What did you do to your car today?

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I'm starting to get fed up with the car.

The more I do on it the more seems to fail.

Replaced the upper and lower control arms a few weeks ago. Took it for an alignment yesterday and the guy tells me he can't adjust camber on the passenger side.. Turns out the hole in the rear ex-center washer is round so it no longer adjusts the camber properly. (Ok, when I replaced the control arms I could have sworn that washer was ok otherwise I wouldn't have put it back in....)

Now I gotta wait for 2-3 days for a new set of screws with washers to arrive.

The I had the wheels powder coated (and posted a thread about it) and I don't like them anymore. The 18 inch rims rub with the new tires, I gotta get new ones but I don't really want to either.

The rear windows are out of the car as I'm waiting for WCCC to fix my pancake motors, so no interior in the back at all.

Plus yesterday a big chip of paint flew off the rear quarter extension. I'll need to try my painting skills on that....

I wonder if I shouldn't just leave everything and simply drive the car into the ground as a daily driver and call it a day.

 
I'm starting to get fed up with the car.

The more I do on it the more seems to fail.

Replaced the upper and lower control arms a few weeks ago. Took it for an alignment yesterday and the guy tells me he can't adjust camber on the passenger side.. Turns out the hole in the rear ex-center washer is round so it no longer adjusts the camber properly. (Ok, when I replaced the control arms I could have sworn that washer was ok otherwise I wouldn't have put it back in....)

Now I gotta wait for 2-3 days for a new set of screws with washers to arrive.

The I had the wheels powder coated (and posted a thread about it) and I don't like them anymore. The 18 inch rims rub with the new tires, I gotta get new ones but I don't really want to either.

The rear windows are out of the car as I'm waiting for WCCC to fix my pancake motors, so no interior in the back at all.

Plus yesterday a big chip of paint flew off the rear quarter extension. I'll need to try my painting skills on that....

I wonder if I shouldn't just leave everything and simply drive the car into the ground as a daily driver and call it a day.
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Hi Mike,

Hey buddy, try and hang in there. My sympathies. I know sometimes it gets hard with these old cars, as issues and problems gang up on you from time to time.  Always remember that they are around 45 years old and are in a constant state of degeneration. It's like the little dutch boy with his finger in the dyke - plug one hole and another three holes bust out. :whistling:

Also i feel your pain in regards living in a far away country from America. It makes owning , maintaining and running an old classic very expensive and  difficult, not to mention the time factor waiting for any parts to arrive. I'm going through a hard time at the moment with my Mach 1. The original factory aircon never worked well. I had it investigated by a pro aircon guy, and it turns out i need a new compressor, a new TX valve, a new drier, and a new condensor. I just kissed $2,000.00 Au away in labor and parts to make it right again.

So you need a great deal of patience, a lot of love for the car, and deep pockets to own one of these old jalopies. Yell out if you need any help with painting advice too.

I think if you love the car in your own way pretty strongly, you will curse and mumble and get angry, and then keep putting your love, energy and money into her to keep enjoying driving her around. Only you will know when the love affair is over.

Greg. :)

 
Thanks Greg. Problem is that everything works until you fix it because it eventually broke.

It's the repairs that bring along trouble and that wears me out.

 
Thanks Greg. Problem is that everything works until you fix it because it eventually broke.

It's the repairs that bring along trouble and that wears me out.
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I feel your pain.

 
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Guys lets stand strong. These cars can sometimes test your nerves. It is nice to have a piece of old sheetmetal around so you can punch once in a while. In my case it has been that a "small" 1 day job turns into a 3 month rust fixing job. Thats what happened when i pulled down my gas tank when started installing my EFI. That was back in November and now I am just finishing fixing the trunk rust I found so I can continue with the gas tank and EFI. It was frustrating back a few months ago, but looking back I now feel good that I repaired that cancer in the trunk.

I can understand that doing this job abroad is much more expensive. We are lucky here in the States where we have so many options and good prices. Having lived and worked on old cars abroad I totally understand. Stay strong.

1971 M-code Mach 1

 
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I happen to have some ground you can drive it into, if you like. :whistling:

Step back, take a breath... it'll all be OK.  I'd been fighting off those and similar sentiments for just 5 1/2 years until I finally got the car registered and can actually drive it now - one thing after another for what seemed like forever.  I thought I'd never get it done.

Hang in there, Brutha!

 
I'm starting to get fed up with the car.

The more I do on it the more seems to fail.

Replaced the upper and lower control arms a few weeks ago. Took it for an alignment yesterday and the guy tells me he can't adjust camber on the passenger side.. Turns out the hole in the rear ex-center washer is round so it no longer adjusts the camber properly. (Ok, when I replaced the control arms I could have sworn that washer was ok otherwise I wouldn't have put it back in....)

