The 69 Mustang - It better run this year....

[Ackbar00]

Well. I got SUPER lazy over the winter. Just really did not do much of anything, so time to get back at it. I expect to be driving it this year baring any major issues. So, here we go...

 

Pretty much how I left it

 

First up was the clutch cable. Everything I heard from Modern Driveline was it would not work with LT headers. And they are right, the cable sits right on it as I showed earlier. So My plan to wrap the cable and the header looks like it will work. Nothing seems to be in a bind and Ill be damned surprised if that thing gets burned.

 

 

With the header installed.

 

 

Passenger header installed

 

 

 

Wiring. Finally getting it sorted out (Regardless what the pic shows). Charged the battery a bit and tested it key on, got my MSD box to light up, so I must be on the right path.

 

 

Broke my first part. Was putting the temp gauge probe in and the fitting snaped. Lucky was able to back out pretty easy

 

 

Test fitting the fox fan. Will use it for now, will prolly change to an electric by the end of the year.

 

 

 

Driveshaft is to long. Working with a local shop to sort that out.

 

 

Got the carb all sorted out. Fuel, linkage, wiring, etc.

 

 

And how she sits. Have PS, alternator, and cooling all sorted now. Next steps are getting a belt on, the driveshaft and getting the distributor in.

 

 

Hopefully getting closer to firing it. Pretty sure this is the exhaust I am getting:

https://www.jegs.com/i/Magnaflow/642/15816/10002/-1

 

Should sound pretty good. I was thinking of side pipes, but pretty sure my subframe connectors would be in the way. This should be quieter and look better.

[BuckeyeROC]

Hell yeah, nice ride! I don't miss mine though.

[gillbot]

You? Running car?:lolguy:

 

Jk man, looks awesome!

[excell]

Sweet!!!

[Ackbar00]

Made some big progress today. It is now ready to start and tune on the carb. My friend that is helping with that was out, but I was able to get it fire a few times.

 

Got my new aluminium driveshaft back. Everything seemed to fit good when I installed it.

 

Test fitting the raditor and my old upper brackets. They no work.

 

 

 

 

I had a problem with my lower radiator hose hitting my fuel pump. I can only assume the hose I had originally sourced was wrong, because it would have rubbed a hole in it. So got some silicone couplers and an 90 degree bend and made a new hose.

 

 

 

 

 

Got the fan and radiator overflow all sorted and installed.

 

 

And here it is. I ended up getting the 69 upper radiator bracket. Had to modify it some, but I think it turned out pretty good.

 

 

Started trying to get the shifter setup worked out. I have an idea of what I am going to do now, so that meant order more parts. So that will be for next time.

[EssFo]

Frank Kastle's statement still stands.

[Ackbar00]

Makes more sense now. lol

[Ackbar00]

It runs

 

https://www.facebook.com/paul.bailey.3538/videos/3188443191169722/

 

Need to adjust the clutch, blead the brakes and tune on the carb. But still, i was pretty happy.

[Geeto67]

It runs

 

https://www.facebook.com/paul.bailey.3538/videos/3188443191169722/

 

Need to adjust the clutch, blead the brakes and tune on the carb. But still, i was pretty happy.

 

congrats on getting back to running. Any thoughts on swapping it over to fuel injection in the future?

[BuckeyeROC]

It runs

 

https://www.facebook.com/paul.bailey.3538/videos/3188443191169722/

 

Need to adjust the clutch, blead the brakes and tune on the carb. But still, i was pretty happy.

 

Congrats! Sounds good.

[Ackbar00]

congrats on getting back to running. Any thoughts on swapping it over to fuel injection in the future?

 

I'm going to say no. I had a chance when I first started to go with an FiTech/Holley, a stock computer or the carb. Ultimately, I decided to go the carb route. The others were just more money than I wanted to spend. If I did anything crazy in the future, I did put a drain in the oil pan. So i would consider a Vortech possibly. After its running, the next bigger money things I will look into are a Gear and posi kit and some gauges.

[excell]

Sounds AWESOME!!! What cam did you go with?

