My replacement parts (driver’s door latch and window regulator) arrived. I had to wait for a warm day before I could get to work. I was finally rewarded with a day where the forecast predicted temperatures in the 50’s. I had to run some errands in the morning, which left me a few hours in the afternoon to attempt getting some work done on the driver’s door.

Removing the door panel went smoothly enough. I pulled out the window regulator to get it out of the way while i worked on the door latch. This wasn’t necessary, but I planned to replace the regulator so I removed it as a (hopefully) convenience. The next task was to remove the clips on the door latch rods. Some popped off with just a bit of effort. The last one was for the inside door handle. I just couldn’t get it to pop off. I ended up removing the door latch with the rod still attached and then taking the rod off. A quick inspection of the latch mechanism showed that it was dry of any lubricant and the springs were stretched out to the point that they didn’t hold much tension anymore. It was probably repairable, but I’m glad I chose to just replace it.

I had purchased new latch rod clips so I used the old latch as a model to make sure I installed the new clips facing the correct direction. They were a tight fit but I managed to install them without breaking any of them. The new latch mechanism fit the old opening perfectly and I screwed it into place. Next I attempted to hook up the rods for the door handles and locks. I was able to get them all to line up with their respective holes in the latch. However the door key lock mechanism was binding and the door lock pull was at an angle. I ended up spending quite a bit of time bending (actually straightening) the rods to get them to where everything worked without binding and the door lock pull was straight. That took me quite a while to fine tune to where I was satisfied with the result.

Now that everything was working the way it was intended I had to clip the latch clips onto the rods. They fit so tight that I couldn’t clip all of them on. So I had to remove the latch and spread the clips open just a bit so I could get them to latch onto the rods. Then I had to reinstall the latch into the door and attach the rods again. A wise man (Val) once told me that any job worth doing was worth doing twice. Apparently he was correct.

At this point I had a working door latch mechanism again. The door opens, latches, locks, and unlocks like it is supposed to do. By now it was getting to be too dark outside to work on the window regulator. So unfortunately I had to leave that job for the next warm day. I hate leaving things partially completed like that but I had no choice. I hope we get a nice day soon as I’m anxious to finish and button up the driver’s side door. I also ordered a few miscellaneous screws to replace a few I found that were missing from the scuff plates and rear quarter weather strip. Not sure where they went but that’s an easy fix once the new screws arrive.

I know that I said that my next post would be about calibrating my gas gauge. However we had some really warm days this week and I really wanted to address some nagging issues with my windows and door locks. The issues are:

1. The passenger (right hand) rear quarter window doesn’t always align properly with the top of the door opening when closed.
2. The passenger (right hand) door latch can be difficult to open
3. The driver’s (left hand) door lock won’t consistently unlock. This occurs when holding in the door handle button and closing the door to lock it.
4. The driver’s (left hand) door window is hard to roll up and down.

The reason the right rear quarter window won’t close properly is that when I replaced the window I also installed the new track that came packaged with it. When I compared the new track with my original track I noticed that the original was curved while the new one was fairly straight. There wasn’t enough adjustment at the bottom of the track to compensate for this difference, causing the top of the window to stick out too far from the door opening when I rolled the window up. Frequently when closing the window it would align outside of the door opening rather than closing against the top of the door opening. I probably could have enlarged the adjustment slots in the new track and might have gotten better results. But as they say, “Nothing fits as well as original parts”. So I cleaned up the original track, applied some lubricant to the tracks, and replaced the new track with the original. It was a fair bit of work for a small reward, but I’m glad I did it. Unfortunately now I can see that this window is just a little better aligned than the one on the driver’s side. But there isn’t enough of a difference to make me want to adjust the driver’s side quarter window. At least not yet. And sorry I didn’t get a picture of the two tracks side by side. I always get so focused on the job and don’t think of the blog until later.

The right hand door latch hasn’t been an issue for me or my friend Randy when he rides in the car. However when my Mom or my friend Jimmy ride in the car they have issues opening the door. The problem seems to be that the latch doesn’t disengage until the door handle button is pressed most of the way in. My Mom sometimes lacks the hand strength to push in the door latch button all the way. I think Jimmy has problems because he is used to cars that have better adjusted door latches. At least that’s my theory. I took off the door panel and tightened the rod going to the door handle one turn. It may have made a small difference. I tried another turn and if there was a difference it was minor. I put it back to one turn tighter than before and left it at that. I was able to open the door consistently so I hope it is better. While I was in the door I did some lubricating of the window tracks just for good measure.

