1965 Ford Mustang

[67ChevyRedneck]

Engine bay almost done... it would be done if NPD would have sent my order when I ordered it... I didn't realize you needed a "mounting kit" to mount the fan shroud. I placed my order Wed. at 4:13PM. I figured they would get it shipped out sometime on Thursday and worse case I would get it on Saturday. I'm only 2 hours from their store location where it would be shipped from, but nope. They shipped it at 5:23 Friday evening... damn it. So it should be here tomorrow.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Off jack stands for the first time in about a month and the first bath in about 6 months!

I couldn't go for a ride though I barely had enough trans fluid to get it almost to the Low mark so I could get it off the ramps and back into the garage (jack stands weren't high enough). I didn't want to risk it, so it will have to wait until tomorrow. My wife actually asked if we could go for a ride today I hate saying no when she actually wants to go.

I was able to get the hood latch and bracket back on, but the grille still needs to be painted, so it's off... I actually really like the blacked out look... looks meaner...

Also, I was terrified I might have had the timing one tooth off on one of the gears (old chain loose, obviously the new one is tight) but it runs like a top. I lined the marks up... I'm just paranoid sometimes.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Two steps forward and a couple back... sigh...

My fancy oil pressure gauge set up started leaking after a pretty good shake down run. It's my fault. I've read TONS for pros and cons for sealing oil pressure stuff... in my case NOT sealing it did not work. The brass fittings were ok, but the oil pressure unit was steel and leaking, then it's jammed in between the block and the fuel pump so I made it worse when I tried to fix it, ended up accidentally breaking the plastic part off the oil pressure unit... sigh...

So I bought brand new fittings and a new oil pressure unit. I had to remove the fuel pump to get it all off. This time I sealed it all. It had better not leak this time!

But before all that mess, I decided to address a slight lifter tick it has, so I played with the valve adjustment. I made a neat little card board oil catcher that worked well with the engine running. It was kinda cool. It's definitely quieter now, and I've at least confirmed that all 16 lifters are working.

[67ChevyRedneck]

And before I played with that (I somehow got out of work at 4 today, yay for me) I prepped the cabin for the vintage air dash unit. I pre drilled the holes for the brackets and covers, then got busy with a red scuff pad (one of my new favorite tools) and some rust encapsulator.

Mustangs are known for rust. ESPECIALLY cowl rust, which is why I'm so giddy when I look under the dash. This car HAD to be garaged most of it's life. That's the original interior blue and very light surface rust, it actually looks worse in the pics than it really was.

[67ChevyRedneck]

And all encapsulated. I'll be putting some dynamat on the firewall after it dries well, and then I have a nice new fat firewall insulation pad for it.

[JRANGER]

I know that feeling..My oil gauge is still sporadic....I need to look under my dash but looking down the cowl everything looks good.. Great job

[Rufton]

Looks great.
FWIW I had a leaky oil psi sender once. When I investigated I found sender threads were BSP.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I test fitted the V/A under dash unit... what a pain in the ass by yourself. I got all the holes marked and drilled, pulled it back out and sprayed the brackets again (they were all scratched up, overkill, but yeah...)

I got the firewall cover plate and cowl cover plates siliconed and installed, and I got the dynamat up.

The good news is that my new oil pressure set up hasn't sprung any leaks yet!!!

I'm going to try to push to get the V/A kit installed before the weekend is over so I can have A/C for the power tour. It's supposed to rain sun/mon which means I'll probably have a short day at work on mon and may be able to get the A/C charged! Once the unit is in, it's just some hoses and a few wires! I think I have most of the hard pieces already mocked up or permanently installed!

[67ChevyRedneck]

I got the new firewall insulation in. This stuff was a thick nightmare to cut, even fresh blades didn't want to go through it!

The unit is all assembled and bolted in. I think all I have left is wiring and running the hoses. I can't find the damn safety switch, I know I had it... ought to be fun.

[67ChevyRedneck]

That little spacer represents a lot of wasted time. The clutch that was on my car had a 2-1/4" mounting depth (I have the tape in the wrong spot in the pic, should be farther back on the mounting area, that made it 2-1/4"). EVERY place I searched, and I mean EVERYWHERE only sold one with a 1-3/4" mounting depth, with as skinny as these Mustang fan shrouds are, that little 1/2" put my fan outside of the shroud.

I literally looked everywhere, Ford, Rockauto, all the chain stores (adv, a-zone, oreillys, napa) and they all sold the shorter one and couldn't find the right one. Even the mustang forums I looked for help on were of no help. I don't know what the deal is, but this fancy $20 spacer saved my ass.

[67ChevyRedneck]

V/A heater hoses routed. The fancy duhickey is an electronic valve to open/close the heater core for A/C/Heat mode.

[Rufton]

That is nice.
You don't mess around; even using the auto choke.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Rufton

That is nice.
You don't mess around; even using the auto choke.

Thanks. Since my truck looks like ass under the hood, I figured I'd try to actually do this one right since it already had a good start.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Aside from the V/A hoses and wiring... engine bay is cleaned up and DONE. Should have that all buttoned up tomorrow. I hope to get it charged sometime this week before the power tour... it's been pretty hot lately, and even with the dynamat and jute padding it still gets a little warm in the car.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I had to take a break and fix the headlights. They were horribly aimed and the DS recently blew. I bought these from NPD. I paid a little extra for them, but they have the FOMOCO logo in the middle, looks cool to me. I got them aimed a lot better Saturday night and can actually kinda see at night now. Before I had to drive with my High beams on and they still sucked.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Then it was back to the A/C. A week or so ago, I rebuilt the factory control unit using the V/A electronic conversion kit. REALLY creepy looking, especially if you were a little kid like I was in the 80's when Freddy Crougar came out... to be honest, I couldn't wait to get this thing back in the dash, it really freaks me out...

[JRANGER]

lol i can see what you mean...

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by JRANGER

lol i can see what you mean...

Snuck in on me... yeah... I actually had nightmares of him ripping through my bed or the floor boards... chucky scared me too. Creepy little bastard...

[67ChevyRedneck]

I love these Vintage Air kits, the wiring is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy. It took me more time to route my wires than it did figuring out where they go.

I did make a mistake though... I should have run the wiring through the firewall BEFORE I installed the under dash unit... oops... what should have taken 5 minutes took 45... live and learn. I'm sure if I do it again in 5 years I'll forget again...

[67ChevyRedneck]

A/C lines routed somewhat neatly.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Neat trick I learned from TV. Slit a rubber hose and use it was a grommet so you're good expensive rubber parts don't wear against a metal surface. In this case, 1/4" vacuum hose worked well.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Except for the A/C belt I think I'm actually done under the hood for a while?

[67ChevyRedneck]

I know the factory heating system in my car was worn out. The fan sounded terrible and I'm sure there was other crap wrong with it, but when I drove the car this past winter it took forever for it to get warm... I test drove the car with new V/A heat set up... wow... I was roasting after a few minutes, now it was about 60 degrees out, but still!

I may be rained out for work tomorrow, so I actually hope to find a good A/C shop to get the system evacuated and charged!

The bad news... the weather is looking terrible for thurs/fri/sat for the tour and board meet... If it's going to be raining a lot I'm not driving this car 800 miles in the rain, I'm not one of those "my car can't get wet" guys, but it's just not worth the risk... I hope they just end up being pop up showers, fingers crossed.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Yes!

I HAVE WORKING A/C!

[Rufton]

Congrats!