On today’s episode of “Lipstick on a Pig” I work on interior, under the hood, and exterior changes.
Interior-Recaro Sport seats installed with Wedge brackets, 3/8-16 Grade 8 bolts and steel spacer bushings.
As I drive a convertible with a Cleveland and don’t want to cut my new door panels nor rear interior panels I decided to do a radio delete as the Jensen cassette player with dash speakers was dead. Cleaned, sanded and repainted the original radio locating panel, used some black ABS sheet to fill the hole using two sided tape, and bought two new radio side trim pieces from NPD as the OEM pieces had been poorly painted with Drips N Runz gloss black. The FiTech hand held will be relocated to this spot this winter so this is just to clean up the gaping hole in the dash for the Woodward Dream Cruise, Berkley Parade, and MOCSEM show this coming weekend. Little outta focus but you get the idea.
Installed my March alternator bracket and Lokar locking oil dipstick. The OEM alt bracket was cracked and was impossible to tension enough to stop the belt from squealing. Turnbuckle makes that a problem of the past. The PO had installed a cheap chrome Windsor dipstick which fit poorly and leaked. No leaks now.
Then on the the rear gas filler door. The original piece was faded, crispy, the lens cracked and the chrome pitted. Plus I’m not a fan of the Mercury crest on the car. I’ve always liked the GT badge and it fits the vibe and story I use for my build so I decided to take that path. I had purchased a nice used assembly so I tore that down. I got the trim pieces stripped and rechromed, bought a new lens and aluminum insert from John’s, stripped and painted the door mechanism and the aluminum insert, the drilled the chrome insert for the GT letters. I like the result though it’s probably not for everybody. Purists avert your eyes-consider yourselves warned!
I mounted the door panels last night. I’ve been helping my dad get his split window on the road for the Dream Cruise tomorrow so I’ve been postponing the installation. John’s plastic panels mean no more wet warpage of the fiber board stuff. Door cavities sprayed down with Eastwood heavy duty anti-rust, then loaded up with stick on sound deadening. New door cups, door latch (inside), door lock knobs and rings, and arm rests from NPD, new beltline moldings and fuzzies from WCCC, and upholstery from Paul’s Auto Upholstery in Waterford gives me the look I envisioned when I started on the interior-clean, simple, and updated.
Wash and polish today to get ready for Berkley Parade tonight. I also need to realign the steering wheel a bit and figure out the turn signal cancelling system as it’s a bit wonky now.
Friday night parade was fun. Had my family with me in the car and saw my Mom and Dad and favorite Aunt and Uncle for dinner beforehand. I swapped on my small round air cleaner to my oval Cougar air cleaner for the parade and the Cruise (as well as to help my Dad get his Corvette running). After the parade I took my Aunt and Uncle out for a spin in Friday night pre-Dream Cruise traffic and the car started to run a bit rough. We pulled a MI left and went to head back to their car and the Cougar died. I noticed that the FiTech handheld display was powered but had no values displayed which I’d never seen before. The car would crank but not fire. I had it towed home and when the tow truck driver left I heard the fuel pump still running. The key had been out of the ignition switch for over an hour at that point! I disconnected the battery and closed the hood. I verified the FiTech handheld was working properly when I came in and connected it to my computer. I went out Saturday morning and reconnected the battery and the fuel pump was now off. When I reconnected the FiTech display it powered up as it always does. Strange. I removed the big air filter to take a look at the connections and in-line fuses-all good. I turned the key and fired up the car with the air cleaner off and she ran nice and smooth. WTH??? I grabbed the air cleaner and went to reinstall in and when I put on the wingnut I got a solid BLAST from the ignition! Wow that’ll wake you up! It turns out the oval air cleaner and my big MSD distributor cap have less clearance than they want and I was getting ignition signals right back to the throttle body which contains the ECU. As I have had electrical noise problems in the past with this system, I surmise the throttle body was getting regular blasts from the MSD box/dizzy and it finally shut down. Letting it cool down overnight and reinstalling my small air filter fixed the problem and I’ve put another 50 or so miles on the car including 2.5 hours of Cruise traffic with no further problems.
Wow, it’s been a while since I updated this. Well, here we go again.
Last fall, the power steering pump failed and as I have a new pump for the R&P swap I didn’t want to buy a short term replacement so the car came off the road. I’ve registered for the Hot Rod Power Tour so I’m digging in again. Last fall I picked up a '69 Mustang rear end minus center section but with factory 31 spline axles for a GREAT price. Yesterday it was dropped off to the blaster (all holes covered with sheet steel, gaskets with RTV and plugs before blasting). Tomorrow the whole enchilada goes to a ring & pinion shop for check out and start on the rebuild. New Currie boxed spring perches, ARP studs for case and lugs, new T-bolts, bearings, seals, and inspection of the 3.70:1 traction lock diff I picked up. If everything checks out, the housing will be painted with Steel-It stainless steel filled top coat and assembled. I’ll install the Wilwood rear discs when I get it back and will do a drop and swap of the existing, leaking 28 spline 2.75 open rear end. The epoxy anchors have now fully cured so I can use the MaxJack I installed for the changes coming. I’m excited to be digging in again. Pics coming soon.
