Thoughts running through my head

I couldn’t get any sleep last night, so I wrote this to help myself fall asleep. There’s some rambling. But you could technically call it an update.

I’m at a complete impasse on what to do about the floorpan. See, the right rear floorpan has a lot of little holes in it. It’s pretty bad, so I bought a replacement floorpan. The problem is, 1) I don’t know how to weld, and 2) I’m afraid that if I have it welded in by someone, we will find a lot worse stuff in the frame rail underneath. We might not. But if we do, then we are talking about a LOT more work.

So I’ve come to the question of: do I paint over it with Silver POR15 and live with a feeling of regret, knowing that I took the sorry-approach of “just covering it up,” or do I take the expensive approach of doing it right? Regarding fixing it later – let’s be honest, it’s a lot more time to take everything back out of the interior, remove the floorpan, weld in a new one, re-seal everything, re-prime, and re-paint.

The holes themselves aren’t that big, and the floor is actually pretty strong, but there are a lot of them. Another option is the POR-Mesh crap I bought, which is just fiberglass cloth. I could apply that on top, but, it’s not really the “right” way to do it.

I feel like I’ll explode if I think about this anymore…so let’s move on to the other stuff.

I have said for a while, that, I’d at least like to get the car to a “roller” state by the end of the year, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. Scott Drake continues to have problems with their leaf spring vendor and the shipment isn’t expected until next January (yea, right).

One huge pitfall in getting the car to a “roller” standpoint is the rearend. The rearend has 2.79 gears, and I’d like to upgrade to 3.25:1 for the T5 swap. 3.25 gears may be in the budget, but the cost to install them sure isn’t. I’ll just have to wait until some more money comes my way, to do that (forecast: not good :-) ). So now the dilemma becomes clear, I hope. I could install the rear axle housing, with the backing plates bolted on and all, but the axles will have to go in after the 3rd member, and the 3rd member can’t go in until new gears are installed. Lifting that up, and installing it, should be a blast.

Other than that, everything has just been a whirlwind lately. The brake lines I ordered from CJ Pony Parts didn’t fit at all, so I’m going to have to mess with them and make some changes, which really hacks me off (they’re pre-bent…come on!). With that, all the brake components for the entire car have been purchased, with the exception of 1 extra 6” steel line from the MC to the Distribution block (about $5).

The T5 is still at a standstill, and will stay that way, until I get the engine bay painted.

Ah dangit, I just remembered, I need to go get a new radiator support piece. This thing is never going to be done.

8" Rears

There's a lot of info out there about the 9" rears.  When it comes to the 8" rear however, we who are looking for swappable parts and info are mostly out of luck.  I thought I would start compiling some data to assist anyone else that may be trying to find parts, etc.  Here's what I've got so far:

Makes/models/years that had the Ford 8" rear.  Gear ratios are unknown at this time, but expect the usual - >4.00 in the high-end models, <3.00 for the gas-savers, and between 3.00 & 4.00 for most everything else.

FORD	E-100	(1968 - 1974)
FORD	FAIRLANE	(1962 - 1967)
FORD	FAIRMONT	1978
FORD	FALCON	(1964 - 1970)
FORD	FALCON SEDAN DELIVERY	(1964 - 1965)
FORD	GRAN TORINO	(1972 - 1976)
FORD	GRANADA	(1975 - 1978)
FORD	LTD	(1965 - 1978)
FORD	LTD II	(1977 - 1978)
FORD	MAVERICK	(1970 - 1977)
FORD	MUSTANG	(1964 - 1973)
FORD	MUSTANG II	(1974 - 1978)
FORD	PINTO	(1971 - 1980)
FORD	RANCHER	1972
FORD	RANCHERO	(1964 - 1978)
FORD	TORINO	(1968 - 1976)
MERCURY	BOBCAT	(1975 - 1980)
MERCURY	CAPRI	(1970 - 1978)
MERCURY	COMET	(1962 - 1977)
MERCURY	COUGAR	(1967 - 1970)
MERCURY	COUGAR BOSS 302	1969
MERCURY	COUGAR BOSS 429	1970
MERCURY	COUGAR COBRA JET	(1969 - 1970)
MERCURY	COUGAR XR-7	(1967 - 1970)

(Info from Rockauto)

While it's not the best idea to install a used Ring & Pinion, I wouldn't think ill of it if you found a low mileage car that looks like it's be taken care of, and installed a R&P that had minimal wear.

My goal is to find a 3.25 Open Diff ring & pinion, in good shape.  New gears are ~$180, plus a rebuild of ~$200.  Cutting costs is half the battle with my Mustang, and so if I find a good set, I'll use it.

Brakes

Replacing brake lines is easy.

