SN95 Disk Brake Kit Installed From CSRP

The good news is that my power disk brakes are now installed and working on the '66 although there was an issue with the brake lights not working with this CSRP kit. I resolved it recently in THIS BLOG POST. The bad news is that my power steering appears to have stopped working on my way to work this morning--the only steering part altered from the brake upgrade were the tie rods. I'll have to tackle that problem later.

I had picked up the Mustang from my mother-in-laws garage two night prior to the install so that I could drive it to work on Friday to get a feel for the old drum brakes one last time. It drove like a champ even though I was sitting in Friday traffic on my way home during the heat of the day in southern California. With the 24" radiator upgrade I don't think the water temp breached 190 degrees.

On Saturday morning I packed up the baby and drove over to my parents house where I have access to any tool that I could ever possibly need. My wife was worried about the baby driving in the Mustang  because of it's lack of nearly everything modern when it comes to automotive safety standards. I made sure to send her a picture when we arrived so that she knew the Mustang hadn't failed the baby.

I took out our child and passed him off to his Grammie since she would be watching him for the day while I worked on the car--he made the occasional visit outside to see what I was up to. I got the front of the car jacked up in the air, put some jack stands under the frame, and pulled the front tires off so that we could get started.

Upgrading From Drum to Disk

1. The first task was to pull off the entire front brake system. We decided to keep everything intact so all we had to do was unscrew the brake line from the master cylinder and remove the spindle from it's three points of contact:

• Upper control arm
• Lower control arm
• Tie rod.

All of them were secured with a cotter pin and castle nut. We also decided to unbolt the sway bar, and adjustable strut rod from the lower control arm so that there was a little more room to get the spindle off. Using a brass hammer we were able to knock off the pressure fitted studs and get the entire front brakes off. Fortunately the kit we were using from CSRP provided new spindles so we didn't need to break down every component of the drum brakes. Below you can see all of the bolts I had to remove (with the exception of the tie rod castle nut):

2. Next I mounted the new spindle onto the upper and lower control arms torquing down the castle nuts and installing the cotter pins.

3. This kit required new tie rods which had lager studs for the castle nut to spin on to. Before removing the old tie rods, I measured from the edge of the inner sleeve to the center of the stud. This would allow me to remove the old tie rod while installing the new tie rod with the same measurements to keep the same alignment.

• I greased the tie rod with the new zerk fitting supplied in the kit.

4. We realized that the new brake hose had a larger fitting than would work with the existing hard brake line from the master. My dad had to to buy a fitting to step down the threading size.

5. I put the strut rod, and sway bar bolts back through the lower control arm and tightened them.

6. We installed the foam pad on on the spindle, then the splash shield, then the retaining ring with the supplied bolts and lock-tight.

7. After packing the bearings and installing the inner bearing in the rotor, I slipped it onto the spindle, put on the outer bearing, washer, and nut.

• I torqued down the main nut, spun the rotor, backed off the nut, spun the rotor, tightened down the nut, spun the rotor, etc., etc.
• Once the bearings were seated I put on the nut cap, cotter pin, and the dust cap with a little bearing grease in it.

8. I mounted the caliper bracket to the spindle (2 bolts) and made sure to use lock-tight on the threads.

9. I dropped in the brakes pads, and then put the caliper over the top of the pads. 

10. We tightened the new brake hose to the caliper.

We moved over to the passenger side of the car and performed the same procedure as above. The real pain came when it was time to install the new power booster and master cylinder. I have the Mustang Steve clutch cable installed which didn't interfere with the power booster, but it did make for a tighter working space when it came to tightening the bolts.

Upgrading the Master Cylinder

1. My dad got under the dash on the driver's side to remove the brake pedal and brake light switch from the master cylinder push rod. 

2. I removed the lines from the current master to the distribution block mounted on the fender apron. 

3. I mounted the new power booster to the firewall (4 bolts) and installed the vacuum line off of the carburetor spacer plate.

