Another upgrade I wanted to make is to upgrade my exterior lighting to make it more visible.  If you were to stand behind my car in the daylight and observe the tail lights you would notice that they looked fairly dim.  There was nothing wrong with them.  It’s just that the lighting on newer cars is much brighter.  That meant that people who were not used to the incandescent lights on my car may not notice them as quickly or easily in a panic stop situation.  My front turn signal/marker lights weren’t much brighter.I felt that upgraded lighting was something I wanted to do when the timing was right.

There is a gentleman named Gary on the Vintage Mustang Forums who goes by the handle gtonavy.  He has developed LED lighting for the classic Mustangs and started a company known as Vintage LEDS. Many of the forum members use his lighting and give Gary and his products nothing but rave reviews. I have been watching the forum posts and Gary’s Web site for some time now, but wasn’t ready to pay the price for his products. When Gary offered a holiday sale I decided it was time and placed an order for his sequential LED tail lights, LED front turn signal/parking lights, and LED backup lights.

Gary had all the parts in stock and shipped them to me quickly.  Once they arrived I tested each one out on my bench using a 12 volt power supply.  Other than blinding myself (these lights are really bright) everything worked fine.  I had some minor issues installing the lights in the car as some of my 50 year old sockets had some corrosion.  The tail lights were adjustable so I made sure I had them set to my liking before I put everything back together.  As an added touch, I replaced the hood mounted turn signal incandescent light bulbs with LED bulbs.

Now all of my exterior lighting except for the fog lights, headlights (which I converted to H4) and license plate lighting is LED.   The lights are much more visible in the daytime and I’m satisfied with my purchase.  However I do still need to align my headlights and fog lights to make sure they are working the best that they can.  I plan to get that done once the weather starts to warm up in the Spring.

Since my last post I have been going around in circles with my instrument cluster. I installed the new tachometer in the cluster, modified my wiring, and then reinstalled the cluster in the dash. I started the engine and the tachometer wasn’t working. I triple checked my wiring and couldn’t find anything wrong. The Tachman had sent me pictures of him testing the tachometer, so it led me to suspect that I had done something wrong in the installation. So out the cluster came and I returned it to my workbench. This tach is designed to not return to zero until it receives power, so I would have expected the needle to move when power was applied. I applied power to it using a 12 volt power supply and there was no movement of the tach needle. So I removed the tach from the cluster to check my wiring. Everything looked fine, and when I applied power the needle moved to zero. After reinstalling the tach in the cluster housing I repeated the same test and it failed. I loosened up the screws holding the housing in place and the tach tested as working. Tightening down the screws caused the tach to fail. Now mind you, I wasn’t using gorilla strength to tighten the screws. I was just making sure they were snug. So my solution was to find the point where the tach was secure but not too tight to work.

After all of this trial and error I installed the instrument cluster once again. This time the tach worked fine, the dash lights worked, and the gauges appeared to be working. So I went for a test drive. One thing i noticed was that the temperature gauge was reading very low. Almost like the thermostat was stuck open and the engine was not warming up fully. I grounded the sending unit wire for the temperature gauge and it read full scale. The smart thing to do at this point was to check the thermostat. Instead I ordered a replacement. After all, the temperature gauge and sending unit had been working fine, and a stuck thermostat wouldn’t be a big surprise on a car that had sat with the same coolant for 15 years or so. Plus, I wasn’t looking forward to pulling the instrument cluster out again.

The new thermostat arrived and I first tested it out in a pan of water on the stove using a thermometer. It worked just as it was expected to. After installing it in the car I started the engine and warmed it up. The thermostat remained closed until the engine warmed up and then opened. I looked at the temperature gauge and saw that it was still misbehaving. Obviously I had replaced the thermostat in error. Time to do the testing and diagnosing I should have done from the start.

The best place to start would be to verify the gauge and sending unit. The sending unit is designed to vary its resistance based on the water temperature. To test the gauge I used resistors of several values to simulate the sending unit at various temperatures. I was able to get different readings from the gauge, but I didn’t really know what the characteristics of the sending unit are. A search on the Internet turned up a chart showing the expected resistance values for given water temperatures. Here is that chart.

