As fast as it seems to be losing refrigerant now, the leak should be detectable I hope.

We do plan on moving that heavy lathe, we may need to borrow your skates. I guess it depends on whether we have to move the Fairlane or not. I'll talk to you about that tomorrow at Selma.

I got the oil pan on so that miserable job is done, but with the muggy and heat, plus needing to vacuum the pool so the kids could swim, I really did not get much else done.

 

Dave, on your A/C issues, don’t know if you realized but Matt is a former HVAC tech. Maybe you could pick his brain.

 

I talked to Tom and told him I have the skates and if he needs a extra hand I can help just let me know.

Good to hear you are making head way on the Stang. The weather dose not help any. Just adding freon I was sweating and I was not hardly doing anything
Just hooking up to the clubs trailer I was soaked and knew I would be so I wore a different shirt for hook up then changed to the clubs shirt.
Not that that helped as when we got to Selma Tony & I started unloading we were soaked in no time.

The heat got to Tony a few times and had to sit down to rest. He said he got dizzy and he was drinking water but I was keeping an eye on him just in case.

Yea I dont know why it lost charge so fast
Everything is new but 1 hose and I dont see any signs of a leak anywhere in the system.
Before it looses this charge I need to check the system with my black light and the HF sniffer to see if I can find anything.
I dont know what Matt could help with as the system is pretty simple. I just got to spend time checking it out.

I got a little shock when I went to leave the cruise in yesterday.
I unplugged the trailer when I got there is it would not kill the truck battery like at Peach Cobbler so it started right up so that was good.
The shock was the seat belt buzzer started working
It did 1 time before about a year ago when I was leaving work and never did it again till yesterday.
It buzzed 2 times and went off the same time the seat belt light on the dash went off.
Thought that was pretty cool. Cant think of anything on the truck not working that should other than the AC all the time

Kurt, have you put new tires on the rear yet with all the that new power
How many miles have you put on it so far? Still working the bugs out?
I was going to tell you about the Selma cruise but I did not think you would run the truck that far just yet.
Dave ----

 

I’ve really wanted to but have been busy trying to track down why I had no brake lights. Didn’t want to drive outside of the hood w/o brake lights. Finally got those fixed today, so the maiden voyage will be a very glamorous trip to the dump.

 

Kurt what did you find on the brake lights?

Dave I did not know Tony wasn't feeling well, was it just the heat or did he have something going on?

I didn't get a chance to go to Tom's at all yesterday, we had plans to go with Wayne and pick up two 440 motors from Chuck Warren but as it turned out an electrician Tom was waiting on changed the meet-up time, so that 440 trip got pushed aside. Then when I had free time, he was making a Lowes trip, and when he got back, I was tied up running errands. But we do need to move that heavy thing some time this week. Does he have your number? I don't know if I'm supposed to get with you or if he is going to reach out to you himself.

Things are progressing slowly on the Mustang. I'm in the reassembly phase but a lot of detail things are slowing me down.

The car was originally a California Emissions car and it had what they called the "thermactor" which is pretty similar to the air injection they used in later years, but my thermactor stuff is long gone however it shares a bracket with the alternator, so I always had this funky alternator bracket with something obviously missing from the top.

Old engine picture so you can see what bracket I am talking about

I decided to do away with that for once & for all and get something better, so I ended up buying a billet aluminum setup. I wanted one like this:



But the one I bought didn't have any "as installed" pics, just pics of the individual pieces, and when it came in and I tried to install it, I realized the main bracket is upside down from what I want and would mount the alternator up high. So I bit the bullet and ordered another one, this time paying attention to make sure I was getting a "mid mount" style. But while waiting for it to come in I started to have doubts. My engine (and the car in general) has a "basically stock" look and a billet aluminum piece would just look out of place. It wouldn't fit with the rest of the engine. Now if I had billet pulleys, and chrome valve covers, and a fancy air cleaner, it would look right at home, but mine isn't like that.

So I decided that I would go with a stock style setup and with all the Ford engines I have or have had over the years, I knew I should have no problem digging one up. I went through my box of brackets and all I could find was a chrome one. I have no idea where all the plain ones went to. But the chrome was in bad shape, so I cleaned with a brillo pad, then warm soapy water, then I sanded the rust and pits out, sprayed with adhesion promoter, primer, and then blue paint.




When I went to install it, I realized I don't have the right length bolt to hang it from. Measuring the distance from where the alterator sits to the head where it mounts on the old thermactor bracket, I could see I needed a 1.5" spacer. Measuring everything else out, that meant a 5.5" bolt. I only had a 5 inch and a 6 inch, and that was the only sizes available at the hardware store or the autoparts store. Apparently every other Ford in the known world uses a 6 inch long bolt. I ended up using the 6 with a 1/2 inch spacer in front.



And now posting those pics, I am wishing I had painted the lower adjusting arm bracket black instead of blue!

When I removed the radiator previously and cleaned it, I sprayed it with Purple Power which ended up leaving these white stains. A google search confirmed I was not supposed to do that!