4. Once we had the new push rod threaded on to the correct location and tightened down, my dad hooked up the brake light switch and tie rod to the brake pedal.

5. The new master cylinder was mounted to the booster (2 nuts) and now it came time to fit new lines from the master to the distribution block.

This is where I had to walk away from the project and head home because we were having friends over for dinner and I still have to shower. My dad let me take his truck home and I would bring it back the next morning. We pulled the master back off the booster so that we could get the right fittings on the new lines. The picture below is how I had to leave the car for the evening.

When I came back the next morning to drop off my dad's truck, I saw that he had fitted one of the brake lines from the master to the distribution block. I had purchased two 12" 3/8" lines from the local parts store, but he needed a line longer than 12" to travel from the front of the master (the rear brake reservoir) to the rear of the distribution block.

By the time I got back to their house after church, he had bent and installed the last brake line, but we still needed to bleed the brakes. We didn't install the proportioning valve that came with the kit because we couldn't find a proper plug to blank off the spot on the distribution block. Maybe we'll get to that another time. 

CSRP Disk Brake Kit Ordered

I decided to order a CSRP from disk brake kit last night. I know that I don't get the Mustang out much these days, but it seemed like a good idea to make sure that I have a good set of brakes on it for when I do drive it. I'm going with their kit that utilizes "1999-2004 type SN95 Mustang based 11.0" disc brake with large dual piston aluminum calipers and 1.03" thick rotors." It is the .4.2/PBU/AT kit. This is what the kit is said to include (On CSRP Website):

• Dust shields 
• Single piece caliper brackets 
• Large dual piston aluminum calipers 
• Brake pads, brake hoses 
• Hose brackets and attachment hardware 
• Adjustable proportioning valve with convenient mounting bracket 
• Master cylinder with an integral residual pressure valve 
• Master cylinder outlet adapter(s) 
• All metal master cylinder bleeding kit 
• Adjustable push-rod, wheel bearings 
• Wheel seals, caliper attachment hardware 
• Wheel attachment hardware 
• Dust caps 
• Performance slotted rotors with bearing races pre-installed 
• Correct grade 8 attachment bolts 
• Medium and high strength thread lockers 
• High temperature wheel bearing grease 

The kit should hopefully arrive this week and if everything goes as planned, I'll have it installed on Saturday. I'm going to enlist the help of my dad with bleeding the brakes since that is one thing I've never done before. The installation instructions for this kit are supposedly the same as the ones for the .2 kit.

Show and Go 2014

It's that time of year again when all of the muscle cars from all around southern California come out to play in downtown Riverside for the annual car show for charity put on by the local Rotary Club. This was my second year participating in the event and it was a scorcher with temperatures soaring into the mid 90's! Friday night was nice because it was later in the day and my buddy John and I got a spot on the corner of 12th and Market in front of the Salted Pig which also happened to be in the shade. I stayed until around 8:30 and then drove through the cruise route to take my dad back home where I then helped my sister-in-laws boyfriend change the spark plugs on his 2000 VW Jetta. Unfortunately it requires pulling off the upper intake manifold and throttle body to change the spark plugs so it wasn't a 5 minute project.

On Saturday I rolled up around 7:20am since the event started at 8am, but the spots we had the night before were taken. Most of the good spots were taken. I ended up parking on Market at Ninth street in front of White Park. 

It was a good thing that John brought an ez-up because I would have likely melted in that heat all day without shade. Lauren brought our son down for breakfast around 9am on her way to celebrate her dad's birthday with the rest of the family. They walked down to see the car and hang out for a little bit before they left.

My dad took over 900 pictures between Friday and Saturday, and although I haven't seen them I'm sure they turned out good since he was standing in the middle of the street taking pictures of the cars as the cruised by. I'm sure he took some of mine and some of my friend John's El Camino and I'll post them once he sends me some of them.