Now I gotta wait for 2-3 days for a new set of screws with washers to arrive.

The I had the wheels powder coated (and posted a thread about it) and I don't like them anymore. The 18 inch rims rub with the new tires, I gotta get new ones but I don't really want to either.

The rear windows are out of the car as I'm waiting for WCCC to fix my pancake motors, so no interior in the back at all.

Plus yesterday a big chip of paint flew off the rear quarter extension. I'll need to try my painting skills on that....

I wonder if I shouldn't just leave everything and simply drive the car into the ground as a daily driver and call it a day.
Click to expand...
Ya need me to come over there and show it who's boss?  It can be a pain when things don't go right. It's finding the right solution for the issue at hand. Your hot rod has been an inspiration to me. If I can help in any way let me know. I've been through some of the same crap. Soon we can put the top down and let the warm wind blow!

 
I'm starting to get fed up with the car.
Click to expand...
Hang in there with the Mustang.  My 73 is my second Mustang restoration (70 was my first) and you do run in to those periods of time when it seems that the car just doesn't want to be restored.

Heck I bought it and drove it 5, 6 times and it bent a rod and burned a valve. Had the heads redone. Drove it 3 or 4 more times and then discovered a bottom end knock had to tear down the entire engine and send it out for machine and rebuild. While trying to get it back together I ran into wiring problem and drive train problems.  Don't even get me started on the rusted floor pans (now complete).

I just keep thinking how much fun it be when I get it done.  (Tackling the drive train this Saturday.)

You'll get here!!!

 
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Changed the shifter bushes, fairly easy and results far better than I expected. Better than the tap fitting washer to take up the slack anyway...



 
Finally got the transmission hooked up.

Has some issues and had to lift the engine a bit.  I have to say it sucks working on a hill in the driveway.

Got everything lined got the torque convert bolts though the flex plate - doh...can't find the nuts!!!!   Of course!!!

So I've got to order a set - no one around carries here.

Tim

 
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This week I replaced all exterior lights with LEDs. I'm pretty pleased with the result. I even found equivalent bulbs to replace I even found equipments for the 94s in the sportlamps. I chose to not go with amber bulbs in those and my turn lamps so it would be brighter.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 
So, last weekend I went to go get Frank inspected, and discovered the horn didn't work and was denied working at the Auto Hobby Shop for a dumb open-house event nobody attended.  No biggie - I learned that San Angelo's Cars & Coffee was this morning, so I figured I'd go check that out, then figure out the horn issues afterward, and go get it inspected.  Cars & Coffee was awesome - about 60 cars showed up and everybody was SO cool.  I had a blast - this is going to be a great day!

Got home and figured I'd start simple and ohm'd out the horn button... check.  Then the signal switch... check.  Then checked out the horn power circuit to the signal switch - no juice.  Well, crap... OK - I'll check the fuse - it had voltage on both sides so it shouldn't be bad right?  I figured the issue was where the fuse block plugged into the main harness.  I disconnected the battery, dropped the fuse block, and everything looked fine (nothing scorched or anything), but put some dielectric grease on the plugs anyway... and couldn't get it back in because the other end was flopping around a little.  Great.  After dropping the column and pulling the instrument cluster, I was able to get the fuse block back together and still no juice to the horn power circuit (after reconnecting the battery).  So, I decided to pull the fuse just in case there was something out of the ordinary - well, the contacts looked pretty icky (as in, rusty-carbon stuff everywhere), so I decided to clean up the fuse holder contacts with some 400-grit and also noticed a blob of carbon on the fuse itself.  Cleaned it up and tossed it back in and now the horn works.  Sigh.  Figures.  (I'll deal with that later)

So, I put the dashboard back together and as I'm putting the steering wheel back on, the dome light flickers once and now the horn button won't work.  WTF?!  I pulled the fuse and it's popped... and of course the 7 or 8 boxes of Buss AGC fuses I bought when I started working on the car are nowhere to be found - along with the current insurance card as well, apparently (since I hadn't even thought about it since last October (but my wife found it and saved the day).  Great.  Said, "Screw it," and went to O'Reilly's, grabbed yet another box of 20A AGCs, popped a new fuse in and all is well once again.  Rolled over to Meinecke to get it inspected, and while I was reading off the license plate to the guy, I noticed something on the left rear tire.  I went out to see what it was - hopefully just some gum or something... Nope - I'd run over a freaken roofing nail somewhere.

The inspection went fine, but they couldn't repair the tire because apparently my 15x10s and 295s are just too big for their tire machine.  Crap!  Oh well, it's holding air and the tires are warrantied through Discount Tire anyway.  I'll take it over there next weekend, I guess.

I wish that everything with this car wasn't such an 'adventure.'  I thought it was supposed to be smooth sailing now that it's running and legal and stuff.   :-/

 

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