# welcome to the doghouse



## mustanggarage

I thought I would post a bit more about my shop.

the bionic doghouse
I have been in the process of building a man cave for 10 years now. I built a 24 x 32 foot shop with attic in nebraska then moved to utah, after five years I built a 40 x 42 foot steel miracle truss building. did all the work myself on these 2 (with a lot of help from my friends and family of course) then right after I finished that building I had to move again. I hope that this is the last time I ever move I told my wife I would not move if I couldn't build a new shop.  This time, since I injured myself slightly on the last one, my wife convinced me to have the shop assembled by a pro. It went up so fast that I am very glad I had them do it. now I have just been working on finishing the inside.



here are some pictures of my shop. I call it the bionic doghouse. it is 60 by 40 inside I have a 44x40 main shop then I have a 16x20 foot separate woodworking shop that I can close off and keep the sawdust off my cars. I will have a small bathroom area and a 10x 16 ft area just for my dogs. I have a 10 x 10 foot wood deck off the back of the shop, inside there is a small fridge and microwave. I have a pretty good collection of hand tools, 2 air compressors one 60 and one 80 gallon bead blaster, powdercoating oven, woodworking tools. with a selection of 3/8, 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch sockets drills and since my dad retired and moved out to iowa he has added all of his tools to the shop so I am feeling pretty good about things now.

it is still in the construction phase but it is coming along. the outside is done but the inside is still being worked on. as you can see the term dawghause has two meanings. it is a house for my dogs and a place I can go when I am in trouble with the wife. it is bionic because I keep building it better than it was before.

this is the original floor plan.









this is a picture of the land after clearing the grass.






I can hardly believe that this is the entire garage.






a view from the road back to where the shop is going.  we have about 3 acres of land.


























final picture of the outside.


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## mustanggarage

now on to the improvements :thumbsup:

looking out of the dog kennel along the west wall.






the lounge













here is my doggie deck.  it is inside the fenced in dog run at the back of my property.  the run is about 20 x 200 foot. plenty of room for the dogs.  the door now has a dog door.





this is looking in from my main garage door.  to the right through that garage door is my woodshop.  the door at the far right goes into the kennel.  on top of this wall there is a loft that is 40 x 16 feet.  it has a pull down stairway and is used for storage.


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## mustanggarage

this is looking down my woodshop area from what is now the bathroom.






this is my air compressor and tool cabinet storage.  I have added a light above the compressor door so that when I turn on the power to the compressors it lights up to remind me to turn it off before I leave.  I will get better pictures later.  I have also urethaned this cabinet since the picture was taken..







inside the cabinet.  all my air lines are run with airnet aluminum lines to the point of service and then short rapid air lines to the implements.











I have 3 hose reels.  one in the wood shop, one in the main work bay and a retractible one by the secondary bay.






my blast cabinet is hard line plumbed with a shutoff in front.






this is looking down towards the bathroom.






the drywall should be done tonight and I will then paint and trim out the bathroom and post some pictures of it when I am done.


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## mustanggarage

sorry about the mix of images and thumbs.  some of the pictures are on webshots, and some are on photobucket.


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## SlowRollin'

Awesome garage/warehouse...Your mustang is amazing also. Did you restore it yourself?:rockin:


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## mustanggarage

yes the mustang is a work in progress.  I have had it for over 20 years and have rebuilt it from the ground up more than once.  sadly I don't drive it as much anymore.  since I have been working on the shop I have kind of lost interest in it a bit.  I need to get it out and drive it and remember what a fun car it is.:thumbsup:


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## Neonnblack

Well, you could just ship that car this way... shouldnt cost much for shipping...


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## SlowRollin'

20yrs worth of fine tuning - it shows.  I have an 05 Mustang I bought with the intentions of modding out and giving to my son for his first car (beats the hell out of the 77 MGB I got for my first).  I didn't complain though, it was better than walking!  Well, I probably towed it more than I drove it, but it was good to cut my teeth on.

Your Mustang truly looks mint - job very well done.


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## mustanggarage

yeah thats the thing.  I like tinkering on it more than driving it sad as that seems.  it is a hobby for me.  so now Ive  got it pretty much where I want it so I bought a 67 to start on.  i plan to give it to my daughter to drive to school.  she will have to be the coolest kid in school when it is done.


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## mustanggarage

Decided I needed a little seat time in the stang after these last couple of posts.  I drove to omaha yesterday to a mustang club meeting.  it is about an hour away.  The stang ran great.  it is fun to drive.  miss the air conditioning this time of year but I was not on call so I did not have to worry about answering the phone and it was a fun trip.  that car is a blast to drive.


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## mustanggarage

Woohoo.  My Dad and I just decided to bite the bullit on the lift.  I have been lusting after a 2 post lift for some time now but I was not sure whether I wanted to lose the floor space it was on.  we decided to go ahead with it.  I looked at a lot of lifts but the one I decided on was an eagle 11000 mtp lift.  it will fit the best in the space I have and it is heavy enough to lift my f250 if I need to.  eagle is also a great name in lifts and has been around a long time so I think it should be good for me.  I will post up some pics as the work progresses.:thumbsup:


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## havasu

Congrats! We will all be waiting to envy your new addition!


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## mustanggarage

the lift arrived today.  11000 pound eagle.  I would love to get it installed this weekend.  I am off call and have time but my Dad has to be gone to one of my nieces events so I have to wait....  patience is not one of my virtues.  but good news.  the guy who built my building is a really class act.  when I told him I was ordering it he said I could ship it to his business and he would unload it from the truck and put it on my trailer.  he did that today, and when I stopped by after work to pick it up he asked me how I was going to lift it to install it.  I said I would probably rent a skid loader.  he then offered to let me use his huge forklift.  then he asked me if I had a rotary hammer and I told him no but that the lumber yard would rent it to me.  he said that he had one if I needed it also.  I never asked he just volunteered.  It is extremely unlikely I will have another building built in the foreseeable future so the only thing I can offer him for his generosity is praise and an excellent referral.  talk about going above and beyond for customer service.


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## havasu

Really nice!


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## rustywrangler

mustanggarage said:


> the lift arrived today.  11000 pound eagle.  I would love to get it installed this weekend.  I am off call and have time but my Dad has to be gone to one of my nieces events so I have to wait....  patience is not one of my virtues.  but good news.  the guy who built my building is a really class act.  when I told him I was ordering it he said I could ship it to his business and he would unload it from the truck and put it on my trailer.  he did that today, and when I stopped by after work to pick it up he asked me how I was going to lift it to install it.  I said I would probably rent a skid loader.  he then offered to let me use his huge forklift.  then he asked me if I had a rotary hammer and I told him no but that the lumber yard would rent it to me.  he said that he had one if I needed it also.  I never asked he just volunteered.  It is extremely unlikely I will have another building built in the foreseeable future so the only thing I can offer him for his generosity is praise and an excellent referral.  talk about going above and beyond for customer service.



That my friend is what you call an excellent contractor.   Good quality work, Great customer service and then going out of his way to help out with the small stuff.   That's a business card you hold onto.


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## Admin

rustywrangler said:


> That my friend is what you call an excellent contractor.   Good quality work, Great customer service and then going out of his way to help out with the small stuff.   That's a business card you hold onto.




Agreed, the best thing you can do for that guy is let everyone know how great your experience with him was.


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## mustanggarage

we actually got a lot done this weekend after all.  We worked on it friday and sunday afternoons.  we have the lift installed and ready to have the electrician wire it.  I need to call him tomorrow.  
in this first picture we have the first post in place and bolted to the floor.  the second post is in position and we are ready to install the top piece.





top piece installed, checking position.  everything looks good and square.  the trucks still fit.  looking good:thumbsup:  had to call in a favor to my buddy Mike.  I needed to hold the top piece on the fork lift and position it while Mike got the bolts started.  thanks Mike.  didn't get a picture of that though.





Dad installing the locks.





the motor installed





we were going to either rent or borrow a rotary hammer but Dad was at harbor freight and saw this one.  it would cost 36 dollars a day to rent it.  this was on sale for 49 dollars.  how can you pass that up.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




just putting the decals on now.  I had Dad take a picture just to show I was there ha ha.  yes I did more than just put the stickers on but I was the one with the camera 





almost done.  we need to have it wired, run it up and down a few times to make sure nothing binds and then drill the mounting holes on the other side.  I just put one in to hold it stable for now.  





I will get some better pictures soon with the trucks out of the way.


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## mustanggarage

Okay it is completely installed, it goes up and down.  the cables have been adjusted and all the anchor bolts are in.  I need to give it a couple days, and retorque all the bolts and then we are ready to lift a car.:rockin:
















dang it, laying down on the job again.  you just can't find good help these days.






well what do you think guys?


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## havasu

That looks really good. My concern with the single pedestal lifts is that they appear very unsteady. I know it's mounted strong, but it just seems like it would be more stable with some I beams tied into the trusses.


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## mustanggarage

I imagine you are right but almost all of the mechanic shops I have seen have these same kinds of lifts.


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## havasu

I've also seen lots of them in action but when my car is on it, little beads of sweat pop from my forehead!


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## mustanggarage

Well it is an 11000 pound 2 post asymmetric lift.  I have 4500 psi concrete and I drilled down to 7 inches before I punched through on the one side and I never did punch through on the other I was down at least 8 inches.  way deeper than those 3/4 inch grade 8 anchor bolts were anyway.  so I believe it will work as advertised.  but as they say in the engine building profession "trust but verify"  i will not lift anything more than six inches until i make sure it is stable while i intend to primarily lift mustangs i suppose I may occasionally lift my truck but I will be cautious.


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## havasu

I'm sure it will be strong enough for anything you do. I should have prefaced my concern by telling you I also freak out on roller coasters and any rides that go higher than I can stand!


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## mustanggarage

lol.  okay, but by the same token, when dealing with anything that can crush you and your pride and joy like a bug a little caution is never wasted right?:thumbsup:

btw The electrician is coming tomorrow.  we just ran a temporary line to it the other day to lift it and adjust it.  when he comes I am going to have him install a plug in on the beam above the front of the lift so I can hang one of those retractible trouble lights.  I turned 44 this year and now I find that if I don't have good light I need my glasses to see anything.  oh well like I always say, the only alternative to getting older is to die young.


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## havasu

I just turned 55 last week. I have two rechargable Mag Flashlights with 6 billion candlepower each (OK, I exagerate a bit!) and use them for everything these days!


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## mustanggarage

I lifted my f150 today.  still haven't tried the 250 but it worked great so far.







and on a completely different note I pretty much finished the bathroom this week.  still have to caulk around the baseboard some more.  I ran out of caulk.  thought I had 3 tubes but 2 of them were clear.  
















I also still have some glue to clean off the floor then I need to polish and wax it.  but the floor is down now so the last big hurdle in the bathroom is completed.  :rockin:


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## havasu

That plexiglass behind the utility sink is a great idea....do you mind if I copy your idea?


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## mustanggarage

not at all.  and of course like with most borrowed ideas I expect you will improve on it so I look forward to seeing what you do.  btw I remember you have the same kind of sink.  I still am not happy with the open area under neath it.  I have been trying to think of a way to enclose it.  have you done anything like that or is yours still open like mine?


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## havasu

I still have my heart set on a wall mount stainless steel sink, but refuse to spend ~$900-$1300 for a dumb sink. I also considered placing a granite slab on the adjacent washer and dryer, and cutting a big hole in the extended granite in order to accept a sink, but don't want to build legs to the floor. My third option is to just box the plastic tub in a wood frame, and then painting it to match the walls. 

So, to answer your question...no!


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## mustanggarage

I was working on my mustang last night. I was installing a bug screen that goes in front of the radiator.  I was having a hard time getting at the bottom radiator bolt on the passenger side.  I was laying on my creeper and reaching up under the car when my cell phone rings at the other side of the garage.  I get out from under the car and find out it is my wife in the house she wants to "chat"  anyway I was a little grumpy with her but as I was getting ready to crawl back under the car I saw the lift, "Light bulb".  anyway put the car on the lift, finished the job without getting all dirty crawling around on the floor.  it's funny its like my air tools.  I have them and use them, but so often I will just grab a regular ratchet and struggle for a while before I decide to get the air tools out.  I am still not used to having this lift but it sure does make life easier.


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## havasu

I can relate. Last week, I was helping a friend change out bumpers on his jeep in my garage. After about 10 minutes of wrenching, I looked over and saw my air lines on the wall and thought, "Duh!"

 I plugged in the air ratchet, and was done in about 5 minutes!

I'll also tell you that the sound of air tools in a garage is music to my ears!


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## mustanggarage

well I finally finished installing my modine heater.  it is only a 50,000 btu heater but with the g73 in the kennel and the heater in the bathroom I am hoping it will be adequate.  we will have to see.  I still have my little dragon torpedo heater for those really cold days.







I have also been "jonesing" on those guys with the awesome nut and bolt storage solutions so I started my own.  I bought this section to start with to see how it will work.  I plan to get 2 more sections once these are full to store other sizes of bolts.  I currently have sorted my misc. bolts into 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, and 1/2 inch bolts, nuts, washers.  that leaves me 3 bins to sort each size of bolts into so I will have to get some dividers to sort the bolt lengths better but at least now if I want a 5/16 bolt and nut I can just grab them rather than rummage around in a can that has a mix of everything.
I haven't got them labeled yet either but hey its progress


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## havasu

Thanks for sharing! That is a great storage system for nuts and bolts. Did you fab up the backing plate? Is there enough strength with those bins so they won't pull off the wall?


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## mustanggarage

no the backing plate came with it.  the plate and 24 bins for $65.00.  Like I said I plan to get 2 more so I will have about 9 feet of storage bins hanging there:thumbsup:


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## mustanggarage

I got a bit more done this weekend.  I finished up my heating goals for the year by getting the bathroom heater installed.  it is a 220v heater.  I was a bit concerned with how much juice everything would draw so I turned the water on hot, and all the heaters on and ran them for a while and I did not blow any breakers so I guess all is good.  I was mainly concerned with the main breaker out at the pole.  anyway all is good.  I also got a new dog door installed that has 2 rubber flaps, and an aluminum door that locks into place if I want to close it off.  this should reduce the cold air coming in there.  anyway here is a picture of the bathroom heater.





and I also go a bunch of my nuts and bolts sorted into the bins.


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## havasu

That is a great looking set up you have. I really like the wall switch in the bathroom but I have one error which was overlooked....You spelled jeep incorrectly on it! :thumbsup:


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## mustanggarage

yeah I wish I still had my old jeep.  but living in iowa I just don't have much of a need for it.   I had a lot of fun with that old thing.  now my son does have a 93 cherokee so I guess I could put some jeep memorabilia in there.  my dad also has a chevy pickup but I think there might be an allergic reaction if I put a chevy sign in there lol.


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## mustanggarage

here is a couple finishing touches to the man cave bathroom.

now housing a pretty extensive collection of mustang magazines.  I need to get a new rack made because I have about 2 more years of magazines that I don't have a place for yet.

:thumbsup:


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## havasu

I sure like that set up!


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## mustanggarage

here is my newest addition.  not really a garage addition but it will help keep the driveway clear and help when I pour cement next spring.  it is my wife's gift to me for christmas.  It is well used but still in good shape and runs really good.  I am excited.:rockin:










 honey:thumbsup:


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## havasu

Oh, I am so jealous of you! That has always been my dream purchase, but until I buy some land, it's just not worth it. Congrats, now go dig a hole for me!


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## mustanggarage

I decided to build the engine for the 67 this weekend.  I had my daughter and son out helping, and my dad was making sure everything was done right.  my daughter is 12 and small for her age but she torqued the main caps to 70 foot pounds and installed the pistons.  We would have finished but the darn push rods they sent me were for a 302 with hydraulic lifters not the roller lifters so I had to order new ones then we can button up the top end and it will be ready to drop in the car when everything else is ready.












I got my son involved also but my daughter was taking pictures of the engine not the people so I did not get a good pic of him


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## havasu

You are giving the kids lifelong memories. I wish more dad's would spend time including kids, especially girls, with some serious wrenching. I did the same for my daughter and now that she is grown up, she has no problem installing a dead battery, changing a flat, and being able to diagnose her own car problems.


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## mustanggarage

I agree.  the kids are not real excited about it of course but once I get them out there they seem to enjoy it.  and I am sure that later on they will look back on it with pride and know that they helped.  also as you mentioned familiarizing with tools is never wasted.  

the engine is finished with the exception of the distributor it is on back order.  I also ordered a set of shorty headers that I will install soon.  I will post up some pics of the finished product at that time.:thumbsup:


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## mustanggarage

well the skid loader has definitely earned its keep so far this year. It took me an hour to clean my drive this morning but I was able to do it. I would have been walking to the main road, about 3/4 of a mile to get a ride if I had not had it.

btw 3/4 of a mile is a nice short walk in the summer with the dogs. I do it for fun several times a week. in the winter, during a blizzard, through snow my 3/4 ton truck can't drive through and wind blowing so hard you feel like your face is being sandblasted, 3/4 of a mile is a long dang ways,  so I'm very happy to have the skid loader today.   to my wife once again.


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## mustanggarage

I was looking on craigslist the other day and I found a guy selling some bowling alley lanes.  I bought 10 feet of it not really knowing what I wanted to do with it.  I also have been planning on rebuilding the AOD for my daughters mustang.  I bought a video for it and they had a table with a hole cut in it for rebuilding the transmission.  I decided to build a rolling table for doing projects, the aod to start and other things later.  I started by lap jointing 3 2x4's together with construction adhesive and 3 inch deck screws.  these formed the legs and the cross pieces were lap jointed into them.  the same with the horizontals.  everything was glued and screwed.  then I put the bowling lane top on it and sanded it smooth put 12 coats of minwax on it.  some locking casters and I have a nice mobile work table.  I stood on  it tonight and lifted the transmission up to rest on the bell housing.  it is rock solid.  it will be nice to have.  and it fits in the spot next to my table saw so I don't lose too much space in between projects.








here is the start of the teardown.  I just wanted to get the pan off to see if this transmission was worth rebuilding.  I bought both the engine and transmission off ebay for 450.00 and honestly from the look of the internals on both I think I could have hosed them off and bolted them in.  but I am going to continue the rebuild on this as much for the experience as anything.  but the pan was flat clean, no metal no burnt smell all in all I think a great core.  so was the engine.  :rockin:








for valentines my sweet wife had this waiting for me in my shop when I got home.  what can I say I am a lucky man.


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## havasu

I would love to have a good parts washer like that! I sure hope you reciprocated equally!


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## mustanggarage

sadly no.  warning long story ahead lol.  the other day my daughter was home alone and heard a loud bang in the attached garage (the wifes garage).  she did not go out to see what it was.  about a half hour later my wife came home opened the door and it did not open all the way apparently and you can guess what happened.  anyway we have to replace the door track etc.  tommorrow.  she said that this could be our valentines gift to each other because it was going to be over 1300.00 and we are going on vacation thursday.  anyway I fortunately did not completely fall for that I bought her roses candy and a card, but I certainly got the better end of the deal.  I will have to make it up somehow.


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## havasu

I hate when crap happens!


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## mustanggarage

I did some rearranging yesterday.  I am getting ready to do some major work on the 67 mustang.  I ordered some parts today.  I need to have the 67 in the shop so I can work on it so I put it in the bubble and parked the 65 in my big haulmark enclosed trailer.  it makes for a nice one car garage in a pinch.  I have it all blocked up nice so I can drive in and out when I want to take the stang for a spin.  and now I can push the 67 out to work on it.  :rockin:  first step is to finish the front suspension.  I just put the old stuff back on it to get it moved on to the trailer, now I will replace the whole front suspension and install the rack and pinion steering.  then the brakes and electrical.  My plan is to get the engine in and running this year.  after that it will just be finishing up the interior and exterior trim.  cubic dollars that's all it takes, but I am financing this as I go.  no borrowing, no credit cards so it will just have to come as finances allow.  wish me luck.:thumbsup:


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## havasu

Sounds like you are doing the build the right way! We'll be waiting here for some great results!


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## mustanggarage

It has been a long process but I paid off the body shop last month.  I told the guy I wanted to pay as I go and if I get behind let me know so I can pay more so I don't end up with a big bill at the end.  well that didn't work out so well.  he did not have it figured right so I still ended up with a good sized bill at the end.  anyway since I told him from the beginning how I wanted to do it and it was his mistake, he was good about letting me make payments until it was paid with no interest.  and he did such an excellent job on it even though it cost way more than I thought it would I am happy.  but now that bill is paid so it is on to the next installment.

since I don't have any pictures of the 67 in the shop yet and I wanted to put this picture in my "garage blog" I will just add this bit of gratuitous mustang garage photography.

taken while getting the stang show ready.  it is really nice to polish the wheels and tires, clean the undercarriage and polish the rocker panels up on the lift.


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## havasu

Damn, she sure is shiny!


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## mustanggarage

no pictures yet but we finished rebuilding the AOD transmission.  it went very well.  much easier than I was really expecting.  we planned to do it in 2 evenings but finished it easily in one.  the transmission was actually in amazingly good condition.  I also powder coated the transmission pan. Since I got my yearly savings back from the government lol, plus my annual bonus that I have taken from my check I bought a bunch of car parts.  this week I will be getting lots done.  I plan to have the engine and transmission in the car next week.  it of course will not be nearly ready to run  but it will be a major step forward.  lots of pictures to follow.:thumbsup:


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## mustanggarage

we got a lot done the last few days.  we still have a long, long way to go, but big progress nonetheless.  here are some update pictures.  

Christmas comes early to the mustang 

garage.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




here is a look under the car after we pulled all the old front suspension off.  as you can see the underside has been coated in rhino-lining for sound suppression and to prevent rock damage.






after the new upper and lower control arms, shocks, and rack and pinion conversion were installed.  I pulled the truck back in, with the car lifted I can still park both my trucks in the garage.  :thumbsup:






after all new suspension is on.


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## havasu

I'm sure glad you washed the truck for the last picture. I was about to call you a slacker! 

Really, really nice so far!


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## mustanggarage

ok.  yesterday we installed the pedal support, the powerbrake booster and master cylinder.  modified and installed the steering column.  installed the lokar gas pedal.  and put the march serpentine setup on the engine.











today we put the rear main seal in the engine and installed the engine and transmission.  










this is my redneck transmission jack.  a little funky and clunky but it did the job.







There's Dad telling my Daughter how it's done..






 big steps.  we also mounted the new fuse box so I have a massive pile of spaghetti inside the car now.

and there she is sitting in place at last.  a long way to go till it's ready to fire up, but dang it looks good in there.:rockin::rockin:





 heres my Dad enjoying a job well done.







I also did a lot of little projects along the way.  powdercoating the shock mounts and the tie rod adjusters etc. etc.  

what a great feeling, and a little shop kudos.  My Dad said "man it is great having this shop.  If I had had a place like this back when I was wrenching for a living I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I have to agree.  the shop works well.  the tools are well organized, we have pretty much everything we need and it just makes very difficult jobs so easy.  

I mean like I can remember just struggling to get the stupid starter installed on my 65.  today it was just not even a challenge.  It is so nice having the shop I have always wanted.


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## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> I'm sure glad you washed the truck for the last picture. I was about to call you a slacker!
> 
> Really, really nice so far!



yeah, that is one thing that sucks about my place.  we live on a dirt road and it is impossible to keep a car clean for any period of time.


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## havasu

I had to laugh at that transmission jack. I once needed to use my motorcycle lift to mount my upper cabinets in my kitchen. As they say, "A mans gotta do what a man gotta do!"

Love the pics....keep 'em coming!


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## mustanggarage

I seriously hate wiring.  and as far as the motorcycle lift thing.  Hey if you have got a tool that makes the job easier go for it.  That way your wife will be glad or at least less annoyed by all the tools you buy.  you can say hey remember that time I used my motorcycle lift to hang those cabinets.  tools are never a waste of money.:thumbsup:


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## mustanggarage

yesterday I had a new section of concrete poured in front of my other garage door. My garage sits on the back edge of my property, about 100 yards from the main gravel road. I will probably never have it all paved but I did want to put a parking area in front of the garage and possibly use it to wash cars etc. anyway here are some pictures of what it looked like last night.














next year I will concrete the last "third" I plan to run the concrete out to my little white shed and make a nicer parking area for my trailer.


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## Deek281

Super sweet garage. Looks like you forgot something though... I dont see a drain in the concrete for washing...    Just nitpicking! Congrats on the newest addition. I hope to one day have a garage even half that nice. Keep up with the pics!


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## mustanggarage

true, but I had them slope it so the water will run off and since there is no where to drain it to that will just have to do for now.  anyway I am just really glad to have the concrete.  eventually I will have the concrete all the way along the front of the building and have a nice patio area with my burn pit where we have bonfires and roast marshmellows and hotdogs in the summer.  the kids love it.  I will love having the concrete because that is where I plan to make my permanent wash area.  I also would like to put a carport in there for winter parking.


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## mustanggarage

Ok.  time for a short update on the 67 project.  I have installed the radiator and ac condensor.  I bought a crimping tool and crimped the hoses myself.  I have plumbed the radiator and heater hoses.  finished up most of the wiring.  I still have a little underdash work to do and I need to install the hood mounted turn signals.  I have ordered them and they should be here soon.  I powdercoated the hood latch assembly.  installed all new taillight and backup lights.  and wired up the speedometer sending unit.  I still need to get the shifter installed so that I can wire up the backup lights and the neutral safety switch but I want to use a cable operated shifter that mounts in the center console I want to build this winter so that will have to wait.  tonight I want to install the transmission cooling lines.

here are some pics.


----------



## mustanggarage

Just a small update.


 rerouted the heater hoses. and pretty much finished the under hood wiring.  I need to wire the fan controller inside.  I am waiting for the turnsignal switch and the neutral safety switch but then the wiring will be finished.  except for the parts I don't have yet like the horns and stereo etc.  I also replaced the door lock tumblers so all the locks, ignition and trunk are all keyed the same so one key is all is needed.  I also put the plugwires on and discovered that the harmonic balancer and the front cover I am using are not matched. so I need to get a timing pointer for an 89 mustang apparently the timing pointer on 89 is on the passenger side.  a few  more baby steps to completion :thumbup: 




















 I have also used my newest tool a lot.  it is awesome for testing circuits and finding problems.  this is what I bought myself for my birthday. the power probe 3 I just love cool tools. 8)


----------



## mustanggarage

Well my daughters 13th birthday was july 2nd and she decided she wanted to have a slumber party in the garage.  so naturally the place was completely transformed.  but I got a couple nice new additions.  

our old sectional couch had an accident and the sleeper bed section got broken so we bought some new furniture for the media room.  since then we have had these 3 pieces just sitting down there kind of taking up space.  she wanted them out here for her friends.  so I decided to just keep them here.  they probably won't last too long but for the time being the lounge has definitely been upgraded.:rockin:






it was also really hot on july 2nd so I bought this 15000btu window air conditioner.  no it is no where near adequate to cool the whole shop down but it helps a ton.  with the big fan in place it was really pretty comfortable today.  sadly finding a casement style airconditioner is near impossible so I had to order it and it only got in on friday so my daughter had to suffer.  but again the shop received a nice upgrade.


----------



## havasu

I sure like that garage and the 'stang!


----------



## mustanggarage

update on the 67 mustang.  we finished most of the important stuff for the engine.  all the wiring, and plumbing.  and on friday we fired it up the first time.  we needed to tweak the timing a bit and we had a small fuel leak at the carb but overall it started and ran amazingly well with almost no effort.:thumbsup:  still a long way to go.  no exhaust or driveshaft yet.  no shifter linkage etc.  so It is still moved around by pushing it but we are coming along.


----------



## mustanggarage

ok here is another short project update.  when I first bought this car years ago I bought a 67 mustang automatic shifter and an aod adapter shifter.  I thought about putting in a lokar shifter because I kind of like the looks of them.  I showed the pics to my Dad and he did not like the lokar shifter so we got to talking and he told me he always liked those big b&m shifters you see in dragracers etc.  he says that's what was cool back in his day.  but I really don't like those.  so I showed him the stock shifter and he liked it pretty well.  but the chrome was peeling off and it was all scuffed up and I wanted a more custom look so I decided to do something different.  I first removed the rest of the chrome off the shifter and took it apart.  then I used a wire wheel to clean it completely and texture it.  it kind of feels and looks like leather now.  smooth but with just a little texture.  then I powdercoated it black with my little eastwood powdercoating kit.  then I bought some caliper decals you know for brake calipers so they are really durable decals and put one of them on the handle and clear coated the whole thing.  I got a new bezel and bushings and put it back together and this is the result.






I think it turned out pretty good.  and it will be something a bit different.  

I also got the exhaust system installed today.  still need to figure out what exhaust tips I want to use.  here is a short video of how it sounds after Dad fiddled with the carb and I bled the powersteering system a bit.  I can't get the video to embed properly.  if someone could tell me how to do it I will try to get it embedded properly.

just click on the picture. 

video:


----------



## havasu

I've found the best way is to get an account at You Tube, and embedding the video into the post. I'm sure there are easier ways, but you will need to wait until the Administrator comes in here.


----------



## Mickm

mustanggarage: Awesome shop! Looks like you have thought of everything.
I love it!
The Mustang is looking great, excellent work and attention to detail.
Cheers!
Mickm


----------



## mustanggarage

My Dad decided he had too many cars recently. 
this is my new toy.  it is an 89 Lx convertible mustang.  My Dad bought it a few years ago as a project, but like a lot of the projects he gets I end up being the main motivating force in getting things done lol. I am sure you will recognize it from some of the pictures of the shop. anyway he bought this car because his 94 mustang project he had gotten frustrated and depressed about.  see he started the 94 project putting edelbrock heads and a powerdyne supercharger on it shortly before my mom got cancer and died.  since then he just hadn't felt like finishing it.  anyway a few years ago I talked him into moving out here and selling his house.  well after he got here he bought the 89.  about this time I bought some parts for him to finish the 94 project.  so we got that car running and dad is having a lot fun cruizing around in that little hotrod.  well he had planned to give the convertible to one of my nieces but since the top bows were broken and the convertible top was shot it had gotten some water in it and it smelled pretty bad as well as looking pretty bad.  so naturally they weren't too thrilled and just did not show much interest.  well as these things happen I wanted to fix the car.  mustangs are my hobby and I just like fixing things.  so I found a convertible top on ebay for 340.00 and Dad bought it.  then for his birthday I found and bought the pieces to fix the frame.  then I tore the top off it and fixed the frame.  Dad bought an upholstery stapler from the demon cursed harbor freight and we watched the video a few times and replaced the top.  

so anyway the other day my Dad decided that my nieces didn't really want the car and since I had done all the work on it and he really didn't want it anymore that he would just give it to me.  no I don't need another car, but what the heck it will be fun tinkering on it, and It will be nice to run around in during the summer.  





my shop boss laying down on the job again.






then I took a couple cans of engine degreaser and some elbow grease, bead blasted a few parts and powdercoated or painted a few things and the engine bay looks presentable.

the thing runs great starts every time but the mufflers are shot so those will need replacing next.





the seats need new upholstery as there is a couple small tears in the drivers seat but I threw some cheap seat covers on there for the short term and it looks ok.






