Some ambitious goals for this week...

I've got a couple more pictures of the newly shipped suspension parts (coil springs, insulators, U-bolts), but I thought I'd post on what I hope to accomplish this week.  My company gives us off the week after Christmas (well, this year anyway), so I hope to get quite a bit done.

• I got some more sanding done on the front...just about all of it is gone.  Hopefully I can get the last of it.  Shouldn't be too hard.  
• I'd like to get some aircraft stripper and give it a whirl on the fenders/hood, to see how much crap I can remove.  Problem with that is, I don't really know what to do after that.  After stripping all the paint off, to bare metal, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get surface rust on the body.  I'll need to coat it with something, but I don't know with what, or how to coat it.
• This is not really a goal, but would be a nice milestone.  I am supposed to pick up my leaf springs from Dallas Mustang, but I'm not sure if they'll have them this week.
• I will attempt installing the clutch and brake pedal parts on the brake pedal support bracket.  But, I'll also be removing said bracket, to get it ready for welding (roller support bearings).
• Thought about removing the stock export braces, but, I'd like to remove the engine eventually, and redo the engine bay...maybe.  Sheesh it sucks that I'd have to strip all of that off, after I primed & spray-painted it a couple years ago.  But, do I want to do it right?  Maybe.  Decisions decisions...
• Sanding down the interior, and removing the rear quarter panel parts.

Oh well, time to get to work.

Shipment #1

And there's more to come!

Vendor Complaint

I'm not normally one to complain about vendors because I think they all have their pros and cons (just the nature of the business), but as a former restoration parts business-owner, this kind of thing irks me.

Mustangs Plus is a good company.  They provide a large variety of parts, at good costs, and have good catalogs and service.  I went to purchase a 4-1/2 leaf mid-eye leaf springs kit (the kit comes with the springs, shackles, 2 bolts, and the U-bolts), and proceeded to checkout.  Since leaf springs are obviously very heavy, I knew about the $15 box charge their site specified.  No big deal.

However, upon arriving at the shipping confirmation page, I noticed the additional shipping price was VERY high - $59 and change, bringing the total to about $75.  I guess I would have dealt with this, as shipping this from California can cost quite a bit. 

UNTIL...I checked what the shipping would be on just the leaf springs.  So, excluding the shackles, 2 bolts, and U-bolts, the shipping was $41.  Surely the price to ship these objects does not come out to $18.  So, I called Mustangs Plus on this.  After speaking with the customer service guy (who agreed, by the way, that they could ship it all in one box and it would be close to $41), he said the shipping would be....

HIGHER!?

Yes, $65, plus the original $15 box fee, which comes out to $80.  So after originally agreeing the price should be ~$41 + $15, he "changed his mind" saying it should be $80.  No thanks, pal.  I don't appreciate a company

1. apparently trying to make their profit off of shipping
2. changing their shipping policy after I could have ordered it at a lower price.  

 So in the end, CJ Pony will get my business for the shackles and U-bolts, because they offer free shipping.  And Dallas Mustang (though I despise them) will get my order for the leaf springs.  They were the only other company I could find offering the 4-1/2 leaf mid-eye leaf springs.

Until tomorrow, when I can post some pics...

Parts get ordered today!!!

Sanding and more sanding

I'm making a lot of headway on sanding the front aprons.  Admittedly, I wish I was a lot further along than I am, but I'll do what I can.  Obviously with the holidays being among us, things are a lot more busy.

I picked up a few tools this past weekend:

A set of 4 chisels, ranging from 1" wide to 1/4" wide. 
A set of snap ring pliers
A 5-piece set of new pliers/cutters. 

The chisels are for the nasty undercoating crap all over the body.  The snap ring pliers are for the eventual T-5 rebuild, and the pliers/cutters are just for having :)

Well, that's all for this evening.  I'll probably have more time to work again on Thursday evening, and will hopefully "finish" one or both sides of the aprons.  Then I can move on to the front...and who knows where I'll go from there.

Tools you should get

A shop-vac!  Man, sanding this car down, and removing all the undercoating, is nasty.  Literally pounds and pounds of crap have fallen off so far, and I'm just getting started.  I recommend getting a shop-vac to get all this up.  Now I just need to find a semi-cheap one. 

Also you can't underestimate an air compressor.  I don't have one of these, and it will be a while before I get one...I can't wait.

Clutch Pedal Notes

If I haven't pointed it out before, I'm totally new to all this manual trans. stuff.   So when I got all the clutch pedal parts in the mail, it took me a few days to realize some parts were not there. 

The lower clutch rod (attaches to the equalizer bar and pushes on the clutch fork) was missing, but is now on it's way thanks to the very helpful seller. 

I will also be upgrading the clutch linkage to heim joints, and adding a roller bearing assembly to the brake pedal support (see image below).  The heim joints method should save on the pressure it takes to push the pedal, but I don't think I'll be adding the bearings - I don't have a welder, nor do I know how to weld.  I can always do this later if necessary.

Thanks to Mustang Steve for the image.  I'll be buying his kit - it looks slick!