[arcane73]

This week's efforts:

I decided to reinstall my fender extensions and finish freshening them up with new hardware, etc.
First thing to do was remove the old knockout that got left in on the assembly line. The dremel made quick work of that.

On to test fitting...the passenger side isn't bad

The drivers side is a mess.

Both fenders need replacing as well as both extensions....and the valance and stone deflector and probably the core support and most likely both front aprons....that's all an issue for future me.

I repaired the missing nut in the core support crossmember with a weld nut from McMaster-Carr.

I also trimmed a couple of pieces of MBV and attached them to the 1" square tubing I had welded to the strut rod brackets to use for the radiator support.

With all of that done, I can finally mount the radiator.

And I couldn't help myself, so I did a test fit of the refreshed grill to confirm that a blacked out radiator looked better to me than the bare aluminum one....

To wrap up today, I drilled out a hole and mounted one of the two bulkheads I'll be using and started to run the 2/0 cable from the trunk up to the general area.
I'll pick up some MS21919 (Adel) clamps and start roughing in the final cable locations.

On the lift front....I'm -hopeful- that bendpak will send out a second (but actually functional) power unit monday so I can get back to using my lift.

 

[Redneckgearhead]

It's easier to do that than to box it back up and send it to them.

 

[arcane73]

It's easier to do that than to box it back up and send it to them.

I agree, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating when the part you were shipped to take care of a separate issue arrives dead out of the box.

 

[arcane73]

The second replacement power unit for the lift arrived. After comparing this one to the first one they sent, I believe the first one was either a return or a sadly packed refurb.
The latest one arrived packed better and only had a bent bracket.

Everything is back up and running now. I'm sitting on two extra units now. The original one with a suspect pump and the first replacement with a electrical issue. We'll see what Bendpak wants to do with them.

I decided to start reassembling the nose after doing all of the test fitting. It gave me the chance to do something I'd wanted to do since i bought the car.....replace the bent up front bumper!!
The hood alignment isn't great, I tried to sort it out a bit but with the fender/extension issues, I doubt it'll get much better.

After all of that, I started to hang the MC so I could start checking the fit between that and the clutch MC.
Got ready to do that and found that one of the POs had cross-threaded one of the holes.....
In order to fix that correctly, I pulled out the column and the pedal bracket. I'm glad I did.
I found that the stamped nut had been spun at some point. I assume it was when the cross-threading happened.
I was able to get the threads cleaned up and dragged the welder over and tacked the nut in place.

I'll need an extra set of hands to work on the hole that the clutch mc will use since it got all mangled up in the past somehow.
I decided to make progress elsewhere.

I've laid out the 2/0 welding cable that will drive the starter.
I didn't care for it laying on the wheelhouse between the quarter so I reran it between the pinch weld and bracket. I used some old windlace to prevent the edge of the bracket rubbing against the cable.
I mounted the solenoid on the trunk bracket, cut the cable to length, and put an end on it. Now to do a zillion other things before the end of the year.

 

[cobra]

You are making good progress. What are the specs on the radiator? It looks like a nice piece.

I'm sorry Fuel injection is not propper on an older Mustang at all !!!!! I'm old school my Mustang and Cobra both have 2X4"S and they run..... Just my opinion !!!!

 

[EvilRed]

I don’t know what’s up with the old ladies coming into the mod section with their old lady opinions but as for actual help with your questions I’d call @Shaun @ Street or Track. He has Wilwood on his site and he’s very helpful on these forums.

I'm sorry Fuel injection is not propper on an older Mustang at all !!!!! I'm old school my Mustang and Cobra both have 2X4"S and they run..... Just my opinion !!!!

Lol, Some of us don't like the old lady 196x tech on these car so we make certain things modern.

 

[arcane73]

Just wanted to quickly update the progress.

Put the pedal bracket back in and mounted the MC to realize that my driver's side prop valve bracket puts the valve in the same space that the clutch MC is. The passenger side bracket should arrive tomorrow. I've also had to weld up the split where the hole for the original clutch rod passed through and grind it smooth for the MDL bracket to fit correctly.

