What did you do to your car today?

[Mister 4x4]

My take on a few of the questions.

Yes, the Bosch voltmeter's posts "line up" with the holes in the housing... barely. They're tight and maybe they were off by a millimeter or two, but it's in without modification to the housing.

I found my LEDs at The Mustang Project:

http://www.mustangproject.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?ID=ab0c83e6-20fd-44bb-aa7a-8a9d79a0e19f (speedo cluster)

http://www.mustangproject.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?ID=df75771d-f905-4138-ba62-a4b189275df5 (aux gauge cluster)

The speedometer cluster kit included turn-signal LED bulbs (green), high beam light (red), and a few "extra" LED bulbs (since I don't have all the 'idiot lights') - all are 194-style bulbs. The aux gauge cluster kit came with 4 white LEDs (194-style) and 3 of the 1895-style white bulbs for the headlight, wiper, and lighter switches.

I hadn't pulled any of the diffusers when I saw the responses the other day, thinking that the blue light would be pretty cool... but then I remembered how much I hate my alarm clock (an iPod clock) with its blue LED backlight, so, I pulled them out. No going back now though, since every tab holding the diffusers in-place decided to give up (thanks to 45-year-old plastic) - oh well. All the diffusers came out in great shape, so I guess I can always glue 'em back in or something if it becomes that important.

Now the bad news: My wife decided she was going to go to the store right as I was getting ready to pull the Mustang out and put it all back together. He car wouldn't start - [almost] dead battery. She did the same thing last week and I told her she needed a new battery - to which she just blew it off. I had put it on the charger last week while I worked on the Mustang, and then she never went anywhere all week. So, "red car no go putt-putt." I went to O'Reilly's and got a new battery, swapped it out, and thanks to daylight savings time and some cloud cover, it started getting dark shortly afterward, so I decided I was done for the day.

So - now I guess I'll have to wait until next weekend to find out if everything works.

I must've been a little careless while I was slinging the battery around and taking apart/putting back together her car because my lower back is completely shot right now. It took me 10 minutes to put on my socks this morning... and that was after 15 minutes in the shower with nothing but the hot water running on my back. I'm guessing I'd probably be a bigger pretzel if I'd had to climb all over the inside of the Mustang as well.

 

[Austin Vert]

Where did you guys get the LED kits?

Jeez Greg, at least give me some choices!! rofl

Thanks man!! ::thumb::

Austin's gonna Sock It To Ya Kevin!

 

[tony-muscle]

I bought these LEDs for my instrument cluster:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/miniature-wedge-base/194-led-bulb-5-smd-led-tower-miniature-wedge-retrofit-car/206/

I bought 10, which was enough for the cluster, but could have used a couple more to replace bulbs in other places.

 

[tony-muscle]

Talking about LED bulbs, what is the difference between installing a 1157 LED bulb or one of those plasma LEDs at the tail lights?

 

[Mister 4x4]

Hey Eric,

Sorry about your bad back. We ain't gett'n any younger are we.:-/

Greg.

It's kind of one of those things: I know it's been coming, and I usually take steps to make sure I'm supported before twisting or bending way over. Unfortunately, the battery area of her Grand Prix only comes up to somewhere above my knees, and I can't exactly do anything one-handed since there's not much room in there. So, no 'three-point support' for that project.

It's a little better today. At least I didn't give the impression I almost crying when I put my socks on this morning. :whistling:

Tonight ought to be fun when I take my Tuba to Community Band rehearsal. :-/ (at least the case has wheels)

 

[tony-muscle]

Eric... car work induced back pain sucks.... time will fix it.

1971 M-code Mach 1

 

[Mister 4x4]

Thanks!

Meanwhile, I just got Wing Public Affairs to finally send me the pic from the Goodfellow AFB Car Show this past September.

My Mach 1 won Best In Class and People's Choice awards. Here's the pic with Ryan and Horny Mike from Count's Kustoms/Counting Cars.



What a blast! I hope they can come back next year. Horny Mike was a lot cooler than I was expecting, and Ryan was especially happy to be there, since he's actually "from" Killeen, TX (well, as "from" Killeen as anybody can be as a military brat, that is). He said he was planning on making the drive to visit his folks.

 

[tony-muscle]

Talking about LED bulbs, what is the difference between installing a 1157 LED bulb or one of those plasma LEDs at the tail lights?

Answering my own question, this video from Classic Cougars shows the difference between the Plasma LED, the 1157 LED and stock incandescent bulbs.

http://www2.cougarpartscatalog.com/store/p/15520-Relay-Turn-Signal-Solid-State-K-5-/-13A366-Repro-1968-Mercury-Cougar.html

 

[red73]

Drove it! :&gt

 

[Mister 4x4]

Alright! So today, after taking a bunch of old electronics to the recycle center (the were impressed with my old Soyo Dragon+ mobo), I started in on putting the Mustang back together.