To address the driver’s door I did some diagnosing first. I am able to push the window down from the top when it is rolled up. From what I have read this indicates that my regulator is worn out. I ordered a new one (they were on sale at CJ Pony Parts by coincidence). I’m still waiting for the new part to arrive. As best as I can tell the door latch is also worn out, so I ordered a new door latch as well. Once all the parts arrive I’ll address the driver’s door issues. The window has been difficult for many years, and has now reached the point where I feel the regulator is going to break. And the door latch has been intermittently problematic since the 1970’s, although it’s much worse now. I can’t wait to finally address both of these issues as the driver’s door is obviously the one I use the most.

One of the first things I did to awaken my car from its’ 15 year hibernation was to replace the fuel tank as the original tank was full of 15 year old gasoline. The new tank included a replacement sending unit for the fuel gauge. I thought the old sending unit was probably in very bad shape so instead of removing and keeping it I discarded it along with the old tank and fuel. It turned out that might not have been such a good decision.

I quickly discovered that my gas gauge wasn’t very accurate anymore. Not that it ever was that great. But now it insisted I had a quarter tank left when I was only about half a tank low. It turns out the new sending units don’t match the factory gauges. I believe the sending unit is fairly linear, but the factory gauge isn’t. So full and empty match up fairly well, but readings in between are off. If I had saved my old sending unit it would be a lot more accurate.

After some research online I found a post containing resistance measurements that compared an original sending unit and a replacement sending unit. Here is an excerpt from the post I found on the Vintage Mustang Forums. I rearranged the resistance readings into a table to make them easier to compare.

These were bench measurements so they are based on swing of the sender which may not be exactly at the tank measurements.

You can see that the new sender is roughly linear between positions (15,19,18,14) while the old sender is not (6,7,14,35). This is why the new senders drop the reading to empty very quickly then stay there.

One very smart poster on the VMF by the name of Woodchuck suggested using an Arduino to map between the linear and non-linear values. It turns out that somebody has already done something similar. It’s from the company TechnoVersions and is called the Meter Match. I purchased one online and it arrived within a few days. Here is a picture of the Meter Match with some connectors I added as a part of my wiring project.

I wanted to build a wiring harness for the whole mess so that I could service the instrument cluster by simply unplugging the unit. I also needed to be able to reach the Meter Match so that I could calibrate the gauge without requiring access to the back of the instrument cluster. I chose to place the Meter Match in the console storage area. Another place for it could be in the glove compartment. I ordered some connectors and colored wires to build the harness.

I have a spare instrument cluster so I decided to test the gauge on my workbench with and without the Meter Match in an attempt to characterize the gauge’s behavior. This would permit me to test the Meter Match and perform an initial calibration before I installed everything in the car. Below are the results of my characterization. One thing to note is that the stock instrument cluster voltage regulator is about 5 volts. The meter match has a built in regulator that supplies the fuel gauge 8 volts. The fuel gauge behaves differently depending on whether it receives 8 volts or 5 volts. I characterized the gauge using both voltages with no Meter Match, and with 8 volts using the Meter Match.

From this chart I can see that if the sending unit behaves in a linear fashion the MeterMatch should get my gauge fairly close even before I calibrate it in the car. The readings I got also match up fairly well with the posting on VMF for the original and replacement sending units. Now I need to get to work removing the instrument cluster and doing some wiring. I plan to power the MeterMatch from the accessory post of the ignition switch. I also plan to add a fuse in the +12V wire for safety. Since the tank is already fairly full fine tuning the calibration will take quite a bit of time and plenty of trial and error. My next post should be the final installation and testing. I will try to post again after the end of the 2019 car show season to talk about my calibration efforts.

In 1967 the Mustang didn’t have anything to catch coolant overflow. It just dumped any excess coolant onto the ground. That may have been OK in 1967, but today dumping coolant on the ground is heavily frowned upon. I experienced this first hand when I slightly overfilled my coolant, drove on the highway for 30 minutes, and then stopped at a gas station to fill up the tank. The excess coolant ran out onto the ground which caused quite a stir with the people watching me fuel the car. I was told my car had a serious coolant leak that needed to be repaired right away. Explaining about the car’s lack of any coolant overflow catch can only resulted in very puzzled looks. The best (and most environmentally friendly) solution was to retrofit some form of coolant catch can.

