What did you do to your car today?

[jhawk635]

took the top to be dismantled so I can paint the frame...

Getting closer!

 

[jhawk635]

Pretty much finished the hood and starting to put the motor back together...happy days!

 

[Mister 4x4]

SWEET!! ::thumb::

 

[mach71351c]

Well I spent some time with the mustang today. I sand blasted some hard to reach spots and primed up the fender. The I bolted it on for safe keeping. I will be putting the Mach1 on the back burner for a while I get my GT ready for Vegas.

 

[Stangace20]

Well I spent some time with the mustang today. I sand blasted some hard to reach spots and primed up the fender. The I bolted it on for safe keeping. I will be putting the Mach1 on the back burner for a while I get my GT ready for Vegas.

lookin good mike...and you keepin your GT? Cause I'll have my LX instead of the 72 at MBTB this year

 

[Mister 4x4]

Today was essentially a suck-fest.

I start out going by my pal Gonzo's house today to run to the shop and do a few simple things: 1. Get his '70 Camaro to the exhaust shop; 2. Get my '71 to the paint shop; 3. Retrieve his Camaro from the exhaust shop and take it to his house.

When I pulled up to his house, I discover that not only did my Ram's radiator sh!t the bed this past weekend (which I replaced on Saturday), but apparently the water pump and thermostat decided to check out as well - as I noticed the coolant puking out of the water pump area while parked on the street. SO - we roll out to the shop (he in his Hummer H2 and I in my Ram) and park the Ram in a slot, talking about getting the cars squared away then fixing the Ram's water pump and go get the trailer. He put the battery in his Camaro, and nothing - it was dead. So while it was charging, we started tearing into the Ram. Once we got to the water pump itself, we noticed that it was pretty much just the thermostat and upper hose leaking like a sieve - but screw it, the pump was around 50K miles old and we had the whole front of the engine apart anyway. Got the Camaro fired up and on the trailer - and off to the exhaust shop. Picked up the new pump and a few other things and grabbed some lunch on the way back.

At the shop, I put the Mustang up in the air and Gonzo helped me bleed the brakes. After that was done, filled up the tires (they were all way low) and emptied all the stuff out of the car - I'll take the rest of the small parts to the painter on Friday. After that was done, fired up the Mustang and backed it out under it's own power since 1980, I might add. It was a great feeling. Brakes still felt a little spongy, but whatever - I'm not going for a drive or anything. As I got around the end of the shop, I lined up on the trailer and poof - nothing. It died right there - within 2 feet of the trailer's ramps... same issue it had a few weeks ago: no spark. Just quit... and never started again - it's like its afraid to go get painted or something. After an hour or so of trying to get the ol' nag fired up (with no success), I finally called the painter and told him I wasn't coming today. He said he understood and to bring it by tomorrow.

After that, we pushed it into the stall previously occupied by the Camaro, and I'll try to figure it out tomorrow. Knocked out the water pump and thermostat housing on the Ram in about another hour or so. Went home in disgust. Called my Boss and told him the story and that I'd need another day off - he was cool with that.

The only thing I can think of is when I rewired the Duraspark module up the way CZ-75 rewired his - which was a little different than the NPD conversion harness specified. Mine ran fine for around 8 months beforehand... and has now [possibly] lunched 2 Duraspark modules after less than 15 minutes of run-time on each. I say 'possibly,' because it died shortly after I installed a new module... then came back to life again until today. I haven't found the right combination of which foot to stand on with which eye to keep closed while touching which part of the car with which butt cheek while cranking to get it fired up again.

My first attempt at troubleshooting tomorrow will be to restore the wiring I had before and hope for the best. It might not have been technically the right way to hook it all up, but it ran fine for such a long time, I have a hard time arguing with that logic. After I get it back from paint, I'll worry about going through all the wiring again to make sure the 43-year-old wiring harness isn't just having its way with me.

Oh yeah - and when your doors are off the car, the dome/courtesy lights stay on (along with the annoying freaken key buzzer) as long as the battery is connected. Just thought I'd pass that along.

 

[mach71351c]

Well I spent some time with the mustang today. I sand blasted some hard to reach spots and primed up the fender. The I bolted it on for safe keeping. I will be putting the Mach1 on the back burner for a while I get my GT ready for Vegas.

lookin good mike...and you keepin your GT? Cause I'll have my LX instead of the 72 at MBTB this year

Thanks James. I plan on putting the GT up for sale when I go to Vegas.

