Nick's Classic '67 Mustang Restoration
Where It All Started...
It all started at our old new house - the home of Manic Mechanic Wekiva. At least that's what I called it. Ann and Nick simply called it home. At the time, we had just finished rebuilding the Jeep engine and I helped Nick get it back in. A month or two later and some @$$hole decided to turn left just in front of us and the Jeep was totalled! Nick was devastated. He was so proud of that Jeep and all the work he did on it. But now it was all gone. Undaunted, Nick found his dream car, a '67 Mustang. Ann, Nick and I went to check it out... Well, Nick checked over the car while Ann and I watched. He looked it over and under and everywhere else. Then the question, "What do you think?" It was a 200 cu in inline six, so my answer was, "If you're looking for a V8, then I think you should keep looking."
Well, obviously we didn't keep looking and Nick bought the car with the insurance money from the Jeep. There was some "paperwork" that needed taken care of at the DMV, so I was not with them when they drove it home. I'm wondering if I should mention Ann almost running the gate at the toll plaza... I'll leave it up to Nick to tell that story on his own page. Like I said, I wasn't with them. So off to that "rocky" start, Nick realized those old drum brakes were not very safe, wanting to pull to one side or the other most of the time. I helped him try to adjust them, but that didn't seem to help much, so we had to dig a little deeper. After replacing those hopelessly rusted service cylinders with new ones, and even a new master cylinder and still having them pull, Nick decided it was time for a disk brake swap.
We never could get the "proportioning" valve to slide, and couldn't find a proper replacement either. I'm not even sure it was a proportioning valve, since those are used to apply pressure in the proper proportion between front disk and rear drum brakes. Whatever that valve was, it looked to sit across the two different braking circuits, connected diagonally front to back. To me it seemed like it would be where some sort of control valve would help to correct pulling to one side of the other, but I really didn't know. That was really before my time, or rather, before I started working on cars enough to know anything about the design of these older systems. Again, it didn't matter since Nick had already done the research on upgrading it to four wheel disk brakes.
While I could go into every little thing we did on this car, it's easier to just say that even with the service manual, it quickly became apparent that even if we understood everything there was to know about every old system on that car, finding the tools and equipment needed to work on the originals would be difficult, if not downright impossible... When was the last time you had to have a distributor "curved", or even had to worry about a vacuum or mechanical spark timing advance mechanism? You were lucky to have seat belts in these things! Today they're controlled by a computerized engine management system. Maybe someday, but for now, Nick is trying to do what he can with what he has, a 200 cu in inline six with a single barrel carburetor tightly coupled to the spark advance in the original distributor, which doesn't seem to be working correctly.
Try as we might, we're never able to get the carburetor and distributor vacuum advance mechanism to work like it's supposed to. I can tell Nick is getting more and more frustrated with it still not working. He's probably even more frustrated with me trying to explain how it's supposed to work, but not knowing for sure why it doesn't work. Hell, we can't even find one of those old manifold vacuum gauges they used to sell back then to help you improve your fuel economy. Without a vacuum gauge, we can't really tell what's going on. But again, even if we could tell what was going on, how would we get that distributor curved if it needed it? It used to be just about every car shop had one of those machines... Good luck finding one anywhere nowadays.
Nick needs more than just me and my limited understanding of how all of that should work. At least, how all of that is supposed to work for his particular car. Most of that knowledge and understanding is long gone. What is done today, actively by computers, used to be done passively by a mechanical system, or some group of mechanical systems, working together in concert. But I'm probably not telling anyone who knows about classic cars anything that they don't already know. It breaks my heart that I can't be of more help to my son. Thankfully he is able to find a modern equivalent or someone else that has worked around the issues and shared their experiences online.
