New Exterior Door Handles

I begin this project on January 21st as part of an effort to make the passenger door a little easier to open.  My daughter has a really hard time pushing the button on the existing exterior handle to he the door to open.  I don't want anything to negatively impact my kids riding in the car so I decided to buy a new handle set.  

The door handle set (C7ZZ-6522404-5P) is made by Scott Drake which makes excellent reproduction parts for the Mustang.  They are a nice shiny chrome with all the hardware needed to perform the installation.

Installing the door handles is relatively easy.  They are held on with a screw which is accessible from the door latch area, a 3/8" nut inside the door (holding the narrow part of the handle to the door), and then a clip which retains the door release rod inside the car.  The job to install the passenger side took only about 20 minutes and it made a decent improvement in functionality and a large improvement in appearance.  However, my daughter was still not able to open the door without considerable effort.

I really need to adjust the hinge alignment a little to get the door setup perfect.  That would be easiest done with the fender off but I'm not ready to take this project that far yet.  The striker in the door jamb is not aligned perfectly but I've not been able to adjust it as the screws will not come out.  

I learned of a tool made by Craftsman called the hand impact driver (#CMMT14104).  You place a bit in it to match the screw which will not come loose, set it to turn in the needed direction, and then hit the back with a hammer.  The impact rotates the bit with considerable force and will break lose stuck screws.  I used it on both the passenger and driver sides.  Adjusting the striker then made it such that my daughter could open the door with no trouble.

Today, I finished up this project by installing the new door handle on the driver side of the vehicle.  This side was just as quick and easy with no trouble.  The only thing I have noticed is that the plastic pieces with the reproduction handle are just the slightest bit smaller.  This is a little evident as the previous paint job was done by just taping around these plastic bits.

I think when it comes time to paint the Mustang, I will reinstall the old door handles without the plastic pieces.  If the shop can take them off entirely that would be best.  However, if they end up needing to tape around the handles, I can then put on the plastic pieces for a much more finished appearance.  

Upcoming Projects

There are a few projects I'd like to tackle in the coming months.  They include:

Front Suspension 
There are a few things I'd like to do to refine the front suspension of the Mustang.  I have one inch of travel at the end of the upper control arm before it hits the bump stop.  I want to replace the coil spring and raise the car slightly.  

While the driver side coil spring is out, I need to replace the ball joint in the upper control arm as it has a tear in the boot.  Also, I need to replaced a tack weld on one of the hood support nuts as it spins freely when I try to tighten the bolt from the engine compartment.

While it probably sounds crazy, I'd like to replace my perfectly good front tires with a new set.  These seem just a little too narrow (225) and I'd like a bit more sidewall height (45 vs 40) as any little additional height will keep the tires from following grooves in the road as much.

Once this work is done, I'll probably just spray down the front suspension with some cleaner and a hose.  It has been many years now since the work was done to it all and it is looking rather dirty.

Windshield Leaks
I need to remove the existing windshield, clean all the old sealant out, check the condition of the metal, and then put the windshield back in with a new gasket.  Before doing this work, it would be smart to check the cowl to see if it leaks or if it is just the windshield.  If the cowl leaks, this project will grow in size exponentially.  

While I'm doing this work, I need to make sure that I have gaskets between the windshield arms and the firewall.  I want to make sure some of the leak was not coming from that area.  

This would be a good time to replace the wipers and potentially find a way to get the front windshield sprayers to work.


Master Cylinder & Steering Column
The master cylinder on the Mustang just continues to leak onto the steering column.  The master cylinder is all rusty and the steering column has all the paint stripped off from the brake fluid.

I want to replace the master cylinder with a Willwood model that seals. While I'm doing it, I want to pull the steering column and touch up the paint.  With the steering column out, I should replace the turn signal and horn switch.  

When this work is all done, I'd like to replace the turn signal harness in the steering column.  When I inspected the vehicle this last weekend, I learned the horn would honk when I turned the column hard to one side.  The turn signals also don't cancel as they should so a new turn signal switch would fix both problems.


Rear Suspension & Underbody Work
I've ordered a set of 4.5 standard height leaf springs from Grab-A-Track.  My hope was to install them to raise the back of the Mustang.  Along the way, I installed some Scott Drake extended shackles which raised the rear of the car 5.8".  The plan is to install the standard height springs with the original length shackle to see if it will raise the car about half an inch.

While the back of the Mustang is raised off the ground, I need to make a little clearance on the H-pipe for the new larger, aluminum driveshaft.  Additionally, I would like to mark the orientation of the mufflers and go ahead and weld them to the H-pipe section.  Additionally, I'd like to add flanges to the back of the mufflers and tail pipe sections so they are actually bolted together.  This will keep everything sealed and make it a little easier to remove when needed.  

Finally, while the driveshaft is out, I need to replace the seal on the back of the tail housing as it continues to leak.


Tail Lights
I still need to replace the tail light housings as I replaced everything but those.  I noticed that Scott Drake makes a new three bulb bracket that fits inside the stock housing (C7ZZ-STL-13400).  I'd like to install a set of these but with LED lights.

Potential 2020 Events

I'll use this post to track events that I can attend which are within an 8 hour drive.  I'm not sure which events I'll attend this year but it is always a good idea to know what is coming up so you can make plans when your schedule allows.



