My77Project

Fast Developments

2009-03-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

It's very exciting...things are moving quickly, so even the last pictures I posted are out of date. here's pics of some of the work I've done this week...guess studying for midterms will have to wait. :-)

This is what the cockpit currently looks like. Notice the carbon fiber, new dash pad, seat covers, and nice clean doors among other things.

I did a little custom fitting of the hardware so the seat covers actually fit pretty well, and don't look quite as cheap as they really are. :-P

Back seats mostly installed...

I also put carbon fiber in the coin tray. :-)

The nicely cleaned door panels...Maria helped with these. woot.

I also got a new set of spark plugs...the "do it yourself" kind. Means I can taylor the length perfectly so they all run nicely side by side... ba-zing!

Hopefully this sat I'll be installing the new distributor and getting her started up.

The State of Things

2009-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

So at long last, here's an update...including pictures.
The car as it looks from the outside. List of things that have been accomplished on the exterior since last post include:

Rear view mirrors
grill
new headlights
headlight bezels (not installed yet)
passenger side door handle
hood scoop
beginnings of body work
fixing brake lights, running lights etc.
replaced rusted out hatch
Weather stripping installed (old and ugly...but it'll work for now)

What still needs to be done:

Side marker lights
body work/paint
find chrome trim
Replace left tail light lens assembly

The big project of late has been the interior. The list of things I've done there is too long to try to make...I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It's not done yet, but it's getting there one step at a time.

Door panels+hardware. Original black. still working on cleaning them up, but they are in pretty good shape. :-)

Refurbished dash, including carbon fiber inlay.

Carpet, sill plates, console, shifter, etc.

Rear panels. Also original black. In excellent shape though they still need a little more cleaning up.

Because the shifter is a little further forward than original, I had to cut a little hole in the bottom of the glove box to make room for the E-brake. Nothing my dremel can't handle.

Before and after pics of my upholstery job. Thank God for sisters to help w/ the sewing. :-)

After. Not bad, eh?

There's lots more...but that's enough for now. As you can see it's coming along. Still have quite a few pieces to finish up including the instrument panel, rear area carpet, seat covers, and headliner. Along with a bunch of smaller trim pieces.

Let me know what you think. :-)

May I Digress

2008-09-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

so I KNOW this has nothing to do with cars. but let me wax political for a moment. I just want to note how ironic it is that all the liberal blogs criticize the democratic party for not challenging the republican candidates on the issues. This from those promoting a candidate who is one of the most gifted men I have ever seen at saying absolutely NOTHING...and saying it so beautifully. Perhaps it hasn't occurred to them that perhaps the reason they don't want to get into the issues...is cause they don't have any answers either.

Second, I would like to get one thing straight.

This is MY GIRL...and I love her. :-)

isn't she gorgeous?

2008-08-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are a few pics...

My engine as it currently stands.

Automatic Tranny removed and flywheel/pilot bearing installed for manual:

The hole where used to be the shifter:

I'm working on inlaying carbon fiber on all the trim. So far it's worked really well:

I suck at blogging (apparently)

2008-08-21T09:06:00.000-07:00

So when I started, I had this lofty goal of blogging on at least a weekly basis about the progress I make on my car. Well, so far I count 8 blogs in 10 months...that puts me at less than one a months. well...I can't be good at everything.

updates: Aluminum heads are installed, which involved a fun part where I cut into the top of my pistons with a dremel. but they seem to be working well. The engine is running pretty well but needs some work on the carb, and possibly a collapsed lifter replaced.

Body work continues (slowly) I think for the time being I am going to go with a dark gray primer with a seal coat over it. the final effect is something of a matte black. I can live with it.

I used Por 15 and some fiber glass to fix my rusted floor pans. the stuff is INTENSE. I highly recommend it. a bit of a pain to work with, but when it hardens it's hardness is second only to diamond. ;-) ok, so maybe not quite THAT hard, but it is hard...and yes, that is a good thing.

The tranny conversion is scheduled to begin this weekend (hopefully). I still don't have my flywheel, but I think I'm gonna start either way. I'm gonna try to pull out the old tranny w/out removing the engine. not sure if I can do it cause of the full length headers I am running, but it's worth a shot. Beats pulling all the crap off of the front of the engine and pulling the engine out. tranny is getting a new flywheel, clutch, flexplate, clutch cable, and bearing retainer. should work well.

Pictures...oh they are far overdue, and I know it. I'll try to get some pictures soon.

The interior is completely pulled out right now, and is in the process of being painted black. won't look perfect (never does) but it'll look pretty sweet. I'm also adding carbon fiber accents to a few key areas courtesy of Rich's Custom Carbon Fiber Products. They really make great stuff, and I have a lot of respect for their skill and prefessionalism.

hopefully a piture post will be coming tom...

