12-06-05
At long last I did indeed move the Mustang to my own garage. So far all I've done is vacuum it a bunch, but just having it there makes things better. I can now look at it every day and wonder if I'll ever get around to working on it again.
10-01-04
I've scoured my storage unit and found the pictures from when we first painted it, plus a couple others. I need to scan them and stuff, but I do have them.
Also, my sister's S10 Blazer is a finished product. The conversion went beautifully and she now uses it as her daily driver. One thing that helped that project significantly was that most of the conversion was a direct bolt-in. Very little work (that is a relative term) had to be done to adapt the hardware into the other vehicle since they were, in essence, still the same truck. This means that my dream of doing the late-model conversion is still viable and, given time and sweat, can become a reality.
On the flip side, I have become aware that it will be a LOT of sweat because the cars I'm working with are fundamentally different. None of the wiring harnesses will line up for length or shape. None of the original mounts or clips will be useable. None of the brackets or mounts will align with anything. Etc., etc., etc.
One step at a time though. I've just made an offer on a house. If it goes through I will find myself with my car in my own garage instead of in a storage unit in another town. Things like lights, heat, power, proximity, and the like suddenly make the project much more appealing.
01-27-04 The original story
This is a summarized version, condensing the timeline and combining events for the sake of getting the story out.
The year was 1989, our hero was in the 8th grade, and had been spending quite a bit of time with his dad at the dragstrip. After several months of pestering, he had finally convinced his parents that, although he was only 13, it was time for him to get his own car. A real car, a classic American musclecar, that would eventually become a Street Rod or possibly even a real competitor at the dragstrip.
Dad, being the ultimately cool guy that he is, put a little bit of time into looking for a good deal. A couple of months went by and one day he came home and asked me to go for a ride. I piled in and gibbered excitedly as he drove into town and up to the back lot of a local car dealership. This particular lot was the fenced and locked 'impound' lot, also used for cars recently traded in or cars not likely to sell right away. The clouds parted, heavenly light shown down, angels sang, and there it was:
1968 Ford Mustang.
Faded road-stripe puke yellow, primer spots, a primered nose tip with missing chrome, rusty chrome wheels, sagging in the tail end, and a huge crack nearly taking the dashpad in twain.
The only semi-redeeming quality about it as it sat was the rear window. The Ford emblem, bigger than life, etched into the glass, measuring approximately six inches high and twelve+ inches wide.
That weekend he took me back to the dealer and we gave it a thorough look-see up close and personal. We found a V8 under the hood, good condition Road Hugger radials (good tires at the time), um, yeah, that's about it for additional bonuses. It had a manual transmission but it turned out to be a three-speed instead of the four-speed we assumed it to be.
A couple hours and $999.47 (after tax) later we had a deal. Dad and I grabbed the car tailer and towed the beast to its new home.
Over the next couple of years I fiddled with it, mostly did a lot of taking things apart and putting it back together, but the eventuality was that it drove itself. At that point we went to work on the body. I'm sure that Dad and Mom both got pretty tired of my car taking up the garage, but eventually we had it ready to drive.
Some of the changes we made included:
swapped out the tiny rear end for a 9" posi
added a leaf to the rear leaf springs to raise the rear about two inches. This had the added benefit of giving it that slightly raked stance.
swapped the front brakes from four-lug to five-lug
installed a Holley Projection electronic fuel injection system
swapped in a four-speed transmission
installed a line-lock -er, I mean, a hill-holder
installed high-backed cloth bucket seats from a 79 Mustang II
replaced the front and rear carpet
replaced the moldy stock wood steering wheel with a Grant GT Series wood steering wheel
swapped in electric windshield squirters for the stock manual foot pump
oh yeah, can't forget the four-point roll bar
3" web four-point racing harnesses in the front
Additionally I did some other stuff:
Pioneer Premier sound system
a pair of Polk Audio 12" free-air subs hanging behind the rear seat
Hurst shift handle with the thumb button
replaced the dome light bezel with a custom-machined stainless ring and a blue plexiglas filter
power trunk release
blue anodized directional wheels
blue hose covers and trim in the engine compartment
In April of 1993, near the end of my senior year, the car was ready for paint. A trip to the paint store and a few hundred dollars netted what would best be described as Electric Blue. We squirted it on a Saturday -well actually Dad did the painting. I was working fast food at the time and had worked until 5am, waking up at noon to a blue car. I spent the rest of the day taking off masking, attaching accessories and trim, and carrying the hugest grin I'd ever had in my entire life!
We let the paint cure for a couple days, then I drove it everywhere (obviously). I showed it off to everyone at work, everyone at school (it made the final issue of the school paper), all my friends, and anyone that would look at it.
About a month later it rained. Not much, just a little bit. I was 18, on the way to see my girlfriend for some 'quality time' if you know what I mean. This was the first time I had driven the car in wet conditions and the 50-foot long strip of bright blue paint looked beautiful on the galvanized metal guardrail. The mangled fender, headlight bucket, grille, bumper brackets, upper and lower valance panels, and chrome trim didn't look so good on the right front corner of the car. Ouch.