Replacing stock 1966 brake lines (single-bowl master cylinder, all drum brakes) becomes quite a bit more difficult when you have Granada discs up front, a dual master cylinder, and dual exhaust.

I've been working on ordering my brake parts and lines lately, and I've realized how Frankenstein-ish my car is.  It will be a dual-exhaust car, which only came on the 66 HIPO V8s.  It has front discs, which came on some V8s.  It has 10 x 1-3/4" brakes, which are equipped on my 8" rearend.  None of this came on my car, stock, obviously.

In addition to this stuff (which really isn't too bad), is the brake line kit I need to order.  66's never came with dual master cylinders, so it takes a little bit of rerouting when it comes to the lines from the MC to the Distribution Block.  I've decided to purchase 66 Stainless steel, dual exhaust disc/drum brake lines, and I will fabricate what remains to finish off the system.

In addition to this, I've already purchased all new drum components for the rear.  A little tip if you're ordering off of Rockauto.com (my favorite place to order replaceable components), is that the wheel cylinders you want for the 8" rear are the ones with a 7/8" bore (will sometimes say "from 04/1966").

Scored a Compressor!

I'm excited about the deal I scored today!  I had been monitoring the sales and prices of compressors around here and online, when I ran across the Morgan Series 60 gallon compressor on Northern Tool's website.  It's Reconditioned, but I don't mind as I picked up a 1-year warranty for no-hassle replacement.  Here are the compressor's specifications:

HP	3.7
Volts	240
CFM at 90 PSI	11.5
Max. PSI	155
Tank Type	Vertical
Air Tank Size (gal.)	60
Stage	Single
Drive	Belt
Motor Phase(s)	Single
Air Outlet Size (in.)	3/8
Portable or Stationary	Stationary
Pump	Cast iron, in-line twin, oil lubed
Manufacturer Warranty	1 month parts / 1 month labor
Ship Weight	245.0 lbs
Item#	211112

 

The hardest part about it is going to be the unloading.  I'm pretty confident about securely strapping it down and transporting it home (a mere 3 miles or so), but unloading it and carrying it into the garage will be tough.  As well as wiring a 240V connection.  And 240V 40A circuit breakers aren't cheap, either. :-)

 

As for what I plan on using this for, I will be shooting primer and some paint, as well as hooking it up to a sandblaster and cleaning up a few small parts for the car, which will need to be painted.  That will be wonderful :-D

The other thing I've been working on is the tedious - and dirty - task of removing the undercoating.  First, I had to replace my Multi-Tool with a new one after only a few weeks, due to poorly made junk.  But I don't really mind...swapping it out was free and I paid nearly nothing for it to begin with.  

So I began using the scraper blade attachment, and sort of skimmed off the thick layer of undercoating.  There appeared to be 2 types of undercoating.  One was black/darker, and one was very light, almost beige.  The darker undercoating came off with little effort.  The beige undercoating took LOTS of elbow grease to get it off, and even then, a lot remained stuck on.  Anyway, after a while, I moved on to the angle grinder, taking off the light coating of undercoating that remained.  The result was phenomenal!  The Red Oxide Primer underneath was still in great shape, with very little to no surface rust.  There are a few holes, though, from above (floor pans).  That's a different story.  

So, I spent the better part of the evening vacuuming all that crap off the floor, and I'll be back under it next week, scraping and grinding and vacuuming some more.  But until then, I've got to dream about painting!

Thanks for stopping in.

Air and Paint and What to do?

I've been inundated with baseball lately, but in the meantime, I've been doing quite a bit of research on all this painting stuff.  Here's about what I have come up with, for my paint setup.

For my compressors, I'm still undecided on which method I will go, but here are the two I'm looking at.  In both cases, I am coupling 2 compressors together, as it is much cheaper than buying one large compressor.

Compressor Option #1

• Harbor Freight's 2HP 10-gallon Compressor (2)
• 20 Gallons combined volume
• 12.4 SCFM @ 40 psi (each compressor is 6.2 SCFM @ 40 psi)
• 120V, 14.1 A
• Price is $220

Compressor Option #2

• Husky 1.8HP 20-gallon Compressor (2)
• 40 Gallons combined volume
• 12.2 SCFM @ 40 psi (each compressor is 6.1 SCFM @ 40 psi)
• 115V, 13.5 A
• Price is $240 
• (Note, this just went out of stock...how awesome :-\ )

 So for $20 more, I get 20 gallons more, though I am getting 2 reconditioned compressors...

The next step in my research was to find what sort of sequence I would be doing all this in.  If you remember back, I'm planning on using a little bit of POR15 (not everywhere like crazy), epoxy primer, seam sealer, and some engine bay paint.  Actual exterior paint will be determined at a later date.

