My paint came in, and Rosemary's first drive

My first gallon of basecoat came in today.  Viper GTS blue, a beautiful eye-catching, show metallic.  This is ProSpray.

Second on the agenda, a few weekends ago Rosemary took the car out for a lap around the yard, and no holds barred!  While she isn't that excited about the car, I think this put something in her because she thought it was 'awesome,' and later told me 'it felt really powerful.'  Unfortunately that bit was not caught on film.

First drive!

I can't believe I forgot to post this...I took my first 'drive' this past Friday (May 31).  Pretty exciting.  It had a small backfire in this first drive.  I did a single lap around the front yard which was a very redneck affair, to put it eloquently.  I devised a 'gas tank' out of a 20 oz plastic pop bottle that was zip tied to the outside of the fender skirt, and drilled/cut a hole in the lid so I could squeeze the rubber fuel line through into the bottle.  It actually works quite well, but the fuel gets consumed unbelievably fast.  I also couldn't get the seat in (for some reason the bolts don't line up with the holes in the seat pan now...) so I sit on my left foot.  Aaand I had some masking paper still stuck on the back that looks horrendous.

Enough talk, here's the video of the FIRST time this car moved under its own power

The vacuum advance was disconnected in this video (I forgot to reconnect it), which may have been contributing to the backfire.  I advance the timing more as well, this time by vacuum rather than by timing light.  After taking it out on another drive, the backfire was gone and the car was really responsive when I got on the pedal.

Wet sanding primer

Since I finally got the engine going, I switched gears back to Summer Mode, which means countless hours of body work, sanding, and spraying.  This is the final summer for it however.

I am getting my panels ready for the sealer (reduced epoxy) before base coat and clear coat go on.  The hang up for me however--I only have two panels that are actually in 2k primer.  All the rest have Slick Sand--the poly primer--and I don't dare wet sand that.  I first attempted dry sanding these with 400 and literally spent HOURS sanding my hood.  What I've decided I'll do in this case is spray two wet coats of epoxy, then wet sand that to 600 for the metallic basecoat.  The epoxy will go over the 220 scratches on the Slick Sand and should fill them in.

But on to wet sanding...

Start with a good quality sandpaper (3M) rated for wet or dry.  The panel will be sitting in its final block, which should be 180-220. For wet sanding, P400 grit is the best choice if sanding prior to seal coat.  If you're not doing a sealer and going straight to a [metallic] base, after 400, go up to 600.  Jumping from the 220 to 600 is a large jump and the 600 will take a long time removing the 220 scratches. 

Spray guide coat on the panel.  This helps you to see the scratches you need to remove.  Tear a sheet of paper in thirds and soak it in warm water with a little bit of dish soap for at least 15 minutes.  Get some water and dishsoap in a spray bottle as well.  Using a BLOCK for wet or dry sanding (I like the Durablocks for this purpose) take one of the strips of paper and begin sanding in a cross hatch pattern until the scratches are removed.  Rotate through the different strips frequently and don't let the paper become clogged.  It helps to unclog it by spraying it with the squirt bottle.  Also spray the panel frequently to wash it and keep it wet.  You can use a squeegee to remove the wet dust but I don't have one, so I wipe frequently with a wet paper towel.  Don't overuse the sandpaper; change it frequently so it is always cutting quickly and not just polishing the panel.

Once everything is adequately sanded, wipe it down and blow the panel off with air, then blow it dry.  Inspect closely to see any missed scratches and resand missed areas as needed.

Nothing fancy.  My sanding blocks float in the water with the sandpaper in it somewhere.  Change the water once it starts to get kind of skanky like this.

Wet sanding is nice because the paper lasts longer and there's no dust...but it makes a whole other type of mess.  My guide coated fender is starting to look like a disaster zone while I'm wet sanding the top, but everything comes together once the entire panel is sanded.

The top of the fender in p400.  A few sand-through spots but the fender is straight to the flattened hand.

FIRST ENGINE FIRE UP

I find there are two key events to a car restoration: the day the car gets painted, and the day the new engine comes alive for the very first time.  Everything else is secondary to these two.

Well today, for the very first time, I heard and witnessed what this thing is like when its runs, after waiting and working on it for sooooooooo long.

Cliff's notes version: Built engine, tried to start, would not, tried different carb, started, proceed to videos at end.  To read the entire saga, continue with the following text.

The full run down of engine bling is 5.0 full roller block with GT40 heads (bronze valve guides), Scorpion aluminum full roller rockers, Sealed Power hypereutectic pistons, Edelbrock 3722 hydraulic roller cam (.498 int/exh, 220 duration), Weiand Stealth intake, Holley 600 cfm carb, ceramic tri-y headers, Pertronix Flamethrower II dizzy and coil feeding Taylor Spiropro 8 mm silicon wires.  I'm using Autolite 764 plugs gapped at 0.045".  This is all cooled by a Champion 3-row aluminum radiator.

Last weekend is when I was actually planning on doing the fire up, but I could get no voltage to the starter solenoid when the key was in 'start.'  I chased down every wire, checking continuity or voltage and everything checked out.  I had voltage at the neutral safety switch.  Kept following the signal flow and was going to check voltage at a 4-pin block connector under neath the dash; this is the last stop before dumping the wire into the headlight wiring harness.  It was at this point I noticed the red wire with blue stripe (the wire of interest) was taped up.  Getting excited I now found the problem, I removed the tape and found a bunch of crap spliced in there.  Two wires came out of it and ran up beneath the dash. 

