Saturday, October 22, 2016

Removing passenger side window crank handle

I removed the first part from my car tonight. The passenger side window crank handle.




And finally a picture of my youngest sitting in the car, just because. 




Friday, August 5, 2016

Raising the rear end of my 1968 Mustang Coupe

This was the first relatively cool unalocated evening I have had in what feels like months. 

I put up two more sheets of drywall on my side garage wall tonight and raised the rear end of my car up onto ramps using a jack.






Sunday, June 19, 2016

Installing a garage cord reel light just like Grampy had

My grandfather had a cord reel light in the middle of his garage when I was growing up. We used it a lot working on cars. I always thought that light was really cool.

It hadn't really occurred to me to put one in my garage until I was thinking about inspecting my mustang's bottom side and realized I needed a light that could go under the car for that.

As soon as I started thinking about having a light for inspecting the underside of the car I realized I wanted one of those reel work lights like my Grampy had.

I did a bit of searching on Amazon, looking at led ones first that were really expensive, but finally finding this classic style Craftsman Professional one with a 30 foot cord. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00329PMP4/ref=ya_aw_oh_bia_dp?ie=UTF8&psc=1



The directions said to make sure you installed it within two feet of an outlet. 

I cut and mounted a piece of 2x4 on my garage cieling attached to the boards that hold up my garage door opener. I then screwed in the included hook and hung the light. 


I was too conservative in my distance measurement  from the outlet the first time I installed it so I took it down, took down the board, and re-mounted the board further out. I like this better. 



30 feet is more than enough distance for anything I will ever need to do. :-)


I am really happy with my new light. It reminds me of good times with my Grampy.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

1968 Mustang Fuse Box location and a few dial pics

I found out yesterday that a friend has an engine lift and engine stand he is willing to loan me so I have been researching how to pull the engine today.

Today my in laws took the chairs they were storing in my garage while they were selling their old house and buying a new one to their new place, so I have room in the garage again.

I took a few picks of my fuse box and dials tonight, still getting a feel for the car.

The stock fuse box on a 1968 mustang is located way up about as far as it can be under the dash, just to the right of the steering wheel. Mine looks to be original for the car. I will be replacing this with a newer style one.

It looks like there might be a bit of foil behind one of the fuses?



The radio on this car looks to be original as well, or at least old enough to be. I may keep that, I am not sure.

Dials. 




Pedals and rust. 

Hurst shifter. 

Steering wheel.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Hood stuffing in my 1968 Mustang restmod project car

The front of Lola's hood near the latch is stuffed full of this cotton like substance.


Closer picture of some I pulled out with a screwdriver.

I don't claim to be an expert on these cars, but I am reasonably certain this stuff doesn't belong there. Amoung other things it seems like a huge fire hazard.

My best guess is there was a mouse, or family of mice, living in Lola's hood at some point.

I am going to have to take the hood latch off the get the rest of it out, but that can wait till I take the hood off the car. For now it's just one more item to add to the to do list I need to start.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Junk in the trunk of my 68 Mustang and cars don't roll sideways

My 1968 Mustang Coupe came with something that would usually be considered a good feature, it only rolls forward and backwards, not sideways. Unfortunately for me I needed to move it twelve feet to the left into the other garage bay so my wife's Expidition can go in the garage too.

I ended up rolling her back and forth in the garage a bunch of times, cranking the wheel back and forth to move the car a few inches to the left each trip from the front of the garage to the back, and then back to the front again. Eventually I want to get some car skates to make this kind of thing easier, but for right now this worked.

Here is a picture of her in her new spot. 

The car came with a few "spare parts" in the trunk, most of which I probably won't use. 

Here is a closer (possibly upside down) view. 

There are two different distributors and parts for at least three different carbs in the pile. The mirror is cracked, so I would need to replace the actual mirror before I could use that. About the only piece I am sure I will use is the inside door cover for my driver's side door.

I ordered a dewalt grinder, some wire wheels, a face mask, ear protection, a half mask respirator, a gallon of evapo-rust, a ten pack of 80 grit sanding disks, and some shop towels from Amazon today. This should be everything I need to start in on removing a bunch of rust from the car.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Assessing my 1968 Mustang Coupe - Lola

I took a few pictures of Lola tonight after the kids were in bed. I was getting kind of worried about what I might have gotten myself into, but now I think I may have hit the jackpot as far as cheap old rust bucket 1968 Mustang Coupe's go. (Remind me of that in a few months or years when I have really gotten into this project.) 

The worst of the rust seems to be relegated to the floor pans. The frame rails all seem solid as far as I can tell except for the very front of the passenger side one under the battery tray.

There are a few small holes in the external body panels around the wheel wells of course, but that's expected on these cars. (I say like I am some kind of expert instead of the rank amateur I really am.)

Overall I think the rust level should be manageable. (Famous last words I know.)

Pictures below: 


















Front driver side frame rail. Looks solid. 



Battery tray area. This will have to be replaced. 

Drivers side looks solid though. 



Passenger side frame rail behind the shock tower looks good from above at least. 

Lola's engine. 

I need to finish putting up sheetrock on one remaining wall in the garage and build another shelf along the ceiling on that wall to move some boxes to before I can really get into taking Lola apart. I also want to put in an attic ladder so I can store stuff up there as well. Everything I've read about restoring these cars makes me think I am going to need a LOT of storage space.