So here's what I came up with:

1. Sand/Strip the Engine Bay, Interior, and Underbody
       a.  I've now been informed that, if the bond between the stock paint on the interior, and the metal, is good, then just scuff it up really good and epoxy prime it.  This will keep me from having to do so much Chemical stripping, which I am not a fan of.

2. Prep the Interior and Underbody where POR15 will be applied (Marine Clean and Prep & Ready)

3. Apply POR15 (or...?) to the floor pans, and possibly some areas in the engine bay.

4. Spray on Epoxy Primer over POR15 while tacky? (Still not sure on this)

5. Apply Seam Sealer where there are seams.

6. Spray on 2nd coat of Epoxy Primer over POR15, and coat the rest of the areas in primer.

7. Paint everything from the firewall > forward with Eastwood's 2K Ceramic Underhood Black (as well as the front frame rails behind the firewall). I'm going to have to build a mini paint-booth around my engine bay for this.

From here I can move on to taping off all the underbody (which will be primed in Red Oxide) and the engine bay (now painted in 2K Underhood Black), and Prime/Paint all the exterior. Thankfully though at this point I should be able to reassemble most of the drivetrain/suspension/steering, so I can move the car if necessary...perhaps to a real painter.

I'm still not decided on what guns I want to use, but Husky has a 2-gun kit, complete with extra hoppers and a full cleaning set.  It's a pretty good deal, too.

Interior Removal

With the steering box unbolted (but unable to remove due to the steering column), I figured it was time to get to work on the interior.

Ironically as I was removing seats, carpet, etc., from the interior I thought to myself "ah, all done taking all the junk out the interior."

Not so!

To remove everything from the interior, for paint and such, is a lot more work than I previously thought.  First of all, you have all the seam sealer.  There is a ton of it, but a Harbor Freight Multi-Tool makes extremely quick work of it, and a scraper gets the rest.  Then it's on to the window side of things.  First, remove the windlace along the door jamb, which is holding the rear quarter panel trim to the jamb.  Next, the the screws holding on the rear quarter panel trim.  Then off comes the quarter-window crank (a small Allen wrench is used).  Once the crank slides off, the panel trim comes off.  Underneath, you (should) have a large piece of thin cardboard-type material, which is held to the body by spots of some adhesive (glue-like-putty stuff?).

Carefully remove the cardboard stuff, which will likely tear anyway, and start removing the 4 screws that hold the scissor-jack assembly in (mine was already disconnected from the quarter window...that explains why it never worked).  Through some Houdini-effort, I was finally able to pull this assembly through the access hole.  All that remains now is the structural pieces inside the quarter-panel, and the quarter window itself. I'll have to look in my shop manual to see how these are removed. 

The rear quarter panel trim has a distinct vinyl-stamped texture in it, and is not reproduced.  I'll be stripping the paint off of these, epoxy priming, and re-painting another day.  Speaking of that, check back soon for an update on the painting mess :-) .

So that's one side.  Now I've just got to get to the other.  And 100 other things... sigh.

Lots of work and not much done

I knew this would be tough, but I really didn't expect this much work.  I've been working on removing the paint from the engine bay, and it's a very slow process.  I think part of this is just due to the fact that I didn't leave the Citristrip on there long enough (it's hard to block out ~4-5hours of time for this), but part of it is, the stuff just isn't a 1-time-does-it-all product.

But the worst part of it all is the paint remover afterwash.  This is the stuff that inactivates the paint remover, and washes it away.... which sounds great except it:
1) is noxious (hence a respirator),
2) quickly evaporates,
3) Doesn't do all that great of a job of "washing" away the stuff - more like it makes it wet, then evaporates.

So it takes a lot of scotch-brite pads, steel wool, and patience, to get the stuff off.  But, I'm somewhat pleased to say that the Passenger side is mostly done, with the only thing remaining being (what appears to be) some primer and a few spots of paint.






While I'm at it, I'll talk about my ideas regarding the paint.  I've talked about them multiple times, but I'm still undecided.

All this tedious work brings up the question, why am I taking this engine bay down to clean metal and planning on applying POR15?  POR15 is meant to be applied to seasoned (aka rusty) metal, so I have a dilemma.  I don't know if I should even bother applying POR15 to the inner fenders, engine bay, etc., if all of that area stayed rust free to begin with (covered by factory paint). Or, do I take the other approach, and apply it to provide further preventative maintenance? 

I really like POR15, which, like everything, has benefits and consequences. POR15 is a rust encapsulator, and the biggest fault in my opinion, is that it is UV-sensitive.  This means it must be topcoated with another product, and I honestly wonder if I'm just wasting time & money.  One thing is for sure - I'm going to apply POR15 to the underside and interior floor.  That area WILL rust, even if painted, so getting the POR15 on there should result in a longer-lasting floorpan.

