A 67 Mustang - The Assembly Process Begins, slowly!!

[cjshaker]

Through it all, I think I was most impressed with the fact that your wife actually wrenched on the car and installed parts.   That is NOT something I believe I've ever seen.

Congrats on all the progress, John. You're sure doing a nice job, one you can be proud of!

[thatdarncat]

Looking real nice, you're making great progress. All those little details take time to get right.

[Bolted to Floor]

Doug, Sheryl has wanted to help more than she has, but I have trouble with delegating tasks to her or anyone else that wants to help. The interior work and trim is coming and hopefully she will be able to install some of that. Now the issue turn into summertime in Houston and its getting hot.

Kevin, you ain't joking on the details. I've done some of this stuff several times getting it the way I think it should be. Which brings up comments from Sheryl that I would have been done already if I wasn't so picky.

Thanks for the compliments. I'm really looking forward to driving it all over........I have to get past the fear of somebody hitting it though. Since Easter I've had dreams / nightmares of rear ending someone, being rear ended, and running over something that ripped one muffler and tail pipe off. 

It will be heavily insured when it rolls out of the driveway.

[Bolted to Floor]

Ok, been diligently working. Stereo and amp are installed. I mounted both of them the way I wanted and left it to Car Toys at Willowbrook to make them work. I had a nice conversation about my expectations and explicitly told them YOU CAN’T CUT HOLES IN MY CAR. They did a great job with the install. It’ll even have a back-up camera too once I get a bumper to mount it to.

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Sent the factory tach and gauges to Rocketman’s Classic Cougar. The gauges got calibrated and touched up. The tach got converted with modern guts to work with my Dura-spark set up. It works great. Bob was great to deal with, he responded to emails promptly, the stuff was well packed when it arrived and the price was fair.

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[Bolted to Floor]

I went with Wesco for seat belts. If you haven’t dealt with them before, be aware that custom colors are non-returnable. Customer colors are also made to order which increases the delivery time. It’s all listed there on the website when you go to the tab for the colors. I ordered one belt for the back seat since they were the cheapest and I wasn’t sure the color would be what I wanted. I wasn’t smart enough to ask for samples!! Got the hardware set to install the plates for the high point mount. The plate was meant to be installed with pop rivets, but it didn’t sit flat with the area. So I drilled and tapped to 1/4-20 for hex bolts with a fender washer. One of the hex head bolts on each side was pushing out on the head liner. So those got swapped for a pan head Allen bolt with a little grinding to flush it up.
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The headliner and glass got installed, but the trim was still with the guy that was taking out the dents and polishing. It has since been completed, but not installed.
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[Bolted to Floor]

In preparation of an inspection, I was getting the instrument cluster installed and was ready to test the wipers. Turned the switch on and saw the nubs in the cowl make about a 1/8 of a turn. Finally decided the switch was bad when I didn’t get power through it. With a new switch, had power to the motor, but it still no go roundy roundy!! As I was getting ready to pull the motor thinking this was going to be a real PITA, I looking through the area of the instrument cluster at the bracket I mounted to keep the ducts for the AC registers from hitting the wiper transmission thinking that there is contact there. Sure enough, the bracket was the problem,  wipers now work and the ducts have been tied out of the way. Sheryl wanted tilt steering, so I bought the Ididit column for a 68, so its collapsible, recommended for a power rack and the upper half of the rag joint. It bolted up to the Brogeson box without a problem. I did have to drill a hole in the lower dash mount for the wire to come through. After changing the crimp connector on the column harness, I used the Painless instruction and column instructions to get the column connector pinned correctly. Bought a Lecarre steering wheel and got installed too. So nice to hear the sound a horn makes. It’s a great feeling to have blinkers, stop lights, and a horn that works.
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I installed the jute underlayment  that come pre-cut and bought more from the upholstery guy to fill in any areas I could still see the floor pan and laid the carpet down. Only burned myself once with the soldiering iron while making holes. Installed the original front lap belts on a temporary basis to be able to pass inspection. Got the seats in and went for inspection, which it passed. Spent about an hour line at county annex for tags. It’ll be registered as a classic for now. I didn’t like the driving restrictions of an antique and make lousy liar if I get caught doing things I shouldn’t!!
The last time I registered the car was 1990. Texas still prorated tags then, and I was cheap. So, I bought tags for the month it was to expire to transfer the title.

[Bolted to Floor]

The ride back and forth for the inspections told me that there are more creaks than rattles and that the back tires rub the inner lip of the fender well and that those Bilstein shocks make it ride like a 1 ton truck. I cleaned up and re-installed the old helper springs and it gave me enough clearance on the back end. The next drive was over 10 miles. As a plus, the helper springs didn’t make it ride any worse!! Looks like it’s time to try a cheap set of Monroes. On the down side, the front springs are settling to the point I will have clearance issues in the front now. They were in the car when I bought it, I haven’t cut them and it doesn’t appear to have been cut by anyone else. When I was blasting them a while back, I did find a Moog part number, I think. The saga continues.

Picked up the bumpers from the chrome shop and they look nice. For 8 bolts, I couldn’t believe how long it took me to get it installed where it looks right. Took a lot of time on Saturday to get the front installed mounted.
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Returned the first dash that had a rip at the defroster vent and the new one arrived on Friday. Had to take more stuff off the dash to get it installed. It’s in now along with the AC registers and controls panel. Dealing with the dash area, there has been a lot of install, remove cause I can’t install other piece, reinstall, rinse, and repeat!!
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Changed out the back shocks to the Monroe’s and that softened up the ride. New front springs made it today and the front Monroe’s will go on with them over the weekend.

We did take the care for another ride Monday evening after the shock change. Around the neighborhood went well, then we got out on the main road. Wound up first gear, and hit second to accelerate QUICKLY!! Started smelling antifreeze!! The nearest parking lot was a church. A quick look under the hood and one of the heater hoses blew apart at a connection. I had used the spring clamps, guess I need to upgrade to the worm style. Managed to get the hose back together, buy some water from a nearby convenience store and took it back home.

To be Bash ready, I need to
Install new coil springs, Monroe shocks, and get front end aligned
Air conditioner operational
Carb work
Interior panels

[cjshaker]

Looking really good, John! I really appreciate your level of detail and striving for the best build possible. Most people just see a "nice car", without realizing all the work and planning that goes into a build like that.

[Bolted to Floor]

Thanks Doug. I am so ready to be driving this thing. The closer it gets, the harder it is for me to just stick with the same level of detail. It’s been driving Sheryl Crazy for a while when I take too much time to make it look the way I think it should. It’s starting to drive me crazy too.

Gotta get those springs swapped too. Have an appointment for a front end alignment on Tuesday. 

[TimeWarpF100]

Very nicely done!

[Heo]

 

[Bolted to Floor]

Thanks guys.

[turbohunter]

Jealous John.
Really cool.

[Bolted to Floor]

Jealous John.
Really cool.

Marc, that road goes both ways, you have some really cars too.

[BruceS]

Big congrats John, I'll bet it was a wonderful feeling to drive 'er out of the garage under her own power for the first time in many moons!  Looking forward to seeing it in person.  Bruce