Dad always says a mustang has to have a horse on it so we converted the front grille to the cobra version.






Dad painted the hood the other day and we have quite a bit of orange peel so we will need to try to color sand it or else re shoot it.  have to see what we can do.  I also need a cat back exhaust but next year I am going to be driving this baby to work.

:rockin:


also I finished the last piece of the drivetrain puzzle in the 67 it now is moving on its own.  the driveshaft was installed tuesday. yesterday my daughter drove it from the house to the shop.  not far but far enough to verify everything seems to be working.  still a long way to go.


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## mustanggarage

Man I tell you I love my shop.:thumbsup:  this weekend I had a friend that was having trouble with his 2006 dodge truck.  he brought it over, we put it on the lift discovered that he had a bad strut on the front.  well I have never done much with new vehicles but he wanted to try and fix it himself.  so we used my shop computer which is right next to the lift.  read up a bit on how to get it apart.  pulled off the wheel with my air impact.  pulled the brake rotor and used my new pickle fork took to pop the upper control arm loose.  pulled the strut.  ordered a replacement.  next day we put the new one on and he is back on the road.  saved himself several hundred dollars and we both got the experience of doing the job. 
his wife came along and she needed to use the restroom.  the rest of my shop may get dirty but I keep the bathroom clean.  so I felt no shame in showing her to the library.

then I welded some chain hooks on my skid loader that I am going to use to haul the jeeps engine outside to pressure wash it once I get it pulled.  then I built some "training wheels for my engine stand lol.  the engine stand had three wheels and was kind of tippy with the 5.0 on it.  with that long 4.0 inline six I wanted it to be more secure so I built a t-bar that bolts into the front of the engine stand and has two wheels on it that will make the stand much more stable.

lots of fun and all possible because of my shop and the way it is setup.  :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:  this shop has been my dream for years and I am very glad to have it.


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## thomask

Hey some nice work there.  

Anything happening this spring with either of the pony cars?:thumbsup:


----------



## mustanggarage

thomask said:


> Hey some nice work there.
> 
> Anything happening this spring with either of the pony cars?:thumbsup:



sorry I have not responded before now.  My stupid quest internet is out.  fortunately I can tether with my iphone so I can still get internet access.  I think I would go nuts if I couldn't access the internet for a week any more lol.

but as to your question.  Yes actually quite a lot has been happening with the stangs.  

first on the convertible I don't have any pictures but, I got the cat back exhaust on it.  I also put a new blue tooth capable stereo in it so I can hear my cell phone when I am running down the road with the top down.  I have it licensed and have been driving it quite a bit lately.  it is a fun little rig.  I hope I can get the new wheels for it this year but uncle sam bit me this year and instead of the tax return I usually get I owe 2600.00 ouch.  anyway that will come when I get the funds.

as far as the 67 I have some pics of it.  for christmas I bought my daughter a billet export brace.






I also decided to upgrade the dome light.  the one that came in the 67 was shot so I got one from an F150 that has the map lights built in.






bumpers are on.






I also have the emblems on it now but I don't have pictures of that.

I decided to change the seats a bit.  Since I want to put three point safety harness in the car and the mounting point for the conversion seat belts is too low for correct operation I decided to upgrade to some 1994 seats with the nice seat belt guide that will position the seat belt properly.  this is the same way they are anchored in the convertible mustangs so it should be a lot safer.





they also are exactly what my daughter asked for as far as the custom upholstery.  she wanted black seats with the pony embroidered on them so I don't have to redo them right away.:thumbsup:

since they were power seats I had to do some judicious modification to the frame to make them work and I had to sew up the hole where the power controllers went but they will look great when I get them installed.

I re-upholstered the back seats myself, well I got my daughter to help a bit.















I  have been working on the center console the last few nights.  I have it nearly complete as far as the basic construction is concerned. then I want to fiberglass it and paint it body color.  if that does not turn out well I will probably have it upholstered to cover up my shame lol.

anyway a fair amount of progress.  I have also ordered all the parts I need to finish the car and they should be here by the end of april.  (a couple things are backordered.) so the car should be ready for the car show in Des Moines in june.:thumbsup:


----------



## BossLike

I'm fully agreed with you


----------



## mustanggarage

I have gotten several small projects completed this week. and several more started lol.  first of all I needed to get my emergency brake installed.  I wanted to go with a more modern style lokar emergency brake with the handle on the trans tunnel like in a lot of newer cars, but I also wanted a center console that would have cup holders that would be able to hold a 20 oz bottle of pop and have at least some storage.  well obviously no such animal exists in the aftermarket so I decided I would give making one a try.  this is one of the projects still in progress but I needed to get started so that I could figure out where to mount my emergency brake.  I am using a radio bezel that is not for a center console so I decided my console does not need to go all the way to the front.  so I started by making a cardboard model.






once I did that I started to cut it out of wood.






I wanted to use a console top out of a 2005 fusion that I bought off ebay.  but I forgot to cut the height of the lid off my model but a little judicious table saw work and I had it cut down to size.  I wanted to use removeable cup holders like the ones in my wifes navigator so I bought a couple of those and mocked it all up.






I thought about having it upholstered but with the black seats and black carpet I really want this to be body color so once I have the design finalized I want to try fiberglassing and painting it.  we will have to see how that goes.

ok. so once the console was together I used it to mark the hole in the trans tunnel then we installed the handle and ran the cables and adjusted it up.  that took up most of a day for my Dad and I.  we did not work on it that hard but still it took quite a lot longer than I really expected.
















after that I swapped the new seats in and mocked it up again.











I still have some tweaking to do on it before fiberglassing but overall I am pretty happy with it.  the lid works well.  latches properly the brake works.  the cupholders are in a comfortable spot and overall it fits.

next up I got a big load of trim parts today and I spent the whole day installing them.

rear bumper and rear window molding.


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## mustanggarage

grill assembly, hood molding and windshield molding.










and this picture just because I like it.  shows a bit of the mess I made.  I cleaned most of it up before the picture was taken lol.






my illuminated sill plates and package tray are back ordered so is my steering wheel.  so those projects are still to come.
 and this is why my user name is mustanggarage.  I am currently working on all 3 of my mustangs.  my Dads is parked in the garage attached to the house.  and he lives clear accross town.


----------



## mustanggarage

I took a few days off work for spring break and I have been working out here on this car every day.  I got quite a bit done since the last post.

door panels and hardware installed.










I also installed the steel trunk blockoff panel and used expanding foam insulation to fill the gaps so it should keep any dust or fumes out of the cabin.

I also installed the three point safety belts.  

then put the dyna mat and carpet in.  bolted the new seats in.  finished buttoning up the dash.  shifter bezel is in and bolted down.  my illuminated sill plates arrived just as I was finishing the carpet so they are in as well.  

the package tray is on back order as is the lecarra classic wood steering wheel but the interior is just about done.  here are some pics of the nearly finished product.  (still need to finish the console too obviously)






the seats match pretty well even though in the pictures the front ones look grey.  that is just from the flash.






stereo install will be down the road a bit as well.  I have used up most of my extra income for a little while.  I have an older stereo that I will put in there just to fill the hole until I do the real install.  I also bought the kick panels and the package tray without holes for the speakers so I can custom fit whatever speakers I use.


I also got the lokar brake pedal pad mounted yesterday.and you can see why I wanted these seats to work with the 3 point seat belts.  






and then my Dad noticed the chrome strips around the grill were not quite lined up rightiss2:  so I spent a couple hours trying to fix that. whoever designed those stupid little fasteners that hold that front chrome strip on is one sadistic mother and that's all I have to say about that lol.


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## mustanggarage

another step closer to completion today.

installed the rocker moldings today.
first we made templates out of poster paper.  keeping the factory cut edge of the paper in a straight line to keep all our marks in line.  we measured down 3/4 inch from the top of the template and snapped a chalkline to keep it straight.  then marked off the top drill hole at 12 inch intervals.  

here's Dad taping up the templates we made






here it is hanging on the car using the door opening as the guide to hang the template.






then I drilled the top holes, removed the template, put the plastic hanging clips on and riveted them in place.  then I used a small level to level the clips and drilled the lower rivet hole.  I used clear silicone to seal all the holes. when I put the rivets in place.

then put the molding on.  it went much easier than I really hoped.  then since the template was already made we flipped it around and used the same template on the other side.









then I dropped the car off the lift so I could see how it looked on the ground.






so the outside is pretty much done now.  I would like to have some subtle pinstripes run down the side up by the top body seam to accent the top of the car.  I am looking into options there.  I don't want anything gaudy, just simple. but I think that will set it off nicely.

I also let the car warm up to temp today, the thermostat opened up, the electric fan turned on properly, and still no leaks.  :woot


----------



## ME87

Looks very good. I've always wanted a mustang, but I've never found the right one.


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## mustanggarage

sorry I haven't posted for a while.  I have not really done much on the garage.  I did finish up the 67 project.  It turned out well.  My Daughter has won 2 first place trophy's so far.   here are some of the finished pictures.


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## Chris

That car is just beautiful.


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## havasu

Excellent. First place huh? Congrats!


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## Ecam

I like the "hand" e-brake over the foot style.  Like the 'Stang, and your daughter looks mighty proud!


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## mustanggarage

I decided to put a limited slip differential and 3.73 gears into my 89 mustang convertible the other day.  wow did that ever wake that little car up.  makes it a lot more fun to drive.  I also replaced the valve cover gaskets that were leaking and put a set of chrome valve covers on while i was there.  I also replaced the pcv valve and screen.  now that big puddle of oil is gone yeaah.  but since I was swapping gears around I bought a cheapo harbor freight 12 ton press.  I always wanted a hydraulic press and they were practically giving these away.  it did the job.  certainly no high quality piece of equipment but it is small and fits in my shop without taking up much room.  

oh and I got my garage alienware laptop fixed:rockin::rockin::rockin::rockin:  It is so much faster than my old desktop it is amazing.


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## Mickm

Awesome car  Mustanggarage!
Congrats on the trophys, your daughter sure looks happy.
Cheers!
Mickm


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## oldognewtrick

Have to agree with the rest, awesome. You have the garage I always wanted.   :thumbsup:


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## mustanggarage

thanks for all the nice comments guys.  My Dad and I like to play around out here.   I rarely go in the house anymore.  My kids hog the downstairs tv, my wife has the one in the bedroom.  so there really isn't anything for me to do inside after work so I go outside to the garage.  hang out with the dogs.  play computer games or watch movies.  now I have a wifi capable DVD player so I watch netflix or vudu movies etc.  I have the bathroom and my fridge etc.  out here.  I go inside to eat and sleep otherwise even when I don't have a project to work on I am out here just hanging out with the buddies.  life is pretty good some days.


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## mustanggarage

I also redid the interior on the 89 mustang.  the old upholstery was terrible so I bought some new upholstery and cleaned the interior thoroughly.  next I want to get one of those svo hoods for it.  just a little scoop but still stock looking.

here are some pics of the interior progress,





















now with the new gears and getting the oil leak fixed this car is a fun little toy.  I drove it to work most of the summer.  

here is a pic of the hood I want to put on it, what do you think?
http://www.cjponyparts.com/cervini-1-5-svo-hood-paintable-1987-1993/p/HD108/ 

View attachment HD108.jpg


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## mustanggarage

ok well I have been working on some little things here and there lately and I got really annoyed at the way I had my pry bars arranged so I found these little clips at home depot and took a piece of scrap wood and made a stupid little holder for all my pry bars. I tell you it is not a big deal but I kept knocking the things off when I was trying to get other things and it really was annoying.  this 5 minute fix makes a significant reduction in my irritation factor lol.  yeah I could paint it to match my cupboards and stuff to make it look better, but this is a garage not a fashion show lol.


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## Chris

I like it.


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## d.yaros

Why did you need the piece of wood?  How is the wood mounted to the pegboard?


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## mustanggarage

peg board obviously has to have a bit of space behind it to poke the hooks through lol.  I just have the peg board screwed to a stud wall and have insulation behind it.  so I could not attach the clips to the peg board, it would not hold.  so I attached it to the piece of wood and then screwed the wood to one of the studs.  it is held very sturdily so I can pull the prybars loose and it will not pull anything out of the pegboard.


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## thomask

Sounds like a plan.  Organization is the key to a good shop area. Also you can use the magnetic tool strips that can also be attached to peg board in same fashion. They also work good in drawers to keep small tools organized and not rolling around.  Watch for them on sale (HF) and pick up a couple.

I have been thinking of mounting one in the kitchen pantry to have a couple screwdirvers, pliers and small hammer handy for in house repairs.  Maybe add a tape measure and a small crescent wrench, too.


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## ME87

thomask said:


> I have been thinking of mounting one in the kitchen pantry to have a couple screwdirvers, pliers and small hammer handy for in house repairs.  Maybe add a tape measure and a small crescent wrench, too.



OMG my wife would kill me! lol


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## thomask

ME87 said:


> OMG my wife would kill me! lol



Hey OMG, I am doing this for my wife, it might just keep her out of the tools in the garage when she needs something fixed in the house. I know it can save me time on "honey do" items! You amy have noticed from my aviatar I keep a pretty tight tool box there. 

The GR philosophy of Happiness in a Home with a Garage. IMO sometimes it's all about how you sell your project, not what your project entails.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions for happiness welcome.

LOL


----------



## ME87

thomask said:


> Hey OMG, I am doing this for my wife, it might just keep her out of the tools in the garage when she needs something fixed in the house. I know it can save me time on "honey do" items! You amy have noticed from my aviatar I keep a pretty tight tool box there.
> 
> The GR philosophy of Happiness in a Home with a Garage. IMO sometimes it's all about how you sell your project, not what your project entails.
> 
> What do you guys think? Any suggestions for happiness welcome.
> 
> LOL



I just trained mine to put the tools back where she got them.


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## mustanggarage

My father in law gave my wife a small little tool box when she went to college. it has a decent selection of tools that you need around the house.  I supplemented it with a few things I needed a lot and we keep that in the house.  it is her toolbox and she is every bit as particular about making sure her tools are put up as I am.


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## mustanggarage

I can't wait.  I just won an auction on ebay.  it is for a 1990 jeep wrangler.  I have missed my wrangler since I had to sell it when I moved to iowa, this little cherokee I was going to fix up has a ton of rust in the body and paint and body work just are not my forte'  I am good at the mechanical stuff so I think I will swap my 4.0 engine out of the cherokee since I just rebuilt it, and possibly use the axles off the cherokee as well.  strip all the good stuff off and then sell the rest for scrap.  the wrangler has an inline 6 but it is the carbureted version, and it has the craptastic dana 35 rear axle and the vaccuum activated front axle.  the cherokee has the chrysler 8.25 and the front axle does not have the vacuum activation thing, they both have 3.07 gears so other than putting spring perches on the cherokee front axle they will bolt right in.  I am not sure what transfer case the wrangler has in it, but I know it has the tf999 transmission which does not have overdrive.  it is a decent transmission for what I need however and since it is not computer controlled I don't think I will have too much difficulty swapping everything over.  but the wrangler is in running condition so I will probably just drive it for a while and see what all needs fixing.  unfortunately it is clear over in youngstown ohio so I am going to have to have it shipped.


----------



## Chris

Congrats! I also have 90 YJ. Yours has the NP231 Transfer case 23 spline. Double check the axle tag because 3.07 sounds like a high gear for an auto. Mine came 3.55 with a manual trans. You do have the vacume disconnect but I believe it is a good system, Just think they go out once every 20 years or so can't be too bad. Let me know if you need any other info about it. Here is a pic of mine when I picked it up and now. And trust me that transfer case is plenty strong enough for your rig, that is the only thing I still have drivetrain wise that is stock and mine is behind a V8 with 37's 

View attachment 1990Jeep05.jpg


View attachment IMG_20121210_163122.jpg


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## thomask

HeyChirs,  

Now that is a before and after for sure there guy.  

Great looking Jeep there.

My old 85 CJ 7 is mostly stock but I like ALL Jeeps.

One of the most modified vehicles in history and still going strong.


----------



## Chris

Thanks, it's been a long process and still isn't done to where I want it.


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## mustanggarage

yeah I had a 95 yj before that came with the 2.5 l and auto trans.  I swapped in a 4.0 out of a cherokee with a lot of help from others.  it was a major ordeal  if I new then what I know now I would have put in a v-8 lol.  anyway.  I have done a lot of reading about jeeps over the years and a lot of research on them, I saw a guy on one of the forums I go on that said he had a np 207 I believe in his 90 that was why I was not sure.  I knew the 95 had a np 231,  I do not intend to turn this into a wheeler like yours.  I plan to make it into a reliable winter car for my daughter and a toy for me.  so I want to convert to fuel injection at some point.  at least since this is an inline 6 rig already the 4.0 ought to bolt right in.  it will just be a matter of getting the electrical and plumbing connections to work, and there are enough write ups on the web that I think I will be able to get it done.  the major thing is that the jeep is relatively rust free and the body is in good shape so I don't have to mess with body work.  I am already planning what stuff I need to buy for it and I have not even paid for it yet.  lol.  I put a bid on uships to see what it will cost to have it shipped out.  the estimate was 555, but the first bid I got was over 900.  hopefully they will come down a bit.


----------



## Chris

Yeah they changed Tcases in 89' I believe when they had the AX5 trans which was a 21 spline output to the AX15 or whatever auto trans that have the 23 spline output. You could always do the 4.0 head swap to get fuel injection but it is probably about as much work as a complete motor swap. Or you can go to the aftermarket Howell injection which is real nice but about a grand, good part is that you are done in a jiffy and it is reliable. I wouldn't even worry about that D35 if you are not going to do any crazy wheeling. I wheeled mine on 33's with the D35 for years without an issue, all depends on the skinny pedal. If you can keep from spinning and grabbing that axle will last you fine. Let me know what you are looking for in parts, i have quite a bit of stuff still lying around from my build and rebuild and some of the stock parts left.


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> Yeah they changed Tcases in 89' I believe when they had the AX5 trans which was a 21 spline output to the AX15 or whatever auto trans that have the 23 spline output. You could always do the 4.0 head swap to get fuel injection but it is probably about as much work as a complete motor swap. Or you can go to the aftermarket Howell injection which is real nice but about a grand, good part is that you are done in a jiffy and it is reliable. I wouldn't even worry about that D35 if you are not going to do any crazy wheeling. I wheeled mine on 33's with the D35 for years without an issue, all depends on the skinny pedal. If you can keep from spinning and grabbing that axle will last you fine. Let me know what you are looking for in parts, i have quite a bit of stuff still lying around from my build and rebuild and some of the stock parts left.



I have the cherokee with all of the parts on it, I just rebuilt that 4.0 with a comp cam and full valve job with all new valves in the head so I would like to use it.  I also put in a new waterpump and I understand I may have to swap that for a 95 yj waterpump.  I also just put new brakes on the cherokee last year so if I can just swap the rear axle and get the stronger chrysler 8.25 and have the new brakes then that makes for a reasonable swap.  the jeep forum website I go to.  seem to agree that it probably has 3.55 gears.  the first site I looked said 3.07 with an auto but most of the others say 3.55 so I am going to hope for that.

thanks for the offer on the parts, if I need anything I will check here first.


----------



## Chris

So which jeep website? Jeepforum? I am a member at a few of them.


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## mustanggarage

yes jeepforum.  there is a lot of good info on that site.


----------



## Chris

Yes I have been going there since 08 or so, it was owned by the same guys as this site up until recently.


----------



## havasu

Chris said:


> it was owned by the same guys as this site up until recently.



Quit trying to make me cry!


----------



## Chris

Tell me about it, I don't go to either of them much any more. Just not the same.


----------



## oldognewtrick

And I thought it was just me that felt that way...


----------



## havasu

Nope, it seems like a common sentiment.


----------



## Chris

Although we can probably do whatever we wanted, seems nobody cares where they go.


----------



## havasu

Seems to be a "Loss Leader" to me.


----------



## Chris

I give them a year before they are like pirate where anything goes and only a few are allowed.


----------



## mustanggarage

here is a link to the ebay auction site.  I am having the jeep shipped to me.  what do you think.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1990...2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&forcev4exp=true


----------



## mustanggarage

good news.  I just got an email from the shippers they are picking my jeep up on tuesday and delivering it wednesday.  theoretically at least.  can't wait.  I have already bought some stuff for it.  and today I had to get my sons old nylint rock crawler rc jeep out and play with it a bit lol.


----------



## havasu

The hardtop alone is worth ~$800 to a jeeper if you don't want/need it. Just something to consider. Did I fail to mention that I love jeeps?


----------



## mustanggarage

the winters in Iowa can be brutal.  I did not even look at any jeeps that did not have a hardtop.  you can buy a jeep with a hardtop for about the same price as one without, but as you just pointed out, it costs a lot to buy one after the fact.  I like putting a bikini top on it in the summer, but I want the hardtop for the winter.  I already bought two things for it.  I bought a new billet horn button since it is missing, and I bought a license plate prop.  the one thing I found really annoying about my old yj was holding the license plate down so you could fill it up with gas.   I bought one of these things for it early on, and knew I wanted one for the new jeep as well.  that will be the first of many modifications lol.  I will post up a bunch of pics as soon as I get it and clean off some of the road grime I am sure it will have on it.


----------



## Chris

Cant wait to see it.


----------



## havasu

Regarding the spring on the YJ license plate/fuel door, I have success by wedging the gas cap in the hinge and I don't have to deal with the problems. The TJ's fuel opening is much more user friendly though.


----------



## Chris

I do the same thing.


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> Regarding the spring on the YJ license plate/fuel door, I have success by wedging the gas cap in the hinge and I don't have to deal with the problems. The TJ's fuel opening is much more user friendly though.



yeah I did that at first too.  but with this little thing you add on it makes it much easier.  I will take some pictures when I put it on and you can see how it works.  yes there are work arounds, but this makes driving the thing more enjoyable to me.  

anyway finally got the thing today.:rockin::rockin::rockin:

now first things first I did not expect this thing to be perfect off the showroom floor, I bought it as a project.  I know I am going to have to do a lot of work to get it where I want it.  they pulled it off the trailer, first thing the battery was dead, then it would not idle at all, and basically it runs like crap lol. 
on the positive side.
 but it looks as good in person as it did in the pictures.  it is a very solid jeep, no rust in the body that I can see.  very solid floors.  it looks like someone has already swapped a weber carb on it.  it has a 4x4 posi lock but it has not been installed.  the seats are in good shape, and it has tuffy locking boxes for the center and glove box.

the front rotors and pads look brand new.  not even any rust on the hubs to speak of.

I also like the wheels.  I know that black wheels are all the rage these days but I don't care.  I prefer polished aluminum.  I would like the tires to be bigger, but really for what I am going to use it for they are fine.  and will do me good for at least the next few years.

and the bad?

I don't think the weber install was done right.  it sounds like it has a vacuum leak.  the egr valve is not blocked off and it won't idle.  probably also needs some adjusting.

a powersteering hose broke recently and was replaced but the whole engine is coated in grease.
the p.o. bed linered the floor but he was not very careful about how he did it.

overall I am pleased with it.  here are some pics.


----------



## mustanggarage

I will take some better pictures when I can get it outside.  first things first I plan to buy a few cans of degreaser and clean the engine up a bit then try to track down that vacuum leak and get my dad to adjust the carb.  both he and my Daughter are psyched.  My daughter is already laying claim to it as her winter school car lol.


----------



## Chris

Nice looking jeep! Sucks the PO didn't take a few more minutes to prep the bedliner but it still doesn't look bad.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Looks like you have a great Jeep to start with and I'm with you, I like shinny wheels over black rims.


----------



## Chris

I too like polished wheels over the black.


----------



## havasu

Please tell me he didn't "bedline" the gas pedal?


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> Please tell me he didn't "bedline" the gas pedal?



yes, and the bottoms of the rollbar and the rollbar pad, and all of the bolts and plugs in the body as well.  anyway all cosmetic stuff.  I did a little more investigating last night and found out a couple of things.  first the vacuum lines are all screwed up so I will need to go through all of them this weekend.  second the vacuum advance on the distributor is just gone.  you can see where it is supposed to be but it is gone.  third there is no fuel pressure regulator on it.  I found out the weber carb only likes about 2-3 psi of fuel pressure and the stock fuel pump puts out 6-9.  so I will need a fuel pressure regulator and probably a new distributor.  and then we will see if we can't get this baby running better.


----------



## thomask

mustanggarage said:


> yes, and the bottoms of the rollbar and the rollbar pad, and all of the bolts and plugs in the body as well.  anyway all cosmetic stuff.  I did a little more investigating last night and found out a couple of things.  first the vacuum lines are all screwed up so I will need to go through all of them this weekend.  second the vacuum advance on the distributor is just gone.  you can see where it is supposed to be but it is gone.  third there is no fuel pressure regulator on it.  I found out the weber carb only likes about 2-3 psi of fuel pressure and the stock fuel pump puts out 6-9.  so I will need a fuel pressure regulator and probably a new distributor.  and then we will see if we can't get this baby running better.



All in all I do think you got a good Jeep here.

With some of those issues with the fuel system fixed you should be running smooth. 

A good cleaning will be nice.

For sure you did good here.


----------



## havasu

Yeah, I'd take that jeep in a heartbeat. We can nit pick all day long but it looks like a fine purchase.


----------



## ME87

All in all yj's are great rigs, except for those square headlights.  Look forward to watching the upgrades.


----------



## mustanggarage

you see now i personally like the look of the square headlights.  

anyway, we got a chance to work on it a bit the last couple of days.  first I used three cans of degreaser and a lot of hot water to clean it up some.  it could still use a trip to the car wash and a nice long washing with a pressure washer but it is a lot better.  

then we put the fuel pressure regulator on and set it to 3 psi.  

next we did a nutter bypass since the carb was already swapped to a weber.
then we removed the egr valve since it had already been disconnected and made a block off plate for it.  

then we spent a lot of time trying to sort out what the heck had been done with the vacuum lines, and plugged all the spots that were not connected right.  ran a new vacuum line to the distributor area.

swapped in a rebuilt distributor that had the vacuum advance.  at this time we found out that the old distributors vacuum advance had just been broken off and the part inside the cap was just flopping around in there.  no wonder it ran like crap.  new cap and rotor,

then we tried to start it.  here is what it sounded like on the first attempt.





set the timing to 8 degrees btdc, awesome.  it now runs and idles pretty darned good.  then we put a new set of plugs in and did some adjusting of the carb.  and took it for the first test drive.  drove all the way across town. 

then we discovered several other things lol.  first the front end needs some serious work.  the steering box is really loose, we will try to tighten it but will most likely end up swapping it at some point.

second the water temp gauge doesn't work.  

third the heater never did heat up, and the fan would not shut off.

when  we got back to the shop we let it run for a while while we used an infrared thermometer to measure temps at the intake manifold and the hoses and found that the engine was not getting up to temp.  we also at about the same time checked out under the dash to be sure there was not a vacuum activated water shut off.  there wasn't.

so we figured the thermostat must be stuck open. drained all the nasty rusty disgusting water out and found that was not the case.  there was no thermostat at all.  so we went and got a new 190 degree thermostat and I cleaned up the thermostat housing.  then My Dad wasn't feeling well so he went home.  I then did some more work under the dash.  I figured out that there was a spring that was dislodged in the switch assembly and it had gotten wedged in between the contacts that were supposed to shut off the fan.  got that fixed.  then I quit for the night also.  I still need to figure out what is wrong with the temp sender. when dad comes back tomorrow we will ground out the sending unit wire and see if the gauge moves. 
and put the new thermostat in and fill it back up.  oh btw I also blew through the heater hose and water moved through it so I know it is not blocked.  I should probably flush that with water tomorrow before I put it all back together.


anyway the thing is coming together pretty good so far.


----------



## mustanggarage

ok time for an update.  no pictures today sorry, I loaned my camera to my oldest daughter and did not have it this weekend, but I did get a quite a bit done this weekend although when I list it it seems like I should have accomplished a lot more given the amount of time I worked on it.  it seems like whatever I do takes about three times longer than it should lol.

anyway we put the new thermostat in and discovered that the jeep would get up to temp and now the temp gauge is working just fine.  however the heater still didn't work, and when we took it for a drive to test it I discovered that most of the bulbs in the instruments were not working.  also the stereo did not fit right and was not working right.  

I tried tightening up the steering gear and it helped enough to discover that there was a tie rod end that was shot.  then I discovered that the steering gear was leaking from the top.  

so I ordered a rebuilt power steering gear, new hoses, and a new tie rod end.  they should be here tomorrow.

then, I pulled the heater plenum and cleaned all the old bedliner off it, then I swapped in an upgraded blower motor and a new heater core.  new heater hoses, painted the heater plenum  and reinstalled it.  I also bead blasted the battery tray and powder coated it black.  reinstalled everything and the heater now blows hot woo hoo.  it shuts off like it is supposed to and the defroster and heater controls work right.  I also fixed or replaced the gauge lights.