As for any other news, I can't say there is too much.  I've mainly just worked on the metal.  I test-fit my Export Brace, which looks like it should go in with minimal problems.  The heater has been removed to aid in firewall paint removal, and should also help me get some more of the crap out of the cowl area.

Thanks for checking in.

Cutting carefully

I needed to remove the stock shock tower braces from the shock towers, and I wanted to do so by drilling out the spot welds, but not drilling through the shock tower.  Essentially, imagine you have two pieces of sheet metal laying on top of one another, and the goal is to cut through only the top layer.  I picked up a 3/8" Double Sided Rotary Spot Weld Cutter from Harbor Freight.  This is essentially a 3/8" hole saw, but the center point is a spring-loaded adjustable pin, which depresses into a center-punch mark, and allows the "hole saw" to cut through a top level of material.  The trick, as someone joked about, was having "the hands of a surgeon."  Now, I don't by any means have the hands of a surgeon, haha, but I did work VERY slow and cautiously.  If you'd like to follow the same approach as myself, here's what tools you will need:

Hammer
Center Punch
Spot Weld Cutter (link above)
A few steel, sharp chisels (I would buy these from Harbor Freight because you'll likely destroy the blade...)
Drill
Pliers
*Optional but makes things much easier - Angle Grinder with Cutoff wheel and grinding wheel (or sandpaper disc)


Now, to start, I unbolted the braces from the firewall to the shock tower, so I was left with just the shock tower brace.  You can look closely at the brace and notice there are about 5-6 spot welds holding it on.  I used the cutoff wheel to cut off all the extra material that isn't welded.  This isn't an option if you want to keep them; it just makes it easier to get to the back side.


First things first - this will take a while!  Go very slow, doing one step at a time, and you'll probably have to switch between the different methods frequently to prevent cutting through. 


To start, hammer the center punch into the little divets (spot welds).  This will be where the drill bit is centered.


Next, place the drill bit into the drill and put the center pin into the punch location.  Accelerate the drill before pushing it into the material. These bits "walk" very easily, and you don't want to screw up the center punch park, because drilling a straight hole will become very difficult.  The approach you want to take when drilling through the material is several quick, small, pushes of the drill into the material.  Remember, the pin is spring-loaded, so that is somewhat helpful.  Don't sit on the drill and grind it down into the material because you are sure to go right through both pieces of metal.

Here's a picture of the drilling being started (bottom of image) and one that is already done (center of image).




After doing this for a few seconds, switch over to the hammer and chisel.  Place the chamfer-side against the shock tower, and chisel a bit, just to pry the two pieces of metal apart, and (very slowly) bend it upwards.  I'm only talking like 1/32" - not a lot.  Chisel around all sides of the hole you just drilled and you'll slowly see that the metal is starting to separate.  If, when doing this, you need to drill a little more, switch back, drill some, then chisel some more.  Slow and steady wins the race :-)






After a bit of this, you'll notice that the chisel will separate the cylindrical slab of "spot weld metal" from the shock tower brace - this is exactly what you're going for.  You can move onto the next spot weld, and later you can go back over this with a grinding disc or a sandpaper-disc to grind it flush with the shock tower.







Here are the spot welds, with the shock tower brace completely cut off.



Here is how they look finished; drilled out and sanded down to the shock tower.





*******************************************

Another thing I worked on last week was getting my pedals and Pedal Support Brace all painted.  Everything has been cleaned and is ready to be installed the in car. After the support bracket was welded with the ballbearing clutch conversion kit pieces, I painted it.  I also removed the pads from the pedals and painted them as well (after sanding them down of course).  I think it turned out fantastic - here's how everything looks:















*******************************************

The last chore of the week was removing paint from the engine bay.  Someone had suggested Easy-Off Oven Cleaner, which didn't do much as far as paint removal (it did remove some, and it removed quite a bit of grease...just not what I was looking for).  So I did some research and went with a non-toxic cleaner named Citristrip.  I plan on getting some before and after pics this week to show the cleaner's progress.

Still no news on the T-5.  The guy who owns the shop that builds them has been out of the office, conveniently, every time I call.

Well that's about it for today.  Busy week ahead...

Clutch work and T-5 Stuff

Thanks to my awesomely talented friend, Phillip, I now have the ballbearing clutch pedal conversion kit installed! 



It looks fantastic, and (though it isn't hooked up to anything right now), the feel is just sweet.  Practically no resistance at all! 

Here's a few pictures of the right, left, and bottom.  Notice in the third picture, the washers that were tacked on the inside to provide equal spacing of the brake pedal pivot.








* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In addition to this, I received my T-5 adapter I bought on eBay (from a company named SMR),



and began the work on adapting the adapter to the bellhousing.  Below are the pics of the modifications necessary to adapt the 1967 inline-6 bellhousing to the T-5 adapter.