I selected resistors I had on hand that matched the values in the chart as closely as possible. When I tested the gauge using these resistors I found that even though it read full scale when grounded it didn’t even come close to matching the chart. I had an old instrument cluster stored away in my garage so I tested the temperature gauge in that cluster and it matched up pretty close to the chart. So I swapped gauges and reinstalled the cluster for testing in the car. This time the temperature gauge worked as expected. I buttoned everything back up and called it a day. Too bad that I just remembered I forgot to reconnect the speedometer cable. Guess I get to take everything apart one more time. Oh well, maybe the 4th time will be the charm.

In case anybody is interested, here are the readings for my old and replacement gauges compared to the chart above:

And here is the tester I made using spare parts and cardboard:

The car show season for 2016 has ended and I have put the car away for the winter. That means it is time to start on some projects to address some nagging issues with the car. Two things I know I want to address right off the bat are the non-functional rear quarter window and the tachometer that only reads 500 RPM. If I have more time and energy I’ll look into the noises I sometimes hear from the front end of the car.

My first order of business was to remove the instrument cluster so I could send the tachometer and speedometer out for a rebuild. There are only about 6 screws and one nut holding in the instrument cluster, so it came out fairly easily. Then I disassembled the cluster and removed the instruments to send out for a rebuild. I had previously contacted the tachman about repairing my tachometer and rebuilding and calibrating the speedometer for me. He said he would be able to handle the job, so I packaged the two items up, sent them off, and waited for him to contact me with an estimate. In the mean time, I cleaned up the cluster and replaced all of the bulb covers, since some were melted and the rest were cloudy.

A few days later the tachman called to let me know that the meter in the tachometer was beyond repair. He gave me two options: replace the meter with a known good one he had in inventory or convert the tachometer to a 3-wire design. The 3-wire conversion was significantly less expensive than the used meter, so I chose to convert mine to 3-wire. For the speedometer he said he would restore the odometer wheels and replace the face plate with a good one he had since mine was faded. All of the work could be done in the next day or two, and then he would send everything back to me. That was a much faster turn around than I was expecting.

In order to make it clear what the 3-wire conversion on the tachometer means I need to lightly touch on how the factory tachometer is connected. The majority of tachometers connect to the negative side of the ignition coil in parallel with the points. The tachometer I had was designed to connect in series to the positive side of the ignition coil. Since the tachometer is connected in series, a failure of the tachometer could potentially result in the the car’s ignition being disabled. that means that the 3-wire conversion had an added benefit for me. The down side is that I needed to make some minor changes to the wiring to accommodate the converted tachometer.

While waiting to get back my parts from the tachman I ran a new wire from the negative side of the coil through the firewall and up behind the dash. I was able to run the wire through the firewall where an existing wiring harness was. I pushed the wire into the center of a bundle of wires that went through a grommet at the firewall. Then I pulled the wire through from the interior side of the car. I added a wire from the ignition switch to supply 12 volts when the key was on and an additional ground wire. Then I installed a factory style 3 pin connector on both the newly refurbished tachometer and my new behind the dash wiring.

For the broken rear quarter window I took the entire mechanism apart and cleaned everything thoroughly. There was a lot of new grease since I had soaked everything with white lithium grease in my past repair attempts. I cleaned all of that off and also scrubbed off all the 50 year old dried up factory grease. The window glass was badly scratched, with scratches so deep I could catch my fingernail in them. The trim around the window was also badly scratched. So I decided to replace the window and trim. CJ’s was having a sale and I got the window at $100 less than the regular price. After reassembling the mechanism and installing the new window I spent quite some time adjusting everything to make sure the glass fit right. I found that if you follow the procedure in the shop manual the adjustments aren’t really that bad. I had to go through the procedure multiple times since each adjustment can affect the others. But in the end I’m very happy with the results as the window alignment is good and it rolls up and down smoothly.