Then we installed the posilock cable to eliminate the vacuum disconnect.  I made a bracked out of some angle iron and powdercoated it.  the bracket that comes with it is very weak and easily bent up.  mine isn't.

then my daughter wanted to help swap the stereo out of the cherokee and that took quite a while because the previous owner of the wrangler just cut the wires to install the current radio so I hacked the connector and wires from the cherokee and used it in the wrangler so now the radio is removable by just disconnecting the connector like it should be.  

today we replaced the u joint in the front axle, and removed the steering gear so I can take it in tomorrow to exchange it for a rebuilt unit.  I borrowed a pitman arm puller from o'reillys that is one tool I have never needed before.  if I ever need it again I will buy it.  I also ordered new powersteering hoses and a replacement tie rod end because most of the play in the steering was due to a warn out tie rod end.

once I get the new steering gear in and set the toe in, I need to patch a couple holes in the exhaust temporarily until I save the money for a new exhaust, but basically once the gear is in place the thing is pretty much road worthy.  just need to figure out what is wrong with the horn before I let my daughter drive it.  

then I can start doing some of the fun stuff.


between figuring out what I wanted to do and ordering parts and doing everything a couple of times and basically just running in circles that took me all weekend.


----------



## Chris

Nice to hear some life is being brought back to a YJ. I am the same way with wanting everything working properly espesially before others drive it. But why did you do the posiloc? What was wrong with the vacuum system?


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> Nice to hear some life is being brought back to a YJ. I am the same way with wanting everything working properly espesially before others drive it. But why did you do the posiloc? What was wrong with the vacuum system?



all of the vacuum lines were cut off and most of the system was just gone.  also the posi lock came in a box in the jeep when I bought it.  they had obviously planned to do the conversion but did not get around to it.  also I had a vacuum motor go out of my jeep in utah at an inconvenient time once and swapped to the posi lock system and found it to be a simple and basically fool proof fix.  I considered swapping in an axle from the cherokee and just putting in the seals and getting rid of the axle disconnect all together, but since this jeep will probably not be going off road  much in the near future I felt this was a better, simpler, and since I already had it, cheaper option.


----------



## Chris

I believe you can toss in a TJ axle shaft on that side and get rid of it that way as well. I am just a little biased on keeping a good system. People knock it all the time but in reality it is 20 someodd years old and in most cases just now finally starting to fail so in my book it is a good system that has worked well for a long time but in your case with everything cut up it will be easier to toss on the posi.


----------



## mustanggarage

steering gear and tie rod end came in today but not the hose, so I will try to get it back together tomorrow.  but I have not started my diesel truck in a few weeks and when I tried yesterday I saw that the block heater cord burned out again. so it wouldn't start and I ran the battery down.  so I pulled it in the shop with my 4wheeler, let it warm up and put the battery charger on it for a couple hours and got it running.  let it fully charge up, and I will keep it in the shop until I get around to fixing the block heater.  it is always something lol.


----------



## Chris

Is yours a super duty with the 6.0? Mine is funny whenever I get an oil change it won't like to start without being plugged in for a week or two but when my oil get about 1500 miles on it it starts up fine. Let it sit a couple weeks it will take a couple batteries to get it going. If I plug it in it fire right up everytime.


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> Is yours a super duty with the 6.0? Mine is funny whenever I get an oil change it won't like to start without being plugged in for a week or two but when my oil get about 1500 miles on it it starts up fine. Let it sit a couple weeks it will take a couple batteries to get it going. If I plug it in it fire right up everytime.



yes mine is the 6.0 superduty.  I really like the truck except in the winter. this is my first diesel so I guess a lot of it is just getting used to it.  the main problem is that my gas truck is so much fun to drive and it is nice in the winter because it starts easier doesn't take anti gel and it heats up faster.  so my diesel tends to sit for a while and the battery got a bit to low before I tried to start it.  and since it has the dual batteries it doesn't charge very well when the batteries are cold.  anyway I got it started and parked it in the garage last night.  I still have the jeep on the lift, so I just lifted it up high and I can park my gas truck under it.  I love my lift.:rockin::rockin:


----------



## Chris

I have the 6.0 and the 7.3 and the 7.3 never has a problem starting no matter how long it sits or how cold it gets. the 6.0 is a *****. My 6.0 has 365,000 miles on it and my 7.3 has 310,000 miles so I kinda fihure they will start to have issues now.


----------



## mustanggarage

yeah but at 365,000 miles that truck has earned its keep in my book lol.  when I bought mine I really hesitated because I had heard so many bad things about the 6.0.  I looked at dodges and chevys but I just didn't like them.  then I found this one, it was 2 years old, a lariat edition with the integrated trailer brakes and towing package.  it had under 30,000 miles on it and I got it with the 200,000 mile drivetrain extended warranty, and I got it for 35,000.  I really needed a 3/4 ton to pull my 22 foot haulmark out to Reno and I wanted a diesel for it so it seemed perfect.  It will be paid off in a couple months and I have not had any major problems with it knock on wood.  so it has been a good truck for me.  and it is the most luxurious truck I have ever had.  it still has under 100,000 miles on it so it is barely broken in, so I hope to keep it for another 5 years at least.


----------



## Chris

It will probably last you as long as you want to keep it. Mine is the 03 Lariat and even being old and broken in it is still very comfortable to drive and I wouldn't hesitate to go cross country in it one bit. I want to get at least 500,000 miles out of her before I get a new one.


----------



## mustanggarage

ok.  I have accomplished a few things in the last couple of days.  I fixed the turn signal indicator lamps.  fixed the horn.  it turns out that the prior owner used a steering wheel that was not designed to work with the installation kit he used.  and the horn button I bought was not compatible with it either, so I had to buy a new steering wheel, but it is all working properly now.  I also replaced the turn signal cancel cam.  on mustangs that is easy but on this jeep it has a lock ring in the column for theft prevention as you probably know.  they recommend a special spring compressor tool which I do not have, so I made one out of a couple bolts and an old piece of angle iron left over from my garage door install.  





it worked pretty well.  now the turn signals cancel properly.  I have built mustangs for too long I guess.  I can't stand to look at ugly rusted components. I need a new cap for my master cylinder as the one I have is rusted and pitted terribly.  I could only find them sold with the master cylinder at the local parts store so I took this one off and sanded it down a bit and powder coated it.  no it does not look new but it looks better.  I also cleaned up a ton of grime under the hood.











installed the refueling assistang.








I ordered the parts I need for the exhaust, that should be here monday.

and I cleaned the bedliner off the brake and gas pedals.


now I am stuck on a stupid little problem that should be easy but isn't. I have searched the jeep forum and google and my factory service manual and could not find the answer so I have to stop and ask for directions.

 since I am going to let my teenage daughter drive this jeep to school I need to fix a few things that are not normally a big deal. namely the gear shift position indicator is broken.

I have repaired the plastic housing with j-b weld and I will repaint it tonight. I ordered a replacement needle for the PRND21 indicator so I can get that fixed. I have fixed all the rest of the lights, but I can't figure out how to remove that stupid little light in the shift indicator housing. I thought it just pulled out, so I tried that and if it does it is stuck. I did not want to break it off in there so I decided I would see if anyone has any help.

here are a couple pics of the stupid little bugger.  any ideas?


----------



## thomask

"they recommend a special spring compressor tool which I do not have, so I made one out of a couple bolts and an old piece of angle iron left over from my garage door install" 

Nlce work there Mustanggarage on that special tool.  Be proud of your invention! 

On that indicator light is it the bulb or the entire unit you are having a fit with? I have had same situation getting bulbs out of my 85 CJ 7. Maybe a little battery cleaner just a drop or two will free up any corrosion in the socket and let that bulb loose?


----------



## oldognewtrick

Don't remove to much of that grime under the hood, that is Jeeps answer for rust prevention...


----------



## thomask

oldognewtrick said:


> Don't remove to much of that grime under the hood, that is Jeeps answer for rust prevention...



Wouldn't that be a "new trick for an old dog?"


----------



## oldognewtrick

thomask said:


> Wouldn't that be a "new trick for an old dog?"



Yeah, something like that


----------



## mustanggarage

thomask said:


> "they recommend a special spring compressor tool which I do not have, so I made one out of a couple bolts and an old piece of angle iron left over from my garage door install"
> 
> Nlce work there Mustanggarage on that special tool.  Be proud of your invention!
> 
> On that indicator light is it the bulb or the entire unit you are having a fit with? I have had same situation getting bulbs out of my 85 CJ 7. Maybe a little battery cleaner just a drop or two will free up any corrosion in the socket and let that bulb loose?



Yeah just the bulb.  I don't know how it is supposed to come out.  Does it push in and twist? Or just pull out or does the whole thing with the wires need changed?  I will try the battery cleaner tomorrow.  But if anyone knows the proper way to get it out so I at least know how it is supposed to come out it would help a lot.


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> Don't remove to much of that grime under the hood, that is Jeeps answer for rust prevention...


 good one


----------



## oldognewtrick

How are you doing the powder coating and what equipement do you have, if you don't mind me asking. I have some small things I'd like to get powder coated.


----------



## mustanggarage

I have my little eastwood hotcoat powdercoating kit.  I seriously love this little thing.  when I bought it my Dad laughed.  he thought it would not work worth a darn.  but it really does.  I have coated tons of stuff and it has held up really well.  a friend of mine was getting a new stove so he gave me his old one, and I put it in one corner of my shop.





and for the larger items I bought one of there small infra red heat lamps.  

















I have even mixed up custom colors by just mixing the powders till I had it close to what I wanted.  I coated my dads intake on his mustang and made a custom metal magnetic bulletin board for my daughter out of mettalic teal  by mixing a bunch of colors.






it is an amazingly versatile tool.  I especially love it because I can coat something, let it cure for 20 minutes in the oven,  let it cool to touch in another 20 minutes or so, and I can install it.  I don't have to wait for hours for the paint to cure.


----------



## mustanggarage

well just for completeness I will post my progress. yes the bulb is supposed to just pull out. it takes essentially the same bulb as the turn signal indicators. (at least that is what I used and it worked.) mine was so corroded it would not come out. I ended up shattering the bulb and the rest of it still would not come out so I cut the two wires and pulled the whole thing out where I could work on it. with some very fine o-ring picks, some battery cleaner and time I managed to get the old bulb out without destroying the small electrodes. then I put in a new bulb and tested it and amazingly it still worked so I soldered the wires back together and I am up and running.

one more minor victory on the path to getting this jeep in shape for my daughter.


----------



## Chris

Thats awesome, I would love to be able to powder coat at home.


----------



## MarkWood

thats some fine lookin powder coating work!I have an oven in my Garage that I use to preheat aluminum parts before welding and I also used it to heat tires when I was racing karts. So I have a way to cook the powder coated parts can you recommend a good powder coating system that wont break the bank?


----------



## mustanggarage

I have only used the Eastwood kit and it has worked well for me.  This is the kit I bought.  http://www.eastwood.com/powder-gun-promo-kit.html

The biggest key is that it takes very little air to make it work.  You can just about blow through the hose lol. But too much air will blow the powder off what you are trying to coat. You only need about 10 psi


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> Thats awesome, I would love to be able to powder coat at home.



let me tell you, it is way easier to get good results with powdercoating than it is to try to make something look good with spray paint.  there is no worry about runs, or the spray paint coming out in globs.  it goes on smooth and looks good everytime.  just like with everything prep is critical but with powder if you strip it to bare metal you don't have to worry about primer or anything.  it is easy.  and for 150.00 bucks with 4 8 oz bottles of powder it is really not very expensive.  that kit includes the how to powdercoat book, the silicone plugs and high temp masking tape as well as the stainless steel wire for hanging the parts.  all you need is an oven to do small parts.  I have done timing covers, valve covers.  the radiator hold downs in my 89 mustang.  tie rod adjusters.  tons of stuff in just a regular oven.  when I bought my kit they had a special on the i.r. lamp and I bought the kit because I wanted to powdercoat my 9 inch differential housing.  so I bought that lamp.  I don't use it very often but it does add a lot of flexibility to what you can coat.  but if you have an oven already that eastwood kit is really cheap and you will be amazed the first time you use it.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Hows the Jeep coming along, any updates?


----------



## mustanggarage

I took it for a drive and found out the 4wd was not working.  I thought at first there was a problem in the transfer case.  I decided to pull the transfer case.  once I got it out I found out that it was ok.  the chain and everything worked but apparently the problem was in the linkage.  once we got it all back in and readjusted the linkage it is working.  I have everything working now.  the jeep starts great runs fine.  all the lights work.  all the components work.  So I licensed it and we have been driving it.  my daughter loves it.  we need to do a lot of things like pulling the top and putting new weather stripping on it.  I plan on doing some upgrades this summer.  but it is a pretty nice little rig now.


----------



## mustanggarage

well sadly I am afraid not much is going to be happening in the doghouse for a while.  my wife has declared that this year we are finally going to remodel the kitchen.  so I tore into that today.  have about half the cabinets torn out and started knocking down one wall that we are going to move back a ways to move the dining room down a couple feet.  it should be interesting but it is going to take most of my play money for a while. 
 fortunately I negotiated a somewhat unique arrangement with my employer a few years ago.  when I renegotiated my contract I got a pretty significant salary boost.  however since at the time I was doing ok I asked them to give me the increase in a lump sum payment every march.  so this way I always have money if I have to pay in for taxes and it gives me some play money every spring for projects.  unfortunately for the doghouse all my play money is going in to new cabinets this year.  oh well once I get this done I should be able to use that for a few years and say but honey we redid the kitchen for you and that way I can buy that new multiport fuel injections system for the jeep. it may take a while but I will get it.  wish me luck.  this kitchen remodel is blossoming into a much more expensive proposition than I had planned lol.


----------



## thomask

mustanggarage:  I have that same deal pending remodel of the house. Best of luck and let us see that remodel in pics as a FYI.


----------



## mustanggarage

there is a sale going on for the rapid air tubing that I used in my garage.  it is going for 9.99 for 100 feet.  so I bought 2 of them plus some other things.  I am going to run it over to the south wall and loop it back around the front of the shop so that I can add some drops near the doors.  I am also going to use some of the old cabinets and lumber from the kitchen to finish a bit more of the south wall.  and my power hoist a top is going to be delivered tomorrow. so I am getting a bit done in my shop while I am waiting on the electrician.  yesterday I tore into the lincoln and pulled the blend door actuator motor out.  what a pain in the butt that job was.


----------



## thomask

That sounds like a plan there on adding more air and storage in the garage.  Give us a picture of the cabinets in the "before" installation mode. More folks should hunt down recycled cabinets for great garage storage. It sure cuts down on clutter and a spot for everything saves lots of time, something they are not making anymore.

Once I get my hands dirty and the tools out I can really get to work, you are multi tasking projects in the kitchen and the doghouse for sure there Mustanggarage!


----------



## mustanggarage

well these are pretty ugly cabinets, that is why we are removing them from the house.  I went ahead and hung them the other day.  I am still deciding how I want to finish that area.  I want to build an area to store my big fan and air conditioner in the winter.  I also bought a big battery charger with a 200 amp boost from harbor freight yesterday that I want to put there.  since I still need to park in front of this space I will probably just build an open area there that will allow me to store these things but be recessed into the wall a bit to make a couple inches more space.  I will not put doors on it because with a car parked there that will be inconvenient.  I also should build a space for my hydraulic press when I am not needing it.  anyway I am going to think about it a while before I finalize the plan.  then I will just stick it together.  it likely won't look great but hopefully it won't look terrible.


----------



## thomask

What is most important is does it do what you need it to do Mustanggarage.

Organized and useful is what is pretty IMO, whether the stuff matches is optional.


----------



## mustanggarage

here is what I have done so far.  I had a bit of a challenge lifting those into place myself.  they are heavy lol.  anyway I have them mounted.  I intend to build some "boxes down below so that I can recess the stuff I want to store into the wall space a bit.  the boxes obviously need backs because that insulation is torn easily that is one of the reasons for my continuing saga of walling up the lower part of the shop.  above that cross beam it is just the insulation but it is unlikely to get torn up there.  







of note there is a 4 foot flourescent light attached to the bottom of the cabinet as this cabinet was over our peninsula in the kitchen so I think I will make a narrow bench top there because finding flat space to set stuff is always a premium lol.


----------



## thomask

This is making a great work area. If I know you I would think you are contemplating some of that white pegboard under the cabinets and above your bench would be a good spot for tools you need easy access and spot to work off of MG.


----------



## mustanggarage

thomask said:


> This is making a great work area. If I know you I would think you are contemplating some of that white pegboard under the cabinets and above your bench would be a good spot for tools you need easy access and spot to work off of MG.



as a matter of fact I have a nice chunk of that left over up on my loft, and that is exactly what I was thinking.:rockin:


----------



## mustanggarage

Well I got a couple things done this weekend.  I got the blend door actuator motor swapped on my nieces lincoln.  however there is another little plastic lever that was broken that I had to find.  the 98 lincoln mark viii is a really cool car but they were only made 2 years and there are a lot of unique parts for it so finding parts is a pain, I did get the new part in today so hopefully tonight I can button it up.  

I also swapped the mirrors on my jeep.  I never liked the mirrors on it, and besides the bolts were all rusted and looked terrible.  someone who will remain nameless said they needed to be thrown away because they were obviously beyond saving so I had to show him.  






30 seconds with the wire wheel on my grinder and he could not believe they looked almost new.  then I powdercoated them black to prevent them from rusting again.  it is amazing to me how people think that just because something is a bit rusty or old that it can't be fixed.

My daughter is the opposite.  when we bought the jeep and started cataloging all the things that needed fixed she just said " but you can fix it right Dad"  It made me proud.

then I also got my power hoist a top installed.  it is ready to pull the top off the jeep so I can get in there and get some work done on it as soon as I finish the lincoln and get it out of the way.






this is a bad picture I will get some better ones as soon as I find my camera.  I took it in the house to take some kitchen pictures and it is now hiding from me.


----------



## Chris

Repairing things is becoming a lost art. Now days we as a society like to replace every so often and we wonder why we are in debt and our stuff we buy is junk. The years of buying a quality product that will last a lifetime are over.


----------



## mustanggarage

Ok.  Last night I got the lincoln back together for my niece and the heater and everything is working properly.  what a pain.  these cars are very dificult to find parts for I looked for weeks to find the stupid little plastic arm I needed to get this fixed.  but my niece is coming home from college friday so she will need her car.  and now I can move it out and bring in my convertible to get started on it again soon.  but in the meantime I am going to try to do some work to the 67 before my daughter gets her school permit in june and before the first car show.  I don't know what all I am going to do to the trunk but I want to do something a little bizarre.  I have a couple linear actuators that are just sitting in the back of my pickup I would like to do something with them.  what to do, what to do?


----------



## mustanggarage

we pulled the engine from the cherokee.  and found a problem that explained why it was not running well.  the intake valve on number one cylinder had a collapsed lifter.  I thought at first that the cam had wiped a lobe since we had such a hard time getting it started.  the starter also had a broken housing so I get to replace the flex plate as well, if the one from the 4.2 engine won't work.  I don't know if it will, I have to do some checking.






I am going to keep the trans and transfercase for now but once I swap the engines I am going to junk the cherokee.  too much rust to justify repairing.


----------



## Chris

If you were closer it would be nice to get some of the parts for my cherokee build.


----------



## mustanggarage

yeah there are lots of good parts on there I just don't feel like taking the time to strip it and sell it piecemeal, so I will take it to the salvage yard and let them do it.


----------



## mustanggarage

I had been hearing a really bad sounding noise that I thought was from the differential on my 89 convertible so we pulled the cover and the axles last night and it turns out it was a bad wheel bearing.  It was strange though because it only made the noise when you were going slow and turning.  anyway.  put in new wheel bearings and rear shocks since the ones that were on were leaking.  and now it no longer is making the noise.  next plan is to paint that cervinis hood I bought for it.  if the tile takes much longer I may get that done next week.


----------



## mustanggarage

well I have not gotten around to painting the hood yet, but I did decide to replace the carpet. since the top was leaking before we got it, it had gotten wet and smelled pretty bad.  I let it air out and it did not bother me too much but my wife couldn't stand it.  and it looked pretty bad.  I was hesitant to do it when I did the upholstery because pulling that center console is a pain.  well I decided to get it done.  so I pulled the console and the carpet.  the console was looking pretty scuffed up in places so I decided since the rest of the interior is two tone black and grey I would do the same with the console.  I painted it half black and kept the upper half grey.  I have a new shifter bezel coming but it is not here yet.  then I swapped in the new auto custom carpet.  this is a lot harder on this car than it is in a 65 or 67 mustang.  but I got it done.  I also fixed the speaker wiring and replaced the grey boots for the seat belts with black ones.  I ordered a new set of 5.0 floor mats and they are not here yet either.  I then replaced the sill plates with black plates that say mustang.  I did not take any progress pics because it looked so crappy during the install lol.  it turned out really well though.  I took it for the first shake down cruise tonight and stopped off at the gas station for a soda and this guy starts ogling the car telling me how nice he thought it was.  

you have to remember when I got this car I really did not care much for the fox mustangs but I am growing to like this car a lot.  I still have a lot of little things I want to do to it but the list is shrinking.


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## mustanggarage

ok here are a few before pictures.


----------



## mustanggarage

during the interior restoration.





after the upholstery and carpet, floor mats.  etc.









center console





with the boot on.


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## mustanggarage

I have gotten a couple other things done while we have been working on the kitchen.  I have the cervinis hood sanded and primered.





I hope to get it painted tomorrow.  if I can get out of the kitchen for a while.  I suck at painting so it will probably take a lot longer than it should though lol.

also I have to eat some crow.  on my daughters mustang I bought this really gorgeous polished aluminum saginaw powersteering pump that matched her march serpentine belt setup.



I had read that the total control rack really doesn't like anything but the krc pump that total control sells.  it says you can use them but that it is not really recommended.  well the krc pump is about twice the cost of the saginaw pump and I did not like the look of it as well so I decided to buy this one.  well after driving the car for a few months now and now that is getting hot out the powersteering pump has been making a lot of noise and a couple weeks ago my daughter thought she had blown the car up because she said it kept wanting to die and it was steaming up and the temp gauge went to 250.  when I looked it over there was powersteering fluid spewed out of the top of the pump and it was smoking on the header.  no antifreeze anywhere and the radiator was full when I started it, the temp gauge stayed right at 200 which is where it runs that correlates with about 180 on my i.r. temp gun, so I didn't think anything really was wrong with the engine.  so I bit the bullet and bought the krc pump.  I really did not want to spend that kind of money on this car right now but I want it to be well debugged by the time school starts so I bought it and swapped it in yesterday.  of course it took lots of tweaking to make it all work but it is in.





not quite as pretty or clean of a setup, but it is in and it works.  no more howling powersteering, I know the pump and the rack will work well together, it is the same setup I have in my car.  I drove the car for about a half hour yesterday and it worked great.  I also drove it to work today and it worked great.  I am going to drive it for a while and debug it so hopefully I will get all the little quirks worked out of it before school starts.


----------



## mustanggarage

I finally got around to painting the new hood.  I painted it and got a lot of orange peel in it again, so I took it over to custom body and sound here in town that I have worked with a lot over the years and asked them to help me wet sand it out.  they did and then clear coated it.  it turned out pretty well.  CW says I need to wait a bit and then color sand it, but the rest of the car has far from perfect paint so I think I will just leave it alone until I paint the whole thing.  I also took a dent out of the drivers side door and repainted it.  I messed it up at first but talking with CW I discovered the main thing I was doing wrong was not putting the first coat down heavy enough, so I was putting it on too dry I guess.  anyway the second time I put it on heavier and it turned out pretty well.  not perfect but again pretty adequate.  I am pretty happy with the appearance overall.  I am going to have a vinyl decal made to put on the fake opening to look like the mesh that goes in some scoops.  I don't want to cut it out and make it functional for several reasons.  the biggest is the dirt road I live on it will just make keeping the engine clean that much harder.  so anyway this is how it looks currently.


----------



## Chris

Looks good, I'd drive it.


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## mustanggarage

I got the decal installed in the hood last night.  also the drivers side taillight had a big crack in it so I bought some nice stock style replacement lights to go in it.  I will take some pics this weekend.  since I have done so much work to it I decided to show it off a bit.  yes it is still a daily driver but we have a nice little car show here in town every year so I am going to put it in and see how it does.  I will park it next to the 65 and my daughters 67.

I also bought a bunch of weatherstripping for the jeep hardtop and a new stereo for it.  once all the parts get in I plan to restore that top.  I am going to paint it black instead of tan for two reasons.  first my daughter really wants it to be black, and second black is a lot easier to find to touch up spots as scratches happen or as it fades over time.  so I will post some progress pics as we tear into it.  I plan to start it after our barbeque this weekend.


----------



## mustanggarage

here are a couple new pics.


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## mustanggarage

We had a good time at Atlanticfest car show.  it was a great show with the most cars we have ever had.  I did not take too many pictures but here a couple.









and here is my Daughter with her first place trophy in the teen class.


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## mustanggarage

mustanggarage stable at the local car show


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## Chris

Look'n good.


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## mustanggarage

I have been working pretty hard on the jeep top in my copious free time this weekend lol. anyway this is what I have accomplished.

first I spent a lot of time on the inside with a scotch brite and wax and grease remover. then I masked the whole thing off, and painted the inside bright white. then I set it down on some buckets to work on the outside.











then I read on jeep forum that many people had successfully used a roller to paint the top. I was unsure about that but I decided to give it a try. we decided to use semigloss black paint. first because that is what my daughter wanted and second because I thought it would be easier to touch up later. anyway...















then I lifted it up again and put the new window trim and seals in place, and spent several hours scraping 2 layers of window tint off the windows. I would like to re-tint it at some point but the old stuff had to go as it was peeling off and looked like crap.




I think it looks pretty good.

now I have to do something that I am of two minds about. I have decided that I am going to put carpet in there. flameon I like the fact that the jeep is bed lined, however last winter the floor was very cold and it has lots of drain holes in it. I decided the best way to "winterize" the inside a bit more, besides just fixing the weatherstripping, was to carpet it. I will have to keep a close eye on it to make sure the carpet is not getting and staying wet. I know it is not an ideal situation and will likely get me flamed, but as I said the main purpose in this jeep is be a cold weather rig. so I will have to make compromises on what I would like to do. anyway the carpet is bought and is in the process of being shipped. it should be here soon. I am going to wait to put the top on until after I get the carpet in to make it a bit easier to work on it.


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## mustanggarage

yesterday I got quite a bit done.  I took the bikini top off and pulled the seats and center console.  I had to have my daughter help me with the center console.  someone had to hold the wrench on the underside after all lol.






then I took the rear view mirror off and put one in from a 99 mustang convertible.  it has the built in maplights and surprisingly it slipped right onto the original mounting bracket.  then I ran the wires down behind the weatherstripping and plugged into an add a circuit in the fuse box.






yes the windshield is dirty but its a jeep for crying out loud lol.

then I started putting the carpet in.  I want to be able to pull it out and replace it easily when it gets wet or stained so I did not use any adhesive.  it is just held in by bolts and a few screws.

btw here is a little tip I like to use when I am installing auto carpet.  should anyone decide they want to put carpet in some where.

I have an old electrical tester that I broke years ago but it works great for this.  if you can find the hole from the top just poke it through the carpet.  or you can poke it up through the carpet from the other side.  either way once the probe is poked through the hole this is for one of the seatbelt mounting tabs.





then take your soldering gun and it will melt right down along the probe and into the hole.  if you poked it through from the bottom it will fall out or just pull it out from the top.  then the soldering gun will melt the carpet back to the edges of the hole, you can move the gun around a bit to make the hole bigger.  once you are done you have a hole that is melted just like you would do with the cut end of a nylon rope.  it won't fray or pull the strands of the carpet like using a drill or hole saw.







ok so as I was installing the carpet I found some little things that needed to be addressed.  there were some small parts that had surface rust, or just looked bad.  like the tailgate latch.





so a little time with a wire wheel and my little scotch brite pad on my air sander.





and a little time with my eastwood powder coater.






a little wire wheeling, sanding and some chassis black.





then my wife bought me these little LED lights for my birthday and I did not really know what to do with them but I decided to put them on my center console.  they stick on and are out of the way.  I decided to just wire them into my light circuit so they come on whenever I turn on the lights.
to Illuminate the Dew lol.


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## mustanggarage

then I finished installing the carpet, fixed and reinstalled the seats and center console, as well as washing and reinstalling the seatbelts.









then I put new weatherstripping on the top and put it back on.






then I replaced the door weatherstripping.  I should note I also put new weatherstripping under the shell.  so hopefully we are all sealed up and ready for winter.  where is that fingers crossed icon I need again lol.


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## Chris

Looks great! I need to give my jeep some love and prep it for winter.


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## mustanggarage

since the conversion to fuel injection I have been driving the jeep a lot. it is running well It has a very slight stumble at 2500 rpm, but otherwise is very smooth. I am going to have the codes read tomorrow. I used the check engine blinking light thing and decided it was too annoying. I know someone who has a code reader that will work though. anyway, it is only a slight stumble and not really bothersome for driveability.

however while I have been driving it I fixed a few other little things.
first the turn signal would not cancel when you turn left.

so I pulled the steering wheel. frequently you will see people say you need special tools to fix this little annoyance but you really don't. when I take the steering wheel off I almost never use a steering wheel puller. I loosen the nut until it is even with the top of the threads of the shaft. then pull up on the steering wheel with one hand and whack the nut sharply with a ball peen hammer. it nearly always pops off with just a whack or two. then finish removing it.

next remove the little plastic cover under the wheel by prying gentle with a screw driver.

then you have to remove the locking ring. this usually requires a special tool. I do not have that tool, but it is a very simple thing to accomplish.
I used an old piece of angle iron and two bolts, and a washer. once it is adjusted you just tighten the bolt on the shaft and it compresses the ring very easily.







then using an o-ring pick and a small screwdriver carefully work the lock ring out of the groove. then remove the ring.

this is what you will see then.




as you can see there is a small spring in the right upper side. there is not one on the other side. this is how it should look.





