nothing broke today...and deep purple may have helped

[MustangNJ]

ok so after I completed the wiring project and broke some wiring things and then fixed them, I put about 80 miles on the car.  nothing broke today while driving !! no steering problems, no loose camber adj nuts, no holes in the timing cover, no overheating !!  I actually was able to grind through the gears with Deep Purple and Foreigner blasting on the new stereo.  I was also able to give my son shifting lessons for an hour.  its a couple of hours of driving with no breakdowns that make all the other breakdowns worthwhile.  I know that another problem is around the corner, but I'll keep driving and breaking and fixing !

 

[OzCoupe72]

Congratulations on reaching this milestone, something I wish for

It's usually a process of sorting out the bugs and other issues after a rebuild or restoration

I managed about 10 miles and the power steering hose blew, destroying the pump

Next time got to 70 miles and the engine failed

Good luck with your Mustang and hopefully you reach many more milestones

 

[MustangNJ]

funny you mention power steering, I think my power steering is intermittent at the moment. I just noticed it today, sometime hard to turn the wheel at slow speeds, other times easy. not sure what could make it intermittent. maybe an issue with the pressure from the pump. I need to keep my eye on it.

tomorrow I will try to wire in the tach, and mount the front spoiler.

 

[OzCoupe72]

Most commonly when power steering grabs at idle it is your belt is a little loose

Tighten the belt so you get no more than 1/2 inch deflection in the middle of the longest part of the belt with firm thumb pressure and see if it improves

 

[1sostatic]

Mine likes ZZtop's first album 1971 ... Can't imagine why - perhaps something to do with the date... but I still get wiring problems  :whistling:

 

[MustangNJ]

wow, they only had starter beards in 71 !

 

[MustangNJ]

its amazing how much better the power steering works when you add fluid. mine was bone dry !

 

[73pony]

If you were low check for leaks. It had to go somewhere.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

It does take some time to sort a car out sometimes. I am down to AC and PDB booster. I drive it and yes you can slide the tires without the help of the booster. 

I have done over 200 miles, full tank of gas so I feel better about everything now. This car sat for 27 years and the PO had hacked up the wiring so bad I had to pull whole dash out and replace every piece of wiring from headlights to tail lights. He also put head gasket on backwards if the real reason he let it sit so long.

My best experience of putting a vehicle back together and everything working was the 69 Ford Econoline van I spent 3 years building. I took the entire van apart every piece that could come off came off. Rebuilt suspension, transmission, rear, engine, painted it from top to bottom and did the interior. All new rubber seals and the 240 I bored, balanced and put all new parts in except crank and rods. 

I put the windshield in it drove to Ford dealer had front end aligned. Then back home and packed my bags and drove it across the U.S. over 6,000 miles and only issue I had was voltage regulator went bad and I had a spare. 

Had an accident in it with 467,000 miles on it and I just sent to crusher couple years ago after selling lots of parts off it. 

The wiring is what I hate.

 

[1sostatic]

its amazing how much better the power steering works when you add fluid. mine was bone dry !

Keeping your fluids up is what my Doctor said also... he must be a petrolhead without knowing it.

 

[MustangNJ]

one of my challenges these days is i don't have a place to park the car if it is non-running, so I am limited to projects that I can complete in 1 weekend. this sometimes means that projects get "finished" without being comprehensive, eg. I added new battery connectors because I had them in a box, and while I need new battery wires, I did not have them available at the time....