05/04/20 - One Lap of America - Decatur, TX - Eagle Canyon Raceway

06/17/20 - 06/20/20 - Mid America Shelby Meet - Tulsa, OK

06/20/20 Great American Race - San Antonio to Ardmore - Not sure this is good to spectate.

09/19/20 - 09/20/20 Search for the Ultimate Street Car - New Orleans

New 3.5" Aluminum Denny's Driveshaft

The new aluminum driveshaft from Denny's arrived in the mail today.  It essentially arrived one month after I ordered the driveshaft including the holidays and shipping time.  The driveshaft is impressive as it appears well welded, made of quality components, and is quite shinny.

The first thing I did after opening the package was check the weight of the new driveshaft.  I found the aluminum driveshaft is exactly 12 lbs.  The original driveshaft appears to be just under 3" in diameter and weights 16.2 lbs.  The difference is not exceptional but I suppose it is essentially a 25% reduction on rotating weight which no doubt makes a difference.

The new drive shaft appears to be about 3/4" longer from center to center of the u-joint openings (51 3/4").  I expected it to be between 3/4" and 1" longer so this is about what I expected.

While I can measure it all day, they know what they are doing so there is not a great deal of point in it all.  The main thing I wanted to have answered is what they use at the exposed yoke length at the transmission as it is the subject of some internet debate.  In this case, they have exactly an inch exposed including the space taken up by the extended seal coming off the back of the transmission.

My only concern after the installation is that there is only 3/4" clearance between the driveshaft and the exhaust cross over.  The exhaust cross over is 12" behind the center point of the yoke u-joint.  With the driveshaft overall length of 51", that means the rear of the driveshaft can move much further.

The rear axle can actually move farther as it is roughly 10" farther back from the center point of the rear u-joint.  This means the contact point is 12" back from the front u-joint but the rear axle is roughly 62" back from that location.  I'll need to polish up my math skills to see how much axle movement can occur before the driveshaft makes contact with the exhaust.

My issue is more when the back of the car raises creating more distance between the the body of the car and the rear axle.  I decided instead of trying to do the math, I would just jack up the rear of the car and take measurements of the gap.  After a little work, I found I can raise the rear of the car 4" and have just enough for a 1/8" shim between the exhaust and driveshaft.  At that point, the tires are not off the ground but they are close.

I think I am going to need to clearance the exhaust just a little.  I think that I can clearance 1/2" and gain plenty of space to get the rear of the vehicle off the ground without making contact.  I think I'm just fine for general driving.  It is just adding clearance for the extreme chance that I hit some incredible bump.

01/14/20 Update:
There was a fair amount of transmission fluid that came out the tail shaft when I removed the original driveshaft to take measurements and then again when I installed the new driveshaft.  Tonight, I drained all the transmission fluid and replaced it.  I used Valvoline Dexron/Mercon in the gallon size (#773636) although just under 3 quarts was all that was needed.

The old fluid looked a little dark as if there were something black mixed in it but not thoroughly.  I'm not sure what that would be exactly.  There was very little on the magnet drain plug.  I checked my records but I don't think I've done anything but add a little transmission fluid since I rebuilt it a while back.  It has not had many miles on it since but it is probably time to do it mileage wise due to the rebuild.

Rear Wheel Clearance Work

This morning, I did a bit more work on the wheel opening of the rear quarter panel in hopes of stopping the rubbing noise when going over large bumps.

I started out by measuring three inches down from the quarter panel onto the tire.  This is to simulate the amount of total movement possible based on the distance from the rear axle to bump stop.  This is shown below by the black line on the tire.  

I then used a lug nut tied to a string to run a straight line down from the inner fender lip.  The two silver marks on the tire and fender are showing where the string begins to touch the tire.  These are the areas I will need to focus on removing material.  

I then remove the wheel and decided to measure the width of the fender lip.  This would give me an idea of the amount to remove.  In the past when I removed material, it was from the essentially where the rub starts now forward.  This can be seen a bit in the measurements shown below:

Somewhat below each measurement with a small arrow are updated numbers.  The first set immediately below is what was accomplished through cutting and grinding.  The second set of numbers is a small change which occurred from rolling the lip ever so slightly with a body hammer.  My overall change is maybe 1/8" in most places which really isn't much at all.  

With the wheel off, it is apparent the tire is also making contact just inside of the wheel well above the lip.  The rub has removed all of the undercoating in the area.  There is not much to do about this aside from a wheel with more backspace, raise the rear with new leaf springs, or a fender flare (not going there).

The trouble is that these wheels are not produced in this size with more backspace.  There are a few others which are made but then I'm switching out wheels that I just purchased.  I think I will go with new springs to raise the back up around 1/2".  This should help and will not look bad.  While I doubt it has an impact, I hope this will center the rear axle a little better as that might remove the issue entirely.

At this point, I don't feel bad cutting on the fender well area as I expect to replace the back quarter panels due to all the rust.  Unfortunately, the hitting the inner lip with the hammer caused a crack in the paint.  At least this all happened before painting the car.

02/16/2020 Update - I drove around today with my son and daughter in the car.  I hit several larger bumps but never had the wheels scrape.  I have, however, heard the tire go up high enough to hear it rub along the upper section of the quarter.  While not great, that does not damage the tire and seems to have no impact on the quarter panel.  I still plan on raising the rear just a little to help reduce this rubbing even further.