I have been told you can buy the spring separately but since sometimes there is a broken arm or the cancelling cam can be broken so I just bought the whole switch. it cost 23.00 at o'reillys. the spring would be a lot cheaper. since all that was wrong with it is the spring I decided to save the switch for the next time it brakes and just swap in the spring. also since this was the first time I had done this repair I wanted the complete switch so I could compare to see what was broken. anyway once I discovered what was wrong I tried to swap the spring in, but it would not slide into the small hole. on the new switch you can see there is a slot to make replacing it easier. so I used a small drill bit to slightly enlarge the hole. then the spring slid in without difficulty. then reassemble in reverse. piece of cake.

seriously I have been annoyed by this for months. and it was a very easy repair, it took less than an hour.

tonight I had been bugged by the fact that the outside lock cylinder on the passenger side was hanging out of the hole. obviously the retaining spring was missing.

so I took the door apart. I had some left over from my mustang restoration that I hoped I could use but no such luck. I was getting ready to just put the door panel back on when I decided to check the bottom of the door to see if perhaps it had just fallen off. to my surprise I found it. it was not broken so I lubed everything up and reinstalled it. I did not take any pictures, but it wasn't bad. I was able to maneuver it in place behind the window regulator rail and lock it in place by driving it in place with a screwdriver.


I also installed an optima red top battery today.






I took the jeep through the automatic car wash the other day just to see where all the leaks could be found lol. anyway the top sealed really well actually but the drivers wing window leaked like a sieve. it also has a really ugly rusted latch. so I found a used one on ebay and it should be here soon so that will be my next task. I plan to gather up some parts. I think I will see about replacing the door panels and the outside door latches at the same time.


----------



## Chris

I am jealous of your work, you make me want to go out and finally do some much needed repairs to mine. I wheel the piss out of it then it sits halfway broken for a few months. I need to drive it more on the road I guess.


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## mustanggarage

sadly I don't get to wheel mine much.  with my job I have to be within 30 minutes of work pretty much all the time so I don't get much time to play with my stuff.  I really like fixing things though.  my dad and I were talking the other day and I told him I need to get the 65 out and drive it a bit one of these days.  I always like to drive whatever I am working on at the time.  I have a really nice mustang.  I have 2 trucks one of them is a 2006 with leather seats and all the bells and whistles.  and I usually drive either my convertible or the jeep.  this winter I will drive my 99 truck mostly.  but sadly most of my driving is just to and from work which is about 15 minutes from my house.  so I spend a lot more time working on stuff than I do actually driving it.


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## Chris

I have three trucks and two jeeps and drive the 03 F250 with 370,000 miles on it. I drive several hours a day each way to work.


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## mustanggarage

that would be a pain to have to spend that much time just getting to and from work.  it would really cut into your tinkering time.

on another note.  I did tackle a small but annoying problem today.  the washer hose on my hardtop popped off again.  I think that something is missing  I tried to find out what it is supposed to look like but I was not successful.  mine has a small button on the hardtop then a piece of washer fluid line that was just capped off when I got it.  i tried to connect it to the little button there but it would not stay.  so today I decided to fix it another way.   

so first thing I drilled out the four rivets holding the plate in place and removed it and the connectors.  this is what it looked like.






so I cleaned it up, sanded it smooth with my belt sander and powdercoated it white.





then I bought a small double ended plastic hose barb.




drilled a hole through the little button just large enough to barely fit the hose barb.  then I ground the little wings on the hose barb down so they will fit into the button.




and re installed it.  I zip tied the inside because I wanted to make sure it did not come off in there.  I pulled on it pretty hard to be sure it would not come off by accident.





then pop riveted it back in place.









it fits good and tight now and I can always zip tie the outside if it ever does come off.  then I found that the prior owner had wired the switch backward so that both the washer and wiper came on when you turned the switch on and only the washer when you hit the momentary switch.  so I pulled the wires out of the connector carefully and rewired it correctly.  I need to buy a new switch though because this one is not in very good condition.

anyway another installment of fixing niggling little details that probably would not bother real jeepers but bug the heck out of me lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

right now I am trying to figure out what my next project is going to be.  I am tapped out as far as funds are concerned.  I need to save up some money for christmas.  we decided this year since my kids are older now, 15,17,20  and they really don't need anything this year.  and we tend to buy them a lot of stuff at christmas that they rarely ever use, we decided this year instead of buying a lot of stuff we would take a trip instead.  just spend some time together as a family.  we are going to sedona.  I know it probably won't be much warmer there than it is here, but we will see. 

 anyway I don't really have a project right now, and I got an email from the mustang car club I belong to in omaha about a cruise that is being put on jointly between our club and the classic mopar club.  it is going on tomorrow so I decided since I don't have to work this weekend it would be a great opportunity to get the stang out.  I have not hardly driven it at all this year.  so I took it for a nice long drive today to make sure there weren't any issues that needed sorting, tightened up the header bolts. (dang things are always trying to loosen up on me )  

then I cleaned it up for tomorrow.  this is another one of those I love my shop moments.

I like to pull my car into what I call the lift bay and park it behind the lift.  I have enough space to work completely around it without the lift interfering.  so I blew it off with compressed air.  then used the california duster to get the rest of the dust off, then on the top of the car I used the mequires quick detailer and a clay bar, then machine polish and my electric polisher.  I did the top, the hood and trunk lid.  then push it forward, put it up on the lift, raise it up to a nice working height and do the sides.  it is so much easier that way.  I am getting really spoiled in my old age.  then I used my drill and power metal polish with a powerball mini and polished up the wheels.  greased the front end while I had it up there, checked out the front suspension and looked for any leaks.  checked the exhaust collector bolts and everything is hunky dory for tomorrow.











all done and ready for tomorrow.


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## havasu

Damn, that Stang is beautiful.


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## oldognewtrick

havasu said:


> Damn, that Stang is* beautiful*.



Yep, only thing that would make it look better is if it were parked in my garage...


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## mustanggarage

yeah I like the old stang.  it is a blast to drive. it is showing it's age nowadays though.  it looks good from a short distance, and as a driver it is still pretty nice but when I show it, you start to notice all the little rock chips, and the imperfectly aligned panels and things.  it is a fun car to drive and I like to show it off but some day I am going to tear it down again and re do it.  I think the next thing I am going to do is re wire it.  I have been plagued with minor electrical problems for years.  I put in a new original style wiring harness 15 years ago, but it needs to be redone.  I think I will go with the same style I used in the 67.


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## mustanggarage

had a great time yesterday.  we drove over 250 miles in the stang.  with no problems.  lots of thumbs up and a few burnouts.  the wife and I bailed a bit early because the place that we were all supposed to eat at had a snafu in scheduling so we went to granite city for supper.  it was a really nice day all around.

















the cruise was a joint affair between the modern mopar club and the mustang car club of omaha.  the mustangs were a bit underrepresented but we had fun.  there were some nice mopars there too, and even though I am a ford guy I can appreciate a nice car of any brand.


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## mustanggarage

Well much as I love my little YJ  I have been jones'ing over a tj for a while.  I saw this one over at the local used car lot, and I thought I would trade my yj in. 




it is a 2001 with the 4.0 auto trans, ac cruise control and all the good stuff.  it has brand new 265 75 16 wheels and tires on it not in perfect condition but pretty good.  they are asking 9800.00

well after discussing it with the guy and seeing what he would give me for my jeep I decided it wasn't worth trading in my yj so I decided to keep it but give it to my son to play with.  he has a 2004 liberty that is his daily driver, but while it is a good vehicle for daily driving it is not really an offroad vehicle so  I thought he would like the yj and give me a chance to work on it some with him.  He was pumped when I told him about it.  so I went ahead and bought the tj outright for 8800.  So now I am going to start playing with it for a while.


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## havasu

How many miles are on the TJ? Nice rig!


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## mustanggarage

129000  I will post up some more pictures pretty soon.  it is not perfect, but I have been looking for a while and this is the nicest I have seen with the options I want.  

things I know need fixed.

1.  the tailgate hinge is broken.  new ones ordered.

2.  cruise control doesn't work.  I will sort that out when I have time.

3.  the tires are actually too tall for the stock suspension.  I am in the same situation on this jeep I really don't want to lift it because with the high winds etc.  here I prefer to keep it as low as possible.  the biggest problem with the tires is they hit the lower control arm on tight turns.  I considered just adjusting the stops but I really want to keep the turning radius as good as possible so I am going to add some wheel spacers and bushwacker pocket flares to move the tires out a bit.  then I may add some tubular lower control arms if that isn't enough.  and of course the speedometer gear is off.  I will probably just get a new speedo gear for now but I would like to gear it properly for the tires at a later time.

4.  the center console lid is broken, and the plastic surrounding the radio does not stay in place so I suspect some broken mounting tabs.

5.  My daughter says she wants "her stereo" in the new jeep lol.

6.  the ashtray is missing. 

7.  a couple little rock pits in the windshield.

I just got it last night so that is all I know of so far.  I have already ordered a bunch of stuff to start fixing these little annoyances.  so far I am very pleased with it.


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## havasu

Too bad you weren't closer to me. I just gave my '04 TJ with 99k miles away to Car Max, and everything broken had been replaced, including the windshield chips. 

View attachment jeep 2.jpg


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## mustanggarage

gave it away?  I sure hope not lol.  that is a nice looking rig.


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## havasu

Took a bath on it. They gave me $7500. I know they were going to rip me off, but with the divorce, I needed to get rid of it quick. Oh well, why cry over spilled milk.


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## oldognewtrick

havasu said:


> Took a bath on it. They gave me $7500. I know they were going to rip me off, but with the divorce, I needed to get rid of it quick. Oh well, why cry over spilled milk.



Why...cause we can.


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## mustanggarage

yeah that is why I decided not to trade the yj  after all I put into it I might as well just give it away rather than trade it.  I was not sure my son would want it.  he is kind of different.  he is very independent when he needed a new vehicle when the cherokee died he did not want me to help with it at all.  he wanted to buy it himself and not have me involved except to cosign the note.  he did not even want that but the bank would not loan him the money without it.  anyway I was glad he wanted it.  it should be fun to work on it with him.  and my daughter is loving the new jeep.


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## oldognewtrick

Nice score on the TJ, MG and I'm glad you kept the YJ in the family...


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## mustanggarage

I had another thought today.  I have read that putting tj flares on a yj is a good way to get a bit more clearance for bigger tires.  I also like the way they look and since I am going to be putting the bushwackers on the tj I think I will put the tj flares on the yj.  and trim the sheetmetal a bit.  then since my son is not going to be using this as a daily driver I can add a small lift like 2 inch ome and that would allow a 32-33 inch tire.  that will make the little yj look a lot meaner.


----------



## mustanggarage

well not so happy tonight.  driving the thing it sounds great but I had it started out in the garage with the hood up tonight and there is a knock somewhere I don't like.  it is loudest with my stethoscope on the transmission bell housing but when I checked the torque convertor bolts they seem pretty tight.  I am going to have to see if I can get dad over here to listen to it and see what he thinks.  hopefully it isn't a big problem.  I still have the short block I rebuilt for the yj so I suppose I can always swap that in if I have to but I will not be happy if this thing turns out to need some major work right away.


----------



## mustanggarage

ok.  good news and bad news.  the knock in the engine dad says sounds like just a little lifter noise and it went away after it warmed up so he says not to worry about it for now.  I will probably have to rebuild it some point but it does not sound like a rod or piston slap to him.  that is what I was most worried about.  ok  bad news  apparently the 93 xj block is not compatible with a 2000 and up tj.  they changed the motor mount holes and the accessory drive mounting holes so the other block won't work for me.  more bad news, kind of.  I pulled the wheels off to check the brakes and the front pads are shot.  the rotors aren't too bad but I think I will replace them anyway.  the rear shoes are not too bad however so I may just leave them for a while.  

I ran the car fax on this jeep and it turns out that the tailgate hinge was broken in a "impact with a ditch" accident in 2011.  anyway it was not from rust which I was worried about.  the undercarriage looks pretty good.  no big grease covered areas.  no visible rust.  the frame seems solid.  It looks as though it was recently painted but I can see no areas where there appears to be any rough or bubbled areas to suggest underlying rust.  

so back to happy today lol.


----------



## Chris

mustanggarage said:


> I had another thought today.  I have read that putting tj flares on a yj is a good way to get a bit more clearance for bigger tires.  I also like the way they look and since I am going to be putting the bushwackers on the tj I think I will put the tj flares on the yj.  and trim the sheetmetal a bit.  then since my son is not going to be using this as a daily driver I can add a small lift like 2 inch ome and that would allow a 32-33 inch tire.  that will make the little yj look a lot meaner.



You will have to trim the sheet metal a bit but it is a nice upgrade, I did it to my last two jeeps. Here is a pic of the rears done on my current jeep before I tore it apart. 

View attachment Old pics 087.jpg


View attachment Old pics 162.jpg


View attachment Jeep Jan 2012 2.jpg


View attachment 1990 Jeep 011.jpg


View attachment BB1.jpg


----------



## mustanggarage

yeah I have researched it on jeep forum quite a bit.  there are a couple nice write ups.  I will probably take some pictures while I am at it and post them here for posterity lol.  anyway  I think that is something my son and I can do this summer for little cost and even before we lift it I know that 31 10.50 tires will fit.  I had those on my jeep in utah I put a set of bushwacker flares on it and did not trim any metal so I know with a little judicious use of the cut off wheel I can get it done.  or actually I have been wanting to buy an air powered hack saw for a while.  http://www.eastwood.com/air-body-saw.html  they are only 40 bucks or so.  that would be a good excuse.  I already have an air nibbler but that would not work so well around the fender area.  gotta love any excuse to buy new tools lol


----------



## mustanggarage

btw I also sold the shell of the cherokee.  I basically just wanted to get rid of it but I got 500.00 for jeep parts for the tj.  the tj is going to be pretty much a girls jeep I figure.  it already has pretty agressive tires and that is about all I intend to do to it performance wise.  I am just going to fix it up a bit and drive it.  if I can keep my daughter out of it that is. My intention is to give it to her for her graduation in a couple years so I want to keep it pretty stock. 

things I have for it so far.  

1.  the spidertrax 1.25 spacers.
2.  quadratec I vault stereo enclosure
3.  new rotors and pads.  the drums and shoes are still ok.


things still on order.

1.   fender flares.
2.   speedometer gear.
3.   tailgate hinges.
4.   digital media stereo
5.   replacement center dash vent.
6.   replacement taillight lenses.
7.   replacement license plate bracket.
8.   speed control module.
9.   ash tray.
10  rear windshield wiper arm.
11  owners manual
12  heated seat elements
13  viper smart start remote starter

so I have lots of stuff to do but as I am fond of saying patience is not one of my virtues lol  so I wish stuff would hurry up and get here already.


----------



## oldognewtrick

MG, which of the Bushwackers Flares did you run on your other Jeep? I've been thinking of putting the flat ones on mine with 31's and a 2" lift.


----------



## mustanggarage

I ran the pocket flares.  this is an old picture so the resolution is not great.  it was a 4 cylinder I converted to 4.0  this was with 31 10.50 15 and no lift.

I later added a 2 inch rubicon express lift, although I never had any issues with running it like it was here.  I was living in utah and took it on several pretty interesting trails and never thought I needed the lift.  I finally put it on because the front springs were starting to sag and I did not want to just put stock replacement springs back on.  it looked a bit better lifted, but honestly that was the main difference I noticed. 

View attachment old jeep.jpg


----------



## havasu

Have you seen Chris's metal fenders? One of these days I'm going to do that.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Did the RE springs make it ride any better? I've been looking at OME or BDS.


----------



## mustanggarage

yeah I have seen his.  they look really cool on a rock crawler.  but I don't think they will work for me.  Besides, I have always liked the look of the bushwacker pocket flares and the reason I am using them here is they are 6 inches wide.  before I did anything to the jeep the tires stuck out about an inch or so past the stock flares so they would be flinging mud and dirt everywhere.  now with the wheel spacers on and the new flares they fit pretty much perfect I think.  actually these are not really bushwacker flares either to be honest, I cheaped out.  bushwacker flares are almost 500.00 these were half that.  anyway on to some pictures.

today I got the flares in, yesterday I bought new brake pads and rotors and put them on. 





then I removed the old flares. 







 naturally several of the stupid nutserts twisted out so now I get to buy a nutsert tool.  it should be here by friday so I will be able to finish up the flares then.  the front drivers side only had one that twisted off and I was able to get a nut on the back of where it goes so I went ahead and put it on to get a bit of a sneak preview.





here it is with the wheel back on.





and here is what it looks like from the front.





by the way I checked the turning radius and at least on the lift it does not hit anymore when you turn it all the way either way.  I don't think it will change when I get weight on it but that will remain to be seen.  

here is another man I love that lift project.  it makes it so nice to be able to take all four wheels off at the same time, and I can stand upright while I am working on these silly flares.  when I did it in utah I was laying on my back and reaching up and trying to see.  while removing those old flares is still a pain it was much less so with the lift.


----------



## havasu

I have those flares on my YJ and I like them, but I'm not so keen on how fragile they feel and the black caps continually pop off from the screw heads.


----------



## mustanggarage

mine don't have caps for the screw heads.  they are stainless steel screws though.


----------



## mustanggarage

finished installing the flares.  dropped the jeep and torqued the wheels back on.

checked the turning radius lock to lock and I have plenty of room.  and I like the way it looks.


----------



## mustanggarage

now I am in the process of installing these.  I bought them off amazon for 67 dollars it has everything needed to install.  





it is really pretty simple.  pull the seats and take them apart.  remove 3 hogrings on the bottoms, just open the tops.  then peel the yellow tape off the pads. and reinstall.









put them back together and take the included wiring harness and run it under the carpet.  I ran it into the center console.

drill a couple holes with a step drill and install the switches.  then attach the hot wire to a fuse box tap and the ground to the chassis.









looks like I need to straighten that switch.  it is driving me crazy already lol.


----------



## havasu

And scrub off the pencil marks 

I've always wondered how hard those butt warmers would be to install. It seems pretty simple. How well does it work?


----------



## mustanggarage

first, I did clean off the pencil marks already mister smartypants lol.  and I straightened the switch.  secondly I just finished wiring it up I tested it to be sure the light came on but I have not tested it to see how well it works yet.  I am going to install the stereo saturday so I still have the passenger seat out of the jeep and the battery cable disconnected.  but according to the reviews on amazon it works very well.  we will see.  It was amazingly easy to install them however, if my upholstery in my f150 was in better shape I would think about putting some in it.  but I am afraid I would rip the upholstery up trying to position the pads.  someday if I keep the truck long enough I will get some new upholstery installed and then I might.


----------



## havasu

I'm guessing the switches have an indicator light built in to the switch? That was a concern which you just answered. I'm also guessing that you would not want to install this on a constant hot lead in your fuse block? Seems that this could kill a battery pretty fast?


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> I'm guessing the switches have an indicator light built in to the switch? That was a concern which you just answered. I'm also guessing that you would not want to install this on a constant hot lead in your fuse block? Seems that this could kill a battery pretty fast?



correct on both counts.  I want it to be on an auxiliary circuit that will come on with the switch and the remote starter.  and yes they do have an indicator light built into them.


----------



## mustanggarage

the jeep is putting up a heck of a fight but I am beating it down slowly step by step.

I will post some pics up later.

 I finished up the seat heaters.  it was pretty easy.  the only hard part was when I was putting the passenger seat back together somehow I knocked the little cable out of its bracket.  that allows the seat to go forward.  so I had it all back together and installed and the seat would not move forward.  I have not worked on jeep seats before so I was not sure what was wrong. I had to take the seat in and out 3 times before I figured it out and got it back together.

I also installed the new stereo.  I bought one of those lockable stereo enclosures from quadratec and of course the instructions are completely unhelpful.  you have to trim the dash a bit which they totally neglect to mention, also the previous owner had installed an aftermarket stereo already and had hacked up the inner dash to install it before I could hack it up to install mine lol  unfortunately he cut out the area where the stock radio bolted in which is where I needed to attach this one so I had to improvise.  the wiring which I normally hate was easy however.

then I swapped the tailgate hinges.  I am no longer surprised the car lot did not replace them prior to selling the thing.  It looks like you should be able to just take out 4 bolts from the bottom, replace the hinge and repeat on the top.  not so fast friend.  every one of the stupid bolts was galled in place.  I could only get 3 of them out I had to drill the other 5 out.  I was able to save the captured nuts in the tailgate itself without ruining them thank goodness, but in the tub there is a little piece of metal that reinforces the tub and has a threaded boss on each end.  naturally both of those were toast.  the metal itself was fine, just the threaded part was bad.  so I cut the threaded bosses off with a cutoff wheel.  then since the factory paints the tub and hinge after assembly that means the area under the hinge is bare metal.  the instructions with the hinges say to use some clear silicone under the hinges.  I decided to first mask the area off and paint it with some black rustoleum to protect it a bit.  then put the hinges on using the silicon.  then I put the little backing plates back on with a washer, lockwasher and nut on the backside.  the upper hinge is easy to access as it is inside the cab.  the lower one you have to pull the inner fender liner loose and reach up inside to hold it on.  but now the tailgate opens nicely again. these hinges are heavy duty and stainless steel.  oh I forgot to mention I used anti seize on all the bolts when I put them back together as well.

then I took the thing for a drive.  the new extensions work great, the jeep has full turning radius again with no rubbing.  the stereo works.  the seat heaters work really well.  they have 2 settings I thought the high setting was too warm.  


I also replaced the license plate bracket with a new one today
and put new taillight lenses on.  
overall quite a bit of progress today.  despite my jeeps best efforts.


----------



## havasu

Everything done today but yet, no pics.


----------



## mustanggarage

well I didn't take many in process pics because there really wasn't much to take pics of.  but here is what the switches look like in the high position.  if you press the rocker to the low position you get a kind of a yellow light.  it shows up nice in the jeep but not on camera.  it works amazingly well for the cost.  





this is the back of the jeep with the new hinges.  I bought the stainless steel hinges for the rust resistance but they look ok anyway.  I also replaced the rear windshield wiper and the taillight lenses in this pic.

the thing works pretty well in the snow.  fun to drive.  


I have had no success with the cruise control so far.

the indicator light on the instrument cluster comes on when you push the on button so it has power.  I checked the electrical connector to the module, checked all the vacuum lines, checked to see that vacuum was being applied when the engine was running.  checked the one way valve.  replaced the module with a good used one.  no joy.  I am not sure where to go with it next.  the horn works so I don't think it is the clock spring in the steering column although that is about all I can think to do at this point.  I checked the trouble codes on the computer and no codes were stored.  so basically the clock spring is about all I can think of at this time.  I think I am going to see if I can get some professional help on that monday. 


 oh I almost forgot I also swapped the speedometer gear I have not checked it to see how accurate it is.  hopefully it is close, but the gear chart doesn't have an option for this size tire. 31.6 so I  picked the one for a 32 inch tire so it should indicate a bit under the exact speed.


----------



## mustanggarage

it looks like I did not get the pencil lines cleaned off as well as I thought I did.  try try again.


----------



## havasu

Love the pics. Thanks!


----------



## mustanggarage

I think I have figured out what is wrong with the cruise control.  tonight while I was driving every time I turned right the dome light would come on.  so I think that indicates a short in the steering column so with that and the cruise control not working and knowing that everything under the hood checks out, and no trouble codes I think it is the clock spring in the steering column.  I don't have any time for the next week or so to get any work done on it so I am going to take it in to the mechanic tomorrow and have them fix it.  I want it done by this weekend and I know I am not going to be able to get it done myself.


----------



## mustanggarage

I took the jeep in to the mechanic that does work for the guy I bought the jeep from to see what for sure was wrong with the cruise control.  I thought it was the stupid clock spring which costs over 200.00 to replace so I did not want to just put one in if that was not the problem.  anyway he says it is the switch in the steering wheel and he ordered the part and I had the jeep sitting there all week and he still did not get the part in so I took it home.  I am tempted to say heck with it I will fix it myself, but he says it should be here monday so I guess I will let him finish it.  but I did get several other things done tonight.  I finished the install on the stereo.  it is a digital only stereo I had to make bracketry to get it anchored in where it should be because the previous owner hacked out most of the supporting parts where it should mount. anyway it is not perfect, but I am satisfied.  I also replaced the broken dash piece, that whole black section there.  it needs to be cleaned a bit more now, but I was in a hurry tonight since it is valentines day.   I also replaced the two front speakers that were really crackling and sounded terrible.  I really like buying stereo stuff from crutchfield they send all the adapter wiring and mounting brackets free, it was a 10 minute job to swap the front speakers and it sounds a lot better.









the jeep did not want to idle well today.  everytime I stopped at a stop sign it wanted to die.  so I took the idle air control valve off and cleaned it.  started it up and it is idling better now.  I will have to see how it works tomorrow.

coming along.  it is getting to be a pretty darned nice little jeep.


----------



## mustanggarage

the jeep ran great today.  cleaning the IAC did the trick.  today I swapped in some replacement trim pieces that go in front of the door glass.


the passenger side one had a hole in it.  I did not know for sure if this would allow water to get into my door and rust it out so I decided to get some new ones.





so you just pull the weather stripping out.





remove these two screws.





and pull back on the top and remove.





then put the new one in.


----------



## mustanggarage

well I have not done too much to the jeep lately, it has been working pretty well.  I did get the remote starter installed though.  that thing is cool as heck.  it has an app that installs on your iphone, and I can start the jeep from basically anywhere.  last week the heater motor stopped working, then started again so I figured I had a problem.  so I went ahead and ordered a new blower motor, and since I read on jeep forum that the switch frequently burns up when the blower motor goes out I went ahead and bought that too.  and sure enough a couple days later my daughter tells me "Dad the heater on the jeep isn't working right"  it feels like it is working when you are going but the fan is not working right"  fortunately the new parts came in that day.  so I pulled the fan out first.  I did not take any pictures of that but on this year TJ that is a ludicrously simple task,  you just pull the battery, pull the computer and you can take the blower out from the engine compartment side.  standing upright, not crawling on your back with your elbows up around your ears.  amazing.  so I swapped that in.  then I pulled the center trim off inside the jeep.  for that you just use a screwdriver to pop up the flat trim near the windshield, remove the two screws at the top, and the one behind the ashtray and pull it out.  then remove the 4 screws holding the switch panel on.  
this is what it looks like




and sure enough it had started to melt the plastic.





so I replaced it.  fortunately I got it replaced before it fried the wiring harness.  now I have made sure my daughter saw this and explained that if it starts doing it again I need to know right away or it could be a fire hazard.

anyway now the jeep is in great shape.


----------



## mustanggarage

now I don't know about you guys but I just love gadgets.  any cool little gizmo or automation I love.  well as I have said before I pretty much live out in my shop. I am rarely in the house and I like hanging out with my dogs.  anyway I got an email recently about an automation company and I was looking through the website and I got a few ideas.  first of all I lock my dogs in their little kennel room at night, otherwise they seem to want to bark all night.  so I lock them in at night and let them out when I go to work.  well I am always curious about what they are doing at night because sometimes they still bark, sometimes they chew stuff up etc.  anyway I found this ip camera and insteon hub.  the hub is the brains of the whole thing.  it connects to your internet router and then you can access it with a smartphone app. it is motorized so you can move it left and right up and down.  it works on both regular light and automatically switches to infrared when you turn out the lights.  I just thought that was the coolest thing ever so I bought one.

this is the hub and the router.  I have to stick it in this window so it will pick up my modem and wireless router in the house.  now this modem is also a range expander so it boosts the signal and I use it for wifi for my computers and netflix out here in the garage.  now it is wired to the insteon hub.  yeah I know it is not the neatest installation but I am somewhat limited by my location.  anyway it works.






here is the IP camera.








this is a screenshot from my cellphone





you can see on there that there is an icon for sound.  right now I can hear what is going on.  at some point It is supposed to be able to transmit sound so I should be able to talk to someone or the dogs over the camera system.  you can see the arrows that move the camera around.  

at the bottom there are 3 icons  one for the front light, camera and backlight.  because I also bought some switches that hook into the hub.  I am constantly forgetting to turn off the back porchlight when I go in the house, then I either have to come all the way back out or most of the time I just leave it on.  now from the house I can turn the deck light on or off.  the front light is the light over the main man door and I had it wired on a dusk to dawn sensor so it basically came on at night and turned off in the morning.  that is great in the winter, but in the summer the bugs just flock around it and so I usually just turned it off.  now I can turn it on from the house and off when I go back in.




and if you look at the bottom of the page you can see the current temp in the garage.  because I also got a thermostat and wired it in.  that I had to call the local plumbing and heating experts on, but they got it done.  

I always turn the heat down to 40 degrees when I go in at night then turn it back up when I come out.  when I bought this thing it had been during that bad cold snap so it was so cold out here it took a couple hours to get the place warmed up.  now I can turn the thermostat up before I leave work and it is well on its way to warming up when I get home.  




I can also access this when I am out of town.  I can check to make sure the dogs have enough water.  later on I will add another camera out in the main shop for security, I may also add a light for the driveway for safety.  once you spend the 149 dollars for the hub, the rest of the pieces are not that expensive.  you can buy them a little at a time like I did and install them when you want.  it is really pretty easy to do.  

I know this stuff is kind of geeky but I love it.  I think it is cool and it will be useful.  I have been working on putting it together over the last few months and I wasn't sure if I wanted to post about it because it is so geeky. but I decided what the heck maybe some of you guys like this kind of stuff too.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Thats pretty cool idea about the cam, what website did you get the "geeky" stuff from?


----------



## mustanggarage

smart home.  I used the insteon hub, ip camera, switches and thermostat.  there are tons of other things you can hook up as well including garage door monitors, vents, fan controllers etc.

http://www.smarthome.com/_/index.aspx


----------



## mustanggarage

oh no!!! my car just pooped wiring harness.  guess how much fun I am not having lol.



obviously I finally started tearing into the wiring on the 65, what a mess, after 17 years of modifying, stereo replacements.  sequential taillights, anti theft device installation, etc.  the wiring was a tangled mess.  I hope to bring order to the chaos.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Nice, I'm anxious to hear what you think of Painless when you get the wiring finished.


----------



## mustanggarage

actually it is a classic update harness from american autowire.  basically the same harness I used in the 67.  the painless box is their powerbraid harness wrap.  I like this stuff way better than harness tape or that corrugated plastic stuff.


----------



## havasu

That is clean looking wrap. What happens when you put heat on it? Will it shrink? Will it burn?