So I tried polishing it out, and the marks were still visible. Next I tried steel wool, and then 1000 grit sandpaper, and polish after that, but the net result now is you can see all those sanding marks.


So, to recap - I wasted $60 on two different alternator brackets that I'm not going to use on this car (I just figured maybe I stick them on the shelf to use on some other 302 down the line) and I still need to get a 5-1/2 bolt so it's not looking jury rigged (I found a place online where I can get a single bolt for 67 cents.... plus $15 shipping, lol).

As of right now I will probably have the car back together later today, but I hope I can figure out a solution to make the radiator pretty again before doing so.

 

John, on your 5 1/2” bolt. If the threads of the 6” are an inch or so, just run a nut down and cut the 1/2” off. When you remove the nut it cleans up the threads. Cost = $0.00

my brake lights fix is embarrassing as hell. Spent DAYS looking at the EVTM drawings, reading on line, pulling all sorts of connectors apart, etc.
not all of those efforts were a complete waste of time tho, I did magically get my horn to toot and a blinker to blink.
finally at a complete loss as to what to try next and about to post on here and the bullnose bible for help, I replaced the fuse.

guess who has brake lights and is ashamed to be writing this.

 

Hey no shame there, we've all done stuff like that before. At least you got it sorted out. As far as the bolt, I have two things to say about that. 1. There would not be much threads left if I cut 1/2 off and even though I have a tap & die set, I don't think you can carve new threads on a grade 8 bolt. 2. The more I look at it from the side, the more convinced I am that regardless of what my tape measure said, the whole thing needs to go back 1/2 inch - which would mean the 5 inch bolt should be a perfect fit. My fan bolts are too short so I'm about go get more, then get that mounted properly, and that will show me for sure if I'm lined up good or not.

 

Thanks but I still feel like an idiot.
Now that I can get out on the open road and start putting some miles on this thing while gaining confidence in its ability to let me stray further from home. Keep me current on upcoming weekend car/truck events. I’d really like to join y’all soon.

 

I just looked at the events folder I have on my computer and I don't see anything until Sep 14; there is a car show in Four Oaks, and also the same day (in the afternoon) is a cruise-in at the Jordana's Pizzeria in Benson. So unless Dave knows of something coming up sooner, you have a month to keep on tweaking the bugs out.

I wasn't going to tell anyone this, but I might as well come clean and maybe it will help you feel better about missing the fuse. You know all this Mustang work for the past 2 weeks, plus the hundreds of dollars of new parts and hardware, and all the hours on my back underneath the car getting grease and oil all over my hands arms and forearms? Well I never did find a "smoking gun" of where the oil leak was coming from, until I went to install the new dipstick tube. The old one just sits in the hole and had a rubber o-ring at the top, which was rotted into a C shape instead of an O. But the new dipstick tube, boy it does not just sit in place, you have to drive it in with a rubber hammer. It is a sealed fit. So it's possible (not yet proven in a court of law) that I might have done all this work when a $10 dipstick tube and 5 minutes of time could have solved it. But hey on the bright side, I got fresh gaskets everywhere, I had the chance to clean & repaint a lot of components, I got a new timing gear set, a new oil pump, so I can't say it was wasted. Only pointing out you're not the only one to miss something easy

 

Sounds like you guys have been busy.
Kurt, I list a cars & coffee in Garner on the 18th 8am to 11am at Full Bloom Coffee shop if they still have it.
We (I) have not gone to this one in a bit so dont know if it is still on or not? It was in a parking lot next door.

I also have listed for the 8/31 cars & coffee at Carolina Brewing 140 Thomas Mill rd Holly Springs 8am to 11am
We / I have never been to this one so dont know if it is still going or what?

The club is going to Littleton to a show on 8/31. A member's father was a member of the club putting on the show.
Was a pretty good show last year but far. Think for me was about 100 miles 1 way. If you want you can follow us up and back if the truck is ready for a long trip. We had 2 or 3 non-members in the group of think 9 of us all together.

Some of the C&C dont take off or they get over run with turners like one in Cary on Kildar Farm rd the club went to.
I could not find a parking space so I left and dont think any of us have been back since.

Think the C&C on the Garner / Clayton line is the same, mostly tuners and I only did a drive by when it first moved to the LKQ office park on 70 bus.
If anything closer comes up I will let you know.

John, I was also thinking of cutting a long bolt and thread some new threads on it.
I also have a V belt line up tool that I think uses lasers, I have never used it, if you think that may help line up the pullyes.

I dont think Tom has my number. I figured you would be helping him move stuff and you call me for help and I would bring the skids if needed or just me for help. If you cant help and he needs a hand give him my number and tell him if I dont answer to leave a msg, I dont pick up if I dont know the number or not in my phone.