First, I installed the plate to my bellhousing using the two flathead screws on the left side of the plate.  One of the holes on the top right (the one closest to the concentric ring) needs to be transferred to the bellhousing, so I used a transfer punch to locate it.





Then I started drilling.  Unfortunately after this step, I found that I screwed up drilling the hole out (really should have started with a smaller pilot hole.  Completely my fault...  But, I created the hole and enlarged it to the correct 15/32" size.



Once that hole was done, it was time to locate the special "inline 6" bolt hole.  This hole is not transferred from the adapter - you will have to find the spot by yourself.  The reason, as seen in this thread, is due to the countersunk hole on the bottom right extending over the edge of the bellhousing.  So, someone once recommended drilling a hole in the thin part of the adapter, and putting a bolt & nut on there that is just long enough without sticking through the nut into the bellhousing.



The result (which I'll have to get more pics of later), is that the adapter is held onto the bell via 4 fasteners, one on each corner, or so.



Last bit of an update before I'm off for the night; I found out I was incorrect in putting the gasket on the axle before the axle flange...It goes on afterwards  Not a big deal, however, since I can just cut it off and put it back on the outside...perhaps use something sticky to keep it in place while attaching, and then it doesn't matter.

Next steps for the Restoration involve getting the new brake lines for the new rear end (dual exhaust kit) which is going to set me back a little more than $100.  But, at the same time.....there's a brand new 2V Converted Inline 6 head on eBay right now, and I really want it.  But dang it's expensive.

Wheel bearings on!

I bought a press yesterday afternoon, from Harbor Freight.



So I finally got to install my wheel bearings.  Sorry, but I am not paying a shop more money to press on bearings, than it costs to buy a press.  It's not even hard...nor did it take more than 10 minutes.  Anyway, off my soapbox...

It's fairly straightforward, if you want to buy a HF press and do it yourself (the 12-ton is just barely tall enough, for 65-66 axles).  The first thing you do is to make sure the axle gasket goes on first, followed by the loose axle flange (you'll see it in the pictures.  Next, with the bearing race surface clean, slide the axle bearing down the axle until it stops.  No need to jam it down tight or anything...just let it sit.  I forgot to put my axle gasket on, and had to slightly cut it to get it on there...not a big deal but annoying.

Now, turn the axle upside down and slide it onto the press so that the bearing sits against the arbor plates, like so:



Make sure the press is centered, and begin pressing down.  It would not hurt to place a thick, flat piece of metal between the press and the axle for good force distribution.  Center it as best as possible. 

Now, press down, until the bearing rests against the bearing seat (a lip that prevents it from going any farther. 

I like to turn the whole axle 180* at this point, and re-press slightly, to make sure it is evenly seated.

Next, repeat the operation with the bearing race, that should have come with your bearing. 



Once done, thoroughly go over the axle bearing and retainer to make sure there are no gaps.  You want it seated perfectly.  Here is the completed assembly:



Don't worry about the creepy noises coming from the press, by the way.  That's normal.

Now on to paint the housing!

Housekeeping

I got quite a few things done over the last few days, but haven't posted too much...

I removed the axle bearings and retainers.  I still don't know of any shop that will press on axle bearings for cheap, so I might just buy a press and do it myself.  Stupid overpriced shop prices...

I also finally got the front leaf spring bolt cut out.  That was one of the hardest things to "work on," on this car.  But ironically, once I got a the correct size cutoff disc (5" is minimum) and the angle grinder offset the way I wanted it, it came off with a snap.

The third thing I got finished was not really on my own; I had my brake pedal support bracket welded up with Mustang Steve's Ballbearing Clutch Pedal Conversion Kit. I can't wait to get it back tomorrow.  As a tip, we found that the large fender washers to be tacked on the inside of the support bracket do not necessarily need to be tack-welded on.  They have an ID very close to the shaft, so they will still space as they are intended. I think.   We'll see....

Hmm, I also ordered a T-5 Adapter Plate for my C4 to T-5 Swap.  It set me back $113, which wasn't too bad considering they're normally $160 + shipping.  Now all I have left is the T-5, shifter, clutch kit, and some miscellaneous parts.

The last thing I got done was cleaning up my atrocious garage.  Seriously, it was bad.  Embarrassing even...  My wonderful wonderful wife helped me clean up a ton of crap and load it on the truck to take to the dump.  After that, I had a few quarts of ATF that had leaked all over the floor from the C4, that kitty litter made quick work of.  I got a new crate to put all my bagged & tagged parts in, and swept the floor of all the dirt/grime/etc. Finally I don't feel as if I'm in a rats nest working.

Well that's all for now.  Gotta track down some things and get some more work done.

An Auto No More

She's gone!