Decided to use an existing hole for my main power/alt connection on the firewall. The 2ga wire runs along the driver's side to the trunk similarly as the starter cable on the passenger side. Once my battery arrives today, I'll mount it and then add my fused connection to it and have power up front. I decided to move the fuse box over a little to give myself a bit more room away from the wiper motor bracket.

I will likely end up using this area to mount the control box for the Dakota Digital box. I don't want to put it anywhere else on the firewall since I can't be certain where the AC evaporator will sit when I finally get around to installing AC.

This is what I'm currently working on. Tying the AAW harness, Dakota Digital control box, Holley Terminator ECU, MSD 6AL, and Bowler T-56 sending unit all together in one semi-neatly hidden package..

 

[arcane73]

I figured I'd update this again even though it has felt like I haven't done much. It's been a series of events that I had to stop what I was doing and sit back to think of the next steps.
I got the MDL clutch MC mounted and remounted the steering column. I need to get the brake MC mounted at some point and I'm considering calling ClassicTube because I've read/heard that they offer prebent stainless lines to mate up to willwood MC/prop valve combos. Haven't decided yet. I have a spool of nicopp hanging on the wall but I don't know if I want to try bending lines with the engine in place.

I have run power through the car and have all of the lights/horns functional and working correctly.

I mounted the throttle body and put on the 14" x 3" air cleaner on a 1" drop base. There is zero clearance. This brings me to the decision of sorting out a lower drop base, running a 'cold-air' type setup, or, most likely, cutting a hole in the hood and doing a Mach 1 scoop to sort of mimic the 68 CJ look. Still undecided.

On to battery cables and mounting. I started finalizing the battery cables and mounting and decided to weld in a ground stud. I used a 3/8 weld stud and tacked it to the frame rail and ran my battery ground to that. The weld stud i used is on the left, the finished product is the one on the right. It worked out well.

That allowed me to power up the ECU and check firmware. I'm way out of date which isn't a surprise seeing as the ECU was dated 9/2013. I didn't even get the touchscreen out to check it. I'll get it all mounted and update the firmware on all three after that.

Since the EFI kit is older, there are only 3 I/O wires on it. That's easily remedied since the system can support 8 (4 input/4 output) and Holley sells the add-in wires in a kit (Holley 558-420).
Adding them was super simple. The harness is numbered 1-XX depending on the number of pins from top left to bottom right. The instructions tell you where to add which color wire.

You press the lock (white plastic tab) to release the wires while being careful not to pull any out:

Pull out the white pin that fills the selected spot you need:

That leaves you a hole in which to shove the appropriately colored wire.

And lock the tab back when you're done. The blue/white wire was slotted in on connector JA, pin 12.

The last part is something I'm not proud of. I've been sitting on a CVF front accessory drive since 2019. I finally got around to installing it this weekend. I started out by test fitting the water pump and just putting regular bolts in the back to hold the backing plate on. I stopped to run into town and then came home and ate lunch. I got back to work and forgot all about the bolts in the back and cracked my timing cover as I tightened the drive bracket down. I could likely ignore it and move on, but I'd be so mad if it leaked when I first started it. That lead me to decide to order a new cover and pull it all back down to do it right since it's easier now with no fluids in it. I could likely repair the existing cover or it may not even be damaged. But if I'm pulling it off, I'm replacing it. My mistake for not paying better attention. Learn and move on. I decided to test mount the rest of the kit and discovered that my crank pulley spacer was about 1" too thick. I called CVF today and they're sending me a spacer that is for a factory balancer. The confusion came from the balancer on the car being aftermarket but a 'factory-style' replacement. They just asked that I pack the one I have back up and send it to them when I verify all is well. That works for me.
Here is how much room I'll have with the full kit on and running a shorty ford water pump:

For now, I'm waiting on parts and still chipping away at it. Here's to hoping it's running by year's end!

 

[arcane73]

This weekend was a short one as far as working on the car went. Sinus headache for two days and general frustrations led me to doing very little in the garage.

I received the replacement timing cover from amazon....

