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.
