1972 Mustang Coupe 302

[Paul Schmidt]

12/9 update

I've discovered in this process that there are days when you add a little something to another part of the car and ultimately it starts to show you just how great these beasts will look when done. I've been starting to get her stripped down now for the new hood and for painting coming up now that the body work is mostly done...but just for the hell of it, decided to throw on the refurbished lower valance I redid, as well as the new front spoiler to see how it looks with the new grill. One of the things that always attracted me to this particular year was that front spoiler...just because of how badass it makes that front end look. The new front bumper will be here on Saturday, but I'm already stoked about the way this front end looks.

So this coming weekend will be a slew of new parts arriving. Ordered new marker bezels for both front and back, new bumper for the front, new parking light bezels for the valance and new taillights. Once those arrive I'm going to set all these parts aside and start building the plastic "room" in the garage to paint...most likely over the holiday break.

That's the latest update.

In terms of the running, I do have her running stable now...there is still some slight issues...but I did do a compression test this weekend and found no issues. Then reverse troubleshooted back to the carb and did some further adjustments. Also changed the plugs just to be safe. Once I did that, I did manage to balance her out quite a bit and she is running more solid. Not quite where she should be yet, but I'm still playing around with the fuel/air adjustments to smooth her out. I still think I'm going to take her in to the shop for a full eval...just so I know what the overall situation is...and determine what I can / can't tackle within my skill set. But she's running and driving...so that's the main point.

More to come. Enjoy your week gang.

- PBR

 

[Bill Perkins]

12/9 update

I've discovered in this process that there are days when you add a little something to another part of the car and ultimately it starts to show you just how great these beasts will look when done. I've been starting to get her stripped down now for the new hood and for painting coming up now that the body work is mostly done...but just for the hell of it, decided to throw on the refurbished lower valance I redid, as well as the new front spoiler to see how it looks with the new grill. One of the things that always attracted me to this particular year was that front spoiler...just because of how badass it makes that front end look. The new front bumper will be here on Saturday, but I'm already stoked about the way this front end looks.

So this coming weekend will be a slew of new parts arriving. Ordered new marker bezels for both front and back, new bumper for the front, new parking light bezels for the valance and new taillights. Once those arrive I'm going to set all these parts aside and start building the plastic "room" in the garage to paint...most likely over the holiday break.

That's the latest update.

In terms of the running, I do have her running stable now...there is still some slight issues...but I did do a compression test this weekend and found no issues. Then reverse troubleshooted back to the carb and did some further adjustments. Also changed the plugs just to be safe. Once I did that, I did manage to balance her out quite a bit and she is running more solid. Not quite where she should be yet, but I'm still playing around with the fuel/air adjustments to smooth her out. I still think I'm going to take her in to the shop for a full eval...just so I know what the overall situation is...and determine what I can / can't tackle within my skill set. But she's running and driving...so that's the main point.

More to come. Enjoy your week gang.

- PBRView attachment 95842

Keep up the Great Work, it is worth it

 

[Paul Schmidt]

Small update for today. Installed the new bumper.

 

[Spaceman]

Shiny!

 

[Paul Schmidt]

So outside of working and getting this T-shirt thing going for all of us today...I managed to take a couple hours and clean up the tail end of the car. Refinised and painted the rear lower valance cleaned up the taillights and did some touch up. For those of you still tuned in, you will see that I am completely procrastinating on addressing that rear window. Literally working around it to avoid confrontation lol. It's kinda like hiding your peas under your mash potatoes...sooner or later I'm going to have to eat them. But in the meantime, however, I can be happy with the way the rear end looks.

 

[Spaceman]

You planning on a honeycomb or flat rear panel? Gonna get some shiny surround on the right taillight or black out the left to match the right? Mine are opposite, one has black with bright trim and one is sans any black.

 

[Paul Schmidt]

You planning on a honeycomb or flat rear panel? Gonna get some shiny surround on the right taillight or black out the left to match the right? Mine are opposite, one has black with bright trim and one is sans any black.

My current flat panel that I refurbished will go back on. The honeycomb is nice to have on there, but mine is in almost perfect condition so why spend the extra cash. I just need new molding stips for the top and bottom.