"What the heck is this crap?" I wonder.  "What kind of idiot was this previous owner?"

But the two wires went to a switch--a switch hidden under the dash--that is.  Then I felt like I was just hit by a freight train. 

"It's an anti-theft kill switch!"  I pulled on the switch to see if it would pull down and sure enough it did.  Then, sure as the sky is blue, I had clicking at the starter solenoid.  One new battery later I was trying to get it to fire, but it just wouldn't.  All the starting fluid in the world bought me 30 seconds of doggy run time at best.

My carburetor was dripping gas like it was it's job.  I pulled it back apart and found my floats were way out of adjustment so I put them back to where they should be and tried some more, in vain.  By this time everything was a lost cause, my engine was well flooded, spark plugs drenched.  I took all of them out and let them dry.

Meanwhile a friend of mine sent me up his rebuilt Autolite 4100 to try since it was a tried and true carb that was pretty much plug and play.  We were really suspecting my carb had some serious issues by this point.  But I rebuilt it, so why wouldn't it have issues?!

With this new carb I finally got it to fire tonight, one week after trying for the first time and troubleshooting all week.  The first fire I had to keep it running with the throttle; it needed timed in badly.  After fetching my wife and teaching her how to run the throttle, I threw the timing light on it and put it to around 10* BTDC. (~2:40 in the second video).  Now it seems to run like a champ.  Only one leak (amazing) and it was the top radiator hose; I just didn't have the clamp tight enough.  I can live with that.  Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked.

Power to the dash

It's actually been over a week now, but I had finally finished installing my new Champion 3 row aluminum radiator (long story, more on this for its own entry), and got the last of the radiator hoses clamped down.  The entire motor was completely hooked up and wired up, ready to be primed, filled with coolant, and fired up.

Because I was not at a point to start this, the better part of my curiosity got me to at least hook up the battery and turn the key to 'on' just to see what would happen.  To my delight (but mostly surprise) the dash lights came to life, the windshield wiper motor posts were rotating back and forth, and the blower fan came on when I hit the switch (I've wondered for four years now what it would be like the first time that fan ever blew and blew the rest of the crap out that I couldn't get out.  It was extremely anti-climactic, and I had done a very thorough job cleaning out the ductwork).  I hooked up the headlights and they also worked.  My hazards worked (at least on the dash), and I had 12 volts to the electric choke on the carb.  I actually lost my breath for a few seconds when I first saw those dash lights, and the wiper posts going.  This was the first time in my ever owning this car that I witnessed power to anything, more or less something operating under its own power.  It was a sign of progress.

All the action is captured in this video...

Installing trunk lid and quarter extension mouldings

I've been slacking on this very bad, because while the last entry shows the starter and alternator getting repainted, the truth of the matter is the entire engine is installed, hooked up and wired and ready to start.  I've been busy concentrating on that this winter so I can do the first fire up while it's too cold to do much body work.  But I'll talk about that later.

Speaking of body work...

Since this summer is when I will be painting it, it is always a good idea to do a test install of any bolt-on mouldings before you actually have your paint on the car.  I did the test fit of the mouldings that go around the tail light panel.  Mine were reproductions as I didn't have the originals.  They are stainless steel, pretty thin and flimsy so you need to be careful, but near perfect fit and over all good quality.  Since I'll be using their link, I'll give a shout out to my primary Mustang parts supplier, CJ Pony Parts, which is where I purchased these mouldings (and everything else for this car for that matter). They have frequent sales, free shipping on almost everything except freight, and all my experiences with their customer service have been overwhelmingly positive.

Because I already did a write up for their site on how to install the trunk deck and quarter extension mouldings, I will link you to it here

Restoring an alternator and starter

My alternator and starter were really crusty looking, but they both still worked great when I bench tested them at the parts store.  There was no need to replace them since they are both perfectly fine, so I just restored their appearances to new for aesthetic purposes.

Starter

I apparently did really poor photodocumentation throughout this entire process as I appear to have very few photos.  This is the starter as it started out.  I cleaned and degreased it well, removed the solenoid cover and blasted that down, then sprayed it with an aluminum paint.  I also sprayed the strap with aluminum paint.  I sprayed the body of the starter with Eastwood's Black Rust Encapsulator because it was matte black.

Now the starter is slightly improved.

 Alternator

This is the alternator as it started.  It is only 60 amps so I may still end up needing a new one.  This will at least get my engine started for the initial fire up, at least.

This is the magical aluminum paint I use to refinish all my aluminum parts.  This is what I sprayed the transmission with too.  It looks exactly like real aluminum finish.

This is how the alternator ended up.  To do this I removed the pulley and fan and sandblasted them, then etch primed and painted.  For the alternator itself, I scraped any crud off then sprayed down with brake parts cleaner.  I then wire wheeled to get shiny aluminum, primed, and painted.  The final result looks like it came straight off the parts store shelf.  I took some liberties with the color of the fan and pulley colors just for the sake of more color contrast.