Yeah....thanks, amazon....someone else had returned it at some point with the same issue....

I did get the timing cover off of the engine after pulling everything back off and i certainly did a number on it.

I was as careful as possible but the corners of the timing cover that mated to the oil pan and block had a spot of gray rtv on them. A couple of layers of gasket tore when i removed the cover.

I will likely just do the same when i reassemble this. A dab of ultra-gray in the corners of the pan/block, around the front pan seal and a tiny bit around the water ports and reassemble.
I also realized that the cover that was on the engine did not have the dowels in it. Those are ordered as well.

I made an attempt to get started on running my fuel line, but ended up needing a few different an fittings than what i had on hand.
Another summit order that will arrive on the same day that the (hopefully correct) timing cover does and I'll get back to it this weekend.

 

[arcane73]

Made some forward progress. Got the new timing cover on and the front accessories remounted. Don't have the radiator back in yet but I have all next week off from work so I'll likely work on the car off and on during that time.

New cover:

Making sure it's all clean.

So many gaskets...

Here's another irritation. This water neck was not cheap. It happened as I was tightening it down. I was careful to make sure everything was in the right place and I didn't go crazy on it. It's a 90* neck and after this happened, I did some thinking and believe I may end up going with a 45* neck instead. Either way, I'm not happy about it.

Moved to the rear and started roughing in the fuel line. I have the short piece from the pump to the bulkhead finished and I've got the run forward laid in where I want it to live. I'm running it along the pinch weld on the passenger side and will need another 90* bulkhead to go from the inner fender to the engine. I'll likely put in another order of parts sometime next week.

I kept trying to decide on a way to address the hood clearance issue.....I picked up this on ebay for a good deal and I think this may be the route I take.

 

[jonk67]

Made some forward progress....
Here's another irritation. This water neck was not cheap. It happened as I was tightening it down. I was careful to make sure everything was in the right place and I didn't go crazy on it. It's a 90* neck and after this happened, I did some thinking and believe I may end up going with a 45* neck instead. Either way, I'm not happy about it.

I did something similar, I have the 45* neck with the water temp sensor plug/port. I wanted the plug to be flush so I tightened it down as far as I could...until it cracked . I didn't know the plug was convex and the port concave so it's not going to be flush...

 

[Kjsmitty]

I was bad about over torquing items when I was young…. As a new tech the seasoned guys in the shop gave me a hard time.. Said my technique was to “torque’m down till they broke then back‘m off half turn….“ After learning the hard way many times it finally set it.

Look’n good!

 

[arcane73]

I did something similar, I have the 45* neck with the water temp sensor plug/port. I wanted the plug to be flush so I tightened it down as far as I could...until it cracked . I didn't know the plug was convex and the port concave so it's not going to be flush...

Which neck are you using? I know people on the forums harbor a special level of hate for any of the chromed ones like this :Summit Racing - Chrome water neck
I'd considered throwing my wallet and anger at something like this: Summit Racing - Stainless water neck
Given that it's stainless steel, you'd think it would be a bit more robust for people like me, you and @Kjsmitty that have been punished for being the source of metallurgical failure.

I was bad about over torquing items when I was young…. As a new tech the seasoned guys in the shop gave me a hard time.. Said my technique was to “torque’m down till they broke then back‘m off half turn….“ After learning the hard way many times it finally set it.

Look’n good!

And in my defense, I've learned that lesson in my youth as well. I even put a torque wrench on this particular fastener and it didn't even manage to make it to 10 ft-lbs before giving up.

 

[jonk67]

Do not get the chrome, it will leak and I'd never pay $125 for a Tstat housing so the SS is out for me. I'd just get a good condition original and clean it up. They come up on fleabay time to time for $20 or less, just make sure from pics it's not rusted out or cracked. I may just switch to the same model ('65-'66?) that doesn't have the temp gauge port as I don't need it. Like this one:

Attaching a pic of my current one (blue)

I've looked at aftermarket at the parts stores, most are Murray brand, which is normally good, but the heater hose port does not line up, it's too offset:

Your top radiator hose has to line up with it so 90*, 45* or straight will make a difference for your hose fitting/ aligning.