I bent, tweaked, hammered, leaned, pushed, pulled, and otherwise adjusted as many of the pieces back into shape as I could, ending up only actually replacing the headlight bucket, valance panels, and bumper brackets. I drove with the tan headlight bucket, black replacement panels, and chipped/missing paint on the adjusted panels for a few months before Dad repainted it. I'm not sure why exactly, but I think he was bored.
By that point I was out of school, working full time (still fast food), and the newness of the car had worn off. I began to take inventory of the things that needed serious work still:
when applying the brakes the right front locks up
the steering wheel has a full 90 degrees of slop
the front tires rub on the front fenders because the front springs are too light for the V8
the cowl leaks -actually it just fails to keep the water our
an electrical problem causes overcharging of the battery, making it bubble and spray battery acid all over the engine compartment
the transmission is wrong for the car/engine
the input shaft doesn't fit into the pilot bearing correctly, meaning that every three months we have to tear it out and replace the pilot bearing
the clutch doesn't engage properly and therefor slips all the time
the shifter came through the floor in the wrong spot so the factory shifter hole is just that, a hole
the engine is old and tired, burning oil and consuming fuel at the alarming rate of 8 (yes, eight) miles per gallon
various electrical problems
the starter sometimes doesn't disengage
the engine sometimes won't shut off
the heater fan sometimes doesn't work
the wipers sometimes don't work
Hey, let's be honest here. The car is over thirty years old and has nearly 200,000 miles on it. Many of these issues make the car unsafe to drive, so I pulled it off the road that Autumn. Only a few months after starting to drive my then life's work, I opted for a different daily driver: 1980 VW Rabbit 4-door diesel. Something about 45mpg that I just couldn't turn down, ya know? I still drive a diesel VW, but this one is much newer and nicer at a 2000. The VW saga is a different story altogether, so on with the topic at hand.
About six years ago I got bored and decided to work on the Mustang again. I took stock of what needed to be done and picked one: the trunk. The trunk was plagued with surface rust, had a moisture problem, still had the ugly puke yellow showing in places, and was just friggin nasty.
I brainstormed and came up with a solution to many problems at once: spray-on truck bed liner. A trip to a couple body shops got me some much needed info. There was a product that would work for a sealer that should be applied before the liner. A stop at the paint store got me a gallon of blue, um, I forget the name. This stuff goes on with a brush or however, does not need mixed, and is supposed to make a stong bond to the material it covers to block out moisture.
I removed everything from the car starting behind the front seats. Upholstery, glass, wiring, trim, everything. Then I spent a miserable weekend curled up in the trunk with a vacuum and wire wheel, grinding off any and all rust and crud I could find. With that stage done I set about applying a liberal coating of this sealer. The first few days went very well as I pasted over all the easily reached surfaces and the almost-as-easily reached corners, nooks, and crannies. Then came the hard part: the underside of things. Ever try to use a paintbrush upside down? Very messy. Unfortunately I got sidetracked another week down the road and didn't get this stage done.
So here we are, six years later, the car still halfway torn apart, sitting in a storage unit collecting mouse terds. **sigh**
There is hope, however. For the past several years I had been working as a contractor (that's pronounced "temp" for those of you not aware) and have been unable to make any kind of commitment to anything. Last Autumn I got hired on as a permanent employee for decent pay. This company has been around for ~100 years and very clearly has that much more time left in it. With this newfound stability I plan on starting my life again. Included in this plan is the money to pick up the project and get it rolling again.
I've given it much thought and I finally decided which direction to take the car. With a classic musclecar there are a few ways to take it: the traditional Hot Rod, the hydraulicked bling mobile, the full restoration, the dragstrip-only race car, and some others. I've opted for what will likely end up being a modern Hot Rod. The plan is to pick up a crashed 2000 or newer Mustang. This car will be the donor for parts to go into the real car:
late-model 5.0L engine with all its perks
elctronic tuned-port fuel injection
roller cam, rockers, lifters, etc.
many bolt-on aftermarket parts proven to boost the power well over 600horsepower
late-model 5-speed transmission
overdrive
hydraulic clutch
the matched engine/tranny won't have the problems that plague my car
four wheel anti-lock disc brakes
not sure how this will stack with the line-lock
power rack-and-pinion steering
smog comliance
tilt steering wheel
cruise control
delay wipers
You get the idea.
There is already a pilot project underway to test the feasibility of a project like this. My younger sister has an '84 S10 Blazer 4WD. The 2.8 V6 has come out and the crashed ~'96 S10 donor is giving up a 4.3 V6, antilock brakes, the entire dash, steering column, computer-controlled fuel and timing, power door locks, black cloth interior, etc.
As of the end of January 2004 the truck is in the process of changing from flat blue to high gloss black. That portion should be done in another week or so, then its back to the wiring. We're all excited (Dad, my younger sister, and me) to see how it turns out. If I have the time and inclination I just may post the narrative and pics on that project later on.
I have some pictures of the Mustang as it is, but I'm not up for posting them tonight.
12-06-05