It’s been several months since my last posting and I have made some progress and attended a few shows. As to the projects I said I would attend to over the winter, I have had mixed results. I removed the steering wheel and adjusted the horn buttons some. It is much less sensitive and no longer honks accidentally. However one of the three horn buttons doesn’t work very well. But I still consider it an improvement. I replaced the quarter window regulator, but it made no difference in the window’s operation. I consulted with my Mustang expert (Val) who suggested I completely disassemble the mechanism, clean out all of the old dried up grease, and lubricate everything with white lithium grease. That is on the back burner for now but I will work on it again. I haven’t touched the wiring but it is all working as expected so I don’t feel a lot of pressure or urgency to change it. I have done some detailing in the engine compartment by touching up some paint and replacing some rusty bolts with new clean ones. As to new items that were working but now need repair, the tachometer doesn’t move past about 600 RPM. I plan to live with it until the end of the show season and then send it out to be reconditioned, along with the speedometer.

I checked in with Val regarding my engine compartment detail and power steering upgrade. He had originally said that he could get to me this summer. It now looks like that won’t happen until this fall or winter. At this point I can choose to wait for Val or look into having somebody else do the work. At the moment I’ve put that project on hold.

I have attended several shows this year. I’ve been attempting to choose shows located near some of my old friends that I haven’t seen in a while. That way I can visit them after the show ends. That means some of the shows I pick may not be the biggest, most exciting, or glamorous. But seeing my friends after all these years is quite rewarding. And I’ve started making a few new friends with the show regulars at some of the shows I’m attending.

Other than that, I don’t have a lot to report. The car is running fine and has been very dependable. At this point it looks like the 2016 show season is going to be a lot of fun.

The 2015 show season has ended and Winter is fast approaching. I’m happy with how the season went, and I even came home with six trophies/plaques. I’ve also been able to work out a few kinks over the season to make the car more pleasurable to drive. I still have a few issues to sort out. Some of those issues I will address over the Winter. A few will have to wait until I have Val detail the engine compartment for me. But at this point I feel like I can hop into the car and drive it some distance without a lot of fuss or worries. I’ve never been looking for a strictly show car. My goal was to build a well sorted driver that can hold its’ own at a casual show or cruise night.

Since my last post I installed a new/rebuilt carburetor since the idle mixture screws were inoperative on my current carburetor. I installed a Holley 650 CFM vacuum secondary carburetor with an electric choke. I installed old style fuel bowls and a balance tube to make it appear more like the original part. I wired up the choke to the stator terminal on the alternator, but i may change this to a full switched twelve volt source. And yes I did install a fuse in the wiring for protection. Holley recommends not using the alternator connection, but many people connect it up that way since it mimics the factory connection. I plan to eventually use the stator connection to trigger a relay that will power both my electric choke and electronic ignition. Right now neither are receiving a full twelve volts, but both appear to be working fine as they are. Sounds like a Winter project for sure.

Another small project I completed was tracking down and fixing a rattle I had been hearing in the right front of the car. It turned out that the right front fender had a loose mounting bolt and bent mounting. I used a couple of washers as shims to help hold it tightly in place. That should eliminate the rattle, however I haven’t road tested the car yet, and most likely won’t have an opportunity until the Spring.

I still have a number of items on the to do list that I can work on over the Winter. The wiring I already mentioned. The passenger quarter window could use a new regulator, which I have already purchased. The driver’s window may need one as well. I need to remove all four wheels so I can put the last few screws in the wheel molding trim. Finally I may attempt once again to adjust the horn button. It is too sensitive for my tastes at the moment. I have expanded my toolbox by purchasing a compressor and some air tools. That should increase the number of jobs I can do at home. I have also enrolled in welding classes at the local college. Hopefully I can become proficient enough to be able to do some of the jobs I have always needed to “farm out”. I’ll most likely only post sporadically until the Spring thaw and I get the car back out of storage.