I made some ground & key power wires for the voltmeter, then ran the red & green wires from the coil to the tach area (pre-loomed and all) which went pretty smooth. I also found some Chrysler 194 sockets for the 3 gauge pod - after some trimming of the keyed retainers (4 vs. 2), they seemed to fit in there really well between friction and my mods. They're fairly pliable, so they went in without any trouble at all.

Got everything wired up, hooked the battery back up, turned on the key, and the voltmeter sucked up in the wrong direction. WTF? Looks like I'd gotten the polarity wrong. No biggie. Rewired it and then it was fine.

About half the LEDs were in 'backwards,' so I flipped them 180 and everything's working. The standard 194 bulbs in the signals didn't want to work, so I popped in the green LEDs and Holy Cow - they're bright! I'm hoping the trim panel diffusers will help with that. They also don't 'dim' at all - I was expecting that, but I'm hoping some standard 194 bulbs in the 'headlight,' 'wipers,' 'lighter', and heater controls will help with that.

Then I fired it up and the tach did something weird - as soon as I turned the key to 'On,' the fuel pump ran as normal, but the tach showed what I can only imagine would be the fuel pump's RPMs until I started the car... then it showed engine RPMs as it's supposed to. The voltmeter is only reading something like 12.5-13 volts when it's running as well (standard alternator).

I'm thinking the culprit is I ran the red 'keyed power' for the tach to the coil + side, which I also tapped for the voltmeter. The green 'signal' wire is to the - side of the coil, as it's supposed to be. I'm wondering if I should find a different 'keyed power' source for both (to eliminate the fuel pump RPMs reading on the tach and see a better reading for the alternator - I'm thinking it should be 13-14 volts instead of just 12.5-13 when the car's running.

As usual, it started getting dark before I finished up, so I didn't get to put the dash all back together before I had to put the car to bed. I'll finish that up next weekend.

But - so far, so good! Dash lights are nice and bright, and the tach & voltmeter are pretty much working.

 

[midlife]

Yes, RUN-only power should not tap into the + side of the coil, as that post sees a variation of voltage due to the ignition firing 4 x a crank rotation. Look for a red/yellow or green/red wire coming directly from the ignition switch connector plug.

 

[computercarguy]

Took my car in for it's scheduled appointment with the car chiropractor (body shop frame machine). Hopefully I will pick it up in a few days and get a little bit of the panel replacement started before I put it away for the winter.

:wrench:

 

[midlife]

Took my car in for it's scheduled appointment with the car chiropractor (body shop frame machine). Hopefully I will pick it up in a few days and get a little bit of the panel replacement started before I put it away for the winter.

:wrench:

That is properly called a caropractor.:whistling:

 

[computercarguy]

Took my car in for it's scheduled appointment with the car chiropractor (body shop frame machine). Hopefully I will pick it up in a few days and get a little bit of the panel replacement started before I put it away for the winter.

:wrench:

That is properly called a caropractor.:whistling:

Thanks for "straightening" me out.

 

[tony-muscle]

For a long time I have been wanting to replace the rear speakers my car came with. The previous owner made a very nice box to fit 6x9s that fits behind the rear seat. I thought the speakers were Pioneers, which shouldn't be that bad. Therefore, it was not at the top of my list. However, after installing the Retrosound stereo it never sounded good. So I decided to replace the speakers with 6x9 Kickers. Well....... once I disassembled the speakers I realized that the grill was Pioneer and the speakers were SoundFX, whatever that brand is :shootself:. No wonder why they sounded bad. I ended up installing the Kickers but keeping the Pioneer grills because they provide much better protection than the Kickers. The Kicker grills are too open and I am afraid that the speaker cone will be damage by anything place back there. Now I have to figure out how to keep the speaker boxes from moving when taking turns.

Sound now is much more improved. In the front I have the in-dash Retrosound 5x7 DVC speaker so I really needed some good bass from the rear speakers, which the Kickers can provide.

PS: the SoundFX have now a new place in the trash can. I kept the magnets, though.

 

[Austin Vert]

Hey Tony,

Here's what i ended up doing with my rear speaker setup -

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-installs-new-rear-speakers

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-installs-new-rear-speakers-part-2

Greg.

 

[Gold Rush]

How about the hook side of some self stick velcro, should grab the carpet enough to keep them in place.

 

[gpierce]

Had the 9" rear end rebuilt today at Bears Diffs. Great job, now quiet as a mouse Like driving a completely different car. Previously it sounded like a winch it was so loud. Now happy. Went with 3.55 gears.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[timsweet]

Installed the new water pump and the harmonic balancer!!! Just have too get the intake and carp installed and the distributor. Goal is to be driving her before Christmas!!!

 

[tony-muscle]

This is my second try for a radiator coolant overflow tank installation. This one fits very well and I think it is a keeper. It fits in front of the windshield wiper fluid tank, just behind the A/C hose. Right now it is lightly wedged in place between the A/C hose and apron. Eventually you could use a strap to hold it in place. The tank is a Dorman's #603-506. The tank looks pretty good and it fits like a glove.