He was happy with the inline six for a long time, long enough to try just about every little performance improvement and enhancement available for the inline six. He tried adding a shift kit to the C4 automatic transmission. I cautioned him against tinkering with a working automatic transmission, but he knew he wanted to do it. We must have had that engine and transmission out of the car three or four times trying to get that damned transmission to work again. Sadly it was my mistake that brought about the end when I told Nick he needed to chisel out the bronze bushing in the front clutch... The irreplaceable split bronze bushing that required a special installation tool to put back in, if you could find a replacement bushing! The irreplaceable split bronze bushing I mistook for a bad bushing that had failed with a fatigue crack. Yeah, once we ruined the original, any front clutch replacement we could find was never the same as what came out of it. Lesson learned, by both of us.Nick was already busy changing out for a manual transmission. That engine hoist sure got a workout on this car! First a three speed, then when that wasn't a close enough ratio, a five speed. New, "stiffer" 3.55 gears in the rear end. A two barrel manifold "adapter" to replace the original single barrel carburetor, along with a new distributor and electronic ignition since the old distributor was too tightly coupled to old single barrel carb. Still not enough performance... So the inevitable V8 swap is upon us. Three different 302s and many major body work changes later, the car is no closer to being back on the road than it was with the first 302. I have the "carcasses" of previous 302 incarnations still sitting in the garage to prove it.
Some History...
The condensed version above encompasses the many troubles involved in restoring an antique automobile. With a better equipped shop and even better funding, I'm sure we could restore one to like new condition, i.e. original condition. But that's not really what Nick wants, and only he knows what he wants. It seems to change as time progresses, but at least he hasn't given up on it and continues to research the best approach for getting there. For the most part, this is looking back six years. But what follows is excerpted from my experiences at the Little Grass Shack, my home away from home for nearly two years, and the majority of this restoration at our house in Wekiva.
(November 2012)
With the motorcycles running and the network issues at the Grass Shack solved,
we turn our attention to the now derelect Mustang. Nick's done some testing,
crawling under it, and verifying it's not the drive shaft not engaging. That
leaves just one last thing it could be, and what I figured it had to be way back
when, we must have the wrong torque converter. The '65 uses a 24 / 24 spline
input shaft, but they went to a 26 / 24 for '66, so I figure that "buzzing" sound
we heard when we started it after rebuilding the C4 automatic transmission was
the input shaft grinding down the innards of the new torque converter.
When I'm home for the weekend, Nick and I pull the engine yet again, and he's busy separating the transmission from the engine. Sure enough, once we can see down into the torque converter, it's obvious that's what's happened. Armed with that information, Nick starts the search for the correct replacement. Turns out these things are getting scarce since so many racers have used them, once beefed up that is... Well, Nick has his project to work on again, and work on it he does.
He buys an arc welder and practices by welding together a go cart that uses the electric motor off the scooter Mom found him way back when. It's been sitting by our shed, literally for years now, so it's nice to see it finally get some use again. I say see, but all I've seen so far are videos Ann took of Nick riding it up and down the driveway. Nick is looking at motor controllers and the related parts, but once he sees how expensive they are, decides better of sinking any more money into it. He's returns his attention to building an engine run in stand for the Mustang from it.
With the stand completed, and another new torque converter in place, he bolts up the engine and transmission and lands them in the stand. He fashions a see through window on the end of an old drain tailpiece to fit where the drive shaft yoke would normally go, to keep the transmission fluid from leaking out, and allow us to see the tailshaft moving. He also fashions a makeshift shifter arm from an old furring strip and attaches it to the shift linkage. A long fireplace matchstick with a tape "flag" on the end protrudes from the speedometer gear as an added indicator of movement.
He's even rigged a starter button and kill switch and wired up a set of gauges, like you'd mount under the dashboard, so he can monitor the engine temp, oil pressure, and alternator and battery charge. There's even a tachometer! With this setup, he's able to fire up the engine, and test shifting it in and out of gear. With the transmission in reverse, the matchstick flag turns one way. With it in neutral, it stops turning. And with it in drive, the flag spins the other way. That's a good sign! That and the fact it's not making that grinding noise anymore!
So the next thing is to figure out why this two barrel motocraft 2150 carburetor isn't feeding fuel to the engine properly. It refuses to idle, and won't even run without the choke on. We tweak and tweak and there's just no adjusting this thing to run under 2000 RPM. The exhaust manifold is glowing cherry red, so that and the fact it won't run without full choke, leads me to believe it's running way too lean. It's a good thing it's on the engine stand, because now we can look down the carburetor throat while it's running.