The car has been fairly reliable and I’ve been able to enter it in a number of shows. However the gas mileage has been much worse than I expected and the car isn’t running as well as I would like. I decided it was time to start optimizing some of the carburetor and ignition settings. I decided to start with the ignition since I knew of at least one problem with it. When I had my engine rebuilt, the machinist said that the rubber on the harmonic damper had deteriorated and had allowed the timing marks to slip. He had remarked the damper for top dead center, but I never really understood why he didn’t just replace the damper. I ordered a replacement that is a copy of the old 427 damper. It took about a month to arrive, and came with a new timing pointer and an integral pulley for the fan belt. I was able to install the new damper without much dis-assembly. Initially I thought I would have to remove the radiator for clearance, but it turned out that step was not necessary. After I buttoned everything back up and checked the timing I learned that the machinist’s marks matched the new damper exactly. I still needed the replacement since the rubber on the old damper was continuing to deteriorate. But at least now I had reliable timing marks and could fine tune the ignition timing with more confidence.

While I was working on the damper I sent my original distributor out to be rebuilt. I also requested that the re-builder modify the advance curve so that full timing advance came in sooner. He interviewed me to learn as much as he could about my car, driving, and the engine combination. The timing specifications he built into the distributor are 16-18 degrees initial advance, 9 distributor degrees at 2900 RPM, and 6 vacuum advance degrees added at 15 inches of vacuum. He also installed a Crane XR-I electronic ignition conversion while the distributor was apart.

Once the rebuilt distributor arrived back at my house, I marked the positions of the current distributor housing and rotor. Then I removed the old distributor and installed the rebuilt one, being sure to line it up with the markings I had made from the old distributor. This ensured that my timing would at least be close to the old timing. That plan proved to be successful since the car started up at the first tap of the key. I connected my timing light and set the initial timing to 16 degrees. I may choose to advance it another degree or two after I get a feel for how the car likes the timing set at 16 degrees.

The good news is that the ignition system appears to be working fine. The bad news is that the engine still isn’t running as well as I think it should. I do plan to replace the rotor, cap, wires and spark plugs when I get a chance. I didn’t bother doing that along with the distributor since all of those parts have very few miles on them. But I think it still makes sense to replace them and confirm that all of the ignition system is in good shape. I also need to go through the fuel and carburetion system to ensure I don’t have any issues there. Even though the carburetor has no more than 1000 miles since it was last rebuilt I don’t feel that I can rule out the possibility of it having any issues.

I added a new page to that Web site that shows all the car shows I have attended in a tabular format. I also included what awards (if any) I brought home from the show. For now I plan to just update the table after every show I attend rather than creating a new post for each show. I may choose to return to creating individual posts at some point in the future. But for now I’ll just plan on updating the table.

The next show I attended was the Down on the Farm Car Show in Frederick, Maryland. My first challenge with this show was just finding my way there. I had printed out directions using Google maps. Unfortunately the directions were wrong. So I used the GPS and mapping software in my phone to help guide me there. These directions were also wrong. Both the directions I printed and the phone navigation software insisted on taking me to places on the highway in between exits and just leaving me there. Eventually I abandoned my Google navigation aids and found my way there the old fashioned way. I located the correct road and watched the addresses until I arrived at my destination. While the navigation software is usually pretty good, in this instance the modern navigation aids let me down.

Now that I had located the show everything else went smoothly. I got registered and parked. I was able to get a spot near a line of trees which provided a bit of shade for part of the day. I was parked next to a later model Cadillac, and I chatted with the owner for a bit. I also met a gentleman with a supercharged truck. I think he found me a bit amusing because I wasn’t too familiar with car show etiquette and also because I kept trying to venture back out into the heat rather than stay with him in the shelter we were sitting under. At one point he showed me an older copy of the LMC truck catalog, and his truck was on the cover. He also told me that his truck had about 500 HP. Too bad I didn’t get a ride in it.

For the time being I’m planning to relax and just do some minor detailing to the car. The next show is in two weeks. There are several shows that weekend, but I plan to attend a new show that is only about 2 or 3 miles from my home. I want to support the local business that is hosting the show rather than go to a larger show that is farther from home. We will see how that turns out.