Back to Life

2008-05-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

As amazing as it seems...it's been 6 months since I posted last. wow! guess that's what happens when you get busy with school. well, don't have time to go into a LOT of detail about all the stuff I've done. but suffice it to say, the engine in the car turned out to be junk. in the months of december and January I replaced it with a late model roller 302. good stuff. I stuck with the carbed set up, and by the middle of Feb, I had the engine up and running. A test run followed in during which there was a fair amount of burnt rubber and run times. Engine runs well except for a vacuum leak around the break power booster. Since then I haven't had time to work on it too much, but it has not gone by the wayside. I have redone the brakes on all corners, and have started on the body work. And now that I am about done with school, I am planning a major project.

Cause I'm a glutton for punishment, I have decided to switch out the C4 Tranny for a five speed manual. More fun to drive, plus it has overdrive. also, I'm going to go ahead and put the edelbrock aluminum heads on there that came with the car when I got it. And further more, I found a cheap set of Hooker Headers (used) to finish off the set up. Add in some hardened push rods and roller rockers, and it'll be a sweet running engine. while i'm at it though, i'm gonna give the suspension a little tlc as well. The rear I'm gonna rework the leafs and see if I can salvage them, and add new KYB shocks. The front I'm gonna knock the springs off about an inch for the time being. eventually I want to put in stiffer front springs to help w/ cornering. i'll be cleaning and painting as I go to make it all look pretty and make it last. :-)

Exams finish up week after next, so at that point, I'll start posting regularly including pics and all of the progress. I can't wait to get my hands greasy again. my goal is to have the car on the road around the beginning of july. it'll be tight, but I think it can be done.

disassembly begins

2007-11-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

The car is now safely inside my workshop, and the rebuilding process has begun.
I spent yesterday evening, and this evening pulling off the carb, alternator, power steering pump, intake manifold, heads, and a bunch of other random stuff. It took some doing to get the intake off, as the gasket had melted to the block and didn't want to let go. I ended up having to tap a screw driver very gently into the seam in order to loosen it up, and then use a wrench as a pry bar on the front part of the manifold, and managed to get it off. Gotta be careful not to scrape up that surface... The heads came off pretty easily. The bolts were torqued on there well, so it took some elbow grease to get them off, but other than that they came off without a fight. And next thing I knew I was lookin down on the top of my pistons. not 100% sure, but I'm pretty sure they aren't stock either. not much seems to be in this car. Here's some pics.

The pistons didn't seem corroded, so it didn't seem that they were what is causing the engine to cease up like it has. I did notice however, that the lifters seem to be very much corroded and frozen up. I'm thinking that might be the problem, so I hosed them down with skunk pee, and they are soaking over night. Tomorrow Eddie's comin over and is gonna tell me what's what. If it's just the lifters frozen up, that's great news. without too much work, I should be able to get them loosened up, and see if she turns over. The good news so far is that everything else seems to be in moderate-great condition. The intake looks great, as do the heads/valves/pushrods/rocker arms/springs etc. The carb looks like it's in decent condition, might need a rebuild, not sure yet. but it's not in too bad shape at least, and I might even get away w/out rebuilding it for the time being.
So the next step: clean up the heads/intake, and free up the lifters. Then see if the engine turns, if it doesn't, then the engine is coming out definitely. I'm still not sure that I'm gonna pull it, but I'm thinking I will, if only so that I can repaint it and clean it up properly. But really everything is still up in the air at this point, cause I'm not 100% sure what the problem is. if freeing up the lifters solves it, then I will probly put the engine back together, and see whether I can start it up, before deciding how much more of a rebuild to do. can't wait to hear that engine growl. I'll add pics of the disassembled engine shortly.

Pictures

2007-11-29T06:59:00.001-08:00

At last, I finally got pics! :-) So yesterday I spent setting up my workshop, building a work bench, and cleaning out the car. Here's some pics.

My workshop:

The inside, and the workbench I made:

The Car:

The engine: (yeah edelbrock! :-D)

The inside before clean up:

And After! looks almost inhabitable. :-P

I found some interesting stuff in there. :-P

Including this. :-)

There's lots more pics here. Theck them out. :-)

MORE PICS!!!

That's all til this weekend.