I did some research online but couldn’t find a catch can or recovery system that blended in with the engine compartment the way I wanted it to. This was discouraging because I didn’t want something that really stood out. After plenty of measuring and research, I chose a stainless steel catch can which I purchased on eBay. Here is a picture of what I purchased.

To install the catch can I made up an L shaped bracket using some sheet aluminum. I drilled holes on one side of the bracket to line up with my fan shroud mounting bolts and two holes in the other side of the bracket for the catch can. I put some weatherstripping between the bracket and radiator just in case the bracket rubbed on the radiator. Then I bought some neoprene tubing to go from the radiator overflow to the catch can. The end result does stand out a little more than I would like, but overall I’m OK with the modification.

Another show season is over. I attended far fewer shows this past season, mainly due to the wet and rainy weather. I did get to spend some time at the shows I did attend with my good friend Randy. We have a lot of common interests, so we never seem to run out of things to talk about. Other than cars, we also share interests in ham radio and photography. Randy is usually building something and I always like to hear about what his next project might be.

This winter I hope to be able to tackle some nagging issues on the car. I feel that most of the door locks/handles and window mechanisms could use some more fine tuning adjustments. They all work, but not as consistently as I would like. The driver’s side seat back could fit a bit better. The gas gauge is pretty inaccurate due to the replacement sending unit. I want to install a coolant overflow, even though the car never came with one. And finally I may choose to install a subwoofer. But I haven’t completely made up my mind on that upgrade yet. It just might be convenient to do it at the same time I take apart the interior for the other upgrades.

Everything I mentioned above is optional and I may or may not have the time and motivation to complete the jobs. As of now I already have the coolant overflow and gas gauge calibration parts on hand, so I hope to at least complete those two jobs. How much else I get accomplished will depend on the weather, my mood, and my health.

As far as car shows next season goes, I plan to attend some of the larger shows that I may have considered too far away in the past. I probably won’t make it to all of them, but here’s my tentative list so far. Some of the dates haven’t been set yet, so I plan to update this list as more information becomes available.

For a while I had been noticing that something was binding in the front suspension.  It would typically show itself as a problem after the car had sat overnight.  After sitting, if I drove over a dip in the road I would hear a loud clunk in the front of the car.  After that it would not reoccur until the car sat overnight again.  In an attempt to locate the problem I let the car sit overnight and then used a jack to raise the front of the car one side at a time.  Sure enough, I found that the driver’s side wheel would raise off of the ground when I jacked the car up, and would then drop down with a loud clunk.  Further investigation revealed that my front shock was sticking after sitting overnight.  Once it broke loose it would stay free until it sat for a while.  So the front shocks were the cause of the binding.

The shocks I was using are Koni shocks that I purchased at a Ford dealer some time back in the 1980’s.  The reasons I selected Koni shocks are that they were used on the Shelby Mustangs and that they can be rebuilt.  A quick search on the Internet and I was able to contact several authorized rebuilders.  What I found out is that even though the shocks could be rebuilt, unless I needed them for a numbers matching restoration the cost was more than just replacing them.  So instead of rebuilding the Konis I purchased a set of Bilstein shocks from Street or Track.  I also contacted OpenTracker and purchased front coil springs, upper control arms, and lower coil spring seats with roller bearings.  I also purchased some alignment tools and a coil spring compressor.

My original plan was to replace the control arms and springs, lower the upper control arms, and then do a home alignment.  Unfortunately right at that time I developed bursitis in my left knee and it became infected.  My health issue caused me to re-think my plans.  I ended up just replacing the shocks and the coil spring seats.  The control arm lowering would have to wait for another time.  I chose to still replace the lower spring seats because the ones on the car were squeaking and not moving freely.

After I replaced the shocks and spring seats the front end moved much more freely with no binding.  A lot of the squeaking noise was gone now.  With the spring seats quieted down I could now hear some squeaking coming from the front sway bar bushings.  I removed the bushings, cleaned everything up, and applied some lube I purchased from Energy Suspensions designed for use on polyurethane bushings.  That cleared up the sway bar squeak.  I went ahead and replaced the rear shocks as well even though they didn’t appear to have any issues.