[Ackbar00]

FMS "B"

[Ackbar00]

Did some work yesterday, no real pics to speak of. First issue I encountered was I could start the car with a trigger, but not with the key. Turns out the "key" wire I used would loose power when you turned the key to cranking. This, turned off my MSD, lol. Found a new wire and took car of that. Adjusted the clutch a bit more and I think I got it working enough to try it. I had to put a little preload on the throw out bearing. I am not sure that is a big deal or not. Seemed the only way get it to work. My guess, I will still have to play with that some more.

 

The bad news. The water pump is leaking. Looks like it coming straight out of the bottom. I am like 95% sure, it is going to have to come off. It could be the two bolts on the backing plate are loose, i have read that. But there is no way to get to them once installed. Pisses me off, I take all this time and I have to revisit this....

[Ackbar00]

Ok, first step was the water pump. Spent 60 seconds starring at it and said F it. Pulled it apart. On Fox Water pumps, there is a metal plate with a gasket to the pump body. I think that gasket was leaking. So I cleaned it all off and used plenty of Permatex instead. Gave it a good 24 hour cure and no more leaks. Still, was disheartening to spend that many more hours on something.

 

 

I had to adjust the clutch cable some more. Its way to long winded to talk abour what I did. Lets just say this kit is not all its cracked up to be and maintenance on it is a chore. Guess time will tell on it....

 

Next, I hated the Mustang script badges on the side. So I replaced them with black 2015 5.0 emblems. I was able to cover 2 of the 3 holes. IF I ever have the car painted or body worked, Ill have them filled in.

 

 

Was able to drive it out of the shop to the front under its own power.

 

 

And I wrapped up everything under the hood (its back on as well).

 

 

 

It went on its maiden drive yesterday to have its exhaust put on and should be done sometime this week. It seemed to drive pretty good considering how deafening it was.

[BuckeyeROC]

Looking good!

[Ackbar00]

Crap, I realize I never posted the shifter setup.

 

So I had lots of issues. First I bought a Lokar plate, it sucked. Next i bought the leather boot for the 69. it matched up with the bolts holes already in the trans tunnel. Well, that bastard would not sit over the shifter, it sat right on top of it. Its base would need to be clearanced and I was convinced it would tear the leather. I cut some holes in the carpet and ran some bolts through them trying to make that work.

 

 

The more I played with that, i realized I would be putting the bolts in blindly and nothing was securing the Lower shift boot. What to do....

 

 

 

After an obscene google search, i found these threaded inserts:

 

 

With these, I could thread into the existing holes, use a washer to hold the lower shift boot, and space it up, so that the leather boot would secure on top of the shifter. Winning!

 

 

 

Next, poke the inserts up through the carpet. No more blind man feeling his way around in an orgy.

 

Next up was the shifter handle and the knob. i tried to use the fox handle, and it was just to far forward to be comfortable. Especially in 1 and 3 gear. So I found this handle on EBay. Feels like a Nascar now lol. the knob, i was just going to get a black Hurst, but this grey one from Twisted Shifters caught my eye, so I went with it.

 

 

And done. Used some stainless washer and some hex bolts to finish it off. Still need to trim the tie strings a little, but it feels pretty good and turned out killer.

 

 

[Fiji ST]

That engine bay looks amazing.

[excell]

Looks great!!!

[Ackbar00]

Got a little vid of it running after I drove it out of the shop.

 

[BuckeyeROC]

Got a little vid of it running after I drove it out of the shop.

 

 

[Mace1647545504]

Hey it's got a big miss in it...lol...it does sound great

[Ackbar00]

Ok. So here are the pics of the Magnaflow installed. The exhaust shop did a great job using existing hangers and not drilling a bunch of extra holes in the car. It REALLY made the car a lot quieter. (That’s a good thing). It does sound great and I’ll get of vid of here sometime in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the next issue. When I got home from the exhaust shop, I noticed my fuel pressure was bouncing around “0”. Thought that was a bit weird. One of the things I read, was the fuel lines could be clogged. They were the factory 69 ones, so I figured, why not. So I ordered the factory replacements. Right after I ordered that, I was like, why don’t I just order -6AN? The new fuel filter I ordered was a Russell and it had -6 ends. So I bought a cheap -6 kit from Amazon. I figure Ill send back whatever one don’t work. Lol.

