Johnny, Kiss Me!

Van to the rescue!

2011-09-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Turns out the van's bumper is at the exact same level as the mustang's bumper, in fact it touches it just below the trim piece - perfect. We gently pushed the mustang into the shop with the van, and now it's under cover again. I'm excited to get back to work on it, because there's lots of room in the shop. Things were getting pretty crowded in the garage.

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Bump in the road

2011-09-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to move the pony from the garage to the shop, so I would have more room to work on it. Unfortunately the momentum of rolling downhill from the garage wasn't quite enough to roll up the little slope into the shop, even with Dave pushing, so the pony is stuck in the middle of the driveway. I'm seeing if I can organize some friends to come help push. Many hands make light work, right?

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Radiator and fan out

2011-05-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

The radiator gave me a bit of a fight, but not too bad. Mostly just the hardline from the transmission didn't want to come off, but it did after soaking it overnight in WD40.

With the radiator out I could finally reach the long bolts that hold on the fan. I used a long extension bar to wedge in there and keep it from turning while I broke them all loose.

I wonder why the fan isn't symmetrical?

Now with the engine just sitting there, it's starting to look like something that could come out. I am a little worried about the rust on the front passenger-side framerail. I can't tell yet if that's structural or just surface rust. I didn't find any serious rust anywhere else on the car, so I hope it isn't a problem. One thing at a time.

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reference photos - carb, fuel pump

2011-05-22T16:42:00.000-07:00

These photos may be helpful at reassembly time.

This is the very cruddy area below the PS pump. The hose with the open end had a long hardline which came up and around the front of the carb and attached to another rubber hose on the left of the carb. That hose went to the short hardline coming up from behind the left valve cover (seen in next picture).

In this shot I there is a wire coming down from the carb, passed on the left of the fuel pump, and plugs into the block right below it.

Getting to work

2011-05-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

The mustang has been in the garage being ignored for he past year or so. I finally got everything organized in the garage. I installed the wall heater to keep it warm in there when I'm working. I put up shelves to organize parts on.

I've got my parts washer tank ready to go, and space to walk around the car again. The garbage pile by the front fender is supposed to go away this week. Or next.

First step is to drain the fluids and start removing anything in the way of getting the engine out to rebuild it.

Me, actually working on my car!

Working my way down to the engine. I removed coolant hoses and vacuum hoses, got the alternator out of there. Someone removed the AC unit before I bought it back, so I'll have to locate one of those someday. I'm working on the power steering pump. Getting to be more room in there to work. I can almost picture hoisting that motor out of there!

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Nothing new to report

2010-12-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

The other night we were driving home and I mentioned wanting to move the Pony to the other shop building to get it out of the way of other projects in the garage. We got to talking about what it needed - that I need to pull the engine and disassemble it, get the heads reworked and have new valve seats put in, get the block checked out and hone the cylinders, new rings and bearings if necessary. It's been so long since I did the 302 for my 68 mustang, I don't remember what is required and what is just a good idea anymore. I'd like to rebuild it and keep everything as stock as possible, but fix all the oil burning and leaking problems it had. If I end up needing to do any extensive work like boring it out, things could start getting expensive, so I'd like to avoid that if possible. The engine only has just over 100k on it, so I'm hoping a simple rebuild of what's there will do.

It really wasn't a bad engine. I remember driving it to college over Willamette Pass and other students saying they nearly had to get out and push their cars up the steep incline to the top, and I never even thought twice about it. But I did have to feed it a quart of oil before and after every trip. And then the heater quit working and I would have a little heater that plugged into the ciggy lighter which I could sit on the console and point at me. Brrrrr.

So I think the old engine is fine, there's no need to go through the trouble of putting a different engine in there. I just need to pull it apart and do it. And I just don't have any money to spend on it right now. Some of the work is more labor than money, and maybe I should get started on that. I sure would like to have that car driving again. I just want to hop in it for runs to the grocery store or to go pick up chicken feed. It doesn't have to look pretty, that can come later. I just want my yellow pony back on the road!

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The engine

2010-01-26T12:55:00.000-08:00

A couple years ago (ok, it was like five years ago) I started pulling some stuff off the engine, and then got distracted by a boat project. But I can see what I'd done, I'd pulled the plug wires, and disconnected the harness from the alternator, and I think that's about it. The engine is covered in a thick layer of grease. Ther eis some surface rust, but nothing serious.

This is some of the mystery stuff attached to the firewall. Someday I will know what this is all too well, right now I think it's something to do with the AC (which the PO yanked out parts of), but it's just a big rusty mess.