I’m writing this a month or two after completing the job.  My knee is feeling much better.  The weather has been fairly wet and rainy so I haven’t had a good opportunity to really test out the suspension changes.

I had mentioned previously that my highest priority repair for the 2017-2018 winter season was to fix the rust I had spotted on the front frame rail.  I located a shop in Rockville that could patch up the frame for a reasonable price.  This included treating for any additional rust that hadn’t developed into a problem yet.  They are a relatively new shop attempting to establish a name for themselves as a specialist in muscle cars.  They completed the job quickly, and hopefully I won’t have more rust issues for a long time.

While my car was in the shop, they informed me that the rear universal joint was bad.  I was a bit surprised to hear this since I had replaced it fairly recently.  But they were able to demonstrate the issue by grabbing the driveshaft and moving it up and down.  The play in the u-joint was obvious.  After I got the car back I replaced the u-joint.  I gave the car a test drive and it drove smoothly on the highway, so I’m considering the u-joint repaired at this point in time.

Since it was an easy and quick job, I chose to upgrade my interior lighting to LED for my next project.  The first trick was to find and order the correct replacement LED bulbs.  I used my shop manual to find the correct bulb information for the existing lights.  Then I used the search function on superbrightleds.com to find an LED equivalent.  For people who don’t have access to the shop manual (and I highly recommend getting one if you plan to work on your car), here is a link to a bulb chart.

https://averagejoerestoration.com/1967-mustang-light-bulb-replacement-chart/

The bulbs I planned to replace were the dome light, console lights, and under-dash courtesy lights (which I’ll talk more about in a moment).  The following chart shows the factory bulbs and the recommended LED replacements.  I included the license plate light in this chart since I planned to replace that one as well.

What I found when I installed the bulbs was that I didn’t agree with all of the recommendations.  I felt that the license plate light would be way too bright (325 lumen) and the dome light was not bright enough (125 lumen).  I ended up switching the two and am happy with the outcome.  I’m still deciding about whether the under-dash lights are too bright, but for now I’m sticking with the recommendation.  I may swap them both to the 125 lumen model.

As part of the project I also chose to install the under-dash courtesy lighting which was optional from Ford when these cars were new.  I found the sockets online at Auto Krafters.  They may not be concours correct, but they looked close enough for me.  Here is a link to the sockets:

http://autokrafters.com/p-20348-under-dash-courtesy-light-kit-60-68-galaxie-63-66-falcon.aspx

I also found this thread that included a picture of how the sockets should look when installed (hopefully Photobucket won’t be a problem for viewing the photos):

http://www.stangfix.com/threads/67-under-dash-courtesy-light-wiring-question.18651/

The wiring for the sockets was already present in my car, and the driver’s side mounting hole was present as well.  On the passenger side I shared an existing screw to mount the courtesy light.  I may come back and drill the correct hole sometime down the road.

Replacing the license plate light bulb would normally be a simple job.  But I discovered that the license plate light shield on my car was badly deteriorated and needed to be replaced.  That required removal of the rear bumper, which required removal of my spare tire and part of my trunk carpeting.  After I installed the light shield and reinstalled the rear bumper I cleaned up the license plate hardware and installed the new bulb.  Testing of all my lights, both inside and out, showed that everything was working as expected.  At this point all of my lighting is LED except for the headlights (which are Cibie housings with H4 bulbs) and the fog lights (which are standard sealed beam bulbs).

Actually, as I write this I realized that the seat belt warning light is still an incandescent bulb.  Guess I missed that one.  Maybe I need to look into replacing it as well.  In the mean time I have more important winter projects to take on.  I need to get started on them so I can finish in time for spring.

The weather is starting to get colder and the 2017 show season is almost over.  The car performed fairly well this season, although I didn’t get to drive it as much as I would have liked to.  I did get to make a longer trip to Cruisin Ocean City, which was about 500 miles round trip.  The car does have some remaining issues I need to deal with, as well as some upgrades I’ve been hoping to perform.  With the driving season coming to a close I need to prioritize what I want to accomplish over the winter.

My highest priority is some rust repair on the front frame rails.  I’ve already spent some time attempting to locate a shop willing to take on that type of repair.  Most body shops aren’t willing to even look at the car, much less repair it.  I did manage to find one shop that was willing to take on the job.  A second shop also looked at the car, but the owner has some health issues and they have been very slow in getting back to me with answers to my questions.  At this point it appears that the 1st shop will most likely get the job.  But I’m not 100% decided yet.