 

[Mister 4x4]

OK! So today was a good day.

I got to the shop, rewired the NPD harness back to how I had it when I first started the car... no change. I took the Duraspark module back to O'Reillys and they warrantied it. Got back to the shop, installed the new one and it fired right up. I guess there's something going on with mine that's not liking the 'correct' wiring for the NPD harness... oh well - time will tell, and maybe after I get the car back I can track it down some more.

But for now:

Up and on the trailer under its own power! The last time it was on the trailer, was to bring it's rusty butt to the shop. Hopefully within the next few months, it'll be shiny and ready to go back together.

The plan for this weekend is to get the upholstery ordered, do the "Mustang Steve" hinge kit, and take all the small parts (doors, valances, marker light surrounds, etc.) to the paint shop on Saturday. Then get the rest of my stuff organized - the stall at the shop looks like an old Mach 1 blew up its guts all over the place. rofl

 

[cudak888]

OK! So today was a good day.

I got to the shop, rewired the NPD harness back to how I had it when I first started the car... no change. I took the Duraspark module back to O'Reillys and they warrantied it. Got back to the shop, installed the new one and it fired right up. I guess there's something going on with mine that's not liking the 'correct' wiring for the NPD harness... oh well - time will tell, and maybe after I get the car back I can track it down some more.

Eric, dig yourself up an NOS or good used Motorcraft Duraspark module. The Chinese-made Duraspark modules are a crap shoot and don't last.

-Kurt

 

[sm3570]

Good job, Eric! What's the timeframe?

 

[CZ-75]

Erik, check to be sure your control module has a good ground.

 

[Mister 4x4]

Kurt - yeah, I know. The one in the Jeep has been installed since 1980. It's even gotten so hot it leaked out some of the epoxy on the driveway one time... but it's STILL running like a champ.

Steve - the painter said between 6 weeks to 2 months. I'm OK if it takes him a bit longer, though. He has a '72 Challenger in his shop right now that's absolutely stunning, also working on a Baja Bug, and pulls in the odd collision job. He also had about 3 people come by for estimates while I was unloading. His shop is awesome, and it's on his own property - his home is literally next door. I've called him on a Sunday before and he was in there working on something. So I'm pretty sure if he said no more than 2 months, it'll be real close.

His body guy (Bobby) is a crusty old man who's been in the biz for over 50 years... and he fell in love with the Mach 1 when we first pulled up. He looked it over and asked, "Who the Hell put that quarter panel on?" I told him I'd done it, and I guess he wasn't sure how I'd react and got quiet. I told him it was my first, that I'd made a bunch of rookie mistakes, and that I'd gladly get him a new one by next week if he wanted to cut it off and stick a new one on. He laughed at me, said it was fine and wasn't nearly as bad as some of the junk he's had to fix - he could work with it. He seemed impressed when I mentioned the front clip, floors, and trunk work I'd done - said I'd done a good job on those... for a rookie. LOL I also told him about the doors and other stuff I need to bring in on Saturday, and he was cool (I guess he was thinking I wanted them to find some new doors or something). After I fired it up and got off the trailer into the shop, he asked what was in it... so I popped the hood and everybody was all, "Daaammmmmn! That's a gorgeous engine." To which I replied, "Yeah... and it better still be in here when I pick it up." I believe we are all officially friends now - I feel like I've taken it to the right people.

CZ-75 - it should be grounded just fine. Like I mentioned, the car was running awesome for about 8-9 months before I rewired... then, I figure I had a total of 15-20 minutes of run-time on each module before they smoked. Oddly enough, when I pulled the first 'bad' one [after the rewire], I again made sure the mounting surfaces were still clean bare metal before I bolted it down, and squeezed in a little bit of dielectric between the box and inner shock tower where I mounted it. Then the second one quit... and started running again after some troubleshooting (unplugging, replugging of all the various connections), and then finally quit for good on Wednesday.

 

[Mikes73]

Very strange about the duraspark modules burning up, the only time I've had problems with them the green wire (coil negative) was the cause in some way. Sorry if I missed it but what are all the components of you ignition system?

 

[Mister 4x4]

Very strange about the duraspark modules burning up, the only time I've had problems with them the green wire (coil negative) was the cause in some way. Sorry if I missed it but what are all the components of you ignition system?