I've always thought "well, if things really go to heck, I can always resort back to the Auto," but that is officially out the window.  The auto is gone, and now it's just a matter of time before I can purchase a rebuilt T-5 (hopefully quickly...money burns around here).

With the ATF-sieve sold, I finally have enough money freed up to purchase the T-5, which will leave me with approximately $406 to go on my inline 6 T-5 Conversion.  That $406 basically comprises of: Shifter Base, Transmission Mount, Clutch Kit, Throwout Bearing, Roller Pilot Bearing, Shifter, Shifter Boot, Shifter Boot Trim, and a Speedometer Gear.  Note that the Shifter alone is $150, so perhaps I can cut a few bucks off by going with a lesser model or a used one...I'm not sure.

Oh, in other news, there's about umpteen jillion gallons of Automatic Transmission Fluid all over my garage right now.  Joy, joy.  Time to buy some Kitty Litter.

Rebuilding the 8-inch rear end, Part 2

Thought I should give an update, now that the parts have been ordered and cleaning is nearly complete.

The total cost of the parts, shipped & taxed where necessary, was $92.15.  All parts except the Brake Hardware Rebuild Kit were purchased from Rockauto.  A breakdown of what you'll need:

2 Backing Plate Gasket - Outer ($1.14)
2 Backing Plate Gasket - Inner ($1.40)
2 Axle Bearings ($34.56)
2 Axle Seals ($19.64)
1 Brake Hardware Rebuild Kit ($7.55, from O'Reilly's)
1 set of Brake Shoes ($15.39)
1 Shipping from Rockauto ($12.47)
**dang, I just realized I forgot to buy wheel cylinders!**

After going to get my axle bearings pressed off, I found that our local O'Reilly machine shop no longer does this; they ship it off to Missouri to have done.  Ridiculous... So instead, I plan on calling up a friend of mine who works at a shop, and ask him if I can come by and get these bearings pressed on.  In addition to this, he's planning on working on my Clutch Pedal Bracket Support, which I'll post on a little more later this week.  Hopefully I'll get to knock out 2 birds with one stone.

Right now - quickly, before my parts all arrive - I'm finishing off the sanding, and getting the parts prepped and painted.  The idea at the moment is to paint the axle housing black, with the third member red.  The drums will also be painted, but I'm thinking just a "hammered steel" type finish; not a crazy color like red or anything.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I got a lot of sanding equipment for this very reason, such as a full face shield and earmuffs.  I used them again today when I finished sanding down the axle housing, and began on the brake brackets (is that what they're called?).  I tell you, it's a lot of work getting everything down to bare metal but it should pay off in the prevention of rust down the road.  I'll upload some pictures in part 3 of this little miniseries.

That brings me to one last point before I head to bed...painting.  I've long debated my decision / ability to paint, and after spending a little time doing research today, I think I'm leaning more towards the "set up a paint booth and paint it myself" approach.  While it will be expensive - probably close to $1000 counting all expenses - it's far cheaper than spending several thousand to pay someone else to do it.  One of the biggest costs associated with painting is not the paint, but rather the prep work & post work (wet sanding, etc.).  Time, I have. 

Rebuilding the 8-inch rear end, Part 1

Several years ago, I bought an 8" rear end from a guy, and it has sat, pretty much untouched, ever since.

I decided it's time to clean this thing out and rebuild it myself, with the exception of the third member.  So, last week I hooked up the wire wheel to the angle grinder and went to town.

This week, after doing some research, I began working on removing the axle bearings, seals, etc.  A friend and I had pulled the axles a few years ago, but the axle seals were still inside the housing, and were not budging.  After several hours though, they finally pried loose, and cleanup began. 

Here's how the axle housing looked, before using Simple Green Max degreaser to clean up the inside.  I'd guess this crud was 1/8" thick.



After using the Simple Green and several rags...

From All Mustang Pics

Not all the way clean, but much better.

I also cleaned up the axles using Simple Green, and gave the axles a very light sanding to remove some of the oily varnish sludge gunk stuck on them.  Sanding the housing was quick with a wire wheel, but not very accurate.  Using a foam sanding block took care of the curves and tight spots, but was expectantly slower.  Now to go get these bearings pressed off, and new ones pressed on.

Good news, I think.

Supposedly the leaf springs are finally on a freighter on their way over here.  Should be like 30 days...we'll see.

Sanding & Prep work for POR15

Over the weekend, I picked up a variety of tools from Harbor Freight (sister works there now, hello employee discount!).