It started out as a rainy day, but I decided to attend the West Friendship Car Show that was held at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum.  I got rained on a bit on the way to the show, but the weather cleared up and more cars started to roll in.  I had cleaning supplies so once the rain stopped I was able to dry off and clean up the car.  Everybody else either did the same or opted to arrive later after the rain had stopped.  On the way in there was a photographer taking pictures of all of the entrant’s cars.  That allowed them to offer items for sale with pictures on them.  So yes, I did get suckered into purchasing a t-shirt with a picture of my car on it.

As part of the entrance fee to the show I got a free tour of the museum.  It had some very interesting displays of farming and daily living from the 1600’s up through the 1900’s. They let us tour a one room schoolhouse, a house with no electrical appliances, and a dairy milking barn.  These display’s included a collection of appliances, tools, and household items from the time period.  The tour took about an hour and I was glad I went.

There were some really nice cars at the show.  Since the show was sponsored by the early Ford V8 club there were a good number of cars from the 30’s and 40’s which I enjoyed seeing on display.  There was a pair of his and her’s 1969 and 1970 mach 1 Mustangs that were in excellent shape.  They both won awards, which were presented to the top 40 vehicles based on the judge’s preferences.  The best bonus of all is that my car brought home a plaque as well.

Next show is in two weeks.  I hope I have as much fun next show.

Since I had such a good time at the Adventure Park show I decided to try my hand at some more shows. Since it was now show season and there were multiple shows on most weekends the problem became choosing which shows to attend.  My fist choice was a show at a fire station in Myersville, which is about 35 miles or so from where I live.  The other show that day was located in Westminster, which is also about 35 miles from where I live.  Just 35 miles in a different direction.

The weather was cloudy the day of the show, but it was starting to clear up so I set out for the Myersville fire station.  When I arrived I only saw 3 late model Mustangs that arrived right behind me.  One was a beautiful new Shelby and another was a California Special.  It turned out that the show had been postponed due to weather.  One of the Mustang drivers called up the Westminster show and found that show was not postponed.  So we decided to caravan to the Westminster show.  That drive was about another 30 or 40 miles.  The route the Shelby driver chose was strictly back roads, so I got a good opportunity to see how my car handled on an extended drive through the twisties following several high performance cars with modern suspensions and brakes.  I’m happy to say that the old mustang kept up at the pace that had been set.  Now don’t get me wrong, all three of those cars could have easily left me in the dust. But I feel like my old car made a respectable showing of itself.

When we arrived at the show it had been going on for some time.  I was car number 92, and they only had 50 dash plaques so I missed out on that.  However I met some really nice Mustang people and saw some nice cars.  Also, my entrance fee included lunch, so I got fed on top of it all.  I didn’t bring home any awards and didn’t win any raffles, but it was still a fun show.

The following week I chose to attend a show at Auto Ronnie’s in Monrovia, Maryland.  This show had several hundred cars, trucks, and motorcycles, and most all of the cars were high quality.  I was starting to recognize some of the cars from the other shows I attended.  I spent a lot of time looking at all of the cars and also talked to a few of the attendees.  I have to admit that by the end of the show I was pretty worn out from being in the hot sun all day.  But it was a good show and I enjoyed myself once again.

After seeing the quality of the cars at these shows I now understand that if I want to make a respectable showing for myself my car needs to have the engine compartment thoroughly cleaned, painted, and detailed.  In order to do this properly the engine would need to come out of the car.  That is a job I had spoken to Val about doing after my interior and exterior were completed.  I contacted Val via email to see if he was still interested in working on my car some more.  He said he would be willing to do the work, but that he is all booked up until next summer.  I asked him to put me on his schedule, and that I would also like to have him look at adding power steering to the car.  I have driven the car without power steering for as long as I have owned the car, and I’m more than ready to add that option.

Now I just need to be patient and wait for next summer to roll around on the calendar.  In the mean time I plan to continue attending the local car shows and just enjoying the car.