On Saturday afternoon I ran into my old co-worker James P as he was walking down the sidewalk with some of his friends. The last time we hung out was 2 years ago in April. It was nice to see him and catch up. I took him and his girl for a ride along the cruise route and we said that we'd try to catch an Angels game together this summer.

I'm happy to report that nothing broke on the Mustang during this year's car show. The new clutch and clutch cable that I installed worked perfectly this year. Last year's snapped clutch cable on the cruise route was stressful so I'm glad that I didn't have to experience that again this year. Here's to many more smooth cruises!

Color Sanded, New PS Pump & Fog Light Switch Mounted

It seems like since my son was born I haven't had much time to do anything "extra curricular" although that has due to choice rather than due to duty. I've found that I want to spend time with my son and my wife more than I want to tinker with the Mustang. Lauren, my son, and my mom flew up to Idaho on Thursday night to surprise my aunt for her 60th birthday so that left me home alone for 5 days. I figured that if I was going to accomplish the things that I wanted to with the Mustang, this would be the time! I dropped off the Mustang at my parents house on Monday afternoon since my dad took the week off. He wanted to troubleshoot the timing/startup issues that I've been having as well as the power steering issues.

He started with the timing issue and found that there was far too much vacuum advance so it dialed it down and was able to adjust the timing from the distributor. I think it was set at a total of over 20 degrees and it was pinging up a storm. By the time he was done it was back down between 8-10 degrees. He had also found that the Holly fuel pump that i bought used on Craigslist had a crack in it which could have been contributing to my upstart issues. He replaced the fuel pump along with the lines feeding the carburetor.

Now since the power steering system was rebuilt I haven't had any power steering. It was most noticeable when at a dead stop and you're trying to turn the wheel to maneuver the car into a tight spot. As it turned out, the pump wasn't pumping! He replaced the pump with one from Mustang Village (here in the Inland Empire) although it is for an A/C car, it works great.

He wrapped things up with the car on Thursday and he came to drop it off at the house on Friday afternoon. I drove him back home in the Mustang and boy was there a difference with the power steering--it actually worked! When I got back home I backed it into the garage and didn't waste any time starting to color sand it. I started with the roof since that is one area that I always noticed was foggy looking.

Once I finished there I moved to the trunk deck because that was always a spot that I noticed to be very dull looking as well.

After I finished the trunk I moved to the hood which was definitely something that I noticed all the time since I have to look at it while driving it. I was certainly glad to have it sanded and polished!

Once i had everything polished, I pulled off the masking tape from the trim and pulled the car out of the garage for it's very first car wash. It's hard to believe that I have had the car finished for 2 years and have never washed it. It's always been parked inside the garage under a cover or driven during perfect weather conditions so I haven't had cause to wash it. I figured that it was time. 

Once I finished washing it I pulled it back into the garage and drilled the dash to install the fog light switch. I watched a fog light installation video by CJ Pony Parts and discovered that the switch was often mounted on the far left side of the dash to the left of the wiper switch. It was 1 5/16" from the furthest part of the dash and 3 3/4" up from the bottom of the dash.

I'm going to drive it to work tomorrow (35 miles one way) and see how she does. Most of my co-workers have been asking for for the past year when I'm going to drive it to work again and now that all of my issues have been sorted out it's time. It'll be parked in the basement along with my other co-workers so I'm not worried about someone dinging the car or stealing it. It'll be safe. And if by chance it's stolen, that's what insurance is for. It'll just give me the chance to build one with my son's help.

Replacement Emergency Flasher Switch

If you recall from my last post, the emergency flasher switch that was provided in the Mr. Mustang kit was the wrong switch; it only powered the front passenger side blinker. I emailed the fellows at Mr. Mustang and explained the situation in great detail. Their response was, "We can replace that for you. What is your name and address?"

I responded with my name and address and they mailed me an entire kit including a new switch. I received the package in about a week (today as a matter of fact.) I went over to where my Mustang is being garaged so that I could install the new switch to make sure that it functioned as a single pole triple throw. I hooked up all four wires and as it turns out, they shipped the same exact switch that was wrong the first time they sent it. I couldn't believe it! I explained to them exactly what the problem was with the first switch and they sent me the same switch again! I ended up using a separate wire (red below) to connect the one working connector to the other non-working two.