I grabbed a variable 6-speed multi-tool (more on that later), with attachments
Six 2" steel-spring clamps
A full-face shield
Earmuffs
5" Orbital sander
Sanding blocks
Sandpaper

After sanding with the orbital sander for a while, I hadn't gotten very far.  I was using 60 grit paper, but the Mustang has a ton of curves and small ridges that make it difficult to sand over.  I was perplexed...  I bought the sanding disks and started manually sanding.  I had tried a wire wheel before but had gotten nowhere, as it wouldn't pull the coat of original paint off the metal.  Luckily, I spoke to my friend who informed me that wire wheels, while they look like they're still good, can lose their effectiveness.  I quickly swapped mine out for a new one I still had in the packaging, and it removed almost all the paint on the left fender apron.  I hope to have the rest removed by tomorrow, but I'll need to pull the transmission out of the bay to get to the firewall.

As for the sandpaper and Orbital sander, I guess I will just keep it for the hood, panels, etc.  Kind of regret buying that. 

The Oscillating Multifunction Tool was bought for one reason in particular - scraping the undercoating.  I have long heard horror stories about how much time & effort it takes to remove the stock undercoating from the Mustangs, and the de facto approach to removing it is a propane torch and putty knife, slowly scraping off what you can.  Well good news, the Multifunction Tool did both my rear wheel-wells in just a few minutes*.  It was worth every penny.  Now I'm sure I can use it for 1,000 other things,

* The wheel-wells are curved; the scraper is not.  You're going to run into this with the Multifunction Tool or a putty knife, so there will be some manual labor scraping off what is missed in the nooks & crannies.

The Unofficial POR15 Plan

I don't quite know if this is how it's going to be done, but I think this is close.  I need to write down my ideas because I'll forget them if I wait 20 minutes, then I have to think it all up again :-D

Remove undercoating, top layer of grease/oil/junk

Remove any paint & primer

Clean w/ Soap & Water

Apply Marine Clean

Wipe down with wet sponge, dry.

Apply Prep & Ready

Wipe down with wet sponge, dry.

Apply POR15 to engine bay panels, frame rails, and underbody, and floor pans

**After 2-6 hours, POR15 will become tacky**.

Immediately apply topcoat to engine bay and frame rails.  Still unsure on what Topcoat I'll use.  I like the Satin look.

---- (later) ----

Apply Marine Clean to underbody

Wipe down with wet sponge, dry.

Sand underbody with 300-grit sandpaper

Apply self etching primer to underbody

Reapply after 3-12 hours

Apply Red Oxide Primer to underbody (I'll be honest.  I don't understand really why the primer is the final coat?) 

Well that is all for tonight. 

New parts and lots of work done

Well, we're in the hottest summer on record, here in DFW.  I don't even know how many consecutive days it has been over 100* F, but I believe it's somewhere around 40.  Nights dip down to the balmy 90s.  And yet, I'm making a ton of progress on the Mustang. 

As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and I are teaching swimming classes for the 2nd summer in a row, and the extra money is wonderful; my wonderful wife is putting it all in the Mustang Fund.  So I've managed to pick up a few parts over the last few weeks:

1. Finally found a Duraspark II intermediate harness (from ignition module to distributor) for $5, off of a 75 V8 LTD, I think.
2. Picked up a T-5 Crossmember off of eBay for $92 after shipping.  Not a bad price.  It's the tubular design.
3. Ordered the POR15 Power Mesh (which is basically Fiberglass...that's....it).  
4. Ordered a DIN radio adapter off of Amazon.  It's a plastic box that you can screw under the dash, though I will likely velcro it.  I hate drilling holes in the dash.
5. Ordered the Mr. Gasket #925D distributor recurve springs (see below)

I used the Duraspark II recurve instructions found widely on the web, and swapped the lighter spring with the #925D spring.  This spring requires slightly less force to stretch it the same distance, so it will cause the timing to advance at a faster rate.  In addition, I flipped the "slots" (I am not aware of the technical term), so instead of a 15R, I am now running a 10R.  The 10R is a smaller width slot, so the mechanical advance is smaller (20 degrees vs. 30 degrees for the 15R). 

So, why do this?  Well, I will need to increase the initial advance (you know, turning the distributor) an extra 10 degrees to compensate, and that will greatly benefit the engine.  After this, I reattached everything, and found out one of my spark plug wires was too short.  Awesome, lol.

Then for the tough work...

After a few afternoons working in the garage, I finally got the old 7" rear end completely separated and removed from the car.  After many attempts to finagle the exhaust pipe out from under the car, I gave up and cut it in half.  That leaves me with only the transmission & driveshaft, which are actually just sitting under the car; not actually attached. 

The new rearend has been wire-wheeled down to bare metal (and rust) but I still need to have it rebuilt, and put a new ring & pinion in it.  The stock 2.79 gear will be a bear to drive with a T5.  If I am able to acquire a 4-cylinder T5, I'll use 3.25 gears.

I'll give a concise little time-line of what is left (this might be scary...)