And in regards to the taillights, I'm ordering new ones...as these (and any I saw for sale used) are all pretty rough. I figured I'd save myself some time on that. The only reason they are different is I tried blacking one out and it turned out ******. It looks good from far away and I do like the black out...but up close its pretty crappy and its a pain in the tail to paint those decently. So I'm just going to go with the new shiny and leave it at that. plus I needed all new weather stripping on the outside.

Also have to order some new bumper brackets bolts...one of the old ones was rusted and snapped during reinstall, so the right side of the bumper is not flush to the car as it is on the left. Always something little to end the day with.

 

[Paul Schmidt]

Sunday morning irritation.

Took her out this am for a spin up to the auto parts store. Started fine. Ran ok...no major issues. Went inside, got my stuff, came back out...dead. No lights, no clicking, no cranking. They swapped the battery out for free. Still nothing. Checked all the connections, etc,. Nada. Battery is new. Starter is 20 days old. Ignition? Fuse? Wiring? At this point she's going into the shop for a complete top to bottom tomorrow as it's beyond frustrating to wonder if I am going to make it home every time I take her out.

More to come later this week when I hear the good news or the bad. Hopefully whatever issues remain can be resolved so that at the very least, she runs consistently and reliable...so that I can start addressing all the other work on the list. But I have exhausted my knowledge parameters of troubleshooting at this point.

Happy Sunday.

 

[tpj71mach]

Sunday morning irritation.

Took her out this am for a spin up to the auto parts store. Started fine. Ran ok...no major issues. Went inside, got my stuff, came back out...dead. No lights, no clicking, no cranking. They swapped the battery out for free. Still nothing. Checked all the connections, etc,. Nada. Battery is new. Starter is 20 days old. Ignition? Fuse? Wiring? At this point she's going into the shop for a complete top to bottom tomorrow as it's beyond frustrating to wonder if I am going to make it home every time I take her out.

More to come later this week when I hear the good news or the bad. Hopefully whatever issues remain can be resolved so that at the very least, she runs consistently and reliable...so that I can start addressing all the other work on the list. But I have exhausted my knowledge parameters of troubleshooting at this point.

Happy Sunday.

Sorry to hear you got stranded after you have made so much progress to this point.
After your shop goes through it and makes it reliable you will have more confidence in it can start enjoying it more. It may be as simple as adjusting the neutral safety switch, I had that problem at first.
When I first got mine done, I drove it quite a few different times and had a couple hundred miles on it with no problems. My son took it over to his girlfriend's and it wouldn't restart for him. I went over there and found that when he placed the car in park the neutral safety switch didn't line up. I realized (having been described as a "bull in a china shop" since I was a kid), When I slam it into park it lined up, but when a normal person placed it in park it didn't. A slight adjustment and it has been fine, even when a normal person doesn't slam it into park like I do, haha.

 

[Paul Schmidt]

Sorry to hear you got stranded after you have made so much progress to this point.
After your shop goes through it and makes it reliable you will have more confidence in it can start enjoying it more. It may be as simple as adjusting the neutral safety switch, I had that problem at first.
When I first got mine done, I drove it quite a few different times and had a couple hundred miles on it with no problems. My son took it over to his girlfriend's and it wouldn't restart for him. I went over there and found that when he placed the car in park the neutral safety switch didn't line up. I realized (having been described as a "bull in a china shop" since I was a kid), When I slam it into park it lined up, but when a normal person placed it in park it didn't. A slight adjustment and it has been fine, even when a normal person doesn't slam it into park like I do, haha.

There may be something to this...as this description also adds up to some other similar bugs as well. Either way, it will get sorted out in the next few days hopefully. Will keep you posted.

 

[Sheriff41]

Sorry to hear you got stranded after you have made so much progress to this point.
After your shop goes through it and makes it reliable you will have more confidence in it can start enjoying it more. It may be as simple as adjusting the neutral safety switch, I had that problem at first.
When I first got mine done, I drove it quite a few different times and had a couple hundred miles on it with no problems. My son took it over to his girlfriend's and it wouldn't restart for him. I went over there and found that when he placed the car in park the neutral safety switch didn't line up. I realized (having been described as a "bull in a china shop" since I was a kid), When I slam it into park it lined up, but when a normal person placed it in park it didn't. A slight adjustment and it has been fine, even when a normal person doesn't slam it into park like I do, haha.

Lol! I used that, "Dad, the car wouldn't start" routine when I was a teenager!