might do it again tomorrow.

The steering is stiff.  It feels like the power is not working sometimes and working others.  I need to pay it some attention.

13 May 2002

I worked on the car tonight, but I do not have any content updates to show for it.

I installed the rest of the suspension.  I checked for leaks in all 3 systems (brakes, engine, and steering) and i found a minor leak in the steering.  I think it is just a matter of tightening the fitting a little more.  The engine had a pan bolt with oil on it.  The bolt was loose.  I tightened it.

I still have to get some cotter pins to finish off the steering.  I also have to be sure I have the toe as close as I can get it for the drive to the alignment shop.  Hopefully the shop is nice enough not to screw up my nice tie rods.  I also need to be sure my steering wheel is set for the center of the steering box... I think it is a bit off right now.

Soon....

11 May 2002

I have updated things a bit on my brakes and suspension pages.  I plan to get a suspension kit from Canadian Mustang that includes KYB shocks and bigger sway bars.  At that time I will blast and powder coat my shock tower caps... cause they look like a camel crapped on them.

The brakes were completed today... well, almost.  I still have to install the proportioning valve, but I have everything else done and the brakes bled to judge pedal... very firm... almost too firm... except I have legs like a horse, so it should not be too bad.

I also worked on finishing my suspension.  Everything has been cleaned and refinished.  It is going to look really good... except that the frame and undercarraige of the car looks like crap.

My oil pan leaked.  I took this opportunity to reseal it.  Yahoo.

27 April 2002

I have been busy.  I have switched jobs again, but with the samme company.  It occurred to both my boss and myself that I was not cut out to be the GM of a car dealership.  At the same time, the controller decided to skip work and got herself fired.  That allowed me to slide over into the controller's job and now I am back home in the skill of my education.

Now about the car.  I have tracked down brake pads (Wagner Semi-Metallics) and installed them..  I also realized that the tube nuts on my SS lines that attacked to the soft lines were too big.  I had to cut them off and put on the right ones.  I also got the banjo bolts I need to attach soft lines to the calipers.  I have pictures.... here.

I have also yanked the drag link, control valve, and purchased new tie rods.  I have had the drag link powder coated, and I will soon get the tie rods and control valve powdered.  I am doing a full rebuild on the control valve, which necessitates that I yank the tube seats.  I also had to drill out the plug under the ball stud so I could insert a grease zerk.  I cleaned the ouside well. Next will be dismantling, cleaning, coating, and reassembly.  A suspension page is soon to come.

12 April 2002

I have received my stainless brake line set.  Very nice.  I just hope it fits as good as it looks.

We will get posession of our house Sunday, but I will be again toiling away on my car.  I think I am gonna try to install the brake lines, and then take out the suspension, clean it, and get it ready for powder coating.  I am gonna take out the drag link, idler arm, and tie rods.  You can see from the pictures on the brakes page that they look like crap.  A little semi-gloss black powdercoating should work nicely!

7 April 2002

So anyway, I have realized that my site was an organizational NIGHTMARE!  I have decided to restructure it.  Things will not change in physical appearance, but links to pictures in the archives may not work anymore... that is just too much to do.

The Disk Brake Conversion page was the first to be redesigned.  Since I was adding content to it anyway, I figured it was a good time to do it.  I started the swap this weekend.  I yanked the drums from one side, and loosely assembled the disk parts.  I say loosely assembled cause I do not have brake pads yet... so I could not fully assemble them.  I also snapped a hard line trying to disassemble it, so I will have to get a new set of those... I think I will do stainless steel lines.

I also realized that the "cast grey" paint I used on many of my suspension parts is really crappy.  I am gonna yank them and powder them in the near future.