2007-11-26T16:14:00.001-08:00

So progress of late has been hindered as I prepare a place to work on it. Winter is fast approaching, and I don't fancy working with cold metal in 20 degree weather.
I stopped by Pep boys and picked up a "portable" enclosure. basically a steel frame with a tarp over it, or a glorified tent...which ever way you want to think about it. it's 10x20, so it should give me adequate space to do what I need to. cool, huh? Hopefully tom I'll get to setting it up, and starting work on my work bench. Then, I'm gonna start the real work.

The car stands like this: Engine is still "frozen up" though I'm beginning to suspect that it is more like an out of time valve causing a jam. So the first step is I'm gonna pull off the intake and headers, and see what is goin on down there, then I'll probly end up taking the engine out, and rebuilding it, but I will make that decision when I come to it.

I also got all the door tag info, and looked up online, and discovered that my car is indeed a cobra II. I suspected as much, and I am happy, cause it means I can shamelessly dress it up with cobra furniture. :-) But I also discovered that it originally had a manual tranny in there. Wish he hadn't changed it. I may check around with the junk yards and see if they have a manual tranny that I could steal and return it to its former glory.

Once I get it enclosed, I will take pics. And from then on you can be sure of a steady flow of pics as I rebuild it.

In the mean time...if anyone actually reads this, I am taking a poll. What color scheme should I go with. I have three options, but feel free to suggest something else.

1. Yellow with black racing strips/black interior (think transformers)
2. BLACK with black interior and red highlights (some trim, upholstery, brakes etc just for bazing)
3. Dusty blue with black interior (black strips optional)

Please let me know what you think!

That's all for now.

Baby Steps

2007-11-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

My apologies for the fact that pictures are still lacking. I've been denied access to a camera, by certain circumstances. But a quick update here on what I've done so far.

Sat I picked up the car, and got it home. Everything went smoothly with that. Discovered that the rear brakes were locked up. After I got it home, I pulled the radiator/fan off, and gave the crank shaft a good yank. No joy. well, I figured as much, so I pulled out the spark plugs, marking the ignition cables as I went. I ran out and grabbed a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil, and filled up the cylinders to soak over the weekend. Hopefully it will breakup whatever corrosion is holding up the pistons.

Monday: Still no joy with the pistons...but it can take some time, so I'm not too worried as of yet. I have faith in the mystery oil. ;-) Anyway, Cedric came over this afternoon and we succeeded in getting the rear drums off and the brakes out. the pads and callipers are shot, as well as part of the Ebrake system, but the drums are solid, so I'm happy with that. So long story short, the car now rolls! which means I can take the next step of locating it in the place where I"m gonna do most of the work.

I will get pictures as soon as my family arrives back from vacation and I can steal a camera from them. :-)

And So it Begins

2007-11-07T11:33:00.001-08:00

Most of you who know me, know that for as long as I can remember, I've wanted to buy, and rebuild an old car. In particular, a classic mustang. Now, after years of dreaming, I finally have the car, and am getting ready to begin the rebuilding process. Since the way I came into posession of this car is rather an interesting story, I might as well tell it.

I had been looking regularly on e-bay, craige's list, and other places to see if anything popped up. I had pretty much resigned myself to never finding a classic mustang that was within my price range, so I was thinking I'd maybe go for a late fox body, or something like that. About a week ago, I got on e-bay, and did my regular search. But this time it brought up an ad that I had somehow missed in all my previous searches. It was for a 77 mustang, located about 30 miles from my house, the bid was at 500 dollars. Then came the punch in the gut. There were only 13 minutes left on the auction. Immediately my mind started racing. I kept asking myself, How can I decide to buy a car in 10 minutes? I called up Peter, and we went over it, weighing the options. seconds tick away. Then Sam IMed me and I started talking to her about it. seconds tick away. Finally I said, I have to bid now, or I'm gonna lose it. I decided to bid 650 firm and see what happened. I clicked the "confirm bid button". *page reloading* my heart skipped a beat. with seven seconds left I was the highest bidder at 610.

Needless to say, I took the next 15 minutes trying to reconcile myself to what had just happened; or should I say just BARELY happened.

Now to all those nay sayers out there who despise the mustang II. :-) Yeah, I know you're out there. I'll just say this. The final result will speak for itself. the mustang II got a bad rap for some things that were it's fault, and some things that weren't. I admit, nothing can beat a '67 stang. But when I'm done with it, my77project will be a machine that will make it's more highly revered ancestors proud. :-)

So I promise that from now on I won't bore you with stories of my life and such. But I had to give you the background for what this blog is all about. I will be posting pictures of everything I do along the way in fixing it up. The next post will Lord willing be sat when I pick it up, and I will post pictures of everything in the car. I'll say this...That modest hood held some very impressive surprises.

And feel free to reply with suggestions, or ideas for anything if you feel so inclined.

God bless!