Time to get this dog & pony show on the road and start fixing Johnny up!

Hand me a wrench, Barclay, and let's get started!

Finally!

2010-01-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

Finally! The 4H meeting got rescheduled to our house, and since I had a bunch of helpful young men adn ladies hanging around, I asked for a little help. Sure enough, they were happy to pitch in, and the pony is safely in the garage again. Oh, that makes me feel so good :) Now to get to work on pulling the engine.

Getting there...

2010-01-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

This is the slowest project in history! I finally got the garage cleaned out and there's room for a pony in there. Now I just need a few strong friends to come over and help push it's carcass into the garage, and we're off! Small steps are still progress...

Vintage Ford Key

2009-10-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

This is a vintage key I found in my aunt's stuff after she passed away. It's much older than my mustang, but I am posting it here to share it with my Mustang II friends. It has a cool futuristic car on it :)

Ok, now PUSH!

2009-10-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I got the garage cleaned out enough to put the car in there, now I just need to invite some friends over to help push :) I'd like to do it fairly soon too, because it's started raining again, and in the NW once it starts, it usually keeps it coming for the next 8 months or so. Time to get the pony inside where it will stay dry.

My challenge for today

2009-08-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

What a mess. Two years of clutter...

Our first meeting

2009-08-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

It was 1988 and I was taking the bus from home in Parkrose (a suburb of Portland) to Mt Hood Community College my freshman year. The bus ride became the hardest thing about college. Not only did I get to meet colorful characters, and I don't mean that in a good way, but it was actually two bus rides and a ride on the lightrail to get there. What should have been a half hour drive took a couple hours once you accounted for waiting for the transfers and getting there early to make sure classes didn't get missed. There was a lot of wasted time, and scheduling time at work was a nightmare. And there were times where I had a morning class and an afternoon class and nothing in between, so I'd have to kill three hours on campus because that wasn't enough time to go home and back. So I had always been happy with bike and bus, but I was really starting to want a car.

Grandpa had an auto repair shop, and my Dad was the mechanic and Mom was the secretary. Dad and Grandpa agreed, they had their eye on a car for me. One of their longtime customers who was looking to sell their old car and get a newer one. So one Saturday morning I was sleeping in and Grandma came and woke me up and said 'Chuck's bringing a car up for you to look at.'

'What is it?' I asked, still groggy.

'He said it's a Mustang, and it's a good one,' she told me. A Mustang! I hopped out of bed and ran to the front window like a dog, waiting for him to pull in the driveway, still in my jammies! How exciting, all the popular kids in school had Mustangs! This might actually bump me up a notch, socially, you know!

A few minutes later Grandpa pulled up and I stared in confusion. Maybe Grandma mis-heard. Maybe Grandpa was losing it. I knew what Mustangs looked like. I also knew what Pintos looked like. This was clearly the latter.

I went out to the driveway and tried to hide my dissapointment as Grandpa showed me around. It was in nice shape. He assured me it was mechanically sound, it had been maintained at his shop for years. Power steering, power brakes, air conditioning. It was actually a nice smooth ride, and it seemed roomier than my boyfriend's Mom's Pinto - though they were clearly close cousins. I loved the color. Grandpa took me for a ride around the block. I was a little disturbed that the original owners had cut the shoulderbelt straps so it only had lapbelts. But it rode nice and was everything I needed in a car. So he told me to make an offer, and I told him how much I had saved up (I believe it was $1000), and he said he'd take care of it.

So it wasn't one of those tales of love at first sight, but sometimes love develops over time, and that's ok too. And it wasn't one of those Mustangs that moves you up into the same circle as the cool kids. Oh no, it was quite the opposite. But from then on it was MINE, and that's all that mattered. My only concern then: I just needed to learn to drive...

The story so far...

2009-08-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I have this old Mustang.

His name is 'Johnny, Kiss Me', because he used to have a plate with the letters JKM, and that's how a friend told me to remember it.

It has been 22 years since I first met Johnny, introduced by my Grandpa. He said Johnny would do until I could get something better. He was right, Johnny gave me many good years, and I sold him after college when I wanted a car that wasn't so fond of riding on tow trucks. After Johnny was gone I never forgot about him, and in 2005 I hunted him down and bought him back.

Johnny has been waiting for me to get to work on him and get him back on the road ever since. It's been too long. There have been many distractions. He is a neat little car, and I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel again. Unfortunately there's a LOT of work between now and then. That's what this blog will be about.