Winter Projects

I am getting the itch to start my winter projects and boy do I have a bunch of them, but we will see what my time and money allow me to do.

Projects (listed in priority):

1. Stereo install
2. Front seat upgrade with 3-point seat belts
3. New ignition system with points-less distributor
4. New Shelby oil pan
5. Modern headlight upgrade
6. Subframe connectors

Thanks to CJ Pony Parts winter interior sale, I picked up new foam and seat covers for the front seats.  Just waiting on the parts to come in and I hopefully will have some time over my class break to tackle that project (and get seat belts by then).  I've done some research though and converting to 3-point seat belts might be a bit tricky on a '67.

In the meantime, I will work on the stereo install.  I finally have all the parts to put it together.  The one thing though that I am stuck on is how to mount the new head unit in the glove box.  I've done some research and gotten a couple of ideas, but I really don't have a clue how I am going to do this as of right now.  Looks like I need to look into it more.

Can't wait to get this installed and listen to some good tunes!

You've Lost that Spark

Thought I would give a quick update here while I avoid doing school work and my fantasy football team doesn't seem to want to score points today!

I broke out the thermal temperature gun the other day and was testing the coolant and I decided to check the headers as well.  Every cylinder was running at 500+ degrees except cylinder #8 which was at 200 degrees. I decided to go ahead and get a set of spark plugs.  I haven't changed the plugs since I have had the car and it probably was overdue anyway.  So I went out and picked up a set of Bosch Super Plus Spark Plugs from Summit Racing.  The plugs came and I ended up spending some time on Thanksgiving Day in the garage while the turkey was cooking.

Old Plugs (top) with the New Plug (bottom)

Feeling Gassy

Finally have some time to catch up on some of the projects that I completed at the end of summer this year.  One of my main goals was to get my gauges working reliably and the other was to replace the gas tank.

Gauge Problems:

• Temperature Gauge Pegs at 'H' around 200 degrees
• Fuel Gauge reads 'E' at a half tank of gas
• Oil Pressure Gauge pegs at high upon start-up
• Voltage Gauge reads fine

The first step was to replace the voltage regulator (previous post).  Although everything works now on the cluster, the gauges are sill not reading accurate.

So the next step was to go through and start replacing the sending units.  I picked up an Oil Pressure Sending Unit as well as an Temperature Sending Unit from Mustangs Unlimited.  After installation of these parts, the oil gauge worked perfectly but the temperature gauge was still running too high.  

I was out of ideas for the temperature gauge, so I hit the VMF Message Boards.  Someone mentioned adding some resistance to the wire to bring the gauge down so I went and picked up a 1/2W resistor kit and added a 3.5 ohm resistor to the line.  This brought the gauge down to where it reads 180 degrees around 3/4ths and creeps up to 'H' around the 220 range.  I am now comfortable with both of these gauges and don't feel like I need to freak out when I am sitting in traffic with a temperature gauge pegged at 'H'.  Now if I see that the gauge is pegged at 'H' I better get off the road and let it cool down (hasn't happened yet).

Temperature Sending Unit

Oil Pressure Sending Unit

New Gas Tank

Since I was going to be replacing the fuel sending unit, I decided to replace the tank as well.  It is at least 30 years old (if not the original) and just a good idea.  My guess is the float on the old sending unit has a hole in it that is letting gas get into it and not properly float.  

Regulators!

I finished up my finals for the summer and was able to get out to the garage tonight.  The order of business for the night was pulling out the console again and replacing the voltage regulator.  The last time I had the console out was for the Mini Tach Install.  But even before then, the gauges have always been a bit messed up.  The gas gauge only goes to 3/4 full and I don't trust it under 1/4 a tank.  The oil gauge pegs at high during start-up, and the temp gauge always reads high (but never over heats).  All together, I never trust if the car is going to run out of gas and overheat.

After doing so reading up on the forums, it looks like the voltage regulator might be the culprit of all three gauges not reading right.  The voltage regulator on a first generation mustang has a bimetallic arm and heating element that regulate the current flow to the instruments and keeps it close to a constant 5V.  The contact points can wear out over time, so I decided to replace it.  I picked up a solid-state one from Mustangs Unlimited.  The solid state is more reliable than the points version.

The new regulator (top middle, green) replaces the old one (bottom middle, white)

I also replace the high beam indicator (blue light) with an LED light.  The cluster is now 100% LED (and awesome).

We will see over the next couple of weeks how the instruments read, but I hope that fixes the readings I get now.

The junk yard dogs helped me out today (they become possessed after 10pm)