----------



## mustanggarage

it is like nylon rope.  you need to put heat on the ends when you cut it to keep it from fraying.  it basically melts just like any plastic.  it is very similar to nylon rope.  I like to heat the end, then put shrink tube over the end, it makes a real nice professional looking loom.  it is the same stuff I used on my daughters car, but last time I just bought it a bit at a time, this time I found this kit from summit that is supposed to be enough to do a whole car.  unlikely but it will be a good start anyway.


----------



## mustanggarage

well I finally bit the bullet.  I have been wanting to get a new mig welder for quite a while.  my old 110v craftsman is just not cutting it anymore.  I looked at a lot of options.  the simple fact is that I use my welder pretty rarely.  I don't do a lot of fabricating so I don't need a 1000.00 dollar welder.  I looked at the millers, the lincolns the hobarts and the eastwood welders.  I considered going with a 220v welder and in fact I almost bought one, but finally I decided that since I don't weld anything over 1/4 inch anyway and I would have to majorly upgrade my wiring and buy a long welding extension cord to go with it that it just was not worth the added expense.  I compared the miller, lincoln, hobart and eastwood 110v versions and decided based on the available information and cost that I would go with the eastwood welder.  it is directly comparable to the lincoln, both have 3 year warranty.  the eastwood also has a 30 day no hassle return.  you can try it for 30 days if your not satisfied you can send it back.  it is also half the cost.  currently on sale for 279.00 so I ordered it.  it will be here in a week or so.  look forward to testing it out.

http://www.eastwood.com/mig-welder-110vac-135a-output.html


----------



## oldognewtrick

Sweet, let us know how you like it. I've been looking for a welder for a BBQ smoker project and I can't justify spending 5-800 on something I'll use very seldom.


----------



## mustanggarage

that was pretty much my reasoning.  I would love to have a miller mig welder for the "brag factor"  but for me it is just not worth it.  a comparable miller is over 700.00 for as often as I use it I just can't bring myself to spend that much when from my research it looks like the eastwood is a pretty decent welder.  anyway we shall see.


----------



## mustanggarage

wiring is such tedious work.  and cramming my fat body under the dash of a 65 mustang is really not fun.  I have the fuse box mounted, the main harness routed out to the engine compartment.  the new ignition switch placed.  the kit comes with a new light switch.  it says that early 65's and 64.5 mustangs use a unique switch that has a shorter knob than the one included in the kit.  so I have to buy the  longer knob and rod to make it work.  lucky me.  I also repurposed the choke wire since my car has no electric choke.  this wire is going to be my heater fan wire.  the fan in this car is really not very powerful and I never ran the heater on less than high, then the resistor went out and so I just removed and bypassed it, I never missed it so that is what I plan to do again.  I also ran the wires out to the starter solenoid and the sensor wires to the new speed sensor sending unit.  I am getting rid of the cable for my speedometer.  I am replacing the whole gauge cluster with a new one and it has a programmable electric speedometer.  no more cable to mess with yeah.  

anyway not really any pictures to show as most of it is done up under the dash and pictures really don't show up well.  but I am making slow progress.


----------



## Chris

I can't wait to see the new cluster.


----------



## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> wiring is such tedious work.  and cramming my fat body under the dash of a 65 mustang is really not fun.QUOTE]
> 
> Man, you don't need a smaller body, you just need to get bigger cars...


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks for the advice I will work on that.  in the mean time here is a picture of the instrument cluster that will be going in.  I will have a quick disconnect installed so that I can easily remove it for wiring issues.  it will be the last thing to go in once all the other wiring is done.  right before I finish up the stereo install.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Nice looking dash cluster MG. Did your Eastwood arrive yet?


----------



## mustanggarage

tomorrow.


----------



## mustanggarage

I talked to a guy I know who does a lot of welding and he is going to get me set up with his supplier to get a tank of shielding gas.  I bought some flux core wire when I ordered the welder so I can at least get it up and going until I get the tank.  

on another note I finished the main engine wiring harness with the wiring to the solenoid, the speed sensor, heater motor tach, coil, put the new sending units for the new water and oil pressure gauges in, and wired them.  so now on saturday I will start wiring the front end headlights etc.  I am going to run the wires under the fender so I have less wires visible in the engine compartment.





picture taken for Havasu, even though I know you can't really see much of what I have done.


----------



## havasu

Thanks for the pics. I must be getting old, because that doesn't seem fun at all.


----------



## Chris

I want that car.


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> Thanks for the pics. I must be getting old, because that doesn't seem fun at all.



I don't mind the parts where I am not turned upside down looking up under the dash trying to hold a trouble light with one hand while I work with the other.  but I do have the right tools to make the job easier so I can definitely say that even though I am much less flexible than I was 15 years ago it way easier to do this time.  I love tools.  I had to tell my Dad again last night how glad I am that he bought that lift.   between that, my magnetic lights and better wiring tools I don't have too much to complain about.  I hope I will have most of the wiring done this weekend.


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> I want that car.



thanks.  it is a fun old car.  I have had it since I was 19.  I have learned most of what I know about cars working on that ol thing.  I can't imagine growing up not tinkering on something all the time lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

here is the new welder and cart.  I talked to that guy about the tank and he says he will have it for me tomorrow.  I have to go to omaha tomorrow so I may have to wait until saturday to pick it up.  anyway here it is all assembled.







have to wait till this weekend to try it out. 

btw.  when I was installing the wire the stupid thing slipped out of my fingers and unwound quite a bit.  I tried to reroll it but it did not seem to want to roll back up properly.  I ended up cutting quite a bit off, but there is still slack in some of the coils.  any solutions?


----------



## mustanggarage

ok.  I am all setup and ready to do some welding.  






I worked on the wiring for a while today. I finished the wiring under the hood, and all the wiring to the headlights, turn signals, horn and pony light.





here is a nice little tool tip, a disposable hemastat makes a great tool to grab and hold all kinds of things.  you may or may not know this, but most emergency rooms use disposable suture trays. so if you happen to need stitches in the E.R.  ask if the tools are disposable.  most people will let you take the instruments if you ask.

most of the underdash wiring is done.  I still need to wire the instrument cluster.  






tomorrow I plan to try to get the taillights wired up,  first I need to finish wiring the amplifier so I can install the battery to start testing circuits.

I also need to wire the courtesy lamps and sill plates.  lots of little things.

slow but sure I am getting there.


----------



## mustanggarage

well the other day I figured out why my turnsignals kept working intermittently.  I thought it was a bad ground or a loose wire however when I pulled the trunk apart I found that someone, probably the guy that did the custom work on the trunk.  I don't like stereo installation so I had a local shop do it and he offered to finish out the trunk so I had him do it.  anyway apparantly he couldn't figure out how the sequential turn signal modules were wired so He just cut the wires and bypassed them.  so I guess the flasher was overheating and failing intermittently.  anyway since those wires are hacked up I am going to replace the sequencer with a newer system from mustang project.

so I replaced the taillight buckets last night and wired all the wires in the trunk.  the taillights, license plate light, third brake light and the fuel sender.  then for some reason the third brake light came on whenever you hooked the battery up and the 12v fused wire was dead.  so I started looking and I found that the wiring harness has a disconnect for the rear wiring harness that was pre-terminated by the factory and they had the wires in the disconnect wrong so using a small eyeglass screwdriver I removed the wires and connectors from the plug and moved them to the correct holes.  now my real taillights and brake lights work.  I assume my turn signals will work but I need to get the instrument cluster and everything back together before I test that.  tonight I plan to install the new alternator and reinstall the supercharger and this weekend I will work on getting the instrument cluster ready for installation.  then I will think about the stereo install.  I am not sure If I want to do that or not.  I usually have someone else do stereo stuff but with this last fiasco i may do it myself.


----------



## Riff_Raff

I always go my own stereo stuff so I don't wind up with crappy crimp connectors (solder, silicone, shrink) or in case there needs some fancy improvising like the Jeep needed.

The Jeep needed the rear support bracket dremeled out so a piece of fuel line could be slid over the rear support stud on the deck. Without that, I'm pretty sure the CD player would skip.


----------



## mustanggarage

yeah I did the stereo on the tj, then i took over to a stereo shop in omaha to have the remote starter installed because it has the cell phone app and it had to be installed by a dealer.  anyway they said that there was a problem with the stereo install that it was shorting out under there and would not shut off, they said the installer did not use connectors and so they had to redo the whole thing.  I had soldered and taped every connection with harness wrap.  anyway turns out the switch on the tj was worn and they could pull the key out in acc mode so they were turning it to acc and of course the stereo would come back on.  took they forever to finally get everything working right.  anyway my biggest issue with this stereo is that I have 2 amplifiers in the trunk and I have never wired amplifiers and I don't have the instructions anymore.  I will try to download them from the kicker website.


----------



## mustanggarage

well the wiring is pretty much done now I believe.  I still have to test everything to make sure everything works properly.  but tonight after a couple days of studying the wires going into that area where the amps are located, I finally decided I knew which wires were which.  last night I wired up the instrument cluster disconnect so it is ready to install once everything else is buttoned up.  tonight I wired up the stereos.  I am running the same stereo with  6 disk cd changer (which is located in the trunk) in the dash.  primarily because it fits the hole in the dash and the cd changer is mounted in the trunk and I would have had to re-do all of that also so it was easiest just to leave that in place.  but I am mounting a new double din stereo in a new center console and I have both of those wired up.  here is a picture test fitting the console and stereo.









I tested the stereo and it works.  I mounted the boost gauge so that it was easier to see, unfortunately now the stupid hose is to short so I am going to have to get some new boost gauge tubing to finish that up, but I like the way it looks in there.  the new kickpanels with new speakers are still in the box I have not installed them yet because I just finished wiring the courtesy lights tonight also.  I have not tried to start it yet but I did crank it and the starter engages so I am pretty sure all that is good.  I still have some more things I want to upgrade or fix before I button everything up but it is coming along nicely.


----------



## oldognewtrick

How are you and the new welder getting along?


----------



## mustanggarage

I haven't used it much yet but I did try it out this weekend, just playing with it.  at first the settings recommended inside the panel caused a lot of popping and snapping but once I increased the wire speed a bit it started flowing out pretty good.  I am by no means what I would call a good welder, I have not really done a lot.  my old craftsman was adequate to tack some things together and I could make it hold, but I would never want anyone to see my welds lol.  

here is my first try with it.  for me it is pretty decent.  I know if I put some time into it I can make it a lot better, but I had good penetration it flowed pretty smooth.






again this is my first try and obviously I did not do too much.  I need to get some more scrap steel and practice some more.  but it is definitely a lot better than I could do with my other welder so I think I am going to like it a lot.

moving on to the wiring project I am taking two steps forward and one step back constantly.  I tried to replace the tubing for the boost gauge and the threads on the carb enclosure were damaged so I had to pull the whole enclosure carb and everything but I got it back together and the boost gauge is working.  I started testing all the circuits and I had a problem with the turn signals not working when the lights were on.  it turns out that the stupid aftermarket turn signals I bought have different colored wires than the stock ones.  the black wire is now for the park lights and the brown wire is the ground.  so after sorting that out I swapped in the sequencer for the rear turn signals and started putting the interior back together.  all the gauges work in the instrument cluster but I still need to modify the dash to permanently attach it, but I am waiting on that because I had to order a bypass for the parking brake for my dvd player.  this car of course does not have a parking brake light so no way to hook it up without the bypass.  but once that is done and I weld the bolts to the seat frame I will have this project completed.  I think the bypass will be here thursday.  anyway almost done.


----------



## Chris

Those welds look pretty decent, try maybe turning up the heat just a bit. What PSI are you running on the gas? Most recommend about 17 but I run a little bit more than that. I think with the heat up it will suck down a little more and penetrate better. Can you take a pic of the back of that piece?

Also are you just dragging the tip or doing circles or half moons? I do half moons and it works best for me.


----------



## mustanggarage

I was doing half moons, and it got pretty decent penetration.  I do think I need to turn the heat up since the welds were bulging up so much, but overall it works pretty good.  I know I am going to have to play with the settings a bit and practice some more, but the problems I have appear to be more problems with me and not the equipment.  I think the welder is working pretty good.  and I am running 25 on the gas.  that is what eastwood recommends.

I was just fiddling with the settings on most of them.  the long bead on the left I was doing half moons like My Dad taught me.  some of them I was just dragging the wire testing the settings.


----------



## mustanggarage

out of focus lol  I took this at 1:00 this morning when I finished installing the shift boot.  it looked perfectly focused to me at the time.  I guess maybe I should go to bed a bit earlier tonight.  

anyway the wiring is all buckled up.  the stereo is installed and works.  the new glove box and door are installed.  that is a way harder job than it should be lol.  seats are installed.  I repaired the broken knob on the drivers seat and lowered it down a bit.  welded the bolts to the seat rail so I don't have to hold a wrench on the bolt while trying to tighten the nut underneath.

started it up checked for leaks.  now all I have to do tonight is put the steering wheel back on, clean it up and program the electronic speedometer and take it for a shakedown cruise.


i will try to get some better pictures tonight.


----------



## mustanggarage

here are a few completed pictures.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Sweet MG, thats is one* nice* pony car!


----------



## mustanggarage

Hey I finally fixed my horn today.  when I installed that Ididit steering column in 1999 I somehow messed up the horn.  I thought that there was a wiring problem in the column and for years I just had a small horn button mounted under the dash.  redneck yes but it got me through the inspections for licensing.  anyway one of the many things I had hoped to accomplish with this wiring revamp was to fix the horn right.  it was supposed to use a relay to keep the 12 volts from frying the little spring in the contact button.  the AAW wiring harness comes pre wired with that relay so I hoped that would fix the problem.  it did not.  I found when I started researching the problem again that I had likely cooked the contact spring.  so I got a horn repair kit and horn ring from summit friday.  I also swapped out the led's for the turn signals because I did not like the ones that were in the cluster I bought.  anyway I got it all back together and it is working like a charm. right now everything seems to be working the way it is supposed to for the first time in years.  the car has always run right I just have had lots of little electrical gremlins over the years that I hope I have finally sorted out.


----------



## oldognewtrick

I love it when plans come together.


----------



## havasu

Glad it all worked out. My question for you is....what's next?


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> Glad it all worked out. My question for you is....what's next?



next I need to do some work on the 94 convertible my Dad bought.  just some minor things.  swap the cruise control switch fix the window regulators extend the seat tracks.  possibly fix some rust in the bottom of one of the doors.  we already put new brakes and wheel spacers on it.  but I also have to build a new deck this summer so I doubt I will be doing much else for a while.  having said that it seems I always find little projects to keep me busy.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Did you ever get the Jeep all sorted out? And what are you working on now?


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> Did you ever get the Jeep all sorted out? And what are you working on now?




yes jeep is all sorted out.  My daughter has been driving it since I got it done.  she loves it.  I have been working on my car until  just recently sorting out some minor details, and other than that I have been doing the usual stuff that has to get done this time of year.  maintenence on the lawn mower.  mowing cleaning up sticks and crap.  My Dog made a hole in the fence recently and got out and was gone for a couple days.  freaked me out.  he is my best pal.  so now I am going to have a fencing company come in and put in some chainlink to replace the old fence I put in.  it will be nice to have it all escape proof.  and it will look a lot better.  but between that and the fact a bunch of shingles blew off my roof and I am going to have to replace them that will pretty much shoot the wad I had saved for the deck.  so I guess for the time being I am going to be working at my day job and saving up some money.  I plan on putting a lift on the red jeep this summer so I will have to save up some for that.  and I don't know what I am going to do after that.  I guess I need to sell something or tear something else apart.  I need a new project.


----------



## mustanggarage

My little 89 convertible has had a pretty significant rear main seal leak ever since I got it.  it is bugging me so one of these days I am going to fix it.  I have been thinking about pulling it out and putting in a 331 or 347 stroker.  just for the fun of it.  I don't know if I will but I have never built a stroker engine so it is something to think about.  and if I do that I can run a pretty mild cam and still get pretty decent power without sacrificing driveability.  I have been looking at going the shortblock route this time as the machine work that is done on the block by DSS looks to be beyond the capability of my local machine shop.  anyway  I think it would be cool add a little go to the show. so to speak.  and get rid of the leak.

what do you think?


----------



## oldognewtrick

My vote...yes.


My old garage rule..."Most Problems Can Be Overcome With More Power"


----------



## Barrie

I vote yes also. View attachment 2217


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> My vote...yes.
> 
> 
> My old garage rule..."Most Problems Can Be Overcome With More Power"



or as my Dad was fond of saying if it won't work get a bigger hammer lol.


----------



## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> or as my Dad was fond of saying if it won't work get a bigger hammer lol.



Bigger hammer, more power... Falls under the same law of physics


----------



## mustanggarage

well since I am not doing the deck project this year I am starting to look hard at this 89 stroker project.  in fact I bid on a couple things on ebay today.  I am kind of going with a cobra my way kind of thing on this car.  I replaced the center grill medallion with the cobra running horse.  I replaced the hood with an svo version etc.  I like the clean lines of the car without the gt ground effects so I am going to keep the lx body lines.  but for the engine I want it to look like a cobra engine so I am trying to find a stock 93 cobra style intake.  unfortunately they are no longer made or reproduced so I am looking on ebay and they want a fortune for them.  but I am going to try to find one for relatively low bucks.  I also do not want to build a real high horsepower finicky vehicle.  I want a car with great street manners that will put down enough horsepower to match the looks of the car.  unfortunately I know that it will not touch one of the new gt's 415 horsepower without losing some of the streetability I am looking for but I am going for a compromise.  I am also looking at some iron gt40 heads.  I don't want to go with aluminum for several reasons but primarily cost.  the gt40 heads can be made to flow pretty well and they retain the stock 58 cc combustion chamber so if I go with the flat top pistons I will be getting about 10:1 compression ratio so it should still be able to run regular gas.  I am probably going to go with a 331 stroker rather than the 347 for improved wrist pin angle, lubrication and from my research in naturally aspirated form it should produce roughly the same or better horsepower and torque.  this will have to be a project where I collect parts for a while before starting it, but if I can find an intake that will be the difficult part.  I don't want to spend 600.00 on a merely average intake just because I like the look of it.  but here is what I am talking about.


----------



## havasu

It is damn purty!


----------



## Barrie

havasu said:


> It is damn purty!



X2!!!  

I also like the path you are going down.


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks.  the auction I am bidding on ends friday so we will see how it goes.  friday is also my birthday so I am thinking the intake will be a nice happy birthday to me present lol.


----------



## havasu

Good luck and Happy Birthday in a few days.


----------



## mustanggarage

well I won the intake manifold but not the heads.  I did not want to spend to much on the heads.  if I don't find any gt40 heads for what I want to pay I will just wait a bit till I can buy some nice aluminum heads.  I am not going to pay a fortune for some ok iron heads.  here is the intake I bought.


----------



## Chris

Sweet! Are you gonna polish it out or leave it as is?


----------



## mustanggarage

no I am not going to polish it.  I prefer the way it looks now to the polished look.  I am going to polish and powdercoat some other stuff under the hood so keeping this natural will give me the look I am after.  my Dad is not real sold on the Gt 40 head Idea.  I think they flow well enough for what I am after but Dad says it just doesn't make sense to me to build a stroker engine and choke it down with those iron heads.  so I will do one or the other I will either just rebuild my stock heads and have them ported for the short term or just bite the bullit now and get some good aluminum heads.  I really wanted the look of the stock cobra engine with the iron heads but I also like aluminum heads.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Nice find MG...


...and by the way Happy Birthday!!!


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks guys


----------



## mustanggarage

well I was perusing ebay yesterday while I was waiting for my daughter to get out of the orthodontists office, I should never do that lol  it is worse than going to walmart.  I almost always can find something I want.  anyway I found a lightly used set of AFR 185 heads these heads are according to my reading about the best heads you can get for a stroker motor.  so I bid on them and ended up getting them for 1000.00.  Once again my project is spiraling rapidly out of control lol  anyway the heads will not change the streetability of the engine that is controlled primarily by the compression ratio and the cam so I intend to go with an iskendarian cam when the time comes I will tell them my goals give them all the rest of the parts I am using and get a cam that will give me the best street performance.  but the AFR heads will give me the flexibility in the future to do whatever I want with that engine.  and besides they have the cool factor and decreased weight of top of the line aluminum heads.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Well.....?


----------



## mustanggarage

I am starting by accumulating parts.  I don't like to borrow money for these kind of projects so i have to wait until funds are available.  so far I have

my cobra intake
AFR 185 heads
1.6/1 crane roller rockers
chrome oil pan.

I already have the chrome valve covers I am going to use.   I also bought a book and have been researching my plan.  I have decided to build a 331 stroker.  I am going to use a short block from either DSS or CHP  they both make a good product but I am leaning toward the CHP version since I am not building a race engine the chp is a good product at a lower price.  it has forged pistons, and a 9.21 to 1 compression ratio if I use the 18cc dish pistons.  so it will run well on 87 octane fuel I am going to be getting a comp cam instead of the isky cam because it is about 100 dollars cheaper.  I am not planning on building the engine until this winter.  summer in Iowa is not a good time to build engines.  way too much dust and humidity.  so for now I plan and collect parts and money.  then I will build it.  downside to that is I won't be able to drive it too much until spring so I will have to time it right.  after the first freeze but before the weather gets too bad.


----------



## mustanggarage

I don't know if any of you guys are into die cast's or anything, but a patient of mine who collects them gave this to me for my birthday.  I thought it was really cool and very thoughtful.


----------



## havasu

That is very cool!


----------



## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> I don't know if any of you guys are into die cast's or anything, but a patient of mine who collects them gave this to me for my birthday.  I thought it was really cool and very thoughtful.QUOTE]
> 
> 
> Won't be long and you'll be tearing these apart and having custom paint jobs done on them...
> 
> It was a very nice gesture from your patient, it's nice to be thought of by someone you provide a service for isn't it?


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> mustanggarage said:
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know if any of you guys are into die cast's or anything, but a patient of mine who collects them gave this to me for my birthday.  I thought it was really cool and very thoughtful.QUOTE]
> 
> 
> Won't be long and you'll be tearing these apart and having custom paint jobs done on them...
> 
> It was a very nice gesture from your patient, it's nice to be thought of by someone you provide a service for isn't it?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> well I hope I will be able to keep these new in box like this for display, but you never know lol.  and yes I can say that people like him are what makes my job worthwhile.  all the stress and the sleepless nights all of a sudden are worth it when someone let's you know they appreciate you.  it really makes a difference.
Click to expand...


----------



## mustanggarage

and now for something completely different.  well not really.  back to mustang stuff.  I decided before I build the engine I needed to get the car ready for more power so I got the subframe connectors on.  It is amazing what a difference that made to the car.  it is much more stable and handles better.  I could feel the flex in the chassis before and I knew the subframe connectors would help and wow does it.





I painted them with eastwood chassis black. 

I also upgraded the brakes with some nice plated drilled and slotted rotors and high performance brake pads.








hopefully it won't rain tomorrow so i can get it out and drive it some.


----------



## havasu

I like the small Mustang emblems on the calipers.


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks.  I painted the calipers with red caliper paint and put the caliper decals on there a couple years ago.  they seem to be holding up well so far.


----------



## havasu

Well, the little stuff really shows off your love of the 'Stang.


----------



## mustanggarage

once again patience is not one of my virtues.  I have been doing a lot of on line researching of stroker kits etc.  and it looks like the company with the best reputation right now is a small company called ford strokers.com.  anyway  I researched them quite a bit and they have a pretty neat option.  they have a DIY short block kit that has everything I want including forged piston's, forged rods, scat crank.  custom hydraulic cam and a whole host of other things for about the same cost as the CHP kit that does not have forged rods.  and it looks like this company does a lot more to make sure the kit is set up right.  plus we get to build the engine. > >  so I went ahead and ordered the diy liberator 331 shortblock with the complete bottom end kit.  I have the new waterpump and all the rest of the hardware on order including the 28 oz flex plate and balancer.  I have not ordered the new torque converter yet but I will when the engine kit gets here. the stroker kit is supposed to take about 10-12 weeks for delivery because each one is made to order by the owner of the company jim woods.  anyway now I have to wait.  I hate waiting.  I think I am going to go ahead and replace the front seal on the AOD because those are notorious for leaking as well as a new deep sump transmission pan and of course a new filter while I am at it.  I have to buy new hoses and fuel injectors as well as fuel filter and possibley fuel pump.  I need a new EGR spacer and throttle body also.   I also have to find a place to stash my old jeep engine which is on my engine stand, and the 5.0 I take out of the convertible when I am ready to swap.  oh well  still lots of time before the engine gets here to get the rest of my wish list ordered.  


here is the build plan at present, including the specs for my shortblock
331 Liberator DIY Shortblock - 
Roller 5.0 Machine Block 
-Oven Baked 
-Shotblasted (Remove Scale, Rust) 
-Magnafluxed for Cracks
-Cylinders bored on Kwik-Way Boring Bar and Table
-Finish honed on Sunnen SV-616 Hone with BHJ 
Aluminum Torque Plates, Fel Pro Head Gaskets and ARP 
Hardware (.0001-0002 Taper MAX)
-Plateau Brushed (Provides Instant Ring Seal)
-Main Bearing Bores Align Honed on a Sunnen CH-100 
Hone
-Deck surfaced on a DCM Tech 3810 surfacer (Ra Finish 
compatible with MLS Gaskets)
-Screw In Oil Galley Plugs
-Lifter Valley Oil Drain Backs Chamferred
-Oil Filter Inlet Chaferred
-Threaded Holes Chased
-Lifter Bores Honed
-Crankshaft Balancing done on Hines Dominator XP 
Digital Balancer - Balanced to 28oz
Block Painted - DARK FORD BLUE 




Short block engine components
Scat Cast Steel 3.250 Crankshaft 
Scat Forged Steel I Beam Connecting Rods 5.400 
Wiseco 2618 Forged Pistons (14cc, Inline) 4.030 
Wiseco GFX Ring Package 
Clevite 77 Main Bearings 
Clevite 77 Rod Bearings 
Clevite 77 Cam Bearings 
Screw in Oil Galley Plugs 
Fel Pro Rear Main Seal 
ARP Main Studs 
Freeze Plugs
FordStrokers Custom HYD Roller Billet Camshaft 
ARP Cam Bolt 
Cam Retainer Plate 
SA Gear Billet Timing Chain w/Torrington Bearing 
Melling Oil Pump M68
ARP Oil Pump Bolts 
Fel Pro 1 Pice Pan Gasket 
ARP Billet Oil Pumpshaft 
Mr. Gasket Oil Pan Bolts 
Timing Chain Cover - Fox Body 
Fel Pro Timing Chain Cover Gasket Set 
Powerbond SFI 28oz Balancer 1060-SS
ARP Balancer Bolt 
ATI Billet Adjustable Timing Pointer 
Scat 164 Tooth SFI 28oz 
Flexplate - 2 step FP-302E-SFIFordStrokers

Other parts I bought separately.
AFR 185 heads
93 cobra gt 40 intake  (ported)
Stewart reverse waterpump
AFR head stud kit
AFR timing cover and waterpump bolts
Chrome oilpan and pickup.
Chrome aluminum valve covers.


Things yet to buy
o	Radiator hoses
o	Fuel filter
o	Fuel injectors
o	Torque convertor
o	Front seal
o	Transmission filter 
o	Transmission pan
o	Transmission gasket
o	Push rods
o	Valve cover gaskets
o	Egr spacer
o	Throttle body
wish list
	Radiator
	Computer chip


----------



## oldognewtrick

What are you guessing the HP to be on your new motor?


----------



## mustanggarage

no idea really.  it all depends on the camshaft specs.  I will have to wait and see about those since it is a custom grind I may not know the specs until I get it.  kind of scary actually.  I generally like to know those things.


----------



## mustanggarage

I took a week of vacation last week.  spent a couple days at lake okoboji then came home and spent a lot of time doing some of the yard work i have been putting off all summer.  but I did take time to clean the shop yesterday.  so I took some pictures.  played around with the panoramic function on my phone.















and here I have some of my parts that I have gathered up for the stroker build.  they said it should ship end of august so hopefully when I have some time off in october I will get it put together.


----------



## oldognewtrick

That shop is way to clean.


----------



## havasu

I can see myself laying on that sofa, drinking a beer, and watching TV.


----------



## oldognewtrick

havasu said:


> I can see myself laying on that sofa, drinking a beer, and watching TV.



Heck, I'm doing that now.... Except I don't have a beer. Knew I missing something...


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> That shop is way to clean.



you should have seen it before I cleaned it.  what a mess.  I needed to get most of the dirt out of it because I am going to be building an engine soon.  so I will clean it in stages.  get the big stuff cleaned out now, then sweep it frequently and blow the dirt out with my leaf blower every week or so to keep it clean and then when I go to build the engine I won't have quite so much to do to get it clean enough.

 and I spend altogether to much time laying on that couch lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

I still haven't got my engine kit yet, but I have a few more parts collected and I have a new addition to the shop.   I have wanted a real transmission jack for years but I did not want to spend the money for it and I did not want to sacrifice the space for it to bad either.  but I finally broke down and bought one.  it is a real cheap version but it will work for my purposes.  I got it off amazon, it was on sale for 120 dollars and I got a 70 dollar discount for applying for their credit card so I got it for 50 bucks.  it will make swapping the clutch in dad's mustang easier this winter.  I also got a transmission funnel so I can change my transmission filter easier without as much mess.  so anyway always fun to get new tools.
it fits in my jack cabinet but I had to take Dad's old snapon jack out.  that jack is still good but it is bent and needs the seals replaced and mine works fine so we rarely use Dad's anymore so this fits nicely and makes a great addition to the doghouse.


----------



## Chris

How do you get the trans onto that jack? Muscle it?


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> How do you get the trans onto that jack? Muscle it?



primarily you will use it to pull a transmission out of a vehicle while the vehicle is on a lift and then put it back in, like when you are swapping a clutch.  of course if you want to swap a transmission you can always use your engine hoist to lift it onto the jack. the jack is then able to be maneuvered very precisely to line it up when you install it.  It should be a nice addition to the shop.


----------



## mustanggarage

my engine kit shipped today!!!  should be here tomorrow or thursday at the latest.


----------



## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> my engine kit shipped today!!!  should be here tomorrow or thursday at the latest.



Good to see you're not getting _to_ excited about it...


