Posts by b9folk_old

  • dynacorn

    About 10 years ago, I read something that said Dynacorn planned to make the metal trim pieces that hold the lower part of the 65-66 dashpads on. I wish they hadn't decided against making them. It seems like something right up their alley.

  • Ever Increasing Cost For Parts

    Come on Gary, vent! Vent! OK, I'll do it: "#&$%*@!!!" X(


    I get upset, too, because I have a VERY humble budget. I bought my whole kar for $2999 in 1989 and had no idea what a "K" was. I'll probably double or triple that during restoration. But paying thousands for individual pieces, whether I need them or not, is out of the question. I am not building a show car, so I go more for "year correct" or even service parts rather than exact datecodes. I want to get the car back on the road in my lifetime, which won't happen if I get too picky. Considering the fun I had with the kar pre-resto, I won't lose any sleep over tiny cast-in numbers. Let someone else pay double, triple, even quadruple the money for trailer queen parts. I want to drive my kar and not worry about it. Oh, and "@*#$&!!"


    Lyle

  • K sagas

    Back in the '60s, Lake Street in south Minneapolis was a drag racing haven for musclecars. I used to hear stories from an older guy who had a Mustang coupe with a 289 swapped in place of its 6 cylinder. I didn't move to the area until 1990, by which time part of it had become a trendy shopping, dining, and entertainment "Uptown" area where mostly twenty-somethings hang out. Shortly after moving there, I was stuck trying to make a left turn in this area (a block north of W. Lake Street on Hennepin Ave. S.) about midday on a Saturday. The sidewalks were crowded with shoppers, lunchtime diners, and slackers. After about 5 minutes of sitting there with my blinker on, I saw a small opening. Popping the clutch and literally standing on the accelerator, I squealed through my turn in a cloud of tire smoke. I had to stop a short distance farther, and when I let off the gas I could hear lots of whooping and cheering coming from the crowd. Boy that was a great feeling, and this was with a C- code 2 barrel 289. I had a dual exhaust with only cheap glasspacks, so it was plenty loud, too! I'll probably be gentler with the redlines and restored Hipo in place of the "meats" and plain 289.


    One other tale, a little weird, was a year earlier. For the "road test" in '89, when I first got the car back on the road, I took a big looping drive across Wisconsin to Lake Michigan, then up around Lake Superior and through the North Woods. I was in northern Minnesota, in the middle of Superior National Forest on a slightly foggy, wet day. I hadn't seen another car in a long time when I saw another Mustang coming from the other direction. In passing I saw that it was another '65 fastback! Neither of us dared stop to talk. You just never know what may happen on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. I wish I had, though. I think I was pressed for time, because I was going up to International Falls on the Canadian border, then down to Lake Itasca to step across the tiny Mississippi the same day. Good thing I didn't have trouble, because I had no spare, no jack, and had already made an emergency repair of an exhaust hanger using electrical wire.


    Lyle E.

  • steering wheel paint

    Has anyone here repainted their steering wheel? I have seen articles about fixing the cracks and repainting, but they never say what kind of paint to use. I wonder if the standard interior paint sold by various vandors will work, or if a special enamel is needed.

  • 9" Rear Axle Question

    Before I got rid of my magazine collection a short time ago, I saw an article that talked about one of the gear vendors (Currie Enterprises, maybe?) that had a huge pile of old housings. Of course, that may have been 10-15 years ago... I wonder if Perogie Enterprises might be able to help.

  • shock tower spacing

    I'm looking at replacing the top of the section of front frame rail that sits under the upper A arm. It is still intact, but crusty/rusty on top. I happened to notice that my upper A-arms have a lot of shims which got me thinking about alignment. When someone puts in a Monte Carlo bar, presumably it is the correct length, right? And people talk about lifting the car up to let the shock towers relax. But they never talk about whether you need to re-adjust the alighnment afterward. Anyway, i'm thinking that I should check just how much "lean-in" my towers have, and was wondering:


    1. How long is the standard Monte bar, apron-to-apron?

    2. How greatly does shock tower lean affect alignment?

  • transverse dual

    I unfortunately don't have the pipes (yet), but my original early tailpipe hangers are still in place. I'm not sure where they end up at the valence panel except that they would be just slightly inboard of the frame rails. To me that means that they would NOT both be offset to one side or the other. I can supply pictures & measurements of my hangers and their locations, if that would help.

  • 5R09K147151

    Quote from Beagle1

    I fixed my post too...thanks for pointing it out, yes, it was bad choice of words.


    At least you didn't use the contraction, "F'ugly". I have seen old magazine articles that enthusiastically show you how to cut the taillight panel and install either Cougar taillights, or if you prefer, 3 sets of Mustang taillights.

  • BODY VIN # LOCATIONS

    I've had my fenders off for at least a year, and didn't spot the vin stampings from the top until I used steel whool and a little laquer thinner on the areas. Amazing how I could be working a couple inches away from the stampings and not be able to see them, but such was the case. My undersides were undercoated so I never looked there.

  • that sickening "crunch"

    That crunch - ooooh, how I hate it. I'm trying to do a far more detailed battle against rust than previous owners did. This includes pecking around with a screwdriver in suspect areas.


    Anyway, my car has some serious driver's side issues where the splash shields go over the side panels, firewall, and cowl. The cowl itself is in good shape so I was removing the old seam sealer to do a "recaulk". I noticed just inside the cowl drain opening that there was excess sealer and coating, so I started scraping it out of there. When the screwdriver got near the front edge of the cowl, just inside that drain opening, there was a sickening "crunch" and a new hole appeared which would let water drain directly into the passenger compartment. DOH! I felt and heard that sickening crunch before I saw the hole, and it turned my stomach. I knew what it meant, and it wasn't the first time.


    Since I don't want to remove all my framerails to look inside, I plan to go after them and my rockers with a small vaccuum hose, then spray in some Eastwood Rust Converter followed by their Heavy Duty Antirust product. Meanwhile I'll be poking around and hope I don't hear any more of that sickening "crunch".

  • What are matching #'s

    Quote from garymcgowan

    I think that if all parts are date correct and the body is straight with no rust or repairs then you have a great K. IMHO


    I fully agree. I think most of us would agree that date codes within a particular range, coupled with features that match the door tag make sense. Having a VIN on the block that matches the car is very desirable but I'd bet that almost 50% of the cars don't have that anymore. 40 years is a long time in a car's life, so it is a good thing they made lots of Mustangs so a few would survive. I happen to be patching my rear fender aprons to retain the original stampings, rather that replace them and make new stampings. That's a whole other debate that I don't want to touch - retaining history versus restoring to concourse. Opinions are like a--holes, there are lots of them in every crowd & everyone has one. Best to just enjoy our cars, whatever path we take.