Posts by oscart_old

Do you have photos you can post?

Take the car for a good run and change the oil right after while the "dirt" is still suspended. Don't change the filter if you don't want to. Fuel stabilizers are a good idea. If you plan on starting the car over the winter, make sure you let the exhaust pipes get good and hot before you shut the car off, so that the exhaust water does not condense on the pipes/mufflers and rust them out. Also, I always put mouse traps in the garage as the critters seem to like to hide out in the garage during the cold months.

Hello,

I am looking for a cross reference to a modern paint code such as Dupont or other for my interior red paint for my 1966 Mustang. There are two paint codes. One burgundy used for the package tray, front windshield trim and radio grill - I have that paint. The one I need is the paint used for the dash and doors etc. It is RM code 5773R Red Irid. No local paint shop has a cross reference and I have already called Dupont. I need to spray my heater control delete panel. The paint shop will mix me a rattle can if I have a modern code. Does anyone know it or where I can find a code for this Red Irid interior color?

Thanks

Try running a good set of vented valve cover breathers and make sure you PCV system is working and routed correctly. This will help with releave some of the crank case pressure.

The machining here was for the screw in PCV valve in the intake plate and for the tube fitting on the bottom of the lid. I also purchased an FE Cleaner Lid which does not have the raised machined ridges all the way accross the top of the oval lid. (This means you will have to weld the front FE hole and drill a new one in the proper location. For looks. I machine the center raised fins and sanded it to a brushed finish. I also purchased a reproduction "289" Bird where the "390" Bird would go. It really looks awesome. I can send photos if someone wants to post it.) The underhood steel re-enforement at the front of the hood actually made contact here. I also machined about .060 from the bottom of the aircleaner lid boss that makes contact with the carb. Don't remove too much or you will block the fuel bowl vent hoes. As well, I have some aluminum carb spacers machined down to about .150" which is a bit thinner then the spacers provided. Anyless, and the aircleaner lid makes contact with the top of the distributor. Like I mentioned, my engine should settle and I will get it adjusted a bit to drop maybe another .125". With a Shelby type hood or even a few spacers at the hinges, you might be fine. Every engine sits a bit different, and I do expect mine to settle once I run the engine on the new engine mounts. After a season or so, I may go back to the tripower. I will have to check out the idle mixture screws on the bench. It may be that when screwed all the way in, the needle virtually falls out. I do think it is a well designed system, but hood clearance will be tight on most cars. Always check. I could always remove the spacers, and flycut the bottom of the lid above the deistributor another .160" .

Having said all of this, nothing I do is a bolt on anyway. Aftermarket heads get a real valve job and bowls cleaned up. Headers around the inside of the head flange are filed flat where excess welds are. Pistons and rings are cleaned and deburred. You would be surprised how much aluminum material is hiding in there. Nothing fits like OEM as my mechanic anti-aftermarket Dad used to say.

I have the concourse version of the Pony Carbs Tri-power setup. It uses the Blue Thunder intake and aircleaner, along with their Autolite 2100 series carbs and related linkages and fuel log. I had to cut a small length of the stock linkage rod to the center carb which was not a big deal. There is only one vacuum port on the back of the intake, so if you are running a C4, you will have to shorten and bend the vacuum tube slightly. I am also running my PCV valve from the back of the intake where the down draft tube would go, and run it to the bottom of the aircleaner. You will have to machine both the cleaner base and the intake cover. A stock distributor or one of the narrow MSD billet units will work, but the wires to the cap are pretty tight against the front carburetor. Also, purchase a universal hot air pickup to run to the choke for good heat. Hood clearance is an issue as I am running new stock engine mounts, but will see if I can get the engine to sit a bit lower. Getting at the center idle mixture adjustments are a huge pain especially on the drivers side even though the screws are hexagonal. A small wrench is just a pain for quick adjustments. Better off just using a small rubber hose pushed on the screw to turn. My unit came with the screws turned out 2 1/2 turns which for some reason has the screws literally falling out and the car running big time rich. Adjusted with the screws turned just 3/4 turn has the car running perfect. I will replace the screws with stock units as I feel there is something wrong with these after market units which are extremely loose and will not stay adjusted. I contacted Pony Carbs about this and they said that no way would the car run like this. Whatever. I am running a braided line with AN fittings from the fuel pump to the log. You will have to put an inline filter somewhere as well. For performance, go with a good high rise single carb setup instead. The tricarb is nice to look at though. The gizmo factor is right up there which is the main attraction. I am taking it off probably this week to try a single carb to see how it performs. I think a good moto is "Keep it simple dummy".