----------



## mustanggarage

well it is still going to be a while before I get it built and put in but I am a bit excited.  

some more goodies


----------



## oldognewtrick

Any updates? Got the motor running yet?


----------



## mustanggarage

I have been kind of swamped at work lately and when I get home I am afraid to get too dirty right now.  every time I dig into anything I get called in to work so I am waiting till I have a few days off.  Dad and I did get the intake manifold ported the other day so that is looking good and I hope this weekend we can start filing the rings but my wife's birthday is sunday so I probably won't get much done.  here are a few pics though to update the progress.


this is how the engine kit looked when it arrived.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Must if seemed like Christmas morning when brown Santa arrived.


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> Must if seemed like Christmas morning when brown Santa arrived.



pretty much.  I was anxiously waiting for it and following the tracking until it got to my work place.  then I brought it home a friend let me borrow his pallet forks that go on the front of my skid loader so it was very easy to unload.  

I don't have any pictures tonight but Dad and I spent a little time working on the engine tonight.  we hung the pistons on the rods and started filing the piston rings tonight.  I have never used file to fit rings before so that was an interesting process.  we got half of them done tonight.  we are not working at it too hard right now.  I plan to finish it up in october when my wife is gone to salt lake city for 5 days.  I doubt we will get the other engine out of the mustang then, i want to wait until this winter to do that when I won't be wanting to drive it all the time.  next weekend we are going to a mustang show over in omaha so I probably won't get much else done for a while, have to get three cars ready to show.


----------



## mustanggarage

finished filing the rings tonight.  they are all hung and ready for install.  now I need to clean up the heads and put in new valve seals then we will be ready to build the engine.  this is a pic of my little ring filing tool I bought.  it worked like a charm






I am planning on doing that next weekend when my wife is gone for her annual retreat.  Also a guy from my church needed to borrow my car to trailer to help some other members move tomorrow so I had to get my daughters car out of the trailer so right now I have a shop full of mustangs so I took a few pics.


----------



## oldognewtrick

If you put one up on the lift, you could get one more in there...


----------



## Chris

And I don't even have time to change my oil anymore.


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> If you put one up on the lift, you could get one more in there...



lets see.  I could put one on the lift, if I pull the 67 forward a bit I could get another behind it, and one more would fit beside the 89,

heck I could get 3 more in there.  I better start shopping.  oh but then I would not be able to fit my truck in there, and then I would have to scrape my windows this winter.  that won't do.  I guess I am just going to have to stick with what I have.  :rockin:  

actually my Dad has decided to sell the teal 94 mustang.  he can't drive the manual that well anymore, I would love to have it but I just already have too many cars.  but that car has edelbrock heads and a powerdyne supercharger and a 5 speed so it is a really fun car to drive.  anyway I posted it on craigslist last night so we will see if it gets anywhere.


----------



## Riff_Raff

mustanggarage said:


> I have never used file to fit rings before so that was an interesting process.



I can imagine. I've always been curious how you measure and set the gap. Please share.


----------



## mustanggarage

Riff_Raff said:


> I can imagine. I've always been curious how you measure and set the gap. Please share.



It really is not all that hard actually.  you use feeler gauges.  what you do is insert the ring into the cylinder of the piston you are working on, so all rings are custom ground to their cylinder.  then you can either use a ring squaring tool, or what we do is to place the second ring on a piston and then when you place that piston into the cylinder upside down the ring will stop the piston and square the ring you are measureing.  it is very important that the ring is square in the bore so you will do that several times.  pull the ring up a bit and push it down with the piston to make sure it is square.  anyway once that is done and you see your initial measurement you then use your ring filing tool making sure to always file so the tool is rotating from outside to inside to prevent flaking the coating of the rings off.  then put it back in the bore and re measure until you get it to the gap you want.

on the ring set we used it has guidlines for how to set the gap.  basically you multiply the recommended gap times the bore.  so for a 4.030 bore you get .020 thousandths on the top ring and .024 on the second ring.  again the recommendation should be in the ring set packaging just make sure the second ring gap is wider than the top.  there are lots of good videos to show you how to do it.  it was actually not as bad as I was expecting.

btw that ring filing tool is obviously made to set the ring on the other way so it lays flat on the tool, but it seemed to me like I could see what i was doing better when I did it this way.  it worked so that is all that matters.

on a not so good note the guy I bought my used AFR heads from either lied or seriously abused those heads.  they look like they have a lot more miles on them than I was told so they are taking a while to get cleaned up.  we are putting new valve seals in and cleaning up the area under the valves I hope I don't need to have the valve seats replaced.

on a third note I decided to trade off my 2006 f250  I don't use it enough to tow to really justify it.  I decided I really needed a good f150 that can tow and be a reliable daily driver.  they gave me what I thought was a pretty good deal.  I will get some pictures of it when I can.


----------



## havasu

Are you saying the F250 is not a reliable daily driver? Why not?


----------



## Riff_Raff

Got it! Thanks.

For some reason I was trying to figure out how to measure the gap while it was on the piston. I see now.


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> Are you saying the F250 is not a reliable daily driver? Why not?




no, I am saying I don't need a 3/4 ton diesel pickup to drive from my house to the hospital everyday.  I do need a truck that will haul my trailer, and the other stuff I do, but I don't tow more than a couple times a year so an f250 is way over kill.  I also have decided I don't really like diesels.  I don't care for the noise, or having to add the antigel and powerstroke fuel additive all the time.  It is hard to park that big thing in a hospital parking lot etc...  alright you got me.  basically I wanted a new truck.  I didn't want to deal with the diesel engine again so I justified it in my own mind.  

so I bought a 2014 f150 lariat with the 3.5 eco boost engine.  it seems like a nice little rig.  it seems to have decent power and from everyone I have talked to it should work fine for what I need.  so far I am getting about 17.5 mpg but it only has 157 miles on it so I expect that to get a bit better once everything is broken in.  it has about every option you can get it seems so it is a pretty cool rig.  I paid off the f250 in march and my monthly payment for the new truck is 150 less than I was paying for the f250 so I figured what the heck.

best thing is it is Ford truck month so there is lots of incentives.  trade in assistance, rebate, lower interest rate.  and best of all they are offering a 3 year 36000 bumper to bumper and 5 year 100,000 mile drivetrain warranty.  and with ford roadside assistance I won't have to worry about anything breaking for a while.


----------



## oldognewtrick

And I bet the horn doesn't randomly blow at 3:00am in the morning either.


----------



## havasu

A buddy of mine just purchased a 2014 F 150. He loves it.


----------



## mustanggarage

well here it is.  2014 lariat with the eco boost.  moon roof, tailgate step. integrated trailer brake and trailer anti-sway.  all the goodies







I am going to have the bed liner and tonneau cover installed when they get in, I also ordered the chrome side moldings.  that is just a bit too much red right there lol.


----------



## Chris

Nice truck! I heard those can tow like no other. I'm a ford guy that drives a dodge because the dodge is like driving an F150, it turns sharp, I can park it anywhere, it gets about 20mpg and the cummins tows as much or more then my F250 did.


----------



## havasu

Next year the body is going to be aluminum, saving about 600 pounds for better gas mileage. I am a little skeptical about owning an aluminum body. Had one on my Porsche 928S4, and it was prone to easy denting.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Someday I want to get one...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMbmCVCHtRA[/ame]


----------



## havasu

They are fun, but those $1500 oil changes and $2000 tire changes every 10,000 miles are a killer!


----------



## oldognewtrick

You can't change the oil and rotate the tires?


----------



## havasu

They require the turbo belts be replaced every 5-10,000 miles. The tires are "z" rated, are tapered to the quadrant they fit on, and are so soft they need to be replaced every 10,000 miles.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Well, guess I'll stick with my old 88 Wrangler then.


----------



## Chris

Sounds like a dumb car to own. I'll stick with my bicycle.


----------



## havasu

It was dumb, but sure was fun. I had one of those rice grinders challenge me at the end of a freeway once. I blew his doors away at 160 MPH.


----------



## Chris

Must have been the 210, thats the only freeway I know of with a speed limit like that.


----------



## havasu

Exactly. From Lone Hill to Foothill in La Verne. My house (soon the ex's house) is just north of Foothill at the old end of the 210.


----------



## oldognewtrick

havasu said:


> Exactly. From Lone Hill to Foothill in La Verne. My house (soon the ex's house) is just north of Foothill at the old end of the 210.



Thought that chapter closed in your life already.


----------



## havasu

Still waiting for her to get a loan to buy me out of the house. THEN, I need to get yet ANOTHER attorney to kill the Living Will and Trust, THEN transfer the cars and boats into just my name, THEN transfer her house into her name and transfer the Havasu house into my name. Going on 4 years, yeah, I'm also tired of the long process.


----------



## Chris

I'm still working on my moms stuff trying to get names changed and all that, its a pain.


----------



## havasu

Yes, it certainly is.


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> They require the turbo belts be replaced every 5-10,000 miles. The tires are "z" rated, are tapered to the quadrant they fit on, and are so soft they need to be replaced every 10,000 miles.



porsche has a belt for the turbo?  how exactly does that work?


----------



## Chris

Can't work too well if you have to keep working on it. Heck my last diesel made almost 400k and is still running on the original.


----------



## mustanggarage

so he meant the accessory drive serpentine belt, I thought he was saying there was some kind of a belt on the turbo and I could not figure out what that was supposed to do lol.


----------



## havasu

That must have been it. I purchased it after the belt change and when I went to get the oil changed, and they pointed to the belts that needed replaced, I sold it.


----------



## Riff_Raff

Must be cam drive belts?


----------



## havasu

There were two belts, which went to the tops of the belts, so I'm guessing that was what it was. If the belts slipped a tooth, you would lunch your engine. This is why they recommended replacements often.


----------



## mustanggarage

got a bit done on the stroker engine.





first we lube up all the cam journals and carefully slide in the cam.  Dad likes to put the cam in first so that you can reach in and use both hands to slide the cam in.





lock down the the cam retaining plate.  this engine uses a torrington bearing behind the timing gear so we have to use special screws and the plate has to be machined properly to accept them.





next install the main bearings and lube them with royal purple max tuff assembly lube.




then we check the main bearing clearance with plastigauge.  all the clearances were within spec.

once that was confirmed we torqued the main bearing studs down in stages to 80 foot pounds.

then installed the pistons.  





I really like this tapered ring compressor it works very nicely.  make sure the rods are facing properly.





then put the timing chain on and degree in the cam.





then we had to go get my truck from the dealership.  they got the bedliner in and the chrome rocker moldings.  did not have time to get


----------



## mustanggarage

then we had to go get my truck from the dealership.  they got the bedliner in and the chrome rocker moldings.  they did not wash it when they were done so I will have to do that tomorrow, but here is a quick pic of how it looks now.


----------



## havasu

I have never seen the chrome rocker moldings. I like it.


----------



## mustanggarage

I like the chrome.  it is a dealer option.  I saw it on a blue truck and liked it a lot.  I also put the tonneau cover on it.  I like those truxedo tonneau covers.  I am really loving this truck so far.  everything works so nicely.  my wife does not like red vehicles for some reason but she even said she loves it.  it is so quiet, especially compared to the diesel lol.  the handsfree phone works so well and I am so used to my other vehicles she had to tell me I did not need to shout.  most everything is voice activated so it is easy.  I was not sold on that ecoboost engine.  but you really can't hear the turbo and it just feels like a very powerful v-8.  gas mileage is not awesome but not terrible I am getting about 17.5 mpg average so I won't complain.  I am not used to such luxury I almost feel guilty driving it.


----------



## mustanggarage

we finished up the short block today.  I ran into a bit of a snag though.  those used AFR heads I bought turned out to not be in nearly as good a shape as they were supposed to be.  so I am going to buy some new ones.  I used the old ones to check the piston to valve clearance and to measure the push rods.  then we put the front cover on.  dang chinese front cover the seal doesn't fit right.  I had to grind it off a bit to get it in.






when I put the front cover on I like to put the harmonic balancer on to center the balancer in the front cover seal before I tighten the bolts on the front cover.  then since most of the bolts holding the front cover on also go through the water pump I put it on as well.  be sure to pull the backing plate off and add sealer on both sides of the gasket and reinstall the backing plate before putting it on the engine.  




then we put the new oil pump and pickup on and checked the pickup to pan clearance with clay again before sealing up the one piece oilpan gasket on and buttoning up the bottom end.

I put a new oil filter on it and taped up the low oil sensor hole to reduce the dirt that can get in there.  then I put the old heads and new intake on temporarily and wrapped it back up in plastic to await the new heads and pushrods.  it will probably be 2-4 weeks before I get the new heads.


----------



## Riff_Raff

Nice blue paint on the block. Not only _could_ you eat off it, I _want_ to eat off it!


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks.  now I have to wait again for parts to arrive.  I have pretty much everything else I need to finish the engine.  but before I swap them I want to buy a new radiator and a new torque convertor.  also I still need fuel injectors and the computer chip then dyno tuning.  man this simple engine swap sure can get expensive.


----------



## mustanggarage

I also found out that the reason the seal fit wrong was becaause we put the seal in backwards.  it looks like that is the way it goes, and I have done it before so I don't know why I did it wrong this time, but whatever live and learn.  now I get to do it again.


----------



## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> I also found out that the reason the seal fit wrong was becaause we put the seal in backwards.  it looks like that is the way it goes, and I have done it before so I don't know why I did it wrong this time, but whatever live and learn.  now I get to do it again.



Oh, if it can go in two different ways, I will always choose the way that is wrong...


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> Oh, if it can go in two different ways, I will always choose the way that is wrong...



I did some research and found out that they changed the seal in the early 70's  so all the engines I have built before went in from the inside.  but not so in the 5.0  oh well live and learn.  that is why this is so much fun.  (keep telling myself that anyway.)


----------



## mustanggarage

Ok.  the new heads came today  Yeah.





first we put the guide plates and rocker studs on.  

then we put the new ford racing roller rockers in followed by the dog bones and the spider.





then torqued the new heads in place.  the ARP studs get torqued to 80 foot pounds.







then the push rods followed by the new comp cams roller rockers.





then we put the lower intake manifold on.  the way we do it is we don't use the front and rear galley gasket pieces we just run a thick bead of RTV along the front and back.  then I use two 5/16 bolts that are about 6 inches long and have the heads cut off with a cut off wheel. I thread those in finger tight one on each side of the engine and use that to guide the intake manifold down.  then start bolts in the front and rear as I set it down.  this keeps the gasket from slipping and makes sure it goes down straight every time. 






then the BBK shorty headers.  these are not the valve covers I plan to use.  they were just some left over from another project and I put them on just to keep the dirt out of the engine.  I plan to use the valve covers that are currently on the engine in the car now.









so now we are ready to pull the engine from the convertible and swap this one in.  everything is ready to go.  I probably won't do that until christmas though.  that will be the next time I get enough time to do it.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Are you sure you want to put that in the Mustang? It makes a really nice piece of garage art sitting on the engine stand...


----------



## Chris

I'll give you $180 American for that motor. Just think it will save you the hassle of having to pull a motor.


----------



## Barrie

Nice work!!!!!  View attachment 2438
  Those heads look like a work of art to me.


----------



## mustanggarage

well this is kind of funny in a "what an idiot I am kind of way".  this stroker engine idea came about because I had a rear main seal leak.  that would require pulling the engine or trans and it snowballed from that.  so I put it up on the lift today to get ready for swapping engines and I found, guess what? I don't actually have a rear main seal leak, I have a leak from the low oil level sender.  took my crescent wrench and snugged it up a bit, and no more leak.  oh well lol I wanted to build a stroker for a while and that was just an excuse anyway, but it is funny.  just can't let my wife know or I may end up brutally murdered or at least placed on a very strict allowance for a while.  I guess I am going to have to take her on a really good vacation this winter lol.


----------



## Riff_Raff

Sweet motor!


----------



## oldognewtrick

MG, we'll keep the secret between ourselves.


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> MG, we'll keep the secret between ourselves.



thanks  I knew I could count on you guys lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

just a little update here.  I have been working on the car a bit when I have some time away from work and I can afford to get dirty.  with my job those two things don't happen all that often.  anyway since I have never done any work on 5.0 engine and neither has my Dad.  so I had this old label machine that I bought for my office that i no longer used.  I decided to use it to label my lines and connectors as I took them apart.  





I also did a couple video's to show the engine I pulled was running great.  no problems just had a few oil leaks that needed fixing lol.









then I bought a box of ziplock bags and a sharpy and put the bolts from each small section of work into an individual ziplock so I would not have trouble figuring out where the bolts go.  each bag then went into a box set on my workbench.  and pictures were taken as I took it apart.

first step drain the fluids.  water and oil 

then remove the battery and battery tray.

then the fan shroud was removed and slid onto the fan.  
then pull the radiator.

then pull the belt.

then since the front accessory brackets are always a pain to figure out how they go back together I took pictures as they came apart.

alternator wiring.





powersteering and ac bracket




alternator bracket




outer powersteering bracket removed.  powersteering pump and ac pump moved out of the way and wired up where they would not be in the way.  this is the back bracket for the powersteering pump.





then pulled the intake manifold.  this is how the vacuum etc goes on under the manifold.








I had already disconnected the throttle cables and the egr, tps, and iac connectors and carefully labeled them.

then I removed the fuel lines and rails.  I had a heck of a time getting the fuel lines apart.  I had the correct tool but I did not realize you had to twist them and pull pretty hard after releasing them with the tool.  but I got them loose.

then pulled the starter, exhaust, bellhousing bolts, dust shield and torque converter bolts.

then made sure everything was loose and pulled the engine.


----------



## mustanggarage

while I had it out I spent some time with a pressure washer and some engine degreaser although it did not really look like it after I got it back in the shop sadly.  this thing looked good from the top but underneath it was a greasy mess.  anyway.  after I cleaned it up as good as I could, or rather until I got sick of working on it, we pushed the car back inside.  then we replaced the front seal on the transmission and put a quart of atf in the new 2200 convertor and put it in to the transmission. 
so we pulled off the stuff we needed from the old engine and cleaned it up a bit






in that picture you can also see the mechanical oilpressure gauge in place so we could make sure everything worked right when we spun up the oilpump and preoiled everything.  I also had the valve covers off so we could see the oil coming up into the valvetrain.

then we put the new thermostat in place.  

this rubberband trick makes that a lot easier. 





  then we dropped the new engine in place.  

I do not know if this is typical for this car because I have mostly worked on classic mustangs, however for some reason the torque convertor would not slide back far enough into the bellhousing to allow it to spin freely when we pulled the old engine, and this turned out to be a major pain when we dropped the new engine.  because of course the bolts on the convertor did not line up with the flex plate and we had to get the transmission jack out and lift the transmission and finagle the torque convertor into the proper alignment and of course the studs were wedged against the flexplate.  anyway we finally got everything lined up and bolted up the bellhousing and motor mounts.





I powdercoated the powersteering bracket and painted the belt tensioner and alternator bracket assembly with alumablast paint.





then I hooked up all the wiring harness and put the battery in temporarily and cycled the fuel pump a couple of times to make sure I had no fuel leaks.





then the new intake manifold and the chrome powersteering cover.  and the wiring harness.  





I still have to put the alternator on, and i have a new fan I need to swap because the old one was broken in several places.  I have to figure out what I am going to do with that shroud too.  I think I will try to paint it, it is so faded it looks brown and it is terribly ugly.  and I still need to put the h pipe back on and hook up the o2 sensors.  but I am getting closer.

I forgot to mention that these valve covers had to be modified to fit with my roller rockers.  the little splash baffle in there hit on 2 of the rocker studs.  a little judicious use of the die grinder and some manual molding of the baffle and everything clears.  there is still plenty of room for ventilation and the oil should still flow in with no problems. 


and before anyone asks yes I am going to remove all the labels I just need to sneak a pair of sharp scissors out of the house without my wife catching me lol.


----------



## Chris

Wow! Great work! I remember back when I had that kind of time.


----------



## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> Wow! Great work! I remember back when I had that kind of time.



Yeah I don't really get a lot of time, but I spend a bit here and there.  I had last weekend off so i spent one whole day swapping the engine.  just getting the old one out and the new one in. but prior to that I started dissassembling things and powdercoating and cleaning parts. I usually have an hour or two a night to tinker after the kids go to bed.  and an hour here and an hour there and I eventually get it done.

I did not do all this at one time I just finally got around to updating my progress.   remember the engine was built in october so not so terribly fast lol.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Very nice MG!


----------



## mustanggarage

got a bit more done the last couple days.  

alternator is in, new fan, powdercoated the pulley, new shorter belt, cap, rotor plug wires and wire looms.
I also got the cold air intake back on.





then I tackled that old ugly radiator and fan shroud.  the radiator had been leaking at the drain plug so I took a wire brush and some carb cleaner and compressed air and cleaned it real thoroughly then painted with eastwood radiator paint.  (man I sound like an eastwood advertisement lol.  but I do get a lot of stuff from them).

then I spent some time scrubbing the fan shroud and the overflow bottle.  the overflow cleaned up surprisingly well with some soap and water and a bit of carb cleaner.  then I painted the shroud with some crylon fusion paint, I chose a semi gloss black so it would look more like stock, and I carefully masked off the sticker for the ten pin plug retrofit.  I do not know how well it will hold up but it looks a lot better to my eye.


----------



## Barrie

Looks great!!!  Nice work. View attachment 2517


----------



## oldognewtrick

It appears very close to startup...


----------



## Chris

I want one.


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks.  yes it is getting pretty close to startup.  I need to hook up the transmission lines, the lower radiator hose fill the fluids, put the exhaust crossover on and hook up the o2 sensors then swap the fuel pump and filter and it is ready to start.


----------



## oldognewtrick

So, this weekend huh?


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> So, this weekend huh?



probably not.  I am on call for 3 counties this weekend and I will be running.  plus I decided to go ahead and swap the fuel pump and maf before I try to start it.  so probably sometime next week.


----------



## mustanggarage

gotta catch up to where I am at on the build.  sohere is another episode of "dang it I know better than that" lol.  

I got all the hoses on the engine and put the antifreeze in, and let it set for a while and... crap antifreeze running down the front of my engine.  it was coming from the thermostat housing.  I pulled the t-stat housing off again.  this was a new housing I bought from summit if I remember correctly.  anyway I had intended to check the mating surface before I put it on, but we got in a hurry.  Dad put it on while I was working on pulling the sensors and stuff off the old engine.  long story short there was a high spot on the new housing.  I put it on a mirror and you could see right where it was leaking.  so I put a sheet of 400 grit sandpaper on the mirror and rubbed the thermostat housing on the sandpaper until all the mating surfaces were shiny.  then put a new gasket on with sealer on both sides of the gasket.  again using my rubberband trick.  then carefully reinstalled the housing.  let it set for an hour, snug up the bolts some more, let it set over night and put the water in, pressurize it with Dads pressure tester and it seems to be working.  what a pain.  anyway no big deal just more fun in the garage lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

one thing I try to do on my threads is to post my failures as well as my successes.  I like to think someone may look at what I have done and use it to prevent them from making the same mistake.  I feel if I just put up what I got right it is kind of dishonest in a way.

 so having said that I had another setback today.  I got the thermostat housing to stop leaking and thought everything was good, then I saw coolant under the car,   frustratedx frustratedx frustratedx  turns out I have two more problems first I had coolant leaking out of the evaporator hose on the firewall  never saw that before, but I guess when I pressurized the system I exposed the problem.  that will have to wait until I get the engine sorted out however.

the next problem is probably a lack of experience problem.  I decided since I was spending so much money on this build that I would use ARP head studs instead of head bolts like I have always used before.  well I found out a few things first of all it would be good to understand the instructions a bit better.  I watched some videos on the studs and I thought I understood what they were saying and that I needed to use this arp ultra torque lubricant on the studs.  so I bought that stuff and used it.  I have always used head bolts before and never had a problem but apparently the threads on the studs are rolled and the holes in the block are cut so the bottom head studs had coolant seeping up them.  I have never had that problem before.

now I have not even tried to start this engine yet so the only pressure on it was from the radiator tester and I kept it under 16 psi.  so I know the head gaskets are still ok.  so I did some research and it seems people have had good luck removing one stud at a time and sealing them with permatex ultra black.

so that is what I did.  pulled the headers back off.  I still haven't hooked up the h pipe so that was relatively easy, and since I used header studs it made that part much easier.

then having previously drained the radiator again,     I pulled the back head stud.  of course a bunch of coolant started coming out of the block but I had planned for that at least I had my shop vac that I put a piece of 3/8 tubing on the end and taped it with electrical tape to hold it in, it fit right down the hole perfectly and I was able to suck the coolant out with minimal mess. 

then I used a bore cleaning brush and brake clean to scrub the threads thoroughly and vacuumed them again.  then stuck a rag down the hole with an allen wrench to dry the threads.  I did not use compressed air because that caused coolant to splash the first time I tried.  then I coated the stud with ultra black, ran it down the hole, removed it recoated it with ultra black and put it back in.  then torqued the nut down.

rinse and repeat on all the studs.  left it set for 24 hours and refilled with water this time.

pressurized it for 3 hours at 16 psi  no leaks from the studs just from the stupid heater core


I did accomplish a couple of things this week though.  first I have spent a lot of money on this project so I was trying to cheap out and not do a couple things I knew I needed to, but a couple guys on modded mustangs set me straight.  one guy sent me a calibrated maf senser that I installed.  I was having some trouble getting my stupid cold air intake to fit, it has always fit kind of funky so I decided to do something about it.  I had to cut the tubing a bit as it was too long so I put a hose clamp around it, cut it with a hack saw.





you can see how I bent the stupid thing trying to get it to go together.  anyway after cutting a bit of the tubing off it fits much better.

then I swapped to a 255 lph fuel pump.  I decided to paint the tank insulator and straps while I had it out

I took several pictures of pulling the tank but there are some good videos on utube that describe it pretty well.







tomorrow Dad is coming over and we will put the exhaust on, put some fuel in the tank and maybe try and start the beast.  then have to see all the other little things I have to fix   facepalm1


----------



## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> one thing I try to do on my threads is to post my failures as well as my successes.  I like to think someone may look at what I have done and use it to prevent them from making the same mistake.  I feel if I just put up what I got right it is kind of dishonest in a way.



Making mistakes is how we learn, we've all been there before and understand that things don't always go the way we hoped and planned.

Thanks for the mirror trick, I'll file that one away for future use.


----------



## mustanggarage

glad to hear I could help.  I have learned so much from other people on different forums it is nice to occasionally help someone else out.

and...
  Dad came over and helped me manhandle that stupid h pipe into place, man what a pain in the butt that was.  once we got that in we connected the low oil pressure sensor and the O2 sensors,  pulled the distributor spout jumper and it fired on the first try.    we had to fiddle with the idle adjustment a bit, and it is still idling a bit fast but I will leave it that way until I can get it over to have it dyno tuned.  that will have to wait a bit I had to spend some of the money that I had set aside for the dyno to get the fuel pump and the maf sensor.  So i Will park it for a bit until I can get that done but basically it is done for now.  I am excited to get it out and drive it, but I think I will wait until I get it dyno'd before I do that.  


anyway here is a short video of it after we adjusted the idle.


----------



## mustanggarage

put the hood back on, started it, adjusted the TPS and the IAC,  thanks utube.  then backed it out of the garage, and..... backed it back in the other side to my parking section of the shop, cleaned it up put the battery tender on it, and put the cover on it.  now I will wait until I can get it over to the dyno shop.  I am looking forward to a couple things there.  first I have never seen a dyno tune session so hopefully they will let me watch.  secondly I am looking forward to seeing how my new truck will pull that trailer.


----------



## mustanggarage

crowned the 331 stroker install today.  I got the last bit of bling to cover up that windshield wiper motor that was looking so ugly.  UPR windshield wiper motor cover.


before








after


----------



## havasu

Very clean!...........


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## mustanggarage

ok next installment on finding new ways to toss money down the abyss that is my mustang habit.

I really like the look of a sportbar in a convertible and I had been wanting to find one for a while.  I found out that latemodel restoration sells them now, but on there website they say that you have to buy the 90-93 interior quarter panels in order to make it work.  So I found a set on ebay.  I ordered them and when I got them they were broken up and just generally a mess so I sent them back and found another set.  so I bought those.  in the mean time the bar arrived and I opened the instructions and found instructions for installation in an 89 mustang.  so I decided I would go ahead and install them using the stock 89 quarters just to show it can be done.  and then I will probably send the new ones back also.

first I had to repair my quarters.  one of the mounting corners was broken.  I saw that plastic staple repair system from eastwood on a recent episode of trucks and decided I could do something similar.




I took a piece of wire from my mig welder and positioned as above.

then I used my soldering gun and held heat on the wire until the wire melted into the plastic.




that is of course under the panel.  on the top I used the soldering iron to melt the plastic and merge the two pieces.  then I sanded the plastic down and coated it with jb weld.  once it hardens I will sand it down and paint it.




after that I cut the template out of the instructions and carefully marked it on the panel and drilled a 1 3/4 inch hole.






then make a slit in the vinyl and peel it back.




then you are supposed to cut a 3/4 inch strip to the edge of the panel after removing the dew wipes.  I found it needs to be a bit bigger.  at the end you are supposed to put that piece back and glue the vinyl back down.  I found that it was easier if I riveted a small piece of plastic to the removed piece to hold it in place.




next you have to remove a couple bolts from the inside of the vehicle just behind the door latch.  position the bar and loosely tighten the new bolts in place.




then comes the hard part.  position the panel around the sport bar and put the previosly removed piece back in place after tightening the anchor bolts on the sports bar.

then you have to put the new dew wipes back in place.  that is difficult.  but once I got it into position and replace all the screws.  put the seats back in and this is the result.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Did you get it dyno'd yet?


----------



## mustanggarage

no.  I am having some issues with the transmission.  it has a leak from the front end.  I don't know what it is from but it looks like I am going to have to pull the transmission now.  grrrrrrrrrr.  oh well  once it is done I will just have to find a new project so might as well have fun with this one a bit longer.