• Duraspark module (of course)
  
• NPD Duraspark conversion harness
  
• Cardone Duraspark distributor
  
• Accel Super Coil
  
• stock starter solenoid
  
• stock voltage regulator
  

When I first fired it up (wired according to NPD's instructions) it wouldn't run unless the starter was engaged, as the white wire was on the 'S' terminal of the solenoid. When I moved the white wire to the 'I' terminal, it fired right up and ran great. Had it running that way for almost 9 months.

CZ-75 did some outstanding research and discovered that NPD received some bad harnesses, and that the proper way to wire it is to clip the brown wire at the coil + terminal, move the white wire to the 'S' terminal, and run a completely new wire from the 'I' straight to the coil + terminal. Initially, it ran great... but after a few times (half dozen or so) of starting it up to tune the carb and whatnot (about a total of 15-20 minutes run time, now that I think about it), it crapped out. Troubleshot, replaced the Duraspark module and Auron's original solenoid, and it fired up. Ran for another 10 minutes or so - then, it seemed fine and I haven't started it in over a month. Fire it up, ran it for a few minutes, drove it to the other side of the shop, lined up on the trailer, and poof - done.

Yesterday, I rewired it back to way I had it when I first fired it up, and I'm hoping that solves it (as in, there's something about having it wired the ways CZ-75 suggested that my car doesn't like, but otherwise OK). If not - and it craps out again while at the body shop - I will rewire it without the NPD harness and try that. If that doesn't last, I'll stuff in a Mallory, MSD, Accel, or something else that will hopefully fit under the Ram Air cleaner and just be done with it.

This problem also hits with no apparent warning... and I can't be rolling down the street and have the damn thing just croak every 15 minutes.

 

[CZ-75]

Sorry you are having issues, Eric. I have not had any issues other than my starter taking a crap. But then, I probably have less than an hour on it so far.

 

[Mikes73]

I had problems with my other mustang similar to what you are having, it all came down to not running the correct ballast resistor with a chrome accel super coil. I don't know if you've tried or not but using a digital multi-meter if you can get it running test the voltage at the coil, should be around 9 volts running if your ballast resistor is working correctly. I got away from the whole ballast resistor/oil filled canister coil senario and installed an MSD blaster TFI coil that can handle full voltage, requires no resistor and produces 45K volts of spark. The car runs great and I was able to gap the plugs to .045" with no problems and no more fried duraspark boxes.

 

[Totalled]

In my experience, accel super coild are super junk.

Key on to the coil +, Key on to the red wire on the module, white wire to the crank circuit. The white wire retards the timing while cranking the engine. It will work fine without it hooked up.

 

[Mister 4x4]

I had problems with my other mustang similar to what you are having, it all came down to not running the correct ballast resistor with a chrome accel super coil. I don't know if you've tried or not but using a digital multi-meter if you can get it running test the voltage at the coil, should be around 9 volts running if your ballast resistor is working correctly. I got away from the whole ballast resistor/oil filled canister coil senario and installed an MSD blaster TFI coil that can handle full voltage, requires no resistor and produces 45K volts of spark. The car runs great and I was able to gap the plugs to .045" with no problems and no more fried duraspark boxes.

I'll keep that in mind. This isn't the first time I've heard Accel stuff was junk... I just remember my old '78 K-5 Blazer had Accel stuff and I loved it.

In my experience, accel super coild are super junk.

Key on to the coil +, Key on to the red wire on the module, white wire to the crank circuit. The white wire retards the timing while cranking the engine. It will work fine without it hooked up.

Noted on the Accel coil.

This is the one I'm using. I don't think it's the problem, but I don't suppose it would hurt to have a back-up plan: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/acc-8140hv

Unfortunately, the voodoo in the NPD harness seems to need the white wire (of the NPD harness) hooked up to the 'I' terminal (since it's apparently shorted to the brown wire on the coil '+,' as CZ-7 discovered and shared). That's how it ran for 9 months... and that's how it's wired back up right now. We'll see, I guess.

CZ-75: No worries, Man. This is 'experimental' stuff and somewhat of a crap shoot, honestly. I'm just glad yours is working out, and I hope it stays that way, Bro! ::thumb::

 

[Mikes73]

Next time you get it running and it happens to die on you carefully touch the case of the coil, I'll bet it will be very hot. Accel says the coil is internally resisted but they won't last long without an additional ballast resistor wired in before the coil. Totalled is completely right about Accel coils being junk, they aren't what they used to be. I'm sure you will get it figured out.

 

[jhawk635]

Seats finally going it. I went with leather which has created a few minor challenges but all and all going well.