If you are going with a blower setup, then get a cam designed for blower applications. There are a lot of good people out there, like Ed Curtis of Flowtech Induction. What ever you decide, talk to someone like Ed before you make a decision. In the end you will make more power and probably save money. If you have the smaller combustion chamber AFR 165 heads, then you are limited by boost, unless you are running dished blower pistons. Since the engine is already built with no power adders in mind, I would stick to the Weber setup as long as there are no tuning issues with them. Otherwise, you could stick with the dual highrise setup, long tube heads and custom cam. Then get a pro built Holley carb from one of the top builders. Talk to Ed. I forgot the carb guys name, but he uses a wet flow setup, and will get you an HP unit designed and built for your setup that will make maximum horsepower and have not driveablility issues.

I am looking at installing a rally pac for my 1966 model year. Finding a good original is difficult, so for now, I am considering purchasing a reproduction unit. Since my car has a standard red interior, I am told that only deluxe interior received the color unit matched to the steering column, so I am looking at a black unit. Does anyone have an opinion on the faithfulness and quality of the reproduction units? Are there different manufacuteres of the reproductions and if so, who make the best unit? Any comments are appreciated.

It is too late for you, but I now also insist and will pay extra for careful packaging and insurance. The seller will always blame the shipper. I had a set of new pistons sent to me, but the meat head shipped them loosely packaged in a shoe box. Needless to say, each one was dinged up once they arrived. Another guy sent me a set of cylinder heads, packed loose in a large and very weak box with only foam chips separating them. The heads must have fallen out of that poor box several times. As did the other contents which were lost. The seller put the blame on the shipper saying that he told the driver to be careful with it. Shees...

I think this is more a case of not knowing what he has. This seller has sold over 6000 items with very few negative feedback. That is hard to do. But as always, buyer beware. The parts are not as described.

Is the door tag original to the car?

Here is a quick check. If it was a T car, it would not have the original dual exhaust bolts located below the rear seats. Check to see if they look original and unmodified. The floor should still have the original interior paint and if everything looks genie then that is a good sign. If not, then that may be your first clue as to how this Mustang started its life as.

The first strike against the car is that it was at a bodyshop in Montreal Quebec. Why did the bodyshop close? Did the guy retire or did he just go out of business. Assume the guy is not telling the truth about the car and try to find previous owners or documentation. Chances are the original car was wreaked early in its life when old Mustangs were cheap and all the good stuff was transfered to the T car. Prolly done honestly by an owner that really was not out to fool anyone. Check the front clip carefully to see if it is the original front end as well. If it turns out to be a re-body with all hipo parts, you may be well ahead to sell the hipo parts and sell the shell separate. JMHO

I have a few very nice 1966 Ford Shop Manuals and Spec Booklets I like to display in the truck at shows. One of them has a few black grease smears on the cover. Is there a proper or safe way to clean the thick paper covers without ruining the finish or color?

I think the market has sold a lot of products such as tank plates etc. thanks to the paranoia about this totally unfounded fear. I would love to see some of these products in crash test. You are more likely to have a Mustang burn due to a dried out rubber fuel hose then anything else. Like was mentioned earlier, newer cars are safer thanks to better seat belt designs, seats with head rests, softer materials in the interior, crumple zones, air bags etc. One good piece of advise once your car is in good tune, is to always have a fire extinguisher. You may also be able to help someone else in need.

I will bookmark these guys. Thanks for the link.

Assuming that the fulcrums are properly orientated, you may have to replace the screw in studs with longer aftermarket (ARP) studs. This is not a bad idea anyway. Measure your oem studs and check to see what the standard screw in stud is.

Give the machine shop the specs to your camshaft. Have them setup your spring height. If it is not a roller cam and is fairly conservative, you may get away with a single spring setup. After many heat cycles, springs wear out. Most of the heat from you valvetrain come from your springs. That is why it is important that they have a good coat of oil on them for startup as well. Most weekend racers change their springs at least once a season. A decent shop will toss the stamped locks for stronger machined locks as well. The original hipo camshaft does not have the aggressive ramp designs that Competition Cams uses.

The stock thin wall casting cylinder block is the weak link. You will split it down the middle before a rod will let go. This is true only for a well prepped mild motor. On a high mileage beast, anything can happen.

Check out Pure Stock and Pure Street in the NMRA. Revving to the stratosphere has more to do with the valvetrain and camshaft design that

keeps the lifters on the lobe and prevents the valves from bouncing. Most of these cars launch well over 8500 rpm. More has changed in the last 15 years in the performance industry then in the previous 40 years. We have come a long way since the sixties. I have a Pure Street spec motor in my 1993 5.0 and have shifted it well over 9500 rpm. It wasn't built on junk parts or old technology though. The camshaft design is a one off built for my combination from a leading camshaft designer for the series. But, the cam is now two and a half years old and in this series can be considered an ancient design. Most of these cars will hit 10,000 rpm easy. But, don't confuse a K-code 289 to a competitive SBF race motor. Two different animals.