Brakes, Seals & Bearings

Softball is done for a month so I spent my Thursday afternoon working on the Mustang. I went with my dad to Kragen/O'Riley's to buy brake spring kits for the front and rear, spark plugs and rear brake shoes. My dad had already picked up the front drum bearing seal, rear axle housing seals, and spindle washer/nuts on his way home from work. The spindle washers/nuts I bought from Kragen for a 1966 mustang were no good because they were too small for my spindles. The guy at the brake parts shop in downtown Riverside said that I needed 67/68 washers and nuts and as it turns out he was right. I don't understand why that would be the case if I have spindles for a 1966 Mustang...unless the guy who sold me the spindles was lying (he is a mechanic that told me he pulled them off of a 1966 Mustang.) Oh well--so long as the car aligns correctly then I guess we don't have a problem.



I installed the new brake springs on the front so that they mounted in the correct location. If you recall from my blog yesterday, one of the upper springs was so short that it had to mount in the top hole instead of the second one which changed the leverage. Now the top blue spring is longer which allows it to reach further.I definitely feel more confidant with my braking capabilities with these new springs on here.



Once I had new springs on both sides of the front end, I had to pack the wheel bearings with fresh grease. My dad and I spent some time earlier this week cleaning the old wheel bearings rather than buying new ones since these looked to have been replaced at some point. Each drum has a large and a small bearing. The large bearing sits further back on the spindle inside the drum and is locked in by the drum seal (which we replaced today.) The small bearing goes on after the drum is on the car and is held on by the spindle washer/nut that can be easily taken off to change the brake shoes. We used a high temp wheel grease to ensure longevity of life.




Once the bearings had sufficient grease packed in, we set both drums on the front of the car. Although we were ready to put tires on the front, we couldn't immediately find them so we moved on to working on the rear of the car. Let's not forget that I also tightened all the locking nuts on the steering...that's kind of important.



The rear was a little more difficult because since I had coated the rear-end and the backing plates with POR-15, the bolt holes were too small for the bolts. We had to pull out the drill to get the excess paint out of the holes. The axle bearing also had a hard time going in on the passenger side because there was a small amount of POR-15 in there as well; it wasn't anything a razor blade couldn't fix. Once the excess paint was out, we put a coat of bearing grease in the axle housing to protect the wheel bearing (sorry the picture is a little blurry since I was a bit shaky when I took it.) You can also see the new axle seal to keep the oil inside of the axle and off of the rear wheel and brakes.


Once the new seals were in, the paint was cleaned up, and we had a fresh coat of grease lining the housing, we slipped on the backing plates and the axles. We also put on the new wheel cylinders, but have yet to set the brakes and springs since we need to first locate the parking brake lever that goes on each side. We have all of the brake parts together, but for some reason can't find that one part. Without it I can't set the parking brake and would have to leave my car in gear when parked so that it won't roll away. Other than that, we are ready to put some times on her and set it down o the ground in order to put in the engine and transmission.

Brake for Pedestrians

I only spent about 1 1/2 hours at my parents house working on the 'Stang, but that time was well spent. I was able to get the brakes on the car which will next allow me to put on the drums and then the front tires. I'm still waiting on a set of spindle nuts and lock washers since the ones I ordered from Kragen are the wrong ones. My dad went to a brake specialty shop to order them and they should be coming in today. I'll swing by after work to work on it for a couple of hours and hopefully set the rear brakes (if I can find the e-brake bar). The one thing I don't understand is that the brownish spring on both sides should be a longer spring and it should mount on the lower hole, not the top hole according to the other pictures I looked at. I'm not sure if I need to get another spring, but that's the way its set up for

now.

Tuesday when I worked on the car, I spent my time cleaning the same brake parts that I installed yesterday. This has been a very tedious project so far. Every nut and bolt has been taken off, cleaned/painted and put back on the car so far. It has been coming along a little slower than I first anticipated, but it's been good to spend some time with my dad.

Odds and Ends

While Lauren spent the day with the girls for Reghan's birthday, I decided to spend a few hours working on the 'Stang. I suppose to finished all I set out to do, but I really didn't set out to do a whole lot to begin with. Since I ordered a bunch or parts that won't be delivered until Wednesday, I figured that I would just work on some of the random things that needed to get done.