No updates n a while though things have been happening. Unfortunately too slowly to make Carlisle and last night I threw in the towel on taking it on PowerTour this year. Pics coming but front suspension and brakes stripped of and replaced, stock 9" got new wheel bearings, brake shoes and wheel cylinders, retainer plates, Bilstein shocks, Flexform monoleaf fiberglass springs, shackles and 9/16" front bolts. I ran in to header clearance problems (Doug’s) with the Unisteer R&P install and that shut me down last night.
I wanted to post this in a separate message as this one stopped progress. I’m using a Unisteer R&P kit and the input is directly under the header tube. Sanderson shorty headers inbound now and hoping for the best. I also modified the column to install the bearing differently than the instructions stated by removing this bolt and pulling the inner sleeve out to cut then reinstalling it instead of driving it down on the shaft as directed.
That’s not gonna fit at all!
Shaft with rag joint cut off
This screw holds inner sleeve in place. I needed to grind on the opening as the hole was blocked. Removed the bolt, pulled/cut/re-inserted the shaft and then seated the bearing.
Thanks Chris! The header interference with the rack stopped me cold but I have new shorty headers from Sanderson that I hope will clear. I need to pull the Zbar tonight for a test fitment. May need to tweak the motor mounts and have already looked at converting to hydraulic clutch release system if Zbar won’t clear these headers.
Todd is making a lot of progress with his set–up but for those of you that might be interested in doing this, there is another way.
I have no connection with this company except I have used their kits, tell them what car you have, what engine you are using and they will do the rest,
comes just like the picture and you get rid of those cramped up shock towers. https://rcmotorsportsinc.com/product/rc-107-adjustable-ride-height-coilover-conversion-package/
Digging the Street and track kit. I like the fact these kits come with the bilstein coilovers. Over all seems like a great setup
Interested to see where you go with the z-bar vs hydro setup. I like the simplicity of the z-bar but its crammed in there and makes fitting headers kinda a pain. A hydraulic setup would free up alot of space thats for sure
Thanks again guys! Events, family and charity, have kept me out of the garage. I will get the header in place this weekend.
catlover-I would have loved not having the shock towers in place but wasn’t ready for that level of car modifications. I have also read about the Mustang II fron suspsension geometry being a bit compromised. Street or Track was a company I’d read about, offered great support and input when selecting products and is local to me. Shaun’s stuff is well engineered and made, track proven, and comes highly recomended by the Mustang racing guys. I have been impressed so far. Now gotta get her done and back on the road!
DieselD and Chris -I hope I can make the Zbar I have work. It was reinforced in 2016. The JBA parts look good but they don’t make Cleveland headers so I ruled them out for exhaust stuff long ago and never looked back at them. Should I need to got to a hydraulic set-up I’ve been looking at Modern Drive Line and American Powertrain. Both offer internal (Tilton) and external slave cylinders. Both of these have + and -. I like the idea of the internal slave system as it removes more stuff that potentially conflicts with exhaust system changes I need to make. However when the cylinder fails I need to pull the trans. I won’t need to make that decision (and spend those $$$) until I get the Sanderson header in place and see how things fit.
Two steps forward and one step backward kinda day yesterday.
Forward
Pulled Zbar and header slid right in to place with plenty of room to spare.
Re-attached Zbar and had clearance
Mounted steering rack with plenty of clearance and was able to snug bolts
Finished steering column mods
R+R throttle body to gain clearance for air cleaner by removing throttle body
Backward
Ujoint that attaches to input shaft on rack wont clear header.
1/2" spacer not enough (1" spacers ordered from McMaster-Carr this morning)
Incoming 1" spacer had me concerned about hood clearance so I pulled throttle body and removed 1" phenolic spacer
Removing spacer made the extended studs too long for use without the spacer and I misplaced shorter studs.
I didn’t want to bash in header/collector tubing (I’ve seen Engine Masters, I know it won’t affect power) it just doesn’t sit well with me. Decided to lift engine for clearance. Hardware store trip for longer bolts and 1/2" fastener which proved to be too short to allow room for steering ujoint clearance. New 1" spacers will be here tomorrow. Tonight I get to remove the Zbar again and maybe the rack to pull the DS header and apply hi-temp silicone (Sanderson recommends no gaskets with their headers). Once that’s done I can pull passenger header and slip in new Sanderson shorty on that side then get her to exhaust shop for two new downpipes merging new headers o existing exhaust system that previously connected to long-tubes.