Here are some pictures of the rusted frame rails.

Other than the rust repair, my biggest issue is all of the squeaks and creaks coming from the front end of the car.  The entire front end was rebuilt back in the mid 1990’s, just before the project went dormant for about 15 years or so.  Even though the car was just sitting, it appears that the bushings in the coil spring seats has deteriorated, causing metal on metal contact.  This has been an issue in the past, and I have replaced the spring seats more than once.  The fix this time is to install new parts that use roller bearings rather than rubber bushings.  This will eliminate the bushing that wears out and also permit the suspension to articulate more easily due to the reduced friction.  I purchased my lower coil spring seats from OpenTracker Racing.  Dazecars has a good explanation of how to build your own on his web site.

Here is a picture of the roller spring seats from OpenTracker Racing.

While the spring seat is being replaced I plan to also lower the upper control arms by 1 inch.  This modification is commonly known as the Arning drop or the Shelby drop.  This was a modification developed by a Ford engineer, Klaus Arning, and incorporated by Carrol Shelby into the early Shelby Mustangs.  This modification raises the car’s roll center, which causes the car to resist body roll in turns.  There are no downsides to the modification other than the need to have the front end aligned after the modification has been completed.  Since I will be removing everything needed to perform the drop anyway, the job is all labor with no new parts required, and I need to have an alignment done after replacing the spring seats, it makes sense to do the modification along with the spring seats.

Here is a more detailed write-up of the Arning drop modification.

While I have the parts removed, I will inspect the front shocks and the upper control arms.  If needed, I can have the shocks rebuilt.by Koni.  If the control arms are bad, I can either get stock replacements, or go for a pair of roller bearing control arms.  The roller bearing arms have the advantages of not requiring periodic lubrication and having less friction which will allow the front suspension to articulate more easily.  The price difference is fairly significant, so if new arms are warranted I will need to give the choice some additional thought.

These are the roller upper control arms from OpenTracker Racing.

The last winter project I have planned is to complete my upgrade to LED lighting.  Almost all of the exterior lighting is done except for the license plate light.  None of the interior lighting has been addressed yet.  I plan to replace the license plate bulb, the dome light bulb, and the three console light bulbs with equivalents LED bulbs.  I also plan to install under dash lighting using LED bulbs and reproduction sockets similar to a factory option that was available in 1967.  I already have the sockets and an assortment of LED bulbs to work with.  I bought the bulbs based on a replacement chart on the manufacturer’s web site.  However I don’t think I agree with some of the recommendations, so I may switch things up a bit.  When I’m done, I will document my decisions in a future blog posting.

It is the summer of 2017 already and I’ve only attended 3 or 4 shows due to weather or other commitments.  I had the opportunity to attend the Mustang Mania show in Columbia MD and was excited to attend as a friend of mine usually attends that show as well.  I got up early, packed up some drinks, loaded up the car and was all ready to go.  Unfortunately the car had other plans.  I was unable to get it to start.  I thought that maybe the gas in the fuel bowls had dried up, so I squirted in some.  The car started right up. ran for a few seconds, and then died.  I repeated this process several few times with the same results.  Thinking I might be out of gas (the gauge read pretty close to empty) I poured a couple of gallons into the tank.  That didn’t help.  Since the fuel bowls on the carb were still empty I suspected either stuck floats or a bad fuel pump.  Tapping on the floats didn’t help.  I removed the fuel line from the fuel pump inlet and there was plenty of gas there.  A vacuum pump was easily able to draw fuel out of that line.  Next I disconnected the fuel line from the carb and put the end in a small container.  I cranked the engine but no fuel appeared.  At this point I gave up on the show and went back inside to order a new fuel pump.  I ordered a new Carter replacement pump through the Summit Racing web site.  A few days later a new pump arrived, and several days after that I got it installed.  The car started up right away and I let it run for several minutes.  It appears I have corrected my “no start” issue and am ready to attend shows again.

I have also noticed some difficulty shifting the car into second gear.  I have trimmed the carpet back some more around the shifter, but that didn’t seem to help.  My next step is to try adjusting the stop bolts.  I’ll try that next chance I get and report back if it resolves my issue.