When I pulled the club trailer out and stopped for gas 1 tire was low. It was low the last time too?
So when I got home a parked it behind the garage and hooked up so I could pull it up to my garage for fixing.
Well you know the trailer battery is no good and killed the trucks battery at the Peach Cobbler so I unplug it when truck is not running.
When I got home I forgot to unplug till I was in bed at 10:30 so I had to run out and unplug it.

Next morning, yesterday, the battery did not start the truck so had to jump it to get everything up to my garage.
Got the trailer tire off and found 3 vary small leaks like pin holes, and 1 large but still small.
All holes were to small for the plug reamer to push in so I used a 1/8" drill then the reamer and installed 4 plugs.
Hope that fixes it as the others all kept psi.

Told Tony about the trailer battery not holding a charge and he said if he could get it replaced by club meeting he could get Dave W to cut a check.
So I pulled it early eve and he got a replacement. Old battery was from 4/19 so was about due for replacement.
Installed it this morning, checked for draw and did not find any as I did not think I would so the trailer should be 100% now.
And I can feel the brakes working too!

Dont know if DOT will want the trailer for the 540 thing or not?
Guess someone will have to check with DOT to find out when they talk to see when and where they want us?
Think I heard they wanted 20+ cars?

As for Tony at the show it was the heat. We got there at 11am and started setting up.
He first moved the cones out so we had more spots and that was all out in the sun.
I started on the garbage cans and then started to get the tires out and he stacked them, again in the sun!
You know Tony he cant sit down.
I saw him off to 1 side leaning on the light pole so I checked on him and he said he got a little dizzy.
I offered water but he had his own so after that I kept watching him just to make sure he was ok.
He did sit down a few times after that.

Dave ----

 

Oh John on the radiator what if you sanded it with the 1000 and then painted it black?
Or if sanded in 1 direction so it looked like stainless steel?
Black is easier
Dave ----

 

I didn't see your post early enough to take you up on the offer. I put a straight edge across the flat part of the alternator pulley and it lined up about 1/4 in farther out than the water pump pulley, so I removed the spacer so I could trim 1/4 off it. When I did, I realized it was 1-3/4. It was supposed to be 1-1/2. So between measuring and cutting the first time, I must have forgotten how to read a tape measure! Oh well, it is now 1-1/2 as it should have been from the get-go and now it looks like it lines up perfectly.

I had forgotten about the Littleton Stray Cats show, I don't know why it's not in my computer. If you can send me the flyer I'll add it to the folder.

 

Rope also works in a pinch they say to check if the belts line up right.

I sent you a text of the flyer for stray cats.
Maybe this time I wont bail half way home
Dave ----

 

Oh yes thank you for the flyer, I saw it when I got up this morning. I absolutely KNOW I had this flyer, because I sent Paul Fowler the info from it to put into the newsletter. But it's not on the clubs "2024 Events" facebook album, and not on my computer. So I can only assume that means they mailed me a copy and I had it in front of me but never snapped a pic of it!

I was hitting it last night and this morning, I finished installing everything overnight, every time I had a 15 minute break I'd go out and do one thing. Plus my 30 minute lunch. By the time I got off shift at 7am I was ready to test fire it.

I gave up on making the radiator "perfect", I settled for "good enough - better than it was with the white stains".


I filled the radiator with plain water first, backed it out and let it idle for a few minutes just to verify no leaks. Then I drained it and refilled with 50-50 coolant mix. While it was out of the way I pressure-washed and scrubbed the nasty oily mess that this job had left in my carport.

Believe it or not, about 50% of this came up. I think pressure wash & scrub again tomorrow and it will be even better.

I went to Andre's to tackle the motor mount job, I thought it would take 1 hour and then I would have time to help Tom move the Fairlane and the big heavy equipment, and maybe call you if we needed help and/or the skates, but Tom and Wayne ended up going to get the 440 motor so not much else got done, and the motor mount job took about 4 hours instead of 1.

Drivers side, I knew it was bad! Came out in 2 pieces.


New one for the drivers side, old drag racers trick - drill a hole through it and put a bolt & luck nut on it, prevent it from ever separating.

Motor has always leaned to the passenger side, the car was in a wreck in the 80's before I bought it and I think things are tweaked a little from that. Last year I loosened the motor mount bolts on passenger side and slid in 1/4 inch spacers to help level it out, and it improved but was not enough. So today with the new motor mount, I put 1/2 inch spacers between mount and engine, and this is the most level it has ever been!

It's one of those things that most people never notice, but I notice it and drives me crazy every time. Now it's 100% better.

 

I added a few things to the F100 tonight. Purely all cosmetic but still things I wanted to have done.

I had to use the truck for daily duties today because my fuel pump went out on my Silverado. Plus I broke the throttle pedal on my Beetle yesterday. So to follow suit it sounds like my starter has gone in the F100. I’m afraid to drive something tomorrow lol. I will test the starter solenoid but since I’m hearing the starter spin but not engage I’m assuming it’s the starter. I’ll pick up one at O’Reilly’s tomorrow after work and see if that is all it needed. I may give it the old hammer test too.

Here are the pictures.