Grind all undercoating/dirt/mud/crap off the underside of the car
Apply POR15 to the engine bay, interior floorpans, and underside of car. 
Follow this with a topcoat of a semi-gloss UV protectant paint, to the engine bay.
Apply stripping chemicals to the fenders/doors/hood/roof/etc. to remove old paint.  Scrape off and begin sanding.  (This means I'll have to remove the glass & headliner.  Dangit)
Rebuild and re-install rear-end; install rear suspension, front suspension, front disc brakes, and rebuild rear brakes.
Install all new brake lines, master cylinder, proportioning valve, and distribution block. Bleed brakes.
Attach wheels/tires
Install sound & heat deadening to interior, inside of doors.
*** At this point, I should have a rolling shell, minus engine and transmission.***
Install T-5 crossmember, clutch pedal bearing kit, and heim-joint Z-bar modification
Install Engine, Transmission, and Exhaust system
Paint.
Rewire the car
Attach miscellaneous electrical items, speakers, etc.
Install interior.

Time to get on it!

Looking for parts...

In addition to working a little side-job for the summer, to raise extra money for the Mustang, I've been hunting parts.  They're not necessarily hard to find, but they are hard to find for a good price.  Here's my current list:

87-93 T-5 from an Inline-4 Mustang
found but the guy wanted $375.  No way!
1980-1982 Ford Inline 6 cylinder head (E0 casting)
found but the guy wanted $75.  Will have to check one more place...
1985 V6/AOD Thunderbird Driveshaft
haven't found yet
197?-8? Duraspark II Ignition module
haven't found yet

Haven't posted in a while

But don't fret.  I'm still here :-)

Money is a funny thing.  It's magic - it does a better disappearing act than Houdini.  :-/

Shocker

5 weeks later, and the rear springs are still not here from Dallas Mustang. 

I spoke with a POR15 rep today.  This is not going to be easy, but here's the outline of how this is going to get done:

1. Interior floor pans and front fender aprons will be thoroughly washed down with aircraft stripper.  This should remove any traces of paint.  
2.  The aircraft stripper residue will be removed with many sponges and very hot water.
3. What isn't removed will be sanded off.
4. All areas of the car receiving rust-preventative paint will get a thorough washing of Marine Clean, to remove any grit, grime, oil, etc.
5. Many more hours will be spent with a sponge and HOT water, washing off the Marine Clean.
6. The Metal Ready* will be sprayed on the car to remove rust, etch the metal, and prepare for the POR15 paint.
7. Once again, hours of wiping off the above with a sponge and hot water.
8. Before the next step, I will apply some thick tape on the underside of the car, where pinholes exist.  
1. The best solution would be to remove the pans and weld in new ones.  Unfortunately I do not have the experience to do this, nor do I have the tools.  I could learn/pay someone, but I feel that the very minimal improvement made by putting in new pans would not offset the cost.  The pans have been given several "tests" and they are very solid.
9. Now that the metal is ready (get the pun?) the POR15 Rust Preventative Paint will be applied with foam brushes.  The paint is self-leveling, so foam brushes should work fine.
10. After one coat of POR15, I will put down a layer of POR15 Power Mesh on the floor pans with pinholes.  This is a reinforcing fiberglass type material that will provide a little extra stiffness, and will seal the pinholes from the underside.
11. 2 more coats of POR15 will be applied.
12. Tape will be removed from the underside.

*Metal Ready has apparently been renamed to "Prep & Ready"

Someone is an idiot.

Click on the image to enlarge it.  You'll see that, yes, that is BLACK TAPE used as "racing stripes" and they did in fact create a large gap by doing a crappy job at it.  It's just....so....so bad.  This is why ricers need not buy Mustangs.

What was actually done...

Due to some very unexpected family issues (not bad ones!), I was actually out of town most of the break.  That's okay though, I wouldn't have accomplished a lot, as I needed some specific things I did not have.  Here's my previous list, with what was actually accomplished, and my excuses (they all stink).

• 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.
•  Didn't do this out of fear that the "fresh" metal would rust.  I need to pick up some more primers & rust preventative before I start this.
• 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.
• Shocker, they didn't have them, and still don't.
• 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...
• Removed a lot of the wiring, brake lines, etc. from the engine bay, as well as started getting it ready to pull the engine.  I also started to drain the antifreeze, only for it to barely drain out any.  I had to squeeze the hoses over and over to get it to pump out of there.  I then remembered I don't have my lift bar, which I need.  So I will get that, and I can proceed to pull it out of there, and remove the C4 (to sell).
• Sanding down the interior, and removing the rear quarter panel parts.
• Nope, didn't get this done, besides removing the rocker panel mouldings.

Now time to spend some more money on prepping paint stuff!