 

[Kjsmitty]

Edited quote:
And in my defense, I've learned that lesson in my youth as well. I even put a torque wrench on this particular fastener and it didn't even manage to make it to 10 ft-lbs before giving up.

Trust me, I’m still internally bad about it. I force myself to use my torque wrenches and even then I find myself asking (talking to my wrench), “you sure that’s it?” 😄
But yes, I‘ll bet your issue was a ”what the,,,” moment..

 

[arcane73]

Just a quick thing I wanted to do after work. The 351 badges on the scoop are original and covered in the same green paint that the whole scoop is. So a very quick dip in lacquer thinner immediately got rid of the green paint.

The downside is that one of the badges had started to separate and the thinner helped it along. No big deal, really. I'll get some badge adhesive or super glue, etc to re-affix it and then get some paint and a tiny brush to fill the faded black areas of the badges back in.

I mean, if I'm going to keep the scoop, I may as well try to make it as presentable as the rest of the car....

 

[arcane73]

I've decided to finish work with parts that I have on hand before ordering anything new. That includes things like working on getting the last of the fuel system done and wiring up the electric fans, msd, fuel pump and starter circuits. I went ahead and tackled the fuel lines and pump wiring and starter circuit. I'll jinx myself by saying this, but I should be done running wires through to the trunk.

Starting from the back.

From trunk bulkhead over the axle and down to the pinch weld.

Along the passenger side pinch weld.

Moving over the floor through the torque box. I tried to keep the transition from the outer edge of the car to the inner rail out of the open as much as I could here. It's pretty well protected by the torque box.

I used an existing hole in the inner fender for a bulkhead into the engine bay.

I didn't like how close it left the fuel line to the exhaust, though.

I decided to move the bulkhead to this area since I could do it without too much trouble.

End result. The last leg of the line is away from the exhaust and out of the way of the eventual ac/heater lines.

And here is the shot from inside the trunk. Pump and sending unit are wired in. I have the pump on a relay and fuse that is mounted to the package tray. The sending unit is wired in with the AAW wire that runs up front. I'll change the settings in the gauges to accept the chevy sending unit range so the fuel gauge will read correctly.

 

[arcane73]

Today was spent roughing in the wiring for the gauges, getting the front drive accessories sorted out, and making my 'universal' oil dipstick work. Not a lot of photos taken of anything but I did try to capture the first power up of the gauges.

IMG_E0076.MOV

MOV File

1drv.ms

Tomorrow i'll call Holley and see what needs to happen to get my distributor and MSD tied into the ecu so i can allow it to control the timing. I would rather not make a mess of any of the expensive parts before talking to someone that answers questions like those for a living.

 

[arcane73]

More wiring! Roughed in and tested the fans. They're powered by relays that will be triggered by a (-) trigger from the ecu. I also decided to cut open my ecu harness and add a few things that are in the newer harnesses but not mine. I also found out that I can't use my Dakota Digital BMI in conjuction with the Holley touchscreen. Kinda sucks since I bought the touchscreen a couple of years ago to upgrade from the handheld unit. I'll just put it up for sale and go about my day.

Fan wiring that will get routed and cleaned up later.

The box of connectors and wires that I ordered to update my harness. And, of course, I forgot a couple of things. I'll probably finish this up next weekend.

Start at the beginning.

And then things escalate.

This is the additional connector that I added for the extra input/outputs. The older harnesses like mine only had 3 total and the newer ones have 8.
Start by stripping the ends and adding the seals.

Add correct terminal for your connector and crimp.

Insert the completed pins into the connector. Be sure to seal up any ports that you're not using to keep junk out of the connector. Slide the lock onto the back when you're done.

Another thing I added was an oil pressure connection. I'll work on getting that fed into the ecu later. I also added a single connector so I could put all of the loose wires in one location (+12, ground, 12 trigger, fuel pump trigger). Wrapped it all back up and just waiting on a few pieces to show up so I can finish it up. Getting closer to cranking this pile!

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Nice writeup it's looking good.