Fordguy427
Member
Hi,
Just bought a 71 Mustang Convertible on BAT a couple weeks ago. Saw the auction right at the tail end and didnt have much time to ask any questions. My own fault. Turns out the vehicle was purchased from one of those “classic car dealers” that basically shine up turds and then sell them to people who have little to no car knowledge. Well, thats exactly who owned this car for the last 9 years. The seller was not a car guy, and clearly had limited mechanical capability. Besides breaking and NOT replacing every switch, knob, and window crank he also neglected the car by moving it from storage to outside with a cover on it. I flew up to BOS to drive it home. When I arrived in the morning, as soon as i walked up his driveway I could see the hood was hammered with hail. That was NOT evident in the pictures on BAT. So I said “WOW! You didn’t mention hail damage?” His reply was “Oh no, thats not hail…thats from acorns” Well golly gee! Then that makes it all better! He was also helpful enough to start the car to warm it up for me. Now there was a start video on the BAT listing and I DID hear the metal screeching noise in the video. This guy was sitting there with the car idling and the metallic screeching noise going on. I told him to shut it off and asked him what the noise was, the response was “What noise?” So now it is pretty clear I’m not going to get ANY useful info from the seller and I already wired him the money so its time to go. Ive got a 500 mile drive home and want to be in my driveway by sundown so Ive got to get rolling. I get driving and spend an extra hour in Boston’s wonderful traffic. Finally hit the Mass Turnpike and get some speed going. I pull in to a gas station because I dont know if the gas gauge is working plus I want to spend a little time finding the noise up front. After I got gas I used an IR thermometer to shoot some temps around the engine bay, all seem normal except the idler pulley for the A/C is HOT….like 270F. Makes sense because that is where I thought the noise was coming from…actually I thought it was the A/C clutch, I couldnt get the A/C to engage from the panel on the dash and I didnt have any jumper wire to get the clutch to engage. Anyway, now I know its the A/C idler pulley but all Ive got is a set of small vice grips because I had to ride an airplane up to BOS the night before. I cant get the bolts loose, I did consider cutting the V-belt but instead figured I would go find a Walmart and buy a cheap set of wrenches to remove the idler pulley and then the A/C belt and all would be quiet. Well, about 3 minutes after I pulled out on the Mass turnpike headed west in search of a Walmart the pulley got really loud and shortly thereafter removed itself from the scene with a loud bang and ricochet off the pavement and into the drivers floorboard never to be seen again. It did, however, make the ensuing drive much quieter! At the next fuel stop I wiggled the A/C belt around the fan blades and got it out of the engine compartment. The rest of the drive home was uneventful. Which is a very long lead in to my question:
The brake pedal….besides missing a rubber pad (hey, if you are going to break every switch, knob, and window crank, why would you replace a $10 rubber brake pad?) is longer than the clutch pedal. Why is that? I havent had a spare moment to look up behind the steering column but either the clutch pedal is wrong or the brake pedal is wrong. Is the brake pedal from the wrong year car? Is it a from a non-power boosted brake car? Help me out here please!
Much thanks in advance,
Bill
I hope the photo attaches
Just bought a 71 Mustang Convertible on BAT a couple weeks ago. Saw the auction right at the tail end and didnt have much time to ask any questions. My own fault. Turns out the vehicle was purchased from one of those “classic car dealers” that basically shine up turds and then sell them to people who have little to no car knowledge. Well, thats exactly who owned this car for the last 9 years. The seller was not a car guy, and clearly had limited mechanical capability. Besides breaking and NOT replacing every switch, knob, and window crank he also neglected the car by moving it from storage to outside with a cover on it. I flew up to BOS to drive it home. When I arrived in the morning, as soon as i walked up his driveway I could see the hood was hammered with hail. That was NOT evident in the pictures on BAT. So I said “WOW! You didn’t mention hail damage?” His reply was “Oh no, thats not hail…thats from acorns” Well golly gee! Then that makes it all better! He was also helpful enough to start the car to warm it up for me. Now there was a start video on the BAT listing and I DID hear the metal screeching noise in the video. This guy was sitting there with the car idling and the metallic screeching noise going on. I told him to shut it off and asked him what the noise was, the response was “What noise?” So now it is pretty clear I’m not going to get ANY useful info from the seller and I already wired him the money so its time to go. Ive got a 500 mile drive home and want to be in my driveway by sundown so Ive got to get rolling. I get driving and spend an extra hour in Boston’s wonderful traffic. Finally hit the Mass Turnpike and get some speed going. I pull in to a gas station because I dont know if the gas gauge is working plus I want to spend a little time finding the noise up front. After I got gas I used an IR thermometer to shoot some temps around the engine bay, all seem normal except the idler pulley for the A/C is HOT….like 270F. Makes sense because that is where I thought the noise was coming from…actually I thought it was the A/C clutch, I couldnt get the A/C to engage from the panel on the dash and I didnt have any jumper wire to get the clutch to engage. Anyway, now I know its the A/C idler pulley but all Ive got is a set of small vice grips because I had to ride an airplane up to BOS the night before. I cant get the bolts loose, I did consider cutting the V-belt but instead figured I would go find a Walmart and buy a cheap set of wrenches to remove the idler pulley and then the A/C belt and all would be quiet. Well, about 3 minutes after I pulled out on the Mass turnpike headed west in search of a Walmart the pulley got really loud and shortly thereafter removed itself from the scene with a loud bang and ricochet off the pavement and into the drivers floorboard never to be seen again. It did, however, make the ensuing drive much quieter! At the next fuel stop I wiggled the A/C belt around the fan blades and got it out of the engine compartment. The rest of the drive home was uneventful. Which is a very long lead in to my question:
The brake pedal….besides missing a rubber pad (hey, if you are going to break every switch, knob, and window crank, why would you replace a $10 rubber brake pad?) is longer than the clutch pedal. Why is that? I havent had a spare moment to look up behind the steering column but either the clutch pedal is wrong or the brake pedal is wrong. Is the brake pedal from the wrong year car? Is it a from a non-power boosted brake car? Help me out here please!
Much thanks in advance,
Bill
I hope the photo attaches