I started with the T5 conversion crossmember that I bought on Ebay about 10 years ago for my first Mustang (but then never ended up using). The last person that had it cut a section of it out to work with a bigger transmission. Although it would still work for my purpose, I decided to cut a piece of sheet metal to fit in the gaping hole left by the pervious owner and weld it in. I didn't want to leave a big open hole under the car where water could get in and cause rust. I had to also cut a small piece of the sheet metal to fit where a smaller hole was left open. By the time I finished welding in the new metal and painting it, it didn't look too bad. The picture is a bit shadowed, but you get the idea.


The next thing I worked on (which I didn't get pictures of) was welding the driver's seat frame together. Somehow, all four points that the frame rails welded to the frame were broken leaving no way for the seat to work. I stripped back the upholstery, ground off the paint and rust and went to town with the mig welder. I was able to get the seat back together with the seat studs set at 14" apart from center to center. I set the seats in the car to make sure that they lined up correctly because I would hate to upholster them down the road and then have them not fit properly in the car.

I pulled out the bench wire wheel and cleaned up the intake bolts so that we can set it next week when I'm over...sorry, no pics of those either. I also painted the valve covers that my dad worked so hard to clean up. I painted them a flat black engine paint that I also used on the oil pan. I think they turned out pretty good for original ford valve covers. By the time I was done with these, I was ready to come home. There wasn't a whole lot that I could really do today without the parts that are coming next week. Once they're in, I'll be able to set the front and rear brakes and then put on tires in order to set the car on the ground.

Paint This

I was only able to work on the Mustang Wednesday this week since Tuesday I spent my time after work taking down two of Darrell's satellite dishes and then getting the house ready for Brad and his 4 nieces to spend the night before heading out to Disneyland the next morning. Yesterday all I really had time to do was to clean up the engine/oil pan and paint them. My dad spent his time stripping down the valve covers that were on the 302 he pulled out of his '67 Mustang. They have the original raised ford emblem on the top. I'll probably paint those black to match the oil pan.

As you can see to the left, the timing chain cover still looks great after Tom cleaned it last week. The oil pan also looks fantastic thanks to Tom. I also painted the harmonic balance but didn't bother to get a picture of that nor the valve covers. I just bought some more parts to help me move forward with putting the car together and the should arrive next Thursday. I bought the engine mount, trans mount, differential gasket, 4 wheel cylinders, 2 spindle lock nut kits, power steering rebuild kit and front brake shoes. I'm bummed that the parts won't be here until Thursday since I work on the car on Tuesday and Wednesday, but now that softball is over for the season after today I might change the days I work on the car.

I'll swing by on Saturday to work on the car while Lauren spends time celebrating Reghan's birthday. My guess is that I'll be welding the transmission mount since it was altered before I bought it. I'm not sure what else I'll do, but I'm sure I can come up with something since there is plenty to be done.

Mechanics

As I mentioned before, the rearend is now mounted in the car although I have yet to put in the third member and axles. I need to buy the new axle seals and the third member seal before I can put it all together. This rearend is probably from a 1968 mustang and is actually an 8" and not a 9" even though it has the wider set axle housing. I had to buy the wider u-bolts and also had to drill out the leaf spring perches just to fit the wider u-bolts. It was a lot of hassle for a rearend that isn't even a 9". Maybe one day I'll pick up a 9" and drop it in, but the one I have now is better than the 6 cyl. rear that the car came with.

The motor started out today in pieces, but at least it was clean. As you can see to the left, the cylinders are all clean now and no longer have carbon buildup. You can also see that the cylinders are in different positions because of the pre-set firing order of each cylinder. The heads were re-surfaced since they were slightly warped.

Before putting the engine back together I put on a new timing chain and gears. The old timing chain had a lot of slack in it which was cause for concern so my dad picked up a new set along with the engine seal kit. I took a picture of the timing chain and gears after I put on the new ones while putting tension on the chain to show how tight they are. We ended up having to putt them back apart because the timing chain cover wasn't sitting flush against the block. As it turned out, the upper gear (larger one) was for a 1970's 302 and therefore wasn't the right one. We ended up putting the old one back on and the chain fit just as well, but this time the cover sat flush against the block.

I also spent about 30 minutes prepping and painting the pressure plate for the transmission since it is only bare metal and rusts easily. I painted both sides, but included the picture I took of the pressure plate side since it was facing the Mustang and I always take the opportunity to get the car in the background if possible. The surface of it is smooth with no ridges so I'm not going to worry about resurfacing it.

Getting back to the motor, after we put the timing chain on, we put on the heads, then the oil pan, then the lifters, and rods. Next week we'll put on the intake and then we can probably clean it up and re-paint it Ford blue before putting it back in the car. With my next overtime check, I'll buy the other motor mount and rearend seals so that we can set the car back on the ground and then drop in the motor.

Cleanliness is Next to...

Yesterday Tom Standley came over and helped me work on the 'Stang for a little bit. I had him put on the front backing plates and clean the timing chain cover as well as the oil pan which were both lookin' pretty gnarly. He had a magic touch and made them sparkle like new.

My dad spent some time cleaning the block to get it ready to put back together, but we never had the chance to actually do that yesterday--that is going to be today's project instead. I spent my time cleaning the head bolts, drilling the leaf spring mount plates, and mounting the rear end (minus the 3rd member and axles).

It's coming together piece by piece, but still has a ways to go. My hope is that today we'll set the heads, intake, new timing chain and cover. I'll probably clean up the front brake springs and possibly set them on the car. My plan is to post some pictures tonight or tomorrow of the progress we've made over the past couple of weeks so check back if you're looking for updates.

Spun

Still no pictures to document the progress of the Mustang since although I had my camera, I didn't have my memory card. Yesterday was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo) so I met Rachel and Steve at Peppermint Ridge and helped with their annual celebration which left me much less time than I had on Tuesday to work on the car. All I did was pull off the old spindles and put on the correct ones and then mount the rear leaf springs. I also cleaned up one additional part for the brakes and painted it. Of course neither set of spindles I've purchased have spindle washers or spindle nuts and to purchase them will be difficult because normal parts stores don't sell items like that.

Next week I think Tom Standley is going to come over and work on the car with me. We haven't hung out in quite some time. In fact, I think the last time we actually hung out, we went to a pick-a-part to find sunvisors for Lauren's Sentra.

My dad took the heads into the machine shop yesterday and they told him that they were slightly warped due to overheating (which happened on a couple of occasions when I had the car.) They are going to plane them and they should be ready by Friday so Tuesday the engine can go back together. They have a set of 351 Windsor heads that my dad wants to pick up and drop on the 302, but I don't know if that is going to happen or not. Whether we put on the 351 hears or the 289 heads, I'll be happy.

Spindle This

Since realizing the the spindles I purchased wouldn't fit on the car last week I have been keeping my eyes open for someone selling a used front set of spindles and brakes on craigslist.org. I have found some fairly good deals there so I try and buy all my parts from there if I'm looking for used. Late this afternoon I saw an add for 1966 Mustang 5 lug spindles posted and the city they were in was Riverside (where the car actually resides.) Once I got to my parents house I called and the guy said he would take $140 for them both.


I picked them up and spent the rest of my time pulling them apart, cleaning them and painting the spindles and backing plates. That was all I got done today, but at least tomorrow I should be able to put them on my car. The springs on both sides looked fairly new as did the brake shoes. The drums were a little rusted so we are going to use the ones that came with the other set of spindles since they are the same size.

My dad cleaned up the heads and is going to take them to the machine shop tomorrow to have them planed if necessary and just have them checked in general. He took in a new Chevy cam, lifters and crank that he had from D.J.'s old Chevy pickup and traded them for a complete motor gasket set for my 302. The set comes in tomorrow so when he takes the heads in to have them checked, he'll pick up the gasket set so that we can start putting the motor back together to set it in the car. Since I now have a legitimate set of spindles, I can put front tires on and I can also drop in the rear differential so that I can put on the back tires which will allow me to set the car on the ground for the first time in many months.