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## Barrie

Nice work, great post. View attachment 2546


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## mustanggarage

it seems that the trouble I had getting the torque converter lined up when I dropped the engine is what is now causing my transmission troubles.  it seems AOD transmissions are notoriously fickle about getting the torque converter lined up, and with the stall converter I am using it agravated the problem.  apparently if you don't coach the torque converter in instead of working it in like I did it causes the front seal to fail very quickly.  so I am going to replace the front pump and seal.  I considered several options. just swapping in a new monster or tci AOD, converting to a 4r70w, rebuilding this transmission or going all the way and swapping to manual. I decided since this trans was working fine before I did the swap I would just replace the front pump and seal and run it till it dies then either swap in a 5 speed or a new monster transmission.  This way I should still be able to get the car dyno'd.  I have it scheduled with the dyno shop for March 6th.  I want to watch them do it so I need to do it on a weekend off and that will be my first weekend off after I get back from my conference in february.  I should have all the stuff I need to get the car back together this weekend.  I have the new torque converter, when the seal went out it really scuffed up the torque converter so I had to buy another new torque converter.  but I am waiting on the new pump and the new block plate.  I am going to put a second blockplate in place to give me a bit more space for the torque converter to move as it is it is just too tight.


----------



## mustanggarage

well I finally got the new front seal, and I bought a new 2200 stall converter to go with it, and tonight I lifted it into place.  I bought this little transmission jack off amazon for 110.00 and wow did that ever make the job easier.






  it slid right in, no fuss no muss.  I have about an 1/8 inch of play between the flex plate and torque converter and everything slipped together smoothly so I believe everything should work this time. I have used it for several things it helped to get the tank out for the fuel pump install.  it also helps to hold the exhaust while we are lining it up.  (I love cool tools).   I will probably finish up getting everything hooked up on saturday.  My Dad had to be out of town for a couple days and I know he is going to want to check it over and make sure I did it right lol so I will not tighten up the torque converter bolts yet.  I will drop the pan tomorrow and put the new filter in.  finish hooking everything up and set the tv valve so everything will be ready.  I will also wait to put the starter back in so we can inspect the torque converter etc.  seriously though that stupid starter is the hardest thing I have had to do on this car.  is there a trick I am missing for putting those stupid starter bolts in and getting them out.  that is a major pain in the butt lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

It turns out the transmission had more problems than I thought.  I found out as I was trying to get everything installed that I had a torrington bearing go out.  I believe it was out before I put the new engine in.  the car always was hard to push in neutral and it always made a screeching noise.  I always had just put it off to the disk breaks.  I don't know why but I never really thought about.  when I pulled the front pump off to replace it, it had allowed some of the chunks to become displaced so when I tightened up the pump bolts nothing turned properly.  so anyway pulled it back out.  and tore it down.  tonight I ordered a tci superstreet rebuild kit and I will be rebuilding it next week hopefully.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Hows the Wrangler doing?


----------



## mustanggarage

I had to replace the steering gearbox recently because it was leaking all over the garage.  so I got to play with it for a couple days.  other than that my daughter has totally monopolized it.  she is dead set that is her jeep.  she loves it.  anyway it is a fun toy.  before she goes off to college I am going to have to do something I suppose.  probably I should rebuild the engine.  or put in a crate engine.  it is almost cheaper to do that.  this one has 130000 miles and it has always had a lot of what I think is  valve noise that makes me nervous so that will be a project for the next couple of years.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Jeeps are a lot like Harleys...if they're not leaking it's cause they're out of oil.


----------



## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> Jeeps are a lot like Harleys...if they're not leaking it's cause they're out of oil.



Yeah I have heard that, I have also heard that it's not leaking it's just marking it's territory lol.  but the leaking from the steering was pretty excessive and the steering was a little loose.  I probably could have adjusted the worm gear a bit and improved it, but with both problems it was better to just replace the gear.  I did learn one important tip though this time if anyone ever has to do this job.  it is really very easy to do I could have had the whole swap done in a couple hours if I had simply removed the stupid pinion nut before I dropped the gear out of the car.  it is easy to get leverage on that nut when it is attached to the jeep.  My Dad has a 3/4 inch ratchet/torque wrench combo that is over 3 feet long so I can get some serious torque with it but since I already had it out I was using his 3/4 inch impact wrench and it did not want to get it loose.  I had to whack it with a hammer a few times and oil up the impact and let it hammer away for a bit and finally it spun it loose.  anyway just for future reference remove the nut before you pull the gear.  I did wait to torque it back on until I had it all back  together and on the ground so I do learn eventually lol.

here is dad's torque wrench next to my 1/2 inch drive torque wrench.





the interesting thing about that wrench is that it has a removeable portion that is the torque wrench part and a handle you can put in place so it is just a ratchet. Dad always says to never use a torque wrench to loosen bolts so that part makes it useful for that purpose.  plus I have a nice long chunk of pipe to use as a cheater lol.

btw here is a current picture of the transmission.


----------



## mustanggarage

got my monster in a box kit on friday.  it has all the correct seals, new bushings and bearings, clutches and steels.  pretty much everything I needed





UPS didn't get there until about 6:00  and I had to leave for my conference saturday morning early, but we wanted to get started anyway.

a few years ago when we built the transmission for my daughter and I was still finishing my garage I built this table specifically to rebuild her transmission.  I used it again this time it really works very well for my purposes.  I looked into buying one of those commercial transmission fixtures but they cost over 200.00 mine cost me a couple 2x4's and some screws.






the hole in the bench is for putting the output shaft etc. through, again makes it easier and there is a pan underneath to catch the dripping atf.









my computer with my how to rebuild your AOD dvd in it to step by step remind me how to do it.  and it gives all the specs etc.  

here is the center support from the transmission  it was looking kind of beat up and rough so I got a new one from WIT transmission parts.  we replaced all the bushings and all the torrington bearings during the build.  since the planetary gear set is not really user serviceable I got a new one of those from WIT as well.  





the clutches and steels were looking really bad, I am amazed I had not realized how bad the transmission was before I started building my engine.  this should have been my first project.





this is one of the tools I bought to rebuild sarah's transmission.  I suppose you could use c clamps to do this but this tool works very well.  I bought it from the same place I got the dvd.





and this is my lip seal installation set.  this kit is pretty much essential for this job.












we got most of it done.  we got the front pump installed and at first we could not seem to get the total endplay adjusted properly.  once we put it all together and inserted the small input shaft and checked that everything was turning right we rechecked it and everything was in spec.  so the main rebuild is buttoned up. I also bought a tci constant pressure valve body that I need to install when I get back, and a new chrome pan with a draing plug.  we could have finished but it was after 1:00 am and I needed to get up at 6 to get to the airport so we decided to just stick the pan back on temporarily and finish when I get back.


----------



## mustanggarage

I am back to work on the transmission.  So after we got the center support in on that last picture we put in the forward sungear with its torrington bearing.   



then the sun gear shell gear, and its bearing,  that is the bearing.  that was destroyed when I took it apart.



.
after that you install the overdrive band, and then the reverse clutch assembly.  this is an area where we did some improving.  this groove is where a snap ring resides.  it is frequently broken on these aod's and the snap ring off in the aod.  this snap ring holds the roller clutch Assembly in place.  the monster transmission kit and indeed most high performance rebuilds recommend replacing that snap ring with a spiral snap-ring and lock.  fortunately my snap ring groove was in good condition.  sometimes that lip is broken or rounded off and you have to replace the reverse drum. 



this is the original snap ring.






and the replacement.





so once that is installed and seated the second gear pressure plate, clutches, and steels are installed. this brings the case almost all the way up to the top.




  next we have to install the front pump.  since I was not sure if I damaged the front pump when my seal leaked I had planned to just replace the pump and seal so I found a n.o.s.  front pump on eBay complete with new seal 
 I installed the sealing rings and the piston with new lip seals and the set the total end play.  we struggled with this a bit.  the way you do it is once you have the main transmission assembled you take the front pump and install it with the original thrust washer and no square cut gasket then tighten two bolts and then place a vice grip on the shaft flat at the base and press up on the tail-shaft then slip a feeler gauge beneath the vice grip.  it should be between .020 and .045 inches.  At first we could not get any end play we tried everything but it was just tight.  we used the thinnest thrust washer and everything.  finally we decided to put it together and do some reading on what to do now.  so we put the pump in lubricated well and torqued the bolts to 18 foot pounds then inserted the input shaft to make sure everything turned properly.  after we did that we decided to check the end play again and at that point it seemed we had a bit of end play so we measure id and mine measures between .025 and .030  so it is good with the thrust washer I am using.  if it is too much end-play you have to use a different thickness of thrust washer.  and the monster kit comes with a selection. 




the top one is the one that was in the transmission,




next the monster kit comes with a new A plus overdrive servo, spring and lock ring that is also an upgrade over stock.





I also ordered a hardened input shaft and it should be here soon but UPS is having weather issues lol.

---------- Post added at 11:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:51 PM ----------

after putting the overdrive servo, 2,3 accumulator and reverse band servo in it is time to install the valve body.  this is another area I decided to improve.  I bought a tci constant pressure valve body.  this takes a lot of the stress out of getting the tv cable adjusted properly.  it is still important to adjust it right but it if it is not adjusted right it will shift poorly not destroy the transmission so a big improvement in my mind.  it also has a shift improvement kit in it so it should hold better and improve durability.  the only difference in installing it is that the tv return spring is not engaged in the separator plate like it is in a normal valve body installation.  Other than that is what it says in the instructions I don't know why.

install the eight short bolts in the position you took them out to locate the valve body.  then install the long bolts.  torque them all to 90 inch pounds.  (this is a great opportunity to use my Dad's snap on inch pound torque wrench.  I have a craftsman but that snap on is just so nice.  yes I am a tool nerd)


----------



## mustanggarage

this is how the shift selector and tv arm fit.




also if you ever have the valve body out for some reason I highly suggest you replace the selector arm seals.  with the valve body out it is easy to do, if you blow the picture up you can see that little roll pin right near the selector arm.  pull that out with a small pair of side cutters and remove the nut locking the tv rooster comb on the shaft and both arms come out. 

 there is a seal on both the pan and inside the bore of the shift selector.  I forgot to replace those on my daughters car and had to pull the pan back off and do it later because sure as heck it started leaking.






after the valve body is of course a new filter and new filter gaskets
then a new summit chrome drain pain with a drain plug so next time I pull this stupid trans I can drain the fluid through that.   although with my lift funnel and transmission drain pain it is not to bad anyway.


after the drain pan you need to dissassemble the governor and clean it with carb cleaner. 



 until the plunger moves freely and it is very clean and without burrs.  then reassemble and install on the tail shaft use petroleum jelly to hold the little ball in place.  reinstall the snap ring and put the tailshaft back on.  this is just on for the picture. I still need to replace the bushing and seal in the tailshaft but I am going to wait until Dad comes over.  he is really good at bushing replacement so I will leave that job for him. lol.  







so the transmission is basically done.  Installing the torque convertor is really critical on this transmission I have learned it is easy to do wrong.  I test fit the torque convertor by first lubricating the seal and the shaft of the torque convertor then installing it and measuring it to make sure it is fully seated.  since kev 5.0 mentioned how important that is I did a video on how it goes on.  I hate videoing myself I feel stupid so I look even more stupid and awkward than I really am but it gets the salient points across.


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## StingRayCaretaker

Your going to be really upset if it doesn't work after all that. 

My 95 YJ had a weak transmission and a four cylinder that didn't look like a power house.  Found a guy building a mud toy with a four hundred hp. Chevrolet small block. I bought his rebuilt 6 cylinder, trans, transfer case, axles, radiator, fuel tank, and perfect hardtop plus everything else he discarded for seven hundred dollars. Took my body off the frame and welded up the rear spring shackle mounts ( they looked tweaked ),  blasted and painted everything.  Made new motor mounts and bolted it back together. Bought a set of hard doors. For less than two grand I have a short wheel base toy.  Wife prefers the Kubota RTV 1100 with the big glass cab, heat,  air and automatic transmission.


----------



## StingRayCaretaker

mustanggarage said:


> Okay it is completely installed, it goes up and down.  the cables have been adjusted and all the anchor bolts are in.  I need to give it a couple days, and retorque all the bolts and then we are ready to lift a car.:rockin:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> dang it, laying down on the job again.  you just can't find good help these days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> well what do you think guys?


Fantastic shop.  Great place to hide with a four legged friend.  Whats the secret with two air compressors ?  I have a Quincy that puts out more than the sand blaster needs.  Didn't include a bathroom in mine.  Huge mistake.

In the process of installing a 10k Rotary asmetrical lift.  Could have purchased some foreign made units much cheaper but with four thousand pounds hanging over my head I wanted what the repair shops had.  Interviewed several and most went with Rotary.  Besides the big red beast looks good, especially with an old Corvette hanging on it.  Never saw an armored car follow a funeral procession anyway.


----------



## mustanggarage

StingRayCaretaker said:


> Your going to be really upset if it doesn't work after all that.
> .




thanks for that  as if I wasn't nervous enough already lol.


I got impatient waiting for Dad to come over so I decided to man up and press the bushing into the tail shaft myself.  I stuck it in the freezer for about an hour then using dads cam bearing installation tool I set it up in my press.  I bought this press from harbor freight for about 100 bucks shipped to my house.





  I bought it when we were doing the ring and pinion swap and rebuilding the differential a couple years ago.  I decided rather than spend the 400 dollars it would cost to have someone else swap the gears I would buy this cheapo press and see if we could make it do the job.  surprisingly it worked fine.  yes it is cheap, no it is not heavy duty or of high quality, but heck it works.  after buying it I also used it to swap ujoints in my old yj.  so I have gotten my moneys worth out of it, and it came in handy again.  I set the tail shaft up in the press, and pressed it in, in less than a minute.  easy peazy.




the only important thing is to make sure the oil feed hole is lined up properly.





then I used a big socket to press the seal on. 




new gasket and bolt it up.

then I finished up everything else.  the starter.  I finally figured out if I use a wobble extension and my long extension I can go in over the motor mount to tighten that top starter bolt.  next time I have to take that out it will be easier.

I still have not figured out an easy way to install that stupid h pipe.  that thing is a booger.  I have it in, the shifter and tv bracket bolted up, drive shaft, o2 sensors everything.  then I got my MAF back from Pro M.  they said they had to flow it again to get me the transfer sheet,  

oh and Kev  they put the screen back in it, they said that having the screen out would somehow mess up the reading. any way I installed that and my new bbk cold air intake.  my old cold air intake was really scratched up, and this one has blue so it matches lol.









I also put in a transmission cooler.  that goes in by basically cutting the return transmission line with a tubing cutter.  it is the line coming out of the bottom hole in the AOD and going into the bottom hole in the radiator.  I cut it, used my new double flare tubing flare tool for the first time, attached the two rubber hoses and mounted the cooler low on the radiator in front of the ac condensor.

then I added 4 quarts of atf started the car for a couple seconds.  it fired right up again btw (I have to admit I was nervous to try it after all this.)  then added 4 more quarts, started it again and put it reverse on the lift and let it run for a couple seconds then neutral and put the brakes on, shift to drive let it run a few seconds, neutral, brake and park.  check fluid level added 3 more quarts of atf and it looks like it is full right now.  I will have to get it out on the road soon and drive it a bit and check it again.  

I have no fluid leaks at this time, but I have a nasty exhaust leak from that stupid passenger side collector.  I am going to try to get that fixed tomorrow.  Dad says he can get it we will see. 

anyway everything seems to be working right.  I am now ready to put the hood back on if I can get someone to give me a hand in the next day or so lol.  I am tired tonight though so I am quitting for the night.


----------



## mustanggarage

StingRayCaretaker said:


> Fantastic shop.  Great place to hide with a four legged friend.  Whats the secret with two air compressors ?  I have a Quincy that puts out more than the sand blaster needs.  Didn't include a bathroom in mine.  Huge mistake.
> 
> In the process of installing a 10k Rotary asmetrical lift.  Could have purchased some foreign made units much cheaper but with four thousand pounds hanging over my head I wanted what the repair shops had.  Interviewed several and most went with Rotary.  Besides the big red beast looks good, especially with an old Corvette hanging on it.  Never saw an armored car follow a funeral procession anyway.



basically the small air compressor was mine.  I bought it years ago when I lived in nebraska.  My Dad had the big one and when he moved out here he brought it and all his tools.  so I just hooked them both up.  I rarely use my little one any more, but sometimes when I am using my bead blast cabinet the extra air can be useful.

the rotary would be nice.  my eagle lift was cheap and so far it has worked great.  I have even lifted my wifes old lincoln navigator and my old f250 with it and those are some heavy vehicles.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Well? Updates????


----------



## mustanggarage

had some issues at home and work.  I had to cancel the dyno appt.  I will have to wait until I can take another day off.  but the car is running and driving and things seem to be working.  I just don't have time to take it 70 miles and spend the day to have it dyno'd.  I will update as soon as I have something to say.  

however on a positive note one of my friends at work had to get rid of their dog.  He kept killing their chickens.  He is a 7 month old AKC registered German Shepherd pup, and she said I was the only one she wanted to have him I guess because she knows how much I love dogs. so anyway this whole weekend I have been training a new pup.

  he is a going to be a great garage dog once I get him trained a bit.  already I have to be careful when I back up because he is constantly by my side.  if I sit at the computer he lays by my feet, if I am working he is right there.  and he has a bark you can hear for miles.  













So it is a good weekend after all.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Good looking pup you have there MG.


----------



## havasu

What a beautiful shepherd!


----------



## mustanggarage

it has been a while since I have done anything to the 67.  My daughter has been driving it on special occasions, but she is very careful of it and does not want to get it damaged so it tends to set for long periods of time between driving.  this has led to problems with it not wanting to start when the time comes as you have to pump the heck out of it to get the fuel pumped back to the carb.  I could have just put in an electric fuel pump and it would have fixed the problem, but I wanted to do something a bit more adventurous.  Initially when I started this project I thought I would just swap in the 5.0 with the original fuel injection.  however due to being unfamiliar with efi, and due to cost etc. I decided to just go with the carb.  well I began rethinking that after going through the build on my yj fuel injection conversion and the 89 engine build.  I am now much more comfortable with efi so I decided I wanted to convert it.  but I really don't care for the late model style intake manifolds and MPFI in a classic mustang,  just personal preference I guess so I started looking at some of these square bore throttle body conversions and decided to go with the mds atomic due to several reasons.  primarily they seemed to have the best reviews.  so I ordered some parts.





I had several more decisions to make to decide how to procede on this project.  I had to decide whether to use a return line, or a returnless system.  I had to decide where to mount the fuel pump.  and where to mount the computer.  I decided to go with the return line because in reading the recommendations the returnless system really was not suitable to my application.  so having made that decision I ordered some more fuel line which was on back order.  so I had to post pone the conversion until after prom because my daughter is a junior this year and she wanted to have her date drive her in her car to the prom.  lots of kids borrow hotrods and fancy cars for this so it made me feel good that she wanted to take her car.

because of that I did some tuning and added a couple of pony lights to the door for a little extra bling when the valets opened the door.  I did not tell her I did it so she was just as excited as I could have hoped when her date opened the door for her.  and the valets were suitably impressed with the car and unofficially voted it the coolest car of the evening.


----------



## mustanggarage

ok.  so after prom I continued to collect parts.  I used all russell lines with -6AN fittings so naturally nobody locally had anything I needed so I had to order parts and wait, order parts and wait etc.  I can never seem to figure out all the parts I am going to need before I start so it tends to be a  lot of waiting lol.  anyway back when I had originally considered this project Ron morris made a sending unit with provisions for a return line that but I could not find a source for one of those.  I found what I now consider a better albeit more expensive solution.  I found a company that sells fuel tanks for a 67 mustang with baffles and provisions for an in tank fuel pump like a late model mustang and sending unit that is compatible with an early style gauge.





it comes painted so I just sprayed it with a few coats of clear coat to protect it a bit.  as you can see the stamping where the original sending unit went is not punched out.  the fuel pump and sending unit are a universal design so you have to measure and modify them to fit in the tank but it is not that hard and it has provision for an original style filler neck.  so I installed all of that and swapped tanks.






I was still waiting on some hose fittings because I ordered the wrong stupid things.  so I went ahead and swapped the intakes.  when I first built this engine I re-used an old performer 289 intake that I had powdercoated.  however after the radiator hose popped off because I forgot to tighten the clamp adequately it was doused with hot antifreeze and over time it began to discolor so I decided to swap in one of those nice endurashine manifolds while I was at it.





unfortunately while both manifolds are edelbrock performer 289 they are not the same.  the new one only had one hole for the temp sending unit.  the original had 3 holes I could use.  2 were plugged.  the new one did have a boss where the original one was however so Dad and I drilled and tapped it.





blew it out with a lot of compressed air and then hooked it up.  then I went ahead and hooked up all the water lines, filled it with water and put the radiator pressure tester on it.  fixed the inevitable small leaks and it was good to go for the next step.   a very nice improvement I think.










ok.  so I finally got all my fittings in so I started running lines.  I had previously used braided line for my fuel fuel line so I re-used it for the return line.  I was not certain it was rated for efi use and did not want to take the chance.  since I had to order new line anyway I figured I would just order the pressure line instead of return line hose.  I also wanted it to be a different color so there could be no question which was the pressure line and which the return.  so I ran the lines.   all grommeted and anchored with adel clamps.





I used a fuel lab -6AN fuel filter and fuel pressure regulator.  This fuel pump also comes with a tank vent that must be attached.  I ran it out with the fuel lines.  it has a one way filter valve on it to keep dirt and debris out.





I used my new nutsert tool to anchor the adjustable fuel pressure regulator.











then We primed the fuel pump into a container to flush out any debris.  and hooked up the rest of the lines and wires.


----------



## mustanggarage

I like that it still looks like an old school carburetor.  I like the breather I bought for it and I think it looks really nice all buttoned up.











of course I had a few little problems along the way, broken battery cable, bad battery ground etc.  minor things but overall it went very smoothly.  I had no fuel leaks at all amazingly enough.  and it now starts and runs easily.  I have some tuning to do yet and i have not driven it yet to see how it works.  but it is running.






overall a very satisfactory project.  now if I could just get time off call when I don't have something else going on so I could get my 89 over to the dyno.  I still have not gotten that done.


----------



## havasu

That thing is sick! Thanks for posting up the pics.


----------



## mustanggarage

thanks havasu.  it rained like crazy last night so I don't really want to drive it today.  I don't want to have to clean it up lol.  anyway  I can't wait to see how it works.  hopefully it will make it easier for sarah.  Now I have to take it over to have the ac system modified.  the way that system is setup the fill adapter is under the car so you have to lift it to add freon which is a pain so I bought a inline adapter so I can put it up on top.  to make it easier to add freon.  and It is obviously leaking somewhere or I would not need to add it so I will have them look into that at the same time.


----------



## mustanggarage

actually it dried up nicely this afternoon so I took it for a shakedown cruise.  I had to adjust the throttle blades a bit because the IAC kept going up to 50 and higher, but once I adjusted that a bit it was running really well.  I had Sarah take it for a drive and she seemed very pleased with it.


----------



## StingRayCaretaker

Owned 2 67s, one new off the show room floor, both notch backs.  The 289s were nice running engines but couldn't pass a six cylinder Camaro.  A lot of 64-68 notch backs available in my area.  A friend converted one to a fast back with wrecked car parts.  Fast backs seem to be in great demand and high prices as well. One nice thing  they held their resale value. Once I turned the corner to Chevrolet there was no looking back.


----------



## mustanggarage

once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice.


----------



## mustanggarage

I have my dyno time re-scheduled for june 6.  man my schedule sucks these days.  everytime I can get a day off I have to do something else.  It will be 3 months since I finished the engine before I get it over there.  oh well.  it is running pretty well already so it's not like it is just sitting here waiting.  and it has been raining so much I really haven't felt like getting it out to much yet anyway.  

since I am waiting I bought myself a couple birthday presents.  first I have been slowly doing a conversion to black on the interior and I bought some new door panels and repainted the kickpanels and arm rests with krylon fusion paint.  new arm rest pads and door latch and window switch bezels complete the door panel conversion.









I also added the pony door lights just for fun.  I think they are kind of cool and the kids love em so whatever.

then I had planned to find some black rear quarters as well and I have been looking for a long time for some good 90-93 versions because they are a lot easier to do the styling bar conversion and the seat belts work better.  also they mount the speakers higher so they are above the seat so hopefully they will work better as well.  anyway I had been looking on ebay for months now and they seem to be rarer than hen's teeth.  finding a good set that is not all broken is virtually impossible, I was beginning to think.  I found some a while back but they had been painted and were a gloss black and really did not match so I ended up just modifying the ones in the car.  anyway the other day I found some on ebay.  they were the best looking pair I had ever seen on ebay.  these were also the first pair I had seen that had the window switches in the door.  so I watched them and they looked like they were going to go for a reasonable amount so I waited until the last 20 seconds and bid.  I really wanted them so I bid 500.00  I unfortunately was so excited I dropped the stupid period so I ended up bidding 5000.00 lol.  fortunately they ended up going for 385.00  still a lot of money for quarter panels but these are in great shape, and very difficult to find.


----------



## oldognewtrick

The lights look really cool!


----------



## Riff_Raff

mustanggarage said:


> I have my dyno time re-scheduled for june 6.  man my schedule sucks these days.  everytime I can get a day off I have to do something else.  It will be 3 months since I finished the engine before I get it over there.  oh well.  it is running pretty well already so it's not like it is just sitting here waiting.  and it has been raining so much I really haven't felt like getting it out to much yet anyway.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I also added the pony door lights just for fun.  I think they are kind of cool and the kids love em so whatever.




Yep. the dyno will be the least spent for the most gain.

I dig the Pony lights. Very nostalgic.


----------



## mustanggarage

the last 2 weeks I have been working on the 89 some more.  I have been having more fun fixing stuff I did not want to have to fix. So I was working on swapping the interior quarter panels I had it pretty much swapped out when I decided to test the rear windows.  they had always worked before, admittedly they were kind of jerky but they always went up and down, but when I tried to roll them up the drivers side started skipping and popping and the passenger side moved a bit and then stopped.  I could not figure out how swapping the quarter panels could have affected the windows but I pulled them back out again and checked things over.  they still wouldn't work so I pulled the motors off and sure as heck both of them were skipping and the passenger side would hardly work at all so now it looks like I am going to get to swap those out. I have no idea why they decided to go out now unless it had to do with having the quarter panels off and allowing more dust and crap to get in.  but anyway since I am going to fix that I put the quarter panel swap on hold and decided to do a complete rebuild on the quarter windows so I bought the kit from late model resto




,

 and I also bought some 1990 style black seat belts off ebay to go with the new quarter panels  they will work a lot better than mine currently do with the new quarter panels and they are currently grey so they should look better too.  it is a serious pain in the but to get the window regulator out but I got the drivers side apart and cleaned it really well. 



 

at first it would hardly move but after I got it cleaned up it slides much better.  I also had to sand down the rails on the regulator because they were rough for some reason and the regulator kept binding there.  anyway this one works much better. 



 

I will lubricate them with some lithium grease when I get ready to reinstall everything.  there is a pretty decent video on the late model resto site that details how to do this, but I am still only going to take one side apart at a time.  I also found that the rear quarter window switches are different of course, but the terminal connectors are the same so I was able to pop the terminals out of the old switch and into the new one without cutting and splicing.  of note the old switch has six lugs on it and the new one only had 5 so I am going to have to spend some time once I get everything back together making sure I get that switch wired up correctly.

and finally the speakers in the 89 are round and the 90 are oval so I ordered some new rockford fosgate speakers to go in there and I repainted the speaker grills because they were kind of scuffed up.

then of course my oldest daughter who just won a gold medal in the special olympics wanted to sleep out in the garage with the dogs.  she likes to do that, the garage is set up basically like a house so it is one of the few times she gets to feel independant.  well anyway my oldest dog was getting upset because of the thunder so she decided to lock him in the bathroom.  today I found a hole right through the wall next to the door where the dog clawed his way right through the sheetrock and out the other side.  I came in and saw him laying on a blanket in the corner looking sheepish and surrounded by sheetrock dust.  so today I got to fix that, yeah.


----------



## mustanggarage

got the sheetrock and pegboard and insulation replaced on the bathroom.  and put the first coat of joint compound on. I spent some time looking over the windows.  the regulators are just really gunked up.  that is doubtless why the motors finally gave up.  just too much effort required to move them up and down, and while it is easy to replace the motors getting the regulators out is a bit more difficult.  I just took the drivers side out so far in this picture.  here is a pic of what it looks like now.







in reading up on these fox body windows I learned that the plastic window guide rod mount commonly breaks and the window bushings frequently go bad so I decided to fix everything at once rather than have to tear it down again later.  my guide rod mounts are not broken at present.





but it is obviously a lot easier to get them out with the regulator out of the way It would be possible to replace it without removing the regulator, but I think the main thing my car needs is to have those stupid regulators cleaned and lubricated. while I have that apart I will replace the bushings and clean everything up nicely.  I also learned by watching the video on late model restoration how to adjust the rear windows.  they always were out of adjustment, but I thought it was the door that was out of adjustment.  anyway I will try to take some more pictures of the process once I get my parts.  I hope to at least have the windows back together before I have to take it to the dyno shop friday.


----------



## mustanggarage

the last few days I have worked pretty hard on the car.  after getting off work I stayed up late working on the car.  my shop is very nice for that I have plenty of lighting etc.  so I can basically work whenever I have time.  well I needed to take the car to the dyno shop today and I did not want to have to reschedule again so I  worked on it all night last night.  finally laid down on the couch out here at about 5:00 Friday morning.  it is not done yet but it is back together enough to go to the dyno shop.  I can finish the speaker install and work on that passenger rear window switch when I get it back.

ok.  here is a brief rundown on what i have done since my last installment.