Looking down the throat, I notice gas is dribbling out of one of the venturies. That's not right... Upon closer inspection, I see what looks like cracks in the ventury body that's dribbling fuel, and notice that fuel is just leaking out of the cracks. Hmmm, I'll bet that's it. Nick got this carb from an engine involved in a fire, and I'm thinking the carb was on fire too, causing the cracks and who knows what other problems. Nick has a new mission, find another carb to replace this obvious piece of junk we've been fighting with for too long now.
He is eager and finds another carb, rebuilds it, and puts the engine back in the car himself! I wish he wouldn't have done that though... The whole idea of the engine stand is so we have a controlled environment to get everything tuned and working BEFORE it goes back in the car. Well, you guessed it, he's having problems again. Since I wasn't here to see what was going on and what he's done, I have no clue where to start, and he's just as frustrated by it not running again. Maybe even more so...
(February 2014)
Like I said, it breaks my heart to not be able to help my son. Even worse, I'm not there to help him even if
I could. I don't know how others do it, work away from home all the time that is. It's taking its toll on me,
regardless of how new and exciting the work is. I find myself constantly having to balance what I could
be doing with what I have to be doing just to make a living. Well, all things come to an end, as did my
contract and my home away from home. I was happy to be moving back home, but sad that another chapter had closed.
My attention turned to finding gainful employment, but at least I was home!
Some More History...
(September 2014)
Well, it wasn't long after my moving back home that we had to move again. All of us. Long story. You can read
more about it here. Unfortunately, fate forced us to move when a pipe burst under the slab and we couldn't quickly
fix it. That is, fix it quickly enough to not be more than just inconvenienced by it. Nick and I eventually got it
repaired, but not right away to be sure, and certainly not on the first try. The short version? We had to rent a
UHaul trailer to move the Mustang out to The Nest. It wasn't really our nest at the time, but over time we've made
it so, little by little. The really unfortunate part was there really wasn't a garage that Nick could put the Mustang
in. There was a garage, but more of a carriage house just big enough for the tin lizzy, with a dirt floor and a couple
of stripes of concrete for the tires to ride on...
Nick bought one of those "temporary" carport tent thingies to put it under since the car really wasn't weathertight anymore. He tried his hand at repairing the rusted sheet metal he found every time he removed something else. We already knew the cowling was in terrible shape, but the deeper he went, the more he found needed replaced. He put up tarp sides on the tent to contain the welding arc and protect the eyes of others, but soon found that it trapped mosquitoes and all sorts of other bugs. Add to that every time he needed to get under the car, it was mud, not dirt under there. Nick did the best he could with what he had, but he soon knew he needed a better space than what he had...
The Original Mustang Ranch...
The constant fight with the elements and not having a climate controlled space became the issue, so Nick found a nearby commercial space to rent. It was larger than a two car garage with high ceilings. The first thing was to add some air conditoning... Well, actually, the first thing was to get the electrical working. It seems the other hot of the single phase 240v wasn't working. We made some "modifications" to the electrical panel and got it all working. He fashioned a frame to mount the body shell to so he could "tilt" it up off of the frame to work on the floor pan. Eventually he added another Mustang during his stay there, a '72 or '73 Mach One, I can't remember which.
The Now One And Only Mustang Ranch...
Nick has bought his own place a few blocks from us, now known as Nick's Mustang Ranch. While it's not the original Mustang Ranch, it is now the one and only, but that's another story...
We fnally moved both of the Mustangs to the now one and only Nick's Mustang Ranch, their current home. He bought a house of his own with a big two car garage and an attached single car garage! Over time he added a lift to the detached two car garage. I've helped him when I could, but he's really very self sufficient. I am very proud of Nick. He has stuck with it and continually progressed on his '67, albeit with other things taking priority over it at times. He is doing what I only wished I could do when I was his age... Talk about living vicariously through your children!
Obviously there's a LOT of the story that's missing. Eventually I'll be able to fill in the blanks, again looking back over six years.