Fog Lights, Emergency Flashers, Sound Deadener

Since I had off most of this week I decided to bring the Mustang to my house and start on my laundry list of projects since it will be the last time in a while that I have such a big block of time to do anything. I started off with the emergency flasher kit that I purchased last year from Mr. Mustang. 

Emergency Flashers

As it turns out the switch that was provided in the kit only powered the front passenger side blinker rather than all four corners. I emailed him about this problem and he said that he would be mailing me a new switch which is a good thing because when I was tightening the switch after everything was together, the switch broke.

Veronica's blog "The Care and Feeding of Ponies" was helpful in determining that the switch was wrong. Someone else left a comment that detailed the same issue as me. The kit was pretty simple to install once I found the constant hot wire that powers the "cigar lighter". Other than that wire the kit simply clips into the turn signal switch.

Glove Box Light

I had to pull out the glove box in order to install the emergency flasher switch so I decided to figure out how to install the glove box light switch. I had to pull it apart and push the metal part through the front of the dash and then reconnect the backside plastic body from the backside of the dash. The switch just plugged into the main wiring harness. It doesn't look like much, but it lights up the glove box enough to see all of the random junk I keep in there (zip ties, fuses, spare wires, etc.)

Fog Lights

I had to drive over to Larry's Mustang here in Corona to pick up the wiring harness for the fog lights since I didn't yet have it. The kit was about $46. I spent a lot of time looking over the FoMoCo wiring schematic to make sure that I wired it up correctly.

66 Mustang Fog Light Diagram

It seems simple enough, but when I tried to find the brake running light wire which was supposed to be a separate black wire with a white connector I couldn't find it. I had the gauges out of the dash so that I could properly see all of the wires. I ended up splicing into the three-prong harness wires that all ran to the back of the car. I imagine the powered the brake lights, running lights and reverse lights. The middle black wire was the one for the running lights.

I connected the fuse breaker to the wiper motor just like was done from the factory.

When it came time to connect the old fog light switch and harness that I had from a previous kit to the new harness, the two plugs didn't match. It was a three-prong connector and they both had two female and one male connection. I ended up using a hacksaw to trim the rubber around the middle female connector and then used a pair of needle-nose pliers to make the female connector a male connector. The two harnesses then fit together perfectly.

Once the wiring was complete I tested the lights and the lit up great while turning on the rear running lights.

1966 Mustang with Fog Lights

Hurst Shift Boot

My Hurst shift boot has taken a beating since the bolts I used to install the Hurst shift lever were slightly too long. The ended up rubbing on the shift boot and creating a tear. Lauren was kind enough to buy me a new one and I replaced it while I had the console out to install the wiring kits. I made sure to trim down the bolts with my trusty hacksaw before installing it in hopes that this new one wouldn't tear.

Sound Deadener

I figured that while I had the car I would install some sound deadener (which was left over from when I did the interior) under the hood and under the trunk lid. I used Second Skin's Damplifier with black foil. In order to get a fairly accurate size/shape for each open area I used left over tissue paper (like that used for gifts) and some painters masking tape. I folder the tape over itself so that it was double-sided and then stuck it to the hood and then put the tissue paper against it. I was then able to run my fingernail along the hood openings and tear the thin paper. I then pulled off the paper and then stuck it on the front of the sound deadener. I just used a pair of scissors to cut out the shape.

Once it was cut I would test fit it and usually had to make a few more cuts so that it fit better. I think it turned out pretty good for what it was.

Here are some pictures I took the next day when I was returning the car to it's home:

With Fog Lights On

Rear View Behind my Daily Driver

1966 Mustang TMI Pony Sport Seat Interior (White)

1966 Mustang TMI Pony Sport Seat Interior (White)