 

So first up, the -6AN. Looks nice. The first fitting I try to put on it, it frayed worse than any other hose I have ever used. I mean, it was plain shit. So that went back to Amazon. Guess that means the replacement 3/8 gets the nod. It installed pretty good. Had to teak a few things to make it work with the Russell filter and even put some heat wrap where it cross over the tailpipe.

 

 

 

Start the car and take it for a drive. Feels fine, but when I get back, the Fuel Pressure is still around “0”. Like WTF? On the vintage forums, the swear up and down that these liquid filled gauges don’t work right when they get warm. I ran my inferred temp heat gun on it and its only around 140*. And I never remembered my turbo car’s 0-100 doing it. But hey, a new one not liquid filled was $12, ordered that. It came in, replaced, took for a good drive and what do you know, the FP was right at 6 psi after the drive. I’m still not 100% convinced that was it, so I will have to keep testing. Going to see about getting it to the dyno and do some tuning on it here soon. . It’s pretty gassy smelling and I only have 10* of timing in it.

[BuckeyeROC]

Very nice! I had Magnaflows on my 545 in the 69 Mustang, they sound good.

[Ackbar00]

Been a little while since my last update. First update is the best one

 

I converted the seats last year to a set from a 2004, mainly because I got a killer deal on the fronts. $40. Wasn’t super keen on the tan, but I found a rear seat in the junkyard for $37, and they were LIGHTYEARS ahead of what was in it. I thought it looked nice, but I have been keeping my eye out for something else since then…

Old Seats:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So on Stangbangerz, someone posted a 95 roller up for sale. Said it had some nicer black leather seats in them. Saw some pics and asked how much. $50 for the front and rear!! Cut me a hell of a deal. Rears are from an 04, but the front are from an 05 Mustang. They were a bit more tricky to fit the 69 rails, but with spacers and a drill anything is possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Seats. SOOOOOOOO much better.

 

 

 

 

Funny part of the story. So the 2005 Mustang seats have the leaver on the back of them up high. I guess it’s a common problem for the plastic lever to break. These were. The fix, is to get them in metal. I got a set from UPR, $45 shipped, almost as much as I paid for the seats, lol.

 

Next, the Fuel pressure issue seemed to sort itself out s the gauge seems to be reading correctly, so that was nice.

So right after the seats got installed, I took the car to work for the first time. Drives like a champ on the highway! 80MPH is 2000 RPM, its awesome. On way home, I hit some back roads and lay into the car for the first time. By the time I hit 3rd gear, the clutch pedal feels all funny. Get it home quick and let it cool down. Come back and it is major stiff, so I work it a lot and it gets better. So I call modern Driveline. In short, he said it was heat. Told him about all the preventive steps I took and talks to me about heat transfer. Since the cable was sitting on the blanket, he was positive that was the issue. So how to fix.

 

He said any shorty header will work. Now the main reason I went with my Tri-Y’s was they were cheap and I had the slave cylinder setup from them. But if you remember, that didn’t work and they had me switch to the cable setup. They would not warranty. Kind of pissed me off, but I figured it was ONLY $135. I hit my Vitality goals at work and got a $200 Amazon gift card, so that bought me a set of Headman Shorties. Painted them up pretty good, had the exhaust redone and back in business.

 

 

 

Yeah, gonna cause shifting issues….

 

 

 

 

Old Tri-Y’s. And that turbo blanket I used was all shades of jacked.

 

 

 

 

Headman Shorty Headers

 

 

 

 

Sounds the same, and I doubt I really lost any power.

 

Quick Rev’s dyno was down, so my friend that has helped build engines over the years helped my street tune the carb and played with timing. Car is a whole new animal, feels really good. Only thing we really need to do is I need to change the springs in my dizzy to get the timing to advance earlier. It’s a bit sluggish below 3000 RPM. I want to change the fan because I think it’s a bit ugly, but the car runs so cool. Not sure if I will or not. I also got a Raptor shift light, but do not have that installed yet

Last piece, I noticed my hood scoop was actually functional. It just had some Styrofoam shoved in the opening. Pulled that all out and got an Edelbrock lid to match my airfilter. Looks good now