I mocked up the front seat belt install and studied the rear seatbelt installation.  I decided it was possible to swap in the 90 rear seatbelts so I started on that.

first the way these seatbelts work is they install behind the rear seat and run up behind seat brace between the top well liner and the rear seat.  in order to install them this area needed to be modified a bit.







those two flanges needed to be cut and bent out of the way in order to mount the seatbelt as far laterally as possible







then if you look closely you can see I drilled a hole for a 3/8 bolt into that brace behind the seat.  I reinforced it by placing a large washer that came in another seatbelt install kit I had under the cross brace.  I welded the bolt to that washer and bent up one edge to match the shape of the brace.  that way it slid up under there and locked it self in place.  it made it easier to tighten the nut down.  I used a large washer and lock washer to finish it up.  then the plastic sheath stuck up too high above the back seat and it caught when I tried to lower the top.  since the seat fits in this area there was enough space so I used a heat gun to heat up the plastic and allow the sheath to bend forward to contour along the top of the seat.  it worked fine.






during this experiment I figured out why my top always went up and down crooked, and would not retract without pushing up on the top with my hand to get it started.  it seems the little bracket that holds the passenger side hydraulic cylinder in place was missing.  so I contacted prestige mustang and they overnighted me a replacement.  my top now works better than it ever has.

ok.  after getting that part figured out my window motors arrived and last night I worked all night on finishing that install.

first you have to remove these two nuts.  I found out later it is also much easier if you remove the two nuts that hold the window to the guide rod and remove them seperately.









then you drill out the rivets and install the new billet guide rod support.  and re install it.  again it is easier if you remove the window, then you can install the guide rod and the bracket in one step.  I figured that out for the second side.






then I replaced the plastic bushings on the window support and re installed the window.  btw you need to leave those two nuts on the guide rod loose so you can adjust the window.






after that you finagle the regulator back in place, raise the window, adjust the position tighten the nuts.

then you swap the brackets from the old motors to the new ones and install them.  run the window up and down several times and adjust the window.  this took me quite a while.  but once I was finally satisfied with the way the window worked I installed the new seat belts and the quarter panel.  then discovered that the styling bar would not go in because the seat belt bracket needed to be modified.  once I got that modified I installed the quarter panels loosely, installed the styling bar.





then since it was so late I decided to just button it up for now and finish the details later.  I put the seat back in and put the speaker grills back on. took a couple pictures












and wiped the dust off the car and loaded it on the trailer.  then I laid down for a couple hours on the couch and drove to des moines.  and dropped it off at the dyno shop.  finally after wanting to do that for about 3 months I finally got it over there.  so now I wait for him to get it tuned and I will go pick it up tuesday.  I can finish the rest of it up anytime.  I now need to get a new tonneau cover for it as well.


----------



## mustanggarage

the chip is in, the tune is done.  I had to adjust the idle and the tps a bit, but now it is running awesome.  lots of fun to drive.  no leaks.  all in all a very satisfactory if long and expensive project.  

the next project is I am going to do a quick remodel of my wifes garage.  I will post up some pictures of it in a different thread at a later time.


----------



## havasu

Great job. Just wondering what type of metal is used under the plastic on the roll bar?


----------



## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> Great job. Just wondering what type of metal is used under the plastic on the roll bar?



its a zinc coated steel.  but it is not a roll bar.  really is not adequate to provide roll over protection.  having said that, it has to be better than what was there before lol.


----------



## oldognewtrick

Sure has been quiet at the dog house lately.....


----------



## mustanggarage

yes it has.  I need to find a new project lol.  I think I am going to swap that heater core out of the convertible pretty soon.  that is such a pain I have been putting it off, but it has been chilly the last couple of mornings so I suppose it is time.  then I think I will start trying to fix Dad's 94 where he hit the deer last fall.


----------



## mustanggarage

I started two pretty long term projects at the same time this past weekend.  I started tearing dad's 94 mustang apart.  after he hit the deer we stored it in my neighbors barn and unfortunately mice got in it, so it smells horrible in there. we have had dcon in it for a while so I think all the mice are dead but it still smells terrible.  I am going to have to pull the carpet out and replace it and possibly the upholstery.  I bought a new fender, bumper cover and headlight piece and I will start piecing it together soon.  unfortunately My daughter who is a senior in high school this year thinks that since my other daughter is now off at college that now is the time to remodel her bathroom.  this girl is the one who knows how to get anything from me.  she just has to ask lol.  the other kids rarely ask me for anything so it seems She gets all the good stuff.  anyway I suppose I will start another construction thread in that section of the site once I get some more pictures.  but at least I have a couple things going now, I was getting tired of just working and going home and sitting in front of the computer or tv.


----------



## mustanggarage

alright.  It's official  I got the joopacabra back.  and i ordered a bunch of stuff to upgrade the brakes and some other things.  so I will be getting started on it soon.  I also need to swap the hood onto the 94 and get it moved off the lift.  hopefully monday.  then time to start tearing the jeep apart to fix all the little things that have gone wrong with it since the last time I owned it.


----------



## mustanggarage

just had to show these pictures.  It is kind of a thing at our local high school that kids borrow nice cars to take their dates to the prom.  but my daughter makes her date drive her car.


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## havasu

When I was a kid in high school, I had a great looking van, with a full size bed. The moms and dads of my prom dates didn't approve of my vehicle. I just don't understand why?


----------



## mustanggarage

It was nice enough to take the convertible to work today and do some top down driving around town.  this car is a blast to drive.  

 Also my Dad decided that he needed to go to the hospital the other day.  his breathing was worse, and he was not able to take care of himself so he will be going to the nursing home tomorrow.  

On a happier note, this weekend my youngest is graduating high school so we are preparing for that.  my other two really did not care too much about graduation so my wife and I set things up and did the planning and they just showed up. my Sarah on the other hand has very specific ideas of what she wants so everything has to be planned down to the finest detail, but she is also very involved with it so it is also more rewarding.


----------



## mustanggarage

So I officially gave Sarah the TJ for graduation.  She is going to take it to college this fall so I decided to look it over this weekend.  since my surgery I find it very difficult to sit for any length of time, so since I have to be walking all the time anyway  I brought the tj in to work on it.  I found out the tie rods are worn and the alignment is off.  it still drives fine with no shake or pulling, but the front tires are much more worn than the rear.  so I ordered new tie rods tonight.  I am going to have to put a new set of tires on it before sarah goes to college this fall.  I will get it aligned as soon as I get the new tie rods on.  I also noticed some rust in a few spots so I am working on that too.  I had to cut out a spot by the back wheel.  anyone have any idea why they would put these holes in here?  they are completely filled with dirt.  no wonder it rusted out.


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## mustanggarage

I guess I never posted a finished picture of the tj.  anyway it turned out nice.  I also had to replace the ac compressor.  since I don't have the equipment to do that the right way I took it to a local shop.  they ended up replacing the compressor and the drier etc.  I also put some nice seat covers in it, and replaced the tires, had it aligned and did a few other things.  now it is back in pretty good condition.  I really need to drive it every few months.  my daughter tends to ignore things when they need fixed. lol. 

View attachment tj.jpg


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## zannej

Looks great!


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## Chris

I want to live where you live, that is a beautiful piece of property.


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## mustanggarage

that's actually looking out my side yard.  that building belongs to my neighbor.  I love my doghouse but looking at his place, he just built another building out back, I have some serious garage envy going on right now, lol.  but, most of that is my yard.  we have almost 3 acres of pretty nice grass.  and only 3 other houses on our dead end road surrounded by corn fields and pasture.  we are only about a 1/2 mile south of the city limits so yeah, it is a pretty nice piece of land.  I like it anyway.


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## havasu

My neighbors are so close that when I burp, my neighbor will say "excuse you."


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## Rusty

My yard is 100' x 150' , a little bigger than most in my neighborhood. This is an old part of town, my house is over 100 years old. I am three blocks from the town square and courthouse. Most of the square buildings are from the 1870s.


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## Chris

I have five acres over looking the city 1/2 mile up a dirt road with 8 neighbors on one side and none on the other. It's beautiful here and I am about 3 minutes from the rat race.


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## mustanggarage

time to get ready for atlantic fest.  also I ordered some new wheels for the 94 convertible and I am going to see what the brake pads look like.  I bought some new floor mats and brake pedal pad to get the 94 ready to drive.  I had to move the jeep out of the way to get the 89 and 65 out to start polishing things up.

http://s972.photobucket.com/user/mu...-E746924FCC84_zpskax36ow9.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4


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## mustanggarage

got the new wheels on today.


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## mustanggarage

well I haven't been doing much of anything this week.  just sitting out here in the garage with my poor sick puppy and looking at the computer or watching tv.  I have been planning on moving the tv.  I had it just sitting on my bench but it was taking up most of my bench making it essentially useless for anything but holding the tv so I decided to mount it.  It was to big to mount in the available space and I wanted to angle it so it faced the couch anyway so  I built a little area to mount it to.  anyway I am happy with it.  it gives me back some bench space and it looks more finished.  






now I just need to clean up all that crap on top of my cabinet lol


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## Chris

Looks good. How big is your shop?


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## mustanggarage

40 x 60


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## oldognewtrick

mustanggarage said:


> 40 x 60



What do you use for heating the shop in the winter?


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## Chris

What I would give for my shop to be 40 x 60. 30 x 40 is just not large enough.


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## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> What do you use for heating the shop in the winter?



I have 3 heat sources.  they are marginal, but they keep it reasonably comfortable out there. I bought this used modine heater off craigslist several years ago.  I have the thermostat on the modine heater set up so I can control it with an app on my iphone so I can turn the heater up when I leave work and by the time I get home it is reasonably comfortable.





I keep the heater in the bathroom turned up to about 50 or so all the time it has its own thermostat, and I have external grade doors on both doors to it and it is fully insulated on all 4 walls and the ceiling so It stays warm enough my water has never frozen up.





I keep the dogs in the dog kennel room with the door to the main shop shut with another external grade door when I am not home so they have a separate heater to keep them comfortable.

it is one of these.  I don't have a picture of it installed however.


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## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> What I would give for my shop to be 40 x 60. 30 x 40 is just not large enough.



it's never big enough.  my shop is crammed full now.  I need to build another one to put all my crap in it lol.  no really I need to go through and throw a bunch of stuff in the dumpster.


----------



## Chris

I want to build a pole barn just to park some vehicles and equipment and try and keep my shop just a shop. Luckily I have a second floor in my shop that is 14 x 40 that I will use to store all the parts and pieces of my projects. Unluckily that second floor puts a cramp on installing a lift in my shop. I have been thinking of adding onto my shop a one bay RV garage that I can put a lift into, then I can store my RV indoors and have a spot with a lift.


----------



## Chris

What powers those heaters?


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## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> What powers those heaters?



the bathroom and kennel heaters are electric the modine is propane


----------



## Chris

How much propane does it suck? I want something for my shop but my place is all electric. I don't mind putting in a tank but would want to keep it small enough I can transport it to get it filled and not have to do it every week. My house now is on propane for the heater and drier and I have to fill my 200 gallon tank once a year.


----------



## mustanggarage

I don't know really. I have a pretty big tank outside and they don't fill it that often, but I am on a level payment program and our propane guy just fills it whenever it gets low.  they have telemetry on it so they can monitor it by remote.  this is only a 40,000 btu unit so it is pretty underpowered for my shop, but it does the job


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## Flounly40

awesome


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## mustanggarage

well, I got a letter from my propane guy.  apparently they are taking me off my level payment program.  I apparently have not been using as much propane now that all my kids are off to college and living elsewhere and I just found out I have an over 3,000 dollar credit.  so they are sending me a refund.


----------



## Chris

Lucky you.............................................


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## oldognewtrick

My luck is they had a billing error and I owe another 3k.


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## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> My luck is they had a billing error and I owe another 3k.



sounds like monopoly lol.


----------



## mustanggarage

I started working on my 89 convertible again this week.  first the heater core was leaking after I put the new engine in so I just bypassed it and it has been that way ever since.  in order to replace the heater core you have to pull the whole dash and it is best to disconnect the AC  so I had to take that to my good buddy Rick's place and have them do that job.  I also had a leak in my AC system which I had them fix.  so now the HVAC system works.  unfortunately now my gauges are wonky.  my oil pressure gauge is not reading, and my temp gauge is only going up to about 140 so I assumed there was a connection issue in the gauges.  so I pulled all that out and could not get it to work right.  I don't know maybe there is a kinked sending wire.  anyway while I had it out I cleaned it up a bit and put in some LED bulbs.  I still don't like it, I want some white face gauges.  and since I am going to be putting the supercharger in I want some real gauges to keep track of things.  The stock ones are never very accurate so after piddle farting around for hours trying to put white face gauge stickers on, and get the stupid LED bulbs to work and trying to get the oil pressure gauge to read I said to heck with it and ordered what I really wanted a nice new set of autometer gauges with an aftermarket pod that will replace the entire gauge set.  I am not sure if I want to do that before, or after the supercharger install.  anyway it is on the way and it cost a small fortune so it is getting done. oh and while I had it out I installed a boost gauge for when the supercharger is installed.






next I really like the sound of my flowmaster exhaust in my 65, but in this convertible it has a really annoying harmonic that just kind of grated on me.  I love the sound my magnaflows make on the 94 however so I bought a set of magnaflow mufflers to swap in and replace the flowmasters in my american thunder cat back exhaust system...  yeah right, like anything I do is ever that easy.  as it turns out the american thunder cat back system has a small piece of exhaust pipe that comes out of the muffler to connect to the tail pipe.  



and yes, I forgot that little fact when I bought my new stainless steel magnaflows, and no my new magnaflows donot have that.  so I found what I thought was the perfect solution.  these pypes intermediate tubes.





they look like exactly what I need,  again not so fast.  they are about 2 inches too short to fit, so after struggling for quite a while dropping the muffler on my head and getting two pretty nice gauges in my forehead where the muffler clamp hit me, I went to oreillys and got some 2 1/2 id to 2 1/2 od adapters.  a couple more exhaust clamps and some universal exhaust hangers and I got it bolted up.  not exactly beautiful so I tried to avoid that area in the picture lol. 



 

but it sounds awesome, and that little extra extension allowed me the flexibility I did not have before and I got rid of an annoying rattle that had plagued me.  now I am just waiting for my supercharger to get here.


----------



## Chris

Thats awesome! I can't wait to see the gauge set up. I have been looking for a muffler tube bender for some time. It would be nice to do all my own work. I bought those Kooks long tubes for my Charger but have not got the mid pipes or rest of the exhaust. Kooks wants 500 bucks for their mid pipes. I figure I can put that towards a machine if I find one at a decent price.


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## mustanggarage

I started the supercharger install this weekend.  I will post some pictures later.  this is likely going to be a multi stage deal because I am going to need to change the fuel injectors and reconfigure the maf meter.  anyway some progress is being made.


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## oldognewtrick

Progress is good, mine has been in a lateral pattern lately...


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## mustanggarage

ok.  well I have a bit of progress to report.  but unfortunately I have not had much time or motivation this week. so first you have to remove the battery and battery box, then the fan and shroud.  then the alternator and its bracket.  I already deleted the smog pump.





then you have to move the charcoal canister by angling it and attaching it with one bolt like this.




then since this is an SI trim unit it comes with a new lower pulley.  




I don't have a good picture of it, but since I deleted the smog pump you have to install this air pump delete pulley in its place in the supercharger mounting bracket.  everything is loosely installed here.





if you can see that bolt sticking through from the back with the nut on it you will probably think that might be a problem.  the instructions make it look like that is the way it goes, but that bolt protrudes through to far and it is too close the belt for my comfort.  of course I decided that after i had it all together and the fan and everything back in.  like I do a lot of times I end up doing things 3 or 4 times till I get it right.  so anyway I had to pull everything back out and put the bolt through from the front.  and of course getting everything lined up and back together was even harder this time lol  but I got it back together.  since I am going to be increasing the air in significantly I need to increase the fuel also so I have the FMU installed, but I need to recalibrate it for the new 47 pound fuel injectors I installed.  of course installing those requires removing the intake manifold.

once I got all that done.  i discovered that my air pump delete pulley was interfering with bolting up the supercharger.  so I had to massage it a bit.









and finally the supercharger is sitting in it's new home.  




I also had to send the MAF meter back to Pro M racing to have it recalibrated for the new 47 pound injectors and the relocation to behind the air filter.  I will have to wait to get that back before I can do much more.  because the air filter assembly and intake have to go on before the discharge tubing.  tomorrow I will try to get the MSD ignition box hooked up.  anyway slow progress.


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## havasu

How much more HP do you expect?


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## Chris

At least 8 more.


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## mustanggarage

theoretically around 100


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## mustanggarage

well.  crud.  still waiting on my MAF to get here.  I sent it off, and they said I needed a different style since the MAF is going to be relocated to the fenderwell.  I also ordered an anderson power pipe.  that should be here monday, and the FMU recalibration disks should be here monday.  so basically I am just sitting here waiting on parts


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## Chris

Any progress?


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## mustanggarage

Chris said:


> Any progress?



as a matter of fact yes.  I decided I needed to get an anderson power pipe so that I could run the air intake out into the fender.  that arrived earlier this week.  to install that I had to cut a bigger hole in my fender.  unfortunately the large hole that was already their was situated a bit to high for what I needed so I had to use that as the top of my hole and make it bigger than I really wanted.  but I got it cut out and the pipe installed. 





I also modified the radiator hose.





 My Maf sensor had not arrived yet and I knew I was going to have to clock the power pipe to get the maf and filter to fit in that small space but I was not sure what angle I needed.  so I had to wait.  to install the rest of it.  their is a small pop off valve that comes off the blower discharge tube that then ducts back into the power pipe.  I needed to wait to plumb that until the maf arrived as well.
UPS finally delivered my MAF sensor about 4:30 this afternoon.  so I tried to install it, and found as expected I needed to clock the power pipe a bit to get it installed.
so I kicked back watch some netflix, or tried anyway,





and waited for my maf sensor to arrive.





UPS finally arrived with my parts about 4 this afternoon.  we spent some time this afternoon and got the MAF installed.  it barely fits, what a pain it was getting that inner fender liner back in.  then I plumbed the pop off valve.  then we spent a lot of time figuring out how to install the MSD ignition box, getting it wired up, and plumbing the vacuum lines to the pop off valve and the MSD box.  









but we quit for the night at about 1100 tonight.  all I have left to do is wire up the boost retard adjustment switch, and fill the radiator.  then fire it up and see if the stupid thing will start.


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## oldognewtrick

Well, sounds like you're .making progress, but I have one question. Do you have a sissy bar on your recliner? Sure looks like it in the pic...


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## havasu

I'm loving the shepherd!


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## mustanggarage

finished installing the boost retard switch, filled it with 50 50 antifreeze, cycled the fuel pump twice and it fired right up, no problems, no leaks that I can see.  the exhaust smells like it's running pretty rich right now.  I plan to have it dyno tuned as my happy birthday to me present.  I have that set up for May 22nd.  but it is together, I don't see anywhere that is rubbing, the exhaust sounds good, new back tires on it , fixed the issue with the fuel line being too close to the exhaust.  I need to drive it a bit to make sure nothing goes wrong once it is on the road, but so far it looks good.  I am going to drive it like this for a while before I tackle the instrument cluster upgrade.  I will probably start pre wiring the cluster but I am  going to at least wait until after the dyno is done before I start wiring the cluster.


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## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> Well, sounds like you're .making progress, but I have one question. Do you have a sissy bar on your recliner? Sure looks like it in the pic...



no, that is an old sectional couch.  the hide a bed part was broken so we hauled it out, but the rest of it was still ok so we put it out here in my garage.  but that is a little console for collecting garbage and hair and dirt.  at least it doesn't seem to suit any other purpose lol.


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## mustanggarage

I had to add the new decals since I got the thing started.


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## oldognewtrick

Test drive?


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## mustanggarage

not yet, it hasn 't stopped raining in days.  I just about had to fit a snorkel to my jeep to get through the mud puddle in my drive this morning.  it is supposed to stop raining this afternoon and be dry the next few days so hopefully I will be able to take it out soon.


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## Rusty

mustanggarage said:


> not yet, it hasn 't stopped raining in days.  I just about had to fit a snorkel to my jeep to get through the mud puddle in my drive this morning.  it is supposed to stop raining this afternoon and be dry the next few days so hopefully I will be able to take it out soon.



It was forecast to be dry here today, it is still raining and it is almost noon. Supposed to get another inch tomorrow night.


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## mustanggarage

well, I took it out for a test drive yesterday.  everything seemed fine to start with, it was running great, no weird noises, no leaks, no pinging.  I did a couple acceleration runs to see my boost gauge show positive boost, and it smoked the tires very nicely.  then after a little while of driving around I started hearing a slapping sound.  i stopped the car and popped the hood, and the new serpentine belt I installed, not the supercharger belt but the other one was shredded on the inside edge.  there was like a long string Just hanging off the inside edge of it.  I pulled that off and drove it home carefully.  keeping the rpms down.  I put it back on the lift so I could look underneath.  I can't see anywhere that the belt could be rubbing.  I don't know what happened.  I bought a new belt this morning so I will have to swap it tonight and see if I can figure out what happened.


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## mustanggarage

well, it turns out my new smog pump eliminator was out of alignment.  I had to shim it with 2 washers to get things lined up properly so the belt was wanting to jump the track.  took it for a test drive and everything is working great.


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## oldognewtrick

So, I guess when you buy tires you're going to buy 8 at a time...2 for the front and 6 for the back...


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## mustanggarage

oldognewtrick said:


> So, I guess when you buy tires you're going to buy 8 at a time...2 for the front and 6 for the back...



I may have to.  I took it for a drive yesterday just around town. it is cruising pretty nicely.  I got on it once or twice but it needs some tuning so I am just going to drive it like a grandma for a while to make sure everything is working right and then after I get it tuned I will see what she will really do.


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## Rusty

Make sure you know the number of a bail bondsman.:flames:


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## oldognewtrick

Rusty said:


> Make sure you know the number of a bail bondsman.:flames:



Got to catch MG first.....:flames:


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## Rusty

Ask Havasu, it is hard to outrun a radio.


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## havasu

Yeppers, but it does happen occasionally.


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## oldognewtrick

Well???


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## havasu

oldognewtrick said:


> Well???



That is usually a deep subject.:carcash:


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## oldognewtrick

havasu said:


> That is usually a deep subject.:carcash:



Espicially with a shallow mind like mine.


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## mustanggarage

well, I haven't driven it much lately. I have my dyno session scheduled for the 22nd.  next monday.  I will probably have to pick it up tuesday, and we are apparently in monsoon season here so we will have to see.


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## mustanggarage

I finally got the ol 89 over to the dyno shop yesterday. We knew we needed to swap to a cooler spark plug, but we did not know which one to choose, so we were not surprised to hear that on the first run it had some detonation at WOT. also I should have drained the fuel tank before I started this project, but I didn't. I had over a quarter tank of 87 octane in it when I finished the install. I filled it with 91 but I know the fuel is a little low on octane. it still made right at 400 hp at the wheels on a mustang dyno. he said he had to take quite a bit of timing out of it to prevent detonation, so I am sure it would do a bit better with race fuel, or even pure 91. regardless I am satisfied. with the AOD, and the mustang dyno I would guess I am already getting dangerously close to 500 hp at the crank and this is a stock block engine. so I am pretty happy with the results. It was also cool to see another foxbody guy this close to me. he had several in the shop undergoing some pretty major modifications


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## mustanggarage

havasu said:


> How much more HP do you expect?



well I guess I was pretty close.  it was right at 100 horsepower gain at the wheels.  the same guy, same dyno same time of year.  so I will call this project a win now on to the gauges ggrrrrrrrrrrhhhh, I hate wiring lol.


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## mustanggarage

I finally decided to tackle the gauges.  man have I mentioned I hate wiring.  well I bought this gauge package because it had this nice plug and play harness that plugged right into the stock wiring harness.  I get the gauges and they sent a universal wiring harness.  not happy.  I called and talked to them.  apparently they stopped making the plug and play harness, but still advertise it with those pictures.  that is pretty dishonest if you ask me.  they did offer to take them back and refund me, but all the other instrument clusters for this car also just come with a universal harness so I while I would get the satisfaction of not giving them my money, it would not help me out any so I decided to keep them.  I am going to give them a scathing review however.  anyway I finally decided to tackle it.  there instructions suck by the way.  they tell you how to wire up the universal harness to the gauges in the cluster.  gee thanks all the gauges come with instructions then the instructions literally say to use an electrical tester and probe the wires and wire the vehicle side wiring to the correct wires.    no pinout diagram no help at all in figuring out wich wires go where.    I finally found a decent diagram on line to help me get some idea what wires go where.  I did a bunch of research to make sure where the wires go.  I ran new wires for the oil and temp sending unit.  after buying the setup and reviewing the wiring for the electronic speedometer I discovered that wiring an electronic speedometer to this car frequently causes problems with the cruise control since this car had a composite speed sensor/speedometer cable unit.  so I decided heck with it and bought a gps speedometer like what I have in the yj.  then I just cut the speedometer cable off at the sender and left the speed sensor in place so that should not affect my cruise control or my idle because the computer uses the speed sensor in adjusting the idle as well.  

so once I figured out all the wiring I test fit the cluster.





then I decided since I have the dash apart and my stereo never worked the way I thought it should.  ( I always had to open my phone and push play on my phone to get the blue tooth to play instead of just pushing play on the remote, and the microphone for the hand free calling never worked)  I decided to swap the stereo and the front speakers.  so I waited for crutchfield to send me some new speakers and stereo.  crutchfield stuff is always good.   the speakers fit perfectly, but for some reason the wiring harness adapters would not fit onto the new speakers so I had to cut the positive connectors off and put new ones on, but no big deal.




then I wired up the new harness adapter for the stereo.  pretty straightforward, all plug and play pretty much.  the wires are even the same color, so not hard.  plugged it in and it worked fine first try yeaah.

ok.  so after that I decided I should test all my connections on my instrument cluster and everything worked except my gauge lights.  I had forgotten to hook up the instrument light wire.  no big deal just pull off four screws, find the correct wire and t-tap it in.  turned on the light switch and it worked, adjust the dimmer, it dims and brightens just like it should.  then I started the car and the stupid instrument lights came on.  they are not supposed to do that lol.  It was getting late.  and I was aggravated.  I tested the wires, couldn't find anywhere that I had a crossed wire, no reason that there should be any current going from my 12v to my dimmer circuit.  but there was.  I decided to work on something else for a while and so I started modifying the housing to fit the new cluster.  that was a major PITA as well.  once I finally got it to fit reasonably well it was late and I quit for the night.

Oh I almost forgot.  I also was told by someone I should get a wide band o2 sensor since I had the supercharger on there so I got one and wired it and my new matching boost gauge into the new pillar pod.

so I was talking to my Dad at supper tonight and we were discussing the light issue, and he asked me about the stereo install.  I did not really think that was the issue at first because while there was a dash illumination wire on the wiring harness adapter, the new stereo did not have one so I just left that wire unconnected.  but that got me to thinking when I wired up my pillar gauges there was a t-tap attached to the dimmer switch so I just pulled that tap and wired my new gauges and that wire together and plugged them back in.  I did not look to see where that original wire went.  it turns out it was a park brake wire.  when the old stereo was installed apparently they bypassed the park brake by running a wire to the dash illumination wire.  when I plugged the new wiring harness in somehow that wire was still connected to something so I just removed it.  now everything works properly.


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## oldognewtrick

I guess MG got the Mustang done, rode off into the sunset and forgot all about us......


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## havasu

...or he is broke down in the jeep somewhere and trying to get back home?


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## mustanggarage

I have been checking in occasionally. but that never to be sufficiently damned photobucket fiasco has me pretty much defeated when it comes to forums.  all my pictures and how to's and build threads are all going to be useless after the first of the year, so I have not felt much like posting anything else.  I am still working on the jeep and the stangs.  the new new supercharger is working great.  it is unfortunately causing some issues in the transmission.  I don't know what is going on, but it seems first gear is slipping a bit.  I am going to have to do some diagnostics.  I also do not really like the way it shifts.  it is just way to agressive.  I think I want a more stock feel.  I am trying to decide if I want to swap the valve body or what I want to do with it, but I am going to pull it soon.  

as far as the jeep goes, I let my daughter take it camping last weekend and it rained like crazy.  I had the bikini top on it.  and she did not put the storm cover on it, so everything got soaked.  I had put carpet in it for when she was driving it in the winter, but with this rainstorm I lifted the carpet and looked under it and it was starting to show some rust through the old bed liner so I pulled the carpet  and it looks like the prior owner did not prep the floor at all before putting the bedliner down.  it just peeled out like saran wrap.  so I stripped it down with a 3 inch sander and got rid of all the old bed liner.  then I painted it with rust encapsulator and then put down some new bedliner.  I pulled the body plugs out and drilled a couple new holes where the water was pooling so hopefully that will keep the floor from rusting out the next time that happens.  then I took it for a short drive and it started running rough like it had done before. the local mechanic I used had fixed it, however he apparently had not anchored the harness wire out of the way sufficiently because when I checked out the cps I found the wire had touched the header again.  so I wiggled the wires and could not get it to start.  so I had to tow it back to the shop.  I will have to order a new cps tomorrow.  then make sure the wires can't touch the header again.  anyway I am still alive and still checking the forums so I will try to get over my current funk and start just uploading pictures to the forum.


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## mustanggarage

:yellowjeep:  swapped out the crank sensor and had to check with the hesco forum to figure out the air gap.  gapped it to .050 and ran the wires in a better way and re wrapped the loom wires with electrical tape and fired it up.  it is running like new again.


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## oldognewtrick

Move all your stuff to another free hosting site.


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## havasu

Or upload to your computer, then download to the sites?


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## Rusty

I probably have a thousand pictures on my computer and backed up on flash drives.


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## havasu

Here is what I have just for my pictures.

10,821 Files, 110 Folders

Total: 15GB


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## mustanggarage

yes, I have all the pictures on my computer.  that is not the issue.  it is that all the links in my threads will show that stupid logo of theirs in a couple months and in order to fix them I have to go back through, and find the pictures and then load them for each site.  no it is not impossible, but there are a lot of pictures I have linked.  anyway.  I am just frustrated by the whole thing.


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## havasu

That's what they want. You become frustrated and pay the monthly fee.


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## mustanggarage

yeah but 400 dollars a year.  that is ridiculous


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## Nick

I M G U R without the spaces is free . I have hundreds on there ..


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## Chris

Seriously they want 400 a year? I would never pay that


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## mustanggarage

yeah I was willing to pay the 30 dollars a year for the 5 gb plan and had done that for a couple years but no way was I going to pay 400


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