New Carburetor & First Test Drive

First things first, the holly four barrel carburetor that I originally put on the car was acting up and was causing the car to run horribly. Fortunately my dad had an Edlebrock four barrel carburetor in the garage that he was planning on using on his 351 Cleveland motor that he had rebuilt. 

4 Barrel Edlebrock Carburetor

After attempting to tune the carburetor a little we decided that it was time to take it for its first test drive. My dad hopped in the passenger seat and we drove it around my parent's neighborhood to check the brakes and transmission. Once we drove around for about 1-1.5 miles we took it on a main road and took it to the local 76 gas station.

1966 Mustang Fuel/Oil Pressure Gauge

The tank is a 1970 Mustang 22 gallon tank that we put 5 gallons in a couple of weeks ago when we first fired it up. Today it took slightly over 19 gallons which means that it still had 3 gallons left. The total bill came to just over $80 with gas prices edging closer to $5.00/gallon. We'll see how the gas mileage does once the car is properly aligned.

1966 Mustang Speedometer

By the time we got home we had put just over 3 miles on the rolled back odometer. I wish I had paid more attention to the speedometer to see if it was accurate, but there wouldn't really be any way to tell. I'll have to have someone drive next to me to see if the speed is accurate. 

Once we got it back to the house we adjusted the timing  and idle. I asked my dad if he wanted to take it for a spin and he declined. About 15 minutes later he asked if I was ready to go for a ride (I guess he changed his mind). He drove it down an old one lane road with lots of stop signs. He was able to really test the brakes by accelerating quickly and stopping hard. After we turned the car around after about 2 miles we saw steam coming from under the hood and smoke coming from the rear. He pulled over and after a little investigation I saw that the smoke was coming from both rear brakes and the steam was from the overflow tank that didn't have a cap. The smell from the brakes was just hot brakes (not oil) and the water from under the hood was just because it splashed out of the overflow tank. We got it home and adjusted the rear brakes and we'll get a cap to put on the overflow. 

I took a bunch of pictures of the exterior of the car since I haven't taken any in a while. After driving it around a little, the suspension settled in the front (although I think it has more to go). Adding 19 gallons of gasoline helped the rear sit down quite a bit.  We adjusted the tie rods three different times after driving it around because the suspension kept on settling. 

1966 Mustang Quarter Panel

1966 Mustang Passenger Quarter Panel

The power steering pump was leaking from the back because the stud that the hose screws into was just loose enough to let some of the fluid leak out. It took a 15/16th wrench to tighten it up, but it stopped the leak.

1966 Mustang Front End

The windshield was leaking in the lower driver's side corner so I had the windshield installer come back out to seal it although it felt like I was pulling teeth to get him to come out to me. He tried to get me to drive out to his shop, but at the time the car wasn't registered or insured. He was going to come out the next day to install the top windshield trim, but he never showed nor called. My dad installed it today while I was at church teaching the 5th and